Dr. Bushra Shammout

Dr. Bushra Shammout began her career in academia, where her research co-founded a university biotech spinout. This pathway led her to become a Senior Venture Capital (VC) Advisor at Transform VC, where she leads on deep-tech due diligence, commercialisation strategy, and the scaling of frontier research.

Dr. Bushra is passionate about strengthening human security, with particular interests in addressing youth unemployment, climate change, and public health through science-driven policy and emerging technologies.

Dr. Shammout currently serves as Head of Energy Security Strategy at the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ). She is also a Cabinet Office Secure Leaders Fellow, part of a prestigious cross-government programme for high-potential leaders in the UK’s Government Security Profession. Her adaptive leadership in high-risk environments was shaped during her time as a Senior Policy Advisor at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Joint Biosecurity Centre, where she led national strategy development throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Building on this experience, she has served as a Millennium Fellow with the Atlantic Council, a Midcareer Biosecurity Fellow at the Council on Strategic Risks, and a UNODA Biosecurity Fellow, where she leads work on AI governance and dual-use risk mitigation across critical infrastructure and emerging scientific domains.