Dr. Ying Lia Li

Dr Ying Lia Li grew up in Bristol and went on to study physics at Imperial College London, where she developed deep expertise in fibre optics, optomechanical sensing, and chip design. After graduating, she joined the Advanced Technology Centre at BAE Systems, working at the intersection of MEMS and inertial sensing. She then completed a PhD at University College London focusing on optomechanics, which laid the technical foundation for her eventual breakthrough in quantum-inspired navigation sensors.

In 2019 Dr Li joined the University of Bristol's quantum pre-incubation programme QTEC as an Executive Fellow, where she began translating her academic work into a commercial technology roadmap. In 2021 she won the Institute of Physics Clifford Paterson Medal and Prize for her pioneering quantum sensing research and her efforts to build a more diverse and supportive research community. That same year she co-founded Zero Point Motion, establishing the company within Bristol's Quantum Technologies Innovation Centre.

As Founder and CEO of Zero Point Motion, Dr Li leads the commercialisation of a radical fusion of silicon photonics and MEMS that produces inertial sensors 100 times more sensitive than conventional chipscale devices. Inspired by Nobel Prize-winning gravitational wave detection principles, the technology enables sub-millimetre positioning precision in GPS-denied environments, with transformative applications in defence, autonomous vehicles, robotics, agritech, and consumer electronics.

Zero Point Motion has been recognised as one of Sifted's 16 Bristol-based Startups to Watch, and Dr Li has been named one of The Photonics100 by Electro Optics. In March 2025 she closed a £4M pre-Series A round backed by SCVC, Foresight Group, and Verve Ventures, with seed investor u-blox AG remaining a strategic partner. Dr Li is widely credited with pioneering a new category of commercially viable quantum-inspired sensing and is an ambassador for women in deep tech and physics.