
About us
Who we are
We are experienced academics offering peak performance training and group experiences to forward-thinking researchers anywhere in the world.
We are certified by and affiliated to some of the world’s leading coaching associations.
Ramona Britto
PhD, Director
Ramona founded First Principles during the first Wellcome Genome Startup School after recognizing the enormous potential for specialist training and coaching in helping scientists make the leap to entrepreneurship. In 2022, she decided to join forces with other academic coaches to develop a common framework and to reach out to scientists in all stages of career growth both within and outside academia.
Prior to this, Ramona worked as a curator at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Cambridge, UK from 2012 to 2021. Her diverse background also includes a four-year research role in Rennes, France and at a bioscience startup in Bangalore, India.
Currently, she lives with her partner and children in the Cambridgeshire countryside.
Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to maximize their own performance. It is helping them learn rather than teaching them.
Sir John Whitmore