The University of ԰������ has launched a new responsible AI competition in partnership with the Jeremy Coller Foundation, offering a £100,000 equity investment to support one promising early-stage venture from its global community of students, staff and alumni. 

Applications are now open for the Coller AI Competition, which is designed to help innovators develop ventures with real-world potential – ensuring technology empowers rather than excludes. The competition will support solutions that use AI in ways that are fair, transparent, sustainable and focused on social benefit. The winner will benefit from the opportunity to work closely with the Jeremy Coller Foundation team to develop their venture. 

The initiative forms part of the University’s Challenge Accepted campaign, which champions ideas with the potential to tackle major global challenges.  

Backed by ԰������ alumnus and philanthropist Jeremy Coller, the competition brings together the University’s research strength, entrepreneurial talent and commitment to responsible innovation. It aims to identify and support founders developing AI solutions that are not only commercially promising but designed to benefit people and society. 

Finalists will pitch their ventures at the University’s Innovation Festival in October, where the winner will be selected to receive the £100,000 investment. 

Professor Aline Miller, Associate Vice President (Enterprise) at The University of ԰������, said: “This is an exciting opportunity to back one early-stage venture with the support and investment needed to develop responsible AI with real-world potential. We’re looking for founders who want to build something purposeful, practical and capable of making a positive difference.” 

Jeremy Coller said, “The AI revolution is already changing and shaping our world at a dizzying speed. Used smartly and responsibly AI can be the key that unlocks solutions to some of the greatest challenges facing this planet, and the Coller AI Competition will help ԰������ students, staff and alumni turn that potential into reality.” 

 is the philanthropic vehicle of private equity entrepreneur Jeremy Coller. The Foundation works to create positive impact on globally significant issues with a focus on education, entrepreneurship, pensions innovation and the transition to a more sustainable food system. By supporting ambitious ideas, the Foundation helps drive lasting change and empower the next generation of innovators and problem-solvers. 

Application timeline – 2026 

The competition is open for applications from any students, staff or alumni from across the University who are working on an AI-driven business. At least one founder in each team must be within one of these categories.  

• 14^th July – applications open
• 1^st September – applications close
• 21^st September – finalists notified
• 9^th October – final pitches and award  

Find out more and apply now –   

Egg donation is a lifeline for families, offering hope to women with conditions like early menopause, older mothers, and men without a female partner pursuing surrogacy.

Across Europe, around 8 per cent of fertility treatment cycles rely on donated eggs, underlining just how crucial donors are to modern family-building.

Yet behind the scenes, the research team – which is also from Cryos International and The University of Ghent - show the path to becoming an egg donor is far tougher than many realise.

In their study of 2,443 women applying to be egg donors at Cryos, a commercial US egg bank, just 2.5 per cent were accepted and went on to have their eggs frozen and banked ready for donation.

This shows that recruiting egg donors is far more challenging than it might seem, with roughly only one in 40 women making it through what the authors describe as an exceptionally thorough recruitment process.

More than half of all applicants (51 %) were rejected almost instantly for failing to meet strict enrolment criteria such as age or body mass index.

A further 26.36 % dropped out during the process, missing appointments or simply failing to respond to the clinic.

Nearly one in five (19.69 %) were later ruled out after health problems were uncovered in their family history or they failed medical screening tests.

“While there is clearly strong interest in donating eggs, only a very small proportion of applicants ultimately meet the requirements, which has important implications for the availability of donor eggs in fertility treatment,” said lead author from The University of ԰������.

“Advances in egg freezing have enabled global egg banks to emerge, allowing frozen donor eggs to be shipped worldwide.

“However, from initial eligibility checks through to detailed medical screening, the process is designed to ensure that only donors who meet very specific safety and quality standards are accepted.

“It is striking that more than half of applicants are excluded at the very first step, and that a significant number also withdraw or disengage before completing the process, presumably as they find out more about it and realise it’s not for them”.

In a previous study investigating the recruitment of sperm donors at the same sperm and egg bank during the same time-period, the team found that only 1.03% of men who initially applied to be sperm donors were finally accepted.

Interestingly whether men applying to be a sperm donor chose to be ID-release or not had an impact on his likelihood of being recruited, this was not seen in the study of egg donor applicants.

The researchers say this contrast cannot be explained by motivation, as a previous surveys at the same clinic show sperm and egg donors report remarkably similar reasons for volunteering.

Co-author Anne-Bine Skytte, Medical Director at Cryos International who ran the egg bank where the study took place commented: “Despite similar motivations between sperm and egg donors, the recruitment pathways function quite differently. Egg donation involves a surgical procedure, whereas sperm donation typically requires repeated visits over an extended period. Therefore, whilst egg donation is more medically invasive, our findings show more success in recruiting egg donors suggesting that the surgical procedures do not necessarily put women off from donating.”

“We also saw that many women became more open to becoming ID-release as they progressed through the screening, with more than half switching from anonymous to ID-release.”

The authors suggest that counselling during the recruitment process may help donors feel more comfortable with the idea of future openness and contact

• The paper An analysis of the outcome of 2,443 women applying to be donors at a commercial egg bank in the US, is published in DOI https://doi.org/10.1186/s12958-026-01578-1

On Sunday 19 July, Ben Moorhouse (43) will spend hours walking the fully exposed central track of the ancient stadium at Monte Smith, where temperatures are expected to reach 35–40°C. With no shade, relentless sunshine and intense heat radiating from the ancient stone beneath his feet, the challenge will push him to his absolute physical and emotional limits.

The stadium, once used by athletes in ancient Greece, will become the setting for a deeply personal journey of remembrance, endurance and hope.

Every one of the 260 lengths has a meaning.

The number honours the birthday of Ben and Gaynor's daughter, Kallipateira Rodothea Moorhouse, who was stillborn on 26 October 2018 at 37 weeks of pregnancy, just two weeks before her due date. Like many stillbirths, her death was preventable. The couple also suffered a miscarriage at nine weeks in May 2019.

Holding his daughter in his arms, Ben made her a promise.

"As I held Kallipateira, I promised her that I would make sure she did not die for nothing."

Eight years later, that promise continues to drive everything he does.

Since Kallipateira's death, Ben has dedicated himself to raising awareness of stillbirth, supporting bereaved families and funding research that is helping save babies' lives.

The challenge also represents hope.

In May 2020, Ben and Gaynor welcomed their rainbow baby, Apollon Alexandros Moorhouse, after receiving specialist care from Alex Heazell, Professor of Obstetrics at The University of ԰������, based at the  Maternal and Fetal Health Research Centre. professor Heazell is also  Honorary Consultant Obstetrician at Tommy's Rainbow Clinic at St Mary’s Hospital in ԰������.

"Like Kallipateira, most stillbirths are preventable. These are beautiful, healthy babies who should be alive. Our son Apollon is here today because of Professor Alexander Heazell and his team's pioneering research. Without that research, he would not be here today."

The challenge itself has been carefully designed.

The relentless repetition of 260 lengths, the brutal summer heat, physical exhaustion and mental endurance symbolize both the ancient Olympic spirit of the stadium and the lifelong endurance required to live with the loss of a baby.

Overlooking the stadium stands the Temple of Apollon - a remarkable personal connection, as Ben's six-year-old son was named after the Greek god.

Ben is no stranger to extraordinary endurance challenges. In 2021, he became the only person ever to walk around the entire island of Rhodes nonstop, covering 150 miles continuously to raise awareness and funds for stillbirth research. He has since completed further history-making challenges on the island.

During this year's challenge, the 53rd length will be dedicated to Ben's close friend, Lawrence Mann, who sadly passed away earlier this year.

Ben said: "I am incredibly proud to take on this extreme challenge at the beautiful and historic Ancient Stadium of Rhodes. I hope it creates another small piece of history on the island while ensuring Kallipateira's legacy continues to save babies' lives.

The heat will be relentless. The conditions will be unforgiving. Every step will test me physically and mentally. But nothing compares to the pain of holding your dead baby in your arms. Every single one of those 260 lengths will be walked out of pure love.

"As I held Kallipateira, I promised her she would not die for nothing. On 19 July I will keep that promise once again. This challenge is for Kallipateira, for Apollon, for Lawrence, and for every family whose baby should have come home. I look forward to returning to my second home, the island of Rhodes, where I will honour my beautiful daughter."

Professor Alexander Heazell said: "Ben's determination to face the extreme heat and relentless monotony of 260 lengths in the Ancient Stadium of Rhodes is a profound testament to his endurance and his love for Kallipateira. The grueling training he has put his body through all year shows the lengths he will go to break the silence surrounding stillbirth.

“The funds raised will make a huge difference to our team's medical research. Ben's extraordinary resolve is actively helping us pioneer the science that saves babies' lives and prevents other families from the devastation of stillbirth. He carries the thoughts and gratitude of our entire team with him to Rhodes."

All funds raised will support Professor Alexander Heazell and his team in ԰������, helping to reduce the number of preventable stillbirths and save babies' lives.

• All funds raised will support Professor Alexander Heazell and his team in ԰������, helping to reduce the number of preventable stillbirths and save babies' lives.

Donations:

The University of ԰������ hosted the launch of the new Defence Universities Alliance (DUA), a major UK-wide partnership designed to strengthen collaboration between universities, government and industry on research, innovation and skills.

The announcement was made at the University by Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry Luke Pollard MP. The Alliance brings together 35 universities from across the UK as founding members and will create a long-term framework for collaboration between higher education institutions, the Ministry of Defence, the UK Armed Forces and the Office of the Chief Scientific Adviser.

The launch event, held at the University, featured representatives from universities, industry and government. Also in attendance were researchers and students from different aspects of the defence field, and businesses which the University partners with.

The DUA aims to help universities and defence organisations work more closely together across research, innovation and workforce development, creating new opportunities for students and researchers while addressing future national security challenges. The alliance will support collaboration in areas including artificial intelligence, cyber security, robotics, aerospace engineering, behavioural science and health.

Professor Duncan Ivison, President and Vice-Chancellor of The University of ԰������, said: "The UK’s top universities have always played an important role in helping society respond to the challenges it faces. Today, that means working closely with government and industry to strengthen national security, develop new ideas and technologies, and deliver the skills needed in related industries.

"The Defence Universities Alliance will deliver a more strategic approach to the contribution higher education makes. By working more closely together, we will better align with government and industry and create more opportunities for researchers and students, for the benefit of our region and the UK as a whole."

As one of the UK's leading research-intensive universities, The University of ԰������ works with organisations across a wide range of sectors, including defence and security, while maintaining its commitment to academic freedom, transparency and compliance with UK law and international obligations.

Professor Tim Dafforn, Chief Scientific Advisor, Ministry of Defence, said: “The Defence Universities Alliance represents a genuinely transformative step forward in how Defence partners with the UK’s world-leading academic sector. By bringing together our shared expertise, ambition and innovation, the Alliance will help us tackle some of the most complex challenges facing Defence at a strategic level. I am incredibly excited about the opportunities this creates. The DUA will fundamentally change the way Defence, universities and industry work together - strengthening our national security, creating strategic advantage and supporting growth to deliver better outcomes for the UK.”

Luke Pollard MP, Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry, said: “As we prepare for warfighting readiness, working with universities, students and innovators boosts skills and helps keep our country safe. The Defence Universities Alliance will create meaningful connections between students, academia and defence, boosting research, skills and defence expertise across the UK to strengthen industry. Universities play a key role in innovating and supporting defence, and the DUA helps marshal those efforts.

“In this new era of threat our £182 million defence skills package is helping to create opportunities for students, apprentices and young people, making sure our historic £298 billion defence investment is an engine for growth across the UK, and building on the more than 272,000 industry jobs supported by MOD spending.”

Research and innovation have an important role to play in addressing complex global challenges, reflecting the ambitions of the University’s ԰������ 2035 strategy, helping to turn research and innovation into practical impact by strengthening partnerships with government and industry.

As well as supporting economic growth, developing new technologies and creating opportunities for students and graduates, the DUA will help strengthen links between academia, government and industry, supporting the development of the highly skilled workforce needed for the future.

Our work with defence and security organisations

• Weekly sales increased by more than 76,000 copies following the release of the first Netflix season.

• Strong sales growth occurred across both English-speaking and non-English-speaking countries.

• In Brazil and Mexico, around 99% of sales came from translated local-language editions.

• UK buyers most commonly discovered Heartstopper through its television adaptation.

• Nearly two-thirds of UK buyers were aged between 13 and 24.

• Around a quarter of purchases were gifts or purchases made for other people.

"The Netflix series did not simply amplify an existing audience,” said Dr Francesco Rampazzo, Lecturer in Social Statistics and Demography at The University of ԰������. “It brought in new readers and changed how the books travelled, from a specialist graphic-novel readership into mainstream young-adult, retail and family purchase contexts.”

A global success built through local book markets

The study found that the Heartstopper effect extended well beyond English-speaking audiences. Countries including Poland, Spain, Brazil and Mexico all experienced substantial increases in book sales following the Netflix release.

Researchers say this demonstrates the importance of local publishing, translation and retail networks in turning global streaming successes into sustained book-market demand.

"What is striking is that the same story travels across very different countries, but it does so through local infrastructures,” said Kristopher Velasco, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Princeton University. “Translation, retail channels and media visibility all matter for whether a screen adaptation turns into sustained book demand.”

More than a bestseller

The researchers also examined thousands of reader and viewer reviews to understand how audiences engaged with Heartstopper across different media.

They found that viewers discussing the Netflix series were far more likely to emphasise themes of LGBTQ+ visibility and personal recognition, while book readers more often discussed recommending, gifting and sharing the series with others.

According to the researchers, this suggests that adaptations can change not only who consumes a story, but how it is understood and discussed.

"The same story means different things in different media settings,” said Dr Rampazzo. “On screen, Heartstopper was often discussed as a moment of visibility and recognition. In book reviews and buyer data, it also appears as something to buy, recommend, gift and pass on.”

Shared across generations

The study found evidence that Heartstopper's success extended beyond its core young-adult readership.

Reader reviews frequently described parents, grandparents and other relatives buying the books for younger family members. UK consumer data also showed that gifting accounted for a significant share of purchases.

The researchers argue that this wider circulation helped establish Heartstopper as a mainstream cultural phenomenon rather than a niche publishing success.

Final chapter approaches

The findings are published shortly before two major milestones for the franchise: the release of the final Heartstopper book on 2 July, and the Netflix film adaptation on 17 July.

Researchers say the ending of the series offers a rare opportunity to examine whether audiences built through streaming platforms continue to drive demand for books.

Publication details

Turning Pages into Screens: Media Adaptation and the Reclassification of Cultural Objects can be viewed .

The workshop introduced the principles and applications of atomic force microscopy before giving students hands-on experience of the Park Systems FX40 system. Through demonstrations and sample analysis, participants explored how advanced AFM techniques can be used to investigate the physical, electronic and magnetic properties of two-dimensional materials.

AFM is a versatile characterization technique that is widely used in the study of 2D materials. With nanometre-scale precision, it is generally used to measure the topography of materials; however, advanced AFM techniques can also be employed in other interesting experiments, to study magnetic and electronic properties, for example.

The workshop began with an introduction to the fundamental working principles of AFM, explaining how it probes properties in 2D systems, followed by a hands-on demonstration of Park Systems’ new FX40 AFM system and its capabilities. The final part of the workshop involved using this instrument to characterise our samples, demonstrating the system flexibility, allowing to create specific “recipes” that can be tailored according to our experiment requirements.

With the demonstration of the FX40, we were able to understand the capabilities and unique features of this equipment. The most notable feature was the automated nature of this system, allowing for a fully automated loading and switching of AFM tips, something that many of us have spent hours performing the same task manually on the systems that are currently deployed in the labs. Eliminating the risk of dropping or breaking a tip, along with the time saved through automation, is a welcome feature, allowing us to spend more time taking the measurements we need and obtaining reliable results. 

The FX40 was also capable of seamlessly switching between magnetic, conductive or piezoelectric and several other measurement modes by simply changing the tip and swapping a few numbers of accessories on the system. This process would normally require us to take our samples to another AFM system, probably located in another lab, making the added convenience and the time savings particularly valuable besides making life easier. 

The workshop was very useful for us in our first year of our PhDs. Although we had previously been introduced to AFM, we were not fully aware of the wide range of measurement modes available. It was both interesting and exciting to consider how these AFM measurement techniques could be applied to the study of 2D materials which many of us aim to investigate in our respective experimental projects. Whether the 2D system under study is an insulator (dielectric), conductor, semiconductor, or a magnetic material, the FX40 system offers specialised modes that can probe interesting material properties. 

Most of us, came away with new ideas and directions for incorporating the AFM technique into our projects. It was also nice and valuable to have the opportunity, during the lunch break, to discuss the system and our research work with experts in the field in a friendly and informal setting. These discussions provided valuable insights and fresh perspectives on both the system and our own research. 

Thank you to Park Systems UK for the engaging demonstration and discussions and thank you to the NGI for hosting the workshop.

InformiX Pharma, C3 Biotechnologies, Precica and FLAG-Me SAFE have each reached important milestones in their commercialisation pathway, joining Grid Stability, Luteo Medical and SpinOr as University of ԰������ spinouts created during the current financial year.

Working alongside academic founders throughout the commercialisation process, the Innovation Factory provides expertise in intellectual property and business strategy, business development, licensing, company formation and investment readiness, helping researchers navigate the journey from discovery to market.

The latest companies reflect the breadth of innovation emerging from The University of ԰������.

InformiX Pharma has developed specialist three-dimensional advanced imaging technology to give pharmaceutical companies un-precedented understanding into the internal structure of medicines, resulting in faster product development, improved product quality and more informed decision making.

C3 Biotechnologies is developing innovative microbial technologies that convert industrial waste streams, including carbon dioxide, into sustainable chemicals and high-value products, helping accelerate the transition to more sustainable industrial manufacturing.

Precica is helping organisations manage growing volumes of data through innovative technology that dramatically reduces storage requirements, allowing information to be searched and analysed without first unpacking it.

FLAG-Me SAFE has developed an innovative digital safeguarding platform that helps pharmacists and medical professionals identify individuals with a visual and other communication impairments earlier, supporting them with medication needs in a safe way.

, Chief Executive Officer of The University of ԰������ Innovation Factory, said: “These four companies demonstrate the remarkable breadth of innovation emerging from The University of ԰������. From helping people manage their medication more safely, to enabling more sustainable manufacturing, and transforming the way organisations manage data, each has the potential to make a meaningful difference.

“Supporting researchers as they translate ideas into successful businesses, is what the Innovation Factory exists to do. We are proud to have worked alongside these talented founding teams throughout their commercialisation pathway, and we are excited to see how their innovations will benefit people, industry and communities around the world.”

Alongside company formation, the Innovation Factory continues to work with researchers across the University to identify commercial opportunities and help innovations reach the people and industries that can benefit from them.

The research throws new light on sleep  -  one of the body’s most basic needs, which can trigger problems with mood, memory, metabolism, and long‑term health when disturbed.

There is already strong laboratory evidence showing that light can shift sleep timing and alter the balance of sleep stages.

We also know that sleep resets our internal body clock each morning and helps control when we feel alert, when we feel tired, and how deeply we sleep.

But scientists have long suspected that these effects also play out in everyday life. To test this, the team collected real‑world data using a simple wearable setup.

Eighty‑nine adults wore a light sensor capable of capturing melanopic light — the type of light that most strongly affects the body clock — alongside a consumer sleep tracker. They also filled in daily sleep diaries.

The devices produced more than 500 days of data, showing:

• People who spent longer in brighter daytime light tended to fall asleep earlier and wake earlier.
• Those with steadier, less chaotic light patterns across the week also showed healthier sleep timing.
• Participants with more regular light exposure — and fewer sharp swings between dim and bright light — experienced stronger deep sleep -  vital for memory, recovery, and overall health -  during the first part of the night.

The findings echo a growing concern about modern indoor life when most people spend their days in lighting far dimmer than natural daylight and their evenings in lighting far brighter than their bodies expect.

This mismatch has been linked to chronic health problems and higher mortality risk.

The new study shows these harmful patterns can be detected in everyday life and that good light habits — bright days — are linked to better sleep even outside the lab.

The researchers also found that people’s own reports of their sleep generally matched their wearable data.

But when sleep was more disrupted — with less deep sleep or less REM sleep — the gap between how people thought they slept and what their devices recorded grew wider.

The team also found that the most stable light patterns were linked to deeper sleep concentrated in the early part of the night.

Lead author from The University of ԰������ and the Izmir Institute of Technology in Turkey said: “Our findings show that brighter days and steadier light routines aren’t just nice to have — they may be fundamental for healthier sleep.

“By simply getting more consistent daylight exposure, people could meaningfully improve how they sleep at night.”

“This study highlights the power of naturalistic research, showing that everyday environments can be measured using affordable consumer devices.

“It also points to a simple public health message: brighter days may lead to better nights.

“And keeping light exposure stable — avoiding chaotic patterns of dim and bright light — could help strengthen the body’s internal rhythms.”

• The study was published in on  10/07/26 bst. It was funded by the Wellcome Trust. Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and the Izmir Institute of Technology Research University Support Fund. DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s44323-026-00087-z

Published by Child of the North and partners, the new ‘Connecting data: Intelligent and informed delivery to support every child to succeed’ report provides a clear case for a national devolved approach to connected data. 

The report reflects consensus across researchers, policymakers, public service leaders and practitioners and warns that children are being left unsupported, unseen and exposed to avoidable harm because services do not safely and lawfully share and link the information they already hold. It argues that effective data sharing, enabled by connected data infrastructure, is “literally a matter of life and death”. The report identifies a major national opportunity to strengthen public services, accelerate research and drive economic growth whilst retaining data sovereignty.

The report builds on a ԰������ held earlier this year, which brought researchers from across the North of England together with policy teams and scientists from across Whitehall to discuss connected data practices and opportunities, with a particular focus on Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).

Challenges in children’s lives span health, education, social care and wider family circumstances, but services and systems continue to operate in silos. The report highlights how the disconnect makes it harder to identify vulnerability early, coordinate support, and prevent escalation.

The report highlights the urgent need for a new approach to connecting data, drawing on previous analyses conducted by Child of the North and the Children’s Commissioner: 

●      More than 2 million children in England live in families facing complex needs

●      760,000 vulnerable children were seen by children’s services but received no formal support, while another 830,000 were not even on the radar of services.

●      In 81% of serious incidents where a child died or suffered serious harm, lack of coordination between services was driven by poor information sharing, delayed responses and fragmentation.

The report highlights that poor connection between public services remains a persistent challenge. It argues that the challenge is not a lack of data, but a lack of a firm political commitment until now to use the infrastructure, mandates, governance, and delivery models that would allow data to be used safely and meaningfully across organisational boundaries.

The report sets out a clear solution and calls on the government to adopt a national “Connected ICB (Integrated Care Board)” model, using NHS infrastructure to link data across health, education, social care and other services. Crucially, this is not a single central database, but a devolved model where local systems (and communities) retain control of their data while contributing to a connected national ecosystem that enables shared learning, improved services, and stronger evidence for improving the health of children.

The report concludes that:

“The goal is not a single central database, but an interconnected ecosystem in which trusted local systems generate insight, improve services, and support research and innovation at national scale.”

The report draws on real-world examples, including Connected Bradford, which has demonstrated how linked data across health, education, social care and policing can reveal patterns of need across populations, support earlier intervention, improve coordination between services, and enable research and evaluation at scale. These examples show that connected data can be delivered safely, lawfully and with public trust when a devolved model is adopted.

The report highlights a significant opportunity for the UK. Connected data infrastructure is described as “an asset for science, innovation, and economic growth.” A national model could strengthen the UK’s position as a leader in data-driven research and public service innovation, while improving outcomes for children and families.

The report stresses the current costs of treating symptoms late rather than addressing causes early and argues that connected data for connected services safeguards the sustainability of the state, the cohesion of communities, and the path to enduring national prosperity while retaining data sovereignty.

Its ten recommendations include a national mandate for lawful data linkage, a Connected ICB programme, long-term investment, trusted governance, practical frontline information sharing, education as a full partner, and stronger accountability for shared outcomes.

The authors urge the government to move from isolated local innovation to a nationally backed, regionally delivered model for connected data. This should begin with children and families, given the cross-cutting nature of their needs. The evidence, expertise and practical examples already exist; what is now needed is the leadership, investment and mandate to scale what works. 

The report makes clear that connected data is not a technical upgrade but a foundational shift in how public services operate.

The report states:

“Connected data must be seen as core public-service infrastructure: essential if we are serious about prevention, earlier intervention, public trust and better outcomes.”

Without it, the report warns, the government will continue to respond to problems too late and with only partial visibility.

Haroon Chowdry, Chief Executive of the Centre for Young Lives, said:

“Children’s lives don’t fit neatly into the silos that services are built around. Whether it's education, healthcare or child protection, if services can’t see the full picture then children fall through the gaps, and opportunities to help them are missed. This means worse outcomes, wasted potential and sometimes devastating harm.

This report shows that the solutions already exist. Connected data can transform how we identify the needs of children and families, enabling better and earlier support - not just keeping children safe, but also delivering a better deal for children, public services and the economy.

If the next Prime Minister wants to ensure all young people can do well, they must seize this moment to break up the silos holding back public services. Now is the time to be much more ambitious about using connected data to boost life chances for all children, wherever they are growing up.”

Professor Steve Turner, President of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said:

“The shift from analogue to digital is key to helping the Westminster government achieve their ambition to raise the healthiest generation ever. By connecting data safely across health, education and other children's services, we can identify need earlier, intervene sooner and help ensure every child, regardless of where they grow up, has the opportunity to thrive.”

Dr Mike McKean, Vice President for Policy, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said:

“Far too many children growing up in our most deprived communities experience worse health and poorer life chances simply because of where they live. Whether through an increased risk of obesity, tooth decay, respiratory conditions caused by poor housing and air pollution, or delayed access to the care and support they need, these stark health inequalities are unacceptable.”

Dr Camilla Kingdon, Paediatrician and former President of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said:

“As an NHS paediatrician I have learnt that so much of children’s health and wellbeing lies beyond our health services. If we genuinely want to improve the life chances of all children in this country and put their futures onto a secure footing, it is imperative that we are able to see the whole picture – not just through one narrow lens. All the services involved in supporting our children need to be linked and we know from groups like Born in Bradford how this can be done safely and put to critically important use to help children flourish. Now is the time for action.”

Professor Mark Mon Williams, Director of the Born in Bradford Centre for Applied Education Research said:

“The UK has a remarkable opportunity to harness its data assets in an ethical way that directly benefits all children and young people and places the UK at the vanguard of the data and AI revolution sweeping the world. The Child of the North model shows how the UK can control its destiny and grow its economy by leveraging our existing assets, including the NHS, by adopting a regionally devolved approach to connecting data.”

• Connecting data: Intelligent and informed delivery to support every child to succeed, is available

Khidmat: Our Stories has been co-produced by researchers from the  at the University of ԰������ and members of the Khidmat Group, a community organisation for older south Asian men. It features the first-person life stories of eight group members, alongside striking photographs of the men in their neighbourhoods in Crumpsall and Cheetham Hill taken by documentary photographer .  

Members of the Khidmat Group were joined by 70 family, friends, community organisations and academics to mark the booklet’s launch on Friday 3 July. Councillor Shaukat Ali, Lord Mayor opened the event and commended the project: 

“The booklet brings people together and creates opportunities for learning and understanding across generations and communities. Thank you to the members of the Khidmat Group. Your openness and honesty created something truly meaningful which can inspire and educate others. On behalf of the City of ԰������, I congratulate everyone who made this project a real success. It is a wonderful example of when the university and communities work together.” 

Dr Camilla Lewis is a researcher in the ԰������ Urban Ageing Research Group who helped to co-produce the booklet. She explains: 

The Khidmat Group was formed in recognition of a dearth of social opportunities for older south Asian men. The group meets regularly at the Guidance Hub in Cheetham Hill and also acts as a gateway to public services, with representatives from the health, housing, education and employment sectors regularly attending sessions to provide information, guidance and support. 

Dr Mohammad Younas Perwaz, founder and chairman of Khidmat, said: “As I entered my later years, I recognised that many elderly individuals suffer from loneliness, isolation, and a lack of social engagement. Khidmat was established to address these issues and provide meaningful support and companionship. Today, the organisation continues to serve the community successfully.” 

Khidmat: Our Stories was produced with support from Healthier Futures at the University of ԰������ and the Guidance Hub community organisation. It is available to . 

Researchers at The University of ԰������ have developed a new computational approach to help identify two-dimensional materials that may host unusual quantum behaviour. The work, published in focuses on materials with “flat bands”, electronic states where electrons have very little kinetic energy. In these materials, interactions between electrons can become much more important, creating conditions linked to phenomena such as magnetism, unconventional superconductivity and topological electronic behaviour.  

Finding real materials with flat bands from large dataset is difficult. Conventional searches often rely on density functional theory calculations, which can reveal a material’s electronic structure but are time-consuming when applied across thousands of possible candidates. The ԰������ team took a different route. They developed a physics-informed scoring system that captures two signatures of flat-band behaviour, low band dispersion and a strong peak in the density of states, then trained a model to estimate that score directly from atomic structure. 

“Flat bands are not only a feature we see in electronic calculations. They are often connected to the geometry of atoms in a material.” said Dr Xiangwen Wang, leading author of the study. “Our approach learns from that structure, which means we can search much larger materials spaces in a more targeted and interpretable way.” 

The framework was trained using known two-dimensional materials and then applied to more than 10,000 unlabelled 2D materials. Among high-scoring candidates with kagome-like structural motifs, follow-up quantum calculations confirmed flat-band behaviour with 98.2% accuracy. The study also identified several materials predicted to host fragile topological flat bands, a form of electronic topology associated with strongly correlated quantum phases. These results suggest that the method can do more than sort large datasets, it can help reveal which structural features make certain materials promising for further study. 

, Senior Research Fellow in the  at The University of ԰������, said: “The exciting part is not only that we found new candidate materials, but that the method changes how we search. Rather than calculating everything first and looking afterwards, we can now use physical intuition and structural learning to guide the search from the beginning. That makes discovery more scalable and more interpretable.” 

The approach remains computational, so experimental work will be needed to test the most promising candidates in the laboratory. However, the researchers say the same strategy could be adapted to search for other classes of quantum materials, provided the target property can be expressed as a meaningful physics-based score. By connecting physical insight with structure-based learning, the study offers a more efficient way to move from large materials databases to shortlists of candidates for detailed quantum calculations and experimental validation. 

Understanding Animal Research (UAR) has published a of the ten organisations, which includes the University of ԰������,  that carried out the highest number of animal procedures – those used in medical, veterinary, and scientific research – in Great Britain in 2025. These statistics are freely available on the organisations’ websites as part of their ongoing commitment to transparency and openness around the use of animals in research. 

This list coincides with the publication of the Home Office’s on the statistics of scientific procedures on living animals in Great Britain in 2025. 

The ten listed organisations were responsible for 1,347,667 procedures, 53% (more than half) of the 2,537,507 procedures carried out on animals for scientific research in Great Britain in 2025*. Of these 1,347,667 procedures, more than 99% were carried out on mice, fish, rats, and birds and 82% were classified as causing pain equivalent to, or less than, an injection. 

The ten organisations are listed below alongside the total number of procedures they carried out in 2025. Each organisation’s name links to its animal research webpage, which includes more detailed statistics. Case studies explaining how animal research has been used in recent medical research are also provided in the Notes to Editors section. This is the eleventh consecutive year that organisations have come together to publicise their collective statistics and examples of their research.

Sixty-nine organisations have proactively published their 2025 animal research statistics

69 organisations in the UK that have publicly shared their 2025 animal research statistics. This includes organisations that carry out or fund animal research.

All organisations are committed to the ethical framework called the ‘3Rs’ of replacement, reduction and refinement. This means avoiding or replacing the use of animals where possible, minimising the number of animals used per experiment and optimising the experience of the animals to improve animal welfare. However, as institutions expand and conduct more research, the total number of animals used can rise even if fewer animals are used per study. 

All organisations listed are signatories to the , which commits them to being more open about the use of animals in scientific, medical and veterinary research in the UK. More than 130 organisations have signed the Concordat, including UK universities, medical research charities, research funders, learned societies and commercial research organisations.

Hannah Hobson, Head of Communications and Engagement at Understanding Animal Research, said: “Animal research remains a small but vital part of the quest for new medicines, vaccines and treatments for humans and animals. Alternative methods are increasingly being phased in but, until we have sufficient reliable alternatives available, it is important that organisations that use animals in research maintain the public’s trust in them. By providing this level of information about the numbers of animals used, and the experience of those animals, as well as details of the medical breakthroughs that derive from this research, these Concordat on Openness signatories are helping the public to make up their own minds about how they feel about the use of animals in scientific research in Great Britain.”

Dr Maria Kamper, Strategic Director of the Biological Services Facility at The University of ԰������, said: “Scientific research involving animals remains a cornerstone of our ability to understand complex diseases and develop life-saving medical breakthroughs. At The University of ԰������, we recognize that the privilege of conducting this research carries a profound responsibility – not only to the animals in our care but to the public we serve. Our commitment to the Concordat on Openness is reflected in our award-winning digital platforms, where we share the reality of our work through virtual tours, detailed case studies, and transparent data. However, transparency is only possible because of our foundational 'culture of care’. By prioritizing exceptional animal husbandry, staff wellbeing, and ethical accountability, we ensure that our scientific excellence is always matched by our integrity. As we share our latest statistics, we remain dedicated to a sustainable research environment where open communication and world-class welfare standards go hand-in-hand to benefit society as a whole.”

Case study: University of ԰������ Why older mice have smaller offspring – and how sex may play a role

A study by University of ԰������ scientists has revealed some of the mechanisms which may explain why older mice are more likely to give birth to offspring that have not grown to their full potential in the womb.

The study in older animals showed that the placentas of male but not female offspring had increased cell damage from a biological state called oxidative stress.

Oxidative stress occurs when harmful molecules called free radicals build up faster than the body can clear them.

It is associated with a range of pregnancy complications including fetal growth restriction and preeclampsia, both of which increase the risk of stillbirth.

The study demonstrated reduced weight in both female and male fetuses in older mice, but the placental alterations were sex-specific.

The scientists are conducting further studies in mice to confirm these findings and also carrying out a parallel study to see if similar sex differentiated mechanisms exist in human placentas from mothers of advanced maternal age (AMA), defined as age 35 and over.

The study, published in the journal Reproduction also discovered placental mitochondria – the biological batteries that power cells – were working at a reduced rate in the placentas of both male and female pups but that there were more of them.

Mitochondria are a major source of free radicals. Reducing their rate of activity at the same time as increasing their numbers is a way they adapt to prevent further oxidative stress while maintaining the supply of energy needed for cells to work properly.

This could mean that the adaptation in placentas from females was more successful than in placentas from males because oxidative stress was not increased in placentas from females of older mice.

The ԰������ Mark I – the brainchild of Professor F C Williams and his team – introduced several new technologies over the Baby, one of which was a magnetic drum that was used to store information, an early precursor to a hard drive. This drum was a rotating cylinder coated in a magnetisable material onto which data was written as magnetic patterns and read back by fixed recording heads as the surface of the drum rotated beneath. However, at a time when digital computing was still experimental, making this process reliable was a significant engineering challenge.

Decoding digital

The challenge lay in how digital information was recorded. Computers store data as 1s and 0s – binary code – but when long runs of the same value are written to a magnetic surface, the signal becomes constant. This creates a direct current, or DC, component, which magnetic recording systems struggle to read reliably. For the ԰������ Mark I, avoiding that problem was essential: the drum depended on a signal that changed continually as data was written and read.

Williams and Thomas realised that the answer to this problem might not lie in building better hardware. Instead, they asked a different question: what if the data could be transformed into a form that the machine found easier to handle?

Instead of storing information as a simple sequence of ones and zeros, the pair developed a new way of representing the data before it was written to the drum. Every bit (a 1 or a 0) was encoded as a transition in the signal. A 1 became a change from high to low, and a 0 was a change from low to high.

The result was a signal that was designed to constantly change. That may sound like a minor technical detail, but it was an important feature for magnetic recording systems. By ensuring that the signal continually changed as data was written and read, the encoding made information easier to record and recover reliably on the Mark I's magnetic drum.

The technique became known as ԰������ code.

A stellar solution

While the researchers were looking for a solution to their problem, they inadvertently gave the ԰������ code another valuable property: the signal itself also carried timing information that could help electronic systems stay synchronised. Today this is known as a self-clocking signal.

That combination of reliability and simplicity helped the encoding escape its original purpose and become widely used in modern consumer electronics. Some recognisable examples included computer tapes and floppy disks, early versions of Ethernet networking, radio-frequency identification (RFID) systems, remote controls and many other communications technologies.

The same basic principles have even been used in space communications; Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, humanity's most distant spacecraft, rely on encoding techniques derived from the same fundamental idea developed in ԰������ almost eight decades ago.

Why a 75-year-old invention still matters

In April 2026, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) awarded The University of ԰������ its third IEEE Milestone, recognising the invention of ԰������ code and its lasting impact on computing and communications.

A bronze plaque now stands on Coupland Street, joining ԰������'s previous Milestone awards for the Baby – the world's first stored-program computer – and Atlas, whose novel virtual memory remains central to modern computing.

The achievement is a reminder that some of the most influential advances begin as practical engineering solutions to immediate problems. Williams and Thomas were trying to improve the operation of an experimental computer in post-war ԰������. In doing so, they developed an encoding technique that continues to shape digital technologies around the world.

Words: Ben Harwood and Enna Bartlett

There were many teams individually working towards this goal: in the US a team at the University of Pennsylvania was working on the ENIAC and subsequent EDVAC systems, and here in the UK the University of Cambridge was working on EDSAC and the NPL on ACE. But one line of computers stands out in this story; the ԰������ computers.

A baby is born

To understand how this story begins, we must rewind to ԰������ in 1948. A team comprising Professor F C Williams, Tom Kilburn and later, Geoff Tootill, successfully proved the concept of a stored program computer with the Small-Scale Experimental Machine (SSEM) or “the Baby”. It was the first stored-program computer to use electronic random-access memory (RAM) with the Williams-Kilburn cathode ray tubes (based on earlier MIT research and eventually improved to store 64 40-bit words), and in June 1948 the Baby ran a program from information stored in electronic memory, the first time this had been achieved anywhere in the world.

But this machine only proved the hypothesis that a computer could store and execute instructions electronically from memory, it didn’t offer a meaningful or useful solution to the problem of computing large amounts of data automatically. To solve this problem, the team, expanded to include Alec Robinson, Dai Edwards and Tommy Thomas, set about redesigning the machine to provide researchers and industry with a realistic computing facility. Alan Turing, the Deputy Director of the (where he published his seminal paper Computing Machinery and Intelligence), took the lead on developing the programming systems.

In 1949 the ԰������ Mark I came into being and introduced two key innovations: a magnetic drum to store data (one of the first examples of mass storage) and index registers (a way for the computer to efficiently work through the data in its store).

This prototype paved the way for, arguably, one of the biggest steps forward in practical computing; 75 years ago this summer, the Ferranti Mark I quietly helped change the course of computing history.

԰������ born, ԰������ made

Recognising the potential of the technology, Sir Ben Lockspier, Scientific Advisor to the Ministry of Supply, arranged for government funding to commercialise the machine. The British engineering company Ferranti partnered with The University of ԰������ to turn the experimental ԰������ Mark I into a production model. The result was the Ferranti Mark I, delivered to the University in February 1951 and demonstrated publicly a few months later.

The machine was not just a new piece of technology, it represented a turning point for when computing stopped being a scientific experiment and started becoming something that could be manufactured, sold and used beyond the laboratory. It is widely recognised as the world’s first commercially available general-purpose electronic computer.

Today, that achievement can seem almost inevitable. Of course, computers would become products. Of course, industry would commercialise academic research. But in 1951 none of that was guaranteed.

The Ferranti Mark I arrived at a moment when the future of computing was still uncertain. There were competing approaches to machine design, competing visions of what computers might be used for, and very few people who had ever seen one in operation. The machine helped answer a crucial question: could electronic computers move from university experiments into wider use?

The answer was yes.

From ideas to innovation

Part of what made the Ferranti Mark I significant was that it incorporated the ideas that had been developed in the previous ԰������ computers and turned them into practical tools, helping shape the architecture of modern computers.

Perhaps most striking, however, was the range of problems the machine tackled. The Ferranti Mark I was used for scientific calculations, engineering projects and government work. Researchers explored everything from weather forecasting to mathematical modelling. It also helped create a new kind of expertise: programming. Mary Berners-Lee (mother to Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web) was among those who worked on the Ferranti Mark I, contributing to the practical, exacting work of turning an experimental machine into something people could use.

In many ways, the Ferranti Mark I was the first glimpse of the world that now surrounds us. It demonstrated that computers were not simply calculating machines but versatile tools capable of solving widely different problems. That idea underpins almost every digital technology we use today.

The machine itself has long since disappeared, but its legacy remains remarkably visible. ԰������’s reputation as one of the birthplaces of modern computing rests not just on pioneering research, but on a rare ability to transform radical ideas into technologies that change the world. That was true when the Ferranti Mark I emerged from a collaboration between university researchers and industry in 1951. It remains true in an age of artificial intelligence, quantum computing and advanced robotics.

Seventy-five years on, the Ferranti Mark I deserves to be remembered not simply as an early computer, but as the moment computing became real. The future did not arrive in California first, nor in a gleaming corporate campus. It arrived in ԰������, in a lab “with the atmosphere of a nineteenth-century inventor’s workshop”, proving that a revolutionary idea could become a practical machine and, in doing so, help to create the digital age.

Meet the researchers

Professor Sir Frederic (Freddie) Williams (R) gained an engineering degree at The University of ԰������ in 1932 before undertaking his DPhil at the University of Oxford. During the war, he worked at the Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) where he met and collaborated with Professor Tom Kilburn (L), a young member of his team. When Williams was appointed the Head of Electro-technics (now the ) at the University of ԰������, TRE also seconded Tom Kilburn to Williams's team. In 1964, Kilburn went on to found the at ԰������, the first computer science department in the UK.

If you would like to find out more about the Ferranti MK I, we would recommend the following books:

1. Alan Turing and his contemporaries: Building the world's first computers by Simon Lavington (Editor). 2012. Published by The British Computer Society.
2. A History of ԰������ Computers by Simon Lavington. 1998. Published by The British Computer Society.
3. Early Computing in Britain: Ferranti Ltd and Government Funding 1948-1958. Simon Lavington. Published by Springer.

The image of the Williams-Kilburn tube is republished under Creative Commons Licence: Sk2k52 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Williams-tube.jpg, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6651107

MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships are among the most competitive and prestigious researcher development schemes in Europe, supporting outstanding early career researchers to pursue ambitious projects while developing their independence, mobility and long-term career prospects.

These latest awards, secured within the Faculty of Science and Engineering, span disciplines including chemistry, chemical engineering, physics and astronomy, and reflect both the exceptional calibre of the fellows and the strength of the research environments they will join at ԰������.

Supporting research excellence and researcher independence

MSCA fellowships are designed to support postdoctoral researchers in establishing their own research trajectories, providing funding, training and international mobility opportunities that help accelerate their career development.

Professor Chris Hardacre, Professor of Chemical Engineering at The University of ԰������ and supervisor on the PHOENIX fellowship, said:

Incoming fellows

Among the incoming fellows is Dr Silvia Escayola, who will join The University of ԰������ under the MAGPIE project:

MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships awarded at ԰������

The following MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships have been selected for funding and are currently progressing through Grant Agreement Preparation:

• 
  AI-powered classification of bimolecular reaction mechanisms from kinetic data
  Dr Emilie Werner, Chemistry
   
• 
  Towards Josephson effect in fractional quantum Hall systems via light–matter interaction engineering
  Dr Hadrien Vignaud, Physics and Astronomy
   
• 
  Piezo-photonic High-entropy Oxides Enabling Integrated Extraction to Polyesters
  Dr Yue Jiang, Chemical Engineering
   
• 
  Engineering new enzymatic platforms for atroposelective C–N bond formation
  Dr Martin Power, Chemistry
   
• 
  Deep Reinforcement Learning for control of wave energy converters integrated on floating offshore wind turbines
  Dr Zechuan Lin, Electrical and Electronic Engineering
   
• 
  Magnetic-exchange and aromaticity guidance for pi-system spin interaction engineering
  Dr Silvia Escayola Gordils, Chemistry

   
• 
  Deciphering hydro-mechanical coupling and multiscale response of basaltic rocks under mineral carbonation with implications for carbon storage
  Dr Manab Mukherjee, Civil Engineering and Management
   
• 
  Ionic memristors with gate control for low-power artificial synapses
  Dr Biswabhusan Dhal, Physics

Considering an MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship at ԰������?

Prospective applicants and supervisors are encouraged to explore guidance and upcoming opportunities via the link below:

Fentanyl, combination opioid treatments, oxycodone and morphine are associated with higher risks compared to codeine among patients treated for non-cancer pain.

The study was funded by a National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Advanced Fellowship and supported by the NIHR ԰������ Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) and the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust.

Their findings, published today in BMC Medicine come amidst concerns in recent decades over the soaring use of prescribed opioids for non‑cancer pain across North America and Europe and NHS England Medicine Optimisation targets to reduce high dose opioid prescribing and harms.

The researchers analysed electronic health records from 32,909 adult inpatients at a large hospital in Northwest England.

They evaluated when patients developed respiratory depression using electronic vital signs or were given naloxone, a life‑saving medicine used to reverse breathing suppression due to an opioid overdose.

Prescribed fentanyl was associated with more than triple the risk of respiratory depression compared with codeine.

Combinations of opioids carried nearly three times the risk of respiratory depression.

Oxycodone and morphine were linked to significantly higher risks compared to codeine.

When compared directly with morphine, fentanyl still showed almost double the risk, while combination opioids also remained substantially riskier.

Patients receiving 120 morphine milligram equivalents (MME) per day or more had double the risk of respiratory depression compared with those on less than 50 MME.

Even moderate doses — as low as 31 to 60 MME per day — were linked to a measurable increase in risk of respiratory depression.

Additionally, the combination of opioids and gabapentinoids, such as gabapentin and pregabalin, was associated with a further increased risk in respiratory depression.

Fentanyl’s high potency and rapid brain uptake help explain why it suppresses breathing more abruptly than other opioids.

Oxycodone’s role in opioid‑related deaths in North America adds further weight to concerns about its respiratory effects.

The study also found that patients with COPD faced even greater risks, with fentanyl linked to a fourfold increase in respiratory depression in this group.

These results suggest people with chronic respiratory disease may be especially vulnerable to the effects of potent opioids.

Fatal overdoses associated with opioids, up to 80 per cent of which are unintentional, are most often caused by opioid‑induced respiratory depression, where breathing slows to life‑threatening levels.

Although all potent opioids act on the same receptor system, they differ in how they affect respiratory control.

First author, Mr Carlos Raul Ramirez, a research associate at the University of ԰������, said: “As part of our study we were also able to assess for the additional risk associated with other co-administered medications, such as gabapentinoids and benzodiazepines, which may be prescribed for pain, anxiety and sleep problems.

“The use of gabapentinoids with opioids in particular was associated with an increased risk of respiratory depression.”

Senior author , NIHR Advanced Fellow and Senior Clinical Lecturer at The University of ԰������ said: “Opioids remain important medicines for managing severe acute pain. Our findings show that the risks are not the same across all opioid drugs or doses.

“A key strength of our study was our ability to use detailed hospital electronic health records to accurately capture when opioids were actually administered to patients, alongside routinely collected vital signs to identify changes in breathing.

Dr Jani, who is also a researcher within the Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Diseases Theme at ԰������ BRC added: “Understanding how different medicines and combinations affect respiratory safety can help clinicians and patients make more informed prescribing decisions together, as well increasing awareness of what dose thresholds require closer monitoring.”

• The paper Opioid-specific Risk of Respiratory Depression in Non-Cancer Pain: A Retrospective Cohort ԰������ is available DOI https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-026-04972-z

Ethanol is one of the world's most widely used chemicals. It is used in fuels, solvents, disinfectants and as a feedstock for manufacturing. Finding new ways to produce ethanol from carbon-containing waste streams could help support broader efforts to make chemical production less dependent on fossil resources. The study focused on a process in which methanol acts as a starting material and carbon dioxide provides an additional carbon source. 

The team also investigated how the catalyst works. Their experiments showed that carbon dioxide is first converted into carbon monoxide through a reverse water gas shift reaction. The carbon monoxide then acts as an intermediate in forming ethanol. The researchers found that ruthenium and cobalt perform complementary roles, with ruthenium helping drive hydrogenation steps and cobalt promoting the carbon-carbon bond formation needed to build the ethanol molecule. 

Beyond performance, the researchers assessed characteristics important for industrial use. The activated catalyst remained stable during storage tests and retained good activity after five recycling cycles. The catalyst system also uses precursor materials that are easier to obtain and store than many alternatives previously reported for similar reactions. 

The work has already progressed to preliminary scale-up studies. The authors report that the catalyst maintained high activity and ethanol selectivity in larger-scale reactor (3 L). Based on these findings, the team proposed a process flow for producing ethanol from methanol, carbon dioxide and hydrogen, with catalyst recycling and recovery of unreacted materials built into the design. 

i adds: “There is still further work to do before a process such as this could be implemented commercially. However, these results demonstrate a promising route that combines accessible catalyst materials with recyclability and strong performance, which are all important considerations when developing practical carbon utilisation technologies.” 

This international collaboration was funded by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2024YFE0206500) from MOST International S&T Cooperation Centre.

‘Eat Chat Rise & Move’ was organised with grassroots community group , a non-profit organisation founded by Hanane El Hadioui, bringing together recent migrants and more established ԰������ residents through English lessons, cooking classes and movement workshops.  

Volunteers who have come to live in ԰������ from different parts of the world led short workshops, encouraging attendees to share ideas about identity, belonging and connection whilst sharing new recipes, crafting ideas, poetry and movement.  

Geography PhD student Clare Courtney who co-organised the event said: 

One of the event attendees commented: “Such a wonderful event, I loved meeting people of all ages, genders and ethnicities, moving and being creative together makes me feel less lonely.” 

‘Eat Chat Rise & Move’ took place at the University of ԰������ last month, hosted by Geography PhD student Clare Courtney and community group Rise & Flourish, with support from the SEED Social Responsibility Fund. If you are a University of ԰������ student, and you would like to be involved in volunteering with Rise & Flourish, please .  

The evaluation, led by researchers at The University of ԰������’s Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST), analysed nine real-world pilot projects spanning music festivals and arena concerts, TV production, infrastructure and public transport.

The findings show that the Programme delivered practical changes with the potential for long term impact across Liverpool’s cultural sector, including new sustainability standards for film and TV production, improved carbon reporting at events and greener operational practices in the city’s major venues.

The programme delivered a series of high-profile successes, including:

• Liverpool's M&S Bank Arena was recognised by A Greener Future as one of the UK's greenest music venues after trialling fully plant-based catering, improved waste management and shared production infrastructure across a series of major concerts.

• Two BBC drama productions filmed in Liverpool – The Cage and Waiting for the Out – reported reductions in their carbon footprints of 46% and 61% compared to the industry average through measures including LED lighting, battery power and dedicated staff with sustainability expertise.

• BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend won the Green Award at the UK Festival Awards after introducing battery-powered infrastructure, low-carbon travel initiatives and the most comprehensive environmental dataset ever collected for the festival.

• The UK's first National Occupational Standards for sustainability roles in film and television were developed through consultation with industry professionals.

Beyond individual pilots, the research found that the programme changed how sustainability was considered within Liverpool City Council, improving understanding and confidence around sustainability, helping embed climate considerations in everyday decision-making and future cultural project planning.

Local authorities were found to have particular influence through using the levers already within their direct control, such as land-use and event permissions. In Liverpool, this led to the development of a new framework for events on council land, embedding environmental standards and data reporting into the approvals process.

Liverpool’s UN ‘Accelerator City’ status also provided momentum, helping bring together organisations across the creative industries to collaborate in ways that might have been difficult under normal circumstances.

However, the research also highlights the significant barriers and challenges cities face when trying to cut emissions.

A lack of funding, limited staff capacity and gaps in technical expertise slowed progress across several projects. In many cases, basic data on environmental impacts was missing, making it harder to target the most effective actions.

Efforts to introduce low‑carbon infrastructure during the year, such as replacing diesel generators or improving grid connections, were constrained by the cost, complexity and time needed to modernise existing systems.

Interventions that depended on external partners, such as integrating public transport, proved significantly harder to deliver at pace trials helped to identify challenges and opportunities and a plan for how this can be operationalised in the future has been developed.

The researchers say that the lessons are relevant far beyond a single city and the findings can help any city or cultural organisation reduce emissions.

Read the full report here:

After more than a decade of preparations, it’s the start of one of the most ambitious studies of the cosmos ever undertaken. For the next ten years, the LSST will capture the entire southern sky to create an ultra-wide, ultra-high-definition time-lapse record of our Universe. This movie will help solve some of the Universe’s biggest mysteries – such as the nature of dark energy, and the evolution of the solar system, Milky Way, and galaxies across cosmic time.

The University of ԰������ is part of the , a partnership of 36 institutions representing the UK’s leading astronomy research groups. Supported by investment from the (STFC), 

Scientists at ԰������ will use Rubin data to study the first galaxies and the evolution of the universe and its cosmological parameters.  

During its 10-year survey, Rubin will catalogue an estimated 17 billion stars, 20 billion galaxies, and millions of events that change in the sky – more objects than there are living people on earth. With the survey expected to create up to 500 petabytes of data in its lifetime, the UK is playing a significant role in the management and processing of this unprecedented dataset. The UK's LSST data facility will process 25% of the data from Rubin, turning raw images of the sky into the calibrated data products with which astronomers can do science, and will operate a science platform capable of supporting analysis of those data products by 20% of the international LSST community.

The UK's LSST computing facility also hosts the Lasair event broker, a sophisticated software system supporting the near-real-time analysis of the alerts that Rubin issues whenever it detects a moving or time-varying celestial source. This alert stream - which can comprise millions of alerts per night and which includes a wide range of astrophysical objects, from nearby asteroids to distant supernovae - started flowing in February, ahead of today's formal start of the 10-year LSST.

Professor Grahame Blair, Executive Director of Programmes at STFC, said: "Today marks the beginning of a new era in astronomy. Together with our partners, UK scientists, engineers and software experts, STFC is excited to be part of one of the most ambitious scientific projects ever undertaken. “The discoveries made over the next decade will inspire future generations, deepen our understanding of the cosmos, and reinforce the UK's position at the forefront of astronomical research."

A study published in , focuses on non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) which accounts for around 20% of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Mutations in the KRAS gene are one of the most common causes of NSCLC. The findings reveal that a subgroup of KRAS mutations known as KRAS codon 13 mutations, including KRAS G13C, behave differently from more common KRAS mutations such as KRAS G12C, creating an opportunity for a new precision medicine approach which is particularly effective.

Historically, researchers and oncologists could not effectively target KRAS mutations to treat NSCLC. While major advances have been made for the more common KRAS G12C mutation, patients with KRAS codon 13 mutations have had few targeted treatment options. Although KRAS codon 13 mutations account for a relatively small proportion of lung cancers (around 5% to 7% of KRAS-mutant NSCLC), researchers estimate that survival outcomes of up to 11,400 patients globally per year could be improved if they had access to targeted therapies developed specifically for these tumours.

This new research led by Dr Colin Lindsay from The Christie NHS Foundation Trust and at The University of ԰������ shows that KRAS codon 13 mutations, while being weaker KRAS mutations, interact with other aggressive genetic alterations, including mutations in BRAF, NF1, STK11 and KEAP1, to help tumours grow and spread.

The research team, including Dr Will McDaid and Dr Helen Adderley, at the ԰������ Cancer Research Centre worked in collaboration with US biotech company Revolution Medicines to investigate a new experimental drug called RMC-8839, which is a KRAS G13C-selective inhibitor designed to specifically target tumours carrying the KRAS G13C mutation by turning off the signals that tell the cancer cells to grow. In the laboratory, RMC-8839 successfully blocked KRAS G13C activation and reduced tumour cell growth.

The most striking finding was that KRAS G13C tumours appeared unusually sensitive to chemotherapy compared with other KRAS-driven cancers. When researchers combined RMC-8839 with chemotherapy, the results were significant, dramatically shrinking and eradicating tumours in cancer models, suggesting a potentially effective treatment combination for this genetic subtype.

Dr Colin Lindsay, consultant oncologist from The Christie NHS Foundation Trust said. “Once we understand these changes and develop the first drug to target them, moving from the lab into the clinic usually happens quite quickly. What has been particularly exciting about this research is that it started from an observation that we made in the clinic, leading to over five years of scrutiny from multi-disciplinary scientists across academia and industry, all dedicated to the cause of cracking KRAS.”

Professor Angeliki Malliri, Professor of Cell Biology at The University of ԰������ said: “The findings of this study add to the growing trend towards precision oncology, where treatments are increasingly tailored to the exact genetic makeup of a patient’s cancer rather than the organ in which it originated.”

Clinical trials will now be needed to determine whether the combination of RMC-8839 and chemotherapy can improve survival in patients with KRAS G13C-mutant lung cancer.

This study is supported by Cancer Research UK, The Christie Charity and the ԰������ Cancer Research Centre. It was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) ԰������ Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) and by Revolution Medicines. Data was provided by Genomics England.

• Targeting KRAS codon 13 mutations using direct combination approaches in non-small cell lung cancer is available

We each gave a flash talk introducing our research projects, which was great practice for presenting to a conference audience and fielding a range of questions. The talks prompted later informal discussions about experimental processes and techniques and it was interesting to hear what everyone has been up to since joining their research groups. Each student from the graphene NOWNANO CDT, who are in their 3rd or 4th year of study, presented on their research.

This gave us the opportunity to learn about the breadth of 2D materials research that is going on in ԰������, from condensed matter and theoretical physics to catalysis and drug delivery systems. It was also great to spend time getting to know those in the later stages of the CDT and hearing about their experiences at the start of their PhD. This was facilitated by the evening social activities, which included a ‘pub’ quiz and boardgame night.

We were able to make the most of the beautiful weather by taking a walk in the nearby Brereton Heath nature reserve. The hotel grounds also had much to offer; whilst chasing the evening sun, we found a very friendly herd of cows. Watching how they reacted to jazz music was definitely a highlight!

Another highlight of the conference was the series of invited talks from researchers at Lancaster, ԰������ and Cambridge. Prof. Edward Laird (Lancaster University) showcased how carbon nanomaterials can be used for precision quantum measurements, discussing carbon nanotube resonators capable of detecting the motion of individual electrons and the development of miniature clocks based on endohedral fullerene molecules. Dr. Nick Clark (University of ԰������) demonstrated how advances in electron microscopy, machine learning and data analysis are enabling atomic-scale investigations of complex 2D material systems, from liquid-cell microscopy to twisted van der Waals interfaces. 

Dr. Carla Boix-Constant (University of Cambridge) presented exciting work on engineering interfaces in two-dimensional magnetic heterostructures, illustrating how molecular materials, magnetic interactions and twist angles can be used to tailor electronic and magnetic properties for future spintronic devices. 

Together, the talks highlighted the breadth of research being carried out across the 2D materials community.

Tuesday afternoon was a change of pace, with a more interactive careers workshop run by code switch consultants. The focus of this session was to look beyond academia and consider how the skills gained during a PhD can be applied to a wide variety of roles, such as technical consultancy and careers in policy or governance. It was helpful to discuss how in our PhD we are not just building knowledge in a specific area but developing problem-solving skills and a pattern of thinking that can be used in many fields. This was evidenced by the alumni panel, which rounded off the whole conference. 4 graduates of the CDT came to answer our questions and give an insight into their PhD journey and the experiences they have had since. It was encouraging to hear their positive memories of their time in ԰������ and see the diverse career paths they pursued post PhD. 

Along with advice on time management, networking and job-hunting, the main takeaway was to make the most of every opportunity. It was a fitting end to a successful conference—many thanks to the organisers, speakers, alumni and fellow students who made the conference such a valuable experience. We look forward to next year! 

·        Understanding how AI works and where it can make mistakes

·        Making good judgements in complex situations

·        Thinking about the ethical consequences of decisions

·        Communicating and working effectively with others

·        Adapting to new technologies and ways of working

Rather than producing technical AI experts, the paper argues universities should prepare graduates who can question AI-generated information, recognise its limitations and apply human judgement to real-world problems.

Looking beyond plagiarism concerns

The study also argues that universities have focused too heavily on concerns about cheating and AI-generated coursework.

Instead of relying mainly on AI detection tools, the paper calls for assessment methods that better test students' thinking, judgement and understanding.

Suggested approaches include oral examinations, reflective accounts of how AI was used, collaborative projects and exercises based on real-world challenges.

According to the study, these approaches are better suited to assessing the skills that remain distinctly human and are increasingly valued by employers.

AI should be discussed across degree courses

The paper argues that AI should not be treated as a specialist topic limited to technology courses. Instead, universities should help students understand how AI is affecting issues such as government, public services, inequality, employment and international development.

The study warns that graduates entering careers in government, charities, international organisations, consultancy and public services are likely to encounter AI-powered systems throughout their working lives, regardless of whether they have a technical background.

What the researcher says

“The debate about AI in universities has often focused on whether students are using chatbots to complete assignments,” said Dr Kelechi Ekuma. “While those concerns are understandable, they risk missing a much bigger transformation. AI is changing how knowledge is created, how decisions are made and how many jobs are carried out - universities need to think carefully about how they prepare students for that future.”

"The skills that are likely to matter most are those that AI struggles to replicate, such as critical thinking, ethical judgement, communication and the ability to understand complex social issues."

Publication details

The paper was published in journal Frontiers in Education.

DOI:  

Researchers from Professor Radha Boya’s team in The University of ԰������’s Department of Physics and the , working with Diamond Light Source and Freie Universität Berlin, found that water reorganises in surprising ways at the smallest molecular scales. Hydrogen bonds give water many of its familiar properties, but until now it has been extremely difficult to test what happens when water is forced into a flat, single-layer arrangement because the amount of material is so small. 

By combining atomically precise nanochannels with the ultra-bright synchrotron infrared microbeam at Diamond Light Source’s , the team was able to measure the vibrational modes of water confined down to a single molecular layer. 

 from The University of ԰������ said: “You can think of bulk water as a three-dimensional network where each molecule is constantly forming and breaking hydrogen bonds in all directions. When you squash water into a single layer, that network simply cannot hold together in the same way. For the first time, we were able to directly see how those bonds rearrange in this extreme limit.” 

The researchers created angstrom-scale slit channels using stacks of two-dimensional materials, including graphite and hexagonal boron nitride. These materials acted as both atomically smooth confining walls and optical amplifiers, boosting the weak infrared absorption signal from just a single layer of water. 

Infrared spectroscopy is highly sensitive to the stretching vibrations of O-H bonds within water molecules. By comparing water in channels of different heights with water in bulk regions of the same device, the researchers tracked how those vibrational frequencies changed as the water layer became thinner, down to a monolayer. 

The team found that when water is confined to a true monolayer, its infrared absorption spectrum shifts to higher frequencies. Dr Gianfelice Cinque of Diamond Light Source said: “My first excitement was being able to measure, at beamline B22, the vibrational fingerprint of a single monolayer of water. To our knowledge, this is the first time that the transition from 3D to 2D water has been directly detected with an infrared microprobe. The blue shift is a clear sign that the hydrogen-bonding network is disrupted compared with bulk water.” 

“Our measurements show that monolayer water does not resemble a flat version of ordinary liquid water,” added Professor Boya. “Instead, it forms a fragmented, mosaic-like structure made up of small hydrogen-bonded clusters surrounded by poorly bound or free molecules.” 

The study also showed that this behaviour is specific to the monolayer limit. Once the channels exceeded around one nanometre in height, equivalent to roughly three molecular layers of water, the vibrational signatures began to move back towards those of bulk water, indicating recovery of a more conventional hydrogen-bond network.

To understand the origin of these spectral changes, the experiments were supported by atomistic simulations. Professor Roland Netz of Freie Universität Berlin said: “Despite the disrupted bonding, monolayer water is unexpectedly dense and structurally distinct from both bulk water and simple interfacial water at surfaces.” 

The findings provide direct experimental evidence for long-standing theoretical predictions about two-dimensional water and offer a benchmark for future studies of confined fluids. 

Dr Marcos Martins, first author of the study at The University of ԰������, said: “Water confined at this scale plays a role in everything from nanofluidic devices to biological channels and energy technologies. Having a direct experimental picture of how its structure changes at the single-layer limit helps us understand the physical rules that govern these systems.” 

The ability to directly measure how water reorganises at the single-layer limit could help researchers design better angstrom-scale technologies, including nanofluidic circuits, selective membranes, and electrochemical and energy devices where confined water shapes interfacial behaviour. The same platform could also be used to study other ultrathin liquids and solvated ions, expanding experimental access to extreme confinement in materials science and biology. 

 Justice, Arts, Memory, Migration (JAMM): Creating Solidarities across Borders will bring together academics, artists and cultural practitioners to share experience and best practice across universities, cultural institutions and community organisations. Dr Warren is involved alongside fellow ԰������-based participants postgraduate researchers Clare Courtney and Haoyue Gul (University of ԰������) and Mahboobeh Rajabi, Founder and CEO of  an innovative, artist-led platform and cultural café.  

Dr Warren commented:

JAMM brings together 70 researchers from 27 countries and has been awarded €170,000 in the first year with an estimated €680,000 over four years (depending on the number of participating COST member countries). It was one of only 80 projects out of 1,090 applications selected for funding by COST. 

Applications to join JAMM Working Groups are now open and academics, students and cultural practitioners are being encouraged to take part: 

MyWay Diabetes, an NHS-supported online platform and app - which lets users view their diabetes health records, track results, and access simple education courses and advice - was rolled out across Greater ԰������ during the COVID‑19 pandemic.

The analysis followed 507 users for up to two years and showed clinically significant reductions in blood sugar alongside lower systolic blood pressure and cholesterol levels, compared with more than 10,000 similar patients who did not use the platform.

The team also concluded that the digital approach was cost‑effective and may even reduce NHS spending over time.

Lead author from the University of ԰������ said: “Managing type 2 diabetes requires people to make complex day-to-day decisions about their health.

“Our findings suggest that accessible digital tools such as MyWay Diabetes can support people in improving important risk factors linked to long-term diabetes complications.

“MyWay Diabetes was even able to provide benefit to real-world population during a particularly challenging period for healthcare services during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Luke Paterson lead health economist on the study while at The University of ԰������ said: “Our analysis suggests digital diabetes self-management support can deliver health benefits at relatively low cost, and may even reduce long-term NHS spending.

“Even modest improvements in blood glucose, blood pressure and cholesterol across large populations can translate into meaningful reductions in future diabetes-related complications.”

Senior author from The University of ԰������ said: “Digital self-management tools are likely to become increasingly important as health systems face growing pressures from long-term conditions such as type 2 diabetes.

“What is particularly encouraging is that we observed improvements not only in blood glucose control, but also in blood pressure and cholesterol - changes that, at a population level, could translate into reductions in diabetes-related complications.

“The findings also suggest that scalable digital approaches may provide good value for financially constrained healthcare systems.”

Unlike many digital interventions, MyWay Diabetes links directly to NHS primary care records, giving users access to personalised results and educational resources in one place.

The researchers emphasised that although the study was observational, the large real‑world dataset strengthens confidence in the results and highlights the need for further evaluation across more diverse UK populations.

The study, Clinical and cost‑effectiveness of the digital intervention, MyWay Diabetes, in people with type 2 diabetes living in Greater ԰������ during the COVID‑19 pandemic, is published in the journal PLOS One .

• The research was funded by Innovate UK, NHS England and the Greater ԰������ Strategic Clinical Network.

The University and the Earlham Institute have been appointed by BioFAIR to lead a new consortium to establish the Methods Commons, the first spoke of the £34 million BioFAIR programme.

The Methods Commons will provide researchers with national-scale capabilities for the discovery, execution, sharing and reuse of the computational workflows, tools and notebooks that underpin modern data-driven life sciences.

Led by Professor Carole Goble at The University of ԰������, the consortium will develop services designed to improve the reproducibility, reliability and reuse of computational methods across UK bioscience.

The Methods Commons will deliver eight core capabilities for UK life sciences researchers, including Galaxy and Nextflow workflow execution, support for containerised bespoke workflows on HPC, a national workflow registry with a community-endorsement mechanism, a “workflow observatory” providing trust and quality assurance, a shared Jupyter notebook environment, and API standards for ingesting input data and sharing workflow results.

Tony Burdett, BioFAIR Director, said: “The Methods Commons tackles one of the longest-standing problems in computational bioscience — reproducibility and reuse of methods that produce the results to be included in publications as research outputs. We had a strong field of applicants, and the appointed consortium combines real delivery track record with deep roots in the UK and international workflow communities. Establishing the Methods Commons is a major milestone for BioFAIR as it’s the first spoke in our federated BioCommons and the point at which the services needed by our users really start to take shape.”

The consortium — which includes support from Nextflow, Seqera — was selected following a competitive two-stage process that opened with an Expression of Interest call in December 2025, followed by invited full proposals reviewed by an independent expert panel. BioFAIR is investing up to £4 million over an initial two-year period, with the expectation that the partnership will extend to deliver the full programme of work through to June 2029 and beyond.

, Methods Commons Project Lead, said: “We’re proud to be establishing the Methods Commons as part of BioFAIR. Computational workflows are how modern bioscience gets done, and giving UK researchers a trusted, national-scale set of services to find, run and share them — without having to reinvent the plumbing each time — is overdue. We’re looking forward to working with the BioFAIR Hub, the Fellows and Pathfinder Projects to make sure what we build is shaped by real user needs from day one.”

The Methods Commons will adopt an incremental, user-driven delivery model, with early value delivered to exemplar communities — including the first cohort of BioFAIR Pathfinder Projects — before scaling to national reach. It will operate alongside the forthcoming Data Commons, People Commons, Knowledge Hub and BioFAIR Portal in a hub-and-spokes federated infrastructure coordinated from the BioFAIR Hub at the Earlham Institute.

The lecture, chaired by Professor Duncan Ivison, President and Vice-Chancellor of The University of ԰������, explored the theme of ‘Discovery in an Age of Distrust’.

The lecture covered how choices and values shape scientific discovery, in the modern context of today’s increasingly polarised public sphere influenced by pandemics, politics, and debates over gender, climate and artificial intelligence.

Julia also examined how political divisions influence science, how power and identity affect whose knowledge is heard, and why misinformation spreads so easily. She also addressed what this means for research leaders, universities and policymakers – and the issue of how to strengthen society's commitment to evidence at a time of major global challenges.

Creating a space for dialogue on these issues aligns with the core belief that The University of ԰������ has a vital role to play in shaping a healthier, fairer and more sustainable future.

At this defining moment, the University is working to address the issues that demand action, from climate change and inequity to health challenges. Through the Challenge Accepted campaign, the University – supported by its global community of alumni and donors – is working to tackle the world’s most pressing issues.

The event was held on campus on Wednesday, 1 July at 6.30pm, with a recorded livestream available to access .

Data centres have been designated as critical national infrastructure due to their importance for economic growth, but their electricity consumption is projected to quadruple by 2030. The inquiry will assess how this increasing demand could affect energy and water systems and how emerging technologies and policy approaches could reduce environmental impacts.

In their , and researchers at the University’s Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, highlight a number of challenges associated with this growth, including:

• Rising carbon emissions from both electricity use and the manufacturing of hardware

• Increasing demand for critical materials such as copper, silicon and rare elements

• Growing volumes of electronic waste driven by rapid hardware replacement cycles

• Potential strain on water resources and local environments

They argue that current policies do not yet fully account for the pace and scale of AI-driven demand and recommend:

• Integrating data centre growth into wider energy, infrastructure and environmental planning, ensuring expansion is aligned with grid capacity and the availability of low-carbon electricity.

• Improve transparency around environmental impacts through better reporting of energy, water and material use, alongside accounting for full lifecycle of digital infrastructure, such as hardware production, supply chains and electronic waste.

• Support a circular economy approach to digital technologies, promoting the reuse, repair, refurbishment and recycling of servers and other hardware to reduce resource demand and waste.

• Manage the resource pressures associated with AI and data centre expansion, including demand for critical minerals

The evidence highlights emerging technologies that could reduce environmental impacts, including more efficient chips, advanced cooling systems and “green AI” approaches that limit unnecessary computation.

The researchers also point to opportunities for data centres to contribute to local energy systems, for example, by recovering waste heat to supply homes and buildings, or by providing flexibility to help balance electricity demand.

Dr Alejandro Gallego Schmid said: “Data centres are fundamental to the digital economy and will play an important role in enabling AI innovation. However, their expansion needs to be planned alongside the UK’s wider sustainability objectives.

“Our evidence shows that solutions are available but many of these will require investment in infrastructure and more coordinated action across policy, industry and research.”

Dr Alejandro Gallego Schmid delivered the evidence to the to the Environmental Audit Committee in Westminster today (1 July 2026).

The submission has been supported by , the University’s policy engagement unit.

Read the full written submission:

Read more about the inquiry:

• The pronunciation of the "happy vowel" remains one of the strongest indicators of social class in ԰������
• Middle-class speakers tend to use a tenser vowel (more like “happee”) than working-class speakers (closer to “happeh”)
• The feature has remained remarkably stable across generations despite major social and economic change
• Researchers also identified differences linked to ethnicity among working-class speakers
• Speakers showed little difference between formal and informal speech, suggesting they are largely unaware of the variation

A small sound with a big social meaning

Analysing recordings from people of different ages, genders, ethnicities and social backgrounds, the researchers found that pronunciation of this vowel remains one of the clearest markers of social class in the city's accent.

Middle-class speakers were more likely to produce a pronunciation closer to "happee", while working-class speakers tended to use the traditionally broader ԰������ pronunciation, closer to "happeh".

The researchers also found differences linked to ethnicity, with working-class South Asian Mancunians generally producing a tenser vowel than their White and Black working-class peers.

A feature that has resisted change

Despite the dramatic social, economic and cultural changes ԰������ has experienced over recent decades, the researchers found no evidence that this aspect of the city's accent is disappearing.

Instead, the pronunciation has remained strikingly stable across generations, making it an unusual example of a speech feature that has resisted change over time.

The study also found that speakers changed this feature very little between formal and informal speech, suggesting that many people are largely unaware they are using it.

What the researchers say

"Our findings show that one of the most distinctive features of the ԰������ accent has remained remarkably resilient, even in a city that has undergone enormous social transformation," said Dr Maciej Baranowski, Senior Lecturer in English Sociolinguistics at The University of ԰������.

"The way Mancunians pronounce the 'happy' vowel is influenced by factors such as social class and ethnicity, but interestingly not by age. That tells us it is a stable feature of the accent that has been passed from generation to generation, rather than one that is changing over time.

 

"Looking at how accents are distributed tells us a lot about society,” said co-author Dr Danielle Turton, Senior Lecturer in Sociolinguistics at Lancaster University. “Although people sometimes change aspects of their speech as they move into different social or professional environments, many retain strong connections to the way they grew up speaking.

"It's important because it shows that local working-class speech isn't simply being washed away by regeneration or social change. These local ways of speaking remain an important part of ԰������'s identity."

What accents tell us about society

The researchers argue that accents continue to reflect wider patterns of inequality and opportunity, challenging the idea that social class has become irrelevant in modern Britain.

At the same time, they suggest growing exposure to different regional accents through podcasts and social media may be helping to reduce traditional prejudices about how people sound.

The study is based on acoustic analysis of recordings from 109 ԰������-born speakers, making it one of the largest detailed investigations of this aspect of the city's accent.

Publication details

The paper was published in journal Language Variation and Change.

DOI:

Held on 28 May 2026, the forum brought together our leading academic researchers and senior scouting teams from pharmaceutical giants including AstraZeneca, GSK, and Sanofi. The event was designed to connect "investment-ready" research projects with companies actively looking to develop them further, accelerating the pathway from early scientific discovery to clinical application.

The forum forms a central pillar of the University's strategy to expand the commercial footprint of its Biological Services Facility (BSF). To meet the accelerated demands of global pharmaceutical partners, the BSF is leveraging its world-class infrastructure and advanced capabilities to play a leading role in preclinical service provision. By connecting industry with our expert researchers, the programme accelerates collaboration and strengthens the region’s ability to attract private investment.

Showcasing Global Research Excellence The day featured comprehensive presentations showcasing our University’s most innovative research across high-priority therapeutic areas. Researchers highlighted pioneering projects ranging from immunology programmes studying how the environment affects health, to innovative uses of advanced materials like graphene in medical treatments.

Further highlights included groundbreaking work on cancer treatments, stroke therapies, and specialist facilities, such as the BSF’s unique European research colony used to study biological rhythms. The event was also enriched by international perspectives, with Professor Karin Loré from the Karolinska Institute sharing insights into global vaccine research collaborations.

Institutional Support for Innovation-led Growth The initiative is strongly backed by senior University leadership, who emphasised the critical need to translate research into practical solutions that benefit patients and society more quickly. Registrar, Secretary & Chief Operating Officer of The University of ԰������ Patrick Hackett  outlined the importance of working seamlessly with external partners, while Professor Duncan Ivison, President and Vice-Chancellor, and Professor Andy Trafford, Vice-Dean for Research and Innovation, championed the institutional commitment to refining commercial pipelines.

Dr Maria Kamper, Strategic Director of the BSF and lead organiser of the event, said: "Our goal with the Research Innovation Forum was simple: to tear down the traditional barriers between academic discovery and industry execution. By aligning ԰������'s exceptional scientific minds with the operational agility and world-class infrastructure of the BSF, we are creating a seamless pipeline that allows pharmaceutical partners to confidently accelerate their preclinical timelines. This is about turning incredible science into patient impact, faster than ever before."

The University aims for this forum to be the first of many, cementing partnerships that will turn scientific discoveries into new treatments and position Greater ԰������ as a globally competitive leader in health innovation and life sciences.

In a study published in , the international research team including Xinyue Zhou, and from the Department of Chemical Engineering, has aided in revealing how a highly efficient “single-atom catalyst” species operates at the molecular level to cleave the strong chemical bonds that hold lignin together.

The catalyst uses isolated ruthenium atoms embedded in a nitrogen-doped carbon material. This design maximises catalytic performance while using very small amounts of metal, making it more efficient than conventional systems

A clearer picture of how lignin breaks apart

A major challenge in this field has been understanding exactly which parts of the catalyst are responsible for breaking lignin’s tough chemical bonds. Without this knowledge, improving catalyst performance has remained difficult.

The research shows that a specific atomic configuration – known as a “Ru–N₄ site” – plays a central role. These sites activate oxygen molecules and help drive the cleavage of both carbon–oxygen and carbon–carbon bonds within lignin.

By combining experimental techniques with computational modelling, the team demonstrated how the catalyst first activates oxygen to form highly reactive species, which then attack the lignin structure and break it down into smaller molecules.

High efficiency under mild conditions

Under optimised conditions, the catalyst achieved near-complete conversion of model lignin compounds and produced high yields of valuable phenolic chemical products.

Importantly, the system operates under relatively mild conditions and without the need for harsh chemicals, highlighting its potential for more sustainable chemical manufacturing processes.

The catalyst was also successfully applied to real lignin samples from different biomass sources, converting them into useful aromatic compounds that could serve as building blocks for fuels, plastics and other materials.

Toward sustainable chemical production

This work provides a detailed understanding of how single-atom catalysts function in biomass conversion, offering a blueprint for designing more efficient systems in the future.

By enabling the upgrading and valorisation of lignin, the research supports efforts to move away from traditional linear petroleum-derived chemicals and towards a more circular, biomass-based economy.

• ‘Ragebait’ is an increasingly popular strategy for generating attention online

• Content creators are engineering confrontations to provoke emotional reactions

• Audiences are drawn to feelings of moral superiority and catharsis

• Online ‘accountability’ is often reduced to spectacle rather than real change

• The trend reflects a shift in how public shaming operates in digital culture

Why this matters

From callout videos to viral confrontations in public spaces, outrage has become a powerful currency in today’s attention economy.

Dr John’s research examines the widely viewed ‘Cart Narcs’ video series, where members of the public are confronted - and often provoked - for failing to return their shopping trolleys to storage bays in supermarket car parks.

While such content appears to promote accountability, the study argues that its real appeal lies in carefully staged conflict.

“Ragebait works because it blurs the line between entertainment and morality,” says Dr John. “It invites viewers to feel they are witnessing justice being done, while actually consuming a highly controlled and repeatable form of provoked outrage.”

Entertainment disguised as accountability

The study identifies a formula behind successful ragebait content - creators construct predictable scenarios, provoke emotional reactions, and then frame themselves as morally justified.

This allows audiences to experience what researchers describe as ‘accountability entertainment’ which stages wrongdoing and its punishment, but without any meaningful consequences beyond the screen.

Rather than encouraging broader social change, the research suggests this format focuses attention on individuals instead of systems.

“Viewers are encouraged to judge and condemn, but not to engage with the wider social conditions that shape people’s behaviour,” Dr John explains. “Accountability becomes something you watch - not something you do.”

The politics of outrage

The research also highlights how ragebait repurposes elements of callout culture – something which is originally rooted in social justice activism - into monetised entertainment.
In doing so, it shifts power dynamics - instead of challenging powerful figures, creators often target ordinary individuals, amplifying their mistakes for mass audiences.

This creates what the study describes as a form of ‘atomised politics’, where collective action is replaced by individual judgement and fleeting moments of online outrage.

What needs to change

The study calls for greater awareness of how emotionally provocative content is produced and consumed, particularly as platforms continue to reward engagement-driven formats.

Understanding the mechanics behind ragebait, says Dr John, is key to recognising its broader social impact.

Publication details

The research is published in Information, Communication & Society.

DOI:  

The new estimates, published by the WHO as part of its monitoring of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), shows that while levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) declined globally up to 2020, they have since remained largely unchanged. 

The new estimates will support global efforts to towards the WHO’s new goal to cut deaths linked to anthropogenic (man-made) air pollution by 50% by 2040, providing a critical evidence base for international policy and action. 

, a Lecturer in Data Science & Analytics at The University of ԰������ and Research Scientist at the National Centre for Atmospheric Science, developed the Data Integration Model for Air Quality (DIMAQ) in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) during his PhD. Since 2016, DIMAQ has underpinned the WHO's global estimates of population exposure to ambient air pollution. This latest release, the first since 2021, incorporates new data and methodological advances to provide the most up-to-date assessment of global air pollution trends and inequalities.

Dr Thomas’s work contributes directly to monitoring SDG indicator 11.6.2, which tracks annual levels of fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) in cities, and SDG 3.9.1, which tracks the mortality rate attributable to ambient and household air pollution. 

DIMAQ brings together satellite observations, atmospheric models, and ground-based monitoring data to provide a consistent picture of air pollution levels around the world, enabling meaningful comparisons between countries.

The updated figures highlight significant disparities between countries. In 2023, exposure to PM_2.5 above the WHO Air Quality Guidelines was more than 13 times higher in low- and middle-income countries than in high-income countries, affecting around 6.5 billion people worldwide.

Exposure to both ambient and household air pollution remains a major driver of non-communicable diseases, including heart disease, stroke, chronic respiratory conditions and lung cancer, with the greatest burden falling on vulnerable populations. 

Regional trends highlight mixed progress. While Asia bears the highest levels of air pollution, it also displays the greatest progress, while other regions, including Africa and Western Asia, have seen little change over the last decade. 

Urban areas typically experience higher pollution levels than rural areas, but cities have also shown stronger improvements irrespective of their income level. In contrast, some rural areas, particularly in low-income countries, have seen pollution increase. 

Bruce Gordon, Director a.i., Environment, Climate Change, One Health and Migration, WHO, said: “As the custodian of environmental health-related SDG indicators, WHO is committed to providing robust, evidence-based data, which is essential for bold decision-making. We cannot address the climate and air pollution crisis or protect public health without reliable information that highlights global inequalities and disparities. Placing science at the forefront to drive monitoring and foster multi-sectoral collaboration is crucial to ensuring universal access to clean air and energy, safeguarding both the health of people and planet—now and for future generations."

The ongoing use of ԰������-developed research highlights the University’s contribution to tackling one of the world’s most pressing environmental health challenges. 

The work builds on Dr Thomas's wider research in modelling for global public health, spanning air pollution, environmental exposure assessment and environmental epidemiology. Previous iterations of DIMAQ highlighted that half of global population were experiencing increasing . Other works include to provide a more realistic assessment of exposure to air pollutions as we interact with the environment. His research aims to help provide the evidence needed to support public health policy and decision-making worldwide.

Read more on WHO's website:

• The importance of publisher C. W. Daniel in helping relaunch Lawrence's literary career after the First World War

• Previously unknown information about planned editions of Lawrence's work

• Evidence of writing projects and publishing plans that have not previously been documented

• New details about the professional relationship between Lawrence and Daniel – indeed it is the only known letter we have from Lawrence to Daniel

• The extent of connections between prominent literary figures and Britain's anti-war and radical cultural networks

Crucial figure in Lawrence's comeback

D. H. Lawrence is today best known as the author of Lady Chatterley's Lover, Sons and Lovers and Women in Love. However, the newly discovered letter highlights the challenges he faced in the years before he became one of Britain's most influential twentieth-century writers.

After The Rainbow was prosecuted for obscenity in 1915 and withdrawn from circulation, Lawrence's literary career suffered a major setback. The discovery sees Lawrence acknowledging that Daniel played a far more important role in helping the writer rebuild his reputation and publishing career than has previously been recognised.

Dr Booth explained that Daniel published Lawrence's first prose book in nearly four years. It helped provide a route back into print and a £15 advance against royalties – a significant sum of money in those days.

What the researchers say

"The letter shows how important Daniel was to Lawrence's post-war relaunch after the suppression of The Rainbow in 1915, being ordered out of Cornwall under the Defence of the Realm Act in 1917 and wartime poverty," said Dr Howard Booth.

Dr Booth is currently completing a book on Lawrence and politics, and plans to explore the significance of the letter in further detail.

Revealing Britain's overlooked anti-war literary networks

Beyond its significance for Lawrence scholarship, the discovery also provides a new perspective on the networks of writers, publishers and activists involved in Britain's anti-war culture during and immediately after the First World War.

Daniel was a prominent pacifist and radical publisher whose activities brought him into conflict with authorities during the war. His archive offers a unique window into the literary and political communities that challenged mainstream attitudes towards war and conscientious objection.

Dr Hanson said: "It's exciting to have discovered it, and it shows the extent not only of C. W. Daniel's contacts and clients but also of the network of well-known writers contributing to Britain's radical anti-war culture, which is often depicted as marginal."

Why this matters

The discovery demonstrates the continuing value of archival research in uncovering new evidence about major literary figures.

More than ninety years after Lawrence's death, previously unknown documents are still emerging that can reshape our understanding of his life, work and professional relationships.

The letter also offers fresh evidence of how radical publishers and anti-war campaigners helped sustain literary culture during a turbulent period in British history, revealing connections that have remained hidden for more than a century.