With an award of £127.5k available per project, our devolved funding calls are for bold, interdisciplinary projects that tackle urgent resilience challenges across society, tech, defence, and more.

What we're looking for:

• A human-centred systems approach
• Projects that are theoretically motivated or based on empirical evidence, and which align with one or more of SALIENT's work packages
• Total project duration of 9 months
• Be led by an organisation that is eligible for UKRI funding

Important dates:

• Expressions of interest close: 02 October 2026
• Shortlisting decisions announced: End of October 2026
• Full application stage opens: End of October 2026
• Learn more and apply

We look forward to receiving your submissions!

Titled 'Sustainability of Nuclear Energy—A Critical Review of Closed Fuel Cycle Options', the review compares six fuel cycle pathways of varying complexity, from the simplest once-through cycle where all spent fuel is treated as waste, to more advanced options incorporating multiple stages of recycling.

To make the comparison accessible, the authors present the six options as a ‘Tube map’, modelled on the London Underground - a first for the field.

Today’s nuclear reactors already compare well with renewable technologies when it comes to many sustainability metrics. However, this review finds that closing the fuel cycle could improve sustainability further still, delivering benefits for natural resource use, environmental footprint, management of high-level radioactive waste, and energy security.

Co-author Professor Robin Taylor, of the Dalton Nuclear Institute and the UK National Nuclear Laboratory, said: “Closing the fuel cycle does come with real challenges, including those around safety, security, and cost. However, by drawing on the UK’s own experience as a case study, our review finds that these challenges can be addressed and do not necessarily rule out the benefits of reusing nuclear fuel”.

Co-author Dr William Bodel, of the Dalton Nuclear Institute, added: “Our review shows that while nuclear energy is already a sustainable source of low-carbon energy, successfully closing the fuel cycle could enhance this further. Visualising various fuel cycle options together is hard given the amount of information which needs to be presented simultaneously. Harry Beck’s 1930s London Underground map does an excellent job at communicating complicated information, so applying its design here seemed a good solution to aid visual understanding.”

Read the full review: Sustainability of Nuclear Energy—A Critical Review of Closed Fuel Cycle Options

The review was authored by:

• Dr William Bodel
• Professor Anthony Banford
• Professor Gregg Butler
• Professor Francis Livens
• Professor Robin Taylor

Dr David Buil-Gil, Senior Lecturer in Quantitative Criminology in the Department of Criminology, was recognised for his article, The Structure of Unstructured Time and Crime: A Spare Time Model, published in The British Journal of Criminology in 2025.

The award will be presented at the ESC Conference in Warsaw, Poland, in September 2026.

Research on spare time and crime

The award-winning article examines the relationship between unstructured spare time and crime and considers the implications for crime prevention.

In its citation, the judging panel highlighted the article's combination of theoretical development and statistical analysis, noting that the research offers a new perspective on how spare time may influence criminal behaviour and crime trends.

The panel also pointed to the study's relevance for policies and interventions that encourage structured activities and positive social engagement among groups at higher risk of offending.

Award for innovative criminology research

The judging committee said: "Dr Buil-Gil's article offers an original contribution to criminological research and demonstrates a high standard of scholarship.

"The committee was impressed by both the conceptual development of the work and its careful empirical analysis. It makes an important contribution to current debates about crime prevention and criminological theory."

About the award

The ESC Young Criminologist Award recognises an outstanding article by a European criminologist who was 35 years old or younger when the article was published. The nominee must be the sole author of an article on a criminological topic published in a peer-reviewed journal in a European language within the three calendar years preceding the year of the proposed award.

The jury consists of two current or past at-large members of the Executive Board of the ESC and the Past-President. Each year, one member of the jury will be replaced by a new member. The ESC Executive Board is responsible for constituting the jury.

The article was nominated by Thiago R. Oliveira (The University of Manchester), Iain Brennan (University of Hull) and Fernando Miró-Llinares (Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche).

About Dr David Buil-Gil

Dr David Buil-Gil is Senior Lecturer in Quantitative Criminology and Research Director in the Department of Criminology at The University of Manchester. His research focuses on crime measurement, quantitative methods, cybercrime, crime prevention and comparative criminology. He works with policymakers, statistical agencies and criminal justice organisations in the UK and internationally to improve understanding of crime and its causes.

Further information about David's research is available on his University research profile: David Buil-Gil Research Profile

Publication details:

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azaf035

Through a series of interactive workshops and hands-on challenges, pupils gained first-hand experience of the technologies shaping our future. Activities ranged from an Energy Grid Game exploring the complexities of modern energy systems to designing, building and testing remote-controlled robots, demonstrating how robotics can support work in challenging environments.

The programme was conceived and coordinated by CDT PhD students Frankie Hough and Ahmad Al-Fatly, with support from a dedicated team of volunteers from across the University and partner institutions. Their enthusiasm, expertise and commitment helped create an engaging and inspiring experience for everyone involved.

The Summer School demonstrated the important role that early career researchers play in inspiring future generations and sharing the real-world impact of research. 

Frankie Hough, STEM Ambassador, is particularly passionate about encouraging young people to engage with science and engineering: “Creating and delivering a project from scratch and watching a group of students grow not only in their knowledge of fusion and its career paths, but also in confidence and enthusiasm, has been an amazing experience. 

"It has been great connecting the two Fusion CDTs at The University of Manchester and working together to deliver something that has had a measurable impact on how students perceive the field of fusion.”

Aneeqa Khan, Fusion CDT lead, said that: “The Fusion Academy Summer School was a great success! It was really inspiring to see all the hard work that our PhD students from the Fusion Power and Fusion Engineering CDTs put in pay off. 

"From applying for funding, to designing novel activities showcasing the latest in fusion research, they did an absolutely brilliant job in inspiring the next generation!”

View highlights from the week in photos.

Read more about postgraduate researcher development.

The University of Manchester and the Fear and Belonging in Minority Buddhist Communities Research Project Team invite you to a launch event for ‘grasp, grasp’ by Sian Fan, with an artist Q&A led by Chris Wright, former Executive Director of FutureEverything.

The event takes place on Wednesday 30 September, 6.30-8.15pm, at esea contemporary. Tickets are free (limited capacity, advance booking required).

‘grasp, grasp’ is a digital artwork which draws on the anonymised life stories of members of two different Buddhist communities, collected by University of Manchester academics Erica Baffelli and Jane Caple.

The work is a web-based experience filled with emotive photography and soundscapes, which traverses multiple pathways. It changes shape, operating in different sequences and moving in different directions, inviting viewers to reflect on the ephemerality of emotions.

Without attempting to pin it down, the work hopes to assert the complicated beauty of human experience. It seeks to form a blurry vision of lives lived, that, with your gaze soft and your grip gentle, you can find yourself enveloped within.

Doors at the venue will open at 6.30pm, with the live stream beginning online at 7pm. The artist presentation will be followed by a drinks reception for guests attending in person.

Sian Fan is an award-winning interdisciplinary artist. Her work combines movement, the body and technology to explore embodiment, identity, and human experience in the digital age. She is particularly interested in popularised depictions of Asiatic bodies in movies, anime and video games; in folkloric stories both modern and traditional; and in the thresholds of human identity where one exists as both and neither at the same time. Read more at www.sianfan.com.

For more information and to book tickets, visit Tickettailor.

The pupils most at risk

• Pupils receiving SEN support were more than twice as likely to be suspended as pupils without SEN, while those with an EHCP also had more than twice the odds of suspension.
• Pupils eligible for free school meals were nearly two and a half times more likely to be suspended than those who were not eligible.
• Pupils reporting higher levels of peer pressure and experiences of bullying victimisation were more likely to be suspended.
• Pupils who reported they had used any substance in the past 30 days were nearly three times more likely to be suspended than those reporting no recent substance use, in part because substance use is itself direct grounds for suspension under DfE guidance.

What could help prevent suspensions?

• School belonging, satisfaction with academic attainment and positive relationships with school staff were all associated with lower odds of suspension.
• Stronger emotion regulation was also associated with lower suspension risk.
• Suspensions are associated with multiple overlapping individual and school-level factors, highlighting the need for preventative approaches that address underlying needs rather than relying solely on disciplinary measures.

The research used data from the #BeeWell programme, a youth wellbeing measurement programme led by The University of Manchester in collaboration with Anna Freud, a children’s mental health charity, and the Gregson Family Foundation.

The #BeeWell survey captures young people's wellbeing alongside factors that can influence it, including school experiences, health behaviours, peer and family relationships and neighbourhood characteristics. Survey responses can be linked with administrative data held by participating local authorities, allowing researchers to examine young people's experiences alongside information about suspension and exclusion.

The researchers analysed data from 19,064 pupils in Years 8 and 10 across 69 mainstream secondary schools in Hampshire and Southampton during the 2023/24 academic year. Around six per cent of pupils in the study had been suspended at least once during the academic year.

Looking beyond suspension and moving towards engagement

“Our findings show that suspension is not simply about what happens in an individual classroom or about a young person's behaviour in isolation,” said lead author Dr Stephanie Cahill. “Pupils' experiences of disadvantage, their relationships with peers and staff, their sense of belonging and their additional educational needs all form part of a much more complex picture.

The researchers say the findings highlight the importance of early intervention and preventative support, particularly for pupils experiencing disadvantage or additional educational needs.

Supportive relationships between pupils and school staff, as well as a strong sense of belonging, may play an important role in helping young people remain engaged with education.

The study also highlights the importance of understanding the different pathways that can lead to suspension– a one-size-fits-all approach is unlikely to work for all pupils.

The researchers caution that the study identifies associations rather than causal relationships. Further research is needed to understand the mechanisms underlying these patterns and how schools can most effectively intervene to prevent suspensions.

“We recognise that the current climate within education has meant that many teachers are working under very challenging conditions and that often ‘blanket’ approaches are taken due to limited capacity,” said Professor Neil Humphrey. “In order to ensure more work can be done to understand individual pathways and prevent suspensions, there needs to be increased support for schools from the government.”

You can find helpful resources from #BeeWell on school belonging here.

Publication details

The study was published in the British Educational Research Journal.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.70250

Reinforcement learning (RL) is a powerful paradigm for policy optimisation in sequential decision making, it is used to train an intelligent agent (policy) to make optimal decisions by maximising some long-term reward. While online RL learns a policy by actively interacting with an environment and collecting new data through exploration and exploitation, offline RL learns a policy from a fixed, pre-collected dataset without further interaction with the environment. A typical challenge in offline RL is distributional shift, where the learned policy may encounter scenarios not covered by the offline data. This paper tackles distributional shift and integration of labelled (with rewards) data and unlabelled (without rewards) data in offline RL.

The proposed method, called semi-pessimistic pseudo labelling (SPL), makes it possible to take advantage of the unlabelled data to find a better policy than would be possible only using the labelled data. This improves the reliability of decision-making by improving estimation and accounting for uncertainty while remaining computationally efficient. The authors provide theoretical guarantees for the method and demonstrate its effectiveness through simulations, standard reinforcement learning benchmarks, and an application to adaptive deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease. By making better use of available data, the approach has the potential to improve AI systems in healthcare and other high-stakes domains.

You can find the full ‘Semi-pessimistic Reinforcement Learning’ paper here.

Jin Zhu^1,2, Xin Zhou³, Jiaang Yao⁴, Gholamali Aminian⁵, Omar Rivasplata⁶, Simon Little⁴, Lexin Li³∗, Chengchun Shi¹∗
¹London School of Economics and Political Science, ²University of Birmingham, ³University of California at Berkeley, ⁴University of California at San Francesco, ⁵The Alan Turing Institute, ⁶University of Manchester. *Corresponding authors.

A review by University of Manchester scientists says sophisticated lab-grown tumours could help fast-track the search for new cancer treatments while reducing reliance on animal testing.

Publishing in the British Journal of Cancer, the researchers assessed biomaterial-based cancer models using advanced materials known as hydrogels.

The models recreate key features of tumours in the lab, offering a potentially quicker way to study how cancers grow and spread.

The technology could also help scientists identify promising drugs more quickly by providing a realistic testing environment before treatments reach clinical trials.

However, the researchers stress that animal studies will remain an important part of cancer research for the foreseeable future, often providing valuable evidence about disease and drug safety.

And unlike animal research, the new technology cannot yet replicate the whole-body complexity needed to assess all aspects of drug efficacy and safety.

Hydrogels, which are derived from synthetic, plant, human or animal cells, act like a scaffold and closely mimic the environment surrounding cancer cells inside the human body.

The technology allows scientists to add cancer cells and other cell types to three-dimensional structures, creating miniature tumour ecosystems that reflect what happens in patients better than conventional two-dimensional models.

The three-dimensional tumour models are designed to mimic real cancers more closely, recreating key features such as cell interactions and drug resistance.

Two-dimensional cell cultures often fail to replicate the complexity of tumours, leading to promising drugs appearing effective in the laboratory only to disappoint in later testing.

Eve Tipple, a PhD researcher from The University of Manchester and lead author of the review, said: “Though animal research will remain for the foreseeable future, continued advances in biomaterials could pave the way for a new generation of cancer models that are relevant to human disease.

“This technology might help researchers make better decisions earlier in the drug development process and accelerate the arrival of life-saving treatments for cancer patients worldwide.

“The technology could cut the number of animals used in research, save millions of pounds, and speed up the search for life-saving treatments.”

Cancer remains one of the world's biggest killers despite huge advances in treatment, and one major reason is that most new drugs never make it to patients.

For decades, researchers have relied on simple 2D cell cultures grown on flat plastic surfaces.

But these models fail to capture the complexity of real tumours, which contain intricate networks of cells, tissues and chemical signals.

As a result, drugs can appear highly effective in the lab only to disappoint in later testing.

She added: “Cancer is far more than a collection of diseased cells because the environment surrounding a tumour strongly influences how it grows, spreads and responds to treatment.

“Biomaterial-based models allow us to recreate many of these complex conditions in the laboratory with a level of control that was previously impossible.

“This gives researchers a powerful platform to study cancer biology, improve drug testing and ultimately help bring effective treatments closer to patients.”

• The paper Using biomaterial-based 3D in vitro cancer models to solve current clinical problems here DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s41416-026-03392-3.
• Image shows a 3D model

The ERC Starting Grant is one of Europe's most competitive and prestigious funding schemes, supporting outstanding early-career researchers pursuing ambitious, high-risk, high-gain research.

Custom-made materials that behave like biological molecules

Metal-peptide frameworks are microscopic structures formed when short peptides connect to metal ions and assemble into an ordered network. By changing the peptide building blocks or the metals used, researchers could create materials with tailored properties, from speeding up chemical reactions to conducting electricity.

While metal-peptide frameworks have shown promise as highly versatile materials, discovering new frameworks currently relies on slow and laborious chemical synthesis.

To address this, the project will harness a specially engineered bacterial strain with an expanded genetic code that allows the incorporation of non-canonical amino acids, molecular building blocks not found naturally in living organisms. By programming cells to produce diverse libraries of metal-binding peptides, the team aims to accelerate the discovery of entirely new materials that can self-assemble and be optimised through directed evolution.

The research could open up new possibilities for designing biological materials that combine the sophisticated functions of proteins with the scalability and accessibility of synthetic materials. In the longer term, these materials could be engineered to act as sustainable biocatalysts, conductive biological components or multifunctional biomaterials with applications across biotechnology and green manufacturing.

The project builds upon Martin’s previous work in synthetic genomics and genetic code expansion, an area of synthetic biology that enables researchers to introduce new chemical building blocks into living organisms. His previous research has helped expand the range of molecules that can be genetically encoded.

By combining these capabilities with materials science, the ERC-funded research aims to establish metal-peptide frameworks as an entirely new class of evolvable biomaterials. Researchers hope that understanding how these structures form and function could eventually enable the development of materials capable of coupling renewable energy sources with biological processes, contributing to future sustainable technologies and a circular bioeconomy.

There is no credible scenario in which expansion at Heathrow can go ahead without blowing a hole in the UK’s legally binding climate targets, new modelling published by the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at The University of Manchester reveals today.

The report, commissioned by the environmental justice organisation Friends of the Earth, provides the first detailed analysis of whether Heathrow expansion is compatible with the UK’s legal carbon budgets.

Recent approvals of airport expansion at Gatwick, Stansted Luton and many other locations mean that UK aviation is already projected to exceed its share of the Seventh Carbon Budget (2038-42) by between 21 and 50%, depending on how much sustainable aviation fuel materialises. That is before any Heathrow expansion takes place.

The analysis concludes that the two technologies relied upon to enable passenger growth or airport expansion to fit within carbon budgets – Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) and Greenhouse Gas Removals (GGR) – are not even close to being on track for sufficiently capacity within the required timeframe.

The report concludes that Heathrow expansion cannot credibly meet the UK’s climate targets thanks to three key findings:

• Aviation emissions: The UK’s aviation sector will already exceed its share of the Seventh Carbon Budget by around 40%, even before Heathrow expansion is considered. The research highlights how even the government’s own modelling reaches a similar conclusion.

• Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF): Based on existing evidence SAF would be unable to close the emissions gap. Even optimistic deployment of this technology would leave aviation above its carbon budget share. Previous studies have shown that current SAF production methods face major structural constraints or compete with agriculture for land and water, just as farmers have experienced what could be the worst harvest on record and are already warning about the impact of the climate crisis on food production.

• Greenhouse Gas Removals (GGRs): GGR describes methods that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and stores it long-term, such as bioenergy with carbon capture and storage. The report highlights how global GGR deployment is significantly off track and that no engineered removal plants are operating yet in the UK. Despite this, aviation emissions modelling heavily relies upon future potential GGR to offset additional emissions. Even before any airport expansion is taken into account aviation is the biggest projected user of GGR capacity. On top of this, these scenarios all depend on SAF pulling its weight; if SAF fails to deliver, even more GGR will have to be deployed. The report concludes that the building capacity for more aviation demand before large scale GGR facilities are operational is inconsistent with taking climate targets seriously.

• Non-CO₂ impacts are not accounted for: Aviation's full warming effects are not captured within carbon budgets. Non-CO₂e impacts including from nitrogen oxides and contrails, account for around two-thirds of aviation's climate warming and should be incorporated into future climate targets.

What do the researchers say?

The lead researchers, Dr Lois Pennington, Professor Alice Larkin and Dr Chris Jones recommend decisionmakers reject any proposed expansion at Heathrow Airport.

Dr Lois Pennington, Research Fellow at the Tyndall Centre said:

“Every aviation scenario the UK Government has published overshoots the carbon budget Parliament has legislated, before a third runway at Heathrow is even taken into account.

“Our analysis shows that aviation cannot continue to grow if the sector is to make a proportionate contribution to meeting the UK’s carbon budgets. Sustainable aviation fuels and carbon removals can contribute to limiting aviation emissions, but there is currently no evidence that these technologies can support the scale of aviation expansion envisaged by the government.

“Further aviation expansion carries a significant risk of exacerbating climate impacts by relying on the growth of technologies that are unlikely to materialise in the timescale needed.

“The UK is experiencing another exceptionally hot summer, while record-breaking severe wildfires have burnt across Western Europe. The Government must reassess the case for expansion. Climate policy must be grounded in what we can demonstrate and evidence, rather than what we hope may become possible.”

Mike Childs, head of policy, science and research at Friends of the Earth, said: 

"After this summer of record-breaking heat and nearly 3,000 excess deaths, this third runway is the equivalent of pouring petrol on a raging wildfire.

"The evidence is clear: there is no route where expansion at Heathrow can be in line with our legally binding climate targets. Suggesting that sustainable aviation fuel and greenhouse gas removals can enable airport expansion is simply trying to pull the wool over people’s eyes.

"The government has a choice: commit to taking action on the climate seriously, reject Heathrow expansion and constrain excessive flying, or abandon the UK's climate targets and future generations by giving the third runway the go ahead.

"With a weak economic case to support expansion set against a huge impact on the climate and communities, this is the opportunity for the new Prime Minister to truly set a precedent by turning his back to corporate lobbying and say no to a third runway at Heathrow."

The public consultation on the government's Heathrow Expansion National Policy Statement (HENPS) closed earlier this week on Tuesday 1 September, the same day that members of parliament returned from recess to scrutinise the proposal.

Friends of the Earth and the Tyndall Centre are calling on the UK Government to reject Heathrow expansion and ensure future aviation policy remains consistent with legally binding carbon budgets under the Climate Change Act.

Read the full report here: Heathrow Airport expansion risks for the Climate Change Act - Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research

Professor Konstantinos Stathopoulos is a leading corporate governance scholar whose research examines how companies are governed and how corporate decision-making affects different stakeholders. His work has a particular focus on executive compensation and the ways in which poor governance practices can affect stakeholder wealth. More recently, his research has examined the interests and influence of stakeholders, including employees, in corporate decision-making and governance. 

He is Vice President of the International Corporate Governance Society, Chair of the Corporate Governance Special Interest Group of the British Accounting and Finance Association and an Otto Mønsted Visiting Professor at Copenhagen Business School. He was Editor-in-Chief of Corporate Governance: An International Review from 2019 to 2024.

Professor Andreja Zevnik is an interdisciplinary scholar whose research explores political resistance, protest, race, identity and marginalisation.

Her work draws on psychoanalysis, continental philosophy, and postcolonial theory to examine how political identities and forms of resistance are produced. Her recent research has focused particularly on the racialisation and political mobilisation of Roma communities in Europe, Black Lives Matter and other forms of anti-racist political mobilisation. Her research with colleagues has also helped to raise awareness of antigypsyism and strengthen political representation and advocacy among Roma communities in Slovenia.

“Our newest Fellows represent some of the most influential voices in social science today,” said Will Hutton, President of the Academy of Social Sciences. “Their work is expanding knowledge, challenging assumptions and generating insights that are informing and even redefining decision making across government, business, education and civil society.”

“I am delighted to welcome these leading experts to the Academy, and look forward to working with them to raise the profile and impact of the social sciences across the UK and beyond.”

Using South Africa's MeerKAT radio telescope, the international team measured radio emissions from neutral hydrogen dating back to a time when the Universe was several billion years younger than it is today.

The findings, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, demonstrate the potential of a technique known as hydrogen intensity mapping, which allows astronomers to study vast regions of the cosmos more efficiently than ever before.

Key findings

• Researchers directly detected the hydrogen intensity mapping signal using MeerKATradio observations alone.
• The signal comes from hydrogen that existed when the Universe was several billion years younger than today
• The measurement traces cosmic structures across scales of millions of light years.
• The results validate hydrogen intensity mapping as a practical new tool for cosmology, enabling scientists to probe the large-scale structure of the distant Universe.
• The technique could help future telescopes map the Universe more efficiently than traditional galaxy surveys.

How hydrogen intensity mapping works

Neutral hydrogen naturally emits a faint radio signal known as the 21-centimetre line. As the Universe expands, this signal is stretched to longer wavelengths, allowing astronomers to observe hydrogen at different stages of cosmic history.

Rather than detecting individual galaxies one by one, hydrogen intensity mapping measures the combined radio emission from many unresolved galaxies. This makes it possible to study enormous volumes of the Universe and build a three-dimensional picture of its structure.

Until now, reliable detections of this signal at these distances have typically relied on combining radio observations with optical galaxy surveys. In this new study, however, the team has directly detected the hydrogen intensity mapping signal using MeerKAT radio observations alone.

The team analysed around 96 hours of observations from MeerKAT and detected the signal from two periods in cosmic history, corresponding to emissions that have travelled approximately four to five billion years before reaching Earth. The measurements trace hydrogen across scales of several million light years - comparable to the distance between the Milky Way and its neighbouring galaxy Andromeda.

What the researchers say

“This is a very exciting milestone,” said Dr Sourabh Paul, lead author of the study. “Hydrogen intensity mapping has long been seen as a promising way to map the Universe efficiently, but the signal is extremely faint and difficult to isolate from foreground emission, human-made radio-frequency interference, and instrumental effects. Detecting it directly with MeerKAT shows that this technique is becoming a practical tool for cosmology.”

“This was a challenging data analysis process, requiring a detailed understanding of the many sources of contamination that can affect such a faint measurement,” Professor Santos added. “It is particularly remarkable that the data used in this study were taken in 2018, when MeerKAT had only just started science operations. There is now a rich trove of MeerKAT data waiting to be explored with this method.”

The researchers say the work opens up new opportunities to measure neutral hydrogen over cosmological distances and study how galaxies form and evolve over cosmic time.

Dr Zhaoting Chen, co-author of the study, said: “Neutral hydrogen is one of the key ingredients for understanding how galaxies form and evolve.

“With intensity mapping, we do not need to detect every individual galaxy. Instead, we can measure the collective signal from hydrogen across large cosmic volumes, giving us a new way to study both galaxy evolution and the underlying matter distribution of the Universe.”

The detection also has important implications for future cosmological surveys. Hydrogen intensity mapping is expected to become a major science driver for the Square Kilometre Array Observatory, for which MeerKAT is a precursor telescope.

Professor Laura Wolz, co-author of the study from Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at The University of Manchester, added: “MeerKAT continues to open new windows for cosmology. The fact that this signal can be extracted from observations that were not originally designed for hydrogen intensity mapping is very encouraging. It shows the enormous scientific value of MeerKAT data and points the way to future observations with SKAO.”

The researchers say future observations covering larger areas of the sky and using longer observing times will enable astronomers to map hydrogen in even greater detail, helping reveal how galaxies formed, how dark matter shapes the cosmic web, and how the Universe has evolved over billions of years.

Publication details

The study was published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ae808f

Since appointing its first research leads in 2022, Creative Manchester has continued to grow, nurturing exciting interdisciplinary research and convening research communities at The University of Manchester and the city region. In line with the University’s Manchester 2035 strategy, the platform is working to convene a challenge-led research model in collaboration with our Cultural Institutions, partners and communities that champions our world-leading collections and archives, amplifying their reach. To achieve this, a new Research Theme focussed on activating the University’s and Cultural Institutions’ vast archival collections is being developed from September 2026. This theme compliments Creative Manchester’s existing three research themes - Creative Industries and Innovation/CreaTech, Creative and Civic Futures and Creativity, Health and Social Care – which continue to remain relevant and are expanding in line with the aspirations set out in Manchester 2035.

The newly appointed Academic Lead for Research Partnerships (Special, Scientific and Cultural Collections), Professor Ana Carden-Coyne, will work closely with the Platform’s leadership, Creative Manchester Director Professor Michelle Phillips and Deputy Director Dr Constance Smith, as well as with Associate Vice President (Cultural Portfolio), Professor John McAuliffe to develop and help coordinate activity across the theme.

In this role, Professor Carden-Coyne will focus on developing the academic work and grant capture on research collections across University of Manchester Library and the wider Cultural Institution collections’ research activities. She will partner and engage with our diverse community of academic researchers, curators, conservators and imaging specialists, and further grow the Platform’s interdisciplinary research networks to address strategic opportunities.

Professor Ana Carden-Coyne is Director of the Centre for the Cultural History of War (CCHW) in the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures. She is a cultural historian and curator inspired by people’s creative responses to war and conflict, acts of resistance, and calls for civil and human rights. Working closely with other disciplines, cultural practitioners, and museums energises her thinking. When activated through collaboration, co-curation, and shared decision-making, the cultural leadership of contemporary communities and artists not only enriches our collective knowledge, but also transforms our human connections. Her work is grounded in deep respect for the makers of objects, artworks, and stories that are held dear in the past and present, which can be brought to light for future generations.

As part of her recently funded Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) project Understanding Displacement Aesthetics and Making Change in the Art Gallery with Refugees, Migrants and Host Communities (2021-24) she published the accompanying project book Understanding Displacement Aesthetics: History, Art and Museums (MUP, open access) this year.

For more details on Professor Carden-Coyne's work and publications, please refer to her Research Explorer page.

Alongside these direct impacts, wider changes across the STFC astronomy portfolio will affect many JBCA researchers through collaborations, partnerships and access to other facilities and programmes.

One of the most significant decisions is the cessation of STFC support for e-MERLIN, the UK's National Radio Astronomy Facility operated from Jodrell Bank Observatory. The e-MERLIN programme currently supports much of the operational, engineering and scientific capability required to conduct radio astronomy observations from Jodrell Bank.

Without alternative funding, the loss of e-MERLIN would lead to the cessation of routine astronomical observations undertaken at Jodrell Bank Observatory, including the Lovell Telescope. The impact extends far beyond a single telescope network. It would affect the specialist technical, engineering and operational expertise that enables scientific observations across the Observatory, as well as research leadership, international collaborations, technical support for novel projects and the training of students and early-career researchers.

The combined effects of the proposed changes affecting e-MERLIN, JIVE participation and related astronomy programmes therefore pose a substantial risk to the future of Jodrell Bank Observatory as a major centre for observational radio astronomy. While educational, heritage and public engagement activities will continue through Jodrell Bank Centre for Engagement, the loss of active research capability would reduce opportunities to engage the public with new discoveries, live science and cutting-edge UK astronomy. Combined, these will make JBCE a less attractive place to visit if Jodrell Bank is not conducting world-class research on site.

JBCA and Jodrell Bank Observatory is working closely with The University of Manchester, staff, users, partners, funders and stakeholders to assess future options and explore opportunities to preserve these capabilities for the UK and international astronomy communities.

Further Information

• University of Manchester statement
• e-MERLIN FAQ
• Letters of support from the international science community
• UKRI STFC Prioritisation Outcomes

We will continue to provide updates as further information becomes available.

Key points

• In the age of AI, business communications start to look more alike.

• The researchers generated AI-augmented twins of more than 26,000 real-world crowdfunding campaign descriptions. Across the resulting AI-augmented versions, there was substantially less variation than across the original human-written narratives. Among other differences, the AI-rewritten pitches varied 43% less in how abstract their language was, and variation in length and writing quality fell by around 80%.

• As AI makes polished communications easier to produce, audiences likely develop more demanding expectations about the quality of these communications.

• Business owners may increasingly need to provide evidence for the claims they make about their businesses, as audiences become less willing to rely on plausible-sounding statements alone.

• Cultural competence and storytelling skills could even become more valuable, rather than less, as it becomes more challenging to craft effective business communications in the age of generative AI.

What the experts say

"Generative AI can support entrepreneurs in many aspects of storytelling, but it cannot substitute for the cultural understanding required to navigate an increasingly complex evaluative environment," said lead author Dr Karl Taeuscher from The University of Manchester’s Alliance Manchester Business School. "Business owners will still need to understand their audiences, recognise cultural expectations and know how to position their businesses in ways that are both credible and distinctive."

The researchers caution that the study presents a plausible scenario rather than a prediction, as both AI technology and social norms surrounding its use are changing rapidly. The analysis of AI-augmented crowdfunding descriptions is intended to illustrate the research’s central argument rather than to test it.

Publication details

The research was published in the journal Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/10422587261472523.

A common but often overlooked cause of high blood pressure may be hiding in plain sight – and data from a pioneering wearable device could hold the key to its earlier diagnosis, according to new research.

The study, published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, concerns a condition called primary aldosteronism – a hormone disorder which affects up to one in five people with high blood pressure and puts them at higher risk of developing heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and other major health problems.

Researchers from the University of Manchester and the University of Bristol in the UK, the University of Bergen in Norway, and partners in Stockholm and Athens found that patients with the disorder experienced bursts of hormone production during the day as well as in the night while asleep, when routine blood testing is rarely carried out.

Thanks to an ingenious portable device, developed at the University of Bristol, the hormone levels of patients were able to be monitored round-the-clock in their homes rather than a hospital or research unit. This means hidden irregularities could be uncovered, which may normally go undetected by current testing methods, leading to earlier detection of health conditions.

Study co-lead author Dr Thomas Upton, Clinical Research Fellow in Automated Sampling Clinical Fellow at the University of Bristol, and Senior Clinical Fellow at Bristol Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: “Primary aldosteronism is an important cause of high blood pressure and the most common cause of secondary hypertension we see in our blood pressure clinic. It could be affecting millions of people in the UK. However, due to the way hormones change during the day and the current complexity of the diagnostic process, diagnosis is often delayed or never made at all.

“In our study, patients were monitored at home during normal activity, and this allowed us to see how hormones changed over time in realistic settings. This approach could potentially revolutionise how we diagnose hypertension and ultimately reduce cardiovascular disease – particularly heart disease and strokes – that could have been prevented.”

The proof-of-concept investigation continuously monitored hormone levels every 20 minutes in 60 patients from Bristol, Bergen, Stockholm, and Athens, over a 24-hour period. The patients all wore a lightweight device – which is the size of a mobile phone and attaches at the waist – allowing hormones to be measured from the skin, while they carried out normal daily activities, including sleeping at night.

Called U-RHYTHM, the technology was adopted and advanced by the spinout company Dynamic Therapeutics in 2023.

Study senior author Dr Eder Zavala, UKRI Future Leader Fellow at the University of Manchester, said: “By continuously monitoring hormones over 24 hours, we were able to reveal a previously hidden pattern of nocturnal hormone bursts. This gives us a much clearer understanding of the disease and could ultimately help doctors detect it earlier and treat patients more effectively.

“A more detailed mathematical and computational analysis of daily hormonal profiles could eventually also help uncover earlier and more subtle forms of the disease, opening new opportunities to improve outcomes for patients living with high blood pressure.”

Computational analysis of data from the device allowed researchers to track changes in aldosterone, the hormone responsible for regulating salt and water balance in humans, along with two closely related hormones known as 18-hydroxycortisol and 18-oxocortisol.

Existing tests may be missing patients because the study results showed aldosterone levels do not stay high all the time. Furthermore, the researchers found that even among some of the most severe cases of the disease, there were periods when hormone levels dipped below the minimum thresholds used to diagnose the condition.

Rather than finding persistently raised hormone levels, the researchers discovered repeated night-time bursts of hormone secretion while the day-night rhythm remained intact.

These hormone spikes, produced by the adrenal glands, were particularly prominent in patients whose disease was caused by a problem in only one adrenal gland rather than both. The abnormal hormone patterns disappeared after surgical removal of the affected adrenal gland, providing further evidence that the bursts were directly linked to the disease.

Study co-author Prof Stafford Lightman, Professor of Medicine at the University of Bristol and inventor of the U-RHYTHM technology, added: “The findings suggest that clinicians may need to rethink how they look for the disorder which the Endocrine Society clinical practice guidelines now recommend should be considered for all people with hypertension, also known as high blood pressure.

“Future diagnosis could move away from single time point blood tests and towards tracking the body's hormone rhythms over time, particularly the overnight patterns that appear to hold crucial clues to disease. Further research is needed to define the best clinical pathways, using dynamic hormone measurement, to ensure early diagnosis of this common and potentially curable cause of high blood pressure.”

The research was funded by EU Horizon 2020, the Trond Mohn Foundation, the UKRI Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Medical Research Council, University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation, the Swedish Medical Research Council and Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation.

The findings support the University of Bristol's research 'Grand Challenge' focus on Understanding and Preventing Cardiovascular Disease and builds on NIHR-funded initiatives aimed at earlier identification of people with hypertension and other cardiovascular risk factors.

• Tissue corticosteroid rhythms are dysregulated predominantly during sleep in primary aldosteronism’ in Science Translational Medicine . DOI: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.aeb7517