Although scientists knew one atom thick, two-dimensional crystal graphene existed, no-one had figured out how to extract it from graphite, until Professor Geim and Professor Novoselov’s groundbreaking work in Swagֱ�� in 2004.

Geim and Novoselov frequently held ‘Friday night experiments’, where they would play around with ideas and experiments that weren’t necessarily linked to their usual research. It was through these experiments that the two first isolated graphene, by using sticky tape to peel off thin flakes of graphite, ushering in a new era of material science.

Their seminal paper ‘, has since been cited over 40,000 times, making it one of the most highly referenced scientific papers of all time.

What Andre and Kostya had achieved was a profound breakthrough, which would not only earn the pair a Nobel Prize in 2010 but would revolutionise the scientific world.

The vast number of products, processes and industries for which graphene could significantly impact all stem from its extraordinary properties. No other material has the breadth of superlatives that graphene boasts:

• It is many times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible
• It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent
• It is the world’s first two-dimensional material and is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.

It’s areas for application are endless: transport, medicine, electronics, energy, defence, desalination, are all being transformed by graphene research.

In biomedical technology, graphene’s unique properties allow for groundbreaking biomedical applications, such as targeted drug delivery and DIY health-testing kits. In sport, graphene-enhanced running shoes deliver more grip, durability and 25% greater energy return than standard running trainers – as well as the world’s first .

Speaking at the , hosted by Swagֱ��, Professor Sir Andre Geim said: “If you have an electric car, graphene is there. If you are talking about flexible, transparent and wearable electronics, graphene-like materials have a good chance of being there. Graphene is also in lithium ion batteries as it improves these batteries by 1 or 2 per cent.”

The excitement, interest and ambition surrounding the material has created a ‘graphene economy’, which is increasingly driven by the challenge to tackle climate change, and for global economies to achieve zero carbon.

At the heart of this economy is Swagֱ��, which has built a model research and innovation community, with graphene at its core. The enables academics and their industrial partners to work together on new applications of graphene and other 2D materials, while the accelerates lab-market development, supporting more than 50 spin-outs and numerous new technologies.

Professor James Baker,  CEO of Graphene@Swagֱ�� said: “As we enter the 20^th anniversary since the first discovery of graphene, we are now seeing a real ‘tipping point’ in the commercialisation of products and applications, with many products now in the market or close to entering. We are also witnessing a whole new eco-system of businesses starting to scale up their products and applications, many of which are based in Swagֱ��."

What about the next 20 years?

The next 20 years promise even greater discoveries and Swagֱ�� remains at the forefront of exploring the limitless graphene yields.

Currently, researchers working with INBRAIN Neuroelectronics, with funding from the European Commission’s Graphene Flagship, are developing brain implants from graphene which could enable precision surgery for diseases such as cancer.

Researchers have also developed wearable sensors, based on a 2D material called hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), which have the potential to change the way respiratory health is monitored.

As for sustainability, Dr Qian Yang is using nanocapillaries made from graphene that could lead to the development of a brand-new form of , while others are looking into Graphene’s potential in grid applications and storing wind or solar power. Graphene is also being used to reinforce , to reduce cement use – one of the leading causes of global carbon dioxide.

Newly-appointed Royal Academy of Engineering Research Chair, Professor Rahul Nair, is investigating graphene-based membranes that can be used as water filters and could transform access to clean drinking water.

Speaking at the World Academic Summit, Professor Sir Andre Geim said: “Thousands of people are trying to understand how it works. I would not be surprised if graphene gets another Nobel prize or two given there are so many people who believe in this area of research.”

Discover more

To hear Andre’s story, including how he and Kostya discovered the wonder material in a Friday night lab session, visit: 

To find out more about Swagֱ��’s work on graphene, visit: 

To discover our world-leading research centre, or commercial accelerator, visit

To find out how we’re training the next generation of 2D material scientists and engineers, visit:

• .

The new Hub for Advanced Long-acting Therapeutics (HALo) will focus on driving research, public and patient engagement, and the translational infrastructure required for the development and manufacture of new Long-acting therapeutics (LATs).

LATs are predicted to revolutionise treatment of health conditions by replacing extensive periods of daily pill taking with a single administered dose.

The approach addresses the issue of missed daily drug doses, which can cause a range of complications, from a lack of efficacy to pathogen resistance. They will also help patients stay on treatment, make it easier to achieve optimal dosing targets and reduce the burden on health systems.

The project is supported with an £11 million grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). As a key partner, Swagֱ�� has been awarded £1.5m from the grant to lead efforts to advance multiple strands of LAT research.

The Swagֱ�� activity is an interdisciplinary team, led by , Reader in Sustainable Materials. Dr McDonald is Head of Environmental Sustainability and Engagement for the and is also Research Area lead for Chemical Materials Design within the .  

Alongside Dr McDonald is , , and .

The Swagֱ�� team will focus on:

• Developing innovative in situ forming implant technologies, which allow for a controlled release of medication directly at the site of need.
• Creating predictive models to evaluate drug release kinetics, helping to optimise LAT formulations for better patient outcomes.
• Quantifying the sustainability benefits of LAT medicines, including reductions in packaging waste and resource use, as part of a broader effort to make healthcare more environmentally friendly.

Dr Tom McDonald said: “Long-acting therapeutics have the potential to address significant challenges in drug administration by offering more convenient, effective, and sustained treatment options.”

LATs are emerging as the next landmark for healthcare management; pharmaceutical companies are realising the benefits for clinical outcomes and patient well-being. Such technologies are already in use in fields such as contraception, HIV therapy, and the management of mental health conditions.

By focusing on understanding the physical science that underpins existing successful LAT medicines, HALo will create new proof-of-concept LAT medicine candidates for diseases and conditions where no LAT option exists yet, such as high blood pressure and asthma.

HALo is led by Professor Steve Rannard at the and the Hub will primarily be hosted within its Centre of Excellence for Long-acting Therapeutics (CELT) - the world’s first academic centre of excellence focussed on LATs.

Professor Rannard said: “Long-acting therapeutics have the potential to simplify the administration of medicines, improve clinical outcomes and reduce the costs of healthcare provision.

“They are widely predicted to revolutionise disease treatment and healthcare management. HALo provides a much-needed focal point for new LAT developments in the UK and by working with partners it will ensure the UK is on the path to global leadership in this exciting new field.

“The outcomes from HALo will have far-reaching benefits globally and also enable CELT focus on low and middle-income country healthcare needs where LATs are expected to be transformational.”

HALo brings together academics, industry, clinicians and other stakeholders including patient groups and policy makers. Key partners of the project, include Swagֱ��, Queens University Belfast, the University of Nottingham, alongside the Liverpool University Hospitals Foundation Trust, Alder Hey Children’s Foundation Trust and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.

HALo is one of  that aim to transform healthcare through the development and application of revolutionary new technologies.

As and a habitable climate teeters, it’s understandable to feel despair.

Some of the world’s top climate scientists at the prospect of reaching 3°C by 2100. This hellish scenario, well in excess of the 1.5°C countries agreed to aim for when they signed the 2015 , would indeed spell disaster for much of life on Earth.

As a lecturer in sustainability, I often hear my anxious students bemoan the impossibility of building a way out of ecological collapse. However, the greatest danger is fatalism, and assuming, as claimed, that “there is no alternative”.

There is a vast ocean of possibility for transforming the planet. Increasingly, cities are in the vanguard of forging more sustainable worlds.

Car-free futures

Since the , the car has afforded a sense of freedom while infringing on the freedoms of .

Cars, particularly , are a major source of air pollution and . Motorways and have transformed Earth’s terrain and monopolised public space. For those of us in industrialised societies, it is difficult to .

Global sales of electric vehicles are projected to . Yet even these supposed solutions to an unsustainable transport sector require a lot of space and materials to make and maintain.

With cities set to host nearly by 2050, space and livability are key concerns. As such, and are beginning to reclaim their streets.

Between 2019 and 2022, the number of low-emissions zones, areas that regulate the most polluting vehicles in order to improve air quality and help to protect public health, in European cities. Research suggests that policies to such as congestion charges and raised parking fees can further discourage their use. However, providing viable and accessible alternatives is also crucial: as such, many cities are also widening walkways, building bike lanes and making public transport cheaper and easier to access.

An estimated 80,000 cars used to pass daily through the centre of , a city in north-west Spain. Mayor Miguel Anxo Fernandez Lores instituted a ban on cars in 1999 and removed on-street parking spaces. The city has since drastically reduced air pollution and hasn’t had a vehicular death in over a decade.

Living cities

Cement and concrete are to make major infrastructure such as roads, bridges, buildings and dams. The cement industry accounts for up to . Moreover, the open-pit quarrying of limestone, a key ingredient in cement, involves removing topsoil and vegetation which and increases flooding risks.

A burgeoning “” movement originated in in 2008 and has removed concrete and asphalt from cities including , and several cities , replacing it with plants and soil.

Depaving is an example of the wider movement which aims to restore natural habitats and expand green spaces in cities for social and ecological wellbeing.

Multispecies coexistence

A new by the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) has documented in the abundance of monitored wildlife populations globally since 1970. Despite such unfathomable losses, many cities are being transformed into .

Prized for their fur, beavers were hunted to extinction in the UK by the 16th century. Their create homes for other species such as birds and invertebrates and help prevent flooding. Eurasian beavers have been since their reintroduction in the 1920s and 1960s, respectively.

In 2022, beavers were designated a in England. , London saw its first baby beaver in over 400 years.

Melbourne has launched a project to create in the city by 2028, with at least 20 local plant species for each square metre. An 8-kilometre long is also being created to allow wildlife to travel between 200 interconnected gardens and further help local pollinators flourish.

Living alongside larger predators brings unique challenges. However, as with any functional relationship, respect is key for coexistence. Los Angeles and Mumbai are two major cities that are mountain lions and leopards. Local officials have launched public education initiatives urging people to, for instance, maintain a safe distance from the animals and not walk alone outside at night. In cases where wildlife conflicts occur, such as who have lost livestock, non-lethal methods such as wolf-proof fences and guard dogs have been found to be than culls.

Environmental justice now

Cities, particularly in wealthy countries, are only a small part of the story.

At just over 500 years old, the modern capitalist system, imposed globally through , is a relatively recent development. Despite its influence, the visionary author Ursula K. Le Guin that “any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings”.

numbering 476 million across 90 countries represent thousands of distinct cultures that persist as living proof of the enduring possibilities of radically different ways of living.

tracks 4,189 worldwide. From keeping illegal miners at bay, to countless local communities and resisting the construction of new fossil fuel infrastructure. Over the last few years, these place-based struggles have either stopped, stalled or forced the suspension of at least .

These examples demonstrate hope in action, and suggest that the radical changes required to avert climate and ecological breakdown are often a simple question of will and collective resolve.

Reality, like the future, is never fixed. Whether the world is depends on actions taken today. The terrain ahead will be full of challenges. But, glimmers of a better world are already here.

, Lecturer in Sustainability,
This article is republished from under a Creative Commons license. Read the .

The festival is a key element of the Economic and Social Research Council’s () commitment to promote awareness of UK social sciences to new audiences.

The events shaping our world, from climate change to geopolitical tensions and civic protests, reveal how social science is more important than ever to understanding the world.  From big ideas to the most detailed observations, social science affects us all every day – at work, in school, when raising children, within our communities, from the personal and the local, to the national and global level.  

The ESRC Festival of Social Science offers a fascinating insight into some of the country’s leading social science research and how it influences or social, economic and political lives – both now and in the future.  Discover how it shapes public policy and contributes to making the economy more competitive, as well as giving people a better understanding of 21^st-century society.

Attendees at this year's festival will be invited to dive into ‘Our Digital Lives’ by exploring the fascinating intersection of social sciences and technology as we unravel the complexity of human-digital interactions.  Our carefully curated programme offers a compelling look at how social sciences illuminate our evolving relationship with the digital world.

Stian Westlake, ESRC Executive Chair, said: “The ESRC Festival of Social Science offers a unique insight into UK social science research and its relevance to individuals, society and economy.  There are hundreds of free events taking place across the UK and online, including Swagֱ��, Swagֱ�� Metropolitan University and University of Salford.  We hope you enjoy the events and finding out more about social scientists’ work.”

Join us to explore the work of social science from 19 October to 9 November.  Take a look at our range of free events for all ages and tastes!

For a complete calendar of events and details on how to register, we invite you to visit the .   

This festival was made possible thanks to funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), which is part of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

The Scholarship is aimed at first-year undergraduate students nominated by participating universities for the Scheme, and seeks to address the disproportionate under-representation of Black men from less socially mobile backgrounds in large commercial law firms and other careers in the City of London.

It is provided by global law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, and was launched in 2013 with support from Doreen Lawrence, Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon, OBE.

Benefits include a 15-month development programme, mentorship, commercial familiarisation though work-shadowing and £5,000 towards study-related costs. For those who wish it, there is an alternative pathway to an interview for a trainee associate programme at the firm.

Annette Byron, Freshfields’ Partner for Social Mobility, commented: “I am delighted to welcome the new cohort to the twelfth year of the Freshfields Stephen Lawrence Scholarship Scheme. This year, we had the honour of considering 78 outstanding candidates, all showing exceptional potential. We look forward to support our 12 new scholars as they begin their professional paths and continue to contribute to the enduring impact of the Scheme."

Arthur, who is looking forward to starting the development programme, said: “Being selected for the Freshfields Stephen Lawrence Scholarship is an honour. I’m excited to learn and grow alongside such a talented group of scholars, and I hope this experience will not only advance my own ambitions but also inspire others to pursue their goals.”

"I also want to take this opportunity to acknowledge the outstanding efforts of all our candidates who participated in the assessment centres in London," Emma added. “Each of them demonstrated exceptional skill and professionalism, representing both themselves and the University with great distinction throughout the process.”

While on campus, DPM Heng and his delegation explored opportunities for future collaboration, particularly in the space of R&D and innovation. The visit to Swagֱ�� was the only non-London element of the DPM’s UK visit, alongside Cambridge; they visited the city due to its effective innovation ecosystem evident in the relationship between the university, businesses and local government.

DPM Heng observed a briefing by the and the before having dinner with President and Vice-Chancellor, Duncan Ivison. He also visited the Swagֱ�� Fuel Cell Innovation Centre and met with the UK Biobank.

As part of his visit to the city, DPM Heng met with Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Swagֱ��, to discuss views on how government, academia, finance, industry and talent can come together to grow vibrant and integrated innovation ecosystems.

Swagֱ�� has a longstanding relationship with Singapore, welcoming many Singaporean students each year. Undergraduate exchange agreements are in place with the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University and Singapore Management University.

The International Development Division at Swagֱ�� maintains good relationships with the various institutions across Singapore and arranges several visits to Singapore each year for colleagues from Faculties and Schools.

The International Development Division also has close links with the Singapore Students’ Society of Swagֱ�� who act as ambassadors at events, and there are also close ties with the active University of Swagֱ�� Alumni Group.

The Alliance Swagֱ�� Business School (AMBS) has had a presence in Singapore since 1992 and opened the , in Singapore, in 1999; with 400 active students and 1,500 alumni, the Centre offers MBA course and Masters Degrees.

The South East Asia Centre participated in the University’s bicentenary event, Light Up, in January 2024, by gathering current students and esteemed alumni for a jubilant reception.

Simon Johnson - who studied Economics at Swagֱ�� in the 1980s, and is now a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - won the prize alongside Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson in recognition of their work to analyse how institutions and the rule of law shape national prosperity.

Professor Johnson was born in Sheffield, and completed his undergraduate studies at Oxford University, before doing a master's degree at Swagֱ�� and a doctorate at MIT.

His career has included prominent roles at the Washington-based Peterson Institute and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), where he served as chief economist from 2007 to 2008 during the global financial crisis. He eventually returned to MIT as a professor, focusing on global economic inequality and policy.

Through their research, Professor Johnson and his colleagues have shaped global debates by demonstrating that democracies, which hold to the rule of law and provide individual rights, have spurred greater economic activity over the last 500 years. Their insights - derived from studying colonialism’s enduring effects on global development - have broad implications for economic strategies today.

Professor Johnson’s academic achievements have established him as a leading voice on global economic policy, which has now been further cemented by this honour. He becomes the 26^th Nobel laureate associated with Swagֱ��, either as staff or alumni.

“It is a surprise and a delight to win the Nobel Prize in Economics,” said Professor Johnson. “Getting my master’s degree at Swagֱ�� helped launch my professional career – and I will always be grateful to my teachers and fellow students in those years. Their guidance and inspiration (and many late-night conversations) helped push me down the road towards careful empirical work, bringing history to bear, and understanding the importance of building institutions that support inclusive prosperity.”

“This year’s laureates have pioneered new approaches, both empirical and theoretical, that have significantly advanced our understanding of global inequality,” said Nobel committee member Jakob Svensson. “Reducing the huge differences in income between countries is one of our times’ greatest challenges, and their insights show that democracies are - on average - better for promoting growth in the long run.”

The ‘Zero Carbon Without a Net’ initiative is part of the University’s Environmental Sustainability strategy which was launched last July, and subsequently won the 2023 . Now, the University is being honoured for its dedication to sustainability on an international scale.

The awards featured 95 finalists from 28 countries, with the University coming first in the ‘’ category, which focuses on assessing the steps that institutions are taking - or are planning to take - to reach their sustainability targets.

Recognising the innovative and pioneering initiatives in sustainability, the celebrate the projects undertaken by further and higher education institutions who are striving for a sustainable future.

The University’s initiative focuses on decarbonising its operations to secure a zero-carbon future by 2038. Progress already made includes:

• The landmark deal signed in May 2024 that will see up to 65% of the University’s electricity demand supplied through a brand-new renewables project.
• Completion of the first phase of building decarbonisation projects including the newly refurbished building which now has the infrastructure to support zero emissions.
• A further £25m pledged to decarbonise the University, taking the zero-carbon budget to £175m.

The Green Gown Award judges commented: “Swagֱ��’s “Zero Carbon Without a Net” initiative is candid and ambitious. The approach of clearly assessing reality in relation to ambitions is very important and ensures that the approach taken is sincere, going beyond intentions to focus on transformation. Its scientific approach, detailed planning. And substantial internal funding demonstrates a deep institutional commitment to sustainability.”

Swagֱ��’s Environmental Sustainability strategy builds on the University’s core goals of Teaching and Learning, Research and Discovery and Social Responsibility and stresses the need to embed sustainable practises into all University plans, policies and processes.

The strategy also highlights six priority operational areas, all linking back to the United Nations Sustainability Goals: Construction and Refurbishment; Risk and Climate Resilience; Responsible Procurement; Resource Management; Valuing Nature; Travel and Transport. 

“We are incredibly delighted to be recognised internationally for our decarbonisation plans, which are firmly grounded in science, with our zero-carbon target set in collaboration with experts from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research” said Julia Durkan, Swagֱ��’s Head of Environmental Sustainability. “This award not only acknowledges our ambitious plans but also celebrates the collective efforts of our colleagues who have made this initiative a reality.  We’re proud to be part of the international effort to tackle climate change, and we know achieving these goals requires continuous, urgent action and global collaboration.”

City of Trees is an independent charity that plant, look after and promote a culture of trees across Greater Swagֱ��. They work with volunteers across the region, as part of their ‘Citizen Forester’ programme to enhance green skills, boost health and wellbeing, and to help tackle the climate and biodiversity emergency.

Aligned closely with the University’s values and social responsibility agenda, both City of Trees and Swagֱ�� are passionate about making the region even better, one tree at a time.

In the University's special bicentenary year, it is partnering with City of Trees on several initiatives:

• The University's International Relations team signed the first agreement City of Trees earlier this year, kicking off the partnership which has been growing throughout the bicentenary year. The new agreement and initiative is a positive step in looking at the small changes with big impact that we can make as an institution
• The new agreement and initiative was officially launched at the International Friends of Swagֱ�� Day on 10 October, whereby the University made a donation on behalf of each international delegate to City of Trees. City of Trees will then plant a tree in Greater Swagֱ�� to represent each international delegate who attended the event - signifying that international colleagues continue to be a crucial part of the growth and development of both the University and the city.
• For our 200th year specifically, the University is working with City of Trees to plant 200 trees across new woodland sites in Greater Swagֱ��.
• From 7-9 October the University hosted the THE World Academic Summit and chose to make a charitable donation to City of Trees on behalf of each delegate attending, to the total of £1,500.

Swagֱ�� is truly excited to be supporting City of Trees and partnering with them on these activities, which will foster into the future.

The ��ö����ö�� is tangible proof of a mathematical theory, developed by Gábor Domokos and Péter Várkonyi from the Budapest University Technology and Economics, about the stability of solid objects. The ��ö����ö�� is a three-dimensional, homogenous, convex object that has exactly one stable and one unstable equilibrium, or balance point; if you put it down on a flat surface it will reorient itself until it reaches the one stable equilibrium point.

The mathematicians have chosen to gift one of the ��ö����ö�� pieces to the University with the unique serial number 1824, in honour of the University’s 200^th anniversary which is being celebrated throughout 2024. ��ö����ö�� 1824 is sponsored by Mr Ottó Albrecht, who has funded the ��ö����ö�� donation programme for many years. The piece stands at 180mm tall and is made from plexiglass. It will be exhibited in the Mathematics Department located in the Alan Turing Building.

��ö����ö�� 1824 was presented to the University at a ceremony on 10 October, by H.E. Ferenc Kumin, ambassador of Hungary, and was accepted by , Vice-President and Dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering and , Head of the Department of Mathematics. The ambassador also had the chance to have lunch with Hungarian staff and students at the University and took a tour of the robotics lab.

Since its discovery in 2007, many ��ö����ö�� pieces have been donated to renowned institutions worldwide, including Harvard University, the Beijing Institute of Mathematical Sciences, the Pompidou Centre and The University of Tokyo.

There are few ��ö����ö�� pieces in the UK; The University of Oxford, The University of Cambridge, Windsor Castle, The Crown Estate, University College London and Academia Europaea are the only institutions which currently have a ��ö����ö�� on display. Swagֱ��’s ��ö����ö�� 1824 is the first ��ö����ö�� to be gifted to an institution in the North of England.

Professor Andrew Hazel, Head of the Department of Mathematics, said: “It is somewhat unusual to have a mathematical object whose proof of existence can be realised in such a tangible way. The ��ö����ö�� is visually interesting and stimulates discussion between staff, students and visitors.”

Although discovered in Hungary, the ��ö����ö�� has connections to Swagֱ��. Some of the early research on the statics of solid bodies was pioneered by Sir Horace Lamb, who studied Mathematics at Owens College and was a Professor of Physics at the University between 1885 and 1920. Lamb wrote the influential textbook Statics, Including Hydrostatics and the Elements of the Theory of Elasticity, which describes methods that can be adapted to analyse the stability of the ��ö����ö��.

The ��ö����ö�� is also relevant for current research being undertaken at the University. Researchers working on granular flows and particle dynamics used the ��ö����ö�� as a test shape for computer codes, to verify the stability calculations used to analyse piles of grains.

H.E. Ferenc Kumin, ambassador of Hungary, said: “It is with great pride that we present the G1824, a remarkable embodiment of Hungarian ingenuity and problem-solving, in honour of Swagֱ��'s foundation. More than a scientific marvel, for us, Professor Domokos' ��ö����ö�� represents Hungarian thinking and creative problem solving.”

History of the ��ö����ö��

In geometry, a body with a single stable resting position is called monostatic; the term mono-monostatic has been coined to describe a body which additionally has only one unstable point of balance.

The weight of the ��ö����ö�� is distributed evenly; and no simpler homogeneous shape exists with these properties. In fact, it is not possible for a convex, homogenous, solid three-dimensional object to have fewer than two equilibria.

The question of whether it is possible to construct a three-dimensional body which is mono-monostatic, homogenous and convex, was posed by Russian mathematician Vladimir Igorevich Arnold at a conference in 1995, in Hamburg.

In 2007, Gábor Domokos and Péter Várkonyi proved Arnold’s conjecture correct and created the first physical example, which became known as the ��ö����ö��. The discovered mono-monostatic shape is the most sphere-like shape, apart from the sphere itself; its name is a diminutive form of ��ö����, meaning ‘sphere’ in Hungarian.

��ö����ö��-like shapes can be seen in nature. Biological evolution developed a similar shape in the form of the shell of the , which self-rights when turned upside down. Domokos and Várkonyi spent time studying tortoises in Hungary, attempting to explain the shape and function of their shells.

After its creation in 2007, a series of individual ��ö����ö�� models were launched. Each individual ��ö����ö�� carries its own unique serial number, between 1 and the current year, and has only been produced once.

The first individually numbered ��ö����ö�� model (��ö����ö�� 001) was presented by Domokos and Várkonyi as a gift to Vladimir Igorevich Arnold on his 70^th birthday in 2007; Professor Arnold later donated ��ö����ö�� 001 to the Steklov Institute of Mathematics, where it is currently on exhibit.

The report, led by researchers from the Universities of Bristol, New South Wales, Glasgow, and Swagֱ�� and involving an international team of experts, is published today9/10/24).

Self-harm remains neglected worldwide.  There are at least 14 million episodes every year, with the greatest number in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

It is defined as instances of people hurting or injuring themselves intentionally, regardless of the reasons.

However, shame and stigma can often stop people from seeking help. Self-harm can occur at any age but is most common in young people and is increasing in this group.  Self-harming behaviour leads to an elevated risk of death by suicide. People attending health services only represent the ‘tip of the iceberg’ for self-harm. 

The Commission makes a number of recommendations that could change the experience of people who have self-harmed for the better.

They include suggestions for more compassionate and effective delivery of health and social care services as well as whole of government approaches to address the causes of self-harm and reduce stigma.

The commission also highlights the necessity of seeing self-harm through a global lens, responsible handling of the topic of self-harm in all types of media, and the involvement of people with lived experience in designing and delivering care.

Prof Nav Kapur, Professor of Psychiatry and Population Health at the University of Swagֱ�� has helped lead a number of NICE guidelines on self-harm and suicide prevention.  He co-led the Commission with Professors Paul Moran, Helen Christensen and Rory O Connor.  The report includes over 40 authors from around the world. 

Prof Kapur said: “It was great to be part of the team which produced this Commission.  I’ve been working in services for self-harm for 30 years but what was striking for me with this piece of work was the integration of mental health and public health with global, indigenous, and lived experience perspectives”.

Published this week by , the volume investigates the lives and public work of Henry and Emily Simon, and Ernest and Shena Simon, a family shaped by their German ancestry and Swagֱ��’s mercantile class.

The book is written by , Senior Lecture in Geography, , Doctoral Researcher in History, Dr Diana Leitch MBE, former Deputy University Librarian of the John Rylands Library, , Professor of Intellectual History, and , Professor Emerita in the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures.

Although many in Swagֱ�� are familiar with the Simon name – through the University’s Simon Building, Simonsway in Wythenshawe and the Swagֱ�� College’s Shena Simon Campus – the family themselves are often overlooked in favour of other prolific local individuals. This volume aims to boost their profile by illuminating their deep contributions to public life, both locally and nationally. 

The book aims to study the family collectively, by highlighting the marriages of Henry and Emily and of Ernest and Shena as strong partnerships in which the women played important roles not just as mothers and housewives but also as philanthropists, activists and public figures.

Dr Diana Leitch said: “Emily Simon was one of the first women to be awarded an OBE in 1920, shortly before she died aged 60, for her tireless work at the Red Cross Hospital she ran in her home in very tragic personal circumstances. It was a tribute to her courage and resilience through the First World War.”

The first section of the volume, ‘Cosmopolitan Swagֱ�� and the Simons’, focuses on the four Simons as individuals; the four biographical chapters are framed by a study of Swagֱ��’s German community. The second part, ‘The Simons’ contribution to society’, emphasises the family as a unit and spotlights their economic, social and political endeavours in Swagֱ��. 

In a later chapter, ‘Burghers and citizens: The Simons and the University of Swagֱ��’ Professor Stuart Jones and Dr Professor Chris Godden examine the relationship between the University and the Simon family. Ernest and Shena were at the heart of the University for many decades, and the family have a long connection with the institution and its precursors. 

In 1898, as a leading benefactor, Henry Simon was asked to lay the foundation stone for the new Physics Laboratories for Owens College, later integrated in 1903 into Swagֱ��. It was in these same laboratories that Ernest Rutherford, Hans Geiger and their colleagues first split the atom. 

Ernest Simon’s substantial personal investment in social science research - notably through the Simon fellowship scheme - was conceived as a contribution to the cause of citizenship education, to which he devoted much of his public work from the 1930s onwards.

Professor Stuart Jones comments: “As a senior lay officer at the University for a quarter of a century, as a leading benefactor, and as a practically-minded thinker, Ernest Simon did more than anyone in his time to sustain a vision of what it meant to be a civic university: a university for the city.”

The family greatly enriched Swagֱ��’s cultural and civic institutions, worked to improve the lives of its citizens and helped to spearhead profound national reforms in healthcare, women’s rights, housing, civic planning and education. 

• Read the full text of The Simons of Swagֱ�� .

This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the future of the English language and its many forms around the world.

Emerging Englishes: China English in Academic Writing can be purchased at the following link:  

The rankings are developed based on responses to questionnaires sent to the world’s leading academics and take into account these senior figures’ opinions. They assess research-intensive universities across 18 performance indicators, which are divided into five pillars covering their core missions of teaching, research, knowledge transfer and internationalisation.    

The University - one of only twelve UK Universities in the top 100 - fell slightly from 51^st place in 2023. Swagֱ�� is also ranked the 6^th best university in the UK and 52^nd in the world in the Academic Ranking of World Universities, with the University’s social and environmental impact ranked in the top ten globally (Times Higher Education Impact Rankings).  

The last 12 months have seen a raft of major developments and initiatives at Swagֱ��. The University has marked its bicentenary with a huge number of events across campus celebrating 200 years of learning, innovation and research. Unit M, a new capability to drive the University’s approach to innovation, was launched at the World Academic Summit. Staff, students, alumni and partners are currently participating in Swagֱ�� 2035, the University’s bold new strategy for the next decade.  

President and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Duncan Ivison said: "Whilst rankings don’t measure everything we value, Swagֱ��’s place among the world’s top universities is testament to the dedication and hard work of our entire community. We excel in pioneering research, outstanding teaching, and social responsibility and it has been exciting to share our campus and city with delegates at this week’s Summit.” 

“However, we recognise there is always room for improvement. Collectively, over the next decade, we need to be more impactful, more engaged, more innovative, and more committed to excellence than we have ever been in our history. This is the vision that is inspiring us as we begin to develop our new Swagֱ�� 2035 strategy over the coming months.”  

Phil Baty, Times Higher Education’s chief global affairs officer, said: “While, overall, the picture of UK higher education in our rankings is positive, the sector is being battered by numerous prevailing winds. Chief amongst them is the extremely stretched finances it is facing and the restrictions on recruiting international students making it harder for them still, making it almost impossible to see how the sector can sustain its position in the coming years without significant help.  

“We have heard positive words from education secretary Bridget Phillipson, which is very encouraging for the sector. We hope this more positive environment will translate for better news for UK HE which has somehow stayed world-leading despite the extremely tough funding environment it finds itself in.”  

contains full list of the 100 universities with the best reputation in the world. 

The (UMHC) was created by Student Minds in partnership with leading higher education bodies and thousands of staff and students. Swagֱ�� was amongst the first group of universities to sign up as members of the , which brings together universities committed to making mental health a university-wide priority, to share practice and create cultural change. 

The is a voluntary accreditation scheme that supports universities to understand their areas of strength and development to inform ongoing improvement in mental health and wellbeing, recognising good practice along the way. 

As part of the assessment process, we conducted a robust, evidenced-based assessment of our whole-university approach against the principles of good practice within the , including any challenges, weaknesses, and areas of improvement. A self-assessment report, a student-led report and a two-day onsite visit from Student Minds which involved over 100 staff and students, were all part of the assessment process.

Overall, Student Minds stated: “in many areas we can be confident that the University is sector-leading” and that they were “encouraged that the University is going in the right direction.” Student Minds felt that “the University is largely doing well to meet the Principles of Good Practice and is doing an incredible job to work towards having a whole university approach to mental health.”   

In awarding the University with the UMHC Award, Student Minds highlighted several examples of excellent practice, including: 

• Within the External Partnerships and Pathways theme, Student Minds “were particularly impressed with the University ’s commitment to the partnership work across the Greater Swagֱ�� Universities Student Mental Health Service. This is widely being acknowledged as novel, innovative and sector leading.” 
• Within the Progression theme, Student Minds “recognised as excellent practice that the University now offers 3.5 years (versus the standard 3 years) of funding to funded PhD students in recognition of the positive impact of this on completion and PGR student wellbeing.” 
• Within the External Partnerships and Pathways theme, Student Minds noted that “the University is part of a sexual violence network across Swagֱ�� that includes the HEI’s, police, council, and NHS. This approach is potentially sector-leading and an example of excellent practice in developing external partnerships.”

Speaking about the UMHC Award, Sarah Littlejohn, Director of Campus Life and UMHC Lead said: “The UMHC Programme has given an additional focus and impetus to our existing institutional priority of student and staff mental health and wellbeing. It has helped to shine a light on our whole-University approach, encouraging us to reflect on our current practice across all the different framework themes. We are proud to have achieved the UMHC Award which marks the latest part of our journey in our commitment to continuous improvement around mental health and wellbeing, and our dedication to its ongoing development.” 

The University will continue as members of the UMHC Programme and will now start to use the Award Outcomes Report to inform and feed into our work in this area. Our priorities for the next 6-12 months will focus on the UMHC Framework themes of Student Voice and Participation, Learning, Teaching and Assessment and Inclusivity and Intersectionality. 

Aisha Akram, Wellbeing and Liberation Officer, University of Swagֱ�� Students’ Union commented: 'I'm really pleased that we have received this award and I particularly appreciate the commitment to including myself and my fellow officers at the Students Union within countless panel discussions, in order to ensure that the University's commitment to the student experience with our support service is driven by student feedback. 

“We will continue to work with the University to ensure that we all stay committed to working in this area and building on the recommendations offered to us. I'm excited to enhance collaboration between the Students’ Union and the University to push for the best possible student experience.”

Head of Colleague Wellbeing, Helen Brewis, said:  “I’m delighted we have achieved the UMHC Award, reflecting the commitment we place on the wellbeing of our students and colleagues and how we have worked as a whole university community on our approach to mental health.

"Over the last two years, we have significantly developed our approach to supporting our colleagues’ mental health and wellbeing. The process of working towards the award has helped us to reflect on what is working well and where we can do more. We look forward to using the recommendations from the Award Outcomes Report to continue developing our approach to promoting and supporting good mental health and wellbeing at work.” 

• For further information about UMHC Award holders, please visit the  
• For further information about the UMHC Programme, please email UniversityMHCharter@manchester.ac.uk.

Swagֱ�� is today launching a new capability, , to rethink how it supports the region’s innovation economy. With a mandate to drive the University’s new approach to innovation, Unit M will connect and catalyse the innovation ecosystem in Swagֱ�� and the wider region to accelerate inclusive growth.

The UK faces a myriad of interlinked urgent economic and social challenges which require faster and more inclusive growth across all parts of the country. Cities like Swagֱ��, as the UK’s second largest city, are critical to rebalancing growth - but lower productivity, R&D spend and startup activity currently hinder the region in achieving its full potential. 

“The transformative potential of fully embracing innovation cannot be understated, both for the region and for the UK more widely” says Duncan Ivison, President and Vice Chancellor of Swagֱ��.  “Unit M lies at the heart of the University’s ambition to power an inclusive economy, positioning Swagֱ�� as a central player on the global stage to accelerate growth for all in society.”

Unit M is designed to address all aspects of the innovation challenge - from R&D through to innovation adoption through to talent and skills - by making the world leading  innovation assets and talents of the University more accessible to all. Unit M will drive a new strategy for the University to create a globally leading innovation ecosystem in the region. This will encompass powering the start up and scale up community, catalysing industry clusters, leading future skills provision, strengthening the University’s partnerships within the region, and telling Swagֱ��’s innovation story.  
 

Examples of some of the activities that Unit M will undertake include:

• Creating accelerator and incubator programmes and building investor networks for the startup and scale up community;
• Developing regional innovation clusters and innovation partnerships to attract new innovation-intensive businesses to the region; 
• A new lifelong approach to skills - from expanding scientific/technological skills provision for students, to training executive leaders on innovation adoption; 
• Rethinking the University’s approach to R&D to be more flexible and responsive to industry demand

Unit M will have the agility to operate dynamically in response to the most impactful opportunities as they emerge - whether that’s connecting students into the ecosystem or drawing on expertise from across the whole University to help solve real world challenges from industry. 

“Swagֱ�� has experienced major change over the past 30 years, but not everyone has benefited from rising prosperity”, said Mayor of Greater Swagֱ��, Andy Burnham. “Now, more than ever, we need to pioneer a new model of regional collaboration that harnesses our industrial strengths and innovation capabilities. Unit M will not only foster inclusive growth throughout Greater Swagֱ��, but contribute to the broader prosperity of the UK.”

Unit M is live from today, and will be rapidly scaling over the coming months. The team is seeking to connect with entrepreneurs, investors, changemakers and business leaders who are interested in partnering with the University.

Cllr Bev Craig, Leader of Swagֱ�� City Council, said: “Swagֱ�� has always been a hotbed of innovation. Building on our existing strengths is vital to Swagֱ��, and Greater Swagֱ��, accelerating our growth at scale to generate more jobs and investment. With Unit M, Swagֱ�� is doing exactly that - doubling down on innovation while encouraging even more collaboration with our business community. Further strengthening the city's innovation ecosystem will help create jobs, investment and growth that works for everyone.”

Unit M will align with and complement existing capabilities across the University, including the University’s tech transfer office, The Innovation Factory,  The Pankhurst Institute for Health Technology and the Turing Innovation Catalyst and its sector leading business engagement, student entrepreneurship, and flexible learning teams. It will also partner closely with external capabilities, including the Greater Swagֱ�� Combined Authority (GMCA), local councils and other institutions.  

By convening these existing innovation services across the University and its key strategic partners, Unit M will accelerate and drive the development of new opportunities to build a strong innovation economy throughout the region.  

The team of researchers from the Universities of Swagֱ��, Dundee and Aberdeen reviewed the evidence from 157 studies which compared communities that had fluoride added to their water supplies with communities that had no additional fluoride in their water. They found that the benefit of fluoridation has declined since the 1970s, when fluoride toothpaste became more widely available.

The contemporary studies were conducted in high-income countries. The impact of community water fluoridation in low- and middle-income countries is less clear, due to the absence of recent research.

Fluoride, used in many commercially available toothpastes and varnishes, is known to reduce tooth decay. Governments in many countries have added fluoride to the drinking water supply to improve population oral health, although there are polarized views on whether this is the right action to take.

“When interpreting the evidence, it is important to think about the wider context and how society and health have changed over time,” says co-author Anne-Marie Glenny, Professor of Health Sciences Research at the University of Swagֱ��. “Most of the studies on water fluoridation are over 50 years old, before the availability of fluoride toothpaste. Contemporary studies give us a more relevant picture of what the benefits are now.” 

Results from studies conducted after 1975 suggest that the initiation of water fluoridation schemes may lead to slightly less tooth decay in children’s baby teeth. Analysis of these studies, covering a total of 2,908 children in the UK and Australia, estimates that fluoridation may lead to on average 0.24 fewer decayed baby teeth per child. However, the estimate of effect comes with uncertainty, meaning it’s possible that the more recent schemes have no benefit. By comparison, an analysis of studies with 5,708 children conducted in 1975 or earlier estimated that fluoridation reduced the number of decayed baby teeth, on average by 2.1 per child.

The same contemporary studies (conducted after 1975) also looked at the number of children with no decay in their baby teeth. The analysis found that fluoridation may increase the number of children with no tooth decay by 3 percentage points, again with the possibility of no benefit.

The review was only able to draw conclusions about the impact on children’s teeth, with similar findings across both baby and permanent teeth. There were no studies with adults that met the review’s criteria.

“The evidence suggests that water fluoridation may slightly reduce tooth decay in children” says co-author Dr Lucy O’Malley, Senior Lecturer in Health Services Research at the University of Swagֱ��. “Given that the benefit has reduced over time, before introducing a new fluoridation scheme, careful thought needs to be given to costs, acceptability, feasibility and ongoing monitoring.”

Advocates have suggested that one of the key benefits of water fluoridation is that it reduces oral health inequalities. This updated review sought to examine this question and did not find enough evidence to support this claim, although this doesn’t necessarily mean there is no effect.

The review’s findings accord with recent observational studies including the , which compared anonymised dental health records with water fluoridation status for 6.4 million adults and adolescents in England between 2010 and 2020. People in fluoridated areas needed slightly fewer invasive dental treatments with no significant impact on inequalities.

“Contemporary evidence using different research methodologies suggest that the benefits of fluoridating water have declined in recent decades,” says Tanya Walsh, Professor of Healthcare Evaluation at the University of Swagֱ��, co-author on both the Cochrane review and the LOTUS study. “Oral health inequalities are an urgent public health issue that demands action. Water fluoridation is only one option and not necessarily the most appropriate for all populations”.

“Whilst water fluoridation can lead to small improvements in oral health, it does not address the underlying issues such as high sugar consumption and inadequate oral health behaviours” says co-author Janet Clarkson, Professor of Clinical Effectiveness, University of Dundee. “It is likely that any oral health preventive programme needs to take a multi-faceted, multi-agency approach.”

Celebrated every October, Foundation Day marks the coming together of the Victoria University of Swagֱ�� and Swagֱ�� Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) in 2004.

This year marks the University’s 200^th anniversary. The bicentenary represents an important milestone for the University, and the chance to both reflect and look ahead. As well as anniversary celebrations, this year’s event is particularly significant as it is President and Vice-Chancellor Duncan Ivison’s first-time celebrating Foundation Day since joining the University in August 2024.

Giving the annual Foundation Day address, President and Vice-Chancellor explored critical questions about our future, the path to achieving our ambitions, and the ways in which we can further our commitment to social responsibility, teaching and research excellence, and civic engagement. These themes are behind Swagֱ�� 2035, the University's new strategic roadmap building on the purpose, vision, and values of Our future, to identify and accelerate Swagֱ��'s ambitions for the next decade.  

Each year Foundation Day sees honorary degrees given to a number of notable names for their achievements.

2024’s Honorary Graduates:

Professor Emeritus John Casken is an established and successful composer; his works range across different genres and are inspired by literature, landscape and visual arts. He was a Professor of Music at the University from 1992 to 2008. His music will be performed at the 20^th anniversary celebrations for the Martin Harris Centre on 25 October.

Sir Clive Lloyd is a former cricketer and was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. He was captain of the West Indies cricket team, and played for the Lancashire cricket team from 1968, before being made captain in 1981.

Professor Emeritus Tony Redmond OBE studied medicine at Swagֱ�� and is a world-leading specialist in emergency medicine. He is the founder of UK-Med, an organisation which coordinates the provision of health workers to international crises, and he was appointed as the medical director of the NHS Nightingale Hospital North West during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dame Sharon White is Chair of the John Lewis Partnership (her term ends at the end of September this year). She previously held a variety of roles in the Civil Service and was the Chief Executive of the British media regulator Ofcom from March 2015 to November 2019. White was Second Permanent Secretary at HM Treasury from 2013 to 2015; she was the first black person and the second woman to occupy this role.

The Nature Genetics communication , published today (02/10/24), has shown that around a year with rare genetic diseases never receive a diagnosis, many dying without the underlying cause being determined.

The researchers also emphasise existing research that calculates the of pursuing lengthy diagnostic journeys rare genetic diseases to the NHS is over £3 billion per decade. 

Hospital geneticists rely on published evidence to make diagnoses, but because of inconsistent variant naming, say the authors, they are often unable to locate relevant information, even if it exists. 

Many geneticists, they say, are using simpler but less accurate nomenclature, preventing databases like ClinVar and the Leiden Open Variation Database (LOVD) from properly identifying and adding literature to their records. 

However, a system called devised by researchers at the University of Leicester and now based at Swagֱ�� is being used by leading medical journals to give each variant a standardized name.  That allows diagnostic evidence to be shared and found. 

In the communication paper the authors urge doctors to use the system to name genetic variants.

Though rare diseases, caused by variations in DNA sequences, affect fewer than 1 in 2,000 people the sheer number of rare genetic disorders at around 8,000 impact about 8%-10% of births worldwide.

Lead author Dr Peter Freeman from Swagֱ��, whose son has an undiagnosed genetic disorder, is lead scientist in the team that devised and develop VariantValidator.

He said: “It’s widely recognized that doctors often describe DNA variants using various outdated or non-standard naming systems.

“But the accurate naming of variants is crucial so that doctors can reference them and provide a diagnosis for patients with a genetic disorder.

“Sadly, many people, including my son, have not received the diagnosis they need which has difficult implications for them.

“For example without a diagnosis it can be very difficult to get a place at an appropriate school, or access desperately needed services.

“It’s galling to know that someone out there might have identified the variant which caused his illness, but may not have named it correctly so there’s no way of finding it.”

He added: “VariantValidator has been around for 7 years and is considered the gold standard in terms of naming genetic variants accurately so other clinicians will be able to find the definition and use them.

“But in a vast number of cases that is just not happening because it’s easier and quicker to cut corners or rely on outdated systems only recognisable in specific clinical disciplines.

“The problem is so widespread I’ve even come across experts responsible for setting clinical standards making these errors when naming variants in genetics focussed policy guidelines”.

“Our work is with the Human genome, but the nomenclature of genetic variants in viruses and other pathogens are also similarly non-standardised - and that’s also a problem which needs to be addressed.

“Nomenclature should accurately describe the changes in DNA sequencing observed when there is a variant when compared to a standard sequence. But in many cases, this is simply not happening and is part of a complex set of problems that is causing miss or missed diagnoses.”

The paper Standardising variant naming in literature with VariantValidator to increase diagnostic rates is available

In the Legal Advice Centre our students - supervised by University staff and volunteer lawyers - offer free advice to the general public. Student Alicia Smith was able to meet the Attorney General as part of the visit. “It was a surreal experience, and I felt very fortunate to be able to discuss my views with the Attorney General,” she said. 

“It was a real honour for the Attorney General to attend the Justice Hub and take an interest in the pro bono activities our students are involved with,” said Phil Drake, Director of the Justice Hub. “The Attorney General particularly engaged with our students to understand their perspective and experiences, which I know has galvanised and inspired them to continue with their passion for access to justice.”

“It was a pleasure to host the Attorney General at the Justice Hub,” said Claire McGourlay, Academic Director of the Swagֱ�� Innocence Project. “Two of our students Roan Goulden and Alicia Smith talked through the work that they do to help the most disadvantaged in our society. We invited the Attorney General to give a lecture in the future, so watch this space.”

The Athena Swan Charter is designed to help institutions achieve gender equality and meet equality legislation requirements. It also identifies areas for positive action, recognises and shares good practices, and supports the promotion of inclusive work environments.

All three Schools (School of Biological Sciences, School of Health Sciences, School of Medical Sciences) were holders of individual Silver Athena Swan awards since the formation of FBMH.

In 2022, the Faculty  consolidated efforts into one Athena Swan Award application, rather than submitting three concurrent School applications. This approach was designed to enable the scaling up of initiatives, whilst showcasing achievements in a more detailed way. It also allowed the Faculty to include a larger number of professional services staff, demonstrating  commitment to equality and career progression for all staff in FBMH.

There are three levels of the Athena Swan award: bronze (for planning), silver (for doing), and gold (for sustaining). The Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health has been awarded the silver award, which is valid until September 2029.

Established in 2005, the Athena Swan Charter was created to encourage and recognise commitment to advancing the careers of women in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEMM).

It has since been expanded to include recognition of work undertaken in arts, humanities, social sciences, business and law (AHSSBL), in professional and support roles, and for transgender staff and students. This also includes efforts to combat gender equality more broadly, namely through addressing barriers to progression, irrespective of sex or gender identity.

Professor Natalie Gardiner and Dr Beth Micakovic, Athena Swan Leads of FBMH said: “Creating and maintaining an inclusive and supportive environment where all staff and students thrive is our priority. We have outstanding colleagues driving equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) across FBMH and this award is testament to everyone's hard work. A huge thank you!

“Through the Athena Swan process our EDI leads and self-assessment team were able to take stock of our progress, reflect on successes and where we need to do more. Through critical self-assessment, consultation with key stakeholders, we have co-created an ambitious action plan to tackle inequalities, to promote a positive learning and working environment for staff and students of all genders.

“We hope you will see a number of commitments already coming to fruition, but we look forward to working with the whole FBMH community in delivering on the commitments set out in the Action Plan.”

Advance HE will host a ceremony for all 2024 Athena Swan award recipients in early 2025.

Swagֱ��’s continued commitment to the principles of the Athena Swan Charter, and to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, will ensure a diverse and vibrant working environment for both staff and students.

Feri Anita Wijayanti spoke at the event, ‘Investing in the Future: Unlocking Sustainable Financing for Sexual and Reproductive Health’, which took place in New York last month.

Co-convened by the UNFPA, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the , the summit invited prominent figures across different sectors to promote sustainable investments towards SRH.

Feri was a Young Midwife Leader in a programme organised by the , from 2021 to 2023. She was invited to speak as a representative of frontline SRH workers, particularly midwives, and in recognition of the real-world impact she has in advocating for improvements in SRH.

Feri told the summit: “I live in the fourth most populous country in the world, spanning over seventeen thousand islands. My country is home to diverse communities, with nearly half the population residing in rural areas.  Around 14 % of women in Indonesia faced an unmet need for family planning services.

“In my country, a midwife is the heartbeat of health and well-being of the entire community - our responsibilities extend far beyond delivering babies as we are at the forefront of whatever reproductive health needs a woman might have.”

Wijayanti is now studying for a PhD in Medicine, under the supervision of Professor Alexander Heazell and Dr Kylie Watson at the School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health. Her research focuses on health professionals’ and women’s perceptions of reduced fetal movement in Indonesia.

Throughout the summit, speakers emphasised the life-changing power of SRH. The event raised awareness, as well as promoting financial investment, into the importance of effective and accessible SRH services. Many speakers pledged support via financial investments in SRH services, increasing access to contraceptives and maternal healthcare, and donating resources to family planning organisations.

The commitment demonstrated by Wijayanti and her fellow speakers at the summit illustrates a step forward in closing the considerable financing gap in SRH faced by many countries.

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is one of the UK's most common life-limiting inherited diseases, affecting over 11,000 people and nearly 200,000 people worldwide.

The condition causes mucus to build up in the internal organs, especially the lungs and digestive system. This can lead to chronic chest infections, lung inflammation and other complications such as digestive problems. For many people, managing their health involves a rigorous daily treatment regime including physiotherapy and antibiotics which can be given orally, through a nebuliser (a device where liquid medicine is turned into a mist that can be inhaled) and occasionally intravenously (through a vein).

Despite recent advances in treatment, there is still no known cure for CF, and the average age of death is just 33.

The multi-million-pound Innovation Hub in Swagֱ�� will be part of a new £15 million Translational Innovation Hub Network, funded by medical research charity LifeArc and leading charity Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

Research in Swagֱ�� will take place at Wythenshawe Hospital, part of MFT, focusing on understanding why people develop lung exacerbations (flare-ups) and how to personalise treatments for them. By sharing samples, recording results at home, and measuring their home air pollution levels, people with CF will play an important part in studying what triggers these flare-ups and who is most affected.

The responses of people with CF to intravenous (IV) treatments for exacerbations will also be studied using similar monitoring systems. The results of these studies will be essential in helping researchers to find different ways of preventing and treating exacerbations.

Research space, laboratories and specialist lung function support will be provided by the at Wythenshawe Hospital. Samples will be processed by the NIHR Centre for Precision Approaches to Combatting Antimicrobial Resistance, also at the hospital site.

The Swagֱ�� CF Innovation Hub Director is Professor Alex Horsley, a Consultant at the Swagֱ�� Adult Cystic Fibrosis Centre at MFT and Professor of Respiratory Medicine at Swagֱ��.

Professor Horsley, who is also Clinical Director of the NIHR Swagֱ�� CRF at Wythenshawe Hospital and leading researcher in the Respiratory Medicine theme at the NIHR Swagֱ�� Biomedical Research Centre (BRC), said: “This is an amazing opportunity to improve the lung health of people with CF in a way that we’ve never had the opportunity to do before. Together with scientists at Swagֱ�� and clinicians at Wythenshawe Hospital, part of MFT, we’re building on existing partnerships with doctors and scientists in teams around the country. We hope our research will help us understand why people with CF get flare-ups (exacerbations) and how to better prevent and treat these. This will lead to more effective, shorter and tailored or personalised treatment plans that will reduce exacerbations and the disruptions they cause to people’s lives.”

Researchers from the Respiratory Medicine theme, which aims to identify better ways to diagnose lung disease and which factors decide how well people respond to treatments, will act as Principal Investigators for the studies delivered by the Swagֱ�� Hub.

Laura, 35, has Cystic Fibrosis and is Patient Lead for the Innovation Hub in Swagֱ��. She said: "CF has a huge impact on my daily life, it's 24/7. Even if I want to go out for the day, I have to think about getting all my treatment done, have I got enough tablets and how long am I going to be out for. The symptoms change frequently and can change from one day to the next. As soon as I wake up and until I go to bed, it does occupy a lot of my thoughts and impacts how I live my life.

Laura, who receives care at the Swagֱ�� Cystic Fibrosis Centre at MFT, added: "I had an exacerbation when I was 9 or 10, and that really changed the trajectory of my health. Research looking into exacerbations, what the triggers are, and the treatments, is massively needed. I think these Innovation Hubs are a fantastic opportunity to be able to change the way CF is managed."

The Network will be made up of four Innovation Hubs, led by the universities of Swagֱ��, Liverpool, Cambridge and Imperial College London, as well as partners across the UK and overseas. Guided by insights and experiences of people with cystic fibrosis, the Hubs will address areas of unmet medical need and help to overcome some of the barriers that can prevent scientists from turning their discoveries into real outcomes for patients.

Dr Catherine Kettleborough, Head of Chronic Respiratory Infection at LifeArc said: “Even with the development of new treatments like Kaftrio, people with cystic fibrosis still face many challenges which impact their quality of life and life expectancy. The Innovation Hub Network is a unique approach to addressing these problems, using shared knowledge, partnerships and investment to accelerate new tests and treatments for people living with CF.”

Through innovative research, including using AI, sniffer dogs and new home monitoring tests to detect and even predict infections, the Innovation Hubs will aim to transform the way lung infections are managed.

Dr Lucy Allen, Director of Research and Healthcare Data at Cystic Fibrosis Trust, said: “We’re thrilled to be partnering with LifeArc and expanding our Innovation Hub programme, combining our expertise and exploring exciting areas of research to maximise the impact for people with CF.

"Those with the condition are particularly susceptible to lung infections, meaning they often have to spend time in hospital having IV antibiotic treatments and this has a huge impact on all areas of their life. These new Innovation Hubs will help transform our understanding and lead the way to new ways to test and treat lung infections.”

Based at Wythenshawe Hospital, the specialist Swagֱ�� Adult Cystic Fibrosis Centre at MFT is one of the largest and longest established adult CF centres in the UK, with an international reputation for excellence and innovation.

Images: Laura and Alex Horsley

Swagֱ��’s new £1.7bn innovation district and neighbourhood opens the doors to its first building, while unveiling its new name as . The district has also announced its first customer, Sustainable Ventures, Europe's leading climate tech hub, which will officially move into the Renold Building in November. 

Previously known as ID Swagֱ��, Sister is a joint venture between Swagֱ�� and . The project will see the transformation of the University’s former North campus into a 4 million sq ft globally competitive innovation district and will help elevate Swagֱ��’s position as a national centre for science and technology.

Sister will specialise in advancing innovation across sectors including digital tech, health innovation, biotechnology, advanced materials and manufacturing. It will provide access to state of the art facilities, connecting early-stage high growth potential businesses with investors, while creating a collaborative ecosystem that enables UK and global businesses to benefit from cutting edge innovation. 

Driving economic growth and creating opportunities for local communities

Sister is primed to be a catalyst for economic growth and prosperity across the North of England, and is projected to contribute around £1.5bn GVA per annum to Swagֱ��. More than just a development project, the district aims to create a positive social impact through the generation of a large portion of high-quality employment opportunities, including over 10,000 on-site full-time equivalent jobs and accessible routes to education, training and apprenticeships for local people. 

Over 1,500 new homes will be delivered, alongside over 2 million sq ft of commercial, innovation, retail and leisure space. Within 9 acres of public realm space, Sister will also create a new civic square for Swagֱ�� and feature a variety of new and enhanced green spaces for local communities to access and enjoy.  

Reinventing a historic educational building for tomorrow's leading businesses

The opening  of the Renold Building marks the first phase of the ambitious 15 year project and is supported by funding through the Greater Swagֱ�� Investment Zone, of which the district is a key initiative supporting the growth of the advanced materials and manufacturing sector.

The 110,000 sq ft newly renovated building has been transformed into an innovation hub, celebrating its history as a purpose-built teaching facility and centre for science and technology excellence. To support the growth and scale-up of early-stage start-ups and spin-outs, the Renold Building will provide a range of low and no-cost coworking facilities, private office suites, as well as a community cafe and flexible event spaces accessible to local businesses and community groups. 

The first customer to move on site this November is Sustainable Ventures, which helps climate start-ups and entrepreneurs scale through investment, workspaces and venture support. Sustainable Ventures will expand its presence outside of its London headquarters, currently Europe’s largest climate tech hub, by occupying three floors of the Renold Building. 

It will be joined by a number of University innovation initiatives at the Renold Building, including the Turing Innovation Catalyst Swagֱ��, accelerating the growth of AI-start-ups;  the Christabel Pankhurst Institute for health technology research and innovation; and the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Catalyst, a cross-sector collaboration to empower the growth of biotechnology businesses.

Following the opening of the Renold Building, Sister will soon announce plans for the district’s first major development zone, set to include new commercial workspace, a mix of retail and leisure facilities and new public realm spaces.  

A model for successful public-private collaboration

Sister is leveraging successful cross-industry partnerships to become a major economic enabler for the future of the city. The district is one of the key strengths in the GM Investment Zone, which will invest £160 million in projects that increase growth and innovation in the region over the next 10 years and sees central and local government work closely with businesses, higher education institutions and other local partners. Key to delivering Sister’s long-term economic impact is the city region’s strong local leadership and support from industry investment, including through the Bruntwood SciTech joint venture between Bruntwood, Legal & General and Greater Swagֱ�� Pension Fund, now the UK’s largest dedicated property platform dedicated to the growth of the knowledge economy.

Why Sister?

The name, Sister, represents the close bond between industry and academia and expresses an ethos of collaboration, openness and the use of knowledge to solve problems. It builds on the heritage of the former academic campus, once home to the University of Swagֱ�� Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST), and represents a vision to create an ecosystem of like-minded companies, institutions, districts and cities to drive innovation forward and help tackle some of the world’s greatest challenges.

Bradley Topps, Project Director, Sister and Chief Commercial Officer, Bruntwood SciTech, said: “Sister is founded on the belief that it takes a community to raise an idea and that although ideas may appear in a single mind, they flourish when people come together. This new district marks a new chapter in Swagֱ��’s history of science and innovation. Over the next 15 years, we’re dedicated to developing an inclusive space that connects talent, investment, education and enterprise, providing the perfect conditions for ideas to spark, collaboration to flourish, and world-changing innovations to scale.”

John Holden, Associate Vice-President, Swagֱ�� and Executive Committee Member, Sister said: “The opening of the Renold Building is a major milestone in the development of Sister, capitalising on Swagֱ��’s research, innovation and education capabilities to catalyse the growth of successful science and technology start-ups. Sister will be home to some of the most exciting businesses in the UK developing solutions to help tackle society's biggest challenges. We're excited to open the doors to a vibrant new innovation district that will drive growth for ambitious start-ups and scale-ups, attract new science and technology companies to Swagֱ��, and create new opportunities for our staff, students and local communities.” 

Cllr Bev Craig, Leader of Swagֱ�� City Council, said: “This is a significant moment for Swagֱ��. The fact that Sister will ultimately create 10,000 jobs and add £1.5 billion a year to the city’s economy underlines its scale and the sheer ambition behind this major new district. This development will add to Swagֱ��’s thriving innovation ecosystem and, true to the heritage of a site from which great ideas and innovations have previously sprung, will help keep the city in the forefront of future innovation.” 

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Swagֱ��, said: “Sister will be a thriving innovation district at the heart of Greater Swagֱ��. With the Renold Building opening and welcoming its first occupier, we’re seeing the first signs of what this area will become – a home for start-ups, innovation-led businesses, universities, researchers and investors, where the clustering effect helps create jobs and opportunities. Sister is also a key site for our Investment Zone, which is supporting the growth of the advanced materials and manufacturing sector. Our city-region has been a centre of scientific and technological innovation for two centuries and places like Sister are where the next chapter of that story is written.”

CEO of Sustainable Ventures, Andrew Wordsworth, said: “We're thrilled to grow Sustainable Ventures' footprint in the UK by establishing a presence in Sister, at the heart of the UK’s second-largest tech ecosystem. This partnership empowers us to supercharge climate tech innovation across The North, bringing workspace, investment and a wealth of expertise to the region’s pioneering startups and entrepreneurs. The climate tech companies we’ve supported to date have already created over 6,000 jobs and we hope to replicate that economic growth within the region over the next few years.”

This milestone represents a significant advancement in demonstrating the ability of graphene-based BCI technology beyond decoding and translating brain signals, to become a reliable tool for use in precision surgery in diseases such as cancer, and in neurotechnology more broadly. The study was sponsored by the University of Swagֱ��, and primarily funded by the European Commission’s project.

The clinical investigation study was conducted at Salford Royal Hospital, part of the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust in Swagֱ��, UK. The study was led by Chief Clinical Investigator Dr. David Coope, a neurosurgeon at the Swagֱ�� Centre for Clinical Neuroscience and Brain Tumours Theme Lead at the Geoffrey Jefferson Brain Research Centre, and Chief Scientific Investigator Kostas Kostarelos, Ph.D., Professor of Nanomedicine at Swagֱ��, the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience & Nanotechnology, and Co-Founder of INBRAIN.

“The world’s first human application of a graphene-based BCI highlights the transformative impact of graphene-based neural technologies in medicine. This clinical milestone opens a new era for BCI technology, paving the way for advancements in both neural decoding and its application as a therapeutic intervention,” said Carolina Aguilar, CEO and Co-Founder of INBRAIN Neuroelectronics.

INBRAIN’s BCI platform leverages the exceptional properties of graphene, a material made of a single layer of carbon atoms. Despite being the thinnest known material to science, graphene is stronger than steel and possesses a unique combination of electronic and mechanical properties that make it ideal for neurotechnology innovation.

“We are capturing brain activity in areas where traditional metals and materials struggle with signal fidelity. Graphene provides ultra-high density for sensing and stimulating, which is critical to conduct high precision resections while preserving the patient’s functional capacities, such as movement, language or cognition,” said Dr. David Coope, the neurosurgeon who performed the procedure.

“After extensive engineering development and pre-clinical trials, INBRAIN’s first-in-human study will involve 8-10 patients, primarily to demonstrate the safety of graphene in direct contact with the human brain,” said Kostas Kostarelos, Ph.D., Co-Founder, INBRAIN Neuroelectronics. “The study will also aim to demonstrate graphene’s superiority over other materials in decoding brain functionality in both awake and asleep states.”

“The integration of graphene and AI with advanced semiconductor technology has allowed INBRAIN to pioneer a new generation of minimally-invasive BCI therapeutics designed for the personalized treatment of neurological disorders,” said Jose A. Garrido, Ph.D., Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of INBRAIN and ICREA Professor at the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology.

Professor Sir Kostya Novoselov, Ph.D., Nobel Laureate and Vision Board member of INBRAIN, who first isolated stable graphene at Swagֱ�� in 2004, and now at the National University of Singapore, said: “Witnessing graphene's exceptional properties unlock new frontiers in medical technology is truly rewarding. This breakthrough, a result of a decade-long development under the Graphene Flagship program, can now start to unravel its transformative societal impact.”

The study is powered by INBRAIN’s graphene-based Intelligent Network Decoding & Modulation (BCI-Tx) Platform, which has received Breakthrough Device Designation for Parkinson’s disease from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration. INBRAIN’s BCI-Tx platform leverages graphene’s unique properties to deliver ultra-high signal resolution and adaptive neuroelectronic therapy, enabling real-time decoding of biomarkers and precise modulation of cortical and subcortical structures at the micrometer scale for neural network rebalancing.

According to Carolina Aguilar, “INBRAIN is at the forefront of precision neurology, integrating BCI decoding with high-precision neuromodulation to restore function and alleviate symptoms, delivering continuous, personalized treatment to maximize benefits while minimizing side effects.”

To mark World Alzheimer’s Day, Saturday 21 September, Professor Douglas Field is announcing the release of a new book, Walking in the dark: James Baldwin, my father and me, a moving literary exploration of the disease.

Douglas Field was introduced to Baldwin's essays and novels by his father, who witnessed the writer's debate with William F. Buckley Jr. at Cambridge University in 1965. Professor Field rediscovered Baldwin’s works when his father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and turning to Baldwin for answers about his father’s condition inspired Field to write his book.  

Set for publication by in November 2024, Walking in the dark blends biography with memoir. By interweaving his personal experiences with Baldwin’s iconic works, Field demonstrates the power of literature to inspire and illuminate new understandings of both our personal experiences, and the universal mysteries of everyday life.

Douglas Field is a writer, academic and Professor of American Literature. He has published two books on James Baldwin, the most recent of which is All Those Strangers: The Art and Lives of James Baldwin (2015). His work has been published in Beat Scene, The Big Issue, the Guardian and the Times Literary Supplement, where he has been a regular contributor for twenty years. He is a founding editor of James Baldwin Review.

Led by , World Alzheimer’s Day takes place on 21 September, during World Alzheimer’s Month. The 2024 campaign and World Alzheimer Report, which will be launched on 20 September, will centre on challenging why people still wrongly believe that dementia is a part of normal ageing.

Leading up to 21 September, Alzheimer’s organisations and individuals affected by the condition share stories to raise awareness and address the stigma that exists around Alzheimer’s and dementia. Public awareness campaigns, like World Alzheimer's Day, are of great importance for changing perceptions and increasing existing public knowledge around Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

This year’s campaign will centre around the tagline: ‘Time to act on dementia, Time to act on Alzheimer’s’, focusing on changing attitudes towards the condition, while highlighting the positive steps being undertaken by organisations and governments globally to develop a more dementia friendly society.

Professor Douglas Field is holding a free public book launch for Walking in the dark, taking place at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation and hosted by Professor David Olusoga OBE. 

• Details of the book launch are available .
• For more information about Walking in the dark, visit Swagֱ�� University Press .
• Find out more about World Alzheimer’s day .

The researchers are now developing a new framework that will help architects assess their design choices more thoroughly. They plan to test this framework by working with architects to see how it can improve their decision-making in future.

The KEF provides information about the broad ranging knowledge exchange activities of English HE Providers, such as the way universities work with external partners, from businesses to community groups, for the benefit of the economy and society. 

Swagֱ�� supports the full range of knowledge exchange activities through public engagement, supporting businesses and commercialising research towards next generation technologies. Students, staff, partners and local communities all play a key role in ensuring that the University makes a positive societal and economic impact. 

The KEF allows universities to better understand their own performance and fosters a culture of continuous improvement. HE Providers are placed into a cluster of peers, grouping together universities of similar types, with Swagֱ�� placed in a group of 18 large, research-intensive universities including Oxford and Imperial. 

Swagֱ��’s performance in continuous professional development and Graduate Startups, which is supported by the work of the and , received an enhanced rating of high engagement in KEF4, and Swagֱ�� now sits above the cluster group average.  

Swagֱ�� also continues to receive the highest rating for Research Partnerships, where the University is placed above the cluster group average. This recognises the work of the University’s Business Engagement and Knowledge Exchange team.  

The excellent performance of the in licensing, IP income, investment and turnover of spinouts continues to be recognised with the highest rating in IP and Commercialisation. 

The University also received the highest rating for Public Engagement, and includes our achievements in volunteering, festivals, citizen science, and engagement with communities through our cultural institutions, , , , and the . 

Professor Luke Georghiou, Deputy President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, said: “Knowledge exchange is a core priority for Swagֱ��. We shall continue to ensure that our research, teaching and social responsibility activities benefit the economy and society at local, national and global levels.”  

• You can view each university’s performances on the . 

Nobel prize winning physicist Professor Sir Andre Geim will also be delivering a keynote speech at the flagship event in England on Tuesday 8 October in an interview talk titled ‘How graphene has been changing science and technology frontiers.’

Brian Cox is professor of particle physics at Swagֱ�� and is speaking at the opening, in conversation style, keynote. He actively promotes science and is well-known for the science programmes he hosts on the BBC. He received an OBE for services to science in 2010, the President’s Medal from the Institute of Physics in 2012 and the Royal Society Michael Faraday Prize in 2012.

Sir Andre Geim is regius professor and Royal Society research professor at Swagֱ��. He has received many international awards and distinctions, including the John Carty Prize from the US National Academy of Sciences and the Copley Medal from the Royal Society. Most notably, he was awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics for his ground-breaking work on graphene.

THE’s flagship annual higher education summit will feature more than 140 speakers and 450 guests, bringing together thought leaders from across academia, policy, industry and civil society. The agenda will consist of a mixture of keynote talks, panel discussions, seminars, case study conversations, practical workshops, best practice sharing and networking events.

2024 marks the 20th anniversary of graphene being isolated for the first time by professors Sir Andre Geim and Sir Kostya Novoselov at Swagֱ��, for which they won the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics. Graphene is the thinnest material in the world, as well as one of the strongest and hardest. This session will discuss a range of topics including Professor Geim's experiences of isolating graphene and its almost limitless potential.

The event, which takes place at Swagֱ��, will focus on the theme: ‘Making a difference: The role of universities in a rapidly changing world.’ It is the key place to discuss how institutions can make a difference, both internally across departments and externally with industry, government and civil society, to advance transformative research and its practical implementation.

Phil Baty, THE’s chief global affairs officer, said: "We are extremely excited to be welcoming, as keynote speakers, Professor Brian Cox and Professor Sir Andre Geim. They are two individuals who have had a massive impact on our world which fits in perfectly with the theme of Times Higher Education’s flagship World Academic Summit – making a difference.

“We are also absolutely thrilled to be hosting our World Academic Summit in partnership with one the world’s most prestigious higher education institutions – Swagֱ��, on the momentous occasion of their 200th anniversary.

“The summit is about making a difference and we are delighted to have the leaders of the world’s higher education community, as well as some of the leading political, business and civil society figures working in higher education come join and collaborate with us in one of the world’s greatest cities – Swagֱ��.”

The summit will feature the exclusive reveal of the world’s most widely recognised, authoritative and prestigious ranking, THE’s World University Rankings 2025, at a gala dinner. This will be followed by an in-depth masterclass from THE’s data team, providing analysis and insight into the key findings, trends and stories from the rankings data.

Tickets are available for representatives of a university, association, public sector or NGO for £1,695 and are £2,299 for those in a corporate organisation.

Swagֱ�� is proud to share that Dr Bovinille Anye Cho has been announced as a recipient of the prestigious (CDF), a programme aimed at developing underrepresentation in UK STEM academia.

Dr Anye Cho is one of eight outstanding researchers selected in the first cohort of CDFs, who are undertaking groundbreaking research that can benefit society and further human understanding.

His research centres on revolutionising bioenergy processes to become more environmentally sustainable, in particular, anaerobic digestion (AD), which is a process that transforms agricultural and food waste into a clean energy source known as biomethane.

Although an effective way to manage waste, this process also creates a significant amount of carbon dioxide (CO₂) and impurities, which contributes to global warming.

Dr Anye Cho is exploring the use of microalgae, which can be used to convert CO₂ into valuable food supplements and healthcare products through photosynthesis. In the UK, where tons of agricultural and food waste are generated, incorporating algae technology into the exiting AD facilities could increase the production of clean energy, while yielding high-value bio renewables that are currently heavily dependent on imports.

Dr Anye Cho’s project aims to employ advanced mathematical modelling and Artificial Intelligence methods to ensure that facilities of various sizes can operate effectively for long durations, enabling stability and boosting the production of clean energy and valuable products. His fellowship will be based in the Department of Chemical Engineering, where he has served as a Research Associate since March 2023. He earned his PhD from the same department in January 2023, completing it in an impressive three years while publishing over 11 original scientific papers.

The Career Development Fellowships are currently running as a pilot programme with researchers from Black and Mixed Black heritage. The CDFs offer four years of funding (up to £690,000), mentoring and support to kickstart the careers of researchers from underrepresented groups.

The scheme was launched in response to 11 years of higher education data which showed Black heritage researchers leave academia at higher rates than those from other groups. The impact of this higher attrition rate is pronounced at senior levels of academic careers.

Sir Adrian Smith, President of the Royal Society, said: “We need an academic system where talented researchers can build a career, whatever their background. But we know that is not the case in the UK today – particularly for researchers of Black heritage.

“The variety and quality of research being undertaken by this first cohort of Royal Society Career Development Fellows suggests a bright future ahead if we can ensure more outstanding researchers develop their talents and follow their research passions.

“I hope this pilot and the support it offers can be a launchpad to achieve that.”

In addition to their fellowship funding and support from the Royal Society, the award holders will have access to networking and mentoring opportunities supported by the (BBSTEM) network.

If the pilot is shown to be effective, the CDF programme could be expanded to include researchers from other groups, where the data shows there is persistent underrepresentation.

Dr Mark Richards, Senior Teaching Fellow at Imperial College London and a member of the Royal Society’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Subcommittee who participated in the shortlisting and assessment panels for the CDFs, said:

“There are many reasons scientists from marginalised groups may leave academia, often it’s because they’re looking ahead and not seeing themselves reflected in those spaces.

“This scheme, which offers funding, mentoring and recognition from a body like the Royal Society can be the endorsement to propel these eight excellent academics to go on and grow their own research groups.

Overtime I hope it can become self-sustaining, creating a network of scientists in universities, and beyond, who can help raise aspirations and open doors.”

• Applications for the second year of Career Development Fellowships are due to open on 24 September 2024.
• Find out more about the Royal Society Career Development Fellowships .
• Read the Royal Society’s CDFs press release .

The increase – identified from data between 2015 and 2022 - occurred alongside an overall drop in GP supply of 2.7% over the same period, due to falling contractual hours.

The Health Foundation funded study found the median contracted full-time equivalent (FTE) for each fully qualified GP fell from 0.80 to 0.69 between 2015 and 2022.

This reduction was driven primarily by male GPs, who have significantly reduced the hours they are contracted to work from 0.99 to 0.85 FTE.

However the figure for male GPs remains above the levels of their female counterparts, whose hours fell slightly from 0.67 to 0.65 FTE.

Practices in the most deprived areas had 17% more patients and 19% more chronic conditions per GP FTE, compared with the least deprived areas.

All regions reported more chronic conditions per GP FTE than London, which had less demand for GPs.

Lead author of the study published in the British Journal of General Practice today (17/09/24), is Dr Rosa Parisi.

Dr Parisi said: “The NHS in England is facing a year-on-year reduction of the total working hours by general practitioners.”

“This decrease is down to early retirement, high levels of GP turnover and low retention, insufficient number of newly trained GPs joining the workforce, and lack of overseas recruitment.”

“But reduction in working hours is also a major factor. We show that while GP supply decreased by 2.7% from 2015 to 2022 practice population increased by 9%, while the demand, as measured by the total presence of chronic conditions, increased by 32%.”

“The largest contributor to the overall decrease in supply was a fall of 8.7% in GP’s contractual hours of GPs, especially male GPs.”

“We’re not entirely sure why male GPs are reducing their hours, but policies are desperately needed to incentivise them to work longer.”

She added: “We fear GPs are likely to be unwilling or unable to face more of the intense day to day pressures in UK primary care.

“However, policies to reduce administrative workload, increasing support by allied healthcare professionals could incentivise GPs to increase their work hours.

Senior author Professor Evan Kontopantelis said: “In 2015 and 2019, the Government promised 5,000 more GPs by 2020 and an additional 6,000 GPs by 2024, respectively.

“Though there was a rise in GP headcount of 5.9%, specifically 2,154 GPs between 2015 and 2022, the promised increase has not happened. That is why the change in working patterns of GPs makes the challenges facing primary care even more acute.”

He added: “Our results also highlight an existing disparity in GP supply between practices located in the least and most deprived areas.

“Practices in the most deprived areas had 17% more patients and 19% more chronic conditions per GP FTE, compared with the least deprived areas.

“So, in addition to policies aimed to recruit and retain more GPs, it is also necessary to incentivise GPs to work and remain in deprived areas to achieve more equitable levels of care – something easier said than done, we acknowledge.”

The paperGP working time and supply, and patient demand in England in 2015–2022: a retrospective study"., published in the British Journal of General Practice is available here.

The comment piece -  published in The - was coordinated by scientists at Swagֱ��, the Westerdijk Institute and the University of Amsterdam.

According to the scientists most fungal pathogens identified by the World Health Organisation - accounting for around 3.8 million deaths a year - are either already resistant or rapidly acquiring resistance to antifungal drugs.

The authors argue that the currently narrow focus on bacteria will not fully combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

September’s United Nations meeting on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) must, they demand, include resistance developed in many fungal pathogens.

Resistance is nowadays the rule rather than the exception for the four currently available antifungal classes, making it difficult - if not impossible – to treat many invasive fungal infections.

Fungicide resistant infections include Aspergillus, Candida, Nakaseomyces glabratus, and Trichophyton indotineae, all of which can have devastating health impacts on older or immunocompromised people.

Dr Norman van Rhijn from Swagֱ�� coordinated the comment piece with Professor Ferry Hagen from the Westerdijk Institute in the Netherlands.

Dr van Rhijn said: “Most people agree that resistant bacterial infections constitute a significant part of the AMR problem.

“However many drug resistance problems over the past decades have also been the result of invasive fungal diseases largely underrecognized by scientists, governments, clinicians and pharmaceutical companies.

“The threat of fungal pathogens and antifungal resistance, even though it is a growing global issue, is being left out of the debate.”

Unlike bacteria, the close similarities between fungal and human cells which, say the experts, means it is hard to find treatments that selectively inhibit fungi with minimal toxicity to patients.

Professor Ferry Hagen from the University of Amsterdam added: “Despite the huge difficulties in developing them, several promising new agents including entirely new classes of molecules, have entered clinical trials in recent years.

“But even before they reach the market after years of development, fungicides with similar modes of action are developed by the agrochemical industry resulting in cross-resistance.

“That sets us back to square one again. It is true many essential crops are affected by fungi, so antifungal protection is required for food security. But the question is, at what price?”

The scientists recommend:

• Worldwide agreement on restricting the use of certain classes of antifungal molecules for specific applications.
• Collaboration on solutions and regulations that ensure food security and universal health for animals, plants, and humans.
• Adding priority to AMR to fungal infections at the UN’s meeting in September.

Comment pieces are written by experts in the field, and represent their own views, rather than necessarily the views of The Lancet or any Lancet specialty journal. Unlike Articles containing original research, not all Comments are externally peer reviewed. 

The paper Beyond Bacteria: The Growing Threat of Antimicrobial Resistance in Fungi is available

Research Project of the Year: STEM 

Groundbreaking research that led to the world's first bedside genetic test to prevent babies going deaf has also earned a nomination. 

The research, led by Saint Mary’s Hospital, part of Swagֱ�� University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT), Swagֱ�� and Swagֱ��-based firm genedrive Plc, helped to develop the pioneering, rapid bedside genetic test which was piloted at MFT in 2022. 

The technology could save the hearing of 180 babies in the UK every year and bring a saving of £5m to the NHS annually. The test is now being rolled-out in all Neonatal Intensive Care Units in Greater Swagֱ��, with a hope that this will become part of routine clinical care across the UK. 

Widening Participation or Outreach Initiative of the Year 

In collaboration with the University of Salford and IntoUniversity, the University of Swagֱ�� played a pivotal role in launching a new learning centre aimed at supporting thousands of young people to achieve their academic and career ambitions.  

Salford is the 18th most deprived local authority in England, out of 317, with latest figures suggesting 22% of children are living in poverty and pupils in the area now 22.9 months of learning behind their peers by the end of their GCSEs.  

The centre has exceeded targets since opening, driven by a dedicated team that has supported over 1,500 young people, recruited students to Academic Support, established partnerships with local schools and run programmes through the holidays. 

Nine fathers were given legal access by private family court law proceedings (PLP) to the children they were accused of sexually abusing, according to a qualitative study.

The groundbreaking UKRI funded , published  in the Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, was carried out by University of Swagֱ�� researchers in partnership with members of and The Survivor Family Network.

It is based on the experience of 45 women from across England in PLP who along with some of their children accused the men of abuse, including child sexual abuse (CSA) in nine cases.

A tenth father, a convicted paedophile, had groomed the mother as a child and been convicted of child sex offences but hadn’t yet harmed the child sexually. Other fathers convicted of child sex offences were also given direct access to their children.

Of the 45 studied, fathers were given access in 43 cases.

PLP cases occur when two or more private individuals try to resolve a dispute, usually around child arrangements or financial disputes.

All ten cases involving CSA resulted in some form of direct child contact with the alleged perpetrator father, sometimes giving unsupervised overnight stays or 50% shared residency.

Some of the 10 fathers were either convicted child sex offenders or had admitted to CSA. In some of the cases digital evidence was submitted to the court.

Only fathers who had criminal convictions for CSA were considered to meet the threshold for concern for risk or harm, though they were still given overnight contact with the children, supervised by paternal family members.

Four of the mothers, accused of coaching their child to falsify abuse claims – so called parental alienation - lost residency of their children to the alleged perpetrator father.

The researchers applied a feminist-informed framework to understand the experience of 10 women  from within the larger sample of 45, who were also interviewed.

The analysis identified 5 themes:

• Minimisation by the courts of the harm to the child and mother from CSA by the father, overemphasising the rights of fathers.
• The courts rely on whether a father was ‘gratified’ by the abuse to determine whether harm has occurred and a ‘sorry’ from the father was enough to reassure the court that their children will now be safe from future harm.
• The family courts at times intervened to close down active CSA criminal investigations into the fathers.
• Mothers who persisted in their attempts to resist the court and advocate for their children were those who lost their children.
• The court actors were frequently reported as bound by a pro-father narrative in their regard to each other.

Lead author Dr Elizabeth Dalgarno said: “We found disturbing evidence that private family courts are letting down some mothers and their children who accuse the fathers of child sex abuse and or rape.

“Many of the fathers had a history of abusing others. All had allegedly abused the mothers and children, yet this was deemed ‘alienation’, ‘historic’ or ‘irrelevant’ by the court, with one child repeatedly raped for several years after her mother was erroneously dubbed an ‘alienator’.

“Fathers’ actions and behaviours were repeatedly minimised and made invisible if harmful. For mothers, there was no such grace shown in the court, who sometimes had their children removed.”

The researchers argue CSA findings should not be determined within existing PLP, where prevailing bias against mothers and children leaves room for abuse to continue.

Use of ‘parental alienation’ or ‘alienating behaviours’ as a defence, they say, should be prohibited and that the Sexual Offences Act 2003 must re-consider the notion of perpetrator gratification to define harm and also review the use of a child’s personal and private space in defining criminality.

She added: “False allegations of CSA are extremely rare at around 0.01%- 2% and there is little evidence that children can be coerced into making false CSA claims.

“So we contend that this treatment of vulnerable women and their children is effectively an act of state sanctioned abuse, and state gaslighting.”

Support resources available:

The paper has been double blind peer reviewed and has been  published in the journal of social welfare and family law.  

The DOI of the paper, called ‘Let’s excuse abusive men from abusing and enable sexual abuse’: Child Sexual Abuse Investigations in England’s Private Family Courts’   is: 10.1080/09649069.2024.2382501. and it  is published in the Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law

Anonymous quotes from some of the mothers:

“‘…there’d been sexual videos made of my son. My son had come home with bruises. My son had specifically said he didn't want to go to his dad's. [son] disclosed a lot of things… but because [father] said, “I'm sorry…we were only messing around and there wasn't actually any penetration”, he got away with it… And I've got to live with those videos in my head and they even upset the police officers… There was no empathy [from the family court]. There was nothing… Just “fathers have rights”, very, very, pro, pro, pro father’”

‘[police] didn't really do anything, they kind of left it up to social care…the social worker came and said, “we'll come and make sure you've got food in the fridge and a roof over your head”, saw [son]…then they went and saw him…with his father and wrote a report and said there was nothing wrong… she completely and utterly blamed me, said I “was emotionally abusing [son]”…by this time, we'd had one [family] court case [with] a district judge [who] said “social care couldn't find any issues”, and awarded my ex overnight contact every other weekend and holidays’

‘But this same social worker went out again, and again, and just had a word, all the time, while pushing it as parental alienation.  Because I was “making [child] over-anxious”.  And because [father] said “it was accidental”, and social services actually said that “they would not consider it as sexual abuse because they didn’t believe it was sexually gratifying for him’

‘So, my ex-husband had the biggest collection of pornography that I had ever seen, and a lot of the titles were ‘Teen’, and he had used sex as a controlling mechanism within the relationship… This was mentioned…in court, and it was as if I was just being vindictive and trying to find something else wrong with him, to pin something else on him [and] there clearly “wasn’t a problem”’.

My children had accused their father of sexual abuse and he came back with parental alienation after a number of years of not mentioning it…they're not allowed to use any form of disclosing tool or not allowed to buy them any diaries…I’ve been told if I report further allegations then basically my ex has got a fast-track back to court for immediate change of residence…so they threatened me and gagged the girls effectively.’

‘Even the psychologist said, “there is no parental alienation”. He wrote it specifically and he contradicted Cafcass, he overruled Cafcass, and guess who the judge went with? Cafcass’

The Commission says it looks forward to the strategic direction and innovative approaches that Professor Wong will bring to the role, building on its existing work and expanding its impact.

Raphi Bloom co-founder and current co-Chair of North West Friends of Israel will share the floor with Abdullah Al Andalusi, co-founder of the discussion forum The Muslim Debate Initiative (MDI). 

Our speakers are members of the Jewish and Muslim communities and have expressed opinions on either side of this debate. We recognise that not all members of these communities share the same views on these issues.

The pair will discuss the opinion that antizionism is the same thing as antisemitism, in a debate chaired by Joseph Timan, politics writer at the Swagֱ�� Evening News. 

The discussion will take place at Swagֱ��’s Whitworth hall, Oxford Road, on 31 October between 7pm and 9pm. 

The debaters hope to unpack what antizionism and antisemitism means to them, and the impact of the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

An airing of the issues will, they hope, clarify the complexities of the conflict and promote respect and understanding for both Jewish and Muslim communities.

In his professional career, Raphi Bloom is Director of Fundraising, Marketing and Communications at The Fed, the largest Jewish social care organisation and charity in Greater Swagֱ��.

He is also a member of the management board of the Jewish Representative Council of Greater Swagֱ�� and Region.

Abdullah Al Andalusi is head of the department for Occidentology at The Quran Institute, a researcher for the i3 Institute, an international speaker, and intellectual activist for Islam and Muslim affairs, and co-founder of the Muslim Debate Initiative (MDI).

Professor Nalin Thakkar, Vice-President for Social Responsibility at the University of Swagֱ�� will be introducing the speakers on the night with a welcome from Duncan Ivison, President and  Vice-Chancellor of Swagֱ��.

Professor Thakkar said: “Swagֱ�� is deeply committed to free speech and open debate, and this is the ethos which underpins the Whitworth Debates.

“Open and measured discussion about Israel and Palestine is important because it allows for a more nuanced, informed, and compassionate understanding of a complex and ongoing conflict.

“And being able to understand each side’s position can only be empowering for individuals and communities who so often feel marginalised and threatened by polarised views.”

The Whitworth debates are a series of discussions held at the University of Swagֱ��’s historic Whitworth Hall in which a range of seemingly intractable issues are debated by people with well informed but differing and strongly held viewpoints.

The debates will be based on the format of the very successful animal research debate held in November 2023 at The Whitworth Hall in which three panellists debated questions from audience members.

If you are a member of staff or a student and would like to attend the event, register

In the latter part of the debate, the speakers will debate questions sent in by attendees so to send in your questions, email michael.addelman@manchester.ac.uk

• If you are affected by the issues in the discussion, you can access the student  support services or the staff wellbeing pages

A Dental Public Health master’s student and immunology graduate, Grace upgraded her silver medal from the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games in what proved to be a bumper night for the Team GB swimming team on 1 September.

Three more golds were secured in the pool by Brock Whiston in the SM8 200m individual medley, Maisie Summers-Newton in the SB6 100m breaststroke and the S14 mixed 4x100m freestyle relay squad.

Grace now adds Paralympic gold to her impressive medal collection, with the swimmer already the current European champion in the 100m breaststroke (SB5), collecting gold at the 2024 Championships in Madeira and silver in the 100m freestyle (S6). She also won gold at the World Para Swimming Championships in Madeira in 2022, and silver in the Swagֱ�� event in 2023.

Following her dramatic win in the French capital, Grace : “It means more than anything. To say I’m Paralympic Champion, I’ve never dared imagine that I would ever be in this position. I was always like ‘I just want to go out and do my own race’ but to finally finish first, it feels amazing.”

Grace, who has cerebral palsy, was previously a backstroke specialist before deciding to race breaststroke in early 2021. She has come a long way in her swimming career, having started the sport for physiotherapy and joining her first swimming club at 9 years old.

James Marenghi, Head of Sport & Physical Activity at Swagֱ��, said: “A huge congratulations to Grace on her Paralympic Gold medal in the SB5 100m breaststroke, what a fantastic swim and exciting race to be a part of! She has worked so hard in and out of the pool to achieve the pinnacle in her sport and all of us at Swagֱ�� couldn’t be more proud of her.

“I am extremely grateful to the all the sport scholarship support given to her from academic colleagues that have enabled her to successfully balance her sporting and academic ambitions, alongside the services delivered by our Sport practitioners. Grace is a true example of how excellence can be achieved in sport and in the classroom when balancing a dual career, and she deserves all the success that has come her way. Well done Grace!”

Paralympic cyclist Archie Atkinson, the youngest member of Team GB’s cycling squad, also won a silver medal in the C4 4,000m individual pursuit final on 31 August. A member of the Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme (TASS), a Sport England initiative, Archie has been supported by Swagֱ�� on his path to the Paralympics.

Paris marks Archie’s Paralympic debut, with the talented athlete already the proud recipient of gold in the MC4 individual pursuit at the UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships this year. He also secured gold in the MC4 scratch race at the UCI Cycling World Championships - Para-track, and bronze in the MC4 road race at the UCI Cycling World Championships - Para-road.

The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games will run until 8 September.

The University’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion team hosted the “We Belong Here” event in April 2023, which aimed to inspire young people who are care experienced to think about attending university, and to consider Swagֱ�� as a university of choice. At this event, Professor Jackie Carter connected with several care experienced or estranged young people, including Willow. Jackie was very taken by Willow, stating: “What struck me about Willow was her motivation in wanting to study Sociology because all the books she was reading made no reference to people like her”.

After the event, Jackie arranged work experience for Willow at the University. Willow shadowed Jackie, met with other academics, talked to university students, and spent time exploring the campus. Jackie also offered to mentor Willow by supporting and guiding her through her A-Level exams, as well as encouraging her to apply for the course she wanted to study. In a reflection on her work experience Willow wrote: “It felt like they wanted you to succeed and find your place in this academic world. Like, it’s not just about getting a degree, it’s about discovering your passions, pushing your boundaries, and becoming the best version of yourself.”.

Congratulations to Willow Stephenson who will be joining in September to study Sociology () and German.

At an event set up by colleagues, met with several care-experienced or estranged young people, which is where she met Willow.

— Swagֱ�� (@OfficialUoM)

On A-Level Results Day, Willow found out she will be coming to the University in September to study her dream course, which is a brilliant result. Jackie says: “A year ago she didn’t even know she could study this degree and had no intention of applying for Swagֱ��.”

Since Willow received her results, Jackie has reflected upon the impact herself and other female members of staff had on Willow. Highlighting the importance of representation, Jackie says: “I think helping her [Willow] see strong women who cared about her progress has been a huge boost for her”.

Swagֱ�� continues its commitment to supporting young people who are care experienced or estranged, in succeeding in higher education. Willow’s story and the dedication demonstrated by Professor Jackie Carter and the Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion team, illustrates that it is both possible, and imperative, to make a difference.

• For more information about Swagֱ��’s commitment to care experienced and estranged young people, visit this page.

Clostridioides difficile (C. diff), a type of bacteria which often affects people who have taken antibiotics, is responsible for approximately 2,000 deaths annually in the UK.

Researchers from the University of Sheffield and the University of Swagֱ�� have found C. diff is able to evolve high levels of vancomycin resistance very quickly - in less than two months the bacteria could tolerate 32 times the normally effective antibiotic concentration.

Currently, the antibiotics used to treat C. diff damage beneficial gut bacteria, leading to a high reinfection rate—up to 30 per cent of patients treated with vancomycin experience a second infection within weeks, with the likelihood of further relapses increasing thereafter.

Despite vancomycin's critical role within UK healthcare, routine monitoring for resistance in clinical settings is lacking, so resistance may be emerging under the radar in hospitals. If widespread resistance were to arise it would remove this critical treatment option from UK healthcare.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been identified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as one of the top global public health and development threats. It is estimated that bacterial AMR was directly responsible for 1.27 million global deaths in 2019 and contributed to 4.95 million deaths.

Jessica Buddle, PhD student at the University of Sheffield and lead author of the study, said: “Our findings highlight the need for vigilant monitoring of vancomycin resistance in UK hospitals. Unchecked resistance could contribute to the large number of patients who have a relapsing infection after successful treatment with vancomycin. More research is essential to inform healthcare policy and determine if vancomycin remains the best treatment option.

“Our ongoing work aims to understand the extent and mechanisms of resistance development, simulate these conditions within the complex human gut ecosystem, and collaborate with UK epidemiologists to identify potential resistance signatures in hospitals.

“These efforts are crucial to prevent a future where antibiotics are no longer a viable option for treating bacterial infections and infections that are readily treatable today, become life-threatening once again.”

Although this rapid evolution is concerning, resistant strains exhibited reduced overall fitness, potentially limiting their clinical threat. The resistant strains also commonly had defects in sporulation. Sporulation is essential for C. diff to transmit from one person to the next and to survive on surfaces in hospitals.

Future work will seek to understand this interplay between resistance and the ability of the bacteria to cause severe disease. Researchers will be able to leverage this knowledge to improve surveillance of emerging resistance in hospitals.

Professor Michael Brockhurst from Swagֱ�� said: “Our study highlights the value of using lab-based pathogen evolution to understand clinical drug resistance. This can reveal not only which genetic mutations cause resistance, but also the associated fitness costs that might limit the success of resistant strains in the clinic. Such fitness costs are a pathogen’s Achille’s Heel and could potentially be exploited to devise new treatments that reduce the burden of drug resistant infections in the future.” 

Read the full paper in the journal PLOS Biology

The annual rankings see Swagֱ�� retain its top ten status as the 6th best institution in the UK and 15th in Europe, according to the ARWU. However, the University has slipped from 41 to 52 globally.

This year, more than 2500 institutions were scrutinised, and the best 1000 universities in the world are published. Overall, The United Kingdom has 63 Top 1000 universities, and 38 of them are listed in the Top 500, 8 are listed in the Top 100. 

President and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Duncan Ivison, said: “While they don’t measure everything we value, what these rankings demonstrate is our consistent position as one of Europe’s leading universities. But, for a University of our scale and ambition, they also serve as a reminder that we need pay attention to our global performance and work collectively to improve across everything we do to retain our position as a world-leading institution."

Starting from 2003, ARWU has been presenting the world's top universities annually based on a set of objective indicators and third-party data.  

Universities are ranked by several academic or research performance indicators, including alumni and staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals, Highly Cited Researchers, papers published in Nature and Science, papers indexed in major citation indices, and the per capita academic performance of an institution. 

This latest ARWU ranking follows on from Swagֱ�� named as the world's 34th best University according to the newest , published in June this year. 

Swagֱ�� was also named top in both the UK and Europe, and second in the world for meaningful contributions towards the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) in the 2024 Times Higher Education (THE) University Impact Rankings.  

In the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF) an impressive 93% of our research activity was rated 'world-leading' (4*) or 'internationally excellent' (3*), confirming Swagֱ�� as one of the UK's top research institutions.  

The complete list and detailed methodologies can be found at ShanghaiRanking’s website    

The study led by scientists at Swagֱ�� and The Institute of Cancer Research, London, could potentially benefit patients by using a technique called Oxygen-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (OE-MRI).

Using the non-invasive technique, the scientists were able to map parts of tumours that had oxygen deficiency - known as hypoxia - in patients with head and neck cancer. Patients with hypoxia in their tumours respond less well to treatment.

This will enable future work to use the MRI technique to target and fine tune treatment more precisely, reducing damage to healthy tissue in some patients.

Funded by Medical Research Council, Cancer Research UK, The National Institute for Health and Care Research, the study is published in a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, today (15/08/24).

The study was supported by the NIHR Swagֱ�� Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) and the NIHR BRC at The Royal Marsden and The Institute of Cancer Research.

Though the study was performed on patients with head and neck cancer, it raises the prospect that OE-MRI could be useful in patients with other cancers.

The oxygen enhanced imaging provides detail similar to an expensive PET scan, but can be performed on standard - and much cheaper - MRI systems.

The researchers enrolled 27 patients who were given OE-MRI scans of their primary and nodal tumours before they began their standard chemotherapy or radiotherapy treatments.

Additional scans were then performed during their treatment.

Using sophisticated mathematical modelling, the method was found to have the potential to help patients whose tumours had reduced levels of hypoxia by the second week.

Michael Dubec, principal clinical scientist at Swagֱ�� and The Christie NHS Foundation Trust said: “Cancers can be destroyed by radiation and chemotherapy, but the problem is healthy tissues and organs can be destroyed as well. So our aim is to destroy the tumour while preserving healthy tissue thus reducing toxicity.

“So our aim is to destroy the tumour while preserving healthy tissue thus reducing toxicity.

“Using Oxygen-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging to map hypoxia in patients’ tumours, may improve the accuracy of their treatment.

“Now we have proved the principle, we hope to move on to clinical trials so it can be validated on greater numbers of patients.”

Professor James O’Connor of The Institute of Cancer Research, London and Swagֱ�� led the study. He added: “Few studies have compared the hypoxia modification observed in both primary tumour and nodal metastases following treatment, or the timing of these changes.

“So our findings amount to a potentially important way to determine optimum radiotherapy planning for patients with locally advanced disease.”

The study “Oxygen-enhanced MRI detects incidence, onset and heterogeneity of radiation-induced hypoxia modification in HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancer” is published in

Cathy Bolton and Sarah-Jane Roberts, Co-Directors of Swagֱ�� Literature Festival said: “Over the last 200 years, Swagֱ�� has shown itself to be one of the most innovative and groundbreaking universities in the UK and we are delighted to have the Centre for New Writing and Creative Swagֱ�� as our Higher Education Partner once again. New perspectives and reimagining are at the heart of this year’s Swagֱ�� Literature Festival. Caroline Lucas asks us to reimagine a greener, more inclusive England. George Monbiot encourages us to reimagine the end of neoliberalism. Thomas Heatherwick invites us to reimagine our cities without soulless, boring buildings. David Peace reimagines the grief, heartbreak and resurrection of Swagֱ�� United after the 1958 Munich air disaster. We also welcome a multitude of brilliant novelists, poets and artists to the city, and invite you to join us to revisit familiar narratives from a place of freshness, curiosity and hope.”

Find out more about Swagֱ�� Literature Festival and view the full programme by visiting .

The networks will share £4.8 million from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), awarded as part of its tackling infections strategic theme. This programme will continue next year with a new opportunity for ambitious new transdisciplinary research programmes, drawing on a dedicated budget of at least £7 million.

The People AMR Network, led by  Sarah Tonkin-Crine at  The University of Oxford  will consider how communities might use antibiotics in the best possible ways to minimise AMR through changing behaviour.

The network will explore ways to help people make decisions about antibiotic use, develop new strategies and tools, and to study these to ensure they target the right people, the right behaviours, and the right settings to have maximum and timely impact at the lowest possible cost. The community will include representatives from the public as well as GPs, dentists, pharmacists, vets and business leaders.

Co-lead Dr Wendy Thompson from Swagֱ�� said: “'From antibiotics for a dental abscess through to antifungals for mildew in the bathroom, we just take antimicrobials for granted. Yet the more often we use them for things where they are not strictly necessary, like toothache, the less often they will work when they are vital, like sepsis.

“It's my pleasure, therefore, to lead the dentistry part of this people-centred approach to helping ensure future generations continue to benefit from antimicrobials that work.”

The Fungal One Health and Antimicrobial Resistance Network, led by Darius Armstrong-James at Imperial College London  will focus on the emergence of anti-fungal resistance and the development of countermeasures to it, with collaboration from the University of Swagֱ��.

The network will cover healthcare, agricultural and pharmaceutical industries, as well as key government departments and end users in these settings. It will tackle the underlying causes of resistance, surveillance, agricultural waste and water-based hotspots, the development of countermeasures and interventions to mitigate resistance.

Co-lead Dr Michael Bromley from Swagֱ�� said: “Fungal pathogens cause devastating losses to all of our staple foods such as wheat, rice, corn, soybean and sugar cane. To combat these losses, which alone are sufficient to feed around half of the world’s population, millions of tonnes of fungicides are sprayed. This widespread and sometimes illegal use has caused drug resistance to emerge in many fungal pathogens of plants, placing pressure on our food security.

“Worse still, these fungicides have caused drug resistance to emerge in human fungal pathogens too. I will be leading a group to understand how we may balance the critical need for fungicide use in crops with the negative impacts they have on driving resistance and how we can work better with Governments to prevent resistance emerging to new the next-generation of antifungals.”

The Accurate, Rapid, Robust and Economical One Health DiagnoSTics for antimicrobial resistance Network will focus on diagnostic tools. It will coordinate and develop practical solutions for diagnostics in both animals and plants, across various settings and is led by Led by Mark Bradley from Queen Mary University of London, with collaborators from the University of Swagֱ��.

This will be addressed by identifying needs across sectors, developing research and innovation, standardising evaluation, supporting implementation, and cross-pollinating findings.

The new networks will support diverse teams of AMR researchers, ranging from specialists in agriculture, food and the environment to human and animal medicine, policy and behavioral studies, engineering and social science. Together they’ll develop new partnerships and approaches to tackling AMR across sectors and disciplines, including culture, economics, behaviour, biomedical and physical sciences, design and engineering, environmental sciences and more.

Dr Colin Miles, Head of Strategy, Advanced Manufacturing and Clean Growth at UKRI, said:

“Tackling the creeping pandemic of anti-microbial resistance – increasing resistance to antibiotics – is a large, complex problem. Ten million people each year are expected to lose their lives to it by 2050.

“Rather than taking single-discipline approaches, we need researchers from across disciplines to come together and look at all aspects of the problem – from human behaviour and how we grow crops and rear animals for consumption to how we manage the environment or use technology, clinical management strategies or challenge established cultural norms.”

The UK’s new Labour government has made a bold decision. The new minister for local government, Angela Rayner, has announced that the government would for a new coal mine near Whitehaven in Cumbria, which had been approved two years ago by the then Conservative government.

Rayner’s intervention follows a recent making it harder for new sites of fossil fuel extraction to be approved. Pointing to the implications of the court’s decision, she argued that there had been an “error in law” when Michael Gove, the minister at the time, had given the coal mine the go ahead in 2022.

The mine’s developers still want to go ahead, and a legal challenge by environmental campaigners is being , with a ruling expected later this summer. But, with its decision to withdraw its defence, the government has confirmed that it understands the need to decisively turn away from new fossil fuel extraction. This is good news.

But to rise to the challenge, the government must do much more. It must now show it understands what it means to decisively put the UK on a path towards clean energy while still recognising the importance of economic and social justice.

One of Keir Starmer’s pledges prior to becoming prime minister was to reform planning. He used eye-catching language, promising to the existing planning system to take out (those who say: “not in my back yard”) ostensibly standing in the way of progress.

In Cumbria, the nimbys have a point

But there is an unfortunate irony in how Starmer’s position relates to the Cumbria mine. In Cumbria the ostensible were environmental campaigners pointing out that the mine would add into the atmosphere a year if it got the go ahead. They rightly argued that this would be indefensible in the middle of a climate crisis caused by greenhouse gas emissions. Without their intervention, the mine might already be in operation.

The planning system doesn’t need destroying, as Starmer’s language would suggest. As one of us (Gareth Fearn) , the challenge centres instead on revitalising planning as a public service, such that a new lease of life can be breathed into it.

In recent years, the UK’s planning system has been hollowed out due to austerity. Funding for local government fell by and planning departments shrunk as their work was to private-sector consultants. Meanwhile, the amount of work these departments have been expected to do has, if anything, increased.

This is an untenable situation. To achieve a rapid, just transition the planning system needs to be properly supported so that it can proactively steer the net zero transition, and communities can have a real say on development in their areas.

The alternative is that local areas are left at the mercy of speculative developers who will invest in what is most profitable, rather than what most effectively meets public needs. In a context where green industry often offers less return on capital than or high-end real estate, a deregulatory approach risks forcing local areas to choose between high-carbon speculative development or no development at all, as had happened in Cumbria.

Green policies, resources and community power

We want to see Labour take three steps to get the country on the right path. First, the new government must draw a much clearer connection between decarbonisation and planning policy when it this summer. This would remove ambiguities about new fossil fuel extraction and would mean putting in place strong policies for new, green industries like the government has already done with .

Second, Labour desperately needs to provide more resources to local government so councils and regional mayors can use in house planning expertise, rather than relying on expensive, private-sector consultants. This is at odds with chancellor Rachel Reeves’ approach, which seems to covertly embrace and is reliant on the finance and preferences of the assembled to deliver infrastructure with little public control or ownership.

Third, and most importantly, communities need to be empowered to make genuine choices between alternatives. This is especially important for areas like Cumbria, with its long history of coal mining, or Aberdeen with its offshore oil, where green alternatives are as not as culturally embedded as carbon-intensive industries.

Coal in Cumbria has more than economic value. As one of us (Pancho Lewis) argued in , coal is folded into the area’s history and continues to signal a desirable future for many people. This isn’t because people aren’t concerned about climate change. They are. It’s because coal is a familiar industry which delivered “proper”, reliable jobs in the past and, in the context of proposals for a new mine, promised to continue to do so in the years ahead.

The government must respond by working hand in glove with communities to shape a net zero future that is meaningful to them. This is about delivering reliable jobs that people need and rolling out industry which can provide continuity with the past. Doing this requires forward planning and creative thinking, so that the net zero transition .

The new Labour government’s decision to oppose the mine is good news. But for the energy transition to be successful there need to be opportunities in new industries around the country. This requires a public planning system which is back on its feet and for the public to have meaningful stakes in new projects from local to national government. Labour must rise to the moment.

, Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, and , Researcher, Lancaster Environment Centre,

This article is republished from under a Creative Commons license. Read the .

Other appointments include:

• AI and Digital – Dr Varuna De Silva, Loughborough University (New position)
• Arts and Humanities – Dr Helen McCabe, University of Nottingham (New position)
• Business, Economics and Trade – Dr Jane Parry, University of Southampton (New position)
• Climate and Environment – Dr Andrew Russell, Queen Mary University London
• Health – David Strain, Dr University of Exeter (New position)
• International Affairs and National Security – Dr Leslie-Anne Duvic-Paoli, King's College London
• Transport – Dr Louise Reardon, University of Birmingham (New position)

For those interested in learning more about Ruth’s research, you can visit her , or alternatively read about her work with colleagues at Essex on the role of Commissioners for the Victims' Commissioner: 

, and ,

Desert regions in and the have been well studied by archaeologists as the and as routes of along “”. The archaeology of southern Africa’s west coast desert belt has not received the same attention.

The Namib Sand Sea, part of the Namib Desert, is on the west coast of Namibia. It is a hyperarid landscape of towering dunes, occupying about 34,000km² between the towns of Lüderitz in the south and Walvis Bay in the north. However, there are clues that this environment was not always so dry and inhospitable, suggesting that there is more to be learnt about ancient human life here.

We are part of an interdisciplinary research team of physical geographers, archaeologists and geospatial scientists, interested in the long-term history of deserts and human-environmental interactions.

Our provides a timeframe for the presence of a small freshwater lake that once existed in the Namib Sand Sea. This lake was fed by an ancient river and is surrounded by a rich record of stone tools from the (made between about 300,000 years ago and 20,000 years ago), indicating that people ventured into this landscape and used this occasional water source.

Dating the former lake site, Narabeb, makes it clearer when ancient humans would have been able to live here. It draws attention to the Namib Sand Sea as a place archaeologists should study to learn more about far-reaching and deep human connections across southern Africa.

An ancient lake and shifting sand dunes

Today, Narabeb is a landscape dominated by long sand dunes that tower more than 100 metres high over the former lake site. There is no standing water here and the landscape receives little to no rain most years. However, that’s probably not what our ancient ancestors would have seen here. Away from the lake, they might have seen a relatively flat plain, seasonally covered by grasses, beside a river.

The clue is in sediments at the site: mud layers that were laid down by water. To find out how long ago the lake was at Narabeb, we needed to date these layers.

We used a technique called – basically, making sand glow to tell the time. Sand grains release a trapped signal that builds up when sand is buried underground, and is reset when sand is exposed to sunlight. Using this technique, we can date when different layers were last on the surface before they got buried. We dated the sand beneath and above layers of mud that were deposited by water. Our results show that the lake was present at Narabeb at some point between 231,000 ± 20,000 and 223,000 ± 19,000 years ago and again about 135,000 ± 11,000 years ago.

Another clue is the shape of the landscape east of Narabeb. It is dune free, reminding us that ancient humans were not the only things migrating in the Namib Sand Sea. Have the dunes been on the move? For how long? And how quickly?

Drilling to the centre of these dunes to work that out remains logistically impossible. Instead, we used .

The modelling suggests that it would have taken around 210,000 years to accumulate the amount of sand around Narabeb (those 110m high dunes). This number is remarkably close to the oldest age for the lake. This suggests that the dunes may only just have been starting to form and that a river was supplying the lake with fresh water, supporting animals and attracting people. The sediments at Narabeb also clearly tell us that a river once flowed where there are now dunes.

The winds have pushed dunes from the south and west to north and east, creating barriers for the river and hindering movement of people and animals along the water course.

Ancient human presence

At we have found tools from an earlier species of the Homo genus. This is part of a growing body of evidence, adding to research in the Kalahari desert in the centre of southern Africa, that suggests to the story of human evolution and technological innovation than has been supposed.

The artefacts from Narabeb fit into the Middle Stone Age type of stone tool technology. Narabeb is a particularly rich site for stone tools, suggesting people made tools here for a long time and perhaps visited the site over many generations.

This research illustrates the need for a comprehensive study of areas that have not been on the map of the major routes of human and animal migration. These might reveal exciting records of diffusion, innovation and adaptation to marginal and changing environments.

Our results also make us think about the dynamic nature of environmental conditions in one of Earth’s oldest desert regions. It has long been thought that the Namib has been consistently very and not a place capable of containing “green corridors” at the times of interest for archaeologists. Now we can challenge that idea.

Future steps

Recent funding from the will allow us to extend our fieldwork, documenting archaeological sites and dating these “green corridors” across more of this landscape. along the ancient river course has revealed an expansive artefact-littered landscape. We also need to know more about where ancient populations found the materials they used to make stone tools.

This will allow us to piece together a network of archaeological sites and show where human migration might have been possible in this part of southern Africa. Up to now, it’s been a gap in the archaeological map.

More work is also needed to understand the shifts in climate that allowed the rivers to flow into the Namib. This Southern Hemisphere, west coast desert has a very different setting to north Africa and Arabia, which have for understanding their periodic “green corridors”. Ongoing work with the wider scientific community, including climate modellers, may create a clearer picture of the Namib’s “green corridors”.

, Reader in Physical Geography, and , Professor of Archaeology,

This article is republished from under a Creative Commons license. Read the .

Two children died following a stabbing in Southport at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event in Stockport yesterday.

Nine more children were injured, with six in critical condition. Two adults were also injured according to Merseyside Police.

The free leaflet, from the University’s Parenting and Families Research Group available here was developed for the Swagֱ�� Arena bombing and then for the Grenfell fire, with trauma experts from around the country.

It is designed to  help those affected through the critical first few days after the  trauma, but also in the months that follow.

The leaflet is  designed to help parents and caregivers cope with their own emotions and stress and  will help them to understand common reactions in children and how best to care for them.

Professor Rachel Calam, who helped develop the leaflet said: “ This is a tragic incident; parents, children and teachers will need good psychological support to help the navigate through the coming days and months.

“What they are going through might include difficulties sleeping, thoughts and memories of what has happened popping into mind, bad dreams, irritability, feeling low, behavioural problems and avoiding activities they used to enjoy.

“This leaflet is advises them how keep going in such difficult times, and that experiencing some distress like that is entirely normal. There is no one way of feeling after a trauma.

“We developed this information to help anyone wondering how best to help their child through such a frightening and upsetting experience. We hope you find it helpful.”

For more For more family advice, visit the NHS  MindEd website .

Download the advice