University of Birmingham

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-11

Summary The fellowship will be organized into three work packages focusing on outreach, training as a behavioural researcher, and further research. Reaching Out with Geography (Package 1) Outreach is especially significant to me, as black females are underrepresented in academic positions in Geography. I am committed to promoting Geography as an inclusive career. The education system often portrays Geography narrowly, not reflecting its real-life diversity. I aim to broaden students' perspectives on Geography and assist teachers in conveying this diversity while promoting various career paths within the field. Supported by the RGS, the outreach package will involve school outreach to maximize impact. Collaborating with the Royal Geographical Society, I will host a lecture, record a podcast, and conduct a workshop for Caribbean food industry stakeholders. This will highlight the interdisciplinary links between geography, superdiversity, behavioural science, and consumer behaviour. Additionally, I will create toolkits for teachers to make Geography more engaging for diverse students and develop an A-level Changing Places module toolkit, both introduced through events and CPD sessions. Becoming a Behavioural Scientist (Package 2) Despite my expertise in superdiversity, linguistics, and human geography, I require training as a behavioural researcher. Thus, this package includes enrolling in the Marketing Analytics and Behavioural Science module at the University of Birmingham and a short-term research visit to the University of the West Indies. Here, I will learn their perspectives on behavioural science, whilst also attending the Jamaican Diaspora Conference, and conduct interviews with the food company Grace on their marketing strategies and the influence of diasporic and superdiverse behaviours. Additionally, I will enhance my grant-writing skills through workshops at the University of Birmingham and the provided mentorship to secure further funding. This training will support my development as a behavioural researcher and introduce a decolonial perspective with a Caribbean and black British focus. Knowing the How, but Asking the Why (Package 3) My PhD research focused on how Caribbean eateries advertised to a superdiverse audience using multimodal discourse analysis but did not explore the reasons why behind these advertising methods. This fellowship will address this gap by investigating the behavioural reasons behind the signage choices of Caribbean eatery owners in Ladywood through semi-structured interviews. This builds on my PhD work and aims to understand if these owners consciously consider a superdiverse audience. The findings will be published in the Institute of British Geographers and the Journal of Applied Behavioural Science, and presented at the ACBS World Conference 2025 in New Orleans.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-11

Summary The prevalence of domestic abuse in the UK is high. Furthermore, disabled people are significantly more likely to experience domestic abuse than non-disabled people, are more likely to be hurt by the perpetrator, and often face delays in obtaining help. However, the effects of domestic abuse on disabled people and their needs are not high on the agenda for practice and policy and frequently remain hidden. This situation demands an innovative approach to improve the help-seeking process for disabled survivors and enhance their satisfaction with support services. This research project addresses a critical gap in understanding how public services, particularly police and health care providers, can effectively support disabled survivors of domestic abuse. It employs the innovative approach of co-production, where service users and providers collaborate to achieve shared outcomes. This is crucial for developing more responsive, user-centred services that meet the complex needs of this vulnerable population and improve their help-seeking experiences and outcomes. This study will deliver the following: 1. Interviews with police staff and health care providers to examine their experiences when providing services to disabled domestic abuse survivors and understand what service features require improvement. 2. Interviews with domestic abuse survivors, specifically those with physical and sensory disabilities, to understand their experiences during public service encounters and learn what features could be improved. 3. A workshop with representatives of domestic abuse survivors, police staff, and health care providers, who will meet to discuss the features which have been identified and prioritise areas for action. To help identify these priorities for change the workshop will use theatre the scripts of which will be written in collaboration with service users and service providers prior to the workshop. Thereby contributing to the co-production aspect of the project. 4. A survey to examine whether this co-production process helped police staff and health care providers to be better attuned to the needs of disabled survivors. Prior to commencing the project, an advisory group with representation of the stakeholder groups participating will be set up and will be fundamental in progressing the study forward. To assure dissemination more publicly, study findings will be presented at conferences as well as written up for publications. Furthermore, this study will lay crucial groundwork to potentially extend the study to explore how these stakeholders can work together effectively to co-design and inform commissioning of services to ensure that they meet the needs of all involved, pilot some of these redesigned services, and examine the benefits they may have.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-11

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-11

Summary The Cerebra Network is a cross-institute Network pioneering translational research in children with multiple, complex, and rare neurogenetic conditions (MCRc). Children with MRCc experience poor developmental, health and wellbeing outcomes compared to typically developing peers, including higher rates of behaviours that challenge, sleep problems, poor mental health, and under-recognised autism characteristics. Despite this, understanding and assessment of psychological needs in children with MCRc is often limited, which precludes equal access to appropriate educational support and clinical intervention. Therefore, the Cerebra Network's psychological research focuses on mental health, sleep, autism, and behaviours that challenge as these four key areas have been shown to lead to poorer child/family wellbeing and are a concern for families. The Cerebra Network complements this focus with novel, developmental psychology methods and assessments that are tailored to the unique needs of these under-researched populations. For example, by using accessible research methods including sleep trackers, play-based cognitive assessments, eye tracking and questionnaires to provide evidence about the strengths and challenges for children with MCRc. The Cerebra Network has a number of existing, successful dissemination platforms to translate their research for stakeholders; however, there is a pressing need to build and accredit new content for these resources to increase reach and impact for professionals. Additionally, the Cerebra Network is keen to expand their reach to families. Therefore, in this fellowship, I will deliver a project which will bridge the gap between the Cerebra Network's research evidence and UK and international clinical and educational practice for these collectively common but individually rare groups. I will work closely with NHS and education professionals and Patient and Participant Involvement (PPI) groups to ensure that all resources meet the needs of key stakeholders. Through the following objectives, I will translate the Cerebra Network's research and resources to interdisciplinary professionals and family carers nationally and internationally, to support their work with children with MCRc, capitalising on the Cerebra Network's expertise in multi-media dissemination, collaboration with stakeholders, and intersections with policy makers: Development of two Continuing Professional Development (CPD)-accredited training modules on the Further Inform Neurogenetic Disorders (FIND) website (Work Package 1). FIND is the Cerebra Network's novel dissemination website, reaching professionals and parents/carers globally. FIND offers high-quality research evidence in an engaging format, reaching 44k users in the last year. Over 1300 professionals, across 144 NHS Trusts, have subscribed to FIND to access bespoke psychological measures for MCRc developed by Cerebra Network researchers. Development of a CPD-accredited Teacher Training Resource (TTR) module on 'Behaviours that Challenge in the Classroom' for education practitioners (Work Package 2). With education practitioners, individuals with MCRc, and their families, the Cerebra Network have co-produced an online, free TTR. It was launched in 2023 and, to date, over 440 individuals (including 157 teachers; 74 family carers; 50 academics) have registered to use the TTR across 17 countries and feedback has been positive. A novel podcast series translating Cerebra Network research for family carers to help support their lives, wellbeing, and ongoing advocacy for their children with MCRc (Work Package 3). This eight-podcast series will be based on underpinning Cerebra Network research from across all four Cerebra Network universities, and episodes will feature researchers, family carers, early careers researchers, and other professionals. The podcast represents the Cerebra Network's first use of this digital media to extend reach primarily to family carers.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-11

Title of the Fellowship Proposal: Addressing Type 2 Diabetes Stigma through Strategic Digital Influencer Interventions Aims This fellowship proposes to test the use of social media influencers(SMIs) in normalising diabetes- in particular Type 2 (T2D). The study will be structured around three phases: 1) Influencer collaboration and Public Engagement: Partner with influencers to create diverse content reflecting the experiences of people with T2D, promoting effective diabetes self-management practices and normalising these behaviours; Understand what content could be used to address stigma. 2) Campaign co-creation with Diabetes UK, influencers and public contributors. 3) Evaluation: We will evaluate its impact by tracking interactions with each piece of content and evaluating the social media and traditional media content and comments to gauge shifts in public discourse about T2D and changes in language and sentiment. After the campaign, we will undertake focus group discussions with T2D patients to see if it impacted their perception of stigma. The following research questions will guide this study: 1) What specific content strategies employed by diabetes-related SMIs most effectively reduce the stigma associated with T2D? 2) What are the changes in language and sentiment in traditional and social media discourse surrounding T2D before and after the intervention? 3) How do patients with T2D perceive the impact of influencer-led campaigns on their personal management of the disease and their experiences of stigma? 4) How does the collaboration with Diabetes UK and SMIs influence the campaign's reach and effectiveness in normalising T2D management behaviours? A key non-academic partner in this project is Diabetes UK, the leading charity dedicated to diabetes care in the UK. Their collaboration ensures that the campaign is grounded in both the latest scientific evidence and practical, patient-centred approaches. Diabetes UK's extensive network and resources will significantly amplify the reach and impact of the campaign, facilitating meaningful engagement with diverse audiences. The fellowship is expected to yield significant academic and practical outcomes. Academically, the project will contribute to the growing body of literature on health communication, resulting in high-quality peer-reviewed publications and presentations at both national and international conferences. Practically, the immediate outcome of the influencer-led campaign will be an increase in public awareness and knowledge about Type 2 Diabetes. By debunking myths and sharing real-life experiences, the campaigns aim to foster a better understanding of the disease, its management, and the unhelpful stigmas attached to it. For long-term impacts, evidence of effective influencer-led campaigns and their impact may lead to wider adoption of similar strategies by Diabetes UK and other similar charities and stakeholders, the development and implementation of more useful intervention strategies, and even policies for diabetes management. By continuously promoting positive narratives and accurate information about type 2 diabetes, the long-term goal is to achieve a sustained reduction in stigma, thereby improving the quality of life and health of people with diabetes.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-10

Proton exchange membrane (PEM) water electrolyzers hold great significance for renewable energy storage and conversion. However, the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at the anode has intrinsically sluggish kinetics due to the involvement of multiple proton-coupled electron transfer steps, which is one of the main roadblocks that hinder the practical application of PEM water electrolyzers. Thus, highly active, cost-effective, and durable electrocatalysts are indispensable for lowering the high kinetic barrier of OER to achieve boosted reaction kinetics, so that to improve the overall device efficiency and decrease the applied voltage. To date, only Iridium (Ir) based materials possess adequate corrosion resistance to meet the harsh acidic and oxidative environment of the PEM electrolyzers. Unfortunately, their high degree of scarcity and relatively low OER activity greatly hinder their industrial mass applications. Therefore, the establishment of new strategies for catalyst electrode design and optimization to minimize the Ir metal content while preserving a high activity and stability of OER is of great significance for PEM electrolyzers. Herein, the 3DIr4PEMWE project aims to develop a 3D ordered anode design based on 1D IrO2 nanostructure arrays decorated with atomically dispersed Ru and Sr single atoms catalysts (denoted Ru-Sr doped IrO2). This unique architecture can effectively circumvent the drawbacks of the electrodes based on ultrafine particulate catalysts, including the activity loss due to the low catalyst utilization, and the activity decline owing to particle dissolution and aggregation during the operation, thus simultaneously improved Iridium mass activity, structural stability and mechanical strength will be achieved for the oxygen electrodes during operation. We believe the EU-funded 3DIr4PEMWE project will accelerate the industrialization of PEM water electrolyzer technology and realize the aspiring hydrogen energy society as soon as possible

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-09

The Middle Jurassic is a key geological interval documenting important events in the early diversification of many groups of modern land vertebrates. However, Middle Jurassic land vertebrate fossils are exceptionally rare globally. The Kilmaluag Formation of Scotland represents one of the most significant Middle Jurassic sites worldwide, yielding exceptionally complete early fossils of important modern vertebrate groups. Studying Kilmaluag fossils is highly challenging due to the small sizes of the fossils and the hard encasing rock and they are therefore primarily studied using micro-computed tomography (u-CT) or synchrotron micro-computed tomography (SRXTM), widespread imaging techniques in palaeontology. However, CT data for fossil specimens need to be virtually prepared (segmented) by an experienced anatomist and the approach suffers from operator biases, reproducibility issues and very slow timeframes. Deep learning approaches have potential to address these issues, but the use of deep learning for segmentation of fossil data is very nascent. DEEPCTSEG will address this critical research gap through developing, for the first time, deep learning techniques to segment CT data of Kilmaluag fossils. This highly interdisciplinary approach will yield ground-breaking new insights into Middle Jurassic origins of modern groups, but also create a benchmark automated pipeline which can be widely used for vertebrate fossils from other times and localities, fundamentally advancing the wider research field through reducing labour hours and enhancing accuracy and reproducibility. Through a comprehensive training and knowledge exchange programme, the experienced researcher, supervisor and secondment hosts will bring together and integrate their expertise in palaeontology, biology and computer science to deliver this timely, innovative, and interdisciplinary project.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-09

Doctoral Training Partnerships: a range of postgraduate training is funded by the Research Councils. For information on current funding routes, see the common terminology at https://www.ukri.org/apply-for-funding/how-we-fund-studentships/. Training grants may be to one organisation or to a consortia of research organisations. This portal will show the lead organisation only.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-09

The Circular Economy requirements and sustainability goals have been set out by the UK government and the United Nations to address the climate crisis and maintain our standard of living. The environmental impact from the global consumption of engineering materials is expected to double in the next forty years (OECD: Global Material Recourses to 2060, 2018), while annual waste generation is projected to increase by 70% by 2050 (World Bank What a Waste 2.0 report, 2018). A radical departure from traditional forward manufacturing is needed that no longer exclusively focuses on the original manufacturing process and the end of life dispose of manufactured products, parts, and materials. Processes are needed that will significantly prolong the useful life of engineering and especially critical materials (minerals with high economic vulnerability and high global supply risk e.g. rare earth elements for batteries, magnets and medical devices) by increasing the effectiveness of reuse, repurpose, repair, remanufacture, and recycle (Re-X) manufacturing processes. These Re-X processes are currently 3-6 times more labour intensive than traditional manufacturing processes. They are often not economic resulting in many engineering materials being disposed on landfill sites, degraded, or incinerated. UK businesses could benefit by up to £23 billion per year through low cost or no cost improvements in the efficient use of resources. The vision of this hub is to pursue an integrated, holistic approach toward creating a new manufacturing ecosystem for circular resource use of high value products through advances in AI and intelligent automation, empowering the UK to be a world leader in circular manufacturing. To deliver this ambition the hub will focused on two grand challenges: GC1: Radically transform the sustainable use of critical materials. (Goal: >75% Critical components reuse; >20% critical material use decrease; >50% component reclaim increase). GC2: Radically improve the productivity of Re-X manufacturing processes on par with or exceeding traditional forward manufacturing processes (Goal: >10 times improvement). To address these, the hub will establish a truly interdisciplinary team cutting across Manufacturing, Robotics, AI and Automation, Materials Science, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Economics, and Life Cycle Assessment.?The hub will focus on three major fronts: Research excellence, community building and user engagement. The new research required to address the grand challenges and overcome the barriers and limitations preventing the transition to a truly circular manufacturing ecosystem will investigate: - New smart processes for disassembly, remanufacturing, separation, and recovery of critical products, components, and ultimately materials. - New sensing and analysis processes to track and determine the state of critical materials throughout their life. - New design methodologies for circular manufacturing. - New testing and validation methods to certify the remaining useful life of crucial products, components, and materials. - New circular Re-X business models. Our research programme will enable rapid scale up of Robotics and AI solutions that are compatible with sector practice, extensible via modular design, and can be repurposed initially in four flagship sector scenarios: energy, medical devices, electric drives, and large structures. Consequently, this Hub will directly address the 80% of the environmental impact of high-value products (Circular Economy Action Plan, European Union, 2020), and save more than 8M tonnes of CO2 emissions annually (HM Government Building our Industrial Strategy report, 2017).

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-09

Our proposed research has two broad themes that build upon our world leading areas of expertise. The first of these involves the study of high-energy nuclear collisions at the Large Hadron Collider, the world's highest energy particle accelerator. The aim of the ALICE experiment is to study nuclear matter, as it would have existed about a millionth of a second after the Big Bang when the Universe was so hot and so dense that nuclei did not exist. In its primordial state nuclear matter consists of its fundamental constituents (quarks and gluons) in a plasma state. We recreate this novel state of matter in our experiment and we are developing ways of studying these high-energy nuclear collisions to discover the properties of the quark-gluon plasma. This is technically challenging and the group has developed a sophisticated electronic trigger system that controls the experiment and is entirely responsible for it. The quark-gluon plasma has remarkable properties, such as an abundance of strange quarks and near-perfect fluidity. In this proposal, we are trying to determine whether size matters by finding the smallest drop of plasma that still retains these properties. We are using grazing collisions to explore the internal structure of nuclei at high energy. And we are looking at the debris of quarks and gluons that are sometimes scattered out of the collision, producing a shower of particles in our detector known as a jet, to study the conditions inside the plasma. We are also performing R&D into new detector technologies based on silicon pixel detectors in which the readout electronics is contained within the pixel. What happens in stars: the cooking pots of the Universe and how the structure of the nuclei involved in these reactions influences the formation of elements is at the centre of Theme 2's research portfolio. From red-giant stars which burn helium to some of the most explosive events known, such as X-ray bursts and supernovae - out-shining galaxies, albeit for a short time - the structure of nuclei play a pivotal role. The interplay between neutrons and protons within the nucleus can have a very significant impact on such astrophysical processes. One manifestation of the nuclear force is the observation of clustering in which protons and neutrons clump together inside larger nuclei, for example into alpha particles (two protons and two neutrons). The strong force is highly complex, which makes theoretical predictions formidable, so our research makes extremely precise measurements of how light nuclei interact. By detecting all the fragments of such collisions we can rebuild the nuclear system from which they originated to reveal detailed properties and also measure how quickly nuclei will combine together in stellar environments. These results can then be used to improve models of these colossal energy-release events taking place and that have led to the abundance of elements we find on earth. Finally, we are developing an experimental programme to exploit gamma-ray and neutron beams. Gamma rays allow the structure of nuclei to be probed with great precision through their electromagnetic properties. Conversely, uncharged neutrons are capable of transmuting elements even at low energies and reveal information about the most important matter-producing reactions in the Universe. This is possible due to Birmingham's new high-intensity neutron facility which is able to mimic what happens in the stars in our laboratory.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-09

Re4Rail project aims to build new technological enablers for sustainable asset management throughout the life cycle of railway granular media (RGM). The technological enablers include a health monitoring system (during service for repair) and circularity management (through end-of-life reuse, recycle and repurpose) aiming for zero carbon emissions of RGM, of which railway ballast and sub-ballast provide crucial support to track systems. Re4Rail will be achieved by establishing an innovative AI & digital twin-based automated technology for real-time RGM defect diagnosis and prognosis (Re4Tech). The applicant will conduct Re4Rail under the supervision of world-renown scientists at University of Birmingham (UoB), and secondment supervisors across sectors at Loram Finland Oy (non-academic) and at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (academic). Not only will Re4Rail revolutionise the smart maintenance and circular economy for RGM, but it will also enact the applicant's new competency in artificial intelligence, digital transformation, and geophysics, and endorse my employability skills in both academia and industry within UK and Europe. It also opens a new door of using novel data science tools (AI and digital twin) in solving challenging engineering issues (RGM digitalisation and sustainability) towards accomplishing global common goal (zero carbon emissions). Re4Tech will reduce RGM-related costs by 55% (expected) through the following improvements: (i) Re4Tech will classify and guide materials circularity optimisation, which will reduce the inspection and maintenance frequencies by 80% (expected); (ii) increase RGM operational life by 50% (expected); and (iii) reduce usage of raw granular materials by 40% (expected). Re4Rail will reduce carbon emissions by 70% (expected) throughout its life cycle, plus reducing inspection and maintenance frequencies. Re4Rail will empower Europe to certainly become a world leader in digital maintenance of railway towards net zero by 2030.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-09

Nervous system disorders include common diseases like dementia, and rare genetic disorders, often childhood-onset. In the UK, they affect >944,000 people, forecasted to increase to >1 million by 2025. However, for about 150 rare brain disorders, therapeutic discovery is hampered by their rarity and low commercial incentive. Limited knowledge of disease mechanisms by which the brain cells called neurons die, a process termed neurodegeneration, has also undermined drug discovery. The focus of this proposal is to understand and target common disease mechanisms that underpin several childhood-onset forms of neurodegeneration. Targeting shared pathological mechanisms will allow us to use the same treatment for other rare disorders. One such common mechanism affected in several neurological disorders is a biological process called autophagy. This process has a housekeeping role in cells by removing undesirable cellular components such as protein aggregates and damaged organelles like mitochondria. When autophagy malfunctions, unwanted cellular components build up and the cell may eventually die, with neurons being particularly vulnerable. We recently demonstrated a new paradigm of the pro-survival role of autophagy via maintenance of cellular levels of a metabolite called nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD). Loss of autophagy disrupted mitochondrial quality control, triggering over-activation of stress responses mediated by enzymes that consume NAD. Depletion of NAD perturbed the mitochondrial electrical potential that led to cell death. Supplementation with NAD precursors restored NAD levels, mitochondrial bioenergetics, and protein homeostasis, thereby preventing neuronal death caused by autophagy deficiency. Our goal is to target this mechanism of cell death in rare, early-onset neurodegenerative diseases associated with defective autophagy for developing treatments. We will focus on Niemann-Pick type C1 (NPC1) disease and Wolfram syndrome (WS), and assess generalisability in Lafora disease and neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis 3 (CLN3 disease). These diseases have no effective cure and are associated with a spectrum of autophagy defects at early/late stages that we and others have demonstrated. We also found lower NAD levels in NPC1 and WS patient-derived neurons where drugs increasing autophagy or NAD improved neuronal survival. Our work will deliver insights into common patho-mechanisms and potential treatments for a range of rare neurodegenerative diseases associated with autophagy defects. First, we will study the contribution of autophagy dysfunction to cell death in rare disease models by analysing the intermediate steps of the cytotoxic pathway involving mitochondrial abnormalities and NAD metabolism. Then, we will use drugs that can correct the autophagy and NAD deficits, and further evaluate their efficacy in rescuing various disease-relevant phenotypes. Finally, we will investigate whether the treatment strategy will work for other rare brain disorders. To test new therapy in clinically relevant cells, we will make neurons from stem cells generated from patients' skin samples. We will use them to study how neurons die from autophagy malfunction that will lead to establishing a common disease mechanism involving autophagy dysfunction and NAD depletion. We will then test medicines already in use for other conditions or used as nutritional supplements to rescue the autophagy and NAD defects for improving the survival of patient-derived neurons, and applicable to multiple rare disease conditions. Our treatment strategy will be put forward in a future proposal for a clinical trial in children with rare brain disorders. The outcome will improve the health of children and have wider societal benefits to the rare disease community, neurologists, basic scientists, and NHS.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-09

Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is a life-threatening disease with mortality exceeding that from breast cancer, HIV, and traffic accidents, combined. Current methods to study mechanisms of DVT are heavily based on animal models and, therefore, development of in vitro approaches that would include the entire complexity of factors to study the disease is timely and highly desirable. DVT develops in a special location inside the veins: valve pockets, a region with a very specific blood flow geometry, where overall flow rate is strongly reduced. This results in inflammation-like changes in the vessel wall leading to thrombosis. Most of the existing flow chamber/microfluidic devices either don't have valves at all or have valves with fixed immobile leaflets. We have recently developed a unique microfluidic chamber containing flexible valve leaflets, which allows for full recapitulation of venous hemodynamics in humans. Moreover, we were able to develop a method to coat the surface of such chamber with human endothelium. In the proposed project, we plan to continue this research direction and further mimic the complexity of the vessel wall by including smooth muscle cells, mast cells, fibroblasts, and extracellular matrix proteins, into cell culture. In particular, based upon our previous studies (Schofield et al. Commun Mater 2020; Baksamawi et al. Front Cardiovasc Med 2023) and in collaboration with the Healthcare Technologies Institute (Prof. Liam Grover, the second supervisor), we will pursue the following objectives: To develop a multi-cell culture including major components of the venous wall inside the microfluidic chamber, and validate the model comparing it to published data obtained in animal-based research. Determine the role of each vessel wall cell type in DVT. Explore/verify the effects of major antithrombotic drugs. As a result, we will create a complete "vessel-on-chip" model and use it to explore mechanisms of DVT initiation. The model will have the following advantages: 1) represent a model of human vein, which by definition removes issues originating from differences between animals and humans 2) better standardized, more reproducible and cheaper than any animal model 4) technically simple and allows for testing of multiple factors 5) allows for easy and fast genetic manipulations with all cellular components to evaluate the impact of separate genes 6) allows for testing blood of patients, which cannot be implemented in animal models 7) may represent a useful clinical tool for predicting the likelihood of DVT in patients 8) does not require Home Office ethical approval.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-09

Methane (CH4) is the most important anthropogenically enhanced greenhouse gas in the atmosphere after CO2. Growth in CH4 is increasing, and is currently tracking too high to meet Paris Agreement targets on climate change by 2100. As a result, in the 2021 Glasgow Climate Pact agreed at COP26, 100 countries pledged 30% cuts to their CH4 emissions by 2030, one of the key outcomes of the talks. Given this greater interest in understanding the global methane budget, it essential that all sources and sinks of methane are fully quantied to include the role of Earth's vast terrestrial ecosystems in mediating atmospheric exchange. This is because ecosystems are vulnerable to various agents of change, many of which can alter any methane- relevant ecosystem function with potential knock on eects for the global CH4 budget and Earth's climate. Globally, the atmospheric CH4 sinks dominate CH4 losses, with the far smaller soil sink where CH4-consuming methanotrophs are considered the only terrestrial sink. However, data-driven global modelling eorts tend to over-estimate emission sources by ~151 Tg (million tonnes) each year when compared to smaller atmospheric 'top-down' derived estimates, possibly suggesting that a substantial terrestrial CH4 sink term is either poorly quantied or missing from the global CH4 budget. This year, we have discovered only the second terrestrial CH4 sink in the Earth system (Gauci et al Nature under review) and the rst new major component of the methane budget to be identied for over 40 years: The woody surfaces of upland trees (we consider all trees on free draining, low water-table soils as 'upland' trees in contrast to wetland or oodplain trees which are far smaller in area and emit methane). Our conservative global estimate places this 'upland tree sink' (~50Tg each year) as potentially larger than the size of the global soil sink so there is a clear need to rene the high degree of uncertainty in our estimate with new data gathered from within the crowns and canopies of tropical trees. This will help us to see if trees are an important 'missing sink' in the Earth system. The crowns and canopies of trees are challenging to sample from and so are not well represented in our current estimates, however, our data suggest that CH4 uptake should be larger on the woody surfaces of branches and twigs of tree crowns and canopies, than our current estimates assume. Further, this new discovery may be important from a global change perspective since, unlike the soil sink, which is not changing in global area, tropical upland forests (where the majority of this woody surface CH4 sink resides) are declining due to the eects of deforestation and land use change. Where natural forest is replaced with crops or pasture, the CH4 sink will be reduced. Deforestation is therefore a potential additional mechanism responsible for observed ongoing growth in atmospheric CH4 concentration. We propose to examine the full role of natural tropical upland forest in the methane cycle through a combination of eld measurements of uxes in West African trees and modelling. The result will be better understanding of the contribution of trees and deforestation, the "new methane sink", to changing atmospheric methane concentrations over time so that we may address growth in CH4 concentration in accordance with the Glasgow Climate Pact.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-09

The recent eruption of Ruang, Indonesia, offers a rare opportunity to advance our knowledge of tsunami-generating processes at partially submerged volcanoes. Many volcanoes globally form small islands, often with isolated populations, prone to the impacts of eruption-related tsunamis. These tsunamis can be driven by complex and cascading sequences of events, including both explosive eruption processes (e.g., pyroclastic flows) and flank instabilities (generating landslides). As a consequence, volcanic tsunamis are challenging to forecast and prepare for, as demonstrated by events at Anak Krakatau in 2018 and Hunga Tonga in 2022, and form a critical knowledge gap in volcanology. At many volcanic islands, the record of past eruptive events and their potential for tsunami generation is poorly understood. These volcanic settings are also often unmonitored, given their isolation and limited land surface. Planning effective monitoring strategies thus remains a major challenge. Ruang, which lies in the Sangihe arc between Sulawesi and the Philippines, has a history of tsunami generation that has led to it being ranked among the highest-risk volcanoes in southeast Asia for volcanic tsunami hazards, despite the limited knowledge of its current instability. The eruption of Ruang in April 2024 raised tsunami alerts that led to the evacuation of 12,000 people. The volcano has been frequently active in the past century, but the recent eruption was the largest on record, and included pyroclastic currents which travelled over seawater to a neighbouring island, Tagulandang, but did not produce measurable tsunamis. The size of the eruption was comparable to a powerful but little known event in 1870, which was followed seven months later by a tsunami-generating volcanic landslide that caused several hundred deaths on Tagulandang. Despite this historical precedent, eruption and instability processes at Ruang have not been subject to focused study. None of its eruptions have been well observed by modern instrumentation and the mechanisms associated with instability hazards at the volcano have not been investigated. There is an urgent need to evaluate the potential for instability hazards given the past record of volcanogenic tsunamis at Ruang and the vulnerability of local populations. Here, we will address this need using a novel combination of remote sensing, engineering geology and volcanological techniques - an approach that wouldn't have been possible for past eruptions of Ruang, given availability of satellite imagery, and that is a priority given the intensity of the recent eruption - to develop the first eruptive and instability model of Ruang, providing the framework to assess volcanic tsunami risk at the island and to plan future management strategies. We will work closely with Indonesian partners to combine our results with other observational datasets and develop protocols that can be applied to both Ruang and comparable volcanic islands throughout the region. Our work will evaluate the immediate and longer term instability of Ruang. This will greatly advance our knowledge of eruptive processes and associated hazards in the Sangihe arc, and develop a new capability to assess tsunami hazard scenarios more broadly across small volcanic-island settings. We are particularly well placed to deliver this research, given active projects with Indonesian hazard management agencies, including a current PhD project evaluating tsunami scenarios in the Sangihe arc. Through these relationships, this project will inform the development of strategies applicable across partially submerged volcanoes in the region that pose tsunami-generating risks.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-09

Bone infections, including osteomyelitis and osteoradionecrosis, cause significant morbidity and mortality, especially in elderly people where osteomyelitis is the second most critical musculoskeletal infection.[1] These conditions can have devastating consequences, including severe pain, bone destruction, amputation, and even sepsis and death. Current treatments often have limited success, and the development of more effective therapies requires a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms of disease development/aetiology. There is a critical need for models that accurately replicate the pathophysiology of bone infections. The use of animal models for studying bone infections has provided valuable insights into the pathophysiology of these diseases.[2] However, animal models have several limitations, including ethical concerns, high cost, and poor reproducibility. In vitro models that accurately replicate the pathophysiology of these infections could offer an alternative to animal testing, allowing researchers to explore the complex interactions between microbial pathogens, immune endothelial cells, and bone-resident osteoblasts/osteocytes in a more controlled and reproducible manner. In vitro models could facilitate the exploration of complex interactions between microbial pathogens, endothelial cells, and bone-resident cells, leading to a better understanding of these diseases and the development of more effective treatments. Despite the recent advances tissue engineered organotypic in vitro models of bone,[3,4] there are still a critical lack of models mimicking the pathophysiology[5] of infected bone, such as osteomyelitis or infection, associated with the development of necrotic tissue due to radiation - collectively known as osteoradionecrosis. Here, we propose develop advanced in vitro models of osteomyelitis and osteoradionecrosis, with the ultimate goal of replacing animal models that cause severe harm. We will advance 3D iPSCs-based cell cultures, 3D-fluidic chips platforms, and hybrid hydrogels to overcome these challenges and construct vascularised in vitro models of bone. Furthermore, we will irradiate and infect the cultures to generate models of osteoradionecrosis.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-09

The Parliamentary Thematic Research Lead on Transport, will be embedded in the UK Parliament, working alongside parliamentary staff. This lead role will bring the research perspective to work carried out by select committees, libraries and Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST). The role will include leading horizon scanning and futures work and supporting parliamentary staff to take a strategic approach to planning their work programmes, including supporting the development of committee Areas of Research Interest. The Thematic Research Lead will identify upcoming needs for Parliamentary Academic Fellows and opportunities for co-production of briefings between academics and Parliamentary staff. They will connect and expand their networks (including research, learned societies and industry) to support parliamentary activities and will liaise with those in the Government CSA Network team. This will enhance engagement with those working in research to policy, fostering collaboration and knowledge exchange. The Thematic Research Lead will liaise with UKRI and its research councils to enable increased parliamentary impact of UKRI investments. They will share insights from Parliament back to the research councils and UKRI; by doing so, they will contribute to the development of the research-policy ecosystem. The Thematic Research Lead will support with identifying the skills and experience needs of members of the parliamentary thematic team and relevant development and training opportunities. They will also help to identify opportunities for secondments, placements or people-exchanges both into and out of Parliament. Beyond working in their policy area, the Thematic Research Lead will work as part of a network with the other Thematic Research Leads to identify cross-cutting opportunities or issues and develop strategic responses, share information, learning, insights and best practice.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-08

This is a research project to establish algebraic and geometric results inspired by a duality originally from string theory. Right before the turn of the century, theoretical physics provided an insight to geometry that led to many modern successes in geometric research. They discovered a duality in string theory had implications and applications to the study of higher dimensional geometry, making answers to classical questions about the geometry of certain six-dimensional spaces accessible. Roughly speaking, for (classical) string theory to provide a potential physical theory for the universe, it requires the universe to be 10-dimensional. Four of these dimensions are the standard 3 space dimensions and one time dimension we experience in our lives, and the other six are a so-called Calabi-Yau manifold. It is still unclear how many Calabi-Yau manifolds there are, and we study them in many different ways, but string theory has given us a deep connection between geometric research disciplines. In particular, a duality in string theory states that each Calabi-Yau manifold has a "mirror" which is another Calabi-Yau manifold so that various geometric and physical properties of one are encapsulated in other geometric and physical properties of its mirror. This phenomenon in mathematics is now known as mirror symmetry. In particular, hard computations and computational open questions in symplectic geometry associated to a Calabi-Yau manifold were now encoded in the algebraic geometry of its mirror. At the onset of mirror symmetry, these algebro-geometric computations were much easier and then they were then used as a guiding principle for what we aim to prove in symplectic geometry. This made century-old problems in enumerative geometry achievable. In 1994, the Fields Medallist Kontsevich provided a conjectural but fully mathematical version of mirror symmetry, encoding the symplectic geometry in what is called a Fukaya category and the algebraic geometry in a derived category of coherent sheaves. This provided a robust formulation in algebra of this physical and geometric phenomenon. Throughout the past three decades, mirror symmetry has expanded and it is now seen that mirror symmetry is not just a relationship amongst Calabi-Yau manifolds, but many more geometric spaces (e.g., Fano manifolds, log Calabi-Yau varieties). However, it has also been extended to the study of singularities. Interestingly, one can model the geometry of certain spaces by constructing a function so that the function is singular along the original space. Then one can deform this model and still obtain a physical model for string theory. This is an example of a Landau-Ginzburg model. Mirror symmetry has been established for Landau-Ginzburg models in a few cases, and it has been shown to be powerful in the study of classical higher-dimensional shapes such as Calabi-Yau manifolds. However, there are still foundational issues to be handled in the study of mirror symmetry for Landau-Ginzburg models. Ideally, we would like to prove a form of Kontsevich's conjecture for Landau-Ginzburg models, but before we do so in general, we will need to understand the algebro-geometric aspects of Landau-Ginzburg models. This project aims to better understand this categorical point of view for Landau-Ginzburg models, proving various structural results on their analogue of the derived category of coherent sheaves above, known as the (matrix) factorisation category.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-08

Exerting effort is essential for a successful life. From training for a marathon, to completing a project before work deadlines, meeting our goals requires us to repeatedly choose to undertake effortful acts. Pathological reductions in such goal-directed motivation characterise some of the most common and debilitating symptoms in psychiatry and neurology. Moreover, solving humanities greatest challenges (e.g. climate change) will require billions of people to exert more effort than they typically do. Yet, we have a limited understanding of the biggest challenge to research on motivation: the effort paradox. On one hand, decades of research shows that people conform to a law of least effort, avoiding the cost of effort. On the other hand, at school, work or in our hobbies, people break that law daily, we pursue and seek highly effortful acts when easier options are available. How does the brain concurrently process effort as a cost to avoid, but a benefit to seek? EffDox will deliver a paradigm shift in our understanding of the cognitive, computational and neural basis of motivation to address this paradox. It will provide novel paradigms and computational models to understand the cognitive processes and individual differences that underlie how people switch from avoiding effort to seeking it. A suite of neuroscience tools, never previously combined to examine motivation, will offer a new understanding and test specific hypotheses about the neural dynamics underlying effort. This will include multivariate techniques to 'fuse' together functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and Magnetoencephalography (MEG) in healthy people; simultaneous deep brain stimulation, cortical intracranial and subcortical recordings, in unique samples of Parkinson's disease (PD) patients, and testing links between dopamine, motivation and neural signals with wearable MEG. These conceptual, methodological and analytical innovations will reveal a new understanding of the effort paradox.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-08

Our aim is to: 1. Make these heritage assets unfamiliar again as global crossroads, enabling multiple global and local publics to meaningfully connect their lived experience with them; 2. Co-produce replicable models for the heritage sector of historic houses and their environs as entangled locales of diplomacy, international ecological exchange, interconnection, identity reflection and formation. Our international team of specialists from four UK universities, the National Trust, National University of Singapore, and University of Toronto, alongside curators, grounds staff, trustees and seven highly committed cross-sectoral partners, have collaborated over 18 months to: a) offer transformative interpretation, new knowledge and innovative public programming to an enlarged, diverse set of audiences through targeted outreach, digital storytelling and ground-breaking publications; b) establish new networked relationships between local and international communities, ethically unlock the extraordinary visitor and research potential at each site of unstudied Indigenous, Chinese, South and SE Asian and Arctic materials, and link material culture with originating and diasporic communities; c) give scholarly and international public prominence to under-researched material culture and ecologies via workshops, creative residencies, a suite of accessible, interactive digital outputs, and interdisciplinary exhibitions; d) generate capacity in inter-community collaboration and applied environmental knowledge (Clandeboye) and expand public understanding of rising water levels and biodiversity loss (Mount Stewart); e) realise a pressing National Trust policy aim to drive innovative programming using data by developing a field-leading transferable Choice Modelling Cultural Value Analysis at Mount Stewart, shared with Clandeboye Estate, and discussed across the world's econometrics, GLAM, and heritage policy sectors; f) foster impactful new dialogue between previously siloed historical, ecological, agricultural, heritage, and econometric practice and research; g) impact and empower schoolchildren embarking upon the new OCR Natural History GCSE; h) co-produce creative, experiential public-facing outputs that beneficially engage new local and international audiences.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-08

BuildAir seeks to incorporate the infection risk component in building codes and design guidelines, whilst providing comprehensive tools and frameworks to make it possible. This overarching idea is motivated by the clear lack of preparedness revealed during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially regarding indoor spaces. The number of outbreaks of airborne respiratory diseases such as measles, tuberculosis or influenza is increasing and their human and economic impact, worldwide and in the UK, is enormous. Enhanced global disease portability opens the door to new epidemics. Yet, our level of response has not evolved significantly since 2020. Despite numerous advances in research and innovation, ventilation guidelines do not address specifically airborne transmission in the vast majority of built environments. A paradigm change is imperative; we must stop assuming that airborne spread of pathogens is unavoidable. To do that, it is necessary to collate the lessons learned from the past and turn it into practical, case-specific recommendations and tools. We have assembled a highly interdisciplinary Investigator Team composed by twenty researcher. We identified five areas where there are relevant research questions that need novel and enhanced cross-disciplinary understanding. Our vision is to co-deliver a novel holistic framework to proactively assess airborne infection risk in built spaces. This framework will bridge the gaps between modelling and monitoring risk infection whilst incorporating human behaviour and mental health considerations. We will co-develop the novel idea of using artificial intelligence and digital twins to establish effective links among these different areas. Our vision is not restricted 'a priori' to a single pathogen, a specific technological development or a particular built space. We aim to create an extendable and flexible framework that can incorporate a variety of scenarios and consider different levels of vulnerability. This framework will provide the new understanding needed to create comprehensive guidelines and protocols. The delivery of this project emphasises the engagement of the Investigator Team with end-users and stakeholders. We will analyse, expand and select the proposed research ideas with the highest transformative potential and gather the datasets and expertise that will ensure their delivery in the context of one or several inter-disciplinary programmatic awards. This team is supported by our project partners, UKSHA, Siemens, Ansys, Hertfordshire County Council and BIOREME. BuildAir has identified gaps and synergies among modelling, monitoring and human behaviour. We will develop strategies to adress those gaps and effectively design infection-free built environments. This new knowledge will generate the guidelines for the buildings of the future and the adaptation of the existing ones.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-08

The employment landscape in the UK has radically changed in the last 20 years. One important aspect of this change is the rise of alternative (non-standard) work arrangements such as gig work and 'solo' self-employment without employees. The growth of alternative work arrangements has been accompanied by rising multiple job-holding whereby individuals have more than one job or forms of employment. The following type of work arrangement has attracted much attention in policy and public debates: "I'm in full time employment, but I've also today started UberEats deliveries. I'm a little confused after reading various information online. Am I right in thinking I still need to let HMRC that I'm self employed? And fill out a self assessment come April next year? Alongside my full time employment." (HMRC Community Forum, 2024). Key policy issues concerning mixing employee jobs with self-employment are whether employees are 'forced' to take on additional employment as a self-employed worker as their employee job does not offer sufficient work hours and earnings or bears the risk of future income losses, and who is more likely to engage in this type of working due to necessity? Mixing employee jobs and self-employment has been difficult to pin down using traditional data but, in the UK, a sizeable proportion of one-quarter of the self-employed received income from paid employment in 2015/16 in HM Revenue and Customs data (Cribb et al., 2019). There are therefore also important questions to answer about the impact on widening existing social inequalities and their spatial manifestations. It is widely recognised that the UK suffers from intense regional and local inequalities and that these differences are intensifying, so damaging social cohesion and leading to further inequalities in health and well-being. Therefore, there is the need to identify data that can answer timely and policy-relevant questions about how people mix paid employment and self-employment. This is the key challenge that this fellowship will address. This challenge is of international relevance as internationally researchers have demonstrated that survey data have not sufficiently caught up with the changes in the world of work. The fellowship has four objectives: Provide evidence from new administrative data - the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) linked with HMRC Self-Assessment and PAYE data (2014-2018) - on women's and men's job characteristics and earnings conditions that are associated with employees having income from self-employment. The focus is on financial constraints in the employee job, and differences between women and men. Identify local area characteristics that are related with combining paid employment and self-employment of women and men due to necessity. Build stakeholder partnerships with third-sector organisations to support giving women and underrepresented groups in work a voice. Develop knowledge exchange networks between researchers, policymakers and other stakeholders to enhance the use of administrative data for policy-relevant research and for developing further the ADR UK's core strategic research theme 'World of Work'. There is significant national and local government interest in in-work poverty and how to better understand local labour market processes. For stakeholders in regional economic development, the identification of aspects of place that are associated with financial constraints amongst employees with additional income from self-employment will be important for designing effective place-based policies. Comparisons between women and men will be beneficial for organisations and groups that support gender equality.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-08

AYUR aims to examine and compare the changing nature of forms and practices of Ayurveda (a traditional Indian medical system) in different socio-political and cultural contexts, at local-national-global levels. While in India Ayurveda is getting active state support as an indigenous and traditional medical system, it is seen as complementary and orientalist medicine-informed by spiritualism and ancient medicine in the UK and other European countries (Cant 2020). AYUR will compare and contrast the changing forms and practices of Ayurveda that are driven by the ideologies of market, religion and nationalism in India and the UK. The aim is to see how these ideologies influence consumers' health choices and service providers' practices. With a comparative perspective and multi-sited ethnography, the study will examine its changes in local, national and global contexts. AYUR will take an interdisciplinary and comparative approach drawing particularly on sociological and anthropological/historical theories. By examining Ayurveda in different locations, the aim is to analyse the merger of medicine, wellness and preventive care and how this merger creates a commodity called Ayurveda. AYUR will conduct ethnographies (participant-observation and in-depth interviews, examine promotional materials) of Ayurvedic wellness Centres to examine the similarities and differences between the centres and the variations at the local- national-global contexts in terms of their mission, approaches and promotional strategies. By focusing on these factors, AYUR will contribute in developing a deep reimagining of the anthropological understandings of health, illness and medicine in local-national-global contexts.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-08

To the Cree of Saskatchewan, he is 'Pisimwa Kamiwohkitahpamikohk', meaning 'The Sun looks at Him in a Good Way'. We know him as Prince Charles. To the Salish of British Columbia, she is 'Mother of all people'. We know her as the Queen. This interdisciplinary project investigates the deep but unexplored connections embodied in these names, between the British Crown and the indigenous peoples of Canada and Northeastern America - one of the oldest diplomatic relationships in the world. It shaped the North America we know today and continues to be 'brightened' and renewed by the Royal family because of its vital role in addressing global challenges linked to the legal, environmental and territorial resurgence of indigenous rights. 2024 marks the 260th anniversary of a pivotal juncture in the first 'special relationship' between America and Britain, a massive and expensive diplomatic pageant known as the Treaty of Niagara, when the Indian 'Magna Carta' confirmed Native rights and sovereignty over vast lands and resources. This project uses this and other treaties as lenses to reveal cultures of diplomatic interaction between the Crown and indigenous peoples that are rooted in the 17th century but of increasing global significance today. The project is the first of its kind to examine this globally significant diplomatic relationship in depth and scope. An international team of specialists from Hull, Oxford, Queen's University (Canada), and including one of North America's most prominent indigenous scholars from Dartmouth College (US), in partnership with a network that includes Yale, the College of William and Mary (Virginia), King's College London and a group of museums, galleries and archives in the UK, Switzerland, Canada and the US will, over 48 months: 1.connect, examine and interpret a series of unstudied archives and material culture held in the UK, at the Royal Archives at Windsor, the National Archives, and the British Library; in the US, at the Newberry Library (Chicago) and in 13 repositories in the Northeast; and in the Library & Archives, Canada; 2. collaboratively produce new materials and avenues of research using a combination of academic, museum and digital platforms; 3. create new circuits of international collaboration linking academics, the public, policy-makers, indigenous communities and cultural institutions; 4. engage diverse UK audiences in novel ways using an immersive Digital Kinetic Map and a Digital Soundscape that is at the vanguard of innovation in humanities research and museum practice; 5. promote Crown-indigenous diplomacy as a significant intercultural asset, of unrealised value to the heritage and experience economy. Seven interconnected workstreams undertaken by 5 core applicants and 2 PDRAs will bring texture, clarity and nuance to this under-researched topic and transform the way that we understand the history of the British Crown, its empire, and the contemporary relevance of its intercultural past. To bring this past into dialogue with the present, we will co-create: - 6 books that illuminate Crown-indigenous relationships and the environment, diplomatic practice, political power, continental perspectives and the historic alliance known as the 'Covenant Chain' that underpins indigenous rights today. - 2 ground-breaking museum exhibits working with prominent Native artists in residency, 3 interactive public workshops, and a schools outreach programme; - a total of 4 international conferences and workshops that will bring together academics, policy-makers and the public - in addition to an immersive Digital Kinetic Map that will animate historic maps from the British Library's collections, and a Digital Soundscape that will re-create diplomatic speeches in the Mohawk language, a suite of curated digital outputs including podcasts, a learning resource, website, and a people-powered research platform that will crowd-source images of objects and the stories of diplomacy.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-08

Basic biology as well as applied fields such as agrobiology, biomedicine or biotechnology are undergoing a revolution driven by the realisation that microorganisms impact virtually all biological processes. Microorganisms associated with complex organisms are no longer considered passive passengers but active crews that continuously interact with their host to shape a wide range of biological functions that play a key role in major basic and applied processes. The application of the newest high throughput molecular technologies to address such interplay has given rise to the novel field of hologenomics, which entails the joint analysis of host genomes and microbial metagenomes with the aim of understanding the impact of host-microbiota interactions in basic and applied biological processes. The DN HoloGen has been conceived to lead the development and practical implementation of hologenomics in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of host-microbiota interactions, and their impact in both basic and applied areas with direct relevance to many of the global societal challenges. We propose to form an unprecedented multidisciplinary and scientifically sound training network by bringing together top researchers with theoretical knowledge on symbiosis biology, microbial ecology, animal evolution, animal production and biomedicine, as well as practical expertise in large- scale (meta)genomics, DNA sequence analysis, metabolomics, computational biology and biological systems modelling. We anticipate that the research results will be (i) of academic relevance through development of new analytical frameworks and understandings of host-microbiome interactions, (ii) of direct relevance to the portfolios of the industrial partners, and (iii) through these portfolios stand to benefit the European Research and Innovation community.