University of Bristol

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2026 · 2026-09

Tropical forests are essential for human life. They harbour high biodiversity, provide ecosystem services, influence regional climate, and play a key role in the global carbon cycle. As trees grow, they draw down carbon from the atmosphere and convert it into organic matter. In the tropics alone, this “carbon sink” removes up to 30% of anthropogenic emissions every year, thus slowing the rate of climate change. However, tropical deforestation releases just as much carbon into the atmosphere. Furthermore, as the world warms, extreme climate events become more frequent, and carbon gains of forests are increasingly offset by carbon losses due to respiration and tree mortality. If intact tropical forests were to lose more carbon than they take up – become a “carbon source” – global climate change would accelerate rapidly. Thus, there is an urgent need to monitor the carbon stocks of tropical forests and forecast their sink-source balance. However, accurately quantifying carbon stocks and fluxes remains a challenging, unresolved issue. To calculate the aboveground carbon content of a forest landscape, one needs to estimate the size of its trees and the density of their wood. This is uniquely challenging in the tropics due to multi-storied canopies and high species diversity. Measuring trees on the ground, for example, is a crucial component, as it gives vital information on tree stem sizes and species composition, from which aboveground biomass can be estimated. However, field inventories only cover small areas, are difficult to carry out in remote areas, and cannot comprehensively assess tree size. Conversely, modern technologies – lasers mounted on airplanes or satellites – can survey the upper layers of forests with high precision and at landscape scale. However, what they measure is difficult to connect to individual stems and species on the ground. As a result, when used in isolation, no single approach today provides estimates of tropical carbon that are both precise and representative of entire landscapes. Here, I propose a novel approach to tackle this issue that recreates forests virtually tree by tree (“digital twins”) and simulates the entire lifecycle of trees in 3D. Such individual-based models are powerful tools that can integrate a wide range of data and create synergies between the ecological detail of field measurements (individual trees) and the large scales of airborne laser scans (square kilometres). However, their application has traditionally been limited by their high complexity and computational demands. I address this via an innovative “divide-and-conquer” approach that reduces complexity by first modelling the 3D structure of tropical forest landscapes, and then initializes a dynamic model from these 3D scenes, which separately simulates physiological and ecological processes as well as their response to environmental changes. To inform these approaches, I will leverage a new network of tropical “supersites” and obtain high-quality data from 30 landscapes across the tropics. For the first time, I will create high resolution assessments of forest structure and carbon for these sites, monitor the balance between tree growth and mortality, and forecast changes under different climate scenarios. The key output will be a high precision assessment of aboveground tropical carbon, its current dynamics and potential future dynamics at unprecedented scale and precision. This will provide a reference framework for the validation of satellite-monitoring tools, ecological assessments, forest management decisions, and improved climate and vegetation modelling at pantropical scales.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2026 · 2026-08

Droughts are complex events driven by water fluxes between the atmosphere, land surface, and subsurface. These water fluxes are being modified by humans at unprecedented rates due to climate change and water use by agriculture, industry, energy and public supply. Human activities can intensify or mitigate hydrological droughts, significantly affecting their severity, duration and frequency. However, current hydrological models often neglect these human influences, limiting our ability to predict and manage future drought risk effectively. The Future Leaders Fellowship (FLF), Projecting extreme droughts in rapidly changing human-water systems, aims to address this challenge through five core objectives: O1. Develop an integrated modelling framework for coupled human-water systems O2. Quantify the impact of human-water interactions and feedbacks on hydrological droughts O3. Assess the trade-offs and importance of human-water use and climate change for droughts O4. Establish the resilience of Great Britain’s water systems to future extreme drought events O5. Work with project partners to enact operational change in water resources decision making Urgency and Importance: The UK faces projected water shortages by 2050 due to climate change and growing water demand, which could cost the UK economy billions in emergency water supply measures. New research is needed to support regulatory planning requirements (e.g. Environmental Destinations), the assessment of new water infrastructure and fill knowledge gaps on water system resilience to extreme droughts. My FLF accelerates knowledge exchange across the water sector, and delivers the evidence and tools for improved water resources management. Progress to Date: In the first phase of the FLF, I have produced innovative science, established and grown my group, consolidated my position as a national leader in hydrology and delivered evidence for improved UK water management. A key outcome is the development of a national-scale hydrological model for Great Britain that integrates surface water, groundwater, and water supply systems. Our research has led to new insights into how human activities, such as water abstraction and wastewater discharges, influence low flows nationally. Collaborations with the Environment Agency, Met Office and Wessex Water have enabled us to assess the reliability of national public water supplies, benchmark operational models for drought management and set out key priorities and future directions of drought research. Renewal Plans: For the FLF renewal, I will maintain this upward trajectory by generating innovative science, ensuring the sustainability and development of my group, building capacity across the UK hydrological community, consolidating my position as an international leader in hydrology and enacting change in UK water resources management. Key planned advances include: WP1: New modelling capability to model multi-sectoral water demand WP2: Generating new understanding of human impacts on drought propagation both in the UK and internationally. WP3: Assessing the resilience of water systems and our capacity to adapt to future extreme droughts Impact and Leadership: Our outputs will provide new understanding of the change and variability in hydrological droughts and inform the processes and infrastructure required to balance deficits in water supply. We will enable the development and application of hydrological models that will improve integrated catchment modelling for regulators, consultancies and water companies. We will support water companies and regulators in achieving sustainable abstraction and mitigating climate change impacts by evaluating co-developed management scenarios in project workshops. We will convene workshops that bring together the drought community to accelerate knowledge exchange across the water sector.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2026 · 2026-07

Climate change is intensifying, with devastating impacts. Adaptation is urgent to reduce climate risk. Climate science has potential to inform adaptation, by providing evidence about how climate is likely to change at a regional or local scale. Climate service providers are already using climate models run in future experiments to inform decision-makers about future climate change impacts. Whilst climate models are remarkable tools, their future projections can be very challenging to use for decision-making. The models are being run into the future, so we cannot verify their projections using observations. Also, even when run with the same future scenario, different models can show different projections of regional climate change. For example, in many southern African countries, some models suggest the rainy season will get wetter, whilst others suggest it will get drier. Communicating this uncertainty is very challenging. Therefore, when providing information about future climate, scientists and consultants have to make tricky choices about which models to use, how to analyse their data, and how to communicate the results. It is not surprising therefore that sources of information about future climate sometimes contradict one other. With this confusing information landscape, it is difficult for city planners or disaster risk managers to be able to interpret and use this information to reduce future risk. The SALIENT project is designed to address this challenge. Often, generating information is viewed as translation or application of science. However, there is no common scientific understanding of future climate that can be applied or translated. Novel research is needed to improve understanding of what is expected to happen in future – research which uses climate model simulations, but also builds in other important sources of evidence including observations,  process understanding, and expert judgement. New research is also needed into the communication of future climate uncertainties, learning from other applications (such as public health) and disciplines (such as psychology) to design and test the effectiveness of different approaches to communicating about future climate. SALIENT focuses on building this novel, transdisciplinary, research. We combine cutting-edge climate science (using hundreds of climate model runs, convective-permitting simulations, and analysis of future climate processes), with formal approaches to expert judgement, and risk communication research methods (including  surveys and workshops). We also conduct research to investigate the context for future climate information, and how it is currently being used, through document analysis and interviews. We are using insights from our research to generate future climate information which is both scientifically rigorous and meaningful, and guidance for climate service providers. Ultimately, our vision is to enable decision-makers access to the best possible evidence about future climate change. SALIENT has been running for almost 3 years, so far focusing on southern Africa. We have improved understanding of the use of future climate information in national adaptation planning, and identified promising approaches to better characterise and communicate future climate change, which we are now integrating into tools and guidance. In the second phase of SALIENT, we will deepen and extend our research, including greater emphasis on connecting understanding of climate variability and change, and the use of narratives to communicate multiple possible futures. We will also step up global engagement, exchanging knowledge with other regions and integrating learning into global initiatives to develop guidance and standards for climate information.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2026 · 2026-05

Methane is a greenhouse gas with >80 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide over a 20-year period – the timescale in which global action to reduce carbon emissions and limit catastrophic climate change is needed. Atmospheric methane concentrations have increased by 0.5% per year since 2010, yet to achieve the Paris Climate target limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius it needs to decrease by 0.9% per year between 2010 and 2050. Roughly half the methane currently in the atmosphere comes from human activity, so addressing human-driven methane emissions is crucial to achieving climate targets. This fellowship renewal will further establish my team as leaders addressing the global rise in methane emissions. This is achieved via three work packages (WPs) delivering technical solutions to reduce the climate impacts of methane emissions. These technical solutions are being developed and applied in urban waterways (city rivers and canals) because these systems can act as conduits for human-driven methane emissions to the atmosphere. Urban waterways can receive a wide range of methane inputs, such as leaky gas and wastewater pipes, and will come under increasing human pressure with more than 5 billion people predicted to live in cities by 2030. WP1. How do we accurately measure methane emissions? The fellowship has delivered instrumentation that has been applied to measure methane emissions at spatial and temporal resolutions surpassing current capabilities. In the renewal phase, these approaches will be used to quantify the contribution of urban waterways to city-scale methane inventories across globally representative locations (UK, Europe, southeast Asia). WP2. Where do methane emissions originate? The techniques used in this fellowship can distinguish natural from human-driven methane by measuring targeted methane radio- (C-14) and stable (C-13, H-2) isotopes alongside geochemical and microbial characterisation of urban waterways. Methane emissions and origin will be mapped for entire urban waterway networks to determine the key controls of methane release to the atmosphere. Via isotope meta-analysis, we will further explore methane oxidation dynamics across global rivers. WP3. How do we reduce methane emissions? The mapping of controls on methane release, coupled with detailed microbial characterisation and oxidation incubations, will be used to deliver techniques to detect methane leaks, even ones hidden underground, and prevent the emission of human-driven methane to the atmosphere by developing bioremediation strategies. We will utilise approaches and partnerships developed in Phase 1 of the Fellowship to assess landscape-scale soil carbon destabilisation using C-14, and design solutions for gas leaks from Hydrogen energy infrastructure, leaks which can affect the climate impact of methane in the atmosphere. The Fellowship will provide new tools for detecting and reducing methane emissions in cities, support national and international climate targets, and help ensure that future energy strategies don’t have unintended environmental consequences. The Fellowship includes strong partnerships with local communities, schools, and industry to co-create outcomes and solutions. By focusing on urban waterways – places that are often visible and accessible – this Fellowship offers a unique opportunity to connect science, policy, and public engagement to reduce methane climate impacts.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2026 · 2026-05

Trees grow tall to compete for sunlight, but this growth inevitably increases their exposure to wind. There is therefore a fundamental trade-off between competition for light and mechanical stability. This trade-off shapes the global variation in forest structure: from the short, compact canopies of the cyclone belt to the towering trees of the calm tropics. Within forests, different tree species have evolved different growth strategies to balance this trade-off, with implications for forest ecology and management approaches. However, we know surprisingly little about the role of wind in an ecological context, especially relative to other drivers of disturbance such as drought or fire. This severely limits our ability to forecast how shifts in global wind patterns and increasing storm intensities associated with climate change will impacts the world’s forests. The overarching aim of my fellowship is to predict how changing wind patterns will impact the future of our forests. This will be achieved in three steps. First, I will develop a mechanistic understanding of wind-induced tree mortality. Building on my previous work, I will use novel sensors to measure the vulnerability of canopy dominant trees to wind across 11 sites that span the global variation in wind exposure. Second, I will increase both the scale and temporal resolution of our observational data to estimate the rates and drivers of mortality for large canopy trees. I will use regular drone surveys across my study sites to detect tree mortality events using state-of-the-art artificial intelligence, and combine these data with hourly climate measurements to pinpoint the cause of death. Third, I will leverage my mechanistic understanding and improved observational data to implement wind-induced tree mortality in a global vegetation model for the first time. This groundbreaking approach will enable me to predict how increasing wind speeds will impact forest structure, species composition and carbon storage in the future. In addition to scientific advances, my fellowship will provide several practical benefits. The sensor technology and computational tools I develop will drastically improve and reduce the cost of forest monitoring in the context of restoration and management. In Sabah, Malaysia, I will build research capacity by providing training in forest monitoring with remote sensing and artificial intelligence, ensuring Sabah remains an important region for forest research. In the UK context, I will compare the wind-vulnerability of forests under different management regimes. This will inform the ongoing shift from clear-cut plantations towards continuous cover forestry and help us grow more climate resilient forests. In summary, my fellowship will fundamentally transform our understanding of wind as a driver of tree mortality. This will have practical implications for forest management as well as for modelling the forest carbon cycle. My research will therefore address an urgent need to predict how forests will respond to changing wind patterns, and how this will impact their ability to sequester carbon and mitigate climate change.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2026 · 2026-03

Type systems are an important part of programming because of their ability to give strong guarantees about the freedom of code from certain kinds of defects, such as calling an integer literal as if it were a function, or passing a string to an integer function. However, type systems are conservative: there are always programs that are free from defects and yet fail to pass the typechecker. Such results can be thought of as "false positives" and, in a traditional type system, it's down to the programmer to spend time looking at their type errors and determining which are true bugs and which are false positives. For familiar, mainstream type systems, this is perhaps not too onerous. However, for the cutting-edge type systems developed in programming languages research, which are designed for verifying strong, behavioural properties of programs, the volume of type errors and the effort required to separate those which are true from those that are false positives is prohibitive. The fact that type systems themselves provide no mechanism to distinguish real bugs from false positives is an inherent limitation in the underlying theory. Traditionally, only well-typed programs (those that pass the typechecker) can be assigned types, and well-typed programs don't go wrong. Thus, types in these systems can say nothing about programs with defects, that is (following O'Hearn) program incorrectness. In this project, we develop the theory and practice of type systems for reasoning about program incorrectness, underpinned by Ramsay and Walpole's new framing of type systems as sequent calculi. These two-sided type systems can prove that programs can go wrong, e.g. prove that a given program can be provoked to crash at runtime with a memory fault, or that a program is certain to reveal some private data. A type error in such a system guarantees that there is an issue in the code which can be made manifest at runtime; in other words, there are no false positives. Moreover, the content of the proof can be used to pinpoint the exact execution sequence that will provoke the error, so that programmers can understand why the bug is real. Our aim is to demonstrate that two-sided typing can be a rich foundation for impactful applications in reasoning about incorrectness of higher-order, functional programs. On the foundational side, we will tackle some of the challenging omissions in the nascent theory, such as: sound principles for refutation in the presence of computational effects - especially effects related to message-passing concurrency; the importance of extensionality principles for reasoning about necessity; dependence; and the relationship with incorrectness program logics for first-order, imperative programs. We will test the applicability of the theory by developing a new static analysis tool to automatically detect data-flow violations in large Erlang codebases, such as those of our partners. Such a tool would, for example, pinpoint paths in the code where private data will reach a public sink. Unlike existing tools, its underpinning in two-sided typing can guarantee zero false positives and the provision of detailed information about the diagnosis of issues.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2026 · 2026-03

Cooperation across social boundaries is ubiquitous in human societies. Indeed, our capacity to build strategic cooperative relationships across social borders, such as trade or military alliances, was thought to be unique to our species. However, there is now evidence for intergroup cooperation in taxonomically diverse groups, spanning ants to wrens and bonobos to dolphins. Researchers have generally focused on between-group conflict, leaving a gap in our understanding of between-group cooperation. This is perhaps surprising given that current global challenges require cooperation on an unprecedented scale, and that understanding the key processes that may promote prosocial and cooperative behaviour has clear societal benefits. Studies on between-group cooperation in non-humans should lead to a deeper understanding of the phenomenon in humans and other animals, which would be of great interest to biologists, anthropologists, psychologists and political scientists, promoting a step-change in our understanding of between-group cooperation. Bottlenose dolphins are an especially promising case for investigation because male dolphins form the largest multilevel alliance network outside humans, where between-group cooperation increases access to a contested resource. Unrelated males from different alliances will help each other gain access to females without obtaining an immediate payoff themselves and with no guarantee of a return. Our multi-decadal study on dolphin cooperation combines long-term behavioural and demography data over the lifetime of individuals with state-of-the-art technology that allows fine-scale, field-based observations and experimental manipulations. In this project, we will critically examine the proximate and ultimate mechanisms that underpin between-group alliances and between-group cooperation, addressing this new frontier through data and experiment. We will use four decades of behavioural data with large-scale social network analyses to examine the ontogeny and stability of between-group alliances. We will test how maternal effects, kinship, behavioural homophily (the tendency of individuals to interact with others who are like them), sociability and ecology all influence between-group alliance formation, as well as the impact of the loss of key allies on cooperative relationships between groups. We will also conduct behavioural follows with drone-mounted video and underwater microphone arrays to quantify the behavioural mechanisms used by individuals as they engage in between-group alliance interactions. Specifically, we will test how physical and vocal processes are used to promote and maintain social bonding and facilitate fission–fusion events between alliances. These behaviours will be mapped onto social network measures and will uncover how variation in behaviour relates to connections between cooperative groups and participation in cooperative tasks. Finally, we will conduct field manipulations to investigate the social cognition underpinning these between-group alliances. Our experience studying dolphin identity signals will inform the design of sound playback experiments with drone-mounted video to test how response to rivals is mediated by the presence of within- and between-group allies, while accounting for demographic and social traits. Cross-species research is crucial to understanding how between-group cooperation evolved. In addition to breakthrough discoveries on between-group cooperation in dolphins, outputs from this project will provide a framework for future work on the mechanisms underpinning between-group cooperation. Such a framework would allow us to identify similarities and differences in the socio-ecology and evolution of intergroup cooperation across taxonomic groups and identify the adaptive significance for cooperation across social borders for different species. The project is therefore of fundamental importance for a holistic understanding of the evolution of between-group cooperation in humans and other animals.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2026 · 2026-02

‘Sensory Studies for a More-than-human World’ establishes a major new international network of scholars who, together, will explore how we understand and communicate the ways in which living beings perceive the world and each other. Context: Recently, researchers across the humanities and social sciences have begun to explore past and present cultures of experience through ‘Sensory Studies’. In their concern with embodied experiences, these scholars have developed groundbreaking approaches for analysing and dissecting the cultures, spaces, and times of sensation. Meanwhile, scientists working in the field of ‘Sensory Ecology’ have generated exciting discoveries about the realities of animal sensing, such as fish that ‘see’ through touch. Significantly, however, there is virtually no dialogue between these fields. By bringing them together, we can understand the astonishing diversity of living worlds in new ways and develop innovative means of communicating those realities. The Challenge: Understanding and communicating the wonders of diverse sensory worlds to a nonspecialist audience is of the utmost urgency. The natural environment is bursting with variation and is rapidly changing. Some of these changes are anthropogenic, including the proliferation of light pollution, which directly impacts on the sensory lives of living beings. The empathy of the nonspecialist is an essential foundation for the development of effective conservation strategies for environments both near and far. This project will discover new ways of understanding and communicating sensory experiences in order to elicit and sustain this empathy.   Aims and Objectives We address this challenge by building a network of researchers across ‘Sensory Ecology’ and ‘Sensory Studies’. Embedded in institutions across the Global South and North, they will enter sustained dialogue focussed on the problems and possibilities of understanding and communicating sensory diversity across species. In online and in-person gatherings with agenda-setting open-ended discussion, frameworks involving established and more recent concepts will be developed to help the network understand and communicate sensory diversity. One key objective is to identify a pipeline of emerging ECR scholars whom we can mentor and build into the network’s activity. Another key objective is to ensure that the network is informed and enriched by non-HEI stakeholders. We will do this by partnering with two cutting-edge science communication organisations: the Bristol Natural History Consortium, and Day’s Edge Productions. Both are already invested in exploring how the realities of diverse sensory worlds can be better communicated to a public audience. A final objective is that, by building a robust and innovative network, we have existing academic and non-HEI expertise in place to apply for ambitious international research funding. Applications and Benefits: Sensory Studies and Sensory Ecology will be enriched - and become interwoven - through sustained engagement. ECRs will benefit from a research infrastructure that can support current research and prepare them for future research opportunities. All participants will benefit from co-production of an innovative framework for continued study and priming for future funding applications. The public and the wider research community will benefit from the emergence of new modes of immersive sensory science communication.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2026 · 2026-02

The project’s focus is the special significance and function of intertextual references in exile literature. It is based on the finding that a new German-language literature is currently developing that articulates experiences of flight, migration and exile in Europe by extensive inter-reference to other texts, including the writing of German exiles from Nazism. The project investigates these acts of self-inscription into an established body of literature; in so doing, it shows how they are transforming established narratives about exile and memory in German-language literature and culture. The links which exile writers make to the literature of exile in other places and periods are the starting point for the project’s programmatic expansion of critical perspectives on exile literature. This expansion has three dimensions. First, the project challenges the narrow chronological focus on exile from Nazism that has long characterised German literary studies, by bringing together as exile literature the writing of contemporary authors as well as those of the Vormärz period (1815-1848), whom the exiles from Nazism often cited themselves. Exile literature in German is thus treated as an integrated phenomenon here, across historical epochs, for the first time in a study of this size. Second, the project analyses the transcultural and transnational dynamics of exile texts on the basis of the quotations and inter-references which it reconstructs. The project’s central thesis is that these patterns of interconnection are not only characteristic of contemporary exile literature, but can also be traced in earlier periods. This runs contrary to the rhetoric of national self-constitution and cultural preservation which has been held to be typical of exile writing in particular. Third, the project analyses key conceptual implications of these multidimensional interconnections. Patterns of inter-reference make archives of interwoven histories visible and shape multidirectional memory structures. The project critically interrogates notions of loss and strategies of re-collecting, and concepts of intertextuality and of memory. It tests out and reflects on methods at the frontiers of the digital humanities, asking how digital methods of collection, analysis and presentation alter the approach to its literary material. The project thus aims to analyse in a literary-historical and systematic way how exile texts create links between each other: through quotations, mottoes and dedications, references to specific author names, and common topoi, narrative processes or experiments with form. In this way, the project shows how new spaces of belonging are created beyond nationally and culturally determined literary-historical frameworks. The results of the project’s work will be presented in collaborative and individual publications, in a new anthology of exile writing, and in digitally prepared visualisations of the networking of texts, as well as in academic workshops and public-facing events. Together, these will fundamentally redefine the field of exile research.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2026 · 2026-02

Coral reefs are iconic marine ecosystems, sustaining the highest number of marine species per unit area in the ocean. They also have a high economic value as they provide multiple ecosystem services worldwide. Global climate change is leading to the decline of coral reefs, mostly due to the phenomenon of coral bleaching associated to the rise in sea water temperatures. This year, reefs are experiencing the fourth global coral bleaching event. The critical challenge to develop new coral conservation approaches requires a more detailed understanding of coral biology at organismal, cellular and molecular levels. Corals obtain nutrients either autotrophically through their intracellular symbiotic dinoflagellates or by feeding on planktonic prey (heterotrophy). The symbionts provide the corals with up to 90% of the total energy. During bleaching, the symbionts are lost and coral risk starvation, often leading to death. However, many corals can survive some episodes of bleaching by increasing their capability for heterotrophic feeding. Corals belong to Cnidaria, a group including some of the most venomous organisms in the ocean such as jellyfish and sea anemones. As such, to catch their prey, corals use venom produced by specialised stinging cells. Venom contains a complex mixture of protein, small molecule and peptide toxins. Venoms are metabolically expensive to synthesize but they can play a key role in allowing corals to overcome energy depletion during bleaching and therefore might be a key resilience mechanism. In fact, sea anemones, close relatives of corals, maintain venom production under bleaching. However, under the heat they adjust the levels of individual toxins to meet the energy demands of the stressed animals. Research has focussed on the very potent jellyfish and sea anemone venoms, mostly due to their impact on human health and pharmaceutical industry. Much less is known about the composition of venom in corals and in particular its role in coral nutrition and responses to environmental disturbance. To address this knowledge gap, the main aim of this project is to define the molecular identity of coral venom and establish its role in surviving bleaching in corals. We have established three key objectives for this work: (1) to reveal the role of heterotrophic feeding in post-bleaching recovery in a range of coral species; (2) to identify venom components in stony corals; (3) to characterise toxin production dynamics under bleaching stress in corals. We have brough together a team of experts in biochemistry and ecology of venom and coral biology. We will benefit from access to modern high-end coral aquaria maintaining dozens of coral species under controlled conditions and will use a set of cutting edge bioinformatics and molecular laboratory techniques (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, microscopy) in combination with experiments on live corals to study feeding and venom biosynthesis at organismal, molecular and cellular levels. The outcomes of this project will provide new insights into fundamental aspects of coral biology: venom-mediated feeding and its role in resilience to the environmental stress. This knowledge will lead to a step change in understanding coral physiology that is urgently required to support the design of efficient strategies for coral conservation. Coral conservationists and scientists in the areas of coral biology, invertebrate zoology, marine ecology, and animal venoms will be obvious beneficiaries of this research. Additionally, newly identified coral toxins will likely also have applications in the development of new pharmaceuticals.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2026 · 2026-02

Meeting the UK’s net zero carbon emissions by 2050 will require rapid changes in how we produce energy and materials. Alongside wind, solar and other renewables, one of the most promising nature-based options is the expansion of perennial energy crops such as willow, poplar, and miscanthus. These crops can grow quickly on lower-grade farmland, store large amounts of carbon, and provide sustainable raw material for bioenergy and new biodegradable products. However, despite their potential, the UK currently lacks the evidence and tools to show where these crops should be grown, how much biomass they can produce, and how to balance carbon, biodiversity, and economic priorities. This evidence gap means that policies and investments in biomass often rely on small-scale trials or outdated information, slowing down the green transition. This Fellowship aims to fill that gap by creating the UK’s first national-scale “geospatial AI smart data” (GeoAI-SMART) system to guide sustainable biomass production. The system will combine high-resolution satellite and aerial imagery, LiDAR, field measurements, and national climate, soil, and land-use datasets. These diverse sources will be analysed using the latest advances in artificial intelligence to detect bioenergy crop types, estimate their growth and yield, and map where new plantations could deliver the most benefit. The system will be continuously updated and able to test different “what-if” scenarios, such as how climate change or new policies might affect future opportunities. The project has three main objectives. First, to identify where perennial energy crops are already being grown across the UK, and under what conditions they thrive. Second, to measure how much biomass and carbon storage these crops can deliver across different landscapes. Third, to locate the most suitable areas for expansion that maximise carbon removal, protect biodiversity and soil health, and support rural economies. By linking scientific evidence with scenario modelling, the project will produce an adaptive planning tool that can respond to future environmental and market changes. GeoAI-SMART will be co-developed with government, land managers, and conservation bodies to ensure its findings are both practical and relevant. National policymakers will be able to test the carbon and economic impacts of different land-use choices. Farmers and landowners will gain clear guidance on which crops are most suitable for their soils and climate. Investors and rural development organisations will be able to evaluate long-term returns and supply chain resilience. In doing so, the Fellowship will create a step-change in how biomass is planned and delivered in the UK. It will provide the first operational, high-resolution map of energy crops, predictive models linking environment and yield, and decision tools that balance climate, nature, and economic goals. The result will be a shared evidence base to accelerate the UK’s green transition, strengthen rural communities, and position the UK as a leader in sustainable bioenergy and biomaterials.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2026 · 2026-02

The commitment to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050 in the UK relies heavily on the wide adoption of electric vehicles (EVs). The speed and fairness of this transition, however, depend on whether people have reliable and convenient access to charging facilities. For many households, charging at home is not an option, especially in cities where off-street parking is limited. In these cases, public charging points are necessary. If the access is uneven, the transition to EVs could increase existing inequalities, which leaves rural areas, lower-income households, and some communities at a disadvantage. This Fellowship addresses this challenge by developing new ways of understanding both the accessibility of charging networks and the demand for them across the UK. Existing datasets such as national statistics on chargepoint numbers and general travel patterns provide a helpful starting point, but they do not give the full picture to fairly and effectively plan the infrastructure. They often overlook the realities of everyday human mobility, the diversity of people’s needs, and the social and environmental factors that shape the travel behaviour. The project will overcome these gaps by bringing together multiple streams of smart data, including anonymised mobility data, transport and energy datasets, and demographic information, into a framework designed to inform EV planning. The work will focus on three areas. First, it will integrate different sources of EV-related smart data into an “EV for All” Knowledge Network, a resource that makes previously separated data interoperable and reusable to the challenges of EV adoption. Second, it will use this network to produce the first detailed maps of how accessible public charging is across the UK, taking account of both charging near people’s homes and the opportunities they have to charge while travelling, shopping, or working. These maps will reveal not only where facilities are located but also whether different groups, based on geography, income, or ethnicity, face barriers to using them. Finally, the project will develop models to forecast how demand for charging might change up to 2030. By linking mobility patterns, demographic trends, and energy system data, these models help predict when, where, and how much additional charging capacity will be needed. The University of Bristol will lead the research, taking advantage of its advanced computing facilities and strong data science team. The project will benefit from partnerships with the Smart Energy Data Service, the Healthy and Sustainable Places Data Service, and National Grid, which ensure access to necessary datasets, together with the real-world expertise. Guidance from senior academic mentors will strengthen both the methodological and policy impact of the work. The project will share its outputs widely. Researchers and stakeholders will be able to build on the findings via open datasets, accessible tools, and published methods. National Grid will use the evidence to inform the Great Grid Upgrade projects, and workshops with industry partners and the government will ensure the models and maps support the practical decision-making. The public will have the chance to engage through interactive maps, infographics, and community events that make the findings transparent and accessible. By producing the first national picture of EV charging accessibility and projecting future demand, this Fellowship will generate evidence to guide government investment, strengthen public confidence, and ensure that the UK’s transition to Net Zero is not only technically achievable but also fair and inclusive.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2026 · 2026-01

Digital footprints data (DFD) provide a remarkable new source of social information for researchers, offering access to human behaviour, in real time, over time and at scale. For all their potential for augmenting and transforming the very nature of social research, concerns over how these data interact with trusted, well-established principles of empirical social science have impeded broad uptake by social researchers. The processes that underpin how DFD are created, collected and used are often not accessible to researchers and have significant implications for understanding what these data are, how they should be used and the methodological and ethical consequences of their use within social research. In collaboration with cross-sector partners, our project is focused on prototyping methods for making these processes visible to social researchers. This investigation is critical to ensure the credible and authoritative use of DFD in social science research and to realise the expectations of DFD for enhancing our understanding of society. We will explore two central research questions: 1. How can DFD be systematically investigated and described to support robust social research methodologies? Building on prior research, the project will work in partnership with data owners and social researchers to produce 'data journeys' that map data practices within each empirical case. This work will feed into the development of an open framework for describing and re-using data, that documents practices surrounding each form of DFD. The framework will take the form of key questions that elicit essential information about DFD to enable greater uptake of DFD research within the social sciences. 2. What models of methodological collaboration can be developed with DFD-intensive organisations outside academic research? The project will also explore collaborative models for DFD knowledge exchange, in ways that contribute to data sharing, but also the creation of shared research agendas and forms of methodological collaboration that leverages cross-sector expertise around the challenges and opportunities of DFD. The project has three work packages (WP1-3) designed to address our research questions and facilitate capacity-building in the lead-up to Phase 2 of the UKRI Smart Data Research UK programme. Our partners form the basis for three empirical DFD case studies, focusing on: web archives (Internet Archive), social media data (Maybe*) and synthetic data (LV= General Insurance). Each partner brings significant experiences and expertise working with a specific form of DFD, providing ideal conditions for collectively interrogating how DFD are collected, created and aggregated, as well as the different practices and forms of expertise that have emerged around DFD within each organisation (WP1). Using interviews, documentary research and observations, we will identify and examine the sociotechnical practices that underpin key datasets, for each form of DFD, as well as identifying their potential opportunities or implications for social science research. Following these activities, the project will engage targeted groups of social researchers to 'dig into' DFD together with external partners (WP2). Hands-on workshops will provide the means through which to feed-back insights from parallel partner engagements, as well as cultivate potential new projects and collate key concerns about how researchers want to engage DFD in their own research domains. Both strands of work will feed into our prototype development of an open and flexible framework for describing and re-using data that documents the motivations, composition and collection practices surrounding our example forms of DFD (WP3). In addition to generating specific insights into three forms of DFD, this work will provide a prototype methodology that is extensible to other forms of DFD, with the goal of building critical capacity around a broader uptake of DFD in the social sciences.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2026 · 2026-01

The proposed fellowship at the Library of Congress will form a fundamental part of my PhD project on environmental rewriting in Latin America. The research examines contemporary fiction which rewrites and reimagines place and asks what this reveals about collective emotions in the face of a precarious future shaped by climate change. The project is unique in its methodology which places Frederic Jameson’s concept of cognitive mapping within nature, the questions it asks of the corpus texts and the breadth of space covered (from Mexico to Argentina). The time spent at the Library will allow me to immerse myself in its diverse holdings, many of which are not accessible elsewhere, contributing to both my PhD project and to an academic article on landscape, archives and literature which I plan to submit to the Bulletin of Hispanic Studies. Having spoken to librarians in the Hispanic Reading Room, I know my project is well placed within the Library’s unique collections on Latin American literature. With ongoing projects such as the PALABRA archive, a collection of audio recordings of authors from across the region, it will push my research to include diverse holdings outside of the written word and get involved in unique collections that catalogue contemporary Latin American authors producing a soundscape of authors I interact with. This fellowship will be invaluable to my PhD project and professional growth: working within a vibrant research community will allow me to network within the sphere of US academia, a leader in Latin American studies.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2026 · 2026-01

There is growing awareness that restoring natural ecosystems is essential if we are to mitigate climate change, curb rapid biodiversity declines and transition to a more sustainable future. In countries like the UK – where tree cover is lower than almost all other developed nations – nature restoration has largely become synonymous with forest creation and expansion. Trees form structurally complex canopies that not only store substantial amount of carbon in their stems and branches, but also provide irreplaceable habitat for countless species. Moreover, the physical scaffolding created by tree crowns also profoundly alters microclimatic conditions within and beneath the canopy – decreasing temperature fluctuations and extremes by several degrees, increasing moisture availability and modifying light environments. In turn, these shifts in microclimate shape local biodiversity and the biological processes it underpins by directly constraining the physiology, behaviour and demography of organisms. However, we currently have a very limited understanding of how these key axes of habitat complexity – canopy 3D structure and microclimate – recover over time following forest restoration. Nor do we know how different approaches to forest creation – such as active tree planting and natural colonisation – differ in their structural, microclimatic and biodiversity recovery trajectories. This knowledge gap fundamentally limits our ability to guide large-scale restoration interventions and maximise their outcomes for both nature and people. The overarching goal of this project is to generate the first comprehensive picture of how tree planting and natural colonisation drive the recovery of canopy 3D structure, microclimate, biodiversity and associated ecosystem processes during the critical first few decades of restoration in temperate forests. To achieve this goal, we will use a powerful combination of two complementary approaches: a fully replicated 60-year chronosequence of planted and naturally colonised forest landscapes in southern England, and whole-forest manipulative experiments where we will alter canopy 3D structure in a targeted way to determine the cascading impacts on microclimate, biodiversity and soil nutrient cycling. To fully characterise habitat complexity, we will use cutting-edge terrestrial laser scanning technologies to generate detailed 3D models of forest canopies and a network of over 1000 microclimate sensors providing continuous measurements of temperature and humidity throughout the full vertical profile of the canopy and soil. We will then combine this unprecedented picture of habitat complexity with comprehensive biodiversity data generated using field surveys, ecoacoustic and eDNA, as well as detailed measurements of key processes related soil carbon and nutrient cycling. In doing so we aim to mechanistically link temporal shifts in biodiversity and ecosystem functioning that occur during woodland creation to changes in habitat complexity – addressing a fundamental ecological question that has its origins in the 1950s and that today has direct applications to forest restoration, conservation and management. Our work will inform the UK’s ambitious national forest expansion strategy, which aims to add 30,000 ha of new forests each year as part of efforts to meet national net zero and biodiversity net gain targets. By working in partnership across academia and government, our project will deliver a series of practical recommendations and tools that enhance the ecological and social value of newly created forests in the UK and beyond – benefitting researchers, policy makers, the forestry sector, NGOs and other land managers.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2026 · 2026-01

Imagine using tiny, molecular fossils that cannot be seen with the naked eye as a tool to reveal Earth’s climate story as it unfolded on land. Understanding how land temperatures evolved is critical. Yet ocean sediments have long been our main source of ancient climate data, leaving the land’s history – the terrestrial past - largely untold. This project will change that by bringing together scientist from the UK (Bristol) and US (Stanford) to study fundamental microbial processes and develop new methods to unlock climate information hidden in recently discovered molecular fossils. Bacteria have an extraordinary way of adapting to environmental stress by altering the lipids that make up their cell membranes. These lipids can be preserved for a billion year as molecular fossils. This project focuses on a recently discovered type of bacterial membrane lipids called branched glycerol monoalkyl glycerol tetraethers (brGMGTs in short), which are abundant in lakes and peatlands. Two recent papers suggested that the relative abundance and distribution of brGMGTs depends on temperature in lakes and peatlands. These landmark papers suggested that brGMGTs hold great potential as new terrestrial temperature proxy. However, the specific bacteria that produce these compounds, why they produce them, their exact temperature dependence, and why they produce different types of these compounds in response to different temperatures, is unknown. These fundamental gaps are limiting our ability to use brGMGT lipids as tools for terrestrial climate reconstruction. This project will combine the latest microbiology, organic geochemistry, and computational-chemistry methods to answer these fundamental questions. The project begins with identifying the gene responsible for brGMGT production, using this information to isolate and culture bacteria that carry this gene, and as result, for the first time, identify the bacterial source organism of brGMGTs, lipids that are widespread in the environment. We will then develop a culture-based temperature calibration, growing brGMGT-producing bacteria under different conditions in the lab. Lastly, we will develop state-of-the-art computer simulations to determine the role of brGMGTs in bacterial membranes. By understanding which bacteria make brGMGTs and exactly how and why they modify their membranes with these lipids, we will create crucial insights into pathways of microbial adaptation and develop a robust tool to quantify past temperature changes on land. The implications are far-reaching for palaeoclimatology and organic geochemistry, equipping researchers with a powerful new way to reconstruct Earth’s climate past. With this information, scientists could compare ancient warming events and greenhouse worlds with today’s rapid changes, potentially aiding future impacts of anthropogenic climate change. We will also develop novel methods for microbiologists and computational chemists to explore lipid biosynthesis and dynamics. This will open exciting new scientific ground by offering a deep comprehension of how microbes adapt to environmental stressors and how and why membrane lipids are made. Understanding the genetic and biochemical mechanisms behind these adaptations not only advances our knowledge of microbial resilience and evolution but also sheds light on their role in Earth’s System. In summary, this project is not just about filling in the gaps of Earth’s climate history; it’s about bringing together a unique team and using state-of-the-art multidisciplinary methods to develop a precise tool to quantify how the climate on land has shaped—and continues to shape—our world together with creating a fundamental understanding of the microbial and molecular dynamics that underpin this tool.    

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2026 · 2026-01

Stability loss is one of the most important current concepts in ecology as it is fundamentally linked to the persistence of populations in the face of changing environmental conditions. Stability provides a measure of how likely a population is to suddenly collapse, and consequently maintaining stability has become a core goal for ecologists and conservation biologists worldwide, a target recently enshrined in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity framework. However, global environmental conditions are changing, driving species away from their ideal environmental conditions and towards the margins of their habitats, with concomitant impacts on their fitness, reproductive success, and survival. These increasingly hostile environmental conditions have the potential to surreptitiously erode species’ stability, however the processes driving this are poorly understood.   Here we will tackle this crucial gap in our knowledge in a fundamentally different way to what has been attempted before. We will use niche theory, which explicitly describes how species respond to differing abiotic conditions, to model how multifaceted environmental change can impact stability - a key determinant of population longevity. To do this we will use a newly compiled dataset of over 1.8M time series across the globe to build n-dimensional abiotic niches for over 6700 chordate species, and estimate each population’s position with a species’ niche space. We will then assess how niche marginalisation (the movement of species towards their niche edges) impacts the stability of populations, and model how changes in different components of a niche (e.g. temperature, rainfall, etc) will – in isolation and in combination – affect rates of stability loss. Finally, we will project how stability will change in space and through time over the coming decades to identify geographic regions where stability is being, and will be, lost at the fastest rates.   The outcomes of this project have the potential to have significant impact both on our understanding of the effects of multifaceted global change on vertebrate populations worldwide, but also on our ability to predict what species and populations are most at risk of collapse/extinction. In particular, this project will generate tools to infer the stability of populations and species which are currently data deficient, providing next-generation modelling strategies for conservation prioritisation in a changing world. As such the outputs of this project will be of significant interest to a broad audience including conservationists (to help identify at risk species), policy makers (who will be held accountable to their international objectives of maintaining stability), and the general public (to more fully understand how humanity is shaping the world around us).

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2026 · 2026-01

Context The brain is composed of many different distinct areas. A major goal in neuroscience is to understand which areas are responsible for what types of behaviour. This is a hugely challenging endeavour as it requires tools to manipulate small and specific regions of the brain. Crucially, these tools have typically required surgical procedures, massively limiting our ability to conduct experiments, and therefore the extent to which we understand brain function.   Fortunately, very recent advances have led to the development of a highly effective brain manipulation technology: low-intensity focused ultrasound stimulation. Remarkably, when transmitted across the skull and into the brain, ultrasound transiently changes neural function, in a specific and controllable manner. For the first time then, we have a technique that can be used to probe brain areas in a very targeted way, without the need for invasive surgery. This allows us to understand the underlying biology of cognition in health and through ageing in ways that have never been possible before, and has already begun to reveal profound information about the fundamental contribution different subsets of neural circuits make to cognition (e.g., Nature 591, 270-274; Neuron 105, 370-384; Nature Communications 14:5318).   The challenge the project addresses Despite the growing use of ultrasound stimulation, we do not fully understand how it actually affects the function of neurons. In particular, the longer-term consequences of ultrasound brain stimulation on cells and circuits are unknown. It is critically important to determine this because it will allow us to use ultrasound in experiments in the most effective and appropriate ways. Furthermore, there is significant scope for clinical translation. Indeed, this is something we have explored in Parkinson’s disease (Brain Sciences 12, 289). With our clinical collaborator (Prof. Coulthard, North Bristol NHS Trust), we have an ongoing human study exploring the translational potential of this technique. What will ultimately unlock this approach is developing our fundamental understanding of the biomechanistic effects of the technology, which is what we propose to achieve in the work described here.   Aims & Objectives Aim: To determine the longer-term effects ultrasound stimulation has on the function of neural circuits. Objectives: 1. Establish the spatiotemporal changes ultrasound neuromodulation has on neural circuit function. 2. Determine how these changes manifest in the synaptic proteome. 3. Characterise how these changes affect the structural and morphological attributes of cells within circuits. 4. Define the intracellular signalling mechanisms that link stimulation with longer-term change in neural circuitry.   Potential applications and benefits Our study will provide a clear picture of what happens when brain circuits are stimulated with ultrasound. A major application of our research will be informing effective use of ultrasound stimulation. This will benefit researchers, enabling them to most effectively and appropriately use the tool as an experimental manipulation. This will lead to further developments in our understanding of fundamental neural and cognitive processing in the brain. The proposed work will be conducted within Bristol Medical School’s Translational Health Sciences department. With our ongoing clinical collaboration, our industrial partnerships (TWI, Newport, UK; Precision Acoustics, Dorchester, UK), and our joint-funded project work with the Faculty of Engineering (Prof. Drinkwater, School of Electrical, Electronic and Mechanical Engineering), our research environment is ideally suited to provide unique opportunities to inform academic, clinical and industrial stakeholders, ensuring maximal effective application of this proposal’s research outcomes.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2026 · 2026-01

All life on Earth relies upon the movement of electrons between oxidized and reduced compounds in processes which have been demonstrated to produce a wide array of reactive materials. For example, there are different iron (Fe) specific bacteria which transfer electrons between reduced (Fe(II)) and oxidized (Fe(III)) oxidation states and lead to the formation of biogenic minerals (biominerals) ranging from rust to magnetic nanomaterials. These iron biominerals often have properties which make them excellent sponges of contaminants such as heavy metals, and can often transform dangerous pollutants to much safer alternatives. Nevertheless, the application of iron biominerals has yet to be fully realised despite the fact that they have been in existence for billions of years. One particular category of iron biominerals are biogeobatteries, which are iron bearing minerals that can undergo both oxidation and reduction. This contrasts with other iron biominerals which can only do one or the other. This FLF has so far explored the role of biogeobatteries in the environment and found that they have the potential for environmental and industrial applications. For example, they have been shown to be able to recover economically important metals (such as chromium, copper, and cadmium) from contaminated sources, and remediate different environments. The renewal phase of this FLF will build upon this knowledge which has so far mostly relied upon the use of nanoparticles, i.e. particles with diameters 1000s time smaller than a human hair, which do not currently meet regulatory and safety concerns. Furthermore, understanding how these biogeobatteries behave in the environment is problematic due to complexities with understanding spectroscopy and other analytical methods. To overcome these challenges, the renewal phase of the FLF will focus on three main objectives: synthesizing stable, functionalized biogeobatteries; using these biogeobatteries to recover valuable metals from contaminated water and waste sources; and finally developing the MinSight database to integrate various analytical techniques and support data sharing and interpretation. Potential applications include environmental remediation, where biogeobatteries can remove contaminants from drinking water and waste streams, and metal recovery, which reduces the need for primary ore mining and supports sustainable resource management. The MinSight platform will facilitate the analysis and sharing of complex environmental data, benefiting researchers and industries involved in environmental monitoring and remediation. The project involves a team of researchers with expertise in microbiology, spectroscopy, and environmental science. Future directions include exploring the scalability and regulatory compliance of biogeobatteries and expanding the analytical platform to include more tools and support a wider range of users, including industry partners. The proposed work is exceptionally innovative and spans multiple disciplines, integrating environmental mineralogy, geochemistry, and geomicrobiology with advanced computational methods for data analysis. This approach aims to pioneer a new and exciting field within environmental science. Successfully completing this project will significantly enhance our fundamental understanding of microbe-mineral interactions and the utilization of natural resources to address energy storage needs. Additionally, this research will have extensive implications, ranging from the role of bacteria in greenhouse gas production or sequestration to improvements in water quality and the mitigation of toxic metal and metalloid release into aquifers, soils, and sediments.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2026 · 2026-01

This proposal outlines plans for activating the collaboration topics that were announced in the Letter of Intention (LoI) between Bristol Centre for Supercomputing (BriCS) and GENCI on July 9, 2025. Through the LoI both parties aimed at building and establishing collaboration supercomputing platforms titled CONCORD-AI for the benefit of their respective communities and the broader European research ecosystem. For each collaboration topic, details are included covering the objectives and key results, project plans, procurement approach and reporting.  It is anticipated that this proposal sets a framework for a multi-year collaborative effort that will be reviewed periodically.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2026 · 2026-01

Concerns are growing over the environmental impacts of the halogenated organic compounds currently being developed and deployed as next-generation replacements for hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). HFCs are widely used industrial gases with many applications, but they are recognised to be long-lived greenhouse gases (GHGs).  Hence, they are being phased out under various international environmental agreements and replaced by the shorter-lived hydrofluoroolefins (HFOs), hydrobromofluoroolefins (HBFOs) and hydrochlorofluoroolefins (HCFOs). Current concerns arise from the breakdown products of these replacement compounds in the atmosphere, which include trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), a persistent environmental contaminant known to be a phytotoxin, and trifluoromethane (HFC-23), a potent and long-lived GHG. Recent measurements from our laboratory also show carbon tetrafluoride (PFC-14), another GHG with high global warming potential (GWP) and long lifetime, is a product of ozonolysis of some HFOs, and suggest that similar reaction pathways may produce the ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbon CFC-13 from the oxidation of certain HCFOs. To date, no study has comprehensively quantified the yields of TFA, long-lived GHGs, and ozone-depleting substances (ODSs) from the oxidation of HFOs, HBFOs or HCFOs by ozone or hydroxyl radicals (OH), despite these reactions being their major loss pathways in the atmosphere. Here, we propose such a study using instrumentation unique to our laboratory. The outcomes will inform the design of future HFOs, HBFOs and HCFOs to minimise the environmental impact of their use.     Environmental treaties such as the Montreal Protocol, which came into force in 1987, have been successful in limiting the use of many GHGs and ODSs. HFOs, HBFOs and HCFOs are now being detected in the atmosphere at low abundances. These fourth-generation refrigerants, propellants and foam-blowing agents have atmospheric lifetimes of days to months and GWPs = 1 over a 100-year period. Consequently, these compounds are not controlled under the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, nor are they included in the Paris Agreement (successor to the Kyoto Protocol). As such, their production, use and subsequent emission to the atmosphere are expected to increase rapidly over the coming years. The true environmental consequences of growing, and potentially widespread use of these three classes of compounds therefore require urgent study.?   We propose to quantify the yields of TFA, long-lived GHGs and ODSs from the oxidation of HFOs/HBFOs/HCFOs via ozonolysis and reaction with the hydroxyl radical, and their impact on global and regional scales. This will be achieved by:?? Building a new photochemical reactor to complement the EXTreme RAnge (EXTRA) ozonolysis chamber already located in our laboratory, with each reactor coupled to a Medusa preconcentration unit and gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GCMS) to quantify long-lived GHGs and ODSs from OH reactions and ozonolysis of HFOs, HCFOs, HBFOs.? Quantifying yields of TFA and its precursors, such as trifluoroacetyl fluoride (TFF) and trifluoroacetaldehyde, from HFO breakdown pathways initiated by ozonolysis and OH reactions.?? Computationally modelling the reaction pathways and kinetics to understand the mechanisms that produce long-lived GHGs, ODSs, TFA and TFF.?? Examining the impacts of removal of atmospheric HFOs, HCFOs and HBFOs by ozonolysis and OH reactions on a global scale using 3-D chemistry transport modelling.?  The results will inform national and international policy on the use of HFOs/HBFOs/HCFOs, feed into the World Meteorological Organization Quadrennial Ozone Assessment, and help resolve the discrepancies between accountancy derived (bottom-up) and observation inferred (top-down) emissions estimates for long-lived GHGs and ODSs.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2025 · 2025-12

Polyketides are a family of microbial natural products constructed from simple building blocks to generate a diverse range of often complex chemical structures cleanly and efficiently. They have been exploited in the production of many important high-value compounds including the antifungal strobilurins (Global Market Value (GMV) $3.8 billion) cholesterol-lowering, statins (HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors GMV ca $25 billion) and sulfur containing beta-lactam antibiotics, including penicillins ($11 billion) and cephalosporins ($20 billion). The leinamycin family of polyketides is a promising source of antitumor antibiotics, characterized by a sulfur-containing moiety essential for anticancer activity. While many aspects of the biosynthesis of these complex natural products are poorly understood, uncovering these processes will enable the rational design of sustainable pathways for producing novel compounds. Challenge. Complex polyketides are assembled from simple building blocks joined together on an acyl carrier protein (ACP) by large protein complexes called polyketide synthases. These function as modular nano-scale factories inside the microbe. In the leinamycin family, sulfur incorporation is introduced using the final module of the polyketide synthases, where the biosynthetic machinery combines ß-branching and thiocysteine incorporation to produce a diverse array of sulfur-based molecular scaffolds. Our Approach. The intricate biochemical steps involved in sulfur incorporation require in vitro analysis, however, bringing together the components is a complex, interdisciplinary challenge. The precise mechanistic steps leading to sulfur incorporation remain unresolved. To gain an understanding of these important transformations, we will build upon our experience of unravelling complex biosynthetic pathways by; The enantioselective synthesis of authentic biosynthetic intermediates that can be covalently tethered to ACPs in an elegant one-pot chemoenzymatic reaction. Using these functionalised ACPs as probes to understand chemoenzymatic reaction cascades that combine several novel enzymes to incorporate sulfur moieties and release the final product. These multi-enzyme transformations will be monitored via high resolution mass spectrometry. Gaining a structural and mechanistic description of these steps through the application of structural biology, computational modelling and AI approaches. This work will provide a detailed blueprint for sulfur incorporation in the leinamycin family and beyond, expanding our understanding of biosynthetic logic across the PKS field. This will enable the rational and selective incorporation of bespoke sulfur entities into other pathways to generate novel high-value bioactive hybrid molecules.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2025 · 2025-12

Gambling sponsorship in sport is a pervasive yet under-explored form of marketing that can shape behaviour, normalise gambling, and expose children and vulnerable groups to harm. Given widespread public concern and the evident failure of voluntary regulation, a systematic synthesis of evidence on sponsorship is needed. This evidence review will address this critical gap, producing a policy-relevant evidence review to inform regulatory reform and protect consumers. The gambling industry spends over £1.5 billion annually on marketing in the UK (Regulus Partners, 2018), driving consumption and normalising gambling as an everyday activity (McGee, 2020). As many as 73% of football supporters are concerned about the volume of gambling advertising in football, 66% believe that gambling sponsorship in football should be banned, and 66% are concerned about the impact gambling advertising has on children (Gamble Aware, 2024). Nevertheless, at present, the UK operates a self-regulatory approach where it is left up to the gambling industry and sports leagues to put voluntary measures in place to protect consumers from exposure to gambling marketing. Concerningly, despite these voluntary measures, gambling marketing in the opening weekend of the Premier League rose from 10,999 incidents in 2023 to 29,145 in 2024. This 165% increase demonstrates that voluntary regulations have failed to reduce exposure, and the pervasive influence of gambling in sport continues to persist (Rossi et al., 2024). Due to the lack of government intervention, charities, grassroots organisations and individuals are increasingly working to reduce gambling marketing in sport. For example, ‘The Big Step’ is aimed at removing gambling advertising from football, with 35 football clubs signed up. The former England player Peter Shilton has regularly spoken out about gambling advertising in football. In 2021, Shilton and The Big Step campaign delivered a petition to Downing Street signed by over 126,000 people, calling for an end to gambling advertising and sponsorship in football. Furthermore, concerns have been raised around children’s exposure to gambling logos via football kits, and video games like FIFA which replicate real-world sponsorship, meaning children may repeatedly encounter these logos. This not only reinforces brand recognition, but repeated exposure during formative years increases the likelihood that gambling is perceived as a routine and harmless leisure activity (Bunn et al., 2019). Understanding how sponsorship influences behaviour, and the subsequent implications for regulatory approaches, is critical to reducing gambling-related harms. Synthesising the evidence in this area will provide policymakers and regulators with a resource to inform decisions and interventions, including those aimed at protecting vulnerable populations. In light of growing public concern, persistent government inaction, and the escalating saturation of gambling marketing in sport, this evidence review addresses critical questions that will not only enhance understanding, but also help to identify future research needs, with the ultimate goal of reducing exposure to gambling marketing in sport: 1. What is currently known about the relationship between gambling sponsorship in sport and behaviour? 2. What is the current regulatory framework governing gambling sponsorship in the UK, and what are its limitations in protecting consumers from exposure? 3. What lessons can be learned from international examples where stricter regulations on gambling sponsorship have been introduced? Across all three research questions, we will draw comparative insights from adjacent sectors such as tobacco, alcohol, and HFSS sponsorship in sport to contextualise findings and highlight transferable lessons for gambling regulation.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2025 · 2025-12

Context Over 55 million people live with dementia, costing over US$1.3trillion worldwide. Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the commonest cause of dementia, is slowly progressive, with changes in the brain long before noticeable clinical symptoms. Earlier treatment is optimal for retaining independence and quality of life. There are three disease-modifying therapies licensed worldwide which slow decline by targeting the amyloid protein, but they are not very effective or widely funded, and their side-effects and cost often preclude treatment. New avenues for Alzheimer’s treatment are desperately needed. The Challenge Good sleep is not only key for general health and wellbeing. Many large-scale observational studies link poor sleep with increased future dementia risk. Disturbances to slow-wave (non-rapid eye movement; non-REM) sleep cause short-term reductions in cerebrospinal fluid dynamics and removal of potentially toxic Alzheimer’s-related proteins via the glymphatic system, and impair synaptic plasticity and memory consolidation. Interventional studies that restore slow-wave sleep may therefore slow or reverse Alzheimer's-associated pathologies in humans. Sleep is modifiable, but until the mechanism linking human slow-wave sleep to Alzheimer pathology is determined, clinical trials cannot be developed to protect against Alzheimer’s disease by enhancement of slow-wave sleep, or total sleep. The Strategy We propose a randomised, multi-arm, placebo-controlled, multi-site, one-year study of three interventions (4 arms) with defined effects on slow-wave sleep: trazodone (to increase slow-wave sleep duration); zolpidem (to increase total sleep time, but not slow-wave sleep); and phase-targeted auditory stimulation (to increase slow-wave sleep intensity without affecting total sleep duration). We will focus on individuals in the early clinical stages of Alzheimer’s (prodromal AD), a critical window for intervention where mild cognitive problems are present but daily independence is still maintained. People with mild symptoms are not routinely diagnosed or included in clinical trials, particularly those from underserved communities, despite higher impact of poor sleep on dementia risk in specific minority ethnic groups. State-of-the-art at-home sleep recordings, fluid biomarkers, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, electroencephalography and cognitive tasks combined with targeted inclusive recruitment strategies will give a window onto molecular and systems-level effects of sleep modification. Through this deep-phenotyping and proof-of-concept intervention, we build the evidence base and technological experience required for advanced and later-phase trials. Benefits We will generate crucial proof-of-concept data over an extended period which is long enough to demonstrate how sleep, and particularly slow-wave sleep, affects molecular, pathological, neurodegenerative, and synaptic changes in prodromal AD. This approach aims to de-risk and inform the development of new sleep-enhancing therapies while paving the way for larger, collaborative clinical trials with industry leaders, such as our project partner, AstronauTx. With Dementias Platform UK (DPUK), Dementia Research Institute (DRI) and Bristol Trials Centre infrastructure, expert clinicians and academics, know-how and funding from industry partners, and our diverse Patient and Public Advisory Group, our programme will be directly relevant to the drug development pathway addressing one of the biggest challenges faced by society and individuals: dementia. Our vision is a new class of tailored AD treatments based on a new mechanism of neurodegeneration. We will improve the effectiveness and accessibility of future treatments, delay disease onset and improve quality of life for millions with early AD. If slow-wave sleep modification impacts Alzheimer’s pathology, this will inform preclinical models by refining targets for drug development (e.g. 5HT2A modulation), and shaping future animal and cellular studies, advancing fundamental neuroscience.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2025 · 2025-12

Cardiometabolic diseases are major contributors to disability and death in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), especially in older adults in South Asia.  Common mental health disorders, especially anxiety and depression, are the second leading cause of disability in LMICs and have a bidirectional link to cardiometabolic diseases. The presence of multimorbid (defined as two or more) cardiometabolic and mental health disorders (CaMMHD) further heightens the risk of adverse outcomes. Additionally, in South Asia, multimorbid CaMMHD are associated with stigma and delayed health seeking with devastating consequences. Our MRC-funded successful COBRA intervention trial demonstrated the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a community health worker (CHW)-led intervention in South Asia, focusing primarily on reducing blood pressure (BP). However, it did not explicitly address issues related to diabetes or mental health. Moreover, COBRA did not focus on the importance of community engagement and social integration, particularly important to address the needs of the elderly in whom adverse outcomes are amplified by neurocognitive decline, social isolation and loneliness. Our proposed innovation, "COBRA Holistic Senior (COBRA-HS)” aims to address these gaps. Using extensive community engagement, we will transform COBRA into COBRA-HS to address these broad health needs of the elderly. COBRA-HS  will include a) multistakeholder coalition committee to refine the intervention and catalyse social support b) trained CHW-led home CaMMHD monitoring and referrals; c) holistic lifestyle group sessions that combine behavioural activation therapy, mindfulness with lifestyle advice and physical education and d) physicians trained in multimorbid CaMMHD care. Importantly, COBRA-HS is designed to be low cost and scalable through local partnerships and established networks. To test COBRA-HS we will use a convergent, mixed-method, type 2 hybrid effectiveness-implementation study including a cluster randomized controlled trial guided by appropriate frameworks focused on equity and sustainability. We will enrol 1600 adults, aged 60 or older (>50% women) with multimorbid CaMMHD in 40 communities randomized 1:1 to COBRA-HS or usual care, followed for 18 months during and 6 months after the intervention. An embedded qualitative process evaluation will be conducted with 180 stakeholders. The Aims are: In older adults living in low-income communities in Sri Lanka: 1: To identify the contextual social, environmental and health systems barriers, facilitators, co-adapt, and determine the acceptability of innovative  “COBRA-HS."    2A: To evaluate whether “COBRA-HS” intervention is more effective than usual care in improving the primary composite outcome of mental health (Hopkins Symptoms Checklist (HSCL))-25 score and cardiometabolic (glycated haemoglobin, BP) indices in older adults with multimorbid CaMMHD over 18 months. We will also assess several secondary (vascular, social, pharmacologic, and mental health) and process (behavioural) outcomes.  2B: To assess the reach, adoption, implementation fidelity, maintenance, acceptability, and experiences of stakeholders with “COBRA-HS” during the intervention, and its sustainability 6 months post-intervention. 3: To determine the incremental cost-effectiveness of COBRA-HS compared with usual care on quality-adjusted life-years gained from the health system and societal perspectives. Our team has an extensive track record of research capacity strengthening and policy advocacy. The proposed intervention is aligned with the recent National Policy for Elders' in Sri Lanka,  enhancing its timeliness, scalability, and sustainability. If successful, COBRA-HS could serve as the vanguard approach for managing multimorbid CaMMHD and reducing suffering among older adults in Sri Lanka, and potentially many other LMICs, aligning with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) goals and MRC’s mission.