Newcastle University

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2025 · 2025-08

Context: Lung transplantation remains the only realistic option for selected patients with end-stage respiratory disease. However, despite substantial demand, more than 80% of lungs from brain dead donors (DBD) offered are turned down as unsuitable. This is largely because the lungs are highly susceptible to injury, which impairs function and negatively affects transplant outcomes. The pulmonary endothelium plays a critical role in ischaemia reperfusion injury (IRI) after lung transplantation which is characterised by development of pulmonary oedema leading to primary graft dysfunction (PGD). Severe PGD is associated with a significant increased risk of early mortality and directly reduces late survival. Furthermore, transplant patients with PGD will experience protracted mechanical ventilation and inpatient hospital care, as well as increased risk of multi-organ failure. There is both a scarcity of suitable lungs for transplantation and a need to prolong their functionality after transplantation. There are currently no condition-specific therapeutics available to prevent or treat the condition. Recent advances: Normothermic ex-vivo lung perfusion (EVLP) provides an ideal platform for administration of therapies to donor lungs prior to transplantation to improve their function and increase utilisation of donor organs (PMID:28551353). We have established a programme of experimental human EVLP with a novel paired single-lung perfusion model that allows, interventions to be assessed with each donor acting as their own control (PMID:37143202). Endothelial dysfunction represents a significant problem during pulmonary IRI. Sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor-1 (S1PR1) expressed on endothelial cells plays a fundamental role in maintaining barrier integrity.  Our group has in vitro and in vivo data showing that agonism of S1PR1 can augment endothelial barrier function (PMID: 37446370).  We have further evaluated S1PR1 agonism in a human split EVLP model where it showed that S1PR1 agonist (CYM5442) protects vascular endothelial barrier integrity and limits pulmonary oedema formation.  Inflammatory cytokine release was also significantly reduced by the end of perfusion. This study is the first to confirm the therapeutic potential of targeting S1PR1 during human EVLP. Although our proof-of-concept data is promising, CYM5442 also demonstrated functional antagonism at higher doses in vitro. We need to identify a more-long acting S1PR1 agonist with a wider therapeutic dose range, that will cause reduced receptor desensitization. We will therefore screen a range of potential candidates, including some recently clinically approved S1PR1 agonists and those in trials. Challenge the project addresses: We aim to develop a therapeutic intervention that can be administered to the human donor lungs during EVLP prior to transplantation. This could help to protect lungs from PGD following implantation and therefore, increase the quality and number of donor lungs accepted for transplant and reduce waiting list mortality. Aims and objectives: Evaluation of the S1PR1 agonists including recently approved drugs for G-protein activation and reduced desensitisation in vitro. Use an in vitro model of IRI to optimise parameters for targeting S1P pathways to reduce deleterious consequences of IRI. Using novel human split lung EVLP model. Assess the impact of the lead compound identified above on function, pulmonary oedema and inflammation in human lungs. Dissect the inflammatory pathways involved. Potential applications and benefits: The development of new therapeutics that can improve the integrity of the vascular endothelium in donor lungs would address a major unmet need in lung transplantation by reducing the chance of PGD and early post-transplant mortality and protect long-term function of the lungs.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2025 · 2025-08

Challenge: Lack of a tractable model for understanding mitochondrial cristae formation. During development and upon different physiological stresses, mitochondrial cristae undergo remodelling to reprogram mitochondrial function. However, the fundamental research question of how mitochondrial cristae are formed de novo is unknown. The inner mitochondrial membrane and cristae are highly dynamic structures. They undergo continuous fusion and fission events, which are essential for maintaining mitochondrial health. Tracking these dynamic processes in live cells is technically challenging. Solution: This proposal seeks to address the challenge by introducing a practical model system that enables controlled and sequential experimentation on cristae formation. The model will be used to explore the molecular basis and temporal coordination of key factors in de novo cristae biogenesis. Employing super-resolution fluorescence microscopy and single-molecule tracking, we aim to investigate the spatiotemporal organisation and diffusion of individual mitochondrial membrane proteins within live cell cultures. Thereby, we will enhance our understanding of the molecular actors, the mechanisms, pathways, and their spatio-temporal interactions essential to building cristae and modifying membrane morphology. Relevance: The primary challenge addressed in this research proposal is the lack of a model system to understand the initial formation of mitochondrial cristae. We have solved the problem. Now we make use of this model system and state-of-the-art super-resolution microscopy to provide a comprehensive solution applying a unique experimental approach, enabling the systematic study of mitochondrial cristae formation. This aligns very well with the two main BBSRC research priorities: ‘Understanding the rules of life’ and ‘Bioscience for an integrated understanding of health’. We believe that our result may also provide fertile ground for a better understanding of similar membrane biogenesis processes in other domains of life, including plants and bacteria. Further, it has long been established that mitochondrial function plays a central role in embryonic development beyond oxidative phosphorylation. Developing model systems and interrogating fundamental aspects of how mitochondria maintain and influence cristae formation is therefore of utmost importance for understanding not only healthy cellular but also developmental and organismal homeostasis. Potential applications and benefits: Our approach holds promise for providing valuable insights into a completely unresolved aspect of mitochondrial biology by: (i) unravelling fundamental knowledge for how cristae are built; (ii) defining the spatio-temporal organisation of the process and its players; and (iii) our results may benefit research investigating aberrations in inner mitochondrial membrane structure. Variants in proteins responsible for shaping the mitochondrial inner membrane can result in a number of rare and common neurological diseases, including Leigh syndrome, dominant optic atrophy, fatal encephalopathy, and Parkinson's disease. The specific mechanisms by which disease variants cause aberrant cristae formation leading to the onset of these devastating disorders remain largely unexplored.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2025 · 2025-08

This project seeks, through a programme of targeted academic collaboration between scholars of Roman frontiers studies and their Great Wall counterparts, to establish a process of an ambitious assessment of current archaeological knowledge of the Great Wall, consolidating current interpretations, identifying gaps in current understanding and potential priorities for future research. Great Wall studies in China are presently disparate in practice, with priority in recent decades given to conservation and monitoring of the monument, with limited scope for research. Building on the experience of UK-based scholars of Hadrian’s Wall and the benefits of co-creating a research framework, working with Chinese colleagues, particularly in archaeology, to initiate a similar project for the Great Wall would generate a framework or series of frameworks, against which individual research project proposals can be mapped as part of an evolving research strategy for the Great Wall. There are two principal challenges facing this project. First, no comprehensive assessment has yet been previously attempted in relation to archaeological knowledge of the Great Wall, meaning there is almost no previous synthetic work to build on. Second, current networking and interchange between scholars of Great Wall archaeology is insubstantial, limited to informal, personal networks and hampered by unpublished research. The project has two primary aims, identified through exchanges between UK and Chinese scholars over the past five years through the Wall-to-Wall project. First, to establish a stronger network of scholars, particularly archaeologists, working on the Great Wall, regardless of chronological, geographic, or material specialism. Second, through bringing these individuals together, to initiate the process by which a clear assessment of the current state of research can be undertaken, as well as a process by which research gaps and priorities can be identified. The project will commence with a three day workshop in Newcastle/Hadrian’s Wall where UK scholars will present and explain to the project’s principal Chinese academic leads the methodology and processes through which the Research Framework for Hadrian’s Wall archaeology was developed and collaboratively explore to what extent that approach might be appropriate and adapted for Great Wall archaeology. Subsequent workshops will be held in China attended by a wider group of Great Wall scholars convened by the project’s Chinese academic leads and supported by their UK counterparts. These workshops will progress through assessment of current knowledge, development of a research agenda and the subsequent derivation of an appropriate outline Archaeological Research Framework for the Great Wall. The essence of our approach is that it will be led throughout by the Chinese project team, with the primary role of the UK project team being to assist, interrogate, challenge and advise. The principal benefit of this project is that it will, for the first time, put individual research projects into a clearer and more comprehensive context of established and emerging knowledge. Equally significantly, it will engender a more coordinated approach and greater interconnectedness between the endeavours of individual researchers and institutions engaged in Great Wall archaeological studies.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2025 · 2025-08

Proteomics has revolutionised the biological sciences by enabling comprehensive analysis of relative and absolute protein abundance and post-translational modifications. This capability offers a more accurate understanding of cellular and organismal function, especially in light of the well-documented disparity between mRNA transcript levels and protein expression. To further advance this field, we are seeking funding for an advanced liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) system. This cutting-edge instrumentation will provide unprecedented sensitivity, throughput, and capacity, significantly enhancing our proteomics research capabilities, especially for samples of small cell numbers. We have obtained an outstanding discount utilising obsolete mass spectrometers as trade-ins. This application therefore provides excellent value for money. The requested LC-MS system will support a broad spectrum of biological and medical research questions within the remit of the Medical Research Council (MRC). Our team of co-investigators, research technical professionals, and industrial partners exemplifies the diverse and extensive expertise that will be harnessed to maximize the impact of this investment. The experience and technical proficiency of the core facility’s specialists will ensure that the instrumentation is fully supported and utilised to its fullest potential throughout its operational lifetime. The Thermo-Fisher Astral platform will revolutionise clinical and translational research at Newcastle University. Initial research foci will include immunology, neurodegeneration, liver disease, and cancer. By underpinning a wide array of projects, the platform will contribute to translational research aligned with Newcastle University’s strategic aim to address pressing health and societal challenges. This initiative aligns with the MRC’s strategic priorities, including infection and immunity, multimorbidity, and precision medicine. Newcastle University’s commitment to core facility development is exemplified by a circa £15M investment supporting a cross-facility operational model that promotes collaboration, streamlined workflows, and technological innovation. The NUPPA facility stands as a centrepiece of this investment, driving a dynamic research community centred on 'omics and mass spectrometry. The addition of the Thermo-Fisher Astral system will address a critical need for high-sensitivity, high-throughput mass spectrometry at Newcastle University. Integrated within an established core facility environment, this system will leverage existing upstream and downstream sample processing, data acquisition, and analytical workflows to maximize efficiency and research output.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2025 · 2025-08

Reliance on renewable energy sources and increased use of green solutions (e.g., electric vehicles) is one of the strategic actions for a sustainable environment in the face of increasing fossil fuel consumption and associated environmental impacts. Supercapacitors are one of the most developed and researched energy storage technologies and have gained enormous attention and acceptance due to their portability and stable performance. Carbon materials mainly used for supercapacitor development are usually made from petroleum-derived feedstocks which are non-renewable and environmentally harmful. Currently, bio-based carbon materials are being extensively researched for the development of supercapacitor materials due to their electrochemical stability and environmental friendliness. Despite the progress made so far in the development of bio-based carbon materials; the search for materials with novel properties and simple fabrication processes has become of great importance for the development of sustainable supercapacitors with high energy density. Therefore, this proposal has three specific objectives: (i) to synthesize new carbon materials suitable for supercapacitors from biomaterials (ii) to fabricate nanocomposite electrodes based on the developed bio-based carbon materials, and (iii) to fabricate a high-efficiency supercapacitor device based on the developed bio-based components. The fabricated supercapacitor device will be fully biodegradable and have the capacity to deliver both high energy density and power density. Therefore, the contributions of this project will be a great step towards solving the energy problems in the EU and beyond, through the development of green technologies for future advances in the production of electric vehicles and portable electronic products.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2025 · 2025-07

Most cancer cells acquire changes in the number and content of their chromosomes. For example, many cancer cells have more than the normal 46 chromosomes (termed “aneuploidy”), and others have rearranged chromosomes that are combined with large parts of other chromosomes, or a scrambled order of chromosome segments. Such changes can drive cancer development, and so it is critical to understand how they come about and how they drive cancer. This will facilitate the future prevention and treatment of disease. Here, we will study particular types of rearranged chromosomes, termed “dicentric” chromosomes. These chromosomes are commonly formed in cancer cells and they are clearly implicated in driving cancer development and patient response to treatment, but they are surprisingly understudied. Indeed, they are also almost certainly under-identified because they are not easily recognised using traditional laboratory methods, so many cancer types are not screened for their presence. Additionally, a substantial number of people carry dicentric chromosomes from birth.  For example, about 1/800 individuals carry a type of dicentric chromosome called a ‘Robertsonian’ chromosome (ROB). While the day-to-day health impact of possessing a ROB is usually minor, and most carriers are unaware, they have high rates of reproductive problems. Notably, we have found that carriers of a particular type of ROB (rob(15;21)c), are at hugely increased risk of developing a specific form of leukaemia. It is therefore vital to develop techniques to identify and study dicentric chromosomes and to understand how they contribute to cancer development. Normal chromosomes have a single region (termed a “centromere”) that allows them to be sorted and inherited correctly when cells divide. Dicentric chromosomes are formed by the abnormal breaking and joining of two normal chromosomes, creating one abnormal chromosome with two centromeres. Exactly how this happens remains unclear. Importantly, chromosomes with two centromeres are unstable in cells because they are likely to be sorted incorrectly and damaged during cell division. We hypothesise that dicentric chromosomes can contribute to cancer development in at least three ways. First, abnormal sorting of dicentric chromosomes may lead to the breaking and scrambled ordering of DNA segments which can drive cancer development. Second, dicentric chromosomes can cause defective sorting of other chromosomes in the cell, leading to aneuploidy. Third, the abnormal structure of the dicentric chromosome itself causes changes that drive cancer. We aim to understand the causes and consequences of dicentric chromosomes in human cancer patients. This work will complement prior work on dicentric chromosomes that were created in the laboratory. These studies indicated the possible causes, but do not tell us which are actually responsible for disease development. Previously, centromeres have been hard to study because of their complicated DNA sequence, but technological innovations now mean the time is right to tackle this important problem. We will combine the expertise of the Ryan and Higgins groups, and use groundbreaking “long-read” DNA sequencing approaches that can determine the sequence and structure of dicentric chromosomes in cancer patients for the first time, integrated with novel laboratory approaches that track the fate of these chromosomes in cells. Our work will benefit patients by improving methods to identify dicentric chromosomes for cancer screening and diagnosis, help identify factors that promote formation of dicentric chromosomes and cancer, and provide insight into prognosis for more tailored treatment and potentially for the development of novel treatments.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2025 · 2025-07

Arts-in-Action (AH/T012986/1) introduced arts-based interventions to combat gender-based violence (GBV) in the AmaZizi chiefdom (nine rural villages in Eastern Cape (EC), South Africa (SA)). Early in the project we unexpectedly identified a covert—yet major—GBV threat: witchcraft-related violence (WRV), with elderly women the frequent targets. Physical features common to ageing—wrinkled skin, thinning hair, missing teeth—when associated with women, are routinely equated with 'being a witch'. If accused, these women are pushed into social isolation, many beaten, maimed, raped, or murdered. Through Arts-in-Action, we established a singing-intervention to support WRV survivors to work through their traumas and regain self-esteem. De Jong (PL) led song-writing workshops, supporting the women to take traditional songs and attach new lyrics that voiced personal experiences of WRV and introduced ageing as common and normal. Rehearsals became 'safe spaces' where these women received mutual support and reassumed a much-needed sense of community. This small intervention proved transformative not solely for the women, but also the AmaZizi community, by helping them acquire a more empathetic understanding of ageing (see De Jong & Jongisilo 2022): the ensemble performed around AmaZizi (at weddings, store openings, market events), each performance an occasion to educate on the ageing process and dispel myths around witchcraft. The end-result, confirms Chief Jongisilo (PcL)—who oversees witchcraft-related accusations in the region—has been a decrease in WRV cases and accusations. Building on these results, the PL and PcL will increase Arts-in-Action's impact by tackling WRV at the provincial level and establishing measures for fighting WRV nationally: this follow-on project tests our singing-intervention in 10 additional chiefdoms across EC, engaging over 60 villages and over 1-million new users. Its replication allows us to investigate its transferability to and sustainable-capability in other sites, and obtain required data to support the SA Government to implement nationally. A performance tour across SA further provokes expansion to chiefdoms outside EC. Our follow-on project is a sequential design. First, we meet community members from each chiefdom to discuss individual WRV needs and priorities. Second, using our data, we design the singing-interventions in collaboration with the elderly women and together implement, test, and embed those interventions across the 10 chiefdoms. Documentation regarding the process will be made available to ensure chiefdoms can continue interventions post-funding and the SA Government has the data required for replication. Third, we focus on creating sustainable change through policy-development (enabling knowledge exchanges that include civic groups, traditional leaders, and government offices) and high-profile public engagement events (disseminating positive messages around women and ageing); a Replication Toolkit, too, will be organised to aid stakeholders with longer-term plans to combat WRV. The overall aim of this project is to: Prevent WRV in EC To meet that aim, project actions are framed around the following specific objectives (which are further framed through our project's Work Packages, see Approach section): Introduce participatory knowledge practices that enhance communities' understanding of women and ageing Implement actions that support WRV survivors and shift public opinion Empower stakeholders to create sustainable change

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2025 · 2025-06

The Sun's magnetic field is produced by a dynamo process operating deep below the solar surface. Magnetic buoyancy – the tendency for regions of strong magnetic field to be lighter than their surroundings – is certainly involved in the transport of field to the surface, but is not usually thought to play a role in the generation of the field itself. However, we have recently shown that magnetic buoyancy instability operating just below the Sun's convection zone, in the strongly sheared "tachocline", can contribute to the generation of large-scale poloidal field, which is the most elusive step in solar dynamo models. We also have preliminary results, using numerical simulations in a local Cartesian model, demonstrating that a combination of shear and magnetic buoyancy can produce a cyclic, migratory dynamo analogous to that of the Sun. We propose to extend these results to geometries that are more representative of the solar interior, beginning with an equatorial beta-plane model and then moving on to a full spherical shell. Our goal is to show that a solar-type dynamo can be achieved using just the physical processes – shear and magnetic buoyancy – known to be operating in the tachocline. If successful, this will revolutionise our understanding of the solar dynamo (and dynamos in solar-type stars more generally).

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2025 · 2025-06

Pseudoachondroplasia (PSACH) and multiple epiphyseal dysplasia (MED) are rare genetic bone diseases (GSDs) that result in disproportionate short stature and early onset osteoarthritis. There are currently no therapies and they result in poor quality of life and high health care costs. We have unequivocally demonstrated over the last 20 years that in a defined group of GSDs (including PSACH-MED), endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, caused by the intracellular accumulation of mutant cartilage structural proteins, is the underlying disease mechanism. ER-stress is an attractive and readily targeted therapeutic approach. Drug repurposing has recently become a powerful approach to deliver rapid and cost-effective therapies for this unmet medical need; rare diseases. Recently, curcumin has been shown to reduce ER-stress in a cell model of MATN3-MED and CurQ+ (a next generation formulation of curcumin) in a mouse model PSACH. In this context we propose to determine the efficacy of CurQ+ to reduce ER-stress in a mouse model of MATN3-MED and further validate its effectiveness in our mouse model of PSACH. To achieve these aims we will use our previously validated mouse models of PSACH-MED and following treatment with CurQ+ we will study the bones and cartilage of treated and untreated mice using our well-established and sensitive quantitative and qualitative assays. In addition, we will also examine the mechanistic pathways of curcumin/CurQ+ activity using an allelic series of PSACH-MED cell models. Finally, to understand the protective properties of CurQ+ we will treat wild type and mutant mice prior to inducing cartilage degradation and osteoarthritis using our well-established destabilisation of the medial meniscus (DMM) procedure.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2025 · 2025-06

Offshore energy systems are expected to play a vital role in the UK’s transition to net-zero. These systems – which will comprise offshore electricity and hydrogen production, multi-vector energy networks, and energy conversion systems – will need to be inherently resilient while also enhancing the resilience of the onshore systems to which they connect. However, whilst there are tools and methods for studying the reliability and resilience of individual components of the offshore energy system, there is a lack of integrated tools which can assess the resilience of the whole offshore energy system and account for crucial interdependencies. Fortunately, by adapting existing research on energy system resilience and multi-vector energy networks, our proposal can address this gap without the need for new fundamental research. The ResTOrES project will develop, test, and demonstrate a prototype resilience assessment toolkit for offshore energy systems. The toolkit will enable the quantification of resilience in terms of appropriate metrics during both standard operation and extreme events. The ResTOrES toolkit will make use of high-resolution climate model outputs to ensure that weather impacts can be appropriately represented within the extreme events for both a present day and future climate. The energy-climate data previously developed by the project team includes projections from multiple climate models including state-of-the-art data from the UK climate projections (UKCP18). A case study will be used to test and demonstrate the toolkit. This will focus on the North Sea, which will be connected to an existing multi-vector onshore network model of the North of Tyne region. The resilience of the offshore energy system, whose design will be informed by project stakeholders and proposed offshore developments, will be assessed as will the impact on the resilience of the onshore energy system. Different interventions to enhance will be tested and their impact on resilience will be quantified using new resilience metrics developed within the project. The value of taking a systems approach will also be quantified by comparing resilience from a whole system perspective with the current, siloed approach in which projects are considered in isolation. The case study systems and scenarios will give us the capability to test the prototype toolkit, refine it, and demonstrate its capabilities. At the end point of the project we aim to bring the toolkit to a level of maturity which can be passed on to a project partner for implementation as a product or service.              

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2025 · 2025-06

The magnetic fields of planets are produced deep in their interiors, in regions composed of electrically conducting fluid. This conducting fluid swirls around due to convection as the planet gradually cools down, generating electric currents that induce the magnetic field via a dynamo process.  For some planets in our Solar system, the magnetic field observed at their surface is unusual and difficult to reconcile with the picture produced by numerical models of the convective dynamo region: Mercury’s field is very weak and Saturn’s field is very axisymmetric (i.e. lacking features that depend on longitude). To explain these unusual magnetic features, the prevailing theory evokes the presence of a stable conducting layer (i.e. a region where the mean variation of density with depth is stable to overturning convection) at the top of the dynamo region, which is consistent with the evolution models of these planets. The stable layer is thought to act as a filter for the magnetic field, removing rapidly-fluctuating and non-axisymmetric fields. However, the details of this filtering process are not well understood because current models overlook the presence of hydrodynamic instabilities in the stable layer, due to the dependence of the fluid density on both the temperature and chemical composition. These instabilities drive vertical flows known as double-diffusive convection (DDC), which can distort the magnetic field passing through the stable layer. How DDC interacts with the magnetic field is completely unknown, yet DDC could amplify or reduce the magnetic field, thereby drastically affecting the filtering process in the stable layer. In this project, we will address this problem by studying how DDC in the stable layer shapes the observable planetary magnetic fields using numerical simulations that model the stable layers in Mercury and Saturn. This work is important because magnetic observations are one of very few tools available to probe planetary interiors, so understanding the magnetic signal of stable layers is crucial to exploit this tool accurately. The project is based on our recent work on non-magnetic DDC in rotating, spherical global models. The main objectives of the project are (i) to predict how DDC in the stable layer modifies the primary magnetic field produced in the planet’s deep convective layer; (ii) to determine whether stable layers could generate their own magnetic fields by dynamo action and whether this secondary signal can be identified in magnetic observations.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2025 · 2025-06

Determining the properties of dark energy with weak gravitational lensing measurements is a primary science goal of Rubin Observatory's Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), the global flagship ground-based astronomical imaging survey of the coming decade. Crucial to achieving this goal is to limit the modelling noise on LSST weak lensing arising from gaps in our understanding of the intrinsic alignment of galaxies. Intrinsic alignments (IA) are correlations in galaxy shapes which are believed to be caused by a combination of tidal effects, galaxy evolution, and environment. Weak gravitational lensing, on the other hand, occurs when mass along the line-of-sight distorts the trajectory of light from background galaxies and induces correlations in their observed shapes - much like those correlations due to IA. Reliably separating IA from lensing is thus challenging, but absolutely essential to extract cosmological information from weak lensing measurements. We will use the novel but proven Multi-Estimator Method (MEM) to measure the IA signal of galaxies from early LSST data. This method, created by the Project Lead, takes advantage of the fact that different estimators for extracting the ellipticity (or 'shape') of galaxies from image data are more or less sensitive to different radial regions (i.e. inner vs outer parts) of the galaxy light profile. IA impacts the observed galaxy ellipticity in a manner that varies across the galaxy light profile, whereas the weak lensing effect on galaxy ellipticity is uniform. MEM takes advantage of this difference to extract the IA signal. Having previously made a proof-of-concept application of this method using Dark Energy Survey galaxy shape measurements from standard estimators, we will develop bespoke shape estimators which are optimised to best measure IA using MEM. We will then apply these shape estimators to early data from LSST and thus measure the IA signal. Finally, we will use our measurement to minimise the IA noise in LSST weak lensing analysis, both by precisely determining the maximum residual level of IA in the weak lensing signal and by uniquely producing measurements of the parameters of state-of-the-art IA models for LSST weak lensing galaxies. Our work will enable early LSST weak lensing to probe signatures of dark energy, and will also pin down the parameters which describe the physical details of IA itself, offering unique insight into this astrophysical process.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2025 · 2025-06

Asteroseismology - the study of oscillations in stars- has brought about a revolution in stellar astrophysics.  Alongside providing precise masses, ages and radii of field stars, asteroseismology has found fundamental discrepancies between observations and one-dimensional (1D) stellar evolution models. The most fundamental of these discrepancies are associated with interior rotation and chemical mixing.  For example, asteroseismology has shown that stars across the HR diagram have very efficient angular momentum transport between convective and radiative regions, and that convective core masses of stars are underestimated by as much as 50%, likely due to enhanced mixing at this interface.  These observational constraints will only become more stringent as asteroseismology matures and missions such as TESS and PLATO continue to return important data.  If we are to optimise learning from these exquisite observations, theoretical models must move beyond 1D to understand the dynamical, multi-dimensional processes that shape stars: convection, waves, magnetism and rotation.  The goal of this project is to conduct multi-dimensional magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) simulations of massive star interiors to better understand these processes and, if possible, build better 1D prescriptions. In particular, the proposed simulations will focus on magnetism, building on the PL’s extensive work on convection and waves in multi-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations. Using advanced MHD simulations, the PL and her team will answer some foremost questions brought by modern asteroseismology: (Q1) how does the presence of a magnetic field affect CBM, (Q2) how does a magnetic field impact angular momentum transport, and (Q3) how does the magnetic field interact with waves and impact the gravity-mode pulsations observed by asteroseismology.  Answering these questions not only impacts stellar astrophysics and stellar evolution  but has a direct impact on understanding supernova yields and the compact objects remaining after their explosions.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2025 · 2025-06

Health challenge: Chronic liver disease (CLD) is a significant global health concern that is associated with a reduced health-related quality of life.  >1.5 billion people worldwide are at risk of developing cirrhosis or liver cancer, both of which carry a significant risk of early mortality. In the UK, CLD represents 2.5% of all deaths and is linked with social deprivation, with premature deaths from CLD in the most deprived areas being 4-fold higher than in the most affluent regions. Currently, 90% of CLD cases are due to alcohol, obesity, and viral hepatitis, but with 63% of UK adults obese or overweight, obesity-driven CLD is predicted to be the main cause of end-stage liver disease and liver transplant within a decade. Metabolic dysfunction associated steatohepatitis (MASH) is the name for advanced obesity-driven CLD and is defined by accumulation of liver fat (steatosis), inflammation and scar tissue deposition (fibrosis). Liver fibrosis is the strongest predictor of disease progression and poor outcome. Currently, Resmetirom, a thyroid hormone receptor agonist, is the only clinically proven drug to suppress fibrosis, however the anti-fibrotic efficacy was reported at 26% vs 14% placebo and long-term effects are unknown. Hence there remains the urgent need to identify additional drug targets. Importantly, studies with Resmetirom and other metabolic modulators (e.g. PPAR agonists) offer new hope that targeting dysregulated metabolic pathways in MASH can deliver effective treatments. We discovered that a metabolic protein called PFKFB3, which increases a cell’s use of glucose (sugar) to fuel its biological activities, is increased in CLD and MASH. In CLD, PFKFB3 in hepatocytes (functional liver cells), caused them to change their behaviour and release factors that promote inflammation and fibrosis. Whilst PFKFB3 in specialised immune cells called macrophages, further amplified these responses, suggesting that PFKFB3 activities in hepatocytes and macrophages establish a pro-fibrotic communication between each other and scar-forming cells (myofibroblasts), to promote liver fibrosis. We hypothesise that inhibiting PFKFB3 activity will metabolically rebalance these cells in MASH and limit liver fibrosis. Aims 1-2 will assess if drugs that inhibit PFKFB3 in human liver slices (thin slices of tissue cultured in the lab) and pre-clinical MASH models limit liver steatosis, inflammation, or fibrosis. We will examine how PFKFB3 alters hepatocyte, macrophage and/or scar-forming cell biology in MASH using genetic models where PFKFB3 is deleted in these cells, to better understand the disease biology and identify new drug targets. Liver cancer is a devastating disease with a desperately poor prognosis and is the 2nd most common cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary liver cancer and MASH patients have a higher risk of developing HCC. Antibody therapies called “immunotherapy” are the best available treatment for unresectable HCC, and extend life by ~8 months, however efficacy is limited to only a minority of patients. Aim 3 will determine if targeting PFKFB3 in MASH limits progression of MASH to MASH-HCC and explore whether PFKFB3-inhibitors alone or in combination with immunotherapy, halt cancer growth once MASH-HCC is established. Potential applications and benefits: completing this project will (i) reveal how PFKFB3 signalling in different cell types contribute to MASH/MASH-HCC; (ii) discover new mechanistic biology of broad interest to scientists in the fields of CLD, fibrosis and cancer; (iii) ascertain if PFKFB3 inhibitors can be effective in suppressing MASH and/or MASH-HCC.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2025 · 2025-06

Tumour lysis syndrome (TLS) is a life-threatening oncologic emergency that occurs when malignant cells lyse spontaneously or in response to therapy for haematologic malignancies and other rapidly proliferating tumours. For high-risk TLS patients, the levels of critical biomarkers (e.g., uric acid, potassium, and phosphate) must be monitored every 4-6 hours. This is currently carried out using frequent blood draws and subsequent in vitro laboratory analyses that are invasive, resource-intensive, not suitable for point-of-care testing, and fail to provide real-time data necessary for immediate intervention. Moreover, the turnaround time of ~2 hours for blood analysis offers limited temporal resolution and does not capture the dynamic changes of biomarkers while rapid changes in biomarker levels commonly take place, increasing the risk factors associated with TLS. The lack of careful monitoring during the therapy can lead to the unexpected death of TLS patients. Because of the potential severity of complications resulting from TLS, it is necessary to have preventative measures for at-risk patients and rapid treatment in place when symptoms develop.   This project will develop novel biosensors that will facilitate early TLS detection and timely intervention through adjustments of therapy, preventative measures, and referral to critical care. The biosensors will be made using a combination of novel electroactive materials which will allow for rapid and easy-to-use electrochemical measurement techniques. The data from the biosensors will then be used to train and develop machine learning and artificial intelligence models for identification and better management of the patients at risk. The models will reliably predict the TLS risk factors during care to help clinicians adjust the therapy as necessary. As a result, the unexpected lysis of malignant cells can be avoided, preventing severe organ dysfunction or unexpected death. The development of advanced biosensor systems for the point-of-care monitoring and prevention of TLS is a significant leap forward in TLS patient care and will revolutionise the way TLS is monitored.   The biosensors this project will develop will ultimately allow for integration with wearable platforms that enable non-invasive and continuous monitoring of biomarkers. This will allow for out of hospital ambulatory monitoring, reducing the need for costly inpatient care for medium risk patients. Additionally, wearable biosensors can collect data over extended periods, providing valuable insights into long-term trends and potential risk factors for individual patients. The TLS biosensors this project will develop will ultimately reduce mortality, improve patient outcomes, and enhance quality of life. Given the high healthcare resources (e.g., hospitalisation, medications, laboratory testing, and monitoring) needed for TLS management, TLS prevention for at-risk patients through real-time monitoring of biomarkers will be extremely beneficial as it will reduce inpatient time, decrease burden on NHS, cut NHS waiting times, and lead to savings in healthcare costs.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2025 · 2025-05

Infrastructure projects and other planning initiatives shape and reshape our communities. This means that decisions made by planners and policymakers at local, regional and national levels inherently have cultural effects that must be considered in planning assessments. However, cultural infrastructure within such initiatives, if considered at all, is limited to what UNESCO defines as "tangible cultural heritage", with aspects of "intangible cultural heritage" largely set aside. Language is one such aspect of "intangible cultural heritage" and so should be considered by planners and policymakers when conducting planning assessments. However, research exploring the effects of infrastructure projects on communities primarily focuses on other domains such as economics or public health. The lack of research investigating potential correlations between infrastructure projects and linguistic identity has rendered language largely invisible when making planning decisions. In North East England, for example, different phases of the Tyne and Wear Metro influenced how people move through, use, and come into contact with one another within physical and social spaces. Although this influence may disrupt and reshape the intangible cultural heritage (such as dialectal variation) of local communities, we actually know very little about how projects like the Tyne and Wear Metro affect local dialects, or even how they shape people’s sense of place and local identity. This project is high-potential, blue-skies research that for the first time addresses the question "Do infrastructure projects influence local place identity and the dialects of the communities they affect?" It lays the foundations for an ambitious research programme which more broadly examines the cultural and linguistic impacts of infrastructure projects and other planning initiatives. It focuses on exploring this topic by comparing two sites in the Metropolitan Borough of South Tyneside—Hebburn and the Boldons. The overarching aim is to determine whether the construction and subsequent expansion of the Tyne and Wear Metro has resulted in changes to the linguistic identities of local speakers. In doing so, it will achieve the following objectives: (i) Assess whether infrastructure initiatives can have such effects; (ii) Establish the extent to which local place identity is implicated, and (iii) Demonstrate whether patterns of dialectal variation across the two sites can be attributed to the effects of changes to local place identity generated by access to new transport links. In launching this research programme, a key methodological objective is to develop a proof-of-concept framework for the analysis of how dialectal variation and place identity are influenced by planning initiatives. By collecting Sociolinguistic Interviews with South Tyneside residents in conjunction with the use of a Participatory Geographic Information Systems tool, this approach will interrogate residents’ retention of traditional dialect forms while tapping into local perceptions of regional space for the analysis of dialect data. The results will feed into outputs, outcomes and impacts relevant to a broad range of academic audiences, as well as to planners, policymakers, heritage organizations, and other key stakeholders beyond academia.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2025 · 2025-04

Semiconductor photonics is at the forefront of a revolution in modern optoelectronics and is driving innovation in key technologies such as telecommunication, sensing and quantum. At its core is nonlinear semiconductor photonics which harnesses the strong instantaneous nonlinear optical responses that the materials afford. This functionality can be leveraged to process and transmit data, presenting the opportunity to significantly enhance the speed, capacity, and energy efficiency of next-generation optoelectronic systems. Furthermore, semiconductors can have a second-order nonlinear response which plays a crucial role in emerging technologies like quantum computing and quantum communication, where the controlled generation and manipulation of photons is essential. The significant majority of important applications of semiconductor photonics have been demonstrated in bulk noncentrosymmetric crystals or planar silicon waveguide platforms, which is problematic for their integration with the backbone of the information age, the optical fibre. This multidisciplinary and collaborative project sets a new agenda by engineering the convergence of three important research themes, optical fibres, perovskites, and semiconductor photonics. Unlike silicon, perovskites have a highly tunable crystal structure, making them very interesting for photonics. They can be direct bandgap, can contain a second-order nonlinearity many times higher than the state-of-the-art and can possess an extraordinary third-order-optical nonlinearity that is orders of magnitude greater than silicon. Furthermore, unlike more traditional semiconductors, the materials can maintain these properties when designed to have a wide bandgap, which is important for optical transparency and avoiding two-photon absorption. By establishing a single-mode, lead-free, perovskite fibre platform a new generation of semiconductor nonlinear photonic devices will be enabled. Devices will be demonstrated that require orders of magnitude less power to operate, that can access important second-order nonlinear processes, and that are immediately compatible with existing optical fibre infrastructures and architecture. This new class of optical fibre for nonlinear optics, quantum optics and telecommunications is anticipated to radically alter the functionality of optical fibre technologies.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2025 · 2025-04

Green corridors have risen to prominence as vital tools in urban planning across Europe and Asia to join up enclaves of flora and fauna. Recently, a more capacious vision has seen them as connecting not just pockets of nature but also people to their natural and cultural heritage. In this vein, the National Trust (NT) is committed to an ambitious programme to help establish 20 green corridors across England, Northern Ireland, and Wales by 2030 to connect urban dwellers with nature, history, and culture, contributing to biodiversity gain and well-being. The Green Corridors North East (GCNE) are among the first of this pioneering scheme, seeking to transform 35-miles of urban, suburban, and rural spaces in Gateshead, Durham, and South Tees into connected, widely valued, and accessible places where nature and communities thrive sustainably. Our Mission’s aim is to develop new co-created arts- and humanities-led research practices that will contribute significantly to the transformative regeneration of green corridors in the U.K. and beyond. We will develop, spread, and scale a co-produced model of place-making focused on sustainability and community wealth building (in a broad, more than human, sense), helping to transform riverside environments. GCNE traverses green corridors that feature different, and complex, patterns of land ownership, degrees of biodiversity, varying legacies of industrial pollution, and diverse neighbouring communities. All have challenges relating to access, maintenance, and community engagement. Nevertheless, the opportunities they represent are considerable. They have the potential to benefit local communities and visitors whose health and well-being would be improved by engagement with the corridors’ green spaces, heritages, and their wider use as sites of cultural and creative activity. We will work across sectors and communities in the co-production of new knowledge on the rich histories, ecosystems, and cultures of these green corridors, bringing insights from bio-, earth, and social sciences framed through arts and humanities methods and approaches. Our underpinning objectives are to: (i) convene exceptional teams, bringing together research, professional, and community expertise to shape and deliver change; (ii) co-develop research questions and practices that are place-based, cross-cutting, and focused on environment, community, and storytelling; (iii) co-produce research on 4 themes: Heritage and history: e.g., exploring the well-being impact of training different age groups to conduct oral histories of one another’s memories of the corridors. Culture and creativity: e.g., developing inclusive creative methods to co-produce artworks that promote environmental empathy and enhance well-being. Nature and natural heritage: e.g., examining the well-being benefits of co-producing research that increases access to, knowledge of, and care for nature across the green corridors. Active evaluation for learning: research conducted by team members, serving as learning partners to GCNE and evaluating the project iteratively. The first 3 of those themes will incorporate ‘super-themes’ on stewardship and well-being, helping to develop a model that is socially, ecologically, and economically sustainable, empowering all involved to take ownership of their green corridors and nurture them for the future.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2025 · 2025-04

To endure starvation and stress, bacterial cells employ a specialised class of proteins known as ribosome hibernation factors. These protective proteins prevent undesired activity and degradation of ribosomes in metabolically inactive cells, which helps bacteria to retain their viability and rapidly recover when conditions improve. While hibernation factors are indispensable for long-term stress survival, they are not universally conserved across species, and the total number of such factors in nature remains unknown. In our preliminary work supporting this application, we have identified a novel ribosome hibernation factor. We also showed that this protein appears to anchor ribosomes to the inner cell membranes in hypoxic mycobacteria. In this application, we will develop this study and achieve the following specific aims. Firstly, we will determine the cryo-EM structure of the protein bound to the ribosome to provide the structural basis for its activity. Secondly, we will use our knockout strains of Mycobacterium smegmatis to assess the impact of this factor on mycobacteria's ability to preserve ribosomes and survive hypoxia. Lastly, we will determine the evolutionary conservation of this factor across bacteria to assess if a similar mechanism of ribosome hibernation is widely employed or specific to mycobacterial species. Overall, this study will advance our fundamental understanding of how mycobacteria endure hypoxia through entering persistence, which may contribute to the development of future medical interventions against mycobacterial infections.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2025 · 2025-03

Global health challenge: Poor diet is an important preventable risk factor for worldwide morbidity and mortality [Global Burden of Disease Study, 2019]. The triple burden of malnutrition, the simultaneous occurrence of undernutrition, micronutrient deficiency and overnutrition, affects most lower and middle income countries (LMICs) due to a shift to western diets and lifestyle on a backdrop of malnutrition [Popkin, 2020]. LMICs experience the highest diet-related disease burden and lack critical data and real-time data collection tools on individual food intake needed to support evidence-based programs [Global Nutrition Report, 2018]. Traditional methods for measuring food intake are very costly, require a highly trained workforce and as a result, many countries rely on inaccurate survey methods.   Ultimate aim: The primary aim of the partnership grant is to accelerate regional and in-country capacity in dietary assessment. This will be achieved through collaborative adaptation of the well established open-source, online 24-hour dietary recall system ‘Intake24’ in eight countries across Africa and Asia (South Africa, Ethiopia, Ghana, Uganda, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand). Guidance and mentorship will be provided across the research network through partners from the UK, Malaysia, Australia and an external expert panel to develop a community of practice which will encourage the sharing of experiences, knowledge and resources in localising Intake24. This will result in a well connected network of nutrition researchers relevant to the Global South, armed with feasible, cost-effective methods of collecting data relevant to the key public health issues facing LMIC populations. The teams will join the Intake24 Open Nutrition Network which includes members from the UK, Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia and Bangladesh who are working to share knowledge, resources and experience and to champion the use and further localisation of Intake24. Potential applications and benefits: As a result of this partnership grant, teams in each country will develop new skills in generation of food composition data and portion size assessment methods and will build regional capacity to conduct nutritional surveys and large-scale research studies. Localised versions of Intake24 will be deployed in each partner institution and software developers in South Africa and Malaysia will be trained in supporting the system. The use of Intake24 will be incorporated into undergraduate and postgraduate teaching as well as in service training or workshops that will promote the use of the system via each continent's Nutrition Leadership programme, dietetic associations and nutrition societies. An external panel of experts on dietary assessment will guide the partnership in developing the platform, and sustainability and uptake of the software in each setting will be supported by Ministries of Health and other various stakeholders. Resources developed in localisation of the system, such as food composition data and food photographs, will be made freely available and updated regularly via the FAO/INFOODS database [FAO/INFOODS, 2022], leading to an LMIC Open Nutrition Network of resources to enable the collection of high quality, granulated data on individual dietary intake at low cost. This repository of robust dietary assessment methods and food databases will aid future nutrition surveillance and cross-disciplinary research in the Global South, and will ultimately improve the capacity of the nutrition and health workforce to augment dietary assessment methods. Information on  detailed dietary intakes will be invaluable in the development of targeted nutrition programs and policies required to address key public health problems in LMICs.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2025 · 2025-03

Turbulence is not just the annoying, sometimes frightening phenomena, we experience when the captain switches on the fasten seatbelt sign on a plane. Indeed, the problem of hydrodynamic turbulence is profound and continues to attract widespread interest across different scientific disciplines. Understanding turbulence is of enormous practical importance,  but it also raises fundamental challenges for mathematicians. A particularly attractive system for the study of turbulence in two dimensions are Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs). These condensates, manifesting at ultracold temperatures, offer a unique platform to study quantum mechanics in a macroscopic system, and quantum mechanical constraints on fluid motion offer the hope of a mathematical description of their dynamics. Our proposal focuses on the dynamics of two-dimensional turbulence within superfluid BECs, and in particular the decay of turbulence. Through an integrated approach that combines mathematical modelling, Bayesian statistics, and experimental validation, we hope to elucidate the fundamental principles underlying turbulent decay in BECs. It will also foster a new collaboration between UK-based theorists and an experimental group located in Seoul, further strengthening the UK’s considerable reputation in quantum fluids research.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2025 · 2025-03

Himalayan glaciers are a vital water resource for the ~1 billion people living downstream, but these glaciers are melting rapidly as climate warms. Glacier shrinkage causes ice-marginal lakes to grow, which can burst, resulting in potentially highly-destructive Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs). Bhutan is the most vulnerable country globally to GLOFs because its population, infrastructure, cultural heritage and hydro-power generation capacity lie downstream of glacial lakes. Recently, its glacial lakes and downstream infrastructure have grown rapidly, and have generated GLOFs requiring emergency action. Thus there is an urgent need to quantify the rising threat posed by GLOFs across Bhutan, which provides the ideal test site for developing approaches that can used in other high-mountain areas. Bhutan had >2500 glacial lakes in 2020 and 65 were categorised as high-risk. It is therefore prohibitively expensive to monitor even its most dangerous lakes using industry-standard sensors, but this is vital for early warnings, hazard management, and effective data delivery to end-users. Key challenges to this are a lack of: i) low-cost, near-real time sensors for monitoring GLOFs and potential triggers; ii) power generation and data transmission in Bhutan's remote catchments and effective data delivery to decision-makers; and iii) accurate forecasts of GLOF characteristics, which can be used to optimise early warning system (EWS) locations. Our collaborative network with our Project Partners in the Royal Government of Bhutan (RGoB), Druk Holding and Investments (DHI) is uniquely placed to address these challenges, given DHI's world-leading expertise in sensor prototyping and remote-area power and data communications technology and Newcastle University's (NU) research expertise in GLOFs, sudden-onset flooding and low-cost environmental monitoring. Our aim is to develop a new, long-term, international partnership centred on GLOFs and water and energy resources in Bhutan. We will use the Punatsangchu catchment as the test site, as it has the 4th highest GLOF risk globally and the highest in Bhutan. Our objectives are: O1: Co-develop a network of low-cost sensors, verified using industry-standard data, to monitor GLOFs and their potential triggers. O2: Co-design appropriate power supplies and data transmission infrastructure and integrate with existing data networks, delivery interfaces and decision-making pathways. O3: Use ensemble modelling to determine the range of possible realities of GLOF inundation and optimise downstream EWS. Our partnership was founded during an initial scoping meeting in March 2024, from which this proposal was co-developed. The collaboration is fieldwork-centred and will be developed by planning and executing two joint field seasons, which will enable the two-way transfer of skills and knowledge, supported by monthly online team meetings. Workshops bookending the fieldwork will be used to engage and expand stakeholder networks and a workshop in Newcastle will be centred on developing future funding proposals. Longer-term, we aim to: scale up our approach across Bhutan; conduct multi-hazard assessments; and investigate the responses and priorities of exposed populations, with potential funders including NERC, Leverhulme Trust and World Bank. Our work has the potential to deliver high impacts in Bhutan, which will be evidenced by inclusion in policy. Our results will provide earlier and more effective warnings and underpin longer-term emergency and land-use planning. This can save lives and infrastructure and have major economic benefits, by minimising impacts on hydroelectric power. As part of the RGoB, DHI provide the pathway to achieving these impacts, via their close links with key decision makers.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2025 · 2025-03

Modern information and communication technologies produce electronic devices that are deployed at the edge, such as for example smart sensors acquiring information about environmental conditions. Such devices are increasingly expected not only to perform simple data conversion from one form to another but also perform computations such as data analysis, classification and even decision making. Collectively such devices are called AI-at-the-Edge, which arguably form the fastest growing electronics technology in the UK and the World (CAGR 20.64% in the next five years). A key challenge of enabling such devices with intelligence is the fact they are limited in resources, such as compute power, energy budget, physical accessibility. So, the main question is how to equip such resource-limited devices with machine learning (ML) capabilities? To tackle this challenge this project will develop low-cost (e.g. energy-efficient) mechanisms for sharing knowledge between edge devices. The project's success will be measured in terms of its new methods capable to deliver knowledge transfer between edge devices helping scale up their ML accuracy with at least 3-4 orders of magnitude energy efficiency compared to existing AI-at-the-Edge systems. The project outcomes in theory and design methodology will be validated by means of extensive simulations, prototyping, and testing, and, ultimately, via an embodiment of the proposed solutions into a concrete IoT-scale application, such as environmental monitoring and electrical battery safety control.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2025 · 2025-03

The 2020-23 AHRC-funded 'Eighteenth-Century Political Participation and Electoral Culture' project (ECPPEC) investigated the ways in which people participated in parliamentary elections before the 1832 Reform Act. Few could vote, but many were nevertheless engaged in elections and electioneering, including women as well as men, children as well as adults, poor and rich, franchised and unenfranchised. ECPPEC investigated the many modes of participation, including print and song, ceremonies and violence, dress and decoration. The most famous representations of pre-modern elections at their most corrupt and carnivalesque are the four paintings that comprise William Hogarth's 'Humours of an Election' series (1754-55). For this Follow-On for Impact project, we propose to use Hogarth's images to engage new audiences with pre-modern elections, and as a basis for opening up discussion about the status of democracy in our own society. The election paintings are full of detail, feature appealing characters and tell a compelling story: as Charles Lamb noted 'Other pictures we look at; his pictures we read'. They thus lend themselves to annotation, which can bring out the contexts and complexities of elections two hundred years ago; and they are well suited to narrativization and animation, which can engage audiences unused to looking at, still less 'reading', eighteenth-century paintings. The aim of this project then is to present Hogarth's paintings digitally, as a free online resource, with comprehensive annotation that explains and contextualises each image, linking back to the underlying ECPPEC research, and second, to use innovative generative AI tools to bring Hogarth's paintings to life. The objective is to provide unprecedentedly appealing ways for students and other non-specialists to engage with pre-modern electoral history, and more specifically, to build a highly charismatic resource for teaching history and citizenship to Key Stage 3 pupils. The development of democracy in Britain, expansion of the franchise, and the rights and responsibilities of citizens are all required elements of the KS3 National Curriculum in History and Citizenship. These can all be taught through the Hogarth images, as can the issues that he was himself concerned to highlight: political corruption, manipulation of voters, dishonest campaigning, and how elections are comprised of many more forms of participation that just the act of voting. The beneficiaries of the project will be these resource end-users, but also the Sir John Soane Museum in central London, where the pictures are displayed, as an Act of Parliament requires, exactly as they were when the museum opened in 1837. Access to the pictures is constrained, and in-situ interpretation impossible. The project has been designed, therefore, significantly to expand accessibility, both in the sense of allowing more people to engage with the paintings in informed ways, and by reaching different kinds of users. The Soane has struggled to engage diverse audiences, especially outside London, and especially young people. This project will demonstrate how cutting-edge but increasingly available digital technology, including generative AI, can be used to engage hard-to-reach audiences, be successfully embedded in school curricula, and use historical collections to raise pressing contemporary issues.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2025 · 2025-02

Investigating coral reef dynamics across three global biodiversity gradients—Latitude, Longitude, and Depth— my fellowship examines the drivers and consequences of biodiversity assembly and redistribution across three dimensions in one of the world’s most diverse, valuable, and vulnerable ecosystems. Working from the scale of atoms to ecosystems, I will uncover mechanisms shaping the ecological and evolutionary trajectories of coral reef fish, incorporating unprecedented scales of knowledge from across the entire coral reef depth gradient, 0 – 120 meters. As severe and persistent warming forces rapid ecosystem change, reef fish from tropical shallow-waters may mitigate climate-related pressures by shifting poleward, or to deeper depths. Understanding the ecological dynamics controlling potential shifts towards cooler ranges, and effects on the functioning of ecological networks and ecosystem services is critical to understanding coral reef futures. However, studies of coral reef macro-ecological dynamics are typically focused on shallow water assemblages (<20m), ignoring steep depth-related transitions in community structure. Technological developments have recently facilitated unprecedented access to deeper reefs. My recent pioneering research is at the forefront of demonstrating strong depth-modifications of previously established ecological patterns and processes, and depth-related interactions with other macro-gradients, such as longitudinal distance from biodiversity centres. Yet, large gaps remain in understanding the spatial scales, and evolutionary and life-history traits of communities that these modified processes act on, and the consequences of these modifications on the redistribution of biodiversity in future coral reefs. Leveraging a new and unprecedented multi-gradient reef fish abundance dataset spanning from tropical to subtropical reefs across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, advanced technical diving and quantitative analysis capabilities, and elemental and molecular research techniques, I will identify controls on community assembly, changes in energy and productivity pathways, and the structure of ecological networks along interacting biodiversity gradients related to longitude, latitude, and depth. Firstly, I will determine if the rate at which new fish species evolve differs along the coral reef depth gradient and whether species predominantly move from shallow to deep reefs, or vice versa. I will compare these evolutionary dynamics between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans and between tropical and subtropical locations. This will identify species 'pumps' that may be disproportionately important for the maintenance of future biodiversity. Secondly, I will identify the spatial scales and depths at which deterministic ecosystem processes shape evolutionary and ecological distinctness of reef fish assemblages along the three principle spatial gradients. Thirdly, I will determine for the first time how reef fish food webs and energy pathways are connected along the full coral reef depth gradient and what this means for reef productivity at different depths. Finally, I will identify depth-related changes in the structure and robustness of the ecological networks that support fish communities at different positions along depth, latitude, and longitude biodiversity gradients; challenging these networks under hypothesized future assemblages. Combining understandings across multiple scales and the full spatial extent of coral reefs will provide a groundbreaking framework with which to assess the shape, robustness, connectivity, and consequences of future reassembly of coral reef biodiversity. The results of my fellowship will provide a sea-change in our understanding of coral reef assembly process across multiple dimensions. Strategically, it will further pave the way for coral reef biodiversity redistribution research and conservation efforts to align with three-dimensional global change investigations and management strategies utilised in other ecosystems.