• Multiple agencies share responsibility for tackling economic crime, in some cases creating uncertainty over leadership and accountability

• Competing priorities and budget pressures can limit organisations' ability to devote resources to economic crime investigations

• The broad and evolving nature of "economic crime" makes it difficult to define priorities and measure success

• Outdated technology and poor data-sharing arrangements continue to hamper investigations and intelligence gathering

• The UK's response relies heavily on cooperation between organisations with different responsibilities, cultures and objectives

Economic crime has become one of the UK's biggest crime threats

The researchers say economic crime encompasses a vast range of offences, from online fraud and investment scams to money laundering, bribery and sanctions evasion.

However, a key issue identified by the study was ambiguity surrounding the term ‘economic crime’ - which lacks clear boundaries and scope - and how different threats should be prioritised.

The research found that political priorities and major world events can rapidly reshape which forms of economic crime receive attention and resources. As a result, agencies can find themselves responding to an ever-expanding range of threats, stretching already limited resources.

The authors argue that while the broad label of economic crime helps attract political attention and funding, it can also obscure important differences between offences that require very different responses.

Outdated systems slowing investigations

Participants in the study also highlighted concerns about the technological tools available to investigators. Some reported that basic collaboration and data-analysis capabilities lag behind those available in the private sector, with information-gathering processes that should take days sometimes taking months.

The researchers found that these limitations can make it more difficult to identify emerging threats, share intelligence and coordinate action across agencies.

What is needed

The researchers say the enabling conditions needed to tackle the problem are:

• A shared definition of economic crime, clear enough to guide prioritisation yet flexible enough to serve both political and operational purposes

• Data-sharing arrangements and intelligence infrastructure that allow partners to act and build understanding simultaneously

• Clear incentives and dedicated resourcing that allow partners to commit meaningfully beyond their core organisational mandates

• Clear delineation of roles and responsibilities across agencies, with recognised leadership

• Formalised but flexible accountability arrangements that create soft mechanisms for ensuring participation without undermining partner autonomy

Why this matters

Fraud is now one of the most common crimes affecting people in the UK, while money laundering enables a wide range of serious criminal activity, from organised crime to corruption.

The findings also have wider relevance for governments around the world that are increasingly relying on multi-agency partnerships to tackle complex forms of crime that cross organisational and national boundaries.

What the researchers say

"The National Economic Crime Centre was created to bring together the many organisations involved in tackling economic crime, recognising the need for a collective response” said Professor Nicholas Lord. “However, coordinating agencies with different responsibilities, priorities and resources is not straightforward, and certainly needs more than goodwill.”

"What emerges from this study is a picture of a system that depends heavily on cooperation between organisations,” added Professor Elisa Bellotti. “The challenge is not simply understanding economic crime itself, but creating the conditions that allow different institutions to work together effectively in responding to it.”

Publication details

The study was published in the Journal of Economic Criminology.

DOI:

The scroll was formally presented to the University during a visit by two of Rutherford’s great grand-daughters. The historic Rutherford gift has also inspired new named physics chair at 91ֱ��

The gift strengthens the University's connection with one of the most influential scientists in history and the continuing leadership in the fields he helped create.

To mark the gift, the University has established the Ernest Rutherford Chair in Physics, a new named professorship within the Department of Physics and Astronomy. The chair will recognise leading researchers working in fields closely associated with Rutherford's scientific achievements, including nuclear, particle and accelerator physics. The new chair joins a distinguished group of named professorships in Physics at 91ֱ��, including the Langworthy Chair, one of the oldest physics chairs in the world, the Regius chair in Physics established by royal patronage, and the Lovell Chair in Astrophysics.

Rutherford is widely regarded as the “father of nuclear physics”. During his time at 91ֱ�� between 1907 and 1919, he transformed the University's Physics Laboratory into one of the world's leading centres of scientific discovery.

Among the breakthroughs achieved in 91ֱ�� were the discovery of the atomic nucleus, the identification of the proton and the first artificial nuclear reaction, which is often referred to as “splitting the atom”. These achievements laid the foundations of our modern world, gave rise to the fields of nuclear and particle physics and led to innumerable technological, industrial and societal impacts

Professor Chris Parkes, Head of The University of Manchester Physics and Astronomy Department, said: "Rutherford's years in 91ֱ�� changed our understanding of the physical world forever, shaping our understanding of atoms. The discoveries made here have shaped our world today and continue to influence scientific research more than a century later.

"We are delighted that Lord Rutherford's descendants have chosen 91ֱ�� as the home for this important historical document. It is a powerful recognition of the University's role in preserving and celebrating Rutherford's remarkable legacy and our continuing world leadership in research in the fields of nuclear and particle physics"

Jenny Joy and Caroline Roberts descendants of Rutherford, added: “We wanted this scroll to be seen and used as part of his legacy as it has hardly ever seen the light of day, and it is a valuable stunning historical document in its own right”

During their visit, members of Rutherford's family took a tour of the Physics department, including seeing his original desk and visiting modern facilities that continue the 91ֱ�� tradition of cutting-edge research in his areas of interest.

It was in the University's former Physics Laboratory – now known as the Rutherford Building – that Rutherford led a team of pioneering scientists whose work revolutionised our understanding of the atom.

His influence extended far beyond his own discoveries. Rutherford’s work established 91ֱ�� as an international centre of scientific excellence, allowing the University to attract many renowned scientists to continue his legacy. He is also well known for mentoring many of the leading physicists of the twentieth century. The historic scroll will be preserved within the University's collections, ensuring that future generations can continue to learn about the scientist whose discoveries in 91ֱ�� changed the world.

She added: "While I welcome the child-focused courts that the government has introduced, the family justice system has an opportunity to move from seeing children as passive recipients of adult decisions to recognising them as active participants. If children's voices are consistently heard, respected and acted upon, family courts will be better protect their safety, wellbeing and long-term health."

Recommendations

The researchers are calling for major reforms to private family law proceedings, including:

• Ensuring children's voices are routinely and meaningfully heard throughout family court proceedings.

• Embedding the principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child more fully into domestic law.

• Reforming family court practice so children's views genuinely influence decisions affecting them.

• Providing specialist training for judges, legal professionals and safeguarding practitioners on children's rights, trauma, coercive control and child sexual abuse.

• Introducing stronger safeguards against technology-facilitated abuse, including the misuse of children's medical information.

• Expanding access to child-centred, trauma-informed interventions such as play therapy and specialist counselling.

The authors conclude that meaningful reform will require not only legislative change but also a cultural shift across the family justice system towards recognising children as equal rights holders whose lived experiences should guide judicial decision-making.

Publication details

The paper was published in the Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law.

This study was supported by a grant from the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Participatory Research Fund to Dr Elizabeth Dalgarno, Principal Investigator. The findings remain the responsibility of the research team.

DOI:

Today, instead of thinking about how we communicate with machines, scientists are trying to improve how machines communicate with us. How they might read our intentions, notice when there’s a change in our demeanour and earn our trust.

This isn’t just a question about technology, it’s also about psychology, ethics and what we need from the intelligent systems that increasingly share our workplaces, hospitals and homes.

The problem of trust

People build trust instinctively, often without noticing; it could be the way someone listens, remembers what matters to us, responds at the right moment, or handles a mistake. Now, researchers at 91ֱ��'s are studying how these same dynamics might play out with machines.

They’ve found that our trust in robots often depends on two things: whether a robot can do what it claims, and whether it responds to situations – especially failures – in ways that feel recognisably human. A robot that completes a job but ignores typical social cues may be accurate, but it’s often not trusted as much as a robot that fails a task but acknowledges its mistakes in a human-like way.

also found that the voice a robot uses is important. During this exercise, people showed greater confidence in working with a machine when it spoke in an AI-generated voice designed to sound more human, even though when asked afterwards they claimed to have preferred a standard robotic version instead. It suggests that what people believe they want from robots and how they actually behave around them, are not always the same.

When the robot is watching you

However, trust doesn’t only run one way, and that’s why 91ֱ�� researchers have been developing ‘Computational Trust’ – mathematical models which help robots assess the trustworthiness of the humans they work with.

, knowing how much a human partner’s contributions can be relied upon helps a robot to anticipate what its human partner is likely to do next, or where they might go wrong.²

This ties in with the ‘Theory of Mind’ concept, which describes a human ability to understand that other people have their own knowledge, intentions and goals that may differ from your own. Developing an artificial version of this – a robot that can genuinely read the room – is one of the most ambitious targets in the field.

Understanding another mind

To address this, 91ֱ�� researchers are now exploring what happens when machines begin to develop a basic version of ‘Theory of Mind’. In , a research team gave pairs of autonomous robots different personalities and priorities. Some were designed to be more socially focused, while others were more playful. Each robot had its own needs and goals, but those needs were invisible to its partner. The challenge was learning to work together anyway.

To do this, the robots used their own experiences as a starting point for understanding each other. If a robot observed behaviour that looked familiar, it could begin to infer what its partner might be trying to achieve. Over time, those estimates were refined through interaction. The result was a machine capable of making decisions not solely for itself, but with another agent in mind.

The researchers found that cooperation emerged most successfully when at least one robot was willing to prioritise the needs of another. Simply giving the robot the ability to reason about another's mental state was not enough, what mattered was how it used that knowledge when deciding what to do next.

In human terms, it is the difference between understanding that somebody needs help and choosing to offer it.

Feeling heard

Progress in this field relies on developing a machine that can respond empathetically, not just correctly.

When , they chose to train it on facial expressions as well as text, giving it the ability to recognise emotional states and respond in ways that were more empathetic. When tested against responses from a leading commercial language model, Emma's replies were judged to be more humanlike and appropriate.

As AI becomes increasingly conversational and robots a more familiar presence in our lives, how well these kinds of interactions work for us matters in two ways: for the quality of the experience itself and for whether we can rely on these systems. Trust will be built through transparency, honesty and by machines that understand us well enough to know what we need.

In 1951, the human had to adapt to the machine but in 2026, we are building machines that might, at last, begin to adapt to us.

��

Words: Ben Harwood and Enna Bartlett

Meet the researcher

Letitia Berto is a Research Associate in the Cognitive Robotics Lab at The University of Manchester. Her work is inspired by how children learn and develop, and focuses on building robots that can think, learn, and adapt on their own. She aims to design autonomous intelligent systems that are curious, capable of making decisions, understanding others, and acting in trustworthy and ethical ways – ultimately enabling meaningful and effective collaboration between humans and robots in the real world.

If you would like to find out more about the research referenced in this article, you can find the full papers at the links below:

1. The Effect of Voice and Repair Strategy on Trust Formation and Repair in Human-Robot Interaction - DOI:

2. Computational Trust in Robotics: Preliminary Investigations and Evidence -

3. A Theory of Mind Motivational Framework for Social Interaction with Autonomous Cognitive Robots - DOI:

4. Multimodal Dialogue for Empathetic Human-Robot Interaction - DOI:

��Justice, Arts, Memory, Migration��(JAMM): Creating Solidarities across Borders��will bring together��academics,��artists��and��cultural practitioners��to share experience and best practice across universities, cultural��institutions��and��community organisations.��

Dr Warren is a member of JAMM's management committee and is working group co-leader of the 'Urban Space, Creative Sectors & Social Cohesion working group. She is involved alongside��other 91ֱ�� participants:��postgraduate��researchers��Clare Courtney��and��Haoyue Gul��(University of Manchester)��and��Mahboobeh Rajabi,��Founder��and��CEO��of ��an innovative, artist-led platform and cultural café.��

Dr Warren commented:

JAMM brings together 70 researchers from 27 countries and has been awarded €170,000 in the first year with an estimated €680,000 over four years (depending on the number of participating COST member countries). It was one of only 80 projects out of 1,090 applications selected for funding by COST.

Applications to join JAMM Working Groups are now open and academics, students and cultural practitioners are being encouraged to take part:

Claims in the study that people affected by parental alienating behaviours showed greater signs of stress, PTSD and depression are also challenged by the team from The University of Manchester and the University of New Brunswick.

Lead author doctoral researcher Nic Robson, along with Dr Elizabeth Dalgarno, both from The University of Manchester, and Professor Linda Neilson from The University of New Brunswick, have published a in the Journal of Family Trauma, Child Custody and Child Development of February's study led by Professor Ben Hine.

The researchers found a lack of evidence in the Hine study that the behaviours were identified by a dependable sample of the UK public, and a lack of evidence that the identified parenting behaviours were actually connected to parental alienation.

The authors of the rebuttal contend that methodological standards typically associated with academic or scientific research were not met. Other limitations identified by the researchers included:

• Reliance on online responses submitted to a marketing agency.
• Use of discredited or outdated measures, or selection of items from established psychological scales without validation.
• Limited reporting on methodology, sampling and data collection procedures.
• Absence of research methods that would enable analysis of cause and effect.
• Methodologies that failed to establish that behaviours attributed to parental alienation were not actually connected to family conflict or abuse.the first half of your story here.

The Hine study, covered by calls for policy and legal reforms, including the development of school programmes to teach children how to identify so-called “parental alienating behaviours.”

The study has also been cited within official raising questions about the robustness of the evidence appraisal and guideline development process of the guidance, particularly given the methodological concerns with the Hine study that have since been identified.

"The Hine study states that parental alienating behaviours cause children to become allied strongly with one parent, rejecting the other without justification during a high-conflict separation or divorce," said lead author Nic Robson, a PhD researcher from the University of Manchester. “However, the assertion is based on a controversial concept of parental alienation which has been criticised by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women and Girls, the Family Justice Council in the UK, and other bodies.”

Previous by Dr Dalgarno showed many parents accused of parental alienation are often female victims of domestic abuse who often report being subjected to biased family court proceedings.

The women in Dr Dalgarno's study said parental alienation claims were raised against them when they attempted to safeguard their children.

"The authors of the Hine study also acknowledged a correlation between the alleged parental alienating behaviours and domestic abuse among parents, yet no investigation appears to have occurred to determine if there was a causal relationship between the two," Robson said.

This points, Robson, Neilson and Dalgarno say, to a flawed report that identifies negative behaviours of parents reported by a group of online respondents that may or may not have been associated with behaviours the Hine study researchers were attempting to measure.

Robson added: “Unfortunately, while the authors presented some selected data, they did not provide adequate information about the scales they used, the survey questions, the complete dataset, or an in-depth analysis of their results.

“Consequently, it is difficult to work out if the omissions were intentional, indicative of selective reporting, or a reflection of the limitations of the survey.”

Dr Neilson said: “We strongly urge professionals and policymakers to base decisions on scientifically validated methods and rigorously tested evidence.

“Anyone reading the report of the Hine study should exercise caution, however especially in connection with policies and practices that shape clinical or legal work.”

Dr Dalgarno added: "The concept of parental alienation remains highly contentious due to its lack of scientific validation and empirical evidence supporting its reliability as both a psychological construct and a measurable phenomenon.

Allegations of parental alienation are frequently employed by fathers with histories of abuse as a legal strategy to dismiss or deflect serious claims of child sexual abuse, domestic violence, and coercive control."

• Dalgarno and Robson are both core voluntary members of the , a global research collective exploring the health, social, human rights and economic impacts of domestic abuse and violence on women and children. Linda Neilson is Professor Emerita and a research associate of the Muriel McQueen Fergusson Centre for Family Violence Research at the University of New Brunswick, Canada.
• The paper Methodologies and Moon Landings: A critical review of parental alienating behaviour research, is published in the , DOI:

In December 1990 Makagbeh Princess Sesay crossed into neighbouring Guinea (Guinea-Conakry ) in a truck with her family after fighting forced them to flee their home during the Liberian civil war.

Her father died in Liberia, not long after the civil war began. After that, she also lost her mother in a small Guinean border town called Koyama, located near the Liberia–Guinea border.

Left to navigate life as a refugee, she grew up in communities hosting thousands of displaced Liberians in the towns of Macenta, Guéckédou and Kissidougou.

She witnessed first-hand the hardships faced by refugee families, including poverty, food shortages, poor sanitation, limited access to healthcare and disrupted education.

In Guéckédou, she witnessed vicious attacks by Liberian rebel forces in 2000 and many people died across the whole town in appalling circumstances.

Yet those experiences would ultimately inspire her future career.

While living in Columba refugee Camp in Guinea Princess (Makagbeh) volunteered with humanitarian organisations helping some of the world’s most vulnerable people.

She worked with Action Against Hunger on health education, hygiene campaigns, nutrition programmes and community surveys.

She also received training through the International Rescue Committee, which supported refugee education and health projects.

Meanwhile, she worked with CARE International, helping coordinate food distributions that provided vital support to thousands of displaced families.

Seeing the difference these organisations made sparked a lifelong interest in improving health and wellbeing.

After over 10 years in Guinea, Princess was resettled to Norway in 2003 through a United Nations refugee programme.

The move offered a fresh start and the chance to continue her education.

Determined to give back, she chose to study public health after seeing how access to clean water, nutrition, healthcare and health education could transform lives.

That journey eventually brought her to 91ֱ�� College in 2015, where she got a distinction in level three health and social care.

After a few years working as a carer, she started in 2023 at The University of Manchester, where she has now graduated with a BSc in Public Health.

Her studies allowed her to connect her personal experiences with academic research into global health inequalities.

She said: “My journey has taken me from fleeing a civil war in Liberia to living in a refugee camp in Guinea and now graduating from The University of Manchester.

“Losing both of my parents at a young age was incredibly difficult, but the support I received from humanitarian organisations and the communities around me gave me hope and determination.

“Growing up as a refugee showed me how important healthcare, education, sanitation and nutrition are to people's lives. 91ֱ��ing Public Health has helped me understand these challenges in greater depth and strengthened my desire to support vulnerable communities and work towards reducing health inequalities around the world.”

Now a University of Manchester graduate, Princess hopes to use her education and experiences to improve public health and support disadvantaged communities both in the UK and internationally.

That might include going back to refugee camps in Africa or elsewhere.

Her lecturer and academic advisor Sam Aston from The University of Manchester, said: “Princess’s remarkable journey is a testament to her resilience and determination to fulfil her dream at 91ֱ��. The passion and compassion that she has shown for public health have driven her to turn her experiences into a purposeful education.

“We are immensely proud of her achievement and excited to see the difference she will make in improving health for vulnerable communities.”

• Princess serving meals to children alongside a French representative from the humanitarian organization Action Contre La Faim (Action Against Hunger).
• Princess standing beside cooking oil boxes wearing blue cap during a refugee food distribution exercise.
• Princess besides a CARE truck

The College was formally launched on 18 June 2026 at the Royal Society in London and brings together experts from universities, industry and research organisations across the UK. Professor Dixon is one of 71 members selected through a highly competitive process that attracted nearly 1,200 applications. College members volunteer their time to support government decision-making through expert advice, workshops and peer review.

The appointment comes at a time when engineering biology is increasingly recognised as a strategic technology for the UK’s future prosperity. The sector is expected to play a pivotal role in developing new routes to manufacture chemicals, materials and consumer products from renewable resources, strengthening supply-chain resilience while helping industries reduce their reliance on fossil-derived feedstocks.

“The launch of the College of Experts at the Royal Society brought together an extraordinary group of independent specialists from across the UK, spanning AI, quantum, life sciences, cyber security, and far beyond. The experts volunteer their time to support us, reflecting a real commitment from the UK’s research and innovation community to contribute to government policymaking. Seeing DSIT colleagues and world-leading academics and practitioners in the same room was a powerful reminder of what this department can achieve when it draws on the best available expertise.”

— Professor Chris Johnson, DSIT Chief Scientific Adviser and Head of the College of Experts

Engineering biology’s role in UK growth and net zero

Professor Dixon joins the College in recognition of more than two decades of leadership in engineering biology, sustainable biotechnology and industrial biomanufacturing. His research focuses on developing advanced biological systems that enable renewable and waste-derived carbon feedstocks to be transformed into valuable chemicals, materials and products, supporting the transition towards a more sustainable manufacturing economy.

His work aligns closely with the UK’s science and industrial priorities: engineering biology has been identified as a critical technology for future growth, while sustainable manufacturing, resource efficiency and net zero are central to the UK’s long-term economic resilience.

From 91ֱ�� for the UK

91ֱ�� has long been at the forefront of engineering biology and sustainable biotechnology, bringing together the scientific expertise, facilities and industry partnerships needed to turn discovery into practical solutions. As the UK looks to strengthen its industrial base, build resilience and meet its net zero commitments, engineering biology will have a significant role to play – from cleaner routes to chemicals, fuels and materials, to new ways of reducing waste and using resources more sustainably. We are pleased to be part of this national conversation and to contribute evidence, insight and innovation that can help shape a more sustainable and competitive future for UK industry.

The awards were presented during this summer’s graduation celebrations in Whitworth Hall, bringing together students, staff, alumni and civic leaders to celebrate achievement, leadership and service.

Honorary degrees are the University's highest awards, recognising individuals whose work reflects our values and creates meaningful impact locally, nationally and globally. This year's honorary graduands have made significant contributions across fields including journalism, music, higher education, business leadership, social justice and international development.

As a global-civic university, The University of Manchester is committed to advancing social responsibility, inclusive growth, equality and innovation. This year's honorary graduates exemplify those ambitions through their leadership, creativity and dedication to improving lives and communities.

Honorary graduates 2026
��

Tim Booth

Tim Booth is an acclaimed singer-songwriter, performer and author best known as the frontman of the band James. Over a career spanning more than four decades, James has sold more than 25 million records worldwide and earned recognition as one of Britain's most successful and enduring bands, receiving the Ivor Novello Legendary Award for songwriting. A former drama student in 91ֱ��, Booth has also worked as an actor and novelist. His creative work across music, literature and performance has inspired audiences around the world.

Nick Robinson

Nick Robinson is one of Britain's best-known political journalists and broadcasters. A presenter of BBC Radio 4's Today programme since 2015, he previously served as Political Editor for BBC News and ITV News. Over a distinguished career spanning several decades, he has become renowned for his political analysis and incisive interviewing. Beyond journalism, Robinson has made a significant contribution to charitable causes in the North West through his support for East Cheshire Hospice, helping to raise millions of pounds for services supporting patients, families and carers.

Michelle Cox MBE

Michelle Cox MBE is a nationally recognised healthcare leader, race equality consultant and former community nurse who has spent more than 30 years improving patient outcomes and tackling health inequalities across the NHS. Awarded an MBE in 2026 for services to nursing, she is a Queen's Nurse and Fellow of both the Queen's Institute of Community Nursing and the Royal College of Nursing. Through her consultancy work, she supports organisations to embed inclusive leadership, address systemic inequalities and strengthen workplace culture. Her influence extends internationally through nursing development initiatives in Africa and she continues to be a powerful advocate for equity in healthcare.

Dr John Cater CBE

Dr John Cater CBE is one of the most influential figures in UK higher education. As Vice-Chancellor of Edge Hill University for more than 30 years, he led its transformation into one of the country's most successful modern universities, overseeing significant academic growth and investment. A respected national voice on higher education and teacher training, he has played a leading role in shaping sector policy and governance. He was appointed CBE in 2015 in recognition of his outstanding contribution to higher education and public service.

Sarfraz Manzoor

Sarfraz Manzoor is an award-winning journalist, author, broadcaster and screenwriter whose work has explored identity, belonging and contemporary Britain for more than three decades. A graduate of The University of Manchester, he has written for leading national media organisations including the BBC, The Guardian and The Times. His memoir Greetings from Bury Park inspired the internationally acclaimed film Blinded by the Light, which he co-wrote. Through his writing and broadcasting, he has helped foster understanding across cultures and communities and is widely recognised as one of Britain's leading contemporary commentators.

H.E. Bineta Diop

H.E. Bineta Diop is a globally respected advocate for women's rights, peace and security whose work has influenced policy and practice across Africa and beyond. Founder and President of Femmes Africa Solidarité, she has spent more than four decades championing women's participation in peacebuilding, conflict prevention and leadership. A former Special Envoy of the African Union Commission on Women, Peace and Security, she has helped shape landmark agreements and frameworks promoting gender equality. Her achievements have earned international recognition, including being named among TIME magazine's 100 Most Influential People.

Sue Sanders

Sue Sanders is a pioneering educator and equality campaigner whose work has transformed LGBT+ inclusion and education in the UK. As CEO of Schools OUT UK, she has spent decades promoting inclusive curricula and challenging prejudice. In 2004, she co-founded LGBT History Month, which is now recognised nationally and internationally. She has also developed educational resources, advised government and policing bodies on hate crime and co-founded the international OUTing the Past festival. Her contribution to equality, diversity and education has been recognised through numerous national awards.

A shared commitment to impact

Together, this year's honorary graduates demonstrate the power of leadership, creativity, scholarship and service to create positive change. Their achievements reflect many of the values that underpin 91ֱ�� 2035, including social responsibility, inclusive growth, global engagement and the pursuit of knowledge for public benefit.

The ‘Ageing, inequality and urban regeneration: Collaborative research with older people living in North 91ֱ��’ report is being launched at a community celebration in Cheetham Hill next week. Findings from the research highlight the importance of major regeneration projects, like those in North 91ֱ��, being designed in collaboration with the area’s older population.

Dr Camilla Lewis, Senior Lecturer in Architectural Studies, who co-led the research explains:

As well as sharing first-person perspectives from over 40 older residents and a variety of community organisations, Ageing, inequality and urban regeneration has six overarching aims for policy makers to ensure the urban regeneration is inclusive for all ages and communities. The report will be shared widely with local and national decision-makers.

Read the full Ageing, inequality and urban regeneration: Collaborative research with older people living in North 91ֱ�� report and the executive summary .

In a new , researchers found unusually high levels of urea — a waste chemical normally flushed out in urine — in the brains of people with frontotemporal dementia�� (FTD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

The study, published in this month’s edition of the journal Molecular Omics and mainly funded by the Lee Trust in New Zealand, raises fresh questions about how the brain clears harmful substances.

Previous work by the same group had already shown this ‘toxic waste’ build-up in five other dementias, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s-related dementia, but this is the first time it has been confirmed in FTD and ALS.

Frontotemporal dementia typically affects people under 65 at a rate of around 15.1 cases per 100,000 each year, while ALS is rarer at about 2.1 new cases per 100,000, yet both conditions are incurable and often fatal.

FTD is the second most common form of early-onset dementia and affects areas of the brain linked to behaviour and personality, while ALS attacks the nerve cells that control movement, leading to progressive muscle weakness.

Despite their differences, the two diseases are closely linked, with studies suggesting up to 15 per cent of ALS patients also develop FTD and around half show some level of cognitive problems.

Scientists also know the diseases share key biological features, but exactly what drives them remains unclear and there are still no effective treatments. the first half of your story here.

Using highly sensitive lab techniques, the team measured urea levels in different parts of the brain and compared people with the diseases to those without in people who had donated their bodies to scientific research after death.

They discovered that in people with FTD, this ‘toxic waste’ was not just in the most damaged areas but spread in both damaged areas and relatively sparred areas, while in ALS it was mainly concentrated in regions controlling movement.

The scientists say the findings suggest the brain may struggle to get rid of waste properly, potentially poisoning nerve cells over time and worsening disease.

The results add to growing evidence that the same problem has already been seen in several other conditions, hinting at a shared weakness in how the brain handles waste.

“This is exciting because it suggests we might be looking at a common problem underlying several different brain diseases, rather than separate conditions with completely different causes,” said the study’s lead author from The University of Manchester.

He added: “If we can work out why this waste is building up and how to clear it, we may be able to slow or even stop these diseases, opening the door to new treatments for conditions that currently have very few options.”

• The paper Elevated urea levels in human frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis post-mortem brain tissue: evidence of a multi-dementia pathogenic mechanism is published in ,

The TEMPEST trial led by University of Manchester researchers tested the drug – called trientine - in 154 adults with the condition in a year‑long, placebo‑controlled .

The trial was funded by a partnership between the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). NIHR 91ֱ�� Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) supported the trial.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy - which affects around 1 in 500 people worldwide- causes thickening and scarring of the heart muscle.

The condition is sometimes asymptomatic, but other patients suffer from breathlessness, fatigue, chest pain and blackouts.

A small minority of people have an increased risk of developing a dangerous heart rhythm, which can lead to sudden death.

In the trial, treatment with trientine led to a reduction in heart muscle thickening. The effect was greater in patients with greater heart muscle thickening at the beginning of the trial.

It is a potentially new way of treating hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and potentially heart muscle thickening caused by other conditions.

However, the researchers say, larger studies are required to confirm how well it works and whether it improves how people feel and function.

from The University of Manchester said: “This trial suggests trientine may be a promising option for people with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

“People with more advanced disease seemed to benefit the most, but larger studies are needed to confirm this.

“There were few side effects, and the drug was generally well tolerated.”

Copper is an essential mineral involved in key processes in the heart muscle, including energy production, protection cells from damage, and controlling scarring.

When copper levels are low in cells, the heart struggles to make energy and the heart muscle can thicken. At the same time, loose copper outside cells can cause harmful stress on the cells and trigger scar tissue to form.

Trientine has been used for more than 50 years to treat a rare inherited condition that affects how the body handles copper. It improves the availability of copper within cells and binds and removes copper outside cells.

This study follows earlier research in animals showing that trientine improves the heart’s energy production, reduces harmful stress on cells and reduces heart muscle thickening and scarring.

In a previous small study in people with diabetes related heart problems, trientine led to a reduction in heart muscle thickening.

First author and PhD student, from The University of Manchester added: “These findings provide the first evidence that targeting copper could open a new chapter in treating all patients with this condition.”

The trial is part of the NIHR 91ֱ�� Biomedical Research Centre’s (BRC) , which aims to develop new ways to diagnose and treat heart disease.

Professor Danny McAuley, Scientific Director of NIHR Programmes, said:
"These promising results offer hope to patients, demonstrating how Trientine - a drug targeting copper metabolism - can treat this potentially fatal inherited heart condition.

“Once again this shows how MRC and NIHR's key partnership can drive life-changing research. Together we are addressing complex clinical challenges and translating cutting-edge ideas into evidence-based treatments as part of the government’s mission for fewer lives to be lost to the biggest killers."

• The paper Trientine for Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy: a phase 2 trial, published in European Heart Journal is published in the .

James is Professor of Human Geography in the School of Environment, Education and Development. His research explores how cities can become smarter and more sustainable through urban experimentation, helping governments and communities learn, innovate and respond to complex societal challenges.

In addition to being Associate Dean for Research, he has held a number of leadership roles across the University, including Head of the Department of Geography, Director of the 91ֱ�� Urban Institute and Academic Lead for Sustainability.

Professor Fiona Devine, Vice-President and Dean, said:

James said:

James will take up the Vice-Dean for Research role from Professor Maggie Gale, who will become the new Head of the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures in the Faculty of Humanities on 1 August.

The week-long Festival will celebrate and��showcase��the people, partnerships and ideas that are helping to shape the future through research,��enterprise��and collaboration. ��

Through hands-on workshops, live demonstrations, awards, talks and networking opportunities, attendees will have the chance to explore 91ֱ��’s vibrant and globally connected innovation ecosystem and discover how ideas are translated into real-world impact. ��

Professor Aline Miller, Associate Vice-President for Enterprise at The University of Manchester said: “Innovation happens when brilliant people, ideas and partnerships come together. The University of Manchester Innovation Festival is an opportunity to��showcase��the extraordinary innovation taking place across our��University��and to connect our researchers, students, entrepreneurs,��partners��and investors with new opportunities to collaborate. ��

“Aligned with our 91ֱ�� 2035 strategy - From 91ֱ��, for the World - the��Festival��reflects our ambition to turn world-leading ideas into real-world impact that delivers benefits for people, places and communities locally and globally." ��

Whether developing a new idea, looking for collaborators, exploring investment opportunities or simply curious about innovation, attendees will be able to connect with experts, innovators, students, funders��and partners from across the University and beyond. ��

Registration details,��speakers��and the full programme will be announced in the coming months. ��

Register your interest and sign up for updates at /collaborate/innovation-festival/��

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funded study found people who received a prompt visit or contact from community health services after discharge were far less likely to end up back in hospital within a month.

The findings offer fresh evidence that early support at home can ease pressure on overstretched hospitals while helping patients recover safely.

Community health teams can help patients manage medication, monitor symptoms, identify complications early and provide reassurance during the vulnerable period immediately after discharge.

Around one in seven NHS patients are readmitted to hospital within 30 days of discharge, are thought to be preventable.

However, the researchers say faster follow-up care at home could help tackle the problem.

Despite community health services providing millions of patient contacts each year, evidence on their impact remains limited – until now.

The study analysed records from 63,019 patients referred to 11 NHS Community Trusts in England after leaving hospital between April and December 2019.

Patients were aged 72 on average, had multiple health conditions, and represented a group at high risk of needing further hospital care.

More than half received support from community health services within one day of discharge.

A further one in five were contacted within two to seven days.

However, more than a quarter had no contact at all within the first month after leaving hospital.

The researchers compared the outcomes of the groups to see whether speed of follow-up made a difference.

Patients contacted within 24 hours had 33 per cent lower odds of attending A&E within 30 days than those who received no support.

They also had 38 per cent lower odds of being readmitted to hospital as an emergency.

Even when contact occurred between two and seven days after discharge, patients had 20 per cent lower odds of attending A&E and 22 per cent lower odds of emergency readmission compared with patients who received no follow-up care.

The research suggests the sooner support is provided, the greater the impact.

Lead author , a research fellow from The University of Manchester said: “Our findings show that the period immediately after patients leave hospital is a critical window for preventing avoidable emergency care.

“We found that people who received contact from community health services within one day of discharge were significantly less likely to attend A&E or be readmitted to hospital in the following month.

“While support delivered within a week was still associated with meaningful benefits, the greatest reductions were consistently seen when care was provided within 24 hours.

“These results highlight the important role community health teams play in supporting recovery, improving patient outcomes and reducing pressure on busy hospitals.”

She added: “Community health services are central to NHS plans to move more care out of hospitals and into people's homes.

“Faster follow-up after discharge could cut avoidable A&E visits and readmissions for thousands of patients. But delivering these benefits may require extra funding and staff to tackle longstanding workforce shortages in community care services.”

• The paper The impact of timely community health services contact following hospital discharge on subsequent hospital use in England: retrospective observational study is available here https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-026-05015-3

Since then, computer engineers have been able to rely on a simple assumption: the next generation of chips would be faster, cheaper and more powerful than the last. But as we reach the limits of conventional computing, some researchers have started asking a more fundamental question. What if the problem is not how quickly computers process information, but how they process it in the first place?

Building a brain

Biological brains are among the most energy-efficient information-processing systems known; running on about 20 watts of power – barely enough to power a dim LED light bulb – and only “spiking” when needed, they can process vast amounts of information very quickly. It is perhaps unsurprising that researchers have looked to biology for inspiration. Now, a previously niche area of research is coming to the fore; neuromorphic (literally, “brain-like”) computing is a way of designing computer systems that use technologies such as spiking neural networks, event-driven sensors and specialised low-power hardware to process information more efficiently and in ways that more closely resemble natural intelligence.

Neuro-:��derived from neuron, meaning “nerve”, “tendon”, or “cord”
-morphic:��derived from morphē, meaning “form”, “shape”, or “structure”

Spiking neural network:��a computer model inspired by how neurons in the brain communicate. Instead of processing information as a steady stream of numbers, its “neurons” send short bursts of signals – or spikes – only when needed.

With the rapid proliferation of AI (and the associated environmental challenges facing the data centres that support it), and the limitations of current computer hardware, researchers exploring neuromorphic computing believe biology may start to solve some of these problems. One of the most ambitious attempts to test that idea is .

Developed over decades by researchers led by Professor Steve Furber, SpiNNaker is the world's largest neuromorphic computing platform, incorporating more than one million ARM processors and capable of modelling spiking neural networks at the scale of a mouse brain in biological real time. It is a platform that allows researchers to study everything from neuroscience to artificial intelligence, while also helping to investigate new approaches to energy-efficient computing and brain-inspired AI.

A new thought for computing

So, while SpiNNaker was designed to explore a deceptively simple question (what happens when a computer is built to work more like a brain?), new projects emerging from 91ֱ��’s , are expanding that thought to explore how brain-inspired computing might be used in practical systems beyond the laboratory.

to analyse information directly at the sensor, allowing devices to respond without sending vast quantities of data elsewhere for processing. Another that could help monitor foetal and maternal health. Other projects point to more tangible settings: that process information as events unfold, .

The applications of neuromorphic computing are varied, and they may seem far removed from the room-sized computers of the 1950s, but they return to a familiar 91ֱ�� habit: questioning accepted assumptions and asking whether we can do things differently.

From Ferranti to the future of brain-inspired systems

So, while neuromorphic computing may still be in its nascent stages, researchers believe it offers a promising way to rethink how information is sensed, processed and interpreted and allows us to rethink the relationship between machines, memory and intelligence.

Seventy-five years ago, Alan Turing posed the question “can machines think?” and an industrial-academic collaboration saw the Ferranti Mark I transform the computer from an experimental machine into a practical technology. Today, through SpiNNaker and the International Centre for Neuromorphic Systems, 91ֱ��'s researchers are pursuing a familiar idea: that progress begins when accepted assumptions are challenged.

The study, published in and led by the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland, found that concentrations of airborne desert dust have increased across Europe over the past decade.

Researchers combined measurements from more than 100 monitoring stations across Europe with artificial intelligence to create what is believed to be the most comprehensive assessment of desert dust pollution on the continent.

The University of Manchester contributed data from the Air Quality Supersite at The Firs, which forms part of a Europe-wide network of atmospheric monitoring stations.

The study found that average desert dust concentrations are highest in southern Europe, where levels are more than twice those measured in central and northern Europe. Overall, the amount of dust increased by around 10–25% over the study period.

, Professor of Air Pollution Measurement at The University of Manchester, said: "This study demonstrates the value of the long-term and detailed monitoring of air quality across Europe. Data from The University of Manchester's Air Quality Supersite at The Firs contributed to a unique dataset that has helped researchers build a clearer picture of how desert dust pollution is changing over time.

"While air pollution from many human activities has declined in recent decades, this research highlights how natural sources of particulate matter can also affect air quality, public health and energy infrastructure. Continued monitoring will be essential to understanding these trends and their impacts in the years ahead."

Using aluminium as a chemical marker of desert dust, the researchers were able to distinguish airborne particles originating from the Sahara from other sources of particulate matter, such as transport, industry and construction activities.

The team suggests the increase is linked to growing dryness in the Sahara and changing atmospheric circulation patterns that transport dust towards Europe. The researchers say climate change may be contributing to these trends by creating drier conditions and supporting desert expansion.

Alongside environmental impacts, the study highlights potential health concerns. Previous research has linked days with elevated desert dust concentrations to increased deaths from heart and respiratory conditions. Desert dust can also reduce the efficiency of solar panels by blocking sunlight and accumulating on their surfaces.

The findings provide an important new dataset for understanding how natural sources of particulate matter are changing across Europe and how they may affect health, energy systems and air quality in the future.

outlines how partners can work more closely together to better understand local skills needs, create clearer routes into employment, and ensure learners can access the opportunities that are right for them. It has been developed alongside Greater 91ֱ��'s Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) and coincides with the United Nation’s World Youth Skills Day.

Drawing on the first combined analysis of further education, higher education and employer demand data across Greater 91ֱ��, the report provides a detailed, evidence-based picture of current and future skills needs across the city-region.

Professor John Holden, The University of Manchester’s Vice-President for Civil Engagement and Innovation said: "This report is an important step forward in developing a more connected skills system for Greater 91ֱ��. It is a fantastic example of what can be achieved when universities, colleges, employers and public sector partners work together.

“At The University of Manchester, developing the skills and talent our city region needs is central to delivering our 91ֱ�� 2035 strategy. By working with partners to strengthen pathways into learning and employment, we can play our part in creating a more inclusive and prosperous Greater 91ֱ��, ensuring that more people and businesses can benefit from the opportunities being created in our city region.

“We look forward to continuing to work with our partners across Greater 91ֱ�� to turn the report's recommendations into action."

Andy Dainty, 91ֱ�� Metropolitan University's Vice Provost and Pro-Vice Chancellor Education, who co-led the project, said: “Our new report sets out practical recommendations to help ensure that post-16 education and training provision is shaped by local demand, supports priority sectors and responds to the changing needs of employers and learners.

“At its heart, this work is about increasing options at Level 4 and 5 (advanced vocational qualifications that build specialist skills), strengthening pathways into skilled employment, and ensuring people can access learning that is right for them.

“Grounded in evidence and developed alongside the Local Skills Improvement Plan, this collaboration brings post-16 providers together around a common goal – to deliver skills provision that is rooted in local need, responsive to employer demand, and focused on improving outcomes for learners and communities.”

Julia Heap, Chair of GMColleges, said: “This report is an important step towards creating a more joined-up skills system for Greater 91ֱ��. By bringing together partners from across education, employers and the public sector, it sets out a shared approach to developing the skills our economy needs.

“GMColleges is proud to have supported this work, which recognises that collaboration is key to creating clearer pathways into skilled employment and supporting inclusive growth across the city region.”

The report’s recommendations are centred on four priorities:

1. A single, integrated data system: Creating a shared, Greater 91ֱ��-wide view of learner journeys from education into employment, to enable better planning and accountability.

2. A coordinated approach to careers and pathways: Providing a single source of truth for learners, improving understanding of both academic and technical routes and supporting informed choices.

3. Employer voice embedded throughout the system: Moving to a more systematic, region-wide approach to employer involvement in curriculum design, delivery and progression.

4. Flexible, modular pathways across institutions: Enabling learners to move between colleges and universities, build skills over time, and access short, industry-aligned learning.

The recommendations are designed to support Greater 91ֱ��'s ambitions for good growth by helping learners access opportunities in key sectors while ensuring employers can recruit and retain the talent they need.

They are closely aligned with the overarching priorities of the LSIP, ensuring that post-16 education and training provision responds effectively to local skills needs. In particular, the recommendations address employer-identified challenges around increasing employer engagement with the skills system and training uptake, and enhancing careers education, information, advice and guidance (IAG).

As set out in the report, learners currently face disjointed pathways and unclear progression routes, particularly for non-traditional Level 6 options; curriculum can struggle to keep pace with rapidly changing employer skills needs; data is inconsistent and disconnected, limiting system-wide insight; and alternative pathways at Levels 4 and 5 remain small in scale.

At the same time, analysis shows strong foundations to build on. University enrolments in priority sectors have grown 29% since 2019/20 and an average of 40% of graduates remain in city region – retaining more Greater 91ֱ�� graduates than any other region attracts. These graduates go on to secure full-time employment within 15 months of graduation.

Nicola McLeod, Director of Education, Work and Skills at Greater 91ֱ�� Combined Authority, said:��“Greater 91ֱ�� has a clear ambition: we want residents to gain the skills they need to move into good jobs, while supporting employers��to build the workforce they need to grow.��

“This report reflects��Greater 91ֱ����at its best, bringing together employers, colleges,��universities��and partners behind a shared vision for how we develop the skills, education and training our city region needs.����

“By��listening to what businesses need��and acting on the same evidence, we can align learning with��real jobs, give residents clearer routes into��good careers and ensure��even��more people��benefit��from the opportunities being created across our city region.”��

Emma Holt, President and in-coming CEO of Greater 91ֱ�� Chamber of Commerce said: “Greater 91ֱ�� Chamber of Commerce is delighted to be a partner in this important piece of work. As the Employer Representative Body for the region’s Local Skills Improvement Plan, we are acutely aware of the skills challenges businesses and employers face, and the need for continued action to solve these issues, which is fundamental to the prosperity of the city region.

“This report is another example of collaboration between key stakeholders, and, aligning with the Local Skills Improvement Plan, includes the systematic embedding of the employer voice as a core recommendation.”

The University of Manchester clinician scientists found that indoor tanning can trigger serious and sometimes debilitating skin reactions when ultraviolet (UV) radiation interacts with common medicines, foods, cosmetics and underlying health conditions.

The team are also based within the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) 91ֱ�� Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) and Northen Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust.

The review revealed cases ranging from painful blistering disorders and severe rashes to flare-ups of autoimmune diseases and allergy-like reactions occurring within minutes of UV exposure.

Some patients became so ill they required hospital treatment, specialist care and, in a small number of cases, surgery.

The researchers analysed 34 scientific studies published up to May 2025 and identified 67 documented cases of photosensitivity reactions linked to recreational sunbed use.

While sunbeds are already recognised as a cause of skin cancer, the researchers say many users remain unaware that UV exposure can also trigger unexpected reactions in susceptible individuals.

The study found that a wide range of common medications were linked to adverse reactions following sunbed use.

These included antibiotics, blood pressure medicines and painkillers, alongside creams and topical treatments applied directly to the skin.

Surprisingly, everyday foods were also implicated: compounds found naturally in celery, parsnips and lime juice were associated with painful skin reactions when handled or eaten before exposure to sunbed UV radiation.

In several cases, a visit to a tanning salon triggered the first sign that a person had an undiagnosed medical condition.

One of the most commonly reported disorders was pseudoporphyria, a blistering condition that closely resembles rare diseases caused by problems in the body's response to sunlight.

Researchers also identified cases of solar urticaria, a rare condition sometimes described as a sunlight allergy, which can cause hives and swelling within minutes of UV exposure.

The review found evidence that sunbed use may worsen symptoms in people living with systemic lupus erythematosus, or lupus, a long-term autoimmune disease known to be aggravated by ultraviolet radiation.

Young women accounted for most reported cases, although the researchers stress that anyone using a sunbed could potentially experience a photosensitivity reaction if they are vulnerable.

Professor of Dermatology and Photobiology and principal investigator said: “Most people know that sunbeds increase the risk of skin cancer, but our review shows that this is only part of the picture.

“We found evidence that UV radiation from sunbeds can trigger a surprisingly wide range of photosensitivity reactions, including severe blistering disorders, autoimmune flare-ups and reactions linked to commonly prescribed medicines. Some patients became ill enough to require hospital treatment.

“Perhaps most strikingly, sunbed exposure sometimes revealed an underlying health condition for the first time.”

Professor Rhodes, who is also lead for the Photodermatoses research programme within the NIHR 91ֱ�� BRC’s Dermatology Theme, added: “These findings underline the need for stronger public warnings and better education for both consumers and sunbed operators.

“And the public needs to be made aware of possible interactions between UV radiation and medicines, cosmetic products, foods and existing health conditions before deciding to use indoor tanning devices.

“Even a short sunbed session may be enough to provoke a serious reaction in susceptible individuals, highlighting yet another reason to think twice before seeking an artificial tan.”

• The paper Community sunbed use and photosensitivity reactions: a systematic review is published in the journal doi 10.1007/s43630-026-00928-7

The study published in investigated molten metal deposition (MMD), an additive manufacturing technology. Unlike many established metal 3D-printing techniques, MMD operates at lower and more controllable temperatures, potentially reducing energy use while making it easier to manufacture complex components. 

The researchers examined how different processing conditions influence the formation of microscopic defects and grain structures within aluminium alloy 4043, a material widely used in manufacturing and engineering applications. Their findings provide new evidence that carefully controlling the thermal conditions during printing can reduce defects and improve the final material structure. 
 

Metal additive manufacturing is attracting increasing attention because it can create complex geometries while reducing material waste. However, many existing techniques involve extremely rapid heating and cooling, which can introduce defects, residual stresses and distortions into the finished part. MMD offers a different approach by depositing aluminium that has already been melted, reducing the intensity of thermal cycling experienced during manufacture. 

To understand how the process influences material quality, the team produced aluminium alloy samples using different nozzle and substrate temperatures. They then used advanced microscopy techniques to investigate grain structure, crystallographic orientation and the distribution of microscopic pores inside the printed components. Mechanical testing was also carried out to assess performance. 

The researchers found that higher nozzle and substrate temperatures slowed cooling during printing. This led to larger grain structures and increased levels of porosity, tiny voids within the material that can affect performance. In contrast, lower processing temperatures promoted faster cooling, resulting in finer grain structures and fewer defects. 

The study also revealed that defect levels and grain size generally decreased as printing progressed through successive layers of a component. This suggests that thermal conditions evolve throughout the build process, influencing how the material solidifies over time. The team identified a strong relationship between grain size and porosity, providing valuable insight into how manufacturing parameters shape material quality. 

Despite the presence of some defects, the mechanical properties of the printed components were found to be comparable with those achieved using conventional manufacturing routes. The researchers reported hardness and elastic modulus values that fall within the expected range for aluminium alloy 4043, highlighting the practical potential of the technology. 

Dr Wu and added: “Molten metal deposition is still a relatively new manufacturing technology, and there is currently limited understanding of how processing conditions affect the final material. By establishing clear links between processing parameters, microstructure and defect formation, this work provides a foundation for optimising future manufacturing strategies and improving the reliability of aluminium components produced using MMD.” 

The researchers believe the findings will help accelerate the development of molten metal deposition for industrial applications where component quality, consistency and efficiency are critical. 

MMD has been developed by ValCUN BV, a Belgium based manufacturer focused on developing deployable and affordable metal additive manufacturing. 
 

The University of Manchester has launched a new responsible AI competition in partnership with the Jeremy Coller Foundation, offering a £100,000 equity investment to support one promising early-stage venture from its global community of students,��staff��and alumni.��

Applications are now open for the Coller AI Competition, which is designed to help innovators��develop��ventures with real-world potential��–��ensuring technology empowers rather than excludes. The competition will support solutions that use AI in ways that are fair, transparent,��sustainable��and focused on social��benefit.��The winner will��benefit��from the opportunity to work closely with��the��Jeremy��Coller Foundation team to develop their venture.��

The��initiative��forms part of the University’s��Challenge Accepted��campaign, which champions ideas with the potential to tackle major global challenges.����

Backed by 91ֱ�� alumnus and philanthropist Jeremy Coller, the��competition��brings together the University’s research strength, entrepreneurial��talent��and commitment to responsible innovation. It aims to��identify��and support founders developing AI solutions that are not only commercially��promising but��designed to��benefit��people and society.��

Finalists will��pitch��their ventures at the��University’s��Innovation Festival��in October, where the winner will be selected to receive the £100,000 investment.��

Professor Aline Miller, Associate Vice President (Enterprise)��at The University of Manchester, said:��“This is an exciting opportunity to back one early-stage venture with the support and investment needed to develop responsible AI with real-world potential.��We’re��looking for founders who want to build something purposeful,��practical��and capable of making a positive difference.”��

Jeremy Coller said, “The AI revolution is already changing and shaping our world at a dizzying speed. Used smartly and responsibly AI can be the key that unlocks solutions to some of the greatest challenges facing this planet, and the Coller AI Competition will help 91ֱ�� students, staff and alumni turn that potential into reality.”��

��is the philanthropic vehicle of private equity entrepreneur Jeremy Coller. The Foundation works to create positive impact on globally significant issues with a focus on education, entrepreneurship, pensions innovation and the transition to a more sustainable food system. By supporting ambitious ideas, the Foundation helps drive lasting change and empower the next generation of innovators and problem-solvers.��

Application timeline��– 2026��

The competition is open for applications from any students,��staff��or alumni from across the University who are working on an AI-driven business. At least one founder in each team must be within one of these categories.����

• 14^th��July – applications open
• 1^st��September – applications close
• 21^st��September – finalists notified
• 9^th��October – final pitches and award����

Find out more and apply now��–������

Join us for a week-long celebration of innovation, from Monday, 5 to Friday, 9 October 2026.

Egg donation is a lifeline for families, offering hope to women with conditions like early menopause, older mothers, and men without a female partner pursuing surrogacy.

Across Europe, around 8 per cent of fertility treatment cycles rely on donated eggs, underlining just how crucial donors are to modern family-building.

Yet behind the scenes, the research team – which is also from Cryos International and The University of Ghent - show the path to becoming an egg donor is far tougher than many realise.

In their study of 2,443 women applying to be egg donors at Cryos, a commercial US egg bank, just 2.5 per cent were accepted and went on to have their eggs frozen and banked ready for donation.

This shows that recruiting egg donors is far more challenging than it might seem, with roughly only one in 40 women making it through what the authors describe as an exceptionally thorough recruitment process.

More than half of all applicants (51 %) were rejected almost instantly for failing to meet strict enrolment criteria such as age or body mass index.

A further 26.36 % dropped out during the process, missing appointments or simply failing to respond to the clinic.

Nearly one in five (19.69 %) were later ruled out after health problems were uncovered in their family history or they failed medical screening tests.

“While there is clearly strong interest in donating eggs, only a very small proportion of applicants ultimately meet the requirements, which has important implications for the availability of donor eggs in fertility treatment,” said lead author from The University of Manchester.

“Advances in egg freezing have enabled global egg banks to emerge, allowing frozen donor eggs to be shipped worldwide.

“However, from initial eligibility checks through to detailed medical screening, the process is designed to ensure that only donors who meet very specific safety and quality standards are accepted.

“It is striking that more than half of applicants are excluded at the very first step, and that a significant number also withdraw or disengage before completing the process, presumably as they find out more about it and realise it’s not for them”.

In a previous study investigating the recruitment of sperm donors at the same sperm and egg bank during the same time-period, the team found that only 1.03% of men who initially applied to be sperm donors were finally accepted.

Interestingly whether men applying to be a sperm donor chose to be ID-release or not had an impact on his likelihood of being recruited, this was not seen in the study of egg donor applicants.

The researchers say this contrast cannot be explained by motivation, as a previous surveys at the same clinic show sperm and egg donors report remarkably similar reasons for volunteering.

Co-author Anne-Bine Skytte, Medical Director at Cryos International who ran the egg bank where the study took place commented: “Despite similar motivations between sperm and egg donors, the recruitment pathways function quite differently. Egg donation involves a surgical procedure, whereas sperm donation typically requires repeated visits over an extended period. Therefore, whilst egg donation is more medically invasive, our findings show more success in recruiting egg donors suggesting that the surgical procedures do not necessarily put women off from donating.”

“We also saw that many women became more open to becoming ID-release as they progressed through the screening, with more than half switching from anonymous to ID-release.”

The authors suggest that counselling during the recruitment process may help donors feel more comfortable with the idea of future openness and contact

• The paper An analysis of the outcome of 2,443 women applying to be donors at a commercial egg bank in the US, is published in DOI https://doi.org/10.1186/s12958-026-01578-1

On Sunday 19 July, Ben Moorhouse (43) will spend hours walking the fully exposed central track of the ancient stadium at Monte Smith, where temperatures are expected to reach 35–40°C. With no shade, relentless sunshine and intense heat radiating from the ancient stone beneath his feet, the challenge will push him to his absolute physical and emotional limits.

The stadium, once used by athletes in ancient Greece, will become the setting for a deeply personal journey of remembrance, endurance and hope.

Every one of the 260 lengths has a meaning.

The number honours the birthday of Ben and Gaynor's daughter, Kallipateira Rodothea Moorhouse, who was stillborn on 26 October 2018 at 37 weeks of pregnancy, just two weeks before her due date. Like many stillbirths, her death was preventable. The couple also suffered a miscarriage at nine weeks in May 2019.

Holding his daughter in his arms, Ben made her a promise.

"As I held Kallipateira, I promised her that I would make sure she did not die for nothing."

Eight years later, that promise continues to drive everything he does.

Since Kallipateira's death, Ben has dedicated himself to raising awareness of stillbirth, supporting bereaved families and funding research that is helping save babies' lives.

The challenge also represents hope.

In May 2020, Ben and Gaynor welcomed their rainbow baby, Apollon Alexandros Moorhouse, after receiving specialist care from Alex Heazell, Professor of Obstetrics at The University of Manchester, based at the  Maternal and Fetal Health Research Centre. professor Heazell is also  Honorary Consultant Obstetrician at Tommy's Rainbow Clinic at St Mary’s Hospital in 91ֱ��.

"Like Kallipateira, most stillbirths are preventable. These are beautiful, healthy babies who should be alive. Our son Apollon is here today because of Professor Alexander Heazell and his team's pioneering research. Without that research, he would not be here today."

The challenge itself has been carefully designed.

The relentless repetition of 260 lengths, the brutal summer heat, physical exhaustion and mental endurance symbolize both the ancient Olympic spirit of the stadium and the lifelong endurance required to live with the loss of a baby.

Overlooking the stadium stands the Temple of Apollon - a remarkable personal connection, as Ben's six-year-old son was named after the Greek god.

Ben is no stranger to extraordinary endurance challenges. In 2021, he became the only person ever to walk around the entire island of Rhodes nonstop, covering 150 miles continuously to raise awareness and funds for stillbirth research. He has since completed further history-making challenges on the island.

During this year's challenge, the 53rd length will be dedicated to Ben's close friend, Lawrence Mann, who sadly passed away earlier this year.

Ben said: "I am incredibly proud to take on this extreme challenge at the beautiful and historic Ancient Stadium of Rhodes. I hope it creates another small piece of history on the island while ensuring Kallipateira's legacy continues to save babies' lives.

The heat will be relentless. The conditions will be unforgiving. Every step will test me physically and mentally. But nothing compares to the pain of holding your dead baby in your arms. Every single one of those 260 lengths will be walked out of pure love.

"As I held Kallipateira, I promised her she would not die for nothing. On 19 July I will keep that promise once again. This challenge is for Kallipateira, for Apollon, for Lawrence, and for every family whose baby should have come home. I look forward to returning to my second home, the island of Rhodes, where I will honour my beautiful daughter."

Professor Alexander Heazell said: "Ben's determination to face the extreme heat and relentless monotony of 260 lengths in the Ancient Stadium of Rhodes is a profound testament to his endurance and his love for Kallipateira. The grueling training he has put his body through all year shows the lengths he will go to break the silence surrounding stillbirth.

“The funds raised will make a huge difference to our team's medical research. Ben's extraordinary resolve is actively helping us pioneer the science that saves babies' lives and prevents other families from the devastation of stillbirth. He carries the thoughts and gratitude of our entire team with him to Rhodes."

All funds raised will support Professor Alexander Heazell and his team in 91ֱ��, helping to reduce the number of preventable stillbirths and save babies' lives.

• All funds raised will support Professor Alexander Heazell and his team in 91ֱ��, helping to reduce the number of preventable stillbirths and save babies' lives.

Donations:

The University of Manchester hosted the launch of the new Defence Universities Alliance (DUA), a major UK-wide partnership designed to strengthen collaboration between universities, government and industry on research, innovation and skills.

The announcement was made at the University by Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry Luke Pollard MP. The Alliance brings together 35 universities from across the UK as founding members and will create a long-term framework for collaboration between higher education institutions, the Ministry of Defence, the UK Armed Forces and the Office of the Chief Scientific Adviser.

The launch event, held at the University, featured representatives from universities, industry and government. Also in attendance were researchers and students from different aspects of the defence field, and businesses which the University partners with.

The DUA aims to help universities and defence organisations work more closely together across research, innovation and workforce development, creating new opportunities for students and researchers while addressing future national security challenges. The alliance will support collaboration in areas including artificial intelligence, cyber security, robotics, aerospace engineering, behavioural science and health.

Professor Duncan Ivison, President and Vice-Chancellor of The University of Manchester, said: "The UK’s top universities have always played an important role in helping society respond to the challenges it faces. Today, that means working closely with government and industry to strengthen national security, develop new ideas and technologies, and deliver the skills needed in related industries.

"The Defence Universities Alliance will deliver a more strategic approach to the contribution higher education makes. By working more closely together, we will better align with government and industry and create more opportunities for researchers and students, for the benefit of our region and the UK as a whole."

As one of the UK's leading research-intensive universities, The University of Manchester works with organisations across a wide range of sectors, including defence and security, while maintaining its commitment to academic freedom, transparency and compliance with UK law and international obligations.

Professor Tim Dafforn, Chief Scientific Advisor, Ministry of Defence, said: “The Defence Universities Alliance represents a genuinely transformative step forward in how Defence partners with the UK’s world-leading academic sector. By bringing together our shared expertise, ambition and innovation, the Alliance will help us tackle some of the most complex challenges facing Defence at a strategic level. I am incredibly excited about the opportunities this creates. The DUA will fundamentally change the way Defence, universities and industry work together - strengthening our national security, creating strategic advantage and supporting growth to deliver better outcomes for the UK.”

Luke Pollard MP, Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry, said: “As we prepare for warfighting readiness, working with universities, students and innovators boosts skills and helps keep our country safe. The Defence Universities Alliance will create meaningful connections between students, academia and defence, boosting research, skills and defence expertise across the UK to strengthen industry. Universities play a key role in innovating and supporting defence, and the DUA helps marshal those efforts.

“In this new era of threat our £182 million defence skills package is helping to create opportunities for students, apprentices and young people, making sure our historic £298 billion defence investment is an engine for growth across the UK, and building on the more than 272,000 industry jobs supported by MOD spending.”

Research and innovation have an important role to play in addressing complex global challenges, reflecting the ambitions of the University’s 91ֱ�� 2035 strategy, helping to turn research and innovation into practical impact by strengthening partnerships with government and industry.

As well as supporting economic growth, developing new technologies and creating opportunities for students and graduates, the DUA will help strengthen links between academia, government and industry, supporting the development of the highly skilled workforce needed for the future.

Our work with defence and security organisations

• Weekly sales increased by more than 76,000 copies following the release of the first Netflix season.

• Strong sales growth occurred across both English-speaking and non-English-speaking countries.

• In Brazil and Mexico, around 99% of sales came from translated local-language editions.

• UK buyers most commonly discovered Heartstopper through its television adaptation.

• Nearly two-thirds of UK buyers were aged between 13 and 24.

• Around a quarter of purchases were gifts or purchases made for other people.

"The Netflix series did not simply amplify an existing audience,” said Dr Francesco Rampazzo, Lecturer in Social Statistics and Demography at The University of Manchester. “It brought in new readers and changed how the books travelled, from a specialist graphic-novel readership into mainstream young-adult, retail and family purchase contexts.”

A global success built through local book markets

The study found that the Heartstopper effect extended well beyond English-speaking audiences. Countries including Poland, Spain, Brazil and Mexico all experienced substantial increases in book sales following the Netflix release.

Researchers say this demonstrates the importance of local publishing, translation and retail networks in turning global streaming successes into sustained book-market demand.

"What is striking is that the same story travels across very different countries, but it does so through local infrastructures,” said Kristopher Velasco, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Princeton University. “Translation, retail channels and media visibility all matter for whether a screen adaptation turns into sustained book demand.”

More than a bestseller

The researchers also examined thousands of reader and viewer reviews to understand how audiences engaged with Heartstopper across different media.

They found that viewers discussing the Netflix series were far more likely to emphasise themes of LGBTQ+ visibility and personal recognition, while book readers more often discussed recommending, gifting and sharing the series with others.

According to the researchers, this suggests that adaptations can change not only who consumes a story, but how it is understood and discussed.

"The same story means different things in different media settings,” said Dr Rampazzo. “On screen, Heartstopper was often discussed as a moment of visibility and recognition. In book reviews and buyer data, it also appears as something to buy, recommend, gift and pass on.”

Shared across generations

The study found evidence that Heartstopper's success extended beyond its core young-adult readership.

Reader reviews frequently described parents, grandparents and other relatives buying the books for younger family members. UK consumer data also showed that gifting accounted for a significant share of purchases.

The researchers argue that this wider circulation helped establish Heartstopper as a mainstream cultural phenomenon rather than a niche publishing success.

Final chapter approaches

The findings are published shortly before two major milestones for the franchise: the release of the final Heartstopper book on 2 July, and the Netflix film adaptation on 17 July.

Researchers say the ending of the series offers a rare opportunity to examine whether audiences built through streaming platforms continue to drive demand for books.

Publication details

Turning Pages into Screens: Media Adaptation and the Reclassification of Cultural Objects can be viewed .

The workshop introduced the principles and applications of atomic force microscopy before giving students hands-on experience of the Park Systems FX40 system. Through demonstrations and sample analysis, participants explored how advanced AFM techniques can be used to investigate the physical, electronic and magnetic properties of two-dimensional materials.

AFM is a versatile characterization technique that is widely used in the study of 2D materials. With nanometre-scale precision, it is generally used to measure the topography of materials; however, advanced AFM techniques can also be employed in other interesting experiments, to study magnetic and electronic properties, for example.

The workshop began with an introduction to the fundamental working principles of AFM, explaining how it probes properties in 2D systems, followed by a hands-on demonstration of Park Systems’ new FX40 AFM system and its capabilities. The final part of the workshop involved using this instrument to characterise our samples, demonstrating the system flexibility, allowing to create specific “recipes” that can be tailored according to our experiment requirements.

With the demonstration of the FX40, we were able to understand the capabilities and unique features of this equipment. The most notable feature was the automated nature of this system, allowing for a fully automated loading and switching of AFM tips, something that many of us have spent hours performing the same task manually on the systems that are currently deployed in the labs. Eliminating the risk of dropping or breaking a tip, along with the time saved through automation, is a welcome feature, allowing us to spend more time taking the measurements we need and obtaining reliable results. 

The FX40 was also capable of seamlessly switching between magnetic, conductive or piezoelectric and several other measurement modes by simply changing the tip and swapping a few numbers of accessories on the system. This process would normally require us to take our samples to another AFM system, probably located in another lab, making the added convenience and the time savings particularly valuable besides making life easier. 

The workshop was very useful for us in our first year of our PhDs. Although we had previously been introduced to AFM, we were not fully aware of the wide range of measurement modes available. It was both interesting and exciting to consider how these AFM measurement techniques could be applied to the study of 2D materials which many of us aim to investigate in our respective experimental projects. Whether the 2D system under study is an insulator (dielectric), conductor, semiconductor, or a magnetic material, the FX40 system offers specialised modes that can probe interesting material properties. 

Most of us, came away with new ideas and directions for incorporating the AFM technique into our projects. It was also nice and valuable to have the opportunity, during the lunch break, to discuss the system and our research work with experts in the field in a friendly and informal setting. These discussions provided valuable insights and fresh perspectives on both the system and our own research. 

Thank you to Park Systems UK for the engaging demonstration and discussions and thank you to the NGI for hosting the workshop.

InformiX Pharma, C3 Biotechnologies, Precica and FLAG-Me SAFE have each reached important milestones in their commercialisation pathway, joining Grid Stability, Luteo Medical and SpinOr as University of Manchester spinouts created during the current financial year.

Working alongside academic founders throughout the commercialisation process, the Innovation Factory provides expertise in intellectual property and business strategy, business development, licensing, company formation and investment readiness, helping researchers navigate the journey from discovery to market.

The latest companies reflect the breadth of innovation emerging from The University of Manchester.

InformiX Pharma has developed specialist three-dimensional advanced imaging technology to give pharmaceutical companies un-precedented understanding into the internal structure of medicines, resulting in faster product development, improved product quality and more informed decision making.

C3 Biotechnologies is developing innovative microbial technologies that convert industrial waste streams, including carbon dioxide, into sustainable chemicals and high-value products, helping accelerate the transition to more sustainable industrial manufacturing.

Precica is helping organisations manage growing volumes of data through innovative technology that dramatically reduces storage requirements, allowing information to be searched and analysed without first unpacking it.

FLAG-Me SAFE has developed an innovative digital safeguarding platform that helps pharmacists and medical professionals identify individuals with a visual and other communication impairments earlier, supporting them with medication needs in a safe way.

, Chief Executive Officer of The University of Manchester Innovation Factory, said: “These four companies demonstrate the remarkable breadth of innovation emerging from The University of Manchester. From helping people manage their medication more safely, to enabling more sustainable manufacturing, and transforming the way organisations manage data, each has the potential to make a meaningful difference.

“Supporting researchers as they translate ideas into successful businesses, is what the Innovation Factory exists to do. We are proud to have worked alongside these talented founding teams throughout their commercialisation pathway, and we are excited to see how their innovations will benefit people, industry and communities around the world.”

Alongside company formation, the Innovation Factory continues to work with researchers across the University to identify commercial opportunities and help innovations reach the people and industries that can benefit from them.

The research throws new light on sleep  -  one of the body’s most basic needs, which can trigger problems with mood, memory, metabolism, and long‑term health when disturbed.

There is already strong laboratory evidence showing that light can shift sleep timing and alter the balance of sleep stages.

We also know that sleep resets our internal body clock each morning and helps control when we feel alert, when we feel tired, and how deeply we sleep.

But scientists have long suspected that these effects also play out in everyday life. To test this, the team collected real‑world data using a simple wearable setup.

Eighty‑nine adults wore a light sensor capable of capturing melanopic light — the type of light that most strongly affects the body clock — alongside a consumer sleep tracker. They also filled in daily sleep diaries.

The devices produced more than 500 days of data, showing:

• People who spent longer in brighter daytime light tended to fall asleep earlier and wake earlier.
• Those with steadier, less chaotic light patterns across the week also showed healthier sleep timing.
• Participants with more regular light exposure — and fewer sharp swings between dim and bright light — experienced stronger deep sleep -  vital for memory, recovery, and overall health -  during the first part of the night.

The findings echo a growing concern about modern indoor life when most people spend their days in lighting far dimmer than natural daylight and their evenings in lighting far brighter than their bodies expect.

This mismatch has been linked to chronic health problems and higher mortality risk.

The new study shows these harmful patterns can be detected in everyday life and that good light habits — bright days — are linked to better sleep even outside the lab.

The researchers also found that people’s own reports of their sleep generally matched their wearable data.

But when sleep was more disrupted — with less deep sleep or less REM sleep — the gap between how people thought they slept and what their devices recorded grew wider.

The team also found that the most stable light patterns were linked to deeper sleep concentrated in the early part of the night.

Lead author from The University of Manchester and the Izmir Institute of Technology in Turkey said: “Our findings show that brighter days and steadier light routines aren’t just nice to have — they may be fundamental for healthier sleep.

“By simply getting more consistent daylight exposure, people could meaningfully improve how they sleep at night.”

“This study highlights the power of naturalistic research, showing that everyday environments can be measured using affordable consumer devices.

“It also points to a simple public health message: brighter days may lead to better nights.

“And keeping light exposure stable — avoiding chaotic patterns of dim and bright light — could help strengthen the body’s internal rhythms.”

• The study was published in on  10/07/26 bst. It was funded by the Wellcome Trust. Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and the Izmir Institute of Technology Research University Support Fund. DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s44323-026-00087-z

Published by Child of the North and partners, the new ‘Connecting data: Intelligent and informed delivery to support every child to succeed’ report provides a clear case for a national devolved approach to connected data. 

The report reflects consensus across researchers, policymakers, public service leaders and practitioners and warns that children are being left unsupported, unseen and exposed to avoidable harm because services do not safely and lawfully share and link the information they already hold. It argues that effective data sharing, enabled by connected data infrastructure, is “literally a matter of life and death”. The report identifies a major national opportunity to strengthen public services, accelerate research and drive economic growth whilst retaining data sovereignty.

The report builds on a 91ֱ�� held earlier this year, which brought researchers from across the North of England together with policy teams and scientists from across Whitehall to discuss connected data practices and opportunities, with a particular focus on Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).

Challenges in children’s lives span health, education, social care and wider family circumstances, but services and systems continue to operate in silos. The report highlights how the disconnect makes it harder to identify vulnerability early, coordinate support, and prevent escalation.

The report highlights the urgent need for a new approach to connecting data, drawing on previous analyses conducted by Child of the North and the Children’s Commissioner: 

●      More than 2 million children in England live in families facing complex needs

●      760,000 vulnerable children were seen by children’s services but received no formal support, while another 830,000 were not even on the radar of services.

●      In 81% of serious incidents where a child died or suffered serious harm, lack of coordination between services was driven by poor information sharing, delayed responses and fragmentation.

The report highlights that poor connection between public services remains a persistent challenge. It argues that the challenge is not a lack of data, but a lack of a firm political commitment until now to use the infrastructure, mandates, governance, and delivery models that would allow data to be used safely and meaningfully across organisational boundaries.

The report sets out a clear solution and calls on the government to adopt a national “Connected ICB (Integrated Care Board)” model, using NHS infrastructure to link data across health, education, social care and other services. Crucially, this is not a single central database, but a devolved model where local systems (and communities) retain control of their data while contributing to a connected national ecosystem that enables shared learning, improved services, and stronger evidence for improving the health of children.

The report concludes that:

“The goal is not a single central database, but an interconnected ecosystem in which trusted local systems generate insight, improve services, and support research and innovation at national scale.”

The report draws on real-world examples, including Connected Bradford, which has demonstrated how linked data across health, education, social care and policing can reveal patterns of need across populations, support earlier intervention, improve coordination between services, and enable research and evaluation at scale. These examples show that connected data can be delivered safely, lawfully and with public trust when a devolved model is adopted.

The report highlights a significant opportunity for the UK. Connected data infrastructure is described as “an asset for science, innovation, and economic growth.” A national model could strengthen the UK’s position as a leader in data-driven research and public service innovation, while improving outcomes for children and families.

The report stresses the current costs of treating symptoms late rather than addressing causes early and argues that connected data for connected services safeguards the sustainability of the state, the cohesion of communities, and the path to enduring national prosperity while retaining data sovereignty.

Its ten recommendations include a national mandate for lawful data linkage, a Connected ICB programme, long-term investment, trusted governance, practical frontline information sharing, education as a full partner, and stronger accountability for shared outcomes.

The authors urge the government to move from isolated local innovation to a nationally backed, regionally delivered model for connected data. This should begin with children and families, given the cross-cutting nature of their needs. The evidence, expertise and practical examples already exist; what is now needed is the leadership, investment and mandate to scale what works. 

The report makes clear that connected data is not a technical upgrade but a foundational shift in how public services operate.

The report states:

“Connected data must be seen as core public-service infrastructure: essential if we are serious about prevention, earlier intervention, public trust and better outcomes.”

Without it, the report warns, the government will continue to respond to problems too late and with only partial visibility.

Haroon Chowdry, Chief Executive of the Centre for Young Lives, said:

“Children’s lives don’t fit neatly into the silos that services are built around. Whether it's education, healthcare or child protection, if services can’t see the full picture then children fall through the gaps, and opportunities to help them are missed. This means worse outcomes, wasted potential and sometimes devastating harm.

This report shows that the solutions already exist. Connected data can transform how we identify the needs of children and families, enabling better and earlier support - not just keeping children safe, but also delivering a better deal for children, public services and the economy.

If the next Prime Minister wants to ensure all young people can do well, they must seize this moment to break up the silos holding back public services. Now is the time to be much more ambitious about using connected data to boost life chances for all children, wherever they are growing up.”

Professor Steve Turner, President of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said:

“The shift from analogue to digital is key to helping the Westminster government achieve their ambition to raise the healthiest generation ever. By connecting data safely across health, education and other children's services, we can identify need earlier, intervene sooner and help ensure every child, regardless of where they grow up, has the opportunity to thrive.”

Dr Mike McKean, Vice President for Policy, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said:

“Far too many children growing up in our most deprived communities experience worse health and poorer life chances simply because of where they live. Whether through an increased risk of obesity, tooth decay, respiratory conditions caused by poor housing and air pollution, or delayed access to the care and support they need, these stark health inequalities are unacceptable.”

Dr Camilla Kingdon, Paediatrician and former President of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said:

“As an NHS paediatrician I have learnt that so much of children’s health and wellbeing lies beyond our health services. If we genuinely want to improve the life chances of all children in this country and put their futures onto a secure footing, it is imperative that we are able to see the whole picture – not just through one narrow lens. All the services involved in supporting our children need to be linked and we know from groups like Born in Bradford how this can be done safely and put to critically important use to help children flourish. Now is the time for action.”

Professor Mark Mon Williams, Director of the Born in Bradford Centre for Applied Education Research said:

“The UK has a remarkable opportunity to harness its data assets in an ethical way that directly benefits all children and young people and places the UK at the vanguard of the data and AI revolution sweeping the world. The Child of the North model shows how the UK can control its destiny and grow its economy by leveraging our existing assets, including the NHS, by adopting a regionally devolved approach to connecting data.”

• Connecting data: Intelligent and informed delivery to support every child to succeed, is available

Khidmat: Our Stories has been co-produced by researchers from the  at the University of Manchester and members of the Khidmat Group, a community organisation for older south Asian men. It features the first-person life stories of eight group members, alongside striking photographs of the men in their neighbourhoods in Crumpsall and Cheetham Hill taken by documentary photographer .  

Members of the Khidmat Group were joined by 70 family, friends, community organisations and academics to mark the booklet’s launch on Friday 3 July. Councillor Shaukat Ali, Lord Mayor opened the event and commended the project: 

“The booklet brings people together and creates opportunities for learning and understanding across generations and communities. Thank you to the members of the Khidmat Group. Your openness and honesty created something truly meaningful which can inspire and educate others. On behalf of the City of Manchester, I congratulate everyone who made this project a real success. It is a wonderful example of when the university and communities work together.” 

Dr Camilla Lewis is a researcher in the 91ֱ�� Urban Ageing Research Group who helped to co-produce the booklet. She explains: 

The Khidmat Group was formed in recognition of a dearth of social opportunities for older south Asian men. The group meets regularly at the Guidance Hub in Cheetham Hill and also acts as a gateway to public services, with representatives from the health, housing, education and employment sectors regularly attending sessions to provide information, guidance and support. 

Dr Mohammad Younas Perwaz, founder and chairman of Khidmat, said: “As I entered my later years, I recognised that many elderly individuals suffer from loneliness, isolation, and a lack of social engagement. Khidmat was established to address these issues and provide meaningful support and companionship. Today, the organisation continues to serve the community successfully.” 

Khidmat: Our Stories was produced with support from Healthier Futures at the University of Manchester and the Guidance Hub community organisation. It is available to . 

Researchers at The University of Manchester have developed a new computational approach to help identify two-dimensional materials that may host unusual quantum behaviour. The work, published in focuses on materials with “flat bands”, electronic states where electrons have very little kinetic energy. In these materials, interactions between electrons can become much more important, creating conditions linked to phenomena such as magnetism, unconventional superconductivity and topological electronic behaviour.  

Finding real materials with flat bands from large dataset is difficult. Conventional searches often rely on density functional theory calculations, which can reveal a material’s electronic structure but are time-consuming when applied across thousands of possible candidates. The 91ֱ�� team took a different route. They developed a physics-informed scoring system that captures two signatures of flat-band behaviour, low band dispersion and a strong peak in the density of states, then trained a model to estimate that score directly from atomic structure. 

“Flat bands are not only a feature we see in electronic calculations. They are often connected to the geometry of atoms in a material.” said Dr Xiangwen Wang, leading author of the study. “Our approach learns from that structure, which means we can search much larger materials spaces in a more targeted and interpretable way.” 

The framework was trained using known two-dimensional materials and then applied to more than 10,000 unlabelled 2D materials. Among high-scoring candidates with kagome-like structural motifs, follow-up quantum calculations confirmed flat-band behaviour with 98.2% accuracy. The study also identified several materials predicted to host fragile topological flat bands, a form of electronic topology associated with strongly correlated quantum phases. These results suggest that the method can do more than sort large datasets, it can help reveal which structural features make certain materials promising for further study. 

, Senior Research Fellow in the  at The University of Manchester, said: “The exciting part is not only that we found new candidate materials, but that the method changes how we search. Rather than calculating everything first and looking afterwards, we can now use physical intuition and structural learning to guide the search from the beginning. That makes discovery more scalable and more interpretable.” 

The approach remains computational, so experimental work will be needed to test the most promising candidates in the laboratory. However, the researchers say the same strategy could be adapted to search for other classes of quantum materials, provided the target property can be expressed as a meaningful physics-based score. By connecting physical insight with structure-based learning, the study offers a more efficient way to move from large materials databases to shortlists of candidates for detailed quantum calculations and experimental validation. 

Understanding Animal Research (UAR) has published a of the ten organisations, which includes the University of Manchester,  that carried out the highest number of animal procedures – those used in medical, veterinary, and scientific research – in Great Britain in 2025. These statistics are freely available on the organisations’ websites as part of their ongoing commitment to transparency and openness around the use of animals in research. 

This list coincides with the publication of the Home Office’s on the statistics of scientific procedures on living animals in Great Britain in 2025. 

The ten listed organisations were responsible for 1,347,667 procedures, 53% (more than half) of the 2,537,507 procedures carried out on animals for scientific research in Great Britain in 2025*. Of these 1,347,667 procedures, more than 99% were carried out on mice, fish, rats, and birds and 82% were classified as causing pain equivalent to, or less than, an injection. 

The ten organisations are listed below alongside the total number of procedures they carried out in 2025. Each organisation’s name links to its animal research webpage, which includes more detailed statistics. Case studies explaining how animal research has been used in recent medical research are also provided in the Notes to Editors section. This is the eleventh consecutive year that organisations have come together to publicise their collective statistics and examples of their research.

Sixty-nine organisations have proactively published their 2025 animal research statistics

69 organisations in the UK that have publicly shared their 2025 animal research statistics. This includes organisations that carry out or fund animal research.

All organisations are committed to the ethical framework called the ‘3Rs’ of replacement, reduction and refinement. This means avoiding or replacing the use of animals where possible, minimising the number of animals used per experiment and optimising the experience of the animals to improve animal welfare. However, as institutions expand and conduct more research, the total number of animals used can rise even if fewer animals are used per study. 

All organisations listed are signatories to the , which commits them to being more open about the use of animals in scientific, medical and veterinary research in the UK. More than 130 organisations have signed the Concordat, including UK universities, medical research charities, research funders, learned societies and commercial research organisations.

Hannah Hobson, Head of Communications and Engagement at Understanding Animal Research, said: “Animal research remains a small but vital part of the quest for new medicines, vaccines and treatments for humans and animals. Alternative methods are increasingly being phased in but, until we have sufficient reliable alternatives available, it is important that organisations that use animals in research maintain the public’s trust in them. By providing this level of information about the numbers of animals used, and the experience of those animals, as well as details of the medical breakthroughs that derive from this research, these Concordat on Openness signatories are helping the public to make up their own minds about how they feel about the use of animals in scientific research in Great Britain.”

Dr Maria Kamper, Strategic Director of the Biological Services Facility at The University of Manchester, said: “Scientific research involving animals remains a cornerstone of our ability to understand complex diseases and develop life-saving medical breakthroughs. At The University of Manchester, we recognize that the privilege of conducting this research carries a profound responsibility – not only to the animals in our care but to the public we serve. Our commitment to the Concordat on Openness is reflected in our award-winning digital platforms, where we share the reality of our work through virtual tours, detailed case studies, and transparent data. However, transparency is only possible because of our foundational 'culture of care’. By prioritizing exceptional animal husbandry, staff wellbeing, and ethical accountability, we ensure that our scientific excellence is always matched by our integrity. As we share our latest statistics, we remain dedicated to a sustainable research environment where open communication and world-class welfare standards go hand-in-hand to benefit society as a whole.”

Case study: University of Manchester Why older mice have smaller offspring – and how sex may play a role

A study by University of Manchester scientists has revealed some of the mechanisms which may explain why older mice are more likely to give birth to offspring that have not grown to their full potential in the womb.

The study in older animals showed that the placentas of male but not female offspring had increased cell damage from a biological state called oxidative stress.

Oxidative stress occurs when harmful molecules called free radicals build up faster than the body can clear them.

It is associated with a range of pregnancy complications including fetal growth restriction and preeclampsia, both of which increase the risk of stillbirth.

The study demonstrated reduced weight in both female and male fetuses in older mice, but the placental alterations were sex-specific.

The scientists are conducting further studies in mice to confirm these findings and also carrying out a parallel study to see if similar sex differentiated mechanisms exist in human placentas from mothers of advanced maternal age (AMA), defined as age 35 and over.

The study, published in the journal Reproduction also discovered placental mitochondria – the biological batteries that power cells – were working at a reduced rate in the placentas of both male and female pups but that there were more of them.

Mitochondria are a major source of free radicals. Reducing their rate of activity at the same time as increasing their numbers is a way they adapt to prevent further oxidative stress while maintaining the supply of energy needed for cells to work properly.

This could mean that the adaptation in placentas from females was more successful than in placentas from males because oxidative stress was not increased in placentas from females of older mice.

The 91ֱ�� Mark I – the brainchild of Professor F C Williams and his team – introduced several new technologies over the Baby, one of which was a magnetic drum that was used to store information, an early precursor to a hard drive. This drum was a rotating cylinder coated in a magnetisable material onto which data was written as magnetic patterns and read back by fixed recording heads as the surface of the drum rotated beneath. However, at a time when digital computing was still experimental, making this process reliable was a significant engineering challenge.

Decoding digital

The challenge lay in how digital information was recorded. Computers store data as 1s and 0s – binary code – but when long runs of the same value are written to a magnetic surface, the signal becomes constant. This creates a direct current, or DC, component, which magnetic recording systems struggle to read reliably. For the 91ֱ�� Mark I, avoiding that problem was essential: the drum depended on a signal that changed continually as data was written and read.

Williams and Thomas realised that the answer to this problem might not lie in building better hardware. Instead, they asked a different question: what if the data could be transformed into a form that the machine found easier to handle?

Instead of storing information as a simple sequence of ones and zeros, the pair developed a new way of representing the data before it was written to the drum. Every bit (a 1 or a 0) was encoded as a transition in the signal. A 1 became a change from high to low, and a 0 was a change from low to high.

The result was a signal that was designed to constantly change. That may sound like a minor technical detail, but it was an important feature for magnetic recording systems. By ensuring that the signal continually changed as data was written and read, the encoding made information easier to record and recover reliably on the Mark I's magnetic drum.

The technique became known as 91ֱ�� code.

A stellar solution

While the researchers were looking for a solution to their problem, they inadvertently gave the 91ֱ�� code another valuable property: the signal itself also carried timing information that could help electronic systems stay synchronised. Today this is known as a self-clocking signal.

That combination of reliability and simplicity helped the encoding escape its original purpose and become widely used in modern consumer electronics. Some recognisable examples included computer tapes and floppy disks, early versions of Ethernet networking, radio-frequency identification (RFID) systems, remote controls and many other communications technologies.

The same basic principles have even been used in space communications; Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, humanity's most distant spacecraft, rely on encoding techniques derived from the same fundamental idea developed in 91ֱ�� almost eight decades ago.

Why a 75-year-old invention still matters

In April 2026, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) awarded The University of Manchester its third IEEE Milestone, recognising the invention of Manchester code and its lasting impact on computing and communications.

A bronze plaque now stands on Coupland Street, joining 91ֱ��'s previous Milestone awards for the Baby – the world's first stored-program computer – and Atlas, whose novel virtual memory remains central to modern computing.

The achievement is a reminder that some of the most influential advances begin as practical engineering solutions to immediate problems. Williams and Thomas were trying to improve the operation of an experimental computer in post-war 91ֱ��. In doing so, they developed an encoding technique that continues to shape digital technologies around the world.

Words: Ben Harwood and Enna Bartlett

There were many teams individually working towards this goal: in the US a team at the University of Pennsylvania was working on the ENIAC and subsequent EDVAC systems, and here in the UK the University of Cambridge was working on EDSAC and the NPL on ACE. But one line of computers stands out in this story; the 91ֱ�� computers.

A baby is born

To understand how this story begins, we must rewind to 91ֱ�� in 1948. A team comprising Professor F C Williams, Tom Kilburn and later, Geoff Tootill, successfully proved the concept of a stored program computer with the Small-Scale Experimental Machine (SSEM) or “the Baby”. It was the first stored-program computer to use electronic random-access memory (RAM) with the Williams-Kilburn cathode ray tubes (based on earlier MIT research and eventually improved to store 64 40-bit words), and in June 1948 the Baby ran a program from information stored in electronic memory, the first time this had been achieved anywhere in the world.

But this machine only proved the hypothesis that a computer could store and execute instructions electronically from memory, it didn’t offer a meaningful or useful solution to the problem of computing large amounts of data automatically. To solve this problem, the team, expanded to include Alec Robinson, Dai Edwards and Tommy Thomas, set about redesigning the machine to provide researchers and industry with a realistic computing facility. Alan Turing, the Deputy Director of the (where he published his seminal paper Computing Machinery and Intelligence), took the lead on developing the programming systems.

In 1949 the 91ֱ�� Mark I came into being and introduced two key innovations: a magnetic drum to store data (one of the first examples of mass storage) and index registers (a way for the computer to efficiently work through the data in its store).

This prototype paved the way for, arguably, one of the biggest steps forward in practical computing; 75 years ago this summer, the Ferranti Mark I quietly helped change the course of computing history.

91ֱ�� born, 91ֱ�� made

Recognising the potential of the technology, Sir Ben Lockspier, Scientific Advisor to the Ministry of Supply, arranged for government funding to commercialise the machine. The British engineering company Ferranti partnered with The University of Manchester to turn the experimental 91ֱ�� Mark I into a production model. The result was the Ferranti Mark I, delivered to the University in February 1951 and demonstrated publicly a few months later.

The machine was not just a new piece of technology, it represented a turning point for when computing stopped being a scientific experiment and started becoming something that could be manufactured, sold and used beyond the laboratory. It is widely recognised as the world’s first commercially available general-purpose electronic computer.

Today, that achievement can seem almost inevitable. Of course, computers would become products. Of course, industry would commercialise academic research. But in 1951 none of that was guaranteed.

The Ferranti Mark I arrived at a moment when the future of computing was still uncertain. There were competing approaches to machine design, competing visions of what computers might be used for, and very few people who had ever seen one in operation. The machine helped answer a crucial question: could electronic computers move from university experiments into wider use?

The answer was yes.

From ideas to innovation

Part of what made the Ferranti Mark I significant was that it incorporated the ideas that had been developed in the previous 91ֱ�� computers and turned them into practical tools, helping shape the architecture of modern computers.

Perhaps most striking, however, was the range of problems the machine tackled. The Ferranti Mark I was used for scientific calculations, engineering projects and government work. Researchers explored everything from weather forecasting to mathematical modelling. It also helped create a new kind of expertise: programming. Mary Berners-Lee (mother to Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web) was among those who worked on the Ferranti Mark I, contributing to the practical, exacting work of turning an experimental machine into something people could use.

In many ways, the Ferranti Mark I was the first glimpse of the world that now surrounds us. It demonstrated that computers were not simply calculating machines but versatile tools capable of solving widely different problems. That idea underpins almost every digital technology we use today.

The machine itself has long since disappeared, but its legacy remains remarkably visible. 91ֱ��’s reputation as one of the birthplaces of modern computing rests not just on pioneering research, but on a rare ability to transform radical ideas into technologies that change the world. That was true when the Ferranti Mark I emerged from a collaboration between university researchers and industry in 1951. It remains true in an age of artificial intelligence, quantum computing and advanced robotics.

Seventy-five years on, the Ferranti Mark I deserves to be remembered not simply as an early computer, but as the moment computing became real. The future did not arrive in California first, nor in a gleaming corporate campus. It arrived in 91ֱ��, in a lab “with the atmosphere of a nineteenth-century inventor’s workshop”, proving that a revolutionary idea could become a practical machine and, in doing so, help to create the digital age.

Meet the researchers

Professor Sir Frederic (Freddie) Williams (R) gained an engineering degree at The University of Manchester in 1932 before undertaking his DPhil at the University of Oxford. During the war, he worked at the Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) where he met and collaborated with Professor Tom Kilburn (L), a young member of his team. When Williams was appointed the Head of Electro-technics (now the ) at the University of Manchester, TRE also seconded Tom Kilburn to Williams's team. In 1964, Kilburn went on to found the at 91ֱ��, the first computer science department in the UK.

If you would like to find out more about the Ferranti MK I, we would recommend the following books:

1. Alan Turing and his contemporaries: Building the world's first computers by Simon Lavington (Editor). 2012. Published by The British Computer Society.
2. A History of Manchester Computers by Simon Lavington. 1998. Published by The British Computer Society.
3. Early Computing in Britain: Ferranti Ltd and Government Funding 1948-1958. Simon Lavington. Published by Springer.

The image of the Williams-Kilburn tube is republished under Creative Commons Licence: Sk2k52 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Williams-tube.jpg, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6651107

MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships are among the most competitive and prestigious researcher development schemes in Europe, supporting outstanding early career researchers to pursue ambitious projects while developing their independence, mobility and long-term career prospects.

These latest awards, secured within the Faculty of Science and Engineering, span disciplines including chemistry, chemical engineering, physics and astronomy, and reflect both the exceptional calibre of the fellows and the strength of the research environments they will join at 91ֱ��.

Supporting research excellence and researcher independence

MSCA fellowships are designed to support postdoctoral researchers in establishing their own research trajectories, providing funding, training and international mobility opportunities that help accelerate their career development.

Professor Chris Hardacre, Professor of Chemical Engineering at The University of Manchester and supervisor on the PHOENIX fellowship, said:

Incoming fellows

Among the incoming fellows is Dr Silvia Escayola, who will join The University of Manchester under the MAGPIE project:

MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships awarded at 91ֱ��

The following MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships have been selected for funding and are currently progressing through Grant Agreement Preparation:

• 
  AI-powered classification of bimolecular reaction mechanisms from kinetic data
  Dr Emilie Werner, Chemistry
   
• 
  Towards Josephson effect in fractional quantum Hall systems via light–matter interaction engineering
  Dr Hadrien Vignaud, Physics and Astronomy
   
• 
  Piezo-photonic High-entropy Oxides Enabling Integrated Extraction to Polyesters
  Dr Yue Jiang, Chemical Engineering
   
• 
  Engineering new enzymatic platforms for atroposelective C–N bond formation
  Dr Martin Power, Chemistry
   
• 
  Deep Reinforcement Learning for control of wave energy converters integrated on floating offshore wind turbines
  Dr Zechuan Lin, Electrical and Electronic Engineering
   
• 
  Magnetic-exchange and aromaticity guidance for pi-system spin interaction engineering
  Dr Silvia Escayola Gordils, Chemistry

   
• 
  Deciphering hydro-mechanical coupling and multiscale response of basaltic rocks under mineral carbonation with implications for carbon storage
  Dr Manab Mukherjee, Civil Engineering and Management
   
• 
  Ionic memristors with gate control for low-power artificial synapses
  Dr Biswabhusan Dhal, Physics

Considering an MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship at 91ֱ��?

Prospective applicants and supervisors are encouraged to explore guidance and upcoming opportunities via the link below:

Fentanyl, combination opioid treatments, oxycodone and morphine are associated with higher risks compared to codeine among patients treated for non-cancer pain.

The study was funded by a National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Advanced Fellowship and supported by the NIHR 91ֱ�� Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) and the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust.

Their findings, published today in BMC Medicine come amidst concerns in recent decades over the soaring use of prescribed opioids for non‑cancer pain across North America and Europe and NHS England Medicine Optimisation targets to reduce high dose opioid prescribing and harms.

The researchers analysed electronic health records from 32,909 adult inpatients at a large hospital in Northwest England.

They evaluated when patients developed respiratory depression using electronic vital signs or were given naloxone, a life‑saving medicine used to reverse breathing suppression due to an opioid overdose.

Prescribed fentanyl was associated with more than triple the risk of respiratory depression compared with codeine.

Combinations of opioids carried nearly three times the risk of respiratory depression.

Oxycodone and morphine were linked to significantly higher risks compared to codeine.

When compared directly with morphine, fentanyl still showed almost double the risk, while combination opioids also remained substantially riskier.

Patients receiving 120 morphine milligram equivalents (MME) per day or more had double the risk of respiratory depression compared with those on less than 50 MME.

Even moderate doses — as low as 31 to 60 MME per day — were linked to a measurable increase in risk of respiratory depression.

Additionally, the combination of opioids and gabapentinoids, such as gabapentin and pregabalin, was associated with a further increased risk in respiratory depression.

Fentanyl’s high potency and rapid brain uptake help explain why it suppresses breathing more abruptly than other opioids.

Oxycodone’s role in opioid‑related deaths in North America adds further weight to concerns about its respiratory effects.

The study also found that patients with COPD faced even greater risks, with fentanyl linked to a fourfold increase in respiratory depression in this group.

These results suggest people with chronic respiratory disease may be especially vulnerable to the effects of potent opioids.

Fatal overdoses associated with opioids, up to 80 per cent of which are unintentional, are most often caused by opioid‑induced respiratory depression, where breathing slows to life‑threatening levels.

Although all potent opioids act on the same receptor system, they differ in how they affect respiratory control.

First author, Mr Carlos Raul Ramirez, a research associate at the University of Manchester, said: “As part of our study we were also able to assess for the additional risk associated with other co-administered medications, such as gabapentinoids and benzodiazepines, which may be prescribed for pain, anxiety and sleep problems.

“The use of gabapentinoids with opioids in particular was associated with an increased risk of respiratory depression.”

Senior author , NIHR Advanced Fellow and Senior Clinical Lecturer at The University of Manchester said: “Opioids remain important medicines for managing severe acute pain. Our findings show that the risks are not the same across all opioid drugs or doses.

“A key strength of our study was our ability to use detailed hospital electronic health records to accurately capture when opioids were actually administered to patients, alongside routinely collected vital signs to identify changes in breathing.

Dr Jani, who is also a researcher within the Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Diseases Theme at 91ֱ�� BRC added: “Understanding how different medicines and combinations affect respiratory safety can help clinicians and patients make more informed prescribing decisions together, as well increasing awareness of what dose thresholds require closer monitoring.”

• The paper Opioid-specific Risk of Respiratory Depression in Non-Cancer Pain: A Retrospective Cohort 91ֱ�� is available DOI https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-026-04972-z