policymaking Archives

The Leverhulme Trust: Funding for the future

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Research Outreach speaks to Anna Vignoles, Director of The Leverhulme Trust, about blue skies research and UK university funding.

‘Blue skies’ research is inherently risky as the value and indeed real-world application of research projects cannot be guaranteed. Yet, this type of curiosity-driven research plays an important role, not least in increasing public interest in science. The Leverhulme Trust, a UK-based funding body, encourages academics to research what they think are the important frontiers of their field. Research Outreach […]

Using agent-based modelling to understand social phenomena

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Professor Shigeaki Ogibayashi uses a novel agent-based modelling system to build a bottom-up modelling system to evaluate the causal mechanisms in social phenomena, such as bullying

Agent-based modelling (ABM) is used to understand the behaviour of a system and establish what governs its outcomes. Professor Shigeaki Ogibayashi, from the Chiba Institute of Technology, Japan, proposes that, if the agent-based model is constructed entirely bottom-up, it should be possible to build a model where the causal relationship emerging from the artificial society is the same as that […]

Understanding and responding to climate change: our favourite climate research from 2021

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An aerial view of sea ice in the Arctic, showing white ice at the top and a blue green sea. The article summarises six key articles relating to climate change research published by Research Outreach in 2021

Climate change solutions must reach across education, agriculture, energy production, politics and policymaking, manufacturing, travel, transport – almost every aspect of life. The six articles highlighted below demonstrate the breadth of research being undertaken by scientists globally as they work to understand the complex impacts of climate change, design new technologies and processes for a greener future, assess the financial […]