UK 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 […]

Inclusivity, diversity, and gender equality in cybersecurity

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Developing an international partnership for education and research (PER) programme for advancing women in cyber and cybersecurity.

Digital and communication technologies have revolutionised humanity; however, cyber attacks pose a constant threat that transcends national boundaries. As such, collaborative international approaches to cybersecurity are needed. Cybersecurity has traditionally been a male-dominated field. However, at Cardiff Metropolitan University in the UK, Dr Liqaa Nawaf and her colleagues have established a new, British Council-funded initiative to promote improved gender equality […]

Valuable insights into caring for women with heavy menstrual bleeding

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Professor Joe Kai and collaborators study women’s experiences of heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB) and its treatment.

Heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB) is a common problem for women, but that doesn’t make it necessarily bearable. Its symptoms can be debilitating. Significant research by Professor Joe Kai and a multi-disciplinary team at the University of Nottingham and the University of Birmingham, UK, has provided invaluable insight into treatments for HMB and the critical role of the primary care physician. […]

Sensitising science to research involving animals

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Rebekah Humphreys explores desensitisation, our emotional responses and moral feelings within the context of research involving animals.

Dr Rebekah Humphreys, senior lecturer at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, UK, and specialist in applied ethics, considers how it is possible to become desensitised to the use of animals for scientific research. Humphreys explores our emotional responses and moral feelings towards animals within the context of research. She considers those who work in animal research and the […]

Travel to Cornwall for your next holiday…then into space!

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Idyllic beaches, rugged coastal lines and quaint seaside towns make Cornwall one of the most popular tourist destinations for staycationers and globetrotters alike. Yet, it’s also set to become the home of the UK’s first ever spaceport for space travel! Virgin Orbit is soon set to launch it’s fifth mission of putting thrill-seekers and space-tech clients into space from Cornwall. […]

Cara and Researchers at Risk: Offering a lifeline to academics in danger

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Country ravaged by war – Cara helps refugee academics escape danger and persecution.

For nearly 90 years, Cara (or the Council for At-Risk Academics) has offered a lifeline to researchers and academics working in, or forced to flee from, dangerous global contexts. It works with those currently escaping persecution, those who have been forced into exile, or those who pursue their vital research in a home country ravaged by war or oppression. It […]

EngineeringUK and The Big Bang Fair: Inspiring the next generation of STEM researchers

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EngineeringUK seeks to promote engineering in all its facets. As part of this overarching mission, it runs the annual Big Bang Fair, a highly successful celebration of STEM research, aimed at 11–14 year-old students from across the UK. This year, thousands of young people gathered at the NEC in Birmingham, where they were presented with an array of installations, activities, […]

A life in literature: An interview with Professor Nicholas Royle

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Creative abstract landscape. Interview with Nicholas Royle, who is Professor of English at the University of Sussex and founding director of the Centre for Creative and Critical Thought. Since publishing his first work of criticism – Telepathy and Literature – in 1991, his creative output has been consistently varied and rewarding, blurring any firm conception of form or genre. Royle remains most widely known, perhaps, for his introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory, written with Professor Andrew Bennett. The book is a remarkably creative and ever-evolving project which appraises literature through a shifting array of lenses, prompting us to reassess what we ultimately mean by the ’literary’ as distinct from other forms of writing.

Nicholas Royle is Professor of English at the University of Sussex and founding director of the Centre for Creative and Critical Thought. Since publishing his first work of criticism – Telepathy and Literature – in 1991, his creative output has been consistently varied and rewarding, blurring any firm conception of form or genre. Royle remains most widely known, perhaps, for […]

How geometry expresses the Second Law of Thermodynamics

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A new thermodynamics approach based on a groundbreaking geometrical understanding of entropy.

Physicists have long struggled to explain how the inevitable increase in the universe’s entropy can be reconciled with the reversible laws of quantum mechanics. Now, Professor Chris Jeynes at the University of Surrey Ion Beam Centre, UK, believes he has found a solution in geometry. This new geometrical thermodynamics shows how the stability in time of structures as diverse as […]

Ladders4Action: Working for an ethical, inclusive, and collaborative research landscape

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Research Outreach interviews Ladders4Action founder, Addy Adelaine, about her research and social work in assisting other minority researchers to get research funding

Ladders4Action is a nonprofit organisation which works to radically enhance the equality and inclusivity of the UK’s research spaces. It seeks to protect and nurture marginalised voices who might otherwise feel excluded from these spaces, fostering a community of researchers from a diverse array of backgrounds. The organisation recognises that only by translating theory into meaningful action will we create […]