source: www.cam.ac.uk

A Cambridge-led coalition of UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) has selected asset manager Amundi Investment Solutions to create a cash fund that excludes companies contributing to fossil fuel expansion globally.

This is the first cash fund we know of that will avoid providing liquidity to financial institutions who continue to finance companies that are building new infrastructureAnthony Odgers

The nearly £500 million fund will make it possible for the 79 UK colleges, universities and other institutions involved in the coalition – formed by the Banking Engagement Forum based in the Dept of Land Economy at the University of Cambridge – to make short-term cash-like investments without contributing to fossil fuel expansion within capital debt markets.

“This is the first cash fund we know of that will avoid providing liquidity to financial institutions who continue to finance companies that are building new infrastructure, such as coal- and gas-fired power plants, which will lock in fossil fuel combustion for decades,” University of Cambridge Chief Financial Officer Anthony Odgers said.

The new ‘quasi-money market fund’ is part of a broader movement towards climate-conscious investing, appealing to a diverse range of investors including universities, local authorities, pension funds, insurers, and others with substantial cash to invest and committed to doing so responsibly.

The fund will filter out fossil fuel companies, utilities, banks, insurers, and other companies that contribute to fossil fuel expansion. Companies that are excluded from the list can be readmitted if they stop engaging in or facilitating fossil fuel expansion.

The HEI coalition has indicated they collectively expect to invest in the first instance close to £500 million in the product. The fund is expected to launch towards the end of 2025, with more seed investors also expected to join prior to launch.

Coalition members include the University of Oxford, London School of Economics, University of Edinburgh, University College London and 75 other leading UK institutions.

“This initiative offers a practical and credible path for aligning our financial decisions with our climate commitments and institutional values. This provides a solution to institutions that is wider than the higher education sector and which will hopefully act as a catalyst to concrete change,” Oxford Group Treasurer Sean Anderson said.

Amundi is a leading European asset manager, which manages more than €2.2 trillion of assets.

“At Amundi we are committed to the view that delivering strong stewardship as well as expert responsible investment solutions will facilitate the transition to an inclusive, low carbon economy while delivering stable, long term sustainable value for clients. This product, developed for the UK’s leading universities and higher education institutions, reflects a growing recognition among UK investors of the importance of these efforts in supporting long-term social, environmental and economic benefits,” said Jean-Jacques Barbéris Head of Institutional & Corporate Clients Division and ESG at Amundi.

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Research on a ‘portfolio approach’ to carbon removal enables firms to mix expensive tech-based solutions that inject carbon deep underground with lower-cost and currently more available nature-based options, such as forests and biochar. 

Removing more carbon now can effectively cover carbon storage risk for centuriesConor Hickey

A team of researchers, led by Cambridge University, has now formulated a method to assess whether carbon removal portfolios can help limit global warming over centuries.

The approach also distinguishes between buying credits to offset risk versus claiming net-negative emissions.

The study paves the way for nature-based carbon removal projects – such as planting new forests or restoring existing ones – to become effective climate change solutions when balanced with a portfolio of other removal techniques, according to researchers.

They say the findings, published in the journal Joule, show how nature-based and technology-based carbon storage solutions can work together through the transition to net zero, challenging the notion that only permanent tech-based “geological storage” can effectively tackle climate change.

The study’s authors point out that some carbon removal portfolios, such as California’s forest carbon offsets programme, may be severely underfunded for risks beyond the next few decades.

They call for a “buffer” of around two tonnes of stored carbon for every tonne offset in portfolios containing nature-based solutions, noting that this is “sufficient in most cases” to manage long-term risks.

However, researchers say the most high-risk portfolios that rely heavily on nature-based offsetting might need extreme buffers of nine tonnes of carbon removed for every tonne emitted. The authors caution against the use of such portfolios given the costs and uncertainties involved.

“Tech giants like Microsoft and Meta are collectively spending billions on carbon removal portfolios to offset their growing carbon footprints,” said lead author Dr Conor Hickey, Assistant Professor in Energy and Climate at Cambridge University’s Department of Land Economy.

“While companies and countries agree that increased investment in carbon removal is essential to reach net zero targets, they also want to understand whether carbon removal schemes can help stabilise global temperatures over the long term.”

“Our risk management approach offers one of the first reliable measures for portfolio managers targeting long-term temperature stabilisation,” said Hickey. “It shows that nature-based carbon storage such as tree planting has a bigger role to play than critics assume when used as part of a diversified carbon removal portfolio.”

“Durable net zero means geological net zero,” said Professor Myles Allen, a co-author on the paper and Professor of Geosystem Science at the University of Oxford. “To stabilise climate in line with Paris Agreement goals, anyone still relying on offsets must plan to shift entirely to carbon dioxide removal with geological storage by the middle of the century.”

Current market incentives favour cheaper and more available ‘biological’ projects to pull carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere and store it, such as forestry, which locks carbon in trees, or biochar, where plant materials are heated to create a charcoal-like substance that traps carbon when incorporated into soil.

However, these methods carry a higher risk of carbon re-release, such as when land use changes or wildfires increase. They are often considered only a temporary solution – the carbon is not locked away for long enough to stem rising global temperatures.

Alternative tech-based solutions like Direct Air Capture (DAC) are proving hard to grow at scale when costs remain high and the process energy-intensive. Yet the permanence of the carbon storage means this emerging technology is less vulnerable to reversal, such as through leakage. DAC can be combined with deep underground storage to lock the CO₂ away.

For the latest study, the research team have developed a new “risk management framework” to accurately calculate the additional CO₂ removal needed to keep temperatures stable over centuries for various storage portfolios.

Their analysis shows that in some cases, such as a high-risk portfolio dominated by forestry projects, the extra amount of CO₂ removal needed to make up for this risk doesn’t change much – whether the timescale is 300 or even 1,000 years.

“Removing more carbon now can effectively cover carbon storage risk for centuries, and this can be done with a mix of nature and tech, as long as the right buffers are built in,” said Hickey. 

“Portfolios can combine expensive permanent solutions like DAC with lower-cost nature-based options like planting trees – matching society’s willingness to pay while still contributing to temperature stabilisation goals.”

“Our approach enables strategic carbon storage choices based on current availability, while targeting long-term temperature stabilisation. It provides buyer flexibility while valuing lower-risk storage options, something today’s market lacks,” said Hickey.

By 2050, the UK aims to achieve net zero, with geological storage expected to play a major role in storing any ongoing CO₂ emissions. Incoming UK and EU guidance states that projects must be subject to a minimum 200-year permanence requirement. 

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Scientists make human blood in the lab — here’s how

source: www.cam.ac.uk

Researchers have found a new way to produce human blood cells in the lab that mimics the process in natural embryos. Their discovery holds potential to simulate blood disorders like leukaemia, and to produce long-lasting blood stem cells for transplants.

It was an exciting moment when the blood red colour appeared in the dish – it was visible even to the naked eye.Jitesh Neupane

University of Cambridge scientists have used human stem cells to create three-dimensional embryo-like structures that replicate certain aspects of very early human development – including the production of blood stem cells.

Human blood stem cells, also known as hematopoietic stem cells, are immature cells that can develop into any type of blood cell, including red blood cells that carry oxygen and various types of white blood cells crucial to the immune system.

The embryo-like structures, which the scientists have named ‘hematoids’, are self-organising and start producing blood after around two weeks of development in the lab – mimicking the development process in human embryos.

The structures differ from real human embryos in many ways, and cannot develop into them because they lack several embryonic tissues, as well as the supporting yolk sac and placenta needed for further development.

Hematoids hold exciting potential for a better understanding of blood formation during early human development, simulating blood disorders like leukaemia, and for producing long-lasting blood stem cells for transplants.

The human stem cells used to derive hematoids can be created from any cell in the body. This means the approach also holds great potential for personalised medicine in the future, by allowing the production of blood that is fully compatible with a patient’s own body.

Although other methods exist for generating human blood stem cells in the laboratory, these require a cocktail of extra proteins to support the stem cells’ growth and development. The new method mimics the natural developmental process, based on a self-organising human embryo-like model, where the cells’ intrinsic support environment drives the formation of blood cells and beating heart cells within the same system.

The findings are published today in the journal Cell Reports.

Dr Jitesh Neupane, a researcher at the University of Cambridge’s Gurdon Institute and first author of the study, said: “It was an exciting moment when the blood red colour appeared in the dish – it was visible even to the naked eye.”

He added, “Our new model mimics human foetal blood development in the lab. This sheds light on how blood cells naturally form during human embryogenesis, offering potential medical advances to screen drugs, study early blood and immune development, and model blood disorders like leukaemia.”

Professor Azim Surani at the University of Cambridge’s Gurdon Institute, senior author of the paper, said: “This model offers a powerful new way to study blood development in the early human embryo. Although it is still in the early stages, the ability to produce human blood cells in the lab marks a significant step towards future regenerative therapies – which use a patient’s own cells to repair and regenerate damaged tissues.”

Dr Geraldine Jowett at the University of Cambridge’s Gurdon Institute, a co-first author of the study, said: “Hematoids capture the second wave of blood development that can give rise to specialised immune cells or adaptive lymphoid cells, like T cells opening up exciting avenues for their use in modelling healthy and cancerous blood development.”

Self-organising structures

The new human embryo-like model simulates the cell changes that occur during the very early stages of human development, when our organs and blood system first begin to form.

The team observed the emergence of the three-dimensional hematoids under a microscope in the lab. By the second day, these had self-organised into three germ layers – called the ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm – the foundations of the human body plan that are crucial for shaping every organ and tissue, including blood.

By day eight, beating heart cells had formed. These cells eventually give rise to the heart in a developing human embryo.

By day thirteen, the team saw red patches of blood appearing in the hematoids. They also developed a method which demonstrated that blood stem cells in hematoids can differentiate into various blood cell types, including specialised immune cells, such as T-cells.

Shining a light on early human development

Stem cell-derived embryo models are crucial for advancing our knowledge of early human development.

The blood cells in hematoids develop to a stage that roughly corresponds to week four to five of human embryonic development. This very early stage of life cannot be directly observed in a real human embryo because it has implanted in the mother’s womb by this time.

There are clear regulations governing stem cell-based models of human embryos, and all research modelling human embryo development must be approved by ethics committees before proceeding. This study received the necessary approvals, and the resulting paper has been peer reviewed.

The scientists have patented this work through Cambridge Enterprise, the innovation arm of the University of Cambridge, which helps researchers translate their work into a globally leading economic and social impact.

The research was funded primarily by Wellcome.

Reference: Neupane, J. et al: ‘A post-implantation model of human embryo development includes a definitive hematopoietic niche.’ Cell Reports, October 2025. DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2025.116373

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Plans will deliver thousands of new homes, green spaces, and community facilities for Cambridge.

Eddington is already a place where people live, learn, and connect, and with the future phases it will continue to grow into one of the most sustainable and vibrant neighbourhoods in Cambridge.Matt Johnson, Head of Development for North West Cambridge

The University of Cambridge has submitted its planning application for a revised masterplan for the future phases of the Eddington development, with delivery targeted to begin in 2026.

The outline planning application – a purposeful extension of Eddington’s first phase which began work in 2013 – marks a major step forward in realising the vision for North West Cambridge, and delivering more much-needed homes for the city. The proposals build on years of planning and three rounds of public consultation over the past 12 months. Feedback from local communities, residents, and stakeholders has been integral in shaping the vision for the future phases of Eddington.

The masterplan sets out how around 3,800 additional homes will be delivered, alongside new green spaces, community facilities, and active travel routes. Combined with the 1,850 homes already built or under construction in the first phase, Eddington will provide around 5,650 homes in total. Up to 50% of these will be affordable homes for University key workers with the rest on the open market – all of which help address the city’s critical shortage of housing.

Other key features of the submitted masterplan include:

• Around 50 hectares of open space, including parks, play areas, and community gardens.
• A diverse mix of homes, ranging from townhouses and maisonettes to apartments, designed with varied roofscapes and heights that complement the existing neighbourhood.
• Enhanced community facilities, including new sports pitches, growing plots, and spaces for recreation such as running routes and BMX tracks.
• Continued prioritisation of active and sustainable travel, building on Eddington’s current record of 79% of trips made by walking, cycling, or public transport.
• Commercial and social spaces designed to foster a thriving, inclusive neighbourhood.

The revised masterplan also reflects the University’s commitment to creating an ambitious, enduring, and sustainable community that supports both the academic mission of the University and the wider needs of Cambridge. The first phase of the development has already delivered community hub Storey’s Field Centre, the University of Cambridge Primary School and a central square with shops, restaurants and more.

Matt Johnson, Head of Development for North West Cambridge at the University of Cambridge, said: “This is an important milestone for Eddington. Submitting the masterplan reflects years of engagement with the community, and we’re proud of the balanced and ambitious proposals we have put forward. Eddington is already a place where people live, learn, and connect, and with the future phases it will continue to grow into one of the most sustainable and vibrant neighbourhoods in Cambridge.”

Eddington represents one of the most significant development projects in the region, offering solutions to Cambridge’s acute housing challenges while creating a neighbourhood with global ambitions. By providing high-quality and affordable homes for University staff and postgraduate students, the masterplan will help the University continue to attract and retain world-leading researchers, academics, and innovators. This is vital to sustain Cambridge’s position as a global centre of excellence.

Indeed, a survey conducted by the University found that 89% of all respondents said it was either difficult or impossible to find a suitable home when they moved to Cambridge.

Beyond supporting the University’s mission, the plans will also strengthen the wider Cambridge ecosystem by enabling innovation, investment, and job creation to flourish, while ensuring the city remains a magnet for talent from around the world.

The updated masterplan builds on the original 2013 consent, refreshing and refining the vision to reflect the University’s current needs, community feedback, and the city’s increased demand for housing.

The outline planning application will now be considered by the Joint Development Management Committee which comprises members appointed by the City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council. We look forward to working towards a positive outcome with local planning authorities and hope to move into delivering the future phases by the end of 2026.

A programme of public information sessions explaining the details of the planning application will be confirmed shortly.

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The UK Government’s pledge to build 1.5 million homes can lead to local resilience, social cohesion and wellbeing but only if the planning process embraces faith and belief communities as full partners

Treating faith and belief as partners in planning can accelerate social cohesion from day oneIona Hine

Researchers from the Cambridge Interfaith Research Forum and Goldsmiths University of London have issued an urgent call to rethink how faith and belief are understood and mobilised in planning new towns and settlements.

Their report, ‘Housing with values: faith and belief perspectives on housing and community planning’, presents the findings from a Faith & Belief Policy Collective study, produced in light of the UK Government’s ambitious pledge to build 1.5 million new homes.

The researchers’ analysis is based on interviews with practitioners and professionals including architects, housing developers, journalists, lawyers, activists, ordained ministers, policy makers and researchers, social historians, and scholars of religion. The report offers guiding principles for inclusive planning and proposes fuller civil–public collaboration to establish and disseminate good practice.

It follows the publication of the New Towns Taskforce (NTT)’s own recommendations to government in September 2025 which advised that plans for social infrastructure should include “faith-based spaces to enrich communities and open up opportunities for personal development” and that faith organisations should be involved in “community engagement strategy”.

The new report’s authors welcome this but warn that current planning systems in Britain have not yet embraced faith and belief communities as full partners in building thriving communities.

Co-author Dr Iona Hine from Cambridge’s Faculty of Divinity, said: “Developers, agencies, and other planning professionals recognise the effort required to form healthy communities and ensure everyone lives well. Our hope is they’re open to thinking about that challenge in dialogue with people of all flavours of faith and belief.”

The report warns that flourishing communities are undermined by a wide range of factors including: short-term developer models that prioritise profit over social infrastructure; tokenistic consultation; segregated housing patterns that entrench inequality and risk alienation; secular bias and low faith literacy among planners and developers; and intergenerational imbalance in new towns.

The report’s key recommendation is for a ‘New Towns Faith Taskforce’ to be established to advance the conversation about how best to harness the vision, resources, and overall contribution of faith and belief communities to the delivery of New Towns.

Its authors call for the early provision of schools, health centres, cultural, sporting and faith-based facilities; long-term, co-design consultation that builds trust and ownership; and integration with natural landscapes and local heritage, deepening attachment to place, among a range of other practical recommendations.

The report argues that faith and belief communities offer trusted networks, convening power, insider knowledge, volunteer capacity, inter-generational reach, as well as financial and spiritual capital, and cultural contributions.

Dr Hine and her colleagues point to modern international examples such as Singapore’s proactive planning for religious diversity, but also to model communities in Britain such as Bournville and Ebenezer Howard’s Garden City movement (Letchworth, Welwyn Garden City, Wythenshawe, etc), that paved the way, in their design and ethos, for the 32 postwar New Towns which are currently home to 2.8 million people across the UK.

Lead author Christopher Baker, Professor of Religion, Belief and Public Life at Goldsmiths, University of London said: “As we embark on this next chapter of New Town building in England, it is vital to understand the contribution that faith and belief bring to the sustaining of new communities, through their vision, experience, resources and local leadership.”

Dr Hine said: “This is pivotal moment for housing supply and community formation in Britain. Treating faith and belief as partners in planning can accelerate social cohesion from day one, reduce loneliness and social isolation, and provide governance and voluntary capacity that complements statutory services. Ignoring these dimensions risks creating settlements that are physically complete but socially fragile.”

Dr Iona Hine manages the Cambridge Interfaith Programme and cross-sector Knowledge Hub. She is a member of the Faith & Belief Policy Collective and convenor of Cambridge Interfaith Research Forum.

‘Housing with values’ is available from the Cambridge Interfaith Programme website from Tuesday 14th October 2025 and the Religion Media Centre is hosting an online briefing for journalists at midday.

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Scientists have identified an unusual type of brain cell that may play a vital role in progressive multiple sclerosis (MS), likely contributing to the persistent inflammation characteristic of the disease.

Progressive MS is a truly devastating condition, and effective treatments remain elusiveStefano Pluchino

The discovery, reported today in Neuron, is a significant step towards understanding the complex mechanisms that drive the disease and provides a promising new avenue for research into more effective therapies for this debilitating condition.

MS is a chronic disease in which the immune system mistakenly attacks the brain and spinal cord, disrupting communication between the brain and the body. While many individuals initially experience relapses and remissions, a significant proportion transition to progressive MS, a phase marked by a steady decline in neurological function with limited treatment options.

To model what is happening in the disease, researchers at the University of Cambridge, UK, and National Institute on Aging, US, took skin cells from patients with progressive MS and reprogrammed them into induced neural stem cells (iNSCs), an immature type of cell capable of dividing and differentiating into various types of brain cells.

Using this ‘disease in a dish’ approach, the team observed that a subset of the cultured brain cells was somehow reverting to an earlier developmental stage, transforming into an unusual cell type known as radial glia-like (RG-like) cells. Notably, these cells were highly specific and appeared approximately six times more frequently in iNSC lines derived from individuals with progressive MS compared to controls. As a result, they were designated as disease-associated RG-like cells (DARGs).

These DARGs exhibit characteristic features of radial glia—specialized cells that serve as scaffolding during brain development and possess the capacity to differentiate into various neural cell types. Essentially, they function both as structural support and as fundamental building blocks, making them critical for proper brain development. Unexpectedly, DARGs not only revert to an ‘infant’ state but also display hallmark features of premature aging, or senescence.

These newly identified DARGs possess a distinctive epigenetic profile—patterns of chemical modifications that regulate gene activity—although the factors influencing this epigenetic landscape remain unclear. These modifications contribute to an exaggerated response to interferons, the immune system’s ‘alarm signals,’ which may help explain the high levels of inflammation observed in MS.

Professor Stefano Pluchino from the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Cambridge, joint senior author, said: “Progressive MS is a truly devastating condition, and effective treatments remain elusive. Our research has revealed a previously unappreciated cellular mechanism that appears central to the chronic inflammation and neurodegeneration driving the progressive phase of the disease.

“Essentially, what we’ve discovered are glial cells that don’t just malfunction – they actively spread damage. They release inflammatory signals that push nearby brain cells to age prematurely, fuelling a toxic environment that accelerates neurodegeneration.”

The team validated their findings by cross-referencing with human data from individuals with progressive MS. By analysing gene expression patterns at the single-cell level—including new data exploring the spatial context of RNA within post-mortem MS brain tissue—they confirmed that DARGs are specifically localised within chronically active lesions, the regions of the brain that sustain the most significant damage. Importantly, DARGs were found near inflammatory immune cells, supporting their role in orchestrating the damaging inflammatory environment characteristic of progressive MS.

By isolating and studying these disease-driving cells in vitro, the researchers aim to explore their complex interactions with other brain cell types, such as neurons and immune cells. This approach will help to explain the cellular crosstalk that contributes to disease progression in progressive MS, providing deeper insights into underlying pathogenic mechanisms.

Dr Alexandra Nicaise, co-lead author of the study from the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at Cambridge, added: “We’re now working to explore the molecular machinery behind DARGs, and test potential treatments. Our goal is to develop therapies that either correct DARG dysfunction or eliminate them entirely.

“If we’re successful, this could lead to the first truly disease-modifying therapies for progressive MS, offering hope to thousands living with this debilitating condition.”

To date, DARGs have only ever been seen in a handful of diseases, such as glioblastoma and cerebral cavernomas, clusters of abnormal blood vessels. However, this may be because scientists have until now lacked the tools to find them. Professor Pluchino and colleagues believe their approach is likely to reveal that DARGs play an important role in other forms of neurodegeneration.

This work received funding from the Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust, the National MS Society, FISM – Fondazione Italiana Sclerosi Multipla, the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS), the National Institute on Aging, the UK Dementia Research Institute, the Austrian Science Fund FWF, the UK MS Society Centre of Excellence, the Bascule Charitable Trust, and the Ferblanc Foundation, with support from the National Institute for Health and Care Research Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre.

Reference

Park, B, Nicaise AM & Tsitsipatis D et al. Integrated Multi-Omics Reveals Disease-Associated Radial Glia-like Cells with Epigenetically Dysregulated Interferon Response in Progressive Multiple Sclerosis. Neuron; 10 Oct 2025; DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2025.09.022

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Researchers have demonstrated a new and sustainable way to make the chemicals that are the basis of thousands of products – from plastics to cosmetics – we use every day.

Hundreds of thousands of chemicals are manufactured by the chemical industry, which transforms raw materials – usually fossil fuels – into useful end products. Due to its size and its use of fossil fuel feedstocks, the chemical industry is responsible for roughly 6% of global carbon emissions.

But researchers, led by the University of Cambridge, are developing new methods that could one day lead to the ‘de-fossilisation’ of this important sector.

They have developed a hybrid device that combines light-harvesting organic polymers with bacterial enzymes to convert sunlight, water and carbon dioxide into formate, a fuel that can drive further chemical transformations.

Their ‘semi-artificial leaf’ mimics photosynthesis: the process plants use to convert sunlight into energy, and does not require any external power source. Unlike earlier prototypes, which often relied on toxic or unstable light absorbers, the new biohybrid design avoids toxic semiconductors, lasts longer, and can run without additional chemicals that previously hindered efficiency.

In tests, the researchers used sunlight to convert carbon dioxide into formate and then used it directly in a ‘domino’ chemical reaction to produce an important type of compound used in pharmaceuticals, with high yield and purity.

Their results, reported in the journal Joule, mark the first time that organic semiconductors have been used as the light-harvesting component in this type of biohybrid device, opening the door to a new family of sustainable artificial leaves.

The chemical industry is central to the world economy, producing products from pharmaceuticals and fertilisers, to plastics, paints, electronics, cleaning products, and toiletries.

“If we’re going to build a circular, sustainable economy, the chemical industry is a big, complex problem that we must address,” said Professor Erwin Reisner from Cambridge’s Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, who led the research. “We’ve got to come up with ways to de-fossilise this important sector, which produces so many important products we all need. It’s a huge opportunity if we can get it right.”

Reisner’s research group specialises in the development of artificial leaves, which turn sunlight into carbon-based fuels and chemicals without relying on fossil fuels. But many of their earlier designs depend on synthetic catalysts or inorganic semiconductors, which either degrade quickly, waste much of the solar spectrum, or contain toxic elements such as lead.

“If we can remove the toxic components and start using organic elements, we end up with a clean chemical reaction and a single end product, without any unwanted side reactions,” said co-first author Dr Celine Yeung, who completed the research as part of her PhD work in Reisner’s lab. “This device combines the best of both worlds – organic semiconductors are tuneable and non-toxic, while biocatalysts are highly selective and efficient.”

The new device integrates organic semiconductors with enzymes from sulphate-reducing bacteria, splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen or converting carbon dioxide into formate.

The researchers have also addressed a long-standing challenge: most systems require chemical additives, known as buffers, to keep the enzymes running. These can break down quickly and limit stability. By embedding a helper enzyme, carbonic anhydrase, into a porous titania structure, the researchers enabled the system to work in a simple bicarbonate solution — similar to sparkling water — without unsustainable additives.

“It’s like a big puzzle,” said co-first author Dr Yongpeng Liu, a postdoctoral researcher in Reisner’s lab. “We have all these different components that we’ve been trying to bring together for a single purpose. It took us a long time to figure out how this specific enzyme is immobilised on an electrode, but we’re now starting to see the fruits from these efforts.”

“By really studying how the enzyme works, we were able to precisely design the materials that make up the different layers of our sandwich-like device,” said Yeung. “This design made the parts work together more effectively, from the tiny nanoscale up to the full artificial leaf.”

Tests showed the artificial leaf produced high currents and achieved near-perfect efficiency in directing electrons into fuel-making reactions. The device successfully ran for over 24 hours: more than twice as long as previous designs.

The researchers are hoping to further develop their designs to extend the lifespan of the device and adapt it so it can produce different types of chemical products.

“We’ve shown it’s possible to create solar-powered devices that are not only efficient and durable but also free from toxic or unsustainable components,” said Reisner. “This could be a fundamental platform for producing green fuels and chemicals in future – it’s a real opportunity to do some exciting and important chemistry.”

The research was supported in part by the Singapore Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), the European Research Council, the Swiss National Science Foundation, the Royal Academy of Engineering, and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Erwin Reisner is a Fellow of St John’s College, Cambridge. Celine Yeung is a Member of Downing College, Cambridge.
 

Reference:
Celine Wing See Yeung et al. ‘Semi-artificial leaf interfacing organic semiconductors and enzymes for solar chemical synthesis.’ Joule (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.joule.2025.102165

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Four cutting-edge University of Cambridge research projects are to receive funding from UKRI to grow into market-leading products and services.

A total of 48 projects from across the UK are receiving funding from a new £9 million proof of concept programme to support and accelerate the development of new or improved technologies, products, processes and services. The aim of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) fund is to use research to drive growth and create the jobs of tomorrow.

The four Cambridge projects receiving funding exemplify the University’s commitment to translating world-class research into practical solutions that address global challenges in health, sustainability, and inclusion. 

CamBoom: championing inclusion in cricket with engineered bamboo bats

Pioneered by Dr Darshil Shah, Associate Professor in Materials Science and Design in the Department of Architecture, this innovation aims to achieve an inclusive and sustainable future for cricket by developing low-cost bamboo bats, meeting the needs of millions of players in low and middle-income countries. 

AI-based coronary artery analysis

Professor Martin Bennett, British Heart Foundation Chair of Cardiovascular Sciences in the Department of Medicine, is using AI to advance medical diagnostics, improving the accuracy and efficiency of coronary artery analysis. 

Pre-clinical development of orally-administered, ultra-stable antibody mimetics

This initiative, led by Professor Mark Howarth and Dr Ana Rossi at the Department of Pharmacology, focuses on new treatments for gastrointestinal conditions, using innovative antibody mimetics that can be administered orally. 

Sustainable film packaging from plant waste

Professors James Elliott, Ruth Cameron and Serena Best from the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy have developed a new way of creating sustainable cellulose-based films at scale from waste plant material, with a range of applications from food and personal care packaging to anti-static discharge bags.  

Professor John Aston, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research at the University of Cambridge, said: “Turning Cambridge research into innovations that will change people’s lives is at the heart of our mission. That four Cambridge projects have received UKRI proof of concept funding is a tribute both to the excellence of our researchers and to the support provided by our innovation arm, Cambridge Enterprise, in helping to translate their new ideas into effective solutions to global challenges.”

Dr Jim Glasheen, Chief Executive of Cambridge Enterprise, added: “The strength of Cambridge research lies not only in its scientific excellence but in our ability to translate discoveries into real-world impact. These projects are a great example of this strength, and showcase the University’s leadership in research translation and innovation. Funding of this kind is vital for nurturing breakthrough ideas and delivering lasting impact.”

UKRI proof of concept funding

This funding provides critical early-stage support to projects, helping researchers and innovators bridge the gap before attracting private investment, reducing the risks associated with premature market entry.

Of the 48 projects receiving funding, Professor Charlotte Deane, UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) Research Commercialisation Executive Champion, said: “These projects are a powerful demonstration of the UK’s talent for turning cutting-edge research into real-world solutions. UKRI’s new proof of concept programme is all about helping researchers take that critical next step toward commercialisation, ensuring that bold ideas are not just published but put into practice where they can deliver tangible impact.”

Adapted from a Cambridge Enterprise news story

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University maths schools are driving mobility and success in mathematics across England, a new report has found.

The University of Cambridge is delighted to continue supporting the School in its mission to help young people from all backgrounds develop a lasting passion and confidence in mathematics.Rajen Shah, Professor of Statistics

Independent analysis by the Observatory for Mathematical Education (OME) found that the specialist sixth forms are not only boosting attainment and progression, but also significantly widening participation in STEM.

Cambridge Maths School was opened in September 2023 by the Eastern Learning Alliance (ELA) – a multi-academy trust with schools across Cambridgeshire and East Anglia – in collaboration with the University of Cambridge. In August this year, it celebrated its first students’ A-level results, with more than half of the grades (53%) awarded at A*.

According to the new OME report – looking at the impact of maths schools across the country, 10 years after the first centres opened – female students, those from under-represented ethnic groups, and those from low socio-economic backgrounds all progress at higher rates to mathematically intensive STEM degrees than comparable peers elsewhere. Maths school students are also more likely to achieve the highest grades in A-level mathematics and further mathematics, and progress to the UK’s most selective STEM universities, including Oxbridge, at significantly higher rates than their matched peers.

The first maths schools launched in 2014 with the principal aim of helping prepare more of the country’s most mathematically able students to succeed in maths disciplines at top universities, and address the UK’s skills shortage in STEM subjects. There are now 11 maths schools in the University Maths School Network. Nine are open, with two more planned – in the North East (Durham University) and East Midlands (University of Nottingham) – both currently awaiting government approval. If confirmed, every region of England will have at least one maths school.

Clare Hargraves, Headteacher at Cambridge Maths School, said: “At Cambridge Maths School, we see every day how transformative a deep mathematical education can be. This report confirms what we witness in our classrooms: that with the right support, young people from all backgrounds can thrive, excel, and shape the future through mathematics.”

Rajen Shah, Professor of Statistics at the University of Cambridge, and a governor at Cambridge Maths School, said: “A mathematical education can really flourish when curiosity and collaboration are at the heart of learning. The Cambridge Maths School offers exactly that environment, and the exceptional outcomes achieved by its students show what is possible when talent is nurtured in this way. The University of Cambridge is delighted to continue supporting the school in its mission to help young people from all backgrounds develop a lasting passion and confidence in mathematics.”

Lucy Scott, CEO of the Eastern Learning Alliance said: “We are delighted to see such strong evidence that University Maths Schools are delivering on their shared promise: opening up access to mathematics at the highest level for all young people, regardless of their background. It’s particularly encouraging to see the impact for groups traditionally under-represented in the subject. This is what the Cambridge Maths School was created to do, and I’d like to extend my heartfelt thanks to all our staff who work tirelessly every day to ensure that vision becomes a reality.”

Dan Abramson, CEO of the University Maths Schools Network, said: “University Maths Schools give students with a spark for maths the chance to thrive, whatever their background. Ten years on from their establishment, this study proves that the schools are fulfilling their mission to be engines of social mobility and nurture a new generation of mathematical scientists.”

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The University has been selected as the lead delivery partner for the British Academy’s new East of England Early Career Researcher Network (ECRN) cluster. Cambridge will work closely with the other delivery partners, Anglia Ruskin University and the University of East Anglia, to support early career researchers in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences across the region.

Early career researchers are the architects of some of the most innovative and dynamic projectsJoanna Page

The Academy is completing the national rollout of its ECRN, a researcher-led network for UK-based researchers in Humanities and Social Sciences, as a new cluster is launched to serve the East of England.

At Cambridge, the ECRN will be based at CRASSH (the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities) and also supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Facilitation Team and the Postdoc Academy.

“Early career researchers are the architects of some of the most innovative and dynamic projects, events, and networks we host at CRASSH, and we are delighted to be able to extend our work with them in this way,” said Professor Joanna Page, Director of CRASSH and academic lead for the East of England Cluster.

“The British Academy ECRN will provide a wonderful opportunity for researchers across the region to connect with each other and benefit from a rich programme of research and professional development.”

ECRN members benefit from mentoring schemes, training, networking events, grant-writing retreats, academic book-publishing conferences, travel grants to attend network events and conferences, and seed-funding opportunities.

“The University of Cambridge has a longstanding commitment to supporting early career researchers, and we are honoured to play a part in this excellent initiative,” said Professor John Aston, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of Cambridge.

“The British Academy Early Career Researcher Network also helps us to achieve our aims to strengthen ties with academic leaders and communities across the East of England region, helping further the exciting research taking place in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.”

Daniela Dora, ECR assembly representative for the University of Cambridge School of Arts and Humanities, said: “It is exciting to see the British Academy ECR Network launch in the East of England. The network offers not only new opportunities to share ideas and experiences across disciplines but also provides a supportive community for researchers. For early career researchers, this comes at a crucial stage where collaboration and connection matter most.”

The launch event for the East of England cluster of the ECRN will take place on 24 November 2025 in Cambridge, and ECRs from across the region will be invited to take part.

Funded by the Wolfson Foundation, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and Wellcome, the ECRN launched in 2021 as a pilot programme and has since been extended to 2027 due to its success.

Find out more and sign up to the ECRN with the British Academy.

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The University of Cambridge is supporting a new initiative to raise educational aspirations across the South West. Led by the Colyton Foundation, Your Future Story is a ten-year programme designed to support 1,000 high-attaining pupils from under-resourced backgrounds across Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and Dorset to remain on the pathway to higher education.

This joined up approach is rare and extremely powerfulTom Levinson

Fewer young people from the South West progress to university than in any other English region – and the region has some of the poorest outcomes for pupils in receipt of free school meals. On 11 September, at the University of Exeter, more than 100 delegates gathered for the inaugural Your Future Story conference. The conference brought together representatives from more than 30 secondary schools, multi-academy trusts, and senior leaders from universities, local authorities, employers and national charities – all of them keen to ensure that background is never a barrier to high attainment or opportunity.

“There was a wonderful energy in the room,” said Nick Wakeling, Director of the Colyton Foundation. “A shared sense of belief and commitment to ensuring that young people in the South West have equitable access to opportunity. That’s how lasting change happens. Now the real work begins.”

In addition to providing funding, the University of Cambridge and Downing College will welcome visits from students in the region and offer online support through colleges with existing links to the South West.

Tom Levinson, Head of Widening Participation, said: “This is a genuine collaboration between schools, trusts, charities, local authorities, universities and employers. This joined-up approach is rare and extremely powerful.”

Earlier in the year, Cambridge’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Deborah Prentice, led a delegation to the South West and visited Colyton Grammar School to hear first hand about the barriers preventing students from the area applying to leading universities.

The first cohort of 100 pupils will begin the programme this term. New cohorts will join annually until the programme reaches 1,000 pupils across the region.

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The Artificial Intelligence chatbot, ChatGPT, appeared to improvise ideas and make mistakes like a student in a study that rebooted a 2,400-year-old mathematical challenge.

Unlike proofs found in reputable textbooks, students cannot assume that Chat GPT’s proofs are validAndreas Stylianides

The experiment, by two education researchers, asked the chatbot to solve a version of the “doubling the square” problem – a lesson described by Plato in about 385 BCE and, the paper suggests, “perhaps the earliest documented experiment in mathematics education”. The puzzle sparked centuries of debate about whether knowledge is latent within us, waiting to be ‘retrieved’, or something that we ‘generate’ through lived experience and encounters.

The new study explored a similar question about ChatGPT’s mathematical ‘knowledge’ – as that can be perceived by its users. The researchers wanted to know whether it would solve Plato’s problem using knowledge it already ‘held’, or by adaptively developing its own solutions.

Plato describes Socrates teaching an uneducated boy how to double the area of a square. At first, the boy mistakenly suggests doubling the length of each side, but Socrates eventually leads him to understand that the new square’s sides should be the same length as the diagonal of the original.

The researchers put this problem to ChatGPT-4, at first imitating Socrates’ questions, and then deliberately introducing errors, queries and new variants of the problem.

Like other Large Language Models (LLMs), ChatGPT is trained on vast collections of text and generates responses by predicting sequences of words learned during its training. The researchers expected it to handle their Ancient Greek maths challenge by regurgitating its pre-existing ‘knowledge’ of Socrates’ famous solution. Instead, however, it seemed to improvise its approach and, at one point, also made a distinctly human-like error.

The study was conducted by Dr Nadav Marco, a visiting scholar at the University of Cambridge, and Andreas Stylianides, Professor of Mathematics Education at Cambridge. Marco is permanently based at the Hebrew University and David Yellin College of Education, Jerusalem.

While they are cautious about the results, stressing that LLMs do not think like humans or ‘work things out’, Marco did characterise ChatGPT’s behaviour as “learner-like”.

“When we face a new problem, our instinct is often to try things out based on our past experience,” Marco said. “In our experiment, ChatGPT seemed to do something similar. Like a learner or scholar, it appeared to come up with its own hypotheses and solutions.”

Because ChatGPT is trained on text and not diagrams, it tends to be weaker at the sort of geometrical reasoning that Socrates used in the doubling the square problem. Despite this, Plato’s text is so well known that the researchers expected the chatbot to recognise their questions and reproduce Socrates’ solution.

Intriguingly, it failed to do so. Asked to double the square, ChatGPT opted for an algebraic approach that would have been unknown in Plato’s time.

It then resisted attempts to get it to make the boy’s mistake and stubbornly stuck to algebra even when the researchers complained about its answer being an approximation. Only when Marco and Stylianides told it they were disappointed that, for all its training, it could not provide an “elegant and exact” answer, did the Chat produce the geometrical alternative.

Despite this, ChatGPT demonstrated full knowledge of Plato’s work when asked about it. “If it had only been recalling from memory, it would almost certainly have referenced the classical solution of building a new square on the original square’s diagonal straight away,” Stylianides said. “Instead, it seemed to take its own approach.”

The researchers also posed a variant of Plato’s problem, asking ChatGPT to double the area of a rectangle while retaining its proportions. Even though it was now aware of their preference for geometry, the Chat stubbornly stuck to algebra. When pressed, it then mistakenly claimed that, because the diagonal of a rectangle cannot be used to double its size, a geometrical solution was unavailable.

The point about the diagonal is true, but a different geometrical solution does exist. Marco suggested that the chance that this false claim came from the chatbot’s knowledge base was “vanishingly small”. Instead, the Chat appeared to be improvising its responses based on their previous discussion about the square.

Finally, Marco and Stylianides asked it to double the size of a triangle. The Chat reverted to algebra yet again – but after more prompting did come up with a correct geometrical answer.

The researchers stress the importance of not over-interpreting these results, since they could not scientifically observe the Chat’s coding. From the perspective of their digital experience as users, however, what emerged at that surface level was a blend of data retrieval and on-the-fly reasoning.

They liken this behaviour to the educational concept of a “zone of proximal development” (ZPD) – the gap between what a learner already knows, and what they might eventually know with support and guidance. Perhaps, they argue, Generative AI has a metaphorical “Chat’s ZPD”: in some cases, it will not be able to solve problems immediately but could do so with prompting.

The authors suggest that working with the Chat in its ZPD can help turn its limitations into opportunities for learning. By prompting, questioning, and testing its responses, students will not only navigate the Chat’s boundaries but also develop the critical skills of proof evaluation and reasoning that lie at the heart of mathematical thinking.

“Unlike proofs found in reputable textbooks, students cannot assume that Chat GPT’s proofs are valid. Understanding and evaluating AI-generated proofs are emerging as key skills that need to be embedded in the mathematics curriculum,” Stylianides said.

“These are core skills we want students to master, but it means using prompts like, ‘I want us to explore this problem together,’ not, ‘Tell me the answer,’” Marco added.

The research is published in the International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology.

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Mortality after emergency abdominal surgery is more than three times higher in the least developed countries compared to the most developed. Yet among those who undergo surgery, injuries tend to be less severe – raising concerns that those most critically injured are not even reaching the operating theatre.

A study published in The Lancet Global Health has revealed stark global inequalities in survival after emergency abdominal surgery for traumatic injuries. The research found that patients in the world’s least developed countries face a substantially higher risk of dying within 30 days of surgery than those in the most developed nations, as ranked by the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI).

Although overall mortality rates appeared similar across settings at 11%, risk-adjusted analysis showed that patients in the lowest-HDI countries faced more than three times the risk of death compared with those in the highest-HDI group, while the risk in middle-HDI countries was nearly double.

The Global Outcomes After Laparotomy for Trauma (GOAL-Trauma) study was led by the University of Cambridge and carried out by a global network of collaborators. It analysed data from 1,769 patients treated in 187 hospitals across 51 countries, ranging from conflict-affected areas such as the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Ukraine, and Sudan to well-resourced trauma centres in Europe and the United States. All patients had undergone a trauma laparotomy — emergency surgery to repair internal abdominal injuries – as a result of incidents such as road traffic accidents, stabbings, or gunshot wounds.

Among patients who underwent surgery, those in low-HDI countries typically had less severe injuries than those in higher-ranked countries. This suggests that the most critically injured may die before reaching hospital, or that some life-threatening injuries are missed on arrival.

“Our findings point to a survival gap that begins before patients even reach the operating theatre,” said lead author Dr Michael Bath from Cambridge’s Department of Engineering. “This may be because the most seriously injured die before they can access life-saving care, or because limitations in diagnosis mean their injuries go undetected.”

The researchers also found wide disparities in hospital care. For example, access to CT scans before surgery — a critical tool for diagnosing internal injuries — was available in over three-quarters of patients in the more developed settings, but in fewer than one-quarter in the lowest-ranked group.

The researchers say that addressing this survival gap will take more than simply faster transport or greater access to diagnostic tools such as CT scans. They call for coordinated improvements across the entire trauma pathway – from the moment of injury to full recovery – to ensure critically injured patients receive the care they need.

“The GOAL-Trauma study provides for the first time comparable global data on laparotomy for trauma, revealing that similar mortality rates can mask profound inequalities in care pathways,” said co-author Dr Daniel U Baderhabusha of Hôpital de Kyeshero in the Democratic Republic of Congo. “This information will help design more equitable trauma systems that are better adapted to local realities. It paves the way for strategies that can offer every patient, wherever they live, the best chance of survival and recovery.”

“The GOAL-Trauma study is one of the biggest global studies of trauma care yet published,” said senior author Dr Tom Bashford from the Cambridge’s Department of Engineering and Cambridge University NHS Hospitals Foundation Trust. “It represents a huge effort by a team of partners from across the world, some of whom are practising in the most extreme conditions imaginable and yet still recognise the importance of contributing to international research.”

Reference:
Michael F Bath et al. ‘Global variation in patient factors, interventions, and post-operative outcomes for those undergoing trauma laparotomy: an international prospective observational cohort study.’ The Lancet Global Health (2025). DOI: 10.1016/S2214-109X(25)00303-1

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Three Cambridge researchers are among 77 early-career researchers who have been awarded a total of £120 million to lead vital research, collaborate with innovators and develop their careers as the research and innovation leaders of the future.

Cambridge researchers Dr Claudia Bonfio, Dr Akshay Deshmukh and Dr Elizabeth Radford have been awarded UKRI Future Leader Fellowships, which provides up to seven years of support to enable them to tackle ambitious programmes or multidisciplinary questions, and new or emerging research and innovation areas and partnerships.

Dr Claudia Bonfio’s lab in the Department of Biochemistry studies how life emerges from non-living matter and tries to answer this question by designing and building active primitive cells. Her Future Leader Fellowship project addresses this evolutionary question through an approach that bridges chemistry and biophysics, by investigating how the synergy between primitive lipids and peptides led to the emergence of membrane proteins – a hallmark of living cells.

Dr Akshay Deshmukh is returning to Cambridge’s Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology from MIT to take up his Future Leader Fellowship. To reach net zero by 2050, we will require seven times more critical metals than we produce today. Current extraction methods use large amounts of energy, water, chemicals, and land. During his Fellowship, Deshmukh will develop new processes to recover metals from sources like brines and recycling streams. His research combines experiments, spectroscopy, and mechanistic studies to create a framework for designing next-generation membranes, and aims to speed up the development of cheaper, more sustainable separation technologies.

Dr Elizabeth Radford is a paediatric neurologist whose Fellowship will be based in the Department of Clinical Neurosciences. Her research is working to accelerate diagnosis and expand the treatment options for children affected by neurodevelopmental genetic conditions. Everyone carries small genetic changes, and while most are harmless, some disrupt how the proteins in our cells work and can affect a child’s development. However, it isn’t always clear which changes cause problems, making diagnosis slow and uncertain. During her Fellowship, Radford will study thousands of genetic changes by recreating them in human cells grown in the lab. This will show which changes damage proteins, helping doctors interpret genetic tests and provide earlier diagnoses, and paving the way for future treatments.

UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) Future Leaders Fellowships fund allows universities and businesses to develop talented early career researchers and innovators and attract new people to their organisations, including from overseas.

Out of the successful applications, thirteen projects are led by businesses and funded by Innovate UK.

To support excellent research and innovation wherever it arises and to facilitate movement of people and projects between sectors, FLF fellows are based in the most appropriate environment for their projects, be that universities, businesses, charities, or other independent research organisations.

The Fellowship allows the individual to devote their time to tackle challenging research and innovation problems and to develop their careers as they become the next wave of world-class research and innovation leaders.

The Fellowship also allows recipients access to the FLF Development Network, which provides specialised leadership training, access to networks, workshops, mentors, one-to-one coaching, and opportunities for additional seed-funding for collaborative projects.

“UKRI’s Future Leaders Fellowships provide researchers and innovators with long-term support and training to embark on large and complex research programmes, to address key national and global challenges,” said Frances Burstow, Director of Talent and Skills at UKRI. “The programme supports the research and innovation leaders of the future to transcend disciplinary and sector boundaries, bridging the gap between academia and business. UKRI supports excellence across the entire breadth of its remit, supporting early-career researchers to lessen the distance from discovery to real world impact.”

“UKRI’s Future Leaders Fellowships offer long-term support to outstanding researchers, helping them turn bold ideas into innovations that improve lives and livelihoods in the UK and beyond,” said UKRI Chief Executive, Professor Sir Ian Chapman. “These fellowships continue to drive excellence and accelerate the journey from discovery to public benefit. I wish them every success.”

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Rita Akushie has been appointed as the University’s new Chief Financial Officer. She will take up the role in December 2025.

I look forward to working collaboratively across the University to build a finance function that is modern, transparent, and aligned with Cambridge’s world-leading mission.Rita Akushie, Chief Financial Officer

Rita joins the University from the University of London, where she has been Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Finance and Operations) since 2020 and has led a major transformation programme across its finance, digital, estates and HR services.

She has more than 30 years of experience in financial leadership across higher education, infrastructure investment, housing, and the charity sector. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, and of the Association of Corporate Treasurers.

In parallel with her career in university leadership, Rita serves as Chair of the Audit Committee and Non-Executive Director at HICL Infrastructure plc, a FTSE 250-listed £3bn investment fund with over 100 infrastructure assets across the UK, Europe, the US, Australia, and New Zealand, supporting education, health, utilities, communication and transport.

Rita will report to the Vice-Chancellor and provide strategic oversight of the University’s financial activities.

She will also lead and manage the University’s Finance Division, and be the sponsor for the Finance Transformation Programme, which is modernising ways of working through new processes, technology and governance.

Anthony Odgers, the University’s current Chief Financial Officer, will step down from his role on 31 December 2025.

Professor Deborah Prentice, Vice-Chancellor, said: “I am delighted to welcome Rita as our new Chief Financial Officer. Rita impressed the interview panel with her vast experience, particularly in finance transformation, her passion for higher education and her commitment to inclusive leadership.”

Rita said: “Joining the University of Cambridge is a tremendous honour. I am inspired by the opportunity to lead a transformative finance agenda that supports the University’s long-term strategic ambitions. I look forward to working collaboratively across the University to build a finance function that is modern, transparent, and aligned with Cambridge’s world-leading mission.”

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The shortlist for the 2025 BBC Young Writers’ Award with Cambridge University was announced Sunday 14 September, live on BBC Radio 1’s Life Hacks.

This year’s shortlist, with work that experiments with voice and violence, bodies and gender, things unspoken and unspeakable, feels especially timely. These are stories that look both outwards and inwards, and which confront the reader powerfullyDr Elizabeth Rawlinson-Mills

Now in its 11th year, the Award invites young people aged 14-18 from across the UK to submit stories of up to 1,000 words. It was created to discover and inspire the next generation of writers and is a cross-network collaboration between BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 4.

This year’s shortlist features five young female writers whose stories explore contemporary themes ranging from toxic masculinity and inter-generational relations to climate change, power and responsibility. Praised as ‘beautifully subversive,’ ‘nuanced’ and ‘mature,’ the shortlisted works range from a dark tale told from the perspective of a black cat to a mythological retelling of the climate crisis, a lyrical portrait of three generations of women cooking together, a supernatural ‘housewife’s revenge’ story, and a sharp look at peer pressure and toxic masculinity

Dr Elizabeth Rawlinson-Mills, University Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education and Fellow of Robinson College, said:

“It’s a pleasure once again to read these remarkable and often startling stories. We have become accustomed to the shortlisted stories for the YWA offering us reassuring evidence of young writers’ skill and ambition. This year’s shortlist, with work that experiments with voice and violence, bodies and gender, things unspoken and unspeakable, feels especially timely. These are stories that look both outwards and inwards, and which confront the reader powerfully. The University of Cambridge is extremely proud to support the Young Writers Award.”

The shortlisted stories are:

• ‘Wildfolk Report 2025’ by Holly Dye, 17, from Tunbridge Wells
• ‘Adu, Lasun and Marcha’ by Anoushka Patel, 18, from Leicester
• ‘Roast Beef’ by Edith Taussig, 17, from New Malden, Greater London
• ‘The Omen’ by Anna Tuchinda, 17, from Thailand, an international student in Edinburgh
• ‘Scouse’s Run’ by Rebecca Smith, 17, from Sheffield

The five stories will be available to listen to on BBC Sounds, read by actors including Amit Shah, Maggie Service, Priya Kansara, Sam Pitcher and Andy Clark. Interviews with the writers are also available to listen to, and can be read on the BBC Radio 1 website. 

The winner will be announced at the BBC Short Story Awards ceremony at Broadcasting House on Tuesday 30 September, broadcast live on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row, with the winning writer also appearing on Radio 1’s Life Hacks.

Cambridge involvement

The University’s support for the Award in 2025 generously comes from the School of Arts and Humanities, the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, the Faculties of English and Education, Downing and Robinson Colleges, the University Library, the Fitzwilliam Museum, and the University of Cambridge’s Institute for Professional and Continuing Education (PACE).

The partnership also offers unique professional development opportunities for Cambridge PhD students, who take part in a BBC shadowing scheme, gaining experience in cultural engagement and public communication.

Cambridge’s long-term partnership with both the BBC National Short Story Award and the BBC Young Writers’ Award, is led by Dr Bonnie Lander Johnson (Fellow and Associate Professor in English at Downing and Newnham Colleges) and Dr Elizabeth Rawlinson-Mills (University Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education and Fellow of Robinson College).

Dr Lander Johnson said:

“The National Short Story Awards continue to be the largest and most prestigious awards of their kind in the UK. I am proud to represent the University on this partnership; I believe we have a role to play in supporting the production of literary excellence in Britain. Storytelling is an essential human impulse through which we reflect on our changing world, inspire younger generations, and make sense of our collective and individual lives. It is essential that Cambridge University remains part of such crucial cultural work. Who are we if we cannot tell our stories?”

About the Award

Since its launch in 2015, the BBC Young Writers’ Award has highlighted some of the most talented young voices in the country. Previous winners include Lottie Mills, Tabitha Rubens, Elena Barham, Atlas Weyland Eden and Lulu Frisson, with many going on to secure further prizes, publications and acclaim.

The 2025 judging panel is chaired by Radio 1 presenter Lauren Layfield, joined by poet and former Children’s Laureate Joseph Coelho, novelist Jessica Moor, poet Matt Goodfellow, and 2020 Young Writers’ Award winner Lottie Mills.

For more information, visit www.bbc.co.uk/ywa.

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source: www.cam.ac.uk

Rita Akushie has been appointed as the University’s new Chief Financial Officer. She will take up the role in December 2025.

I look forward to working collaboratively across the University to build a finance function that is modern, transparent, and aligned with Cambridge’s world-leading mission.Rita Akushie, Chief Financial Officer

Rita joins the University from the University of London, where she has been Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Finance and Operations) since 2020 and has led a major transformation programme across its finance, digital, estates and HR services.

She has more than 30 years of experience in financial leadership across higher education, infrastructure investment, housing, and the charity sector. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, and of the Association of Corporate Treasurers.

In parallel with her career in university leadership, Rita serves as Chair of the Audit Committee and Non-Executive Director at HICL Infrastructure plc, a FTSE 250-listed £3bn investment fund with over 100 infrastructure assets across the UK, Europe, the US, Australia, and New Zealand, supporting education, health, utilities, communication and transport.

Rita will report to the Vice-Chancellor and provide strategic oversight of the University’s financial activities.

She will also lead and manage the University’s Finance Division, and be the sponsor for the Finance Transformation Programme, which is modernising ways of working through new processes, technology and governance.

Anthony Odgers, the University’s current Chief Financial Officer, will step down from his role on 31 December 2025.

Professor Deborah Prentice, Vice-Chancellor, said: “I am delighted to welcome Rita as our new Chief Financial Officer. Rita impressed the interview panel with her vast experience, particularly in finance transformation, her passion for higher education and her commitment to inclusive leadership.”

Rita said: “Joining the University of Cambridge is a tremendous honour. I am inspired by the opportunity to lead a transformative finance agenda that supports the University’s long-term strategic ambitions. I look forward to working collaboratively across the University to build a finance function that is modern, transparent, and aligned with Cambridge’s world-leading mission.”

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Life-saving opportunities to prevent suicide among autistic people are being missed because systemic barriers make it difficult for them to access NHS support during times of mental health crisis, according to new research.

Without urgent reform to make services trustworthy and better suited to autistic people’s needs, preventable deaths will continueTanya Procyshyn

Autistic people experience poorer mental and physical health and live shorter lives than the general population. They are significantly more likely than non-autistic people to die by suicide. Recent estimates suggest that one in three autistic people has experienced suicidal ideation and nearly one in four has attempted suicide.

In a study published today in Autism, researchers from the University of Cambridge and Bournemouth University found that of more than 1,000 autistic adults surveyed, only one in four reached out to the NHS the last time they experienced suicidal thoughts or behaviours.

Among those who did not seek NHS support, the most common reasons were that they believed the NHS could not help them (48%), that they tried to cope alone (54%), or that they felt there was “no point” due to long waiting lists for mental health services (43%). Many participants commented that the NHS’s limited range of mental health services was not suitable for “people like us”.

Just over a third (36%) of participants who did not seek NHS support reported previous negative experiences with the NHS, while a similar number (34%) said they had had bad experiences specifically when seeking help for suicidality – and more than one in 10 (12%) said they had been turned away or had a referral rejected.

One in four participants (25%) said they feared consequences such as being sectioned. Others highlighted practical barriers, suggesting they could not face trying to get an appointment with their GP (34%). No participants said they didn’t want to be stopped.

This study also corroborates findings that certain gender groups may experience even greater barriers to accessing NHS support. Analysis by the team at Bournemouth and Cambridge showed that among the participants, cisgender women and those who were transgender or gender-divergent were more likely to have had negative experiences, while transgender and gender-divergent autistic people were especially likely to fear that they would not be believed by NHS staff.

Co-lead author Dr Tanya Procyshyn from the Autism Research Centre at the University of Cambridge said: “Our findings make it clear that autistic people do want support when they are struggling with suicidality, but many have been let down by a system that they experience as inaccessible, unhelpful, or even harmful. Without urgent reform to make services trustworthy and better suited to autistic people’s needs, preventable deaths will continue.”

This study offers new insights on significantly higher suicide rates among the autistic population, a stark reality recognised by the Government’s inclusion of autistic people as a priority group in the 2023 Suicide Prevention Strategy. The authors note that policy commitments must lead to meaningful service changes, such as autism-informed training for healthcare professionals, alternatives to phone-based appointment booking, and flexible, autism-adapted mental health services. They stress that these changes must be co-designed with autistic people to ensure acceptability and rebuild trust.

Co-lead author, Dr Rachel Moseley from the Department of Psychology at Bournemouth University, said: “We know from other research that healthcare professionals don’t receive sufficient training to help them work effectively with autistic people. Our work shows that when faced with autistic people in crisis, clinicians often overlook these signs, or react in a way that causes further damage. For these reasons, it’s imperative that the government takes steps to address inequalities that prevent autistic people from accessing healthcare that could save their lives.”

Professor Sir Simon Baron-Cohen, Director of the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge and the senior author on the team, added: “There is a mental health crisis in the autism community, with one in four autistic adults planning or attempting suicide. This is unacceptably high. Although the UK Government has finally now recognised autistic people as a high-risk group in relation to suicide, the essential changes that could prevent these unnecessary deaths are not materialising fast enough.

“We are glad that Autism Action, the charity that funds a number of our suicide prevention studies, is translating the research into policy and practice, but we need to see a massive injection of funding into support services to avert multiple future tragedies.”

The research was instigated by the charity Autism Action as part of its mission to reduce the number of autistic people who think about, attempt and die by suicide.

Tom Purser, CEO of Autism Action, said: “It is unacceptable that our health service fails autistic people at the time of their greatest need. Autistic people want help but barriers in the form of inaccessible systems, poor attitudes and lack of training are preventing this, and in one in ten cases people are being turned away or rejected.

“The recently published Learning from Lives and Deaths report, focused on people with a learning disability and autistic people, highlighted that a lack of access to the right support is a massive factor that leads to premature deaths. We know a better system is possible – the Government must now lead the way to save lives.”

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. Alternatively, you can contact PAPYRUS (Prevention of Young Suicide) HOPELINE247 on 0800 068 4141 or by texting 88247.

Reference
‘I did not think they could help me’: Autistic adults’ reasons for not seeking public healthcare when they last experienced suicidality. Autism; 15 Sept 2025

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The shortlist for the 2025 BBC Young Writers’ Award with Cambridge University was announced Sunday 14 September, live on BBC Radio 1’s Life Hacks.

This year’s shortlist, with work that experiments with voice and violence, bodies and gender, things unspoken and unspeakable, feels especially timely. These are stories that look both outwards and inwards, and which confront the reader powerfullyDr Elizabeth Rawlinson-Mills

Now in its 11th year, the Award invites young people aged 14-18 from across the UK to submit stories of up to 1,000 words. It was created to discover and inspire the next generation of writers and is a cross-network collaboration between BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 4.

This year’s shortlist features five young female writers whose stories explore contemporary themes ranging from toxic masculinity and inter-generational relations to climate change, power and responsibility. Praised as ‘beautifully subversive,’ ‘nuanced’ and ‘mature,’ the shortlisted works range from a dark tale told from the perspective of a black cat to a mythological retelling of the climate crisis, a lyrical portrait of three generations of women cooking together, a supernatural ‘housewife’s revenge’ story, and a sharp look at peer pressure and toxic masculinity

Dr Elizabeth Rawlinson-Mills, University Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education and Fellow of Robinson College, said:

“It’s a pleasure once again to read these remarkable and often startling stories. We have become accustomed to the shortlisted stories for the YWA offering us reassuring evidence of young writers’ skill and ambition. This year’s shortlist, with work that experiments with voice and violence, bodies and gender, things unspoken and unspeakable, feels especially timely. These are stories that look both outwards and inwards, and which confront the reader powerfully. The University of Cambridge is extremely proud to support the Young Writers Award.”

The shortlisted stories are:

• ‘Wildfolk Report 2025’ by Holly Dye, 17, from Tunbridge Wells
• ‘Adu, Lasun and Marcha’ by Anoushka Patel, 18, from Leicester
• ‘Roast Beef’ by Edith Taussig, 17, from New Malden, Greater London
• ‘The Omen’ by Anna Tuchinda, 17, from Thailand, an international student in Edinburgh
• ‘Scouse’s Run’ by Rebecca Smith, 17, from Sheffield

The five stories will be available to listen to on BBC Sounds, read by actors including Amit Shah, Maggie Service, Priya Kansara, Sam Pitcher and Andy Clark. Interviews with the writers are also available to listen to, and can be read on the BBC Radio 1 website. 

The winner will be announced at the BBC Short Story Awards ceremony at Broadcasting House on Tuesday 30 September, broadcast live on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row, with the winning writer also appearing on Radio 1’s Life Hacks.

Cambridge involvement

The University’s support for the Award in 2025 generously comes from the School of Arts and Humanities, the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, the Faculties of English and Education, Downing and Robinson Colleges, the University Library, the Fitzwilliam Museum, and the University of Cambridge’s Institute for Professional and Continuing Education (PACE).

The partnership also offers unique professional development opportunities for Cambridge PhD students, who take part in a BBC shadowing scheme, gaining experience in cultural engagement and public communication.

Cambridge’s long-term partnership with both the BBC National Short Story Award and the BBC Young Writers’ Award, is led by Dr Bonnie Lander Johnson (Fellow and Associate Professor in English at Downing and Newnham Colleges) and Dr Elizabeth Rawlinson-Mills (University Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education and Fellow of Robinson College).

Dr Lander Johnson said:

“The National Short Story Awards continue to be the largest and most prestigious awards of their kind in the UK. I am proud to represent the University on this partnership; I believe we have a role to play in supporting the production of literary excellence in Britain. Storytelling is an essential human impulse through which we reflect on our changing world, inspire younger generations, and make sense of our collective and individual lives. It is essential that Cambridge University remains part of such crucial cultural work. Who are we if we cannot tell our stories?”

About the Award

Since its launch in 2015, the BBC Young Writers’ Award has highlighted some of the most talented young voices in the country. Previous winners include Lottie Mills, Tabitha Rubens, Elena Barham, Atlas Weyland Eden and Lulu Frisson, with many going on to secure further prizes, publications and acclaim.

The 2025 judging panel is chaired by Radio 1 presenter Lauren Layfield, joined by poet and former Children’s Laureate Joseph Coelho, novelist Jessica Moor, poet Matt Goodfellow, and 2020 Young Writers’ Award winner Lottie Mills.

For more information, visit www.bbc.co.uk/ywa.

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People who care informally for sick or disabled friends and relatives often become invisible in their own lives. Focusing on the needs of those they care for, they rarely get the chance to talk about their own emotions or challenges, and this can lead to them feeling increasingly stressed and isolated.  

Now, in a first-of-a-kind study, researchers at the University of Cambridge have trialled an unusual solution: a series of regular chats with a humanoid robot.

In work published in the International Journal of Social Robotics, the researchers found that when carers talked regularly to a robot programmed to interact with them, it produced significant positive benefits. These included the carers feeling less lonely and overwhelmed, and being more in touch with their own emotions.  

“In other words, these conversations with a social robot gave caregivers something that they sorely lack – a space to talk about themselves,” said first author Dr Guy Laban from Cambridge’s Department of Computer Science and Technology.

He and an international team of colleagues set up a five-week intervention with a group of informal caregivers – those who care for friends or family members without being paid or formally trained to do so.

While many carers find the experience rewarding, supporting those who have significant physical and mental health conditions can also cause them physical and emotional strain.

The researchers found that increased care and family responsibilities, along with shrinking personal space and reduced social engagement, are reasons why informal caregivers often report a tremendous sense of loneliness.

One coping strategy often used by people in emotional distress is self-disclosure and social sharing – for example, talking to friends. But this is not always possible for carers who often face a lack of social support and in-person interaction.

Interested in seeing how the rapidly developing field of social robotics could help address this issue, the researchers set up an intervention for a group of carers.

Those who took part, ranging from parents looking after children with disabilities to older adults caring for a partner with dementia, were able to chat to the humanoid robot Pepper twice a week throughout the five weeks.

The research team wanted to see how carers’ perceptions of the robot evolved over time and whether they saw it as comforting. They were also looking to see how that in turn affected their moods, their feelings of loneliness and stress levels and what the impact was on their emotion regulation.

After discussing everyday topics with Pepper, the carers’ moods improved and they viewed the robot as increasingly comforting, the researchers found. The participants also reported feeling progressively less lonely and stressed.

“Over those five weeks, carers gradually opened up more,” said Laban. “They spoke to Pepper more freely, for longer than they had done at the start, and they also reflected more deeply on their own experiences.

“They told us that chatting to the robot helped them to open up, feel less lonely and overwhelmed, and reconnect with their own emotional needs.”

The research also showed that being able to talk to a social robot could help carers translate their unspoken emotions into meaningful, shared understanding.

For example, after the five-week intervention, carers reported a greater acceptance of their caregiving role, reappraising it more positively and with reduced feelings of blame towards others.

These results highlight the potential of social robots to provide emotional support for individuals coping with emotional distress.

“Informal carers are often overwhelmed by emotional burdens and isolation,” said co-author Professor Emily Cross from ETH Zürich. “This study is – to the best of our knowledge – the first to show that a series of conversations with a robot about themselves can significantly reduce carers’ loneliness and stress.

“The intervention also promoted acceptance of their caregiving role and strengthened their ability to regulate their emotions. This highlights ways in which assistive social robots can offer emotional support when human connection is often scarce.”

Reference:
Guy Laban, Val Morrison, Arvid Kappas, Emily S. Cross. ‘Coping with Emotional Distress via Self-Disclosure to Robots: An Intervention with Caregivers.’ International Journal of Social Robotics (2025). DOI: 10.1007/s12369-024-01207-0

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The shortlist for the 2025 BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University was announced last night, Thursday 11 September, on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row, as the prestigious prize celebrates its 20th anniversary.

I am proud to represent the University on this partnership; I believe we have a role to play in supporting the production of literary excellence in Britain.Dr Bonnie Lander Johnson

The University of Cambridge is proud to support the Award, recognised as one of the UK’s most significant literary prizes for a single short story. The prize aims to expand opportunities for British writers, readers and publishers of the short form, and to honour the country’s finest exponents of the genre. Cambridge staff, students and researchers contribute to the partnership, which also offers unique professional development opportunities for PhD students through a BBC shadowing scheme.

The 2025 shortlist

This year’s shortlist has been praised for its ‘intimate,’ ‘elegant’ and ‘nuanced’ explorations of relationships, community and the specificities of place:

• ‘Yair’ by Emily Abdeni-Holman
• ‘You Cannot Thread a Moving Needle’ by Colwill Brown
• ‘Little Green Man’ by Edward Hogan
• ‘Two Hands’ by Caoilinn Hughes
• ‘Rain, a History’ by Andrew Miller

Set in locations from Derbyshire and Doncaster to Jerusalem and County Kildare, the stories explore ‘self-contained’ worlds often inspired by personal memories and experiences, from the complexities of marriage, to the mysteries of survival in crisis; from newly formed inter-generational bonds, to the quiet tension between people and place, each reveals the short story’s ‘unparalleled’ power to reflect ‘the times we are living through.’  

The five shortlisted stories will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 from 15 – 19 September and made available on BBC Sounds. They will also appear in an anthology published by Comma Press.

The winner will receive £15,000, with £600 awarded to each of the other shortlisted writers. The announcement will be made live on Front Row on Tuesday 30 September 2025.

A BBC and Cambridge partnership

Cambridge’s long-term partnership with both the BBC National Short Story Award and the BBC Young Writers’ Award, is led by Dr Bonnie Lander Johnson (Fellow and Associate Professor in English at Downing and Newnham Colleges) and Dr Elizabeth Rawlinson-Mills (University Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education and Fellow of Robinson College).

Dr Lander Johnson said:

“The National Short Story Awards continue to be the largest and most prestigious awards of their kind in the UK. I am proud to represent the University on this partnership; I believe we have a role to play in supporting the production of literary excellence in Britain. Storytelling is an essential human impulse through which we reflect on our changing world, inspire younger generations, and make sense of our collective and individual lives. It is essential that Cambridge University remains part of such crucial cultural work. Who are we if we cannot tell our stories?”

Dr Rawlinson-Mills added:

“The short story as a form is intense. Compact, powerful, challenging – for the writer and, often, for the reader. Each year the National Short Story Award brings us into contact with some of the most exciting voices in English writing, and over the past twenty years it’s been a privilege to see the ways in which winning this prize has boosted writers’ profiles and brought their work to new audiences through the broadcasts on R4. Every year there are new reasons to feel that we need stories more than ever. I am very proud of the part the University of Cambridge continues to play in supporting the prize and therefore supporting new writing.”

In 2025, the Award is generously supported by the School of Arts and Humanities, the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, the Faculties of English and Education, Downing and Robinson Colleges, the University Library, the Fitzwilliam Museum, and the University of Cambridge’s Institute for Professional and Continuing Education (PACE).

Cambridge PhD students are also benefitting from the BBC Partnership Shadowing Scheme, which allows arts and social sciences researchers at Cambridge to work with BBC teams on programming around the Awards, developing valuable skills in cultural engagement and public communication.

About the Award

First presented in 2006, the BBC National Short Story Award has honoured leading and emerging voices including Sarah Hall, Cynan Jones, Ingrid Persaud, and Saba Sams. Alumni of the shortlist include Zadie Smith, Hilary Mantel, Tessa Hadley and Caleb Azumah Nelson.

The 2025 judging panel is chaired by Di Speirs MBE, joined by William Boyd, Lucy Caldwell, Ross Raisin and Kamila Shamsie.

The BBC Young Writers’ Award with Cambridge University, now in its 11th year, also continues to inspire writers aged 14 – 18. The shortlist will be announced on Sunday 14 September, with the winner also revealed on 30 September.

For more information, visit www.bbc.co.uk/nssa.

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A team led by Professor Flora Samuel from Cambridge’s Department of Architecture has been awarded a further Green Transition Ecosystem grant of £3.12 million by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) to create a Public Map Platform to chart the green transition on the Isle of Anglesey/Ynys Môn.

Climate change cannot be addressed without revealing and tackling the inequalities within society and where they are happeningFlora Samuel

Despite changes to the HM Treasury Green Book to encourage forms of valuation other than economic, local authorities are struggling to capture social, environmental and cultural value in a way that feeds into their systems and processes. The Public Map Platform project aims to make this easy by spatialising data so that it can be used as a basis for targeted hyperlocal action for a green transition.

Professor Flora Samuel said: “Climate change cannot be addressed without revealing and tackling the inequalities within society and where they are happening. Only when we know what is happening where, and how people are adapting to climate change can we make well informed decisions.”

“The aim of this pragmatic project is to create a Public Map Platform that will bring together multiple layers of spatial information to give a social, environmental, cultural and economic picture of what is happening in a neighbourhood, area, local authority, region or nation.”

In 2023, the project was awarded one of four new £4.625 million Green Transition Ecosystem grants. The second phase funding will enable to project to build on its impacts and benefits.

The project features at the Venice Architecture Biennale (until 28 Sept 2025) and at the Design Museum’s ‘Future Observatory: Tools for Transition’ display, in London, of work by all four Green Transition Ecosystem projects (12 Sept 2025 – Aug 2026). The Public Map Platform’s Rural Roaming Room structure will be on show outside the museum.

Flora Samuel’s team is presenting to the Welsh Government at the Sennedd in Cardiff on 30 September 2025. They have engaged with hundreds of children on the Isle of Anglesey and will be bringing the Public Map Platform to Cambridge working with the team in The Cambridge Room.

Green Transition Ecosystems (GTEs) are large-scale projects that focus on translating the best design-led research into real-world benefits. Capitalising on clusters of design excellence, GTEs address distinct challenges posed by the climate crisis including, but not limited to, realising net zero goals.

GTEs are the flagship funding strand of the £25m Future Observatory: Design the Green Transition programme, funded by the AHRC and delivered in partnership with the Design Museum.

The Public Map Platform is addressing the following overarching aims of the Green Transitions Ecosystem call: measurable, green transition-supportive behavioural change across sectors and publics; design that fosters positive behavioural change in support of green transition goals, including strategy and policy; region-focused solutions for example the infrastructure supporting rural communities and, lastly, designing for diversity.

To meet these aims the project will deliver a baseline model mapping platform for decision making with communities for use by Local Authorities (LoAs) across the UK and beyond. To do this a pilot platform will be made for the Isle of Anglesey to help the LoA measure its progress towards a green transition and fulfilment of the Future Generations Wales Act in a transparent and inclusive way.

The Isle of Anglesey/Ynys Môn in North Wales was chosen as the case study for this project largely because it is a discrete geographical place that is rural, disconnected and in decline, with a local authority that has high ambitions to reinvent itself as a centre of sustainable innovation, to be an ‘Energy Island’ at the centre of low-carbon energy research and development. The bilingual context of Anglesey provides a particular opportunity to explore issues around multilingual engagement, inclusion and culture – a UK-wide challenge.

The project, a collaboration with the Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research and Data (Wiserd) at Cardiff University and Wrexham Glyndwr University as well as several other partners is supported by the Welsh Government and the Future Generations Commission in Wales who are investigating ways to measure, and spatialise, attainment against the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act (2015), a world-leading piece of sustainability legislation.

The Public Map Platform will offer a range of well designed and accessible information to communities, local authorities and policy makers alike, as well as opportunities to contribute to the maps. The map layers will constantly grow with information and sophistication, reconfigured according to local policy and boundaries. And crucially, they will be developed and monitored with and by a representative cross section of the local community.

An accessible website will be designed as a data repository tailored to a range of audiences, scalable for use across the UK. Social, cultural and environmental map layers will be co-created with children and young people to show, for instance, where people connect, engage with cultural activities and do small things to adapt to climate change.

The community-made data will be overlaid onto existing census and administrative data sets to build a baseline Future Generations map of the Isle of Anglesey. The layers can be clustered together to measure the island’s progress against the Act but can also be reconfigured to other kinds of measurement schema. In this way the project will offer a model for inclusive, transparent and evidence based planning, offering lessons for the rest of the UK and beyond.

This award is part of the Future Observatory: Design the Green Transition programme, the largest publicly funded design research and innovation programme in the UK. Funded by AHRC in partnership with Future Observatory at the Design Museum, this £25m multimodal investment aims to bring design researchers, universities, and businesses together to catalyse the transition to net zero and a green economy.

Christopher Smith, Executive Chair of the Arts and Humanities Research Council said:

“Design is a critical bridge between research and innovation. Placing the individual act of production or consumption within the context of a wider system of social and economic behaviour is critical to productivity, development and sustainability.

“That’s why design is the essential tool for us to confront and chart a path through our current global and local predicaments, and that’s why AHRC has placed design at the heart of its strategy for collaboration within UKRI.

“From health systems to energy efficiency to sustainability, these four Green Transition Ecosystem projects the UK are at the cutting edge of design, offering models for problem solving, and will touch on lives right across the UK.”

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Applied Systems, a global provider of insurance software solutions, has acquired Cytora, a University of Cambridge AI spinout that has become the leading digital risk-processing platform for the insurance industry.

Cytora’s platform helps insurers digitise their risk data at scale, turning complex documents and unstructured information into structured, decision-ready formats. The acquisition brings together Cytora’s AI-enabled risk digitisation platform with Applied Systems’ suite of insurance solutions, enabling greater intelligent automation, connectivity and efficiency across the insurance lifecycle. This combination is expected to unlock increased growth and productivity across the sector.

Cytora was founded in 2012 as a University startup with early support from Cambridge Enterprise, which first invested in the company in 2014. Recognising the potential of its technology to transform risk analytics and insurance workflows, Cambridge Enterprise continued to support Cytora through two subsequent investment rounds, backing its evolution from a geopolitical risk analytics start-up into a global provider of AI-powered solutions for risk digitisation.

Amanda Wooding, Deputy Head of Ventures, Cambridge Enterprise Ventures, said: “We are delighted to see Cytora reach this exciting milestone. The acquisition by Applied Systems is a strong endorsement of the transformative impact of their technology on the insurance industry. Supporting Cytora from its early stages has been a privilege and we are proud to have played a part in their journey from a Cambridge startup to the leading risk digitisation platform in the insurance industry.”

This acquisition marks a significant milestone for Cambridge Enterprise Ventures and its mission to support the commercialisation of University research. It reflects the long-term value of investing in early-stage ventures and the potential of Cambridge-founded companies to shape global industries.

Read more about the acquisition from Cambridge Enterprise and Applied Systems.

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Britain’s industrial economy did not collapse when the Romans left and went on to enjoy a Viking-age industrial boom, a new study finds, undermining a stubborn ‘Dark Ages’ narrative.

It has significant implications for our wider understanding of the end of Roman BritainProfessor Martin Millett

The Romans have long been credited with bringing industry to Britain involving large-scale lead and iron production. But it has been unclear what happened once the Romans left around 400 AD. It was generally assumed that industrial-scale production declined, as no written evidence for lead exploitation after the 3rd century exists.

To test this assumption, researchers from the Universities of Cambridge and Nottingham examined a five-metre-long sediment core from Aldborough in Yorkshire, the Roman tribal town of the Brigantes and an important centre of metal production. Their findings, published in the journal Antiquity, confirm that metal production did not collapse immediately after the Romans left Britain.

Professor Martin Millett, from Cambridge’s Faculty of Classics and Fitzwilliam College, said: “This collaborative work which forms part of a long-term project at Aldborough adds a new dimension to our understanding of the history of this important Roman town in the immediately post-Roman period. It has significant implications for our wider understanding of the end of Roman Britain.”

The study’s findings indicate that metal production in Britain continued long after the end of the Roman period and did not decline until a sudden crash around 550-600 AD.

The researchers found low levels of lead and iron production in the 4th to the early 5th centuries AD, but a large continuous rise in iron – and to a lesser extent, lead smelting through the 5th to mid-6th centuries – with the same ore sources and use of coal as in the Roman period. This undermines the popular belief that post-Roman Britain was a ‘Dark Age’ in which industrial production regressed to pre-Roman levels.

The cause of the sudden crash remains uncertain, but textual evidence from the Mediterranean and modern-day France (from the mid-late 6th century) shows that this period saw multiple waves of bubonic plague, and perhaps smallpox. These findings combined with DNA evidence from Edix Hill cemetery in Cambridgeshire show that bubonic plague was killing people in eastern England from the 540s, and this period marked the point of transformation at Aldborough.

Lead author, Professor Christopher Loveluck from Nottingham’s Department of Classics and Archaeology, says the Aldborough sediment core “has provided the first unbroken continuous record and timeline of metal pollution and metal economic history in Britain, from the 5th century to the present day.”

The cylinder of slowly accumulated silts was extracted from a paleochannel of the River Ure. Previous metal pollution records have been extracted far from their sources – for instance upland peat cores or mountain and polar glaciers – but this data comes from the very epicentre of production.

The researchers analysed the core alongside excavation evidence and knowledge of landscape changes at Aldborough over the last two millennia. The study benefited from the expertise of Charles French, Emeritus Professor of Geoarchaeology at Cambridge, who applies archaeological techniques and micromorphological analytical techniques to the interpretation of buried landscapes.

The study indicates that lead and iron production was very active again before the Vikings arrived and expanded under their control. Textual and archaeological sources already suggest that there was a growing focus on domestic economies rather than international trade by that time. It has been difficult to prove this at a macro-scale, but the new results show a boom in raw metal production between the end of the 8th century and through to the 10th century, revealing regional-level economic growth, which has never been measured beyond single sites before.

The study goes on to show a decline in metal production through the 11th century with renewed large-scale growth in lead and iron production reflected again from the mid-12th to early 13th centuries. Results corroborate annual-written sources for increased Yorkshire and wider British lead production from the 1160s–1220, and comparable pollution increases attributed to Britain for these decades recovered previously from Swedish lakes and Alpine ice-core research from Switzerland.

Following a decline in the 14th century, the researchers found evidence of another recovery in production which was cut short by Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries from 1536-38.

“It became uneconomical to make fresh metal because it was ripped off all the monasteries, abbeys and religious houses,” Professor Loveluck explains. “Large-scale production resumed in the later 16th century to resource Elizabeth I’s Spanish and French wars.”

The Aldborough Roman Town Project, directed by Dr Rose Ferraby – an author of the new study – and Professor Martin Millett, from Cambridge’s Faculty of Classics, has carried out nearly 120 hectares of magnetometry inside the town and beyond, to establish a landscape scale view of the sub-surface archaeological remains of the town, its defences, road system and extra-mural areas. It has also used Ground Penetrating Radar more selectively within the town to reveal details and depths of the Roman buildings. Since 2016, a number of excavations have been carried out, re-examining earlier trenches.

Funding

The research was funded by The British Academy and the University of Cambridge.

Reference

CP Loveluck, MJ Millett, S Chenery, C Chenery, R Ferraby, C French, ‘Aldborough and the metals economy of northern England, c. AD 345–1700: a new post-Roman narrative’. Antiquity (2025). DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2025.10175 

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