'Curiosity-led' research gets €97m funding from UK government

Photos: Pexels and Canva. Collage by Impact Loop.

A prosthetic arm that can actually "feel" the texture of a surface. Enhanced energy storage and batteries. Playgrounds that keep children better protected from rising temperatures. These are some of the impact solutions that could come out of 100 research projects that are sharing £80m (€97m) in funding from the British government to develop new innovations based on "curiosity-led discovery science."

Reporter and editor, UK
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The UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) has a long history of funding scientific innovations, including some of the biggest breakthroughs within artificial intelligence.

The council’s latest round of funding consists of £80m (€97m) that is being shared among dozens of research projects hoping to tackle "the challenges we face tod...

The UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) has a long history of funding scientific innovations, including some of the biggest breakthroughs within artificial intelligence.

The council’s latest round of funding consists of £80m (€97m) that is being shared among dozens of research projects hoping to tackle "the challenges we face today and the unforeseen challenges of tomorrow."

"We are backing 100 ambitious projects up and down the UK which could spark the beginning of a new generation of life-changing developments,” says Science Minister Patrick Vallance.

The projects range across fields within mathematics, computer science, chemistry, physics and engineering, with a long-term view toward real-world applications.

Some of the most eye-catching projects include efforts led by Dr. Ben Ward-Cherrier at the University of Bristol to develop prosthetic arms that that would have "an artificial but natural-feeling sense of touch", which could improve the lives of more than two million upper-limb amputees around the world.

Playgrounds that can stand up to climate change

Professor Marialena Nikolopoulou of the University of Kent received £1.5 million for her research aimed at using mathematical models to design playgrounds that are more comfortable in hot and cold weather.

"While outdoor play and learning are essential for cognitive growth, children are often considered particularly vulnerable to heat-related health issues in the face of climate change," Nikolopoulou writes on LinkedIn. "With 15 national heat records broken this year alone, addressing these concerns has never been more urgent. Our project seeks to develop outdoor thermal comfort models for children, along with design guidelines that will help schools create safer, more comfortable and resilient outdoor environments."

Other projects include research by Dr. Matthew Hennessy at the University of Bristol into harnessing the full power of polyelectrolyte gels, which scientists think have a game-changing potential to deliver advances in energy storage, water purification and robotics.

Money was also given to research into creating new "biomarker" tools to measure blood clot formation, and a radar-based system to detect sign language without the need for cameras, to protect personal privacy for users when used for translation by devices like Alexa.

Council funding helped start the AI revolution

These are projects that could take years to produce real-world applications, but the EPSRC is no stranger to taking a long-term view. Its predecessor, the Science Research Council, helped support Geoffrey Hinton when he started his research on artificial intelligence at the University of Edinburgh in the 1970s. Now known as the "Godfather of AI", Hinton was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics this year.

"Discovery science is the bedrock of innovation, feeding the pipeline of progress critical to prosperity, sustainability, security, competitiveness, quality of life and resilience to future challenges," says Professor Charlotte Deane, Executive Chair of the EPSRC. "These new EPSRC-backed projects will generate a legacy of extraordinary new knowledge, with impacts felt across the UK and the globe."

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