University News

The researchers, from the University of Cambridge and the University of California, Berkeley, developed a practical way to make hydrocarbons – molecules made of carbon and hydrogen – powered solely by the sun.

The device they developed combines a light absorbing ‘leaf’ made from a high-efficiency solar cell material called perovskite, with a copper nanoflower catalyst, to convert carbon dioxide into useful molecules. Unlike most metal catalysts, which can only convert CO₂ into single-carbon molecules, the copper flowers enable the formation of more complex hydrocarbons with two carbon atoms, such as ethane and ethylene — key building blocks for liquid fuels, chemicals and plastics.

Almost all hydrocarbons currently stem from fossil fuels, but the method developed by the Cambridge-Berkeley team results in clean chemicals and fuels made from CO2, water and glycerol – a common organic compound – without any additional carbon emissions. The results are reported in the journal Nature Catalysis.

The study builds on the team’s earlier work on artificial leaves, which take their inspiration from photosynthesis: the process by which plants convert sunlight into food. “We wanted to go beyond basic carbon dioxide reduction and produce more complex hydrocarbons, but that requires significantly more energy,” said Dr Virgil Andrei from Cambridge’s Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, the study’s lead author.

Andrei, a Research Fellow of St John’s College, Cambridge, carried out the work as part of the Winton Cambridge-Kavli ENSI Exchange programme in the lab of Professor Peidong Yang at University of California, Berkeley.

By coupling a perovskite light absorber with the copper nanoflower catalyst, the team was able to produce more complex hydrocarbons. To further improve efficiency and overcome the energy limits of splitting water, the team added silicon nanowire electrodes that can oxidise glycerol instead. This new platform produces hydrocarbons much more effectively — 200 times better than earlier systems for splitting water and carbon dioxide.

The reaction not only boosts CO₂ reduction performance, but also produces high-value chemicals such as glycerate, lactate, and formate, which have applications in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and chemical synthesis.

“Glycerol is typically considered waste, but here it plays a crucial role in improving the reaction rate,” said Andrei. “This demonstrates we can apply our platform to a wide range of chemical processes beyond just waste conversion. By carefully designing the catalyst’s surface area, we can influence what products we generate, making the process more selective.”

While current CO₂-to-hydrocarbon selectivity remains around 10%, the researchers are optimistic about improving catalyst design to increase efficiency. The team envisions applying their platform to even more complex organic reactions, opening doors for innovation in sustainable chemical production. With continued improvements, this research could accelerate the transition to a circular, carbon-neutral economy.

“This project is an excellent example of how global research partnerships can lead to impactful scientific advancements,” said Andrei. “By combining expertise from Cambridge and Berkeley, we’ve developed a system that may reshape the way we produce fuels and valuable chemicals sustainably.”

The research was supported in part by the Winton Programme for the Physics of Sustainability, St John’s College, the US Department of Energy, the European Research Council, and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

Reference:
Virgil Andrei et al. ‘Perovskite-driven solar C2 hydrocarbon synthesis from CO2.’ Nature Catalysis (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41929-025-01292-y

Tiny copper ‘nano-flowers’ have been attached to an artificial leaf to produce clean fuels and chemicals that are the backbone of modern energy and manufacturing.

Virgil AndreiSolar fuel generator

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Yes

The report, carried out by analytics firm Clarivate, looks at the critical role of research in shaping global industrial innovation and societal impact, using data and expert insights derived from academic research and patent citations.

The report highlights how knowledge flows between academia and industry across countries and regions, underscoring the global nature of innovation. It identifies the top 50 universities named on the academic papers that received the highest number of citations from patents granted to the companies and organizations on the Top 100 Global Innovators 2024 list.

Professor Deborah Prentice, Vice-Chancellor, University of Cambridge, said: “Cambridge has a thriving community of spin-outs, start-ups and partnerships that demonstrates how academia and industry can work together to transform ideas into real-world impact. The University is key to this, and we are developing hugely ambitious plans that will transform the UK economy and reinforce the UK’s status as a leader in global innovation.”

The report comes the day after Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves unveiled her strategy to unleash the potential of the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor by catalysing the growth of UK science and technology. The plan recognises the University of Cambridge as the world’s leading science and technological cluster by intensity, and its potential to rapidly build on the £30bn contribution it already makes to the UK economy.

According to the report, the top 10 universities influencing patented inventions are: 

1. Harvard University (US)
2. Stanford University (US)
3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (US)
4. University of California, Berkeley (US)
5. Université Paris Cité (France)
6. University of Cambridge (UK)
7. University of Washington, Seattle (US)
8. University of California, San Diego (US)
9. University of Michigan (US)
10. University of Toronto (Canada)

Among the report’s key findings was that the UK demonstrates particularly diverse international influence, with its research often serving as a bridge across regions.

Gordon Rogers, report author and Senior Manager, Data Science at the Institute for Scientific Information at Clarivate, said: “Groundbreaking ideas driving the world’s most innovative companies often originate from academic research. Our report demonstrates that by fostering collaboration between academia and industry, we can fuel technological advancements, providing solutions to societal challenges in healthcare, sustainability, and economic development.”

Read more at: The top 50 universities powering global innovation

The University of Cambridge has been named as the leading UK university in a new report on the top 50 universities powering global innovation.

Cambridge has a thriving community of spin-outs, start-ups and partnerships that demonstrates how academia and industry can work together to transform ideas into real-world impactDeborah PrenticeStudent at Maxwell Centre, University of Cambridge

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Yes

During a speech in Oxfordshire, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves unveiled her strategy to unleash the potential of the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor by catalysing the growth of UK science and technology. The plan recognises the University of Cambridge as the world’s leading science and technological cluster by intensity, and its potential to rapidly build on the £30bn contribution it already makes to the UK economy.

As part of the announcement, the Chancellor welcomed Cambridge’s proposal for a new large-scale innovation hub in the city centre:

“I am delighted that Cambridge University has come forward with plans for a new flagship innovation hub at the centre of Cambridge – to attract global investment and foster a community that catalyses innovation. As other cities around the world like Boston and Paris have done.”

Modelled on The Engine in Boston and Station F in France, the hub will be a hothouse to rapidly transform the best research ideas from across the UK into the companies of tomorrow.

Significant investment will also be made in transport and infrastructure across Cambridge and the wider Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor, as well as in securing water supplies and delivering new homes and associated community spaces such as schools, leisure facilities, and office and laboratory space.

Commenting on the speech and the importance of Cambridge as a partner in delivering UK growth, University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Deborah Prentice, said:

“It is great to see the Chancellor of the Exchequer recognising how Cambridge can help drive transformational growth for the UK. We welcome the Government's commitment to the vital infrastructure that will support sustainable growth across the region, and we are delighted to partner with the Government to establish a national innovation hub in the heart of this city. The hub will bring together brilliant tech and life sciences companies, entrepreneurs and investors in one location to deliver innovation at scale.”

The announcement follows an open letter to the Government from the University and Cambridge businesses at the start of the year that sets out the case for renewed support for a region with a proven track record and which stands ready to deliver economic growth.

Cambridge is at the heart of Government plans announced today to go ‘further and faster’ to kick start economic growth in the UK.

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Yes

The increase in physical activity was mainly seen in those doing semi-routine occupations such as bus driving or hairdressing, and routine occupations such as cleaning or waiting, or technical jobs. There was little change seen among people entering managerial or professional occupations.

People who work from home saw a decrease in levels of physical activity – though their sleep levels did not change when they started work.

Young adulthood – ages 16 to 30 years – is an important time in terms of health. Although we are typically at our peak physical health, it is also a time when many risk factors for long term diseases such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer begin to develop.

Health guidelines recommend young adults get between seven and nine hours of sleep a night, engage in 150 minutes or more of moderate physical activity per week, and consume at least five portions of fruit and vegetables per day.

Young adulthood is also the time when most people start work, which changes their daily routines and activities, resources such as time and money, and social and physical environments – all of which affect health behaviours and health in later life.

To quantify the impact that starting work has on health-related behaviours, a team led by researchers at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge examined repeated data taken over time from more than 3,000 participants in the UK Household Longitudinal Study. All the participants were aged 16–30 years and started work for the first time between 2015 and 2023.  

The results are published today in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity.

Dr Eleanor Winpenny, who was based at the University of Cambridge when she carried out the work, but is now at Imperial College London, said: “We know about physical activity and sleep patterns among young people while they’re at school, but very little about what happens when they start work. Given the impact that work can have on our lives – and the lasting impacts this can have on our health – it’s important to try and understand what happens at this transition.”

The analysis showed that when people started work, their physical activity increased by an amount equivalent to around 28 min of moderate activity (such as cycling) per day on average – but then decreased each year after starting work by around 7 min per day.

The biggest increase was among males – up by an equivalent of around 45 min of moderate activity per day compared to an increase of around 16 min for females. People who did not have a university degree also showed a greater increase in physical activity compared to those with a university degree – equivalent to around a 42 min increase of moderate physical activity per day compared to 15 min per day.

Working from home, however, appeared to be associated with an initial decrease in physical activity, equivalent to around 32 min of moderate activity per day.

When young adults started work, the amount of time they slept per night dropped immediately by almost 10 minutes and remained stable at this level over time; however, people without a degree showed a continuing decrease of about 3 minutes of sleep per night each year after starting work, while those with a degree slowly increased back to their pre-work sleep levels.

There was little change in the amount of fruit and vegetables consumed after starting work.

Alena Oxenham, from the MRC Epidemiology Unit, said: “Beginning work can have a profound impact on our lifestyles and on behaviours that might make a difference to our health, if not immediately then later in life.

“Although we found that people tend to do more physical activity when they begin work, which is good news, these are averages, and some people – particularly those who work from home and, to a lesser degree, those with office-based jobs – may do less.

“If we want to stay healthy throughout our lives, we need to remember that keeping active is an important way of helping us achieve this goal. Those working at home might want to consider incorporating physical activity into their day, for example by going for a walk before or after work, or during a lunch break.”

Dr Winpenny added: “Workplaces provide an opportunity to create environments and cultures that support healthier diets, more physical activity and better sleep for young adults. This could result in healthier employees and fewer sick days in the immediate term, but also have long term benefits, helping prevent health issues in later life.”

The research was funded by the MRC and the National Institute for Health and Care Research.

Reference
Oxenham, AF, et al. New job, new habits? A multilevel interrupted time series analysis of changes in diet, physical activity and sleep among young adults starting work for the first time. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity; 28 Jan 2025; DOI: 10.1186/s12966-024-01682-8

When young adults start working, the amount of daily physical activity they do increases sharply, only to fall away again over the new few years, while the amount of sleep they get falls slightly, according to new research led by scientists at the University of Cambridge.

If we want to stay healthy throughout our lives, we need to remember that keeping active is an important way of helping us achieve this goalAlena OxenhamRoman KoesterCyclist in London

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YesLicence type: Public Domain

A major study of botanic gardens around the world has revealed their struggles with one fundamental aim: to safeguard the world’s most threatened plants from extinction.

Researchers analysed a century’s worth of records - from 1921 to 2021 - from fifty botanic gardens and arboreta currently growing half a million plants, to see how the world’s living plant collections have changed over time. 

The results suggest that the world’s living collections have collectively reached peak capacity, and that restrictions on wild plant collecting around the world are hampering efforts to gather plant diversity on the scale needed to study and protect it.

There is little evidence that institutions are managing to conserve threatened plants within collections, on a global scale, despite accelerating rates of elevated extinction risk.

The findings imply that tackling the loss of biodiversity has not been prioritised across the world’s botanic gardens as a collective - a fact the researchers say must be urgently addressed.

Curator of Cambridge University Botanic Garden Professor Samuel Brockington, who led the work, said: “A concerted, collaborative effort across the world’s botanic gardens is now needed to conserve a genetically diverse range of plants, and to make them available for research and future reintroduction into the wild.”

In their report, published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, the researchers say the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has effectively halved the level at which plants are being collected from the wild, and also created obstacles to the international exchange of plants.

Brockington, who is also Professor of Evolution in the University of Cambridge’s Department of Plant Sciences, said: “The impact of the Convention on Biological Diversity is a remarkable demonstration of the power and value of international agreements. But it seems to be preventing individual botanic gardens from working with many globally threatened plant species that we could help save from extinction.”

Collective thinking

As much as 40% of the world’s plant diversity is at elevated risk of extinction. Acceptance that individual collections have limited capacity to single-handedly prevent species extinction demands a rethink as to how they collaborate to store and safeguard diversity in living collections.

The researchers say it will be vital for the living collections to be considered as a ‘meta-collection’ in future: only by working closely together will the world’s botanic gardens be able to hold the range of plants needed to make a meaningful contribution to conservation efforts. This will include sharing data and expertise and supporting the development of new collections in the global south, where much of the world’s biodiversity is located. 

The researchers point out that some individual institutions, like the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh, have successfully targeted and measurably conserved threatened conifer species. Similarly, Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) has established numerous global conservation consortia. However, these initiatives are the exception.

Wild decline

Plants must be regularly replaced or propagated within living collections: the average lifetime of a specimen is just 15 years. But the team’s analysis found that the number of wild-origin plants - those collected in the wild - in the collections peaked in 1993 and has been in decline ever since. 

“It is certainly not getting any easier to sustain the diversity of our collections. This is especially true for wild-collected plants, and they’re the most valuable for us in terms for supporting research, and in finding solutions to the twin challenges of climate change and global biodiversity loss,” said Brockington.

Weather worries

As climate change alters growing conditions in different regions of the world, it will become more challenging for individual botanic gardens to continue to grow such a diverse range of species.

Brockington said: “Climate change affects our work directly by altering local weather conditions - we’ve already seen record-breaking temperatures in Cambridge in recent years. That’s going to affect how well our plants survive, so we need to think rationally and collectively about the best locations to hold different species across the global network of living collections.” 

On 25 July 2019, Cambridge University Botanic Garden reached 38.70C - the highest temperature ever recorded in the UK at that time.

Diversity is key

Genetic diversity is important when it comes to protecting plants at risk of extinction, because it allows for breeding populations of species that can adapt to future challenges.

The more individual plants of a particular species in a collection, the greater the genetic diversity is likely to be. 

The team says data from the International Conifer Conservation Programme, run by the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, shows that living collections can make a valuable contribution to conservation efforts - given the right resource and focus. By distributing threatened species across a network of safe sites, the trees are grown where they grow best, and as a whole they represent a strong sample of the genetic diversity of this important group.
Ethical collecting

Last year, Cambridge University Botanic Garden advertised for a new ‘Expedition Botanist’ to lead global plant-collection expeditions and contribute to vital conservation efforts. 

Brockington says these expeditions remain vital to work to safeguard and study the world’s plant species. He suggests that collaborative collecting work is possible, in a fair and ethical way, that builds equitable international partnerships. 

The CBD is a global agreement, signed by 150 government leaders in 1992, dedicated to promoting sustainable development. It makes each country responsible for protecting its own biodiversity, and supports fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the use of that biodiversity.

There are 3,500 botanic gardens and arboreta worldwide. They exist so that scientists can study, conserve and provide access to the world’s plants, as well as showcasing them to the public.

Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) is a charity whose purpose is to mobilise botanic gardens and engage partners in securing plant diversity for the wellbeing of people and the planet.

Reference: Cano, A. et al: ‘Insights from a century of data reveal global trends in ex situ living plant collections.’ Nature Ecology and Evolution, January 2024. DOI: 10.1038/s41559-024-02633-z
 

The world’s botanic gardens must pull together to protect global plant biodiversity in the face of the extinction crisis, amid restrictions on wild-collecting, say researchers.

A concerted, collaborative effort across the world’s botanic gardens is now needed to conserve a genetically diverse range of plants.Samuel BrockingtonHoward RiceCambridge University Botanic Garden

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YesLicence type: Attribution-Noncommerical

As part of a £69 million funding programme supported by the Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA), Professor George Malliaras from Cambridge’s Department of Engineering will co-lead a project that uses small clusters of brain cells called midbrain organoids to develop a new type of brain implant, which will be tested in animal models of Parkinson’s disease.

The project led by Malliaras and Professor Roger Barker from the Department of Clinical Neurosciences, which involves colleagues from the University of Oxford, the University of Lund and BIOS Health, is one of 18 projects funded by ARIA as part of its Precision Neurotechnologies programme, which is supporting research teams across academia, non-profit R&D organisations, and startups dedicated to advancing brain-computer interface technologies.

The programme will direct £69 million over four years to unlock new methods for interfacing with the human brain at the neural circuit level, to treat many of the most complex neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders, from Alzheimer’s to epilepsy to depression.

By addressing bottlenecks in funding and the lack of precision offered by current approaches, the outputs of this programme will pave the way for addressing a much broader range of conditions than ever before, significantly reducing the social and economic impact of brain disorders across the UK.

Parkinson’s disease occurs when the brain cells that make dopamine (a chemical that helps control movement) die off, causing movement problems and other symptoms. Current treatments, like dopamine-based drugs, work well early on, but can cause serious side effects over time.

In the UK, 130,000 people have Parkinson’s disease, and it costs affected families about £16,000 per year on average – more than £2 billion in the UK annually. As more people age, the number of cases will grow, and new treatments are urgently needed.

One idea is to replace the lost dopamine cells by transplanting new ones into the brain. But these cells need to connect properly to the brain’s network to fix the problem, and current methods don’t fully achieve that.

In the ARIA-funded project, Malliaras and his colleagues are working on a new approach using small clusters of brain cells called midbrain organoids. These will be placed in the right part of the brain in an animal model of Parkinson’s disease. They’ll also use advanced materials and electrical stimulation to help the new cells connect and rebuild the damaged pathways.

“Our ultimate goal is to create precise brain therapies that can restore normal brain function in people with Parkinson’s,” said Malliaras.

“To date, there’s been little serious investment into methodologies that interface precisely with the human brain, beyond ‘brute force’ approaches or highly invasive implants,” said ARIA Programme Director Jacques Carolan. “We’re showing that it’s possible to develop elegant means of understanding, identifying, and treating many of the most complex and devastating brain disorders. Ultimately, this could deliver transformative impact for people with lived experiences of brain disorders.”

Other teams funded by the programme include one at Imperial College London who is developing an entirely new class of biohybridised technology focused on engineering transplanted neurons with bioelectric components. A Glasgow-led team will build advanced neural robots for closed-loop neuromodulation, specifically targeting epilepsy treatment, while London-based Navira will develop a technology for delivering gene therapies across the blood-brain barrier, a crucial step towards developing safer and more effective treatments.

Adapted from an ARIA media release.

Cambridge researchers are developing implants that could help repair the brain pathways damaged by Parkinson’s disease.

Our ultimate goal is to create precise brain therapies that can restore normal brain function in people with Parkinson’sGeorge MalliarasScience Photo Library via Getty ImagesSubstantia nigra in the human brain, illustration

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Yes

The study will lead to new guidance encouraging both the comics industry and enthusiasts to make comics communities better places for neurodivergent fans and artists. It is being led by academics at the University’s Faculty of Education and will begin this month with an open, online survey aimed at autistic comics fans.

Research by the Comics Cultural Impact Collective (CCIC) – which will also be part of the collaboration – indicates that hundreds of young people self-identifying as neurodivergent are involved in Britain’s comics community, either as fans or creators.

The CCIC also suggests, however, that neurodivergent enthusiasts often find spaces like fan conventions, comic book stores, online communities and the comics industry less than welcoming, and frequently feel ‘siloed’. How to address that – and what it is about comics that attracts so many autistic people in the first place – have never been fully explored.

The online survey will begin to answer these questions by collecting information from autistic comics fans and creators. Professor Jenny Gibson, an expert in neurodiversity and autism and one of the project’s academic leads, described it as “kick-starting a wider conversation about comics and autism”.

“Comics seem to have massive appeal for a surprising number of autistic people, and many of them are not just fans but enormously talented cartoonists, artists and illustrators,” Gibson said.

“This is something the comics community is increasingly aware of, and there is a lot of enthusiasm for becoming better allies for autistic people. What we lack is information about how we can best do that, partly because we don’t know enough about the perspectives and experiences of autistic comics enthusiasts.”

The project is called “The Collaboration for Comics and Autism”. As well as the CCIC, Gibson and co-lead Dr Joe Sutliff Sanders will be working with the Lakes International Comic Art Festival, Dekko Comics (a specialist publisher supporting neurodivergent learners), the Association of Illustrators, the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration and autistic cartoonists Bex Ollerton and Eliza Fricker.

Beyond this, they want to involve as many autistic artists and fans as possible by gathering their experiences of engaging with comics culture and of the opportunities and barriers they have encountered.

Various explanations have been proposed for why comics seem to have such appeal for autistic people. Dekko Comics argues on its website that many autistic young people, who may often find verbal communication challenging, respond positively to the clear and accessible sensory material in comics, which may be an important bridge between their inner and outer worlds. Research by Dr Neil Cohn suggests that over 90% of children with autism spectrum disorder and language disorders enjoy comics, compared with about 60% of neurotypical children.

Comics and art also provide many autistic people with a valuable outlet for self-expression. The Cambridge project, for example, originated from a workshop at the People’s History Museum in Manchester for autistic comics artists, which Gibson and Sanders co-led with the editor of Sensory: Life on the Spectrum, an anthology by dozens of autistic creators.

Sanders, a leading comics scholar, also highlights the richly detailed imaginative world of comics in which fans immerse themselves, often becoming aficionados in the process. This may mean comics are particularly well suited to helping autistic people satisfy psychological needs that we all share, such as the need for a sense of belonging, competence, and having control over our own lives.

“Comics have the power to spark a particular kind of obsession and passion among fans,” Sanders said. “They enable a sort of flow state; that pure joy that comes from losing yourself in something that you find interesting and engaging. They are almost ready-made for accumulating knowledge and sharing it with like-minded people who will really value what you have to say.”

“The problem is that, like so many other parts of society, fan conventions and communities – and the comics industry as a whole – can sometimes inadvertently brush aside neurodivergent people. We need to understand what we can do differently in order to make this world as inclusive and accessible as possible.”

The results of the online survey will provide the basis for a series of workshops in Cambridge later this year, during which artists, fans and people involved in the industry will begin to develop a best-practice guide for autistic inclusion.

Gibson and Sanders plan to launch it at the Lakes International Festival in September. The guide will also be distributed to a wider network including fan groups, publishers, galleries and professional bodies. It will be released as a comic book, and its impact will be tested through a follow-up survey so that it can be refined as necessary in future editions.

“Too often the question of how to support autistic people is addressed from a deficit perspective, as if the problem is that they lack neurotypical skills,” Gibson said. “This project will flip that perspective. By learning more about how autistic fans connect with comics, we will begin to understand what we can do differently to make the most of their knowledge, talents and enthusiasm.”

The initial survey for The Collaboration for Comics and Autism can be accessed here.

Autistic people in the UK are being invited to participate in a University of Cambridge-led project exploring the uniquely powerful connection between autism and comics.

Too often the question of how to support autistic people is addressed from a deficit perspectiveProf Jenny GibsonClare Mackenzie

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Yes

The Cancer Data-Driven Detection programme will be led by Antonis Antoniou, Professor of Cancer Risk Prediction at the University of Cambridge. It is funded by Cancer Research UK, the National Institute for Health and Care Research, and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

The programme aims to access and link data from different sources - including health records, genomics, family history, demographics, and behavioural data - to develop statistical models that help scientists accurately predict who is most likely to get cancer. Alongside this, the programme will develop powerful new tools that use AI to analyse the data and calculate an individual’s risk of cancer throughout their lifetime.

Professor Antoniou said: “Finding people at the highest risk of developing cancer, including those with vague symptoms, is a major challenge. The UK’s strengths in population-scale data resources, combined with advanced analytical tools like AI, offer tremendous opportunities to link disparate datasets and uncover clues that could lead to earlier detection, diagnosis, and prevention of more cancers.”

Over the next five years, the funding will build the infrastructure required to access and link these datasets, train new data scientists, create the algorithms behind the risk models and evaluate the algorithms and AI tools to ensure that they are giving accurate and clinically useful information about cancer risk. The scientific programme will be guided by partnerships with cancer patients, the public, clinical experts and industry, while addressing ethical and legal considerations to ensure that the models and tools work well in practice.

Professor Antoniou added: “Ultimately, [the Cancer Data Driven Detection programme] could inform public health policy and empower individuals and their healthcare providers to make shared decisions. By understanding individual cancer risks, people can take proactive steps to stop cancer before it gets worse or even begins in the first place.”

The models generated from this research could be used to help people at higher risk of cancer in different ways. For example, the NHS could offer more frequent cancer screening sessions or screening at a younger age to those at higher risk, whilst those at lower risk could be spared unnecessary tests. People identified as higher risk could also be sent for cancer testing faster when they go to their GP with possible cancer signs or symptoms. Individuals at higher risk could also access different ways to prevent cancer.

Earlier diagnosis of cancer saves lives, yet according to analysis of NHS figures by Cancer Research UK, only 54% of cancers in England are diagnosed at stages one and two, where treatment is more likely to be successful. NHS England has set a target to diagnose 75% of cancers at stages one and two by 2028, and this will only be achieved with research and embracing new technologies to catch cancer earlier.  

Last week, the Prime Minister announced backing for the power of big data and AI, which has the potential to help even more patients, including those with cancer.

Science Minister Lord Vallance said: “There are huge opportunities in AI to improve UK healthcare, from scans detecting illnesses earlier to bringing NHS waiting lists down by planning appointments more efficiently, and these will continue to develop.

“This investment in harnessing the potential of data to spot those at risk of cancer represents the sort of innovation the Government’s new AI Opportunities Action Plan sets out to realise, so this technology improves lives, while transforming public services and boosting growth.”

Minister for Public Health and Prevention, Andrew Gwynne said: “Using the latest technology could revolutionise how the NHS diagnoses and treats patients. As part of this government’s Plan for Change, we will transform our health service from analogue to digital, and innovative projects like this show exactly how we will achieve it.” 

The Cancer Data Driven Detection programme is jointly supported by Cancer Research UK, the National Institute for Health & Care Research, the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council, Health Data Research UK, and Administrative Data Research UK.

Head of Prevention and Early Detection Research at Cancer Research UK, Dr David Crosby, said: “The single most important thing we can do to beat cancer is to find it earlier, when treatment is more likely to be successful. With half a million cancer cases per year expected in the UK by 2040, we need a major shift towards more accurate diagnosis and detection of early cancer.”

Find out how Cambridge is Changing the Story of Cancer

Adapted from a press release from Cancer Research UK

Cambridge researchers are to lead a £10million project that could result in doctors being able to predict your individual chances of getting cancer and offer personalised detection and prevention.

The UK’s strengths in population-scale data resources, combined with advanced analytical tools like AI, offer tremendous opportunities to link disparate datasets and uncover clues that could lead to earlier detection, diagnosis, and prevention of more cancersAntonis AntoniouBrianPenny (Pixabay)Image representing AI and Big Data

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YesLicence type: Public Domain

The study, led by researchers from the universities of Cambridge and Exeter, identified several drugs already licensed and in use that have the potential to be repurposed to treat dementia.

Dementia is a leading cause of death in the UK and can lead to profound distress in the individual and among those caring for them. It has been estimated to have a worldwide economic cost in excess of US$1 trillion dollars.

Despite intensive efforts, progress in identifying drugs that can slow or even prevent dementia has been disappointing. Until recently, dementia drugs were effective only for symptoms and have a modest effect. Recently, lecanemab and donanemab have been shown to reduce the build-up in the brain of amyloid plaques – a key characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease – and to slow down progression of the disease, but the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) concluded that the benefits were insufficient to justify approval for use within the NHS.

Scientists are increasingly turning to existing drugs to see if they may be repurposed to treat dementia. As the safety profile of these drugs is already known, the move to clinical trials can be accelerated significantly.  

Dr Ben Underwood, from the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We urgently need new treatments to slow the progress of dementia, if not to prevent it. If we can find drugs that are already licensed for other conditions, then we can get them into trials and – crucially – may be able to make them available to patients much, much faster than we could do for an entirely new drug. The fact they are already available is likely to reduce cost and therefore make them more likely to be approved for use in the NHS.”

In a study published today in Alzheimer’s and Dementia: Translational Research & Clinical Interventions, Dr Underwood, together with Dr Ilianna Lourida from the University of Exeter, led a systematic review of existing scientific literature to look for evidence of prescription drugs that altered the risk of dementia. Systematic reviews allow researchers to pool several studies where evidence may be weak, or even contradictory, to arrive at more robust conclusions.

In total, the team examined 14 studies that used large clinical datasets and medical records, capturing data from more than 130 million individuals and 1 million dementia cases. Although they found a lack of consistency between studies in identifying individual drugs that affect the risk of dementia, they identified several drug classes associated with altered risk.

One unexpected finding was an association between antibiotics, antivirals and vaccines, and a reduced risk of dementia. This finding supports the hypothesis that common dementias may be triggered by viral or bacterial infections, and supports recent interest in vaccines, such as the BCG vaccine for tuberculosis, and decreased risk of dementia.

Anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen were also found to be associated with reduced risk. Inflammation is increasingly being seen to be a significant contributor to a wide range of diseases, and its role in dementia is supported by the fact that some genes that increase the risk of dementia are part of inflammatory pathways.

The team found conflicting evidence for several classes of drugs, with some blood pressure medications and anti-depressants and, to a lesser extent, diabetes medication associated with a decreased risk of dementia and others associated with increased risk.

Dr Ilianna Lourida from the National Institute for Health and Care Research Applied Research Collaboration South West Peninsula (PenARC), University of Exeter, said: “Because a particular drug is associated with an altered risk of dementia, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it causes or indeed helps in dementia. We know that diabetes increases your risk of dementia, for example, so anyone on medication to manage their glucose levels would naturally also be at a higher risk of dementia – but that doesn’t mean the drug increases your risk.

“It’s important to remember that all drugs have benefits and risks. You should never change your medicine without discussing this first with your doctor, and you should speak to them if you have any concerns.”

The conflicting evidence may also reflect differences in how particular studies were conducted and how data was collected, as well as the fact that different medications even within the same class often target different biological mechanisms.

The UK government is supporting the development of an Alzheimer’s trial platform to evaluate drugs rapidly and efficiently, including repurposed drugs currently used for other conditions.

“Pooling these massive health data sets provides one source of evidence which we can use to help us focus on which drugs we should try first,” said Dr Underwood. “We’re hopeful this will mean we can find some much-needed new treatments for dementia and speed up the process of getting them to patients.”

Reference
Underwood, BU & Lourida, I et al. Data-driven discovery of associations between prescribed drugs and dementia risk: A systematic review. Alz & Dem; 21 Jan 2025; DOI: 10.1002/trc2.70037

Antibiotics, antivirals, vaccinations and anti-inflammatory medication are associated with reduced risk of dementia, according to new research that looked at health data from over 130 million individuals.

We urgently need new treatments to slow the progress of dementia, if not to prevent it. If we can find drugs that are already licensed for other conditions, then we can get them into trials much faster than we could do for an entirely new drugBen UnderwoodAndrzej Rostek (Getty Images)Elderly Woman's Hands and Orange Pills

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Yes

Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital (CCRH) will transform how we diagnose and treat cancer. It will bring together world-leading research and clinical excellence to change the lives of cancer patients across the East of England, the UK and beyond.

The Hospital was part of the government’s review of its New Hospitals Programme. In naming the project as one of the Cohort 2 schemes that already has advanced plans and made significant progress on its full business case, the government confirmed that preparations can go ahead for construction to start in 2026. It remains on track to be built by 2029.

Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital, a partnership between Cambridge University Hospitals and the University of Cambridge, will combine NHS clinical space with three new state-of-the-art research institutes that will support the ambitions set out in the government's new NHS ten-year plan.

Bringing together world-class NHS clinicians with cutting-edge University and industry-led research, the hospital will accelerate the early detection of cancer and prevention of illness, and lead the way in delivering bespoke, precision treatments that will radically improve patient outcomes.

Professor Deborah Prentice, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, said: “This is excellent news for the future of Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital, which promises to have a huge impact on how we diagnose and treat cancer, not only in our region, but globally.

“Our teams are also working hard to secure much-needed philanthropic support to complement the funding committed by the NHS and the University. Generous donations will help realise our vision for this revolutionary, and much-needed, research hospital.”

Find out more about the hospital that will change the story of cancer forever here.

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has announced that ambitious plans can proceed for Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital, which promises to change the story of cancer forever.

Our teams are also working hard to secure much-needed philanthropic support to complement the funding committed by the NHS and the University. Generous donations will help realise our vision for this revolutionary, and much-needed, research hospitalDeborah Prentice, Vice-Chancellor The hospital that will change the story of cancer forever Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital - artist's impression

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Yes

Researchers at the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge University found that these individuals also report experiencing lower quality healthcare than both autistic and non-autistic people whose gender identity matches their sex assigned at birth (cisgender).

The findings have important implications for the healthcare and support of autistic transgender/gender diverse (TGD) individuals. This is the first large-scale study on the experiences of autistic TGD people and the results are published today in Molecular Autism.  

Previous research suggests that both autistic people and TGD people separately have poorer healthcare experiences and are more likely to be diagnosed with physical and mental health conditions than other people. In addition, a 2020 study of over 640,000 people, carried out by the Autism Research Centre in Cambridge, found that TGD people are more likely to be autistic and have higher levels of autistic traits than other people. Several other studies now confirm this finding and show that autistic people are more likely to experience gender dysphoria than others. Despite these findings, there are no studies that consider risks of mental health conditions, physical health conditions, and healthcare quality among autistic TGD people.

In the largest study to date on this topic, the team at the Autism Research Centre used an anonymous, self-report survey to compare the experiences of 174 autistic TGD individuals, 1,094 autistic cisgender individuals, and 1,295 non-autistic cisgender individuals.

The survey assessed rates of mental health conditions and physical health conditions, as well as the quality of 51 different aspects of healthcare experiences. The healthcare experiences questions were wide-ranging and included questions about communication, anxiety, access and advocacy, system-level issues, and sensory experiences among others. They addressed several very basic aspects of healthcare, including asking participants to endorse statements such as ‘If I need to go to see a healthcare professional, I am able to get there’, ‘I am able to describe how bad my pain feels’, and ‘I usually understand what my healthcare professional means when they discuss my health’.

Both autistic TGD and autistic cisgender adults reported significantly poorer healthcare experiences across 50 out of 51 items compared with non-autistic cisgender people, confirming that autistic people appear to have poorer quality healthcare than non-autistic cisgender individuals, regardless of their own gender identity.

Compared to non-autistic cisgender individuals, autistic TGD people were three to 11 times more likely to report anxiety, shutdowns, and meltdowns related to common healthcare experiences.

For every 10 cisgender non-autistic adults who endorsed the following statements, on average, only two autistic cisgender adults and only one autistic TGD adult stated that they: (i) understood what their healthcare professional meant when discussing their health; (ii) knew what was expected of them when seeing a healthcare professional; or (iii) were able to describe how bad their pain felt.

Autistic TGD people and autistic cisgender people were more likely to report both long-term physical and mental health conditions that were formally diagnosed, suspected, or that had been recommended for assessment by clinicians. For every 10 non-autistic cisgender people who had at least one diagnosed physical health condition, there were 15 autistic cisgender people and 23 autistic TGD people. For every 10 non-autistic cisgender people who reported at least one diagnosed mental health condition, there were 50 autistic cisgender people and 109 autistic TGD people who reported the same.

Alarmingly, it is now well-established that autistic people and TGD people are each at a much higher risk of suicide and suicide-related behaviours than other people. In 2023, the Department of Health and Social Care specifically recognized autistic people as a priority group in their Suicide prevention strategy for England: 2023 to 2028. The new study found that, compared to people who are non-autistic and cisgender, autistic cisgender individuals were 4.6 times more likely and autistic TGD people were 5.8 times more likely to report self-harm.

Dr Elizabeth Weir, a postdoctoral scientist at the Autism Research Centre, and one of the lead researchers of the study, said: “These findings add to the growing body of evidence that many autistic people experience unacceptably poor mental health and are at a very high risk of suicide-related behaviours. We need to consider how other aspects of identity, including gender, influence these risks.” 

These results emphasise the importance of considering intersectionality in clinical settings, including health risks for individuals who hold multiple minoritised identities. The researchers say clinicians should be aware of these risks and the unique barriers to healthcare that autistic TGD people may experience. The findings also underscore that people who are autistic and transgender/gender diverse experience particularly high rates of mental health conditions and risks of self-harm.

Professor Sir Simon Baron-Cohen, Director of the Autism Research Centre and a member of the team, said: “We need to consider how to adapt healthcare systems and individual care to meet the needs of autistic transgender/gender diverse people. Policymakers, clinicians, and researchers should work collaboratively with autistic people to improve existing systems and reduce barriers to healthcare.”

Reference
Green, K.*, Weir, E.*, Wright, L.*, Allison, C., & Baron-Cohen, S. Autistic and transgender/gender diverse people’s experiences of health and healthcare. Molecular Autism; 21 Jan 2025; DOI: 10.1186/s13229-024-00634-0

Autistic transgender/gender diverse individuals are more likely to have long-term mental and physical health conditions, including alarmingly high rates of self-harm, new research from the University of Cambridge suggests.

These findings add to the growing body of evidence that many autistic people experience unacceptably poor mental health and are at a very high risk of suicide-related behavioursElizabeth WeirKyle (Unsplash)Woman with transgender flag make-up

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

YesLicence type: Public Domain

The crystal-clear images show light being emitted from these millimetre-sized pebbles within the belts that orbit 74 nearby stars of a wide variety of ages – from those that are just emerging to those in more mature systems like our own Solar System.

The REASONS (REsolved ALMA and SMA Observations of Nearby Stars) study, led by Trinity College Dublin and involving researchers from the University of Cambridge, is a milestone in the study of exocometary belts because its images and analyses reveal where the pebbles, and the exocomets, are located. They are typically tens to hundreds of astronomical units (the distance from Earth to the Sun) from their central star.

In these regions, it is so cold (-250 to -150 degrees Celsius) that most compounds are frozen as ice on the exocomets. What the researchers are therefore observing is where the ice reservoirs of planetary systems are located. REASONS is the first programme to unveil the structure of these belts for a large sample of 74 exoplanetary systems. The results are reported in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

This study used both the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile and the Submillimeter Array (SMA) in Hawai‘i to produce the images that have provided more information on populations of exocomets than ever before. Both telescope arrays observe electromagnetic radiation at millimetre and submillimetre wavelengths.

“Exocomets are boulders of rock and ice, at least one kilometre in size, which smash together within these belts to produce the pebbles that we observe here with the ALMA and SMA arrays of telescopes,” said lead author Luca Matrà from Trinity College Dublin. “Exocometary belts are found in at least 20% of planetary systems, including our own Solar System.”

“The images reveal a remarkable diversity in the structure of belts,” said co-author Dr Sebastián Marino from the University of Exeter. “Some are narrow rings, as in the canonical picture of a ‘belt’ like our Solar System’s Edgeworth-Kuiper belt. But a larger number of them are wide, and probably better described as ‘disks’ rather than rings.”

Some systems have multiple rings/disks, some of which are eccentric, providing evidence that yet undetectable planets are present and their gravity affects the distribution of pebbles in these systems.

“The power of a large study like REASONS is in revealing population-wide properties and trends,” said Matrà.

For example, the study confirmed that the number of pebbles decreases for older planetary systems as belts run out of larger exocomets smashing together, but showed for the first time that this decrease in pebbles is faster if the belt is closer to the central star. It also indirectly showed – through the belts’ vertical thickness – that objects as large as 140 km across and even Moon-size objects are likely present in these belts.

“We have been studying exocometary belts for decades, but until now only a handful had been imaged,” said co-author Professor Mark Wyatt from Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy. “This is the largest collection of such images and demonstrates that we already have the capabilities to probe the structures of the planetary systems orbiting a large fraction of the stars near to the Sun.”

“Arrays like the ALMA and SMA used in this work are extraordinary tools that are continuing to give us incredible new insights into the universe and its workings,” said co-author Dr David Wilner from the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian “The REASONS survey required a large community effort and has an incredible legacy value, with multiple potential pathways for future investigation.”

Reference:
L. Matrà et al. ‘REsolved ALMA and SMA Observations of Nearby Stars. REASONS: A population of 74 resolved planetesimal belts at millimetre wavelengths.’ Astronomy & Astrophysics (2025). DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202451397

Adapted from a Trinity College Dublin media release.

An international team of astrophysicists has imaged a large number of exocomet belts around nearby stars, and the tiny pebbles within them.

Luca Matra, Trinity College Dublin, and colleaguesMillimetre continuum images for the REASONS resolved sample of 74 exocomet belts

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Yes

Research led by the University of Cambridge, in collaboration with Nottingham Trent University, raises serious concerns about bias in the UK criminal justice system due to negative stereotyping of accents.

These stereotypes, the researchers argue, can affect all parts of the system from arrest to sentencing, and undermine not only suspects and defendants, but also the testimony of witnesses. The study is particularly concerned about accented speakers being incorrectly selected from voice identification parades.

The findings, published in Frontiers in Communication, suggest that despite progress in equality and diversity in some parts of British life, including ‘working-class’ and regional accents becoming more prominent on television and radio, harmful stereotypes remain.

“Our findings bring into sharp focus the disadvantage that speakers of some accents may still face in the criminal justice system,” said lead author, Alice Paver, from the University of Cambridge’s Phonetics Laboratory and Jesus College, Cambridge.

“Voices play a powerful role in the criminal justice system and police officers, lawyers and juries are all susceptible to judging voices based on stereotypes, whether they're aware of it or not. As things stand, listeners think some accents sound guiltier than others and we should all be concerned about that.”

The test

The researchers, from Cambridge and Nottingham Trent University, asked 180 participants (~50:50 gender split) from across the UK to listen to recordings of ten regionally-accented male voices: Belfast, Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, Liverpool, London, Newcastle and Standard Southern British English (SSBE), also referred to as RP.  

Participants were then asked to rate the voices on 10 social traits – ‘Educated’, ‘Intelligent’, ‘Rich’, ‘Working class’, ‘Friendly’, ‘Honest’, ‘Kind’, ‘Trustworthy’, ‘Aggressive’ and ‘Confident’; as well as on 10 morally ‘good’, ‘bad’ and ‘ambiguous behaviours’, which included a range of crime types.

These behaviours included: ‘Return a lost wallet to its owner’, ‘Stand up for someone who is being harassed’, ‘Cheat on a romantic partner’, ‘Report a relative to the police for a minor offence’, ‘Drive dangerously’, ‘Physically assault someone’, ‘Shoplift’, ‘Touch someone sexually without consent’, ‘Vandalize a shop front.’

The study used a wider range of recorded accents, behaviours and criminal offences than previous research which has tended to focus on criminal behaviour in general or the binary of white versus blue-collar crime. This study included crimes which are not class stratified, such as a driving offence and a sexual offence, and is the first to identify links between listener perceptions of morality, criminality, and social traits.

To ensure their results would be valid in a criminal justice context, the researchers created voice samples in a similar way to how they are constructed for voice ID parades. The aim was to mimic, as closely as possible, how a juror or earwitness would experience them.  

Findings: Status, class and regions

The results show that people with non-standard accents are more likely to be associated with criminal behaviour but that there is significant variation in perceptions between accents.

The RP-like accent was perceived as the least likely to behave in criminal ways, while the Liverpool and Bradford accents were the most likely.

Alice Paver said: “The strongest connection we found was between people's perceptions of class or status, negative traits such as aggression, and how they think someone is going to behave, particularly when it comes to crime. This is the first time that a concrete link between traits and behaviours has been made in the context of accent judgements.”

Unlike previous findings, the researchers did not observe a relationship between ‘solidarity traits’ (such as kindness and trustworthiness) and any behaviours. Status proved a much more important predictor of behaviours, re-enforcing the link between social class and expectations of behaviour in the UK.

However, non-English accents, in particular Belfast’s and Glasgow’s, were rated significantly less likely to behave in criminal ways than almost all other accents. They were also thought most likely to ‘stand up for someone being harassed’ (‘honourable behaviour’) and least likely to exhibit ‘morally bad’ behaviours.

Alice Paver said: “Our findings show that perceptions of speakers of regional accents and how status, social attractiveness and morality interact are much more complex than previously assumed. We need a much more nuanced understanding of how accents are evaluated when it comes to different crime types.”

Findings: Sexual offences

The London and Liverpool accents were rated most likely to touch someone sexually without consent, but they were very closely followed by the RP accent. Participants thought the RP accent was more likely to commit a sexual assault than any of the other offences tested.

“This finding simultaneously undermines certain traditional stereotypes about both higher status and working-class men,” Alice Paver said. “This may indicate shifting perceptions of the ‘type’ of man who can and does commit sexual offences.”

The Glasgow and Belfast speakers were thought the least likely to commit this sexual offence.

The study found that participants perceived this sexual offence as distinct from other criminal behaviours. Poor ratings for it clustered with those for non-criminal ‘morally bad’ behaviours, namely ‘being unfaithful to a romantic partner’ and ‘lying on a CV’.

Findings: Newcastle and Birmingham

Previous studies have found that the Newcastle accent rates highly for traits such as friendliness, but this study recorded less positive ratings for kindness, honesty, friendliness and trustworthiness.

By contrast, the Birmingham accent, which has rated poorly in previous research across these measures, performed better than Bradford, Bristol, Liverpool, London and Newcastle in this study.

“Although relatively stable over time, language attitudes can change,” Alice Paver said. “This might be the case for the Birmingham and Newcastle accents. But previous studies have often asked people what they think of an accent label whereas we played them an actual voice. That’s a very different stimulus so we’re not surprised people reacted differently.”

Bringing about change

The study contributes to the Improving Voice Identification Procedures project. Its team of researchers is currently drafting revised guidelines for voice identification parades aimed at police officers and legal professionals.

They support the use of pre-tests to screen for bias against foil or suspect voices to make sure that they don't stand out as sounding unduly guilty or untrustworthy.

“Jurors are not currently made aware of or warned against letting voice- or accent-based prejudice sway their decisions,” Paver said. “If we're asked to judge whether someone is guilty or not, and they've got a particular accent, we need to be sure we're not making that judgment because we think they sound like a bad guy.”

The researchers hope that future studies will examine even more offence types; further explore the relationships between perceptions of criminality and other, non-criminal, behaviours; and make use of a broader range of voices for each accent to tease apart the effect of individual voices and the strength of regional accents.

The research was carried out in collaboration with Professor Natalie Braber and Dr David Wright of Nottingham Trent University’s School of Arts and Humanities, and Dr Nikolas Pautz, of NTU's Dept. of Psychology.

 

Funding

This research was supported by the United Kingdom Economic and Social Research Council as part of the project Improving Voice Identification Procedures (IVIP), reference ES/S015965/1. Additional funding was provided by the Isaac Newton Trust.

Reference

A. Paver, D. Wright, N. Braber and N. Pautz, ‘Stereotyped accent judgements in forensic contexts: listener perceptions of social traits and types of behaviour’, Frontiers in Communication (2025). DOI: 10.3389/fcomm.2024.1462013

People who speak with accents perceived as ‘working-class’ including those from Liverpool, Newcastle, Bradford and London risk being stereotyped as more likely to have committed a crime, and becoming victims of injustice, a new study suggests.

Listeners think some accents sound guiltier than others and we should all be concerned about thatAlice PaverArt De Cade via Flikr under a CC licenseThe Old Bailey in London. Photo: Art De Cade via Flikr under a CC license

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

YesLicence type: Attribution

The work has been commissioned by the UK government’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology after a review by the UK Chief Medical Officer in 2019 found the evidence base around the links to children’s mental health were insufficient to provide strong conclusions suitable to inform policy.

The project – led by a team at the University of Cambridge, in collaboration with researchers at several leading UK universities – is aimed at improving policymakers’ understanding of the relationship between children’s wellbeing and smartphone use, including social media and messaging. It will help direct future government action in this area.

Project lead Dr Amy Orben from the Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit (MRC CBU) at the University of Cambridge said: “There is huge concern about the impact of smartphone use on children's health, but the evidence base remains fairly limited. While the government is under substantial time pressure to make decisions, these will undoubtedly be better if based on improved evidence.

“This is a complex and rapidly evolving issue, with both potential harms and benefits associated with smartphone use. Technology is changing by the day, and scientific evidence creation needs to evolve and innovate to keep up.

“Our focus will be on deepening our causal understanding of the effects of new technologies, particularly over short timescales, to ensure that decisions are informed, timely and evidence-based.”

Dr Orben will lead a Project Delivery Team, with Consortium Members from the universities of Bath, Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow, Manchester, Nottingham, Oxford and York and the London School of Economics. It will aim to identify which research methods and data sources will be most effective at identifying potential causal relationships between social media, smartphones, and the health and development of children and young people

Deputy project lead Dr Amrit Kaur Purba, also from the MRC CBU at Cambridge, said: “The impact of social media on young people is a pressing issue, and our project will ensure the research community is in a strong position to provide policymakers with the causal and high-quality insights they need. While we don’t expect this to be straightforward, our research will leverage diverse expertise from across the UK to deliver a comprehensive and informed response to make recommendations for how research in this area should be supported in future.”

The researchers will review and summarise existing research on the impact of smartphones and social media on children and young people’s mental health, wellbeing, physical health, lifestyle and health behaviours, and educational attainment. The review will recognise the diversity of perspectives that exist in this area and consider where further research could add valuable new insights to the evidence base. 

They will assess the various methods and data available to understand the causal impacts, including recognising that online habits and emerging technologies are changing at a rapid pace, and considering how the experiences of vulnerable children and young people – for example, LGBTQ+ young people and those with special needs or mental health issues – can be captured in future research projects.

This will allow the team to recommend and outline how future research studies could deliver robust and causal evidence on the impact of smartphones and social media on child development factors in the next two to three years.

Technology Secretary Peter Kyle, said: "The online world offers immense opportunities for young people to connect and learn. Ensuring they can do so in an environment which puts their safety first is my priority and will guide this government’s action on online safety.  

“That’s why we have launched new research, led by the University of Cambridge with support from other top UK universities, to better understand the complex relationship between technology and young people's wellbeing.

“This vital research will build a trusted evidence base for future action, helping us to protect and empower the next generation towards a safer and more positive digital future."

Cambridge researchers are leading the first phase of a new research project that will lay the groundwork for future studies into the impact on children of smartphone and social media use.

This is a complex and rapidly evolving issue, with both potential harms and benefits associated with smartphone use. Technology is changing by the day, and scientific evidence creation needs to evolve and innovate to keep upAmy OrbenOwen FrankenTeenager holding a smartphone

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Yes

Launched on 19 December 2013, Gaia’s fuel tank is now approaching empty – it uses about a dozen grams of cold gas per day to keep it spinning with pinpoint precision. But this is far from the end of the mission. Technology tests are scheduled for the weeks ahead before Gaia is moved to its ‘retirement’ orbit, and two massive data releases are tabled for around 2026 and the end of this decade, respectively.

“Today marks the end of science observations and we are celebrating this incredible mission that has exceeded all our expectations, lasting for almost twice its originally foreseen lifetime,” said ESA Director of Science Carole Mundell.

“The treasure trove of data collected by Gaia has given us unique insights into the origin and evolution of our Milky Way galaxy, and has also transformed astrophysics and Solar System science in ways that we are yet to fully appreciate. Gaia built on unique European excellence in astrometry and will leave a long-lasting legacy for future generations.”

“Today marks the last day of science data collection from Gaia, these observations to form part of the final data release,” said Dr Nicholas Walton from Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy, lead of the UK Gaia Project team and ESA Gaia Science Team member. “Our Gaia team in the UK is now working hard on the incredibly complex data analysis for the upcoming Gaia data releases. These will enable a wealth of new discovery, adding to the science from one of the world’s most productive science discovery machines.”

Gaia delivers best Milky Way map

Gaia has been charting the positions, distances, movements, brightness changes, composition and numerous other characteristics of stars by monitoring them with its three instruments many times throughout the mission.

This has enabled Gaia to deliver on its primary goal of building the largest, most precise map of the Milky Way, showing us our home galaxy like no other mission has done before.

Gaia’s repeated measurements of stellar distances, motions and characteristics are key to performing ‘galactic archeology’ on our Milky Way, revealing missing links in our galaxy’s complex history to help us learn more about our origins. From detecting ‘ghosts’ of other galaxies and multiple streams of ancient stars that merged with the Milky Way in its early history, to finding evidence for an ongoing collision with the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy today, Gaia is rewriting the Milky Way’s history and making predictions about its future.

Warning! More ground-breaking science ahead

The Gaia scientific and engineering teams are already working on the preparations for Gaia Data Release 4 (DR4), expected in 2026.

“This is the Gaia release the community has been waiting for, and it’s exciting to think this only covers half of the collected data,” said Antonella Vallenari, Deputy Chair of DPAC based at the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF), Astronomical Observatory of Padua, Italy. “Even though the mission has now stopped collecting data, it will be business as usual for us for many years to come as we make these incredible datasets ready for use.”

“Over the next months we will continue to downlink every last drop of data from Gaia, and at the same time the processing teams will ramp up their preparations for the fifth and final major data release at the end of this decade, covering the full 10.5 years of mission data,” said Rocio Guerra, Gaia Science Operations Team Leader based at ESA’s European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) near Madrid in Spain.

Gaia’s retirement plan

While today marks the end of science observations, a short period of technology testing now begins. The tests have the potential to further improve the Gaia calibrations, learn more about the behaviour of certain technology after ten years in space, and even aid the design of future space missions.

After several weeks of testing, Gaia will leave its current orbit around Lagrange point 2, 1.5 million km from the Earth in the direction away from the Sun, to be put into its final heliocentric orbit, far away from Earth’s sphere of influence. The spacecraft will be passivated on 27 March 2025, to avoid any harm or interference with other spacecraft.

Wave farewell to Gaia

During the technology tests Gaia’s orientation will be changed, meaning it will temporarily become several magnitudes brighter, making observations through small telescopes a lot easier (it won’t be visible to the naked eye). A guide to locating Gaia has been set up here, and amateur astronomers are invited to share their observations.

“Gaia will treat us with this final gift as we bid farewell, shining among the stars ahead of its well-earned retirement,” said Uwe Lammers, Gaia Mission Manager.

“It’s a moment to celebrate this transformative mission and thank all of the teams for more than a decade of hard work operating Gaia, planning its observations, and ensuring its precious data are returned smoothly to Earth.”

Adapted from a European Space Agency press release. 

The European Space Agency’s Milky Way-mapper Gaia has completed the sky-scanning phase of its mission, racking up more than three trillion observations of about two billion stars and other objects over the last decade to revolutionise the view of our home galaxy and cosmic neighbourhood.

ESA/Gaia/DPAC, Stefan Payne-WardenaarThis is a new artist’s impression of our galaxy, the Milky Way, based on data from ESA’s Gaia space telescope.

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Feryal Clark MP was welcomed to the University’s DAWN supercomputer facility, located on the University’s West Cambridge Innovation District, by Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research, Professor John Aston, and Dr Paul Calleja, Director of Research Computing Services at the University.  

Together they toured the DAWN supercomputer and met with representatives from academia and industry partners who have ambitious plans for AI and supercomputing in Cambridge. The visit comes as the Government opens a UK-wide call for early access to the new AI Research Resource service, of which DAWN is part of.

Now up and running in its state-of-the-art Data Centre in Cambridge, DAWN is currently the most powerful AI supercomputer in the UK, with more than a thousand top-end Intel graphics processing units (GPUs) operating inside its server stacks. The supercomputer’s bespoke innovations in hardware and software result from a long-term co-design partnership between the Cambridge Open Zettascale Lab, directed by Dr Paul Calleja, and global tech leaders Intel and Dell Technologies, with support from the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), StackHPC and UK Research & Innovation.  

The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Deborah Prentice, also welcomed the Minister to the Wolfson Brain Imaging facility on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, where they were able to learn about the impact of DAWN and AI on patients, with a demonstration of the advances in healthcare. 

Feryal Clark MP later toured the University’s latest brain imaging scanner and heard from leading University researchers who are utilising DAWN supercomputing capabilities and AI to improve patient outcomes, and develop new and innovative treatments.  

The Minister moved on to meet with Professor Zoe Kourtzi, whose team are working on improving the early diagnosis of Alzheimers, for which AI can help develop tools by combining diverse data sources that provider a richer picture of a patient’s brain health. Professor James Brenton also presented on his work developing a comprehensive clinical decision-making support platform that integrates and refines cancer patient data from multiple sources into a single, much more manageable tool. Feryal Clark MP further heard from researcher Bill McGough, who is working on a project to develop an AI tool to detect renal cancers in non-contrast and low-dose CT, to enable kidney screening in the UK. 

The University of Cambridge is home to world-leading researchers in AI, to students enthusiastic about the potential of AI, and to an innovation ecosystem that is successfully translating this research into innovative new start-ups and creating jobs. The University’s flagship AI@Cam is harnessing the University's interdisciplinary research to drive a new wave of AI innovation that delivers public value. 

The Minister for AI and Digital Government, Feryal Clark MP, visited the University of Cambridge on the day the Government announced their new AI Action Plan.  

Lloyd Mann / University of CambridgeLeft to right: Nicola Ayton, Deputy Chief Executive of Cambridge University Hospitals (CUH), Feryal Clark MP, Minister for AI and Digital Government, Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University, Professor Deborah Prentice

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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