UK Research and Innovation

Delighted to announce the launch of our 'Adding Life to Years' impact report yesterday, at an event held at the House of Lords: https://lnkd.in/eBE9VTNR Offering a glimpse of our work over the last five years, we are particularly pleased to be able to report some great impacts - delivered against a background of a global pandemic and cost of living crisis. While the Challenge has drawn to a close, the objectives of the Healthy Ageing Challenge remain as pertinent today as they were at the start. With that in mind, we were particularly delighted with the announcement that the work will continue in Innovate UK through the establishment of a new Healthy Lives team. They will work alongside colleagues in ESRC and the other research councils to further the work aligned to UKRI’s strategic priority for Health, Ageing and Wellbeing. We'd like to take this opportunity to thank the many who have helped us achieve success, our advisory group, citizen representatives, partners, project investments, colleagues, team and of course our 240+ project investments: https://lnkd.in/eBzua52Z Happy reading! UK Research and Innovation Innovate UK Innovate UK Business Connect ESRC: Economic and Social Research Council British Society of Gerontology; Ageing, Business and Society Special Interest Group Design Age Institute Centre for Ageing Better Housing LIN International Longevity Centre - UK UK National Innovation Centre for Ageing UnLtd VOICE ZINC

We’re excited to share that £12 million has been awarded by Responsible Ai UK (RAI UK) to support projects that will address the challenges of rapid advances in artificial intelligence.   These projects aim to tackle emerging concerns of generative and other forms of AI currently being built and deployed across society, in sectors such as health and social care, law enforcement and financial services: 🔸 PROBabLE Futures led by Prof. Marion Oswald, MBE from Northumbria University, which is focusing on the uncertainties of using AI for law enforcement 🔸 AdSoLve led by Prof Maria Liakata from Queen Mary University of London, which will address the limitations of large language models, known as LLMs, for medical and social computers 🔸 Participatory Harm Auditing Workbenches and Methodologies led by Dr Simone Stumpf from the University of Glasgow, which aims to maximise the potential benefits of predictive and generative AI while minimising potential for harm   Support for these projects form the pillars of RAI UK’s £31 million programme announced last year, which is funded through the UKRI Technology Missions Fund. We’re also committing another £4 million through our Technology Missions Fund to support these projects as well as additional projects exploring how responsible AI can enhance productivity, and how public voices can be amplified in the design and deployment of these technologies: 🔸 The Productivity Institute aims to better understand how responsible AI can drive productivity and will explore ways to incentivise the uptake of responsible AI 🔸 ESRC Digital Good Network, The Alan Turing Institute and the Ada Lovelace Institute will work to ensure that public voices are heard and considered in AI research, development and policy, promoting equity-driven approaches to AI development and amplifying the voices of underrepresented groups.   Dr Kedar Pandya, UKRI Technology Missions Fund Senior Responsible Owner and Executive Director at EPSRC said: “AI has great potential to drive positive impacts across both our society and economy.   “These investments complement UKRI’s £1 billion portfolio of investments in AI research and innovation, and will help strengthen public trust in AI, maximising the value of this transformative technology”   Full details can be found on our website. 

Over 100 researchers, industry leaders and policy partners from across Ireland, Northern Ireland and Great Britain gathered to celebrate the launch of the Co-Centre for Climate + Biodiversity + Water yesterday. The €41.3 million Co-Centre is initially funded for six years by the Government of Ireland (Science Foundation Ireland and Shared Island Fund); the Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture, Environment & Rural Affairs; and UK Research and Innovation. In addition, the project will also receive more than 30% co-funding from over 30 industry partners. The Co-Centre is a collaboration between Trinity College Dublin, Queen's University Belfast and University of Reading. Speaking at yesterday's launch, SFI’s Director of Science for the Economy, Dr Siobhán Roche, said: “Today’s launch of the Co-Centre for Climate + Biodiversity + Water marks a significant step forward in collaboratively addressing one of the most critical challenges of our time. Together with our co-funders, we look forward to seeing the Co-Centre generate excellent research and innovation at scale over the next six years.” Read here:https://lnkd.in/e8pEFEgK #IrishResearch

"I had a narrow view of what an academic career looked like when I joined ESRC 20 years ago," writes our Head of Talent and Skills, Frances Burstow. "To be fair, I wasn’t alone in thinking that a career in academia was a linear path through the halls of academia." But, she says, "more people switching between academia, business and government is key to UK’s position as a world-class research and innovation nation. "It is vital that we have more people moving much more between sectors. It builds connections, joins up thinking, encourages creativity and knowledge exchange and supports adoption of research and innovation." Read more from Frances, and on our work to help enable and encourage cross-sector mobility in this week's #UKRIVoices blog: https://lnkd.in/eScaszX6 And watch out for more stories of diverse career paths as part of our 101 Jobs: Switching Sectors series.

We welcome the National Action Plan for antimicrobial resistance (AMR) launched today by the Department of Health and Social Care. AMR is a large, complex problem that can’t be tackled by solely developing more antibiotics. Which is why through our continued investments we’re committed to supporting research across disciplines that looks at all aspects of the problem – from human behaviour and how we grow crops and rear animals for consumption, to how we manage the environment or use technology, clinical management strategies or challenge established cultural norms. This new national action plan will ensure the UK better restricts its use of antibiotics, antifungals, and antivirals – in both humans and animals – identify drug resistant infections before they emerge, and support industry in developing the next generation of treatments. Read the action plan ➡ https://lnkd.in/e9Xj6NxM

The Metascience Unit, jointly run by us and Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is working with Open Philanthropy to invest up to £5 million to fund metascience research grants that will improve our understanding of what works in the R&D system, as part of our evidence-based, data-driven approach to evolving the R&D landscape. We’re looking for proposals in the following areas: 🔵 Talent and professional development ➡️ including the effectiveness of interventions in training and skills, talent retention, stimulating entrepreneurship, or employer assessment methods in research contexts. 🔵 Allocation of research funding ➡️ including the impacts of different methods of peer review and different modes of funding (e.g. fellowships, research grants) on the distribution of research funds and scientific and career outcomes. 🔵 Modes of R&D delivery ➡️ including the efficacy of different institutional structures and sub-structures for conducting R&D. 🔵 Research integrity ➡️ including issues of reproducibility and the impact of interventions such as preregistration, open data, and reproducible code. 🔵 Improving the impact and dissemination of research outputs ➡️ including the role of technology transfer offices, different publication practices, conferences, and knowledge dissemination platforms. 🔵 Understanding impact ➡️ including improving the nuance with which we can define and measure the impact of research projects and programmes. 🔵 Understanding the impacts of AI ➡️ on the research and innovation ecosystem, including the funding and delivery of R&D. More information and how to apply: https://orlo.uk/BrOcJ

In November 2023, the UK brought together 28 nations and the EU at Bletchley Park to make sure that the world can realise the transformative potential of AI technology safely and responsibly. The first global AI Safety Summit sparked a ‘Bletchley Effect’ as countries build new AI institutions and make international agreements to cooperate on research and development. The #AISeoulSummit, co-hosted by the Republic of Korea and the UK on 21-22 May, will continue to drive forward this work on AI safety, as well as focusing on how the technology can be made more inclusive, ensuring the benefits and opportunities of AI are shared equally – and how attendees can further advance innovation.

Exciting opportunities for small or medium businesses to progress your AI innovations 🚨 If you’re looking to use AI solutions to address a business challenge in high-growth industries, including agri-food, transport, construction and creative industries, you can apply for a share of £7 million through two new competitions: 🟣 The first will support feasibility studies for a range of AI solutions to address business challenges faced by the industry, so they can take advantage of AI’s transformative opportunities. 🟣 The second will allow existing projects to apply for a share of £2 million, to further develop their AI innovations. Funded through our Technology Missions Fund, and delivered through Innovate UK’s Bridge AI programme, the competitions will enable businesses to work collaboratively with another SME or academic partner and tap into training and scientific expertise, as well as offering expert advice and guidance. Applications close on 8 May 2024. More: https://orlo.uk/IKQcy

📣 Calling small and medium business developing AI solutions in agrifood, construction, transport or creative industries! You could get a share of £5 million through a new competition announced today. With a further £2 million announced to help existing projects develop their AI innovations. The funding, delivered through UK Research and Innovation, will support businesses by allowing them to tap into training and scientific expertise, as well as offering expert advice and guidance. Find out more and apply before 8th May: https://lnkd.in/eKyZjtnz UK Research and Innovation

Exciting funding opportunity for a Digital Research Technical Professional (RTP) Skills NetworkPlus. You will bring together disciplines, sectors, and domains to: ◼ address key challenges related to digital RTP skills and careers ◼ provide leadership and co-ordinate collaborations ◼ develop better ways of working together ◼ accelerate learning, capability and capacity for digital RTPs Closes 27 June 2024. More and to apply: https://orlo.uk/oFRa8