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Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Delivery costs of International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF) ODA activities
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Operational costs occurred at Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) associated with hosting and/or managing ODA International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF) programmes
Screen4SpLDs - Development of an Automated Pre-Screening Tool for Specific Learning Disabilities in Children.
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Specific Learning Disabilities (SpLDs) is a common term in today's society, which manifests in different ways and can cause various difficulties in daily life. For one person it might be the lack of attention, for another, it might be struggling to read fluently or conduct basic mathematical calculations; these are different groups of Learning Disabilities. Early detection and treatment of SpLDs are crucial, as it enables the start of interventions that support the best outcomes for children living with SLDs. Not addressing SLDs at a young age has a major influence on development into adulthood and results in a high economic cost, exceeding the lifetime costs of asthma, intellectual disability, and diabetes have a huge shortage of special educators to conduct SLDs screening and subsequently providing treatment post diagnosis. There are nearly 90% of the world's children reside in Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs). The challenge of early detection and early intervention of SpLDs is exacerbated by limited expertise, including limited screening, diagnostic and treatment resources in LMICs. For instance, in the Global South, the skilled human resource and tools to assess SpLDs are very limited. Thus, these children are undiagnosed and negatively reinforced by the community by stigmatizing and labelling them. These factors all lead to low self-esteem and behavior problems that further interfere with their ability to learn. In vulnerable communities, which are often already poverty stricken, this operates as a vicious cycle, simply because optimal education is the main method of breaking this vicious cycle. We aim to target these developmental issues by developing and piloting low-cost mobile app-based solution for the screening of SpLDs that will lead to early intervention. Specific learning disorder may affect handwriting in a way that can be visually distinguished. The purpose of the proposed research is to evaluate the ability of deep learning to distinguish between those who have SpLDs and those who do not, from their handwriting. The proposed solution requires no more than taking a photo of the handwritten image on a mobile phone and passing it to the prediction model and getting the prediction results. Based on the proposed solution, the SpLDs screening can be conducted at home, in a school study area without any additional special setting. The important factors of this app are simplicity, ease of use, less training requirement, the accuracy of the results, and reliability. This app can serve from individual to national level for screening SpLDs in children. This will reduce the burden of the shortage of special educators, and this will be a huge relief for LMICs. This will, in general, reduce the inequalities faced by vulnerable and marginalized children, by providing an opportunity to receive optimal health and educational services. This will lead to the improvement of quality education received by ALL which in turn will contribute to wider societal improvements. In addition to the direct impact on the child, the spillover effects on the family and community development are significant. Further, creating an opportunity to screen a larger population will increase societal awareness of SpLDs and reduce the stigma
NeuReader: Eye Tracking Enabled Explainable-AI for Empowering Resource Scarce Neurological Healthcare in Pakistan
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Neurological disorders place a significant burden on the healthcare system of Pakistan where only a handful of trained neurologists are available to serve a population of 231 million people. More than 60% of Pakistan's population resides in rural areas where healthcare is provided via basic health units (BHU) and rural health centres (RHC) which are run by junior doctors or nursing staff. These facilities do not have the manpower or resources to provide any neurological care. The aim of project NeuReader is to develop a system that helps improve the provision of neurological care to patients in Pakistan. Neurological health will be monitored using electroencephalograms (EEG) which measure the brain's electrical activity via electrodes placed on the scalp. NeuReader will leverage Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing to read EEG data, diagnose neurological disorders, and provide a report explaining the problem. Simple diagnostic decisions with no explanation are not very helpful as junior medical staff administering the tests at BHUs or RHCs would also need help to increase patient awareness about their health condition. A better understanding of the diagnosis will also allow patients and their families make informed decisions about travelling to hospitals in urban areas to seek further assistance since that entails substantial travel and lodging expenses. The explainability features of NeuReader will also help neurologists (connected remotely to the system) prioritise patients based on the gravity of their conditions. Building such a system requires overcoming several technical challenges. The performance of AI systems is highly dependent on the amount and quality of data available for training them. Two types of data will be used for training: (1) EEG recordings with doctor's reports summarising them in words (2) Locations of abnormalities spotted within an EEG recording. Doctor reports will be written by neurologists during data collection. Labelling of locations of abnormalities within EEG recordings is time consuming and laborious. An EEG recording may consist of several minutes/ hours of data with abnormalities lasting only a few seconds and spread out across different locations within the recording. To avoid investing hundreds of hours labelling EEG records, eye tracking will be used to record locations of neurologist gaze patterns on a computer screen as they examine EEG data in their routine practice. These eye gaze patterns will then be used to promptly generate labels of events saving hours of highly valuable neurologist time. The recorded labels will be used to train AI algorithms that can automatically spot events of interest which can then be used to generate a text report that can be used by junior doctors and nursing staff at BHUs or RHCs to assist patients suspected of suffering from neurological disorders. A significant time will be dedicated to field studies designed to assess the needs of patients and doctors who will be the end users of this systems. The learn outcomes of these field studies will be incorporated into the final design to maximise on ground impact.
A Socio-technical Study of Electricity Demand, Efficiency and Flexibility in the Urban Housing Sector of Burkina Faso
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Universal access to a secure electricity supply is essential for the economic development and welfare of the population of Burkina Faso. Rapid urbanisation and an increased use of air conditioning (AC) has led to an 8.4% annual increase in the country's electricity demand since 2010. The nation's generation capacity is unable to keep up, resulting in frequent power outages, and a 45% dependence on energy imports creating high and volatile costs for consumers. An uninterrupted and affordable electricity supply would increase household incomes; improve education of children; save time and money collecting alternative fuels, particularly for women; improve the productivity of businesses; and accelerate the installation of new electricity connections. These direct benefits would reduce current rates of social and economic poverty, unemployment, illiteracy and emigration in the country. Upgrading the country's electricity generation and supply system is a long-term challenge, but in the short-term, our project partners, the Government of Burkina Faso and national electricity utility, SONABEL, believe the implementation of demand side management (DSM) programmes (electricity efficiency and flexibility) in the housing sector (which accounts for 33% of national electricity use) would better balance supply and demand and unlock these beneficial development outcomes. The Government has also committed to reduce electricity demand and improve energy efficiency in homes to cut Green House Gas emissions and help mitigate the effects of climate change, a phenomenon that disproportionately effects the Sahel region where Burkina Faso is located and is itself further exacerbating electricity demand as households are increasingly using AC to stay cool. However, at present, there is almost no data on household electricity demand, efficiency or flexibility in Burkina Faso for a successful, evidence based implementation of DSM. The aims and objectives of this research and partnership building project will address this substantial gap in knowledge. The project has been developed collaboratively with the Government of Burkina Faso and SONABEL to ensure the research delivers the data and evidence they need. For the direct research, a socio-technical residential electricity study will be undertaken with 100 households in Ouagadougou. Field measurements of electricity demands and internal temperatures of homes will provide empirical insights into households' electricity load profiles, use of AC, time-of-use and peak loads. An efficiency and flexibility survey will be completed to understand households' current practices and opportunities for improving energy efficiency at home, as well as identifying load shifting and curtailment actions that households would be willing to implement to prevent power outages. Diversity in responses due to the socio-technical characteristics of the households and dwellings will be studied. Simultaneously a range of partnership building activities (e.g. research visits, project meetings, workshops, mini conference) will be undertaken. These are tailored to the stage of the project programme to either inform the delivery of the direct research or form a platform for discussion, dissemination and impact generation of the research findings. An international network of 6 Universities will be created where future research on energy and development challenges in Burkina Faso and other African countries will stem. The network will also act as a platform for ongoing mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and skills. To deliver development impact within the project's life time, workshops with the Government and SONABEL will turn the research findings into evidence based recommendations to inform future policy and DSM programmes. Project partner GGGI will use their extensive network, to engage wider stakeholders and beneficiaries, so a range of routes to impact are achieved.
Early intervention systems for sustainable aquaculture health in Viet Nam and Thailand
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Early prediction, detection and management of changes in the health of aquaculture are important entry points to increasing production through reduced disease and mortality, resulting in greater resilience and sustainability. This in turn can facilitate food security and poverty reduction across SE Asia where aquaculture makes a significant GDP contribution. Rapid identification of changes in pathogen load, water quality, animal behaviour and feeding can be used as early warnings of adverse health outcomes, with these parameters also influenced by wider climatic fluctuations. However, the level of technologies available for monitoring is highly variable across SE Asian aquaculture systems, with existing methods often focusing on factors in isolation, rather than applying a holistic approach. Additionally, accessibility of monitoring tools to end-users, particularly in poorer regions, can be limited if systems are technologically complex or require significant financial investment. The aim of this project is to support and work alongside farmers in Viet Nam and Thailand to co-develop low-cost, sustainable, early warning monitoring systems of aquaculture health. This will facilitate sustainable resilience to environmental fluctuation, reducing production losses through disease. Systems will be developed around shrimp aquaculture, but with a focus on technologies transferable across species and SE Asia. The long-term impact will provide in-country capacity to predict adverse changes to aquatic animal health and welfare. This will better inform aquaculture practices, reduce disease outbreaks and mortality, improve food security, and therefore enhance economic development. The project will be delivered through the following four objectives: (1) Co-develop novel strategies to monitor and identify physiology and behaviour changes in aquaculture animal health with SE Asia stakeholders. (2) Co-develop low-cost point-of-need sensors for known aquaculture pathogens and nitrogenous waste parameters. (3) Create predictive climate models to identify the scale and impact of weather events, leveraging existing data and new data provided through objectives 1 and 2. (4) Continuously engage with end-users to ensure an understanding of needs and priorities. In working with local fish farming communities, the expected outcomes include a deep understanding of working practices and priorities for the aquaculture farming community, resulting in a fit-for-purpose, easy to use low-cost, sustainable monitoring tool in water quality and potential disease detection. This will be modelled in the context of wider pond and environmental conditions, such that farmers can predict potential problems and react in a timely fashion. As the tool kit includes the development of on-site methods for detecting aquatic pathogens, the link between environmental conditions and disease will also be elucidated. The direct beneficiaries are small aquaculture farming communities, particularly those from low-income households with little access to modern technologies. Through end-user workshops we will promote gender equity and inclusivity across protected characteristics and communities; end-users will be involved in development of monitoring systems and provided with key tools to monitor and predict pond conditions. Greater predictive ability will benefit policy makers and governments through increased resilience and planning in the context of climate change. Technologies developed, while targeted at shrimp aquaculture in Viet Nam and Thailand, have a high transfer potential across species farmed under similar conditions (i.e. many fish species in SE Asia) broadening end-user beneficiaries in the long-term.
Enhancing Indonesia's Disaster Preparedness Through an Innovative Multi-Risk Management Framework with ICT ecosystems
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Indonesia stretches along one of the most tectonically active boundaries in the world. Since 1970, earthquakes in Indonesia have led to over US$20 billion in economic losses and to hundreds of thousands of fatalities, sadly, many preventable with a better understanding of earthquake risk. Seismic risk increases over time and is exacerbated by rapid population growth and urbanisation. One of the greatest risks arises from substandard vulnerable structures, which account for a large proportion of fatalities and comprise most of existing building stock in urban and suburban regions of West Sumatra. Particularly in Padang city, such substandard structures are highly vulnerable and experienced catastrophic collapses during the 2009 West Sumatra earthquake. Whilst the Indonesian government has made some progress towards meeting the objectives set in the UN' Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the risk of vulnerable structures in West Sumatra (one of the least developed areas in Indonesia) remains very high. As a result, there is an urgent need for better disaster preparedness, reliable vulnerability assessments and appropriate seismic risk management strategies to reduce potential losses in future earthquakes. In recent years, Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) have been proposed to enhance the quality of data and accuracy of seismic risk calculations. Field data from building images (i.e. building categories, geo-tag location) obtained from deep learning approaches can be used to calculate the empirical vulnerability of buildings, but such information is only useful if it is calibrated with real data and integrated into earthquake risk assessment frameworks. Social media can also provide large amounts of eyewitness data (e.g. video and images) about an earthquake but harnessing this data into useful information for emergency responders, search and rescue workers, and structural engineers is still a challenge and requires the use of big data and artificial intelligence. The aim of this project is to develop an innovative, rapid and efficient framework for multi-hazard seismic risk assessment with ICT ecosystems to enhance West Sumatra's disaster preparedness, using Padang city as a pilot case study. For the first time, the developed framework will consider the effect of earthquakes, tsunami, landslides and liquefaction. The methodology will be subsequently integrated into the innovative management system KERIS. The new framework and KERIS system are expected to support West Sumatra's Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) in coordinating Disaster Risk Reduction efforts and policies in West Sumatra. The collaboration brings together leading institutions of the UK (University of Warwick) and Indonesia (Unversitas Bung Hatta, Institut Teknologi Bandung, and BPBD) with expertise in the fields of structural engineering and ICT. This collaborative project has the following Objectives. 1) Develop a rapid and efficient (on data management and computation) multi-hazard risk assessment methodology including data from ICT ecosystems using Padang as a pilot case study. 2) Propose innovative seismic risk mitigation and DRR management strategies, including a mobile app and the integration of the new framework into a new knowledge-management system (KERIS). 3) To organise workshops, seminars, networking events and visits between staff in the three universities so as to establish new long-term collaborations between them. The outcomes of the proposed research will give stakeholders in West Sumatra innovative and efficient tools for disaster mitigation, which is expected to reduce earthquake-related losses and promote sustainable development in the region.
Seismic Resilience of Egypt's Built Environment: A GIS-Based Framework for Assessment and Mitigation (Egypt-SeReAM)
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Natural disasters can have dire effects on countries, in the form of human casualties/injuries, infrastructure damage, economic and environmental losses. Earthquakes, in particular, are the most damaging as they are responsible for an annual death toll of over 20K and 20% of the total annual economic losses due to natural disasters. In low-income or developing countries, earthquake impacts are exacerbated, leading to substantial human loss, injuries, homelessness, and population displacement. Irreparable infrastructure damage can also have a great economic impact reaching 20% of a country's gross domestic income, leading to disruption of economic growth and development. Acknowledging this problem, there has been growing national interest in assessing regional seismic risk and loss for major cities. Several countries initiated Disaster Risk Management (DRM) programs which make use of the interdisciplinary advances in science and technology to model the complex interaction of hazard, exposure, and vulnerability and compute loss metrics that can be used by stakeholders and decision-makers to quantify of potential structural, economic, and social consequences, identify critical infrastructure components, outline pre-disaster damage mitigation measures and policies, and planning for post-disaster response protocols. Egypt, a lower-income country and one of Africa's most populated countries, is highly susceptible to the impacts of natural hazards (flooding, rising sea levels, and earthquakes). Several major cities, with populations larger than 5M and overly populated urban centers, are subject to high seismic risk triggered by risk drives such as poverty, climate change, decades of poor construction practices, and absence of municipal oversight. Countries with similar urban conditions, such as Albania and Turkey, experienced a wide extent of damage and losses from recent earthquakes. These countries, and others, allocate extensive funding and resources for DRM. On the other hand, the safety and robustness of Egypt's infrastructure is greatly under-researched. Although several studies investigated the seismic hazard for Egypt's major cities, no attention has been paid so far to either collapse risk assessment or loss and damage estimations (urban exposure, vulnerabilities, and resilience). Egypt-SeReAM will build on and further develop existing DRM methodologies to create such a digital framework for assessing the seismic resilience of Egypt's vulnerable built environment. A partnership between the University of Southampton, three of Egypt's top academic and research institutions will undertake this project combining different disciplines spanning urban planning, seismology, and structural engineering. The project will use the city of Alexandria as a pilot case study to establish the building blocks of the DRM framework concerned with built-environment resilience. The seismic vulnerability of Alexandria's urban center will be assessed, in terms of human, structural, and economic losses due to potential damage to the residential building stock. In the process, spatial urban, geotechnical, structural, and hazard data will be collected and an automated digital framework will be developed to quantify risk and loss under potential earthquake scenarios. The project will employ the geographic information system (GIS) mapping system to describe and communicate the earthquake consequences to the government, academia, industry, and public sectors. This will be packaged within an easily-to-use practice-oriented digital workflow that will assist authorities in making effective decisions for seismic protection measures to minimize potential damage and losses (primarily human, but financial as well) in future earthquakes. Through networking, training, and showcasing activities, the project will promote and specifically target Egypt's short- and long-term resilience to natural disasters, in support of its economic development.
Towards Low Cost Soil Fertility Sensor Systems for Smallholder Food Security in Kenya
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Food security is one of the "big four" agenda initiatives championed by the Kenyan Government. More than 80% of Kenya's population is dependent upon agriculture for employment, income, or food security needs (FAO) and a large proportion of the population are food insecure, for example 26% of children under 5 years of age suffer from malnutrition (UNICEF). The food security challenge is intensified by: reducing size of land parcels as a result of population growth; farmers being pushed into dryer lower quality land areas vulnerable to drought; conflicts resulting from competition for land; and people dropping out of nomadic life to move to settled communities dependent upon food aid (FAO). To address this, increases in agricultural productivity are needed. An important way to improve crop yield relates to better soil fertility. Optimising fertiliser strategies for soil can be summed up as: Right Source, Right Rate, Right Place, Right Time. For the greatest impact, this requires in-field measurement tools that can be used by farmers to understand the spatial changes in nutrient concentration within a field, and how these vary over time. No technology currently exists that allows this to be carried out at very low cost. The alternative to in-field testing is the use of soil laboratories in Nairobi, but these are expensive to use, far away from the farm and provide a single measurement which is not representative of the whole area farmed. In consequence, most smallholders are in the dark about the nutrition status of their soil and how it changes in response to different soil amendment approaches. This project will help address the measurement challenge by developing a new kind of sensor that can be used by farmers at very low cost to regularly test for two key soil macro-nutrients, called nitrate and phosphate. The project will take inspiration from ancient art and design based printing processes, combined with locally available natural materials (e.g. chimney soot, egg, newspaper and enzymes from plants and bacteria available within Kenya) to make extremely low cost soil sensors. By adopting a "co-creation" based philosophy, the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Kenyatta University in Nairobi and Glasgow School of Art in Glasgow will build a collaboration to deliver a step change in sensing technology for smallholder farmers in Kenya. This will be achieved by initially developing the sensor in the UK, employing a researcher from Kenya. Once a proof of concept has been created, the researcher will return to Kenya with the knowledge and understanding to recreate the sensor and test performance in greenhouse trials. The project will also involve a series of workshops where we will engage communities, industry and policy makers to ensure that we create user led solutions to address food security within Kenya. In the long term, this could be delivered to farmers either as a "factory in a box" containing the tools needed for sensor manufacture, or simply as an information pack that shows how to gather the resources required and print sensors. The project could also influence the wider region: 20 million people across Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia are food insecure (Worldbank, 2022), and face similar challenges.
Building Disaster Resilience to Seismic Hazards in Uganda
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Uganda is situated between the Eastern and Western branches of the East African Rift system and is prone to moderate level seismicity causing several destructive events in the past. Currently, seismic risk in Uganda is increasing at a fast pace due to high population growth, rapid urbanisation and vulnerable building stock caused by lack of building regulations and expertise for designing and constructing earthquake resistant structures. Therefore, there is an urgent need (i) to characterise seismic hazard (including earthquake induces landslides) using new methods, (ii) to categorise structural systems of residential building stock, (iii) to determine the location and distribution of different building categories realistically at national level, (iv) to assess their expected performances, (v) to determine seismic risk, and (vi) to develop risk reduction and management strategies. However, assessment and management of seismic risks in Uganda is a big challenge due to limited data availability, lack of expertise and insufficient resources. This project brings together a partnership of researchers from the University of Sheffield in the UK, and Makerere and Kyambogo Universities in Uganda, for the first time, to address the challenge faced by Uganda. The assembled research team will work towards the achievement of ambitious objectives of the project in close collaboration to reduce future earthquake related loses and develop more resilient communities in Uganda against seismic events. The project team will actively engage with governmental and non-governmental agencies in Uganda (such as National Bureau of Standards, National Building Review Board, Engineers Registration Board, Institution of Professional Engineers) to understand needs within the country, disseminate project outputs widely and maximise impact. Meetings with key policy makers will be held to examine potential areas for future development of the Seismic Design Code and risk management tools, to discuss barriers to change, and to develop proposals for change. Presentations to local communities will also be carried out to understand their current awareness of seismic risk and mitigation measures and to gather feedback on the accessibility and acceptability of the proposed changes and developed tools. The project will also train next generation of researchers, academics, practitioners, engineers, PhD and MSc students in Uganda by organising free online courses to equip them with necessary knowledge and skills in the fields of seismic design, vulnerability, risk and resilience.
SMART-H: SMART-Health-care facilities towards resilient, green, and sustainable medical systems.
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
SMART-H is the first step towards establishing SMART (e.g., resilient, sustainable, and green) Health-care facilities in Malawi and ensure continuity of operations of critical services before, during and after disasters and health crises to promote better community health and provide better services for patients and staff. A novel roadmap for stakeholders will be implemented to assess the adequacy of existing healthcare facilities and establish the selection criteria to identify those facilities eligible for mitigation strategies. It will provide an informed pathway on how government, business and society should intervene to prepare medical facilities to meet global standards and respond to disruptive events. The novel concept of this research consists of creating an integrated analysis framework to i) assess multi-hazards by probabilistic analyses, ii) identify medical baselines (e.g., health-care building types with similar structural and architectural features) on a variety of parameters collected through field investigations, iii) develop dynamic structural and thermal models to assess the physical and energy performance, and estimate direct and indirect losses and health and wellbeing of people associated with disasters driven by climate change for prioritising vulnerable baselines, iv) recommend mitigation strategies and optimize them using life-cycle approaches to reduce CO2 and improve energy efficiency, and v) produce cost-benefit analyses to plan mitigation investments for reducing future impact from multi-hazard-risks and health crises. This work will deliver a dataset, which will encourage stakeholders to take risk-informed and inclusive decisions at local, regional, and national level and promote medical facility renovations. The results will demonstrate that multi-disciplinary research is crucial to prioritise the extent and nature of repair of medical facilities. Depending on the policymakers' primary concerns different pathways should be considered to improve multi-hazard preparedness and response to health emergencies and disasters. To maximise the impact of the proposed research, a workshop in Malawi will be delivered to illustrate the potential of the proposed strategies amongst policy makers and industries operating in health emergency planning and response. This will create additional drive across sectors for financial initiatives and alternatives for inclusive healthcare. Dissemination of the research will be through publications in high profile journals and key conferences in this field.
GCRF Programme Delivery of ODA eligible activities
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Delivery and Programme of ODA eligible activities associated with the Economic and Social Sciences Research Council's activities funded by the Global Challenges Research Fund
Cumulative costs of the delivery of ODA-eligible activities developed and realised for Global Challenges Research Fund
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
The activities developed for the Global Challenges Research Fund and approved as promoting the overall ODA commitment of HMG, have been delivered by the appropriate BBSRC teams (including the Research and Innovation Funding Delivery Team sitting within the Capability & Innovation Domain). During the delivery stage, the plan set out in the commissioning stage is implemented, subject to any changes required as part of the commissioning process. The responsible teams support our external communications, call documentation, peer review/panel processes, and funding decisions cross a broad range of strategic and responsive funding mechanisms, and have been instrumental for the success of the Global Challenges Research Fund activities.
BBSRC ISPF delivery costs of ODA eligible activities
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Operational costs occured at BBSRC associated with hosting and/or managing ODA ISPF programmes
Programme delivery costs for EPSRC's GCRF allocation - supporting delivery of ODA eligible projects
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Programme Delivery costs for EPSRC activities funded through the Global Challenges Research Fund - supporting cutting-edge research to address challenges faced by developing countries.
Empowering Green Womenpreneurs
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
This project aims to develop a Circular Economy (CE) model specifically for micro and small beauty sector businesses led by women in Brazil, with benefits that extend to Global South countries. As the initial phase of a larger collaboration, this project will lay the groundwork by establishing essential connections and gathering preliminary data, with the goal of promoting sustainable and environmentally friendly women-led entrepreneurship. The initiative is a partnership between Coventry University in the UK and Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV) University in Brazil. The beauty sector in Brazil, predominantly led by women, produces 120 billion pieces of packaging annually, representing 70% of its total waste. This significant environmental challenge, exacerbated by chemical waste from beauty products, threatens soil, water, climate, and human health. Women are central to this industry, with 285,000 female-led micro-sized businesses in São Paulo alone. They constitute 46.7% of Brazil's 13.2 million micro-entrepreneurs, contributing over £8 billion annually to the economy. To address these challenges, the project will empower female entrepreneurs in Brazil by leveraging UK best practices in CE, focusing on sustainable waste reduction, treatment, and management. As key drivers of economic activity and primary decision-makers in 72% of Brazilian households, women have the potential to influence broader societal behaviors and norms through sustainable practices. Targeting women aligns with Sustainable Development Goal 5 (Gender Equality) by removing barriers to their economic participation and ensuring equal access to resources. This project also supports SDGs for industry innovation (SDG9), sustainable cities (SDG11), responsible consumption (SDG12), climate action (SDG13), and global partnerships (SDG17). Empowering women in this sector addresses gender inequality while driving environmental sustainability and economic growth, with the potential to boost inclusive growth and global GDP.
Place-Based Engagement Strategies with Local Communities for better Climate Resilience Governance in Disaster Situations
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
This project aims to develop place-based and context-specific civic engagement strategies in collaboration with local government officials and relevant civic stakeholders in Caxias do Sul, Brazil. The goal is to help local authorities increase awareness of climate change challenges and engage communities in building resilience against disasters. Recent floods in the area have exposed a significant lack of public awareness regarding climate vulnerability and its consequences. This lack of awareness has heightened the population's vulnerability to future extreme weather events, leaving the region less capable of adapting to extreme weather-related impacts of climate change, such as floods, heavy storms, and heatwaves and their consequences. To address these challenges, the project seeks to empower local authorities to develop better tools and methods for engagement processes that help deliver climate resilience strategies and broaden local voices in policy making. Focusing on Caxias do Sul, the project seeks to foster collaborations between researchers from Brazil and the UK to enable local authorities create innovative and effective approaches for disaster preparedness and response and co-produce climate resilience strategies. This initiative will be delivered through a series of workshops organised in partnership with researchers from the Universidade de Caxias do Sul. The primary objective is to enhance the capacity of local governments in Rio Grande do Sul to engage effectively with communities for improved climate resilience governance in disaster-prone areas. The workshops will foster dialogue between UK and Brazilian researchers and local stakeholders to develop and share best practices and methodologies for community engagement. They will address challenges such as inclusion, communication, and policy integration, emphasising practical implementation and sustainability. By providing a platform for exchanging ideas and strategies, the workshops aim to create adaptable solutions for diverse contexts. As the impacts of climate change affect us more and more, local governments face the pressing challenge of building long term resilience while effectively responding to disasters. Historically, top-down response efforts and mitigation strategies have often failed to meet local needs on the ground. Recently, the focus has been shifting towards policies that leverage local expertise and resources, emphasising the need for civic engagement. Local communities are the first responders to disasters and by involving them in producing, planning and delivering climate resilience knowledge and strategies, local governments can tap into valuable local assets, foster a sense of ownership, and ensure the long-term sustainability of their efforts. Collaborative, place-based approaches not only improve the relevance and effectiveness of climate mitigation and adaptation measures, but also strengthen civic resilience and address broader issues of sustainability. By adopting a context-sensitive and inclusive approach to climate resilience governance, local governments can better address the complexities of climate change adaptation and mitigation, deal better with disaster situations such as the recent floods in the region, and enhance the overall well-being and adaptive capacity of their communities. This project represents a critical step towards building more resilient and sustainable cities in the face of growing climate challenges.
Mitigating presentation attacks in remote identity proofing (MIMER): Pakistan in Focus
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
The shift towards digital channels for financial transactions due to the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in fraudulent financial transactions in low-middle-income countries like Pakistan due to weak remote identity proofing (RIDP) processes. The existing methods of verifying a person's identity through electronic means, such as facial recognition, can be easily deceived by advancements in artificial intelligence, such as deep fakes. These deep fakes are much more successful in bypassing the verification process than traditional methods. As a result, there is a lack of trust among users, particularly in countries like Pakistan, where cash is still widely used, in adopting mobile technologies for accessing banking services. This hinders the government's efforts to increase financial and digital inclusion for millions of underbanked individuals. The goal of the MIMER project is to develop a robust authentication method that can protect remote identity verification systems from emerging identity spoofing attacks. The objective is to create a mechanism that is specifically tailored to the conditions in Pakistan by creating detection models that are adapted to local language and other specific characteristics. The project will also focus on developing a framework for detecting audio and visual forgeries, making it resistant to antiforensics and multi-spoofing attacks, and well-suited for real-world scenarios. The project is aligned with various sustainable development goals and addresses the needs of the partner country, particularly by developing a secure and reliable remote identity verification system. This will lead to the creation of robust digital and financial services and decrease the risk of identity theft crimes. The research will be carried out through a seamless collaboration between The University of Glasgow, the University of Engineering and Technology Taxila, Pakistan, and an industrial partner, stech.ai. The focus of the project is to establish sustainable partnerships, network with policymakers within the UK and Pakistan, and co-create knowledge to address the challenges related to developing a secure and reliable remote identity verification system while working towards a common strategic theme of "building a secure and resilient world."
GLOBALSEAWEED PROTECT: conserve, improve, innovate, manage and empower for a resilient seaweed aquaculture industry
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
The global seaweed industry is the fastest growing aquaculture sector contributing half of global marine production. Southeast Asia, notably Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia, is the largest producer of red seaweeds that produce carrageenan, a hydrocolloid used in foods, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, worth c. US$14.7 billion and supporting over 1 million livelihoods there. Seaweeds, a low trophic crop, are of huge benefit to Southeast Asia, and unlike finfish/shrimp aquaculture, contribute to enhancing biodiversity. Demand for carrageenan is surging, but seaweed production systems in this region are massively challenged by the lack of genetic diversity, making them vulnerable to pests and diseases. This is compounded by climate change, which is also devastating wild seaweeds and habitats, the source of new cultivars on which the seaweed industry depends. These challenges threatening crop health, the wider environment and the livelihoods of the communities that rely on this industry for income. GLOBALSEAWEED-PROTECT aims to achieve a productive seaweed industry in Southeast Asia by taking a One Health approach. This will ensure that production systems are resilient to climate change, crops are healthy by preventing the introduction and spread of pests and disease, wild seaweed biodiversity and the wider environment are protected and enhanced, improving the long-term livelihoods of farmers and their communities, and providing a model for the rest of the world. The objectives, developed with our partners in Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, are to build capability and capacity in and between countries in i) research innovation, ii) development of resilient crops, (iii) implementation of biosecurity management strategies and tool kits for improving seaweed health, and (iv) engagement with local communities, researchers, governments, industry and NGOs through ‘Sharing Best Practice’ workshops. These objective will be realised through four Work Packages: WP1: Sustain resilient and viable seaweed production systems. WP2: Improve resilience of cultivars to climate change and pest and diseases. WP3: Adapt and build seaweed aquaculture systems that reduce losses of production due to disease, while also improving the health of the commercial crop and the wider aquatic environment. WP4: Empower local solutions to ensure viable and resilient seaweed production systems. The outcomes of new methodologies and knowledge generated from developing climate-resilient seaweed cultivars and how these temperature-resilient cultivars adapt to climate change will have far-reaching applications and benefits for seaweed farming throughout Southeast Asia and beyond. Understanding wild and farmed biodiversity and how seaweed farming and help seaweed-habitat restoration and the wider environment will strengthen production systems and, therefore, be of value to seaweed farmers. Implementing a Global Seaweed Protection Strategy will optimise seaweed health, the ecosystems supporting them, communities reliant on these crops and of value to policy makers. Introducing a Progressive Management Pathway for Improving Aquaculture Biosecurity (PMP/AB), trialling innovative early warning pests and diseases detection methodologies, and working with local communities to achieve a more reliable economy through e.g., crop diversification, will also improve production system health and thus livelihoods. This project will also contribute to the UK Government’s International Development Strategy to re-energise the UN Sustainable Development Goals, notably No Poverty, No Hunger, Gender Equality, Decent Work and Economic Growth, Reduced Inequality, Climate Action, and Life Below Water. Through our collaborations and further development of research networks our proposal will, therefore, have a legacy of cooperation well beyond the lifetime of the funding.
AQUASoS: an integrative scalable interdisciplinary approach for climate resilient sustainable SE Asian aquaculture
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Rivers, seas, and deltas are particularly vulnerable to rising water temperatures, salinization, pollution, and changes in sediment flow due to natural and anthropogenic environmental change. These changes disrupt ecosystems, reduce biodiversity, and threaten food and water security, disproportionately impacting developing nations. We have chosen the Mekong Delta (MKD) in Vietnam to develop our framework approach due to its relevance to the wider SE Asia region aquaculture development for a number of reasons including; 1) scale with more than 80% of national production @ 5 million tonnes, growing at 3.3% pa and a value over $8.9billion, 2) multi-species production and 3) complex one health landscape driving anti-microbial resistance (AMR). Adding to the complexity of developing sustainable aquatic food systems in the MKD is the increasing burden of infectious diseases. Indeed, infectious diseases in Asian and global aquaculture are a major continuous threat to sustainable production representing a ‘wicked problem’. Ongoing research at the University of Stirling coupling pioneering Earth observation technology into a Digital Observatory at the river-to-sea systems scale will be harnessed to build the Aqua System of Systems (AquaSoS). AquaSoS will be designed to address the above ‘wicked problem’. Our inter-disciplinary approach will brings together digital information on the component parts of this complex system to understand the current and projected interactions and influences. We will deliver suite of products and solutions for developing sustainable aquaculture that truly embeds consideration for natural resources (and protection thereof) and the peoples who's lives depend on aquaculture. This will provide a framework to tackle this ‘wicked problem’ across the SE Asia region and indeed globally. A critical component of our approach is the integration of both existing data and future data generation from multiple sources (metagenomics, biodiversity indices, in-situ sensors, satellite etc) into a scalable data formats into a one-stop-shop of information (SoS) accessible to stake holders including, policy and decision makers, scientists and industry to resolve the conflicts between environmental responsibilities and sustainable aquaculture practise and development. AquaSOS brings together a world-leading researcher consortium incorporating critical elements of Earth observation, biodiversity understanding, and one health approaches directly linked to cutting edge health biotechnologies. This is further supported by a network of international experts, with emphasis upon the SE Asian region that is global aquaculture’s powerhouse of production. AquaSoS team members furthermore actively engage with many relevant industry, government and policy bodies, both nationally and internationally, and with public engagement fora, that will provide effective conduits for ensuring the science and solutions developed are communicated effectively and widely to support knowledge sharing and action. Our consortium will use this project to further build upon a ‘SE Asia Woman in Science Research Network’ that promotes and recognises leading women scientists and takes their leadership to build capacity and legacy by providing research collaboration opportunities and career advancement.
Working towards Adaptive and Versatile Environmental Sustainability in mollusc aquaculture (WAVES)
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Mollusc aquaculture produces 20 million tonnes (USD 29.8 billion) live biomass annually, supporting both marginal farming communities and export trade. Asia hosts >95% of activity with bivalves dominating production, primarily oysters, mussels, and benthic clams. These non-fed species offer a ‘low-carbon’ solution to high-quality nutritional security and confer environmental benefits for biodiversity and seawater nutrient status. Molluscs are inexpensive, nutritionally rich and sector expansion can enhance food security in Southeast Asia. Nevertheless, mollusc output as a proportion of aquatic animal aquaculture declined to 20.3% from 30.2% since 2000, with producers facing challenges from climate change and disease, concerns over algal toxins, food safety and reliable access to high-quality seed, and other societal, cultural and commercial pressures. Questions remain as to whether mollusc culture can develop and grow into a sustainable industry, in the face of bottlenecks to seed supply, changes in production and nutritional value resulting from climate change, and commercial pressures from other aquatic food producers. At grow out, diseases and climate impacts present major issues, with a more complete understanding of environmental tolerance of crop species necessary to map the suitability of existing and potential future farm locations. Meanwhile, hatchery technology offers promise for enhancing reliability of supply and providing a platform for future resilience by enabling initiatives such as selective breeding. The WAVES consortium aims to develop capacity in diversified mollusc aquaculture to create system resilience and to promote the sustainability and growth of this sector. To achieve our ambition, four key objectives have been co-developed that place engagement with farming communities and stakeholders at its heart: i) conduct systems mapping of current mollusc production in Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia (clams, mussels and oysters) as models of wider Asia to provide deep understanding for activities, livelihoods and climate change threats; ii) create a systems dynamic model and develop a scenario tool to forecast plausible futures for mollusc aquaculture; iii) generate data to support species diversification for climate resilience, to promote hatchery development for reliable supply of high-quality seed, and to produce safe and nutritious food; iv) iterate and disseminate findings to develop context-sensitive roadmaps for future sustainable expansion of resilient mollusc aquaculture. Our consortium entrains multinational expertise in bivalve aquaculture and physiology, with specialists in microbiology, nutrition, food safety, systems-thinking, climate forecasting, sustainable socioeconomic development, environmental justice and multilevel governance, to genuinely implement systems-scale understanding in forecasting plausible futures for mollusc aquaculture. Beneficiaries include coastal communities where operations are located and people whose livelihoods rely on mollusc farming that are threatened by climate change effects. Development and expansion of mollusc farming, through improved productivity and enhanced natural resource use, will contribute to regional food and nutritional security. Core to our vision is enhancing regional capability and capacity for systems approaches, which will be achieved through collaboration, training and mentorship. The WAVES Consortium seeks to enable the equitable transition of mollusc aquaculture to sustainable systems resilient to the challenges posed by climate change, ensuring optimised use of the natural environment, and with increased output enhancing local food security and nutritional benefit. The project will provide a contextually-relevant fulcrum to stimulate further investment and create a UK-Asia alliance of researchers leading developments in mollusc farming and contributing to UN SDGs 2, 3, 6, 8, 12, 13, 14 and 17.
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