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Department of Science, Innovation and Technology
CHild malnutrition & Adult NCD: Generating Evidence on mechanistic links to inform future policy/practice (CHANGE project)
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
GCRF Mech Nutition award To improve future treatment programmes by better understanding how child malnutrition affects the risk of long-term (adult) NCD.
Factors affecting childhood exposures to urban particulates (FACE-UP)
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
GCRF Health and Context award looking at factors affecting childhood exposures to urban particulates (FACE-UP) in Indonesia and Nepal
An implementation trial of continuous quality improvement for antenatal syphilis and HIV detection and treatment in Indonesia: The MENJAGA study
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
The dual elimination of mother-to-child transmission (EMTCT) of HIV and syphilis through screening and treatment of pregnant women has been identified as a global public health priority. Indonesia has set an ambitious EMTCT target of 2030. Currently, only 27% of pregnant women are tested for HIV and 1% for syphilis (using a mixture of rapid tests and laboratory-based testing), this is despite 98% of pregnant women attending antenatal care at least once during pregnancy. Moreover, only 48% of those testing positive for HIV and 30% for syphilis receive treatment. This poses a formidable challenge and is recognised as one of the most significant gaps in antenatal care in Indonesia. Persistent barriers to antenatal screening for HIV/syphilis include (but are not restricted to): limited awareness among health workers of the need for universal screening; some women are fearful of the test; lack of local standard operating procedures at the clinic level; supply chain gaps in tests and treatments; problems with the referral processes; and difficulties tracking women as they move across the health system. Context-specific interventions to better support the integration of HIV and syphilis testing and treatment into the Antenatal care (ANC) platform are urgently needed in Indonesia. Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI), which involves local ANC teams systematically collecting and reflecting on local data to inform the design and implementation of service delivery, has been effectively used to strengthen ANC services in a number of Sub-Saharan African countries. This approach holds considerable promise for Indonesia, a highly populous and diverse country where a 'one size fits all' approach to the delivery of quality ANC rarely applies. Using a cluster-randomised design, we will evaluate the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, acceptability, fidelity and reach of a multi-faceted CQI intervention to improve antenatal testing and treatment of HIV and syphilis in public and private ANC clinics in 6 districts across 3 Provinces (West Java, South Sumatra and South Kalimantan). This 3-year multi-disciplinary study will involve clinicians, epidemiologists, economists, social scientists, health services researchers and policy-makers from the Indonesian Ministry of Health (research partner), the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, the Universitas of Gadjah Mada, the University of Sebelas Maret and the Kirby Institute. A range of other stakeholders will be involved throughout the study (e.g. patient advocacy groups; implementing agencies; specialist professional associations; clinics and ANC services) to assess the appropriateness and acceptability of the intervention and barriers and facilitators to scale up. This research has the potential to contribute significantly to improved maternal and child health in Indonesia while also strengthening the underlying health system.
Psychological, social & biological predictors of child mental health and development: shared and distinctive risk and protective factors in UK & India
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
WHO figures estimate mental health problems affect 12.8% of children in India, which equates to 60 million children. There is an urgent need for culturally sensitive longitudinal studies of community samples starting in pregnancy, designed to examine the earliest origins of child mental health problems to optimally inform the development of new and early interventions. Our study aims to do this in India and the UK. Research in western settings suggest that child mental health problems arise from a complicated mix of social, psychological and biological influences, in which key factors probably include, prenatal stress, early infant temperament, and harsh parenting as risks, and warm parenting as protective factors. There is now good evidence that individual variations and environmental exposures in early life contribute to risk for mental health problems in later childhood and beyond. However, previous research has been conducted almost exclusively in countries with Westernised standards of medical care and family arrangements, and where additional risks such as low birth weight and under-nutrition are rare. The aims of the proposed research are to compare early risk and protective factors for childhood mental health problems in UK and India to identify those that are common to Western and South Asian populations and those that are distinctive. We propose to follow up around 741 families of children in the Bangalore Child Health and Development study (BCHADS) who are living in the urban slums of Bangalore city, at age 4.5 years and age 7 years. We will compare the information we gather on these children's lives to that of the children taking part in our UK Wirral Child Health and Development Study (already collected). In both studies we have two rich data sets with parallel measures of risk and protective factors for child mental health outcomes from pregnancy onwards, including age 8-10 wks, 6 months, 14 months, 2 years, 4 years and 7 years of age. We have gathered detailed repeated measurement of key likely 'shared risks' and associated 'mechanisms' for conferring risk (e.g., gene activity, stress reactivity) and these include measures of early life stress, social support, poverty and economic adversity, early temperament, and caregiving (touch, interaction quality, parenting quality), cognitive and physical development. We will also assess risk and protective factors that may be 'distinctive' or particularly relevant to the South Asian setting: maternal nutrition in pregnancy, early immune function and gender discrimination associated with cultural favouring of the male child, and the practice of shared-caregiving as opposed to primary maternal rearing in Western societies. We also aim to advance cross-cultural measurement methods and develop new culturally sensitive measures of gender discrimination and the 'shared caregiving' parenting environment in India. This work will aid clinicians and researchers to refine their measurements in clinical practice and be able to conduct more reliable research when trying to combine data from multiple cohorts. Finally, this is a joint UK-Indian study and together we will run a series of training events to build capacity and share expertise in conducting longitudinal cohort studies, sampling and retention, measurement issues, data management and state of the art statistical methods needed in longitudinal analysis of complex data sets.
IndiaZooRisk+: Using OneHealth approaches to understand and co-develop interventions for zoonotic diseases affecting forest communities in India
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Zoonotic diseases (that spread from animals to humans) disproportionately affect poor tropical communities and can lead to loss of life, impaired livelihoods, health and welfare. Forest habitats are a significant source of such diseases. For communities that depend on forests for food, fuel and income, accessing forests comes with the increased risk of being exposed to zoonotic pathogens. Although we know that zoonotic diseases are increasing globally, we still lack knowledge on how these diseases circulate between wildlife, livestock and people as they use forests, and how environmental changes like forest degradation interact with human migration, local culture and society (knowledge sharing), and policy (land tenure, disease prioritisation) to exacerbate emergence and spread. Focussing on India as a key global hotspot for endemic and emerging zoonotic diseases and bringing together a network of policy makers and practitioners from the human health, animal health and environmental sectors with experts (public and animal health, ecology, epidemiology and social science) - thereby following the One Health approach -, this project aims to reduce health, welfare and livelihood impacts of zoonotic diseases by (1) better understanding the impacts of different drivers on health outcomes and spread of zoonotic diseases (2) co-develop improved interventions, integrating traditional knowledge, with affected forest communities and, thereby building the capacity of local communities to be more resilient to zoonotic diseases. Three neglected zoonotic diseases, Leptospirosis, Kyasanur forest Disease and Scrub Typhus that are widespread across the Western Ghats forest communities and cause severe complications and death if untreated, yet have different transmission routes, will be taken as key case-studies for field research. The research underpinning these improvements will include: (1) understanding how local culture and policies, nutrition and environment factors affect community interventions, perceptions and health outcomes from zoonotic diseases. (2) investigating how different communities share knowledge on diseases and health intervention, including traditional knowledge, both with each other and with practitioners and managers, to improve communication strategies. (3) studying the role of different wildlife and livestock hosts and tick and mite vectors in transmission of disease to humans in different seasons. (4) understanding how long distance seasonal migration of pastoralists may promote resilience or increase their exposure to diseases and environmental change. (5) developing computer models and risk maps, integrating environmental and social data, for predicting the distribution and spread of diseases. (6) building capacity in research, data analysis and cross-sectoral collaboration to underpin future One Health approaches in India. Improved decision-support tools and Apps and prioritisation of traditional knowledge will help disease managers, policy makers and community workers to develop novel interventions and better target vaccination and communication efforts towards the communities that are most at risk and help managers in agriculture and environmental sectors to understand how, for these communities, disease impacts may coincide with other negative impacts of environmental change. The project platform and approach of co-developing research, training and decision support tools on zoonotic diseases with stakeholders across sectors, accounting for their needs and underlying ecological and social processes, will build significant capacity in science, policy and practitioners to respond to these emerging and endemic global threats in India and beyond.
Long-term health after Severe Acute Malnutrition in children and adults: the role of the Pancreas - SAMPA
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Whilst there is an increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity worldwide, malnutrition remains common. In addition, malnutrition, overweight, and infections often interact. It is well established that malnutrition in pregnancy, resulting in an infant born with low birth weight, can increase the risk of diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer in adulthood. However, the consequences of malnutrition after birth are much less studied. Severe acute malnutrition in childhood, indicated by extreme thinness, remains common in Africa and Asia. In addition, substantial numbers of adult patients with tuberculosis or HIV, diseases which are common in Africa and Asia, may become malnourished. We are interested in diabetes, which in Africa and Asia affects people at younger age and lower weight than in Europe. There is evidence from epidemiological studies that severe malnutrition in childhood and possibly in adulthood increases the risk of later diabetes but the evidence is piecemeal and there is little information as to the mechanisms involved. It is thus difficult to determine what treatments or preventative strategies are appropriate. We wish to focus on the pancreas which is a key organ in digestion and metabolic processes, especially in relation to diabetes. We will investigate pancreas size, microscopic structure, hormone and digestive enzyme production, and the body's response to these hormones among groups of people in Tanzania, Zambia, India and the Philippines. These groups have participated in the research team's previous studies of malnutrition and were malnourished before birth, as children, or as adults. They now live in places with a wide range of access to foods high in fat and sugar which could affect their risk of diabetes. We will use modern clinical methods to compare their pancreas function to that of never-malnourished controls at each site. We will use advanced statistical methods to understand the links between early malnutrition and later diabetes, taking into account the factors often associated with diabetes such as age, current overweight and infection. The project will have a substantial training component so that staff at all sites can be trained in assessment methods for nutritional status including body fat and lean content, diabetes, and pancreas function and in statistical methods. We will work with local clinicians and patient support groups to ensure that results of the project are taken up and used locally. We also plan to conduct workshops with the child participants to help them understand aspects of the science in which they are involved. Even if we find no important link between early malnutrition and later diabetes, the research will lead to improved understanding of the long-term consequences of malnutrition and the presentation and underlying metabolism of diabetes in Africa and Asia. Thus, the project will lead to improved health care for both malnourished and diabetic people.
Responding to the challenge of MERS-CoV: Development and testing of interventions to reduce risk among Bedouin populations in Southern Jordan
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is a recently identified 'emerging infectious disease' first seen in Jordan and Saudi Arabia in 2012. Clinical cases can present as a sudden acute respiratory infection, with rapid onset pneumonia and death, although milder infections also occur (in some cases without any symptoms at all). Since the initial outbreaks in 2012, there have been almost 2500 confirmed cases, with over a third of those infected subsequently dying from the disease (848 people to date). Confirmed cases have been reported across 27 countries, although the majority have been in the Arabian Peninsula, with Saudi Arabia the disease epicentre (over 80% of all confirmed cases). Primary infection in humans occurs through contact with infected dromedary camels (or camel products) and camel populations act as the host reservoir for the virus, however infection in camels causes only mild symptoms, similar to a common cold (and may cause no symptoms at all). Once someone becomes infected in this way secondary human-to-human transmission of the virus can then occur (often in a hospital setting) with the potential to cause large scale outbreaks such as those seen in South Korea and Saudi Arabia in recent years. Jordan's strategic location at the centre of current Middle Eastern crises means that its stability within the region is of global significance. Enormous influxes of displaced peoples into Jordan from the conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Yemen among others (accounting for over 30% of the population) have placed unprecedented demands on Jordan's national disease surveillance, response and health-care services and increased the risk of catastrophic disease outbreaks occurring in the future, including MERS-CoV. Jordan's long, porous border with Saudi Arabia, across which frequent movements of people and livestock occur (particularly among rural Bedouin populations in the south of the country) and large camel populations, mean that the risks posed by MERS-CoV remain high. The World Health Organization (WHO) have designated MERS-CoV to be a Blueprint Priority Disease for Research and Development, alongside other 'emerging infectious diseases' that represent a potential global threat, including Ebola, Lassa and Nipah viruses. The development of vaccines against MERS-CoV, for use in both camels and humans, is already at an advanced stage, however knowledge regarding the diseases epidemiology and cultural context (which are essential for effective vaccine deployment) is currently lacking. A similar lack of knowledge has delayed the deployment of other vaccines in the past (e.g. recently the Lassa virus vaccine in West Africa) and so it is important that deployment of future MERS-CoV vaccines is not delayed for the same reasons. It is crucial therefore that appropriate research be conducted among high-risk populations. With this in mind, and building on the findings of successful GRCF Foundation Award research, we aim to conduct state-of-the-art interdisciplinary research to determine the biological and sociocultural contexts of the disease among at-risk Bedouin populations in southern Jordan. In particular, we are seeking to understand which individuals, or camels, should be targeted for future vaccination, the correct seasons for the deployment of such vaccines and the sociocultural issues that are driving the infection, with consideration of these sociocultural issues vital when looking at potential control measures for the disease, including vaccination. Through this project we thus aim to develop appropriate, community based behavioural interventions that will reduce the risk of infection among these communities (as well as considering the potential role of vaccines in the future). We are also aiming to build Jordan's capacity for strategic research, surveillance and control activities to confront the challenge posed by MERS-CoV (as well as by other 'emerging infectious diseases').
An inter-disciplinary approach to understanding the contribution of household flooring to disease burden in rural Kenya
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Access to adequate, safe and affordable housing plays a fundamental role in human health. This includes thorough limits our exposure to infectious diseases such as those that cause diarrhoea, which remains a leading cause of death in children under five. Conventional approaches to reducing environmental exposure to faecal pathogens include ensuring universal access to safe water and basic sanitation. Recent evidence has suggested that this alone may be insufficient to reduce the high levels of environmental contamination seen in poor rural communities, and that transformative cross-sectoral approaches will be required to see real impacts in child health. For example, these approaches fail to address the fact that most poor rural homes have rudimentary (earth, sand or dirt) floors that are difficult to sanitise, providing an ideal environment for the survival of faecal pathogens and other parasites. These floors can also host parasitic infections including intestinal nematodes and sand fleas, both of which are responsible for considerable morbidity and poor quality of life. We propose to examine flooring and its impact on enteric and parasitic diseases in three culturally and environmentally diverse settings in Kenya, and aim to address two related questions: 1. What is the importance of household flooring as a driver of enteric and parasitic infection risk in rural communities, and does this vary across wider social and environmental contexts? 2. Can infection risk be mitigated by replacing existing rudimentary (earth, sand or dirt) floors with improved (sealed, washable and durable) materials, and what additional behaviour changes are required to ensure impact? We expect that successful installation and ongoing maintenance of improved flooring will reduce the transmission of enteric and parasitic infections, by preventing direct exposure and through an intermediate effect of improved domestic hygiene. This will however be influenced by local context. A priority in each setting will therefore be to explore the interplay between domestic flooring, water and sanitation infrastructure, domestic hygiene behaviours, and the wider socio-cultural and environmental context. Our planned approach involves comprehensive formative research, intervention development conducted in collaborative partnership with recipient communities and key stakeholders, and then implementation trials to test the effects, feasibility and acceptability of the resulting intervention. We will assess the impact of the intervention on a range of child health outcomes, including prevalence of enteric and intestinal worm infections, prevalence of tungiasis, and incidence of gastrointestinal illness. We will also monitor levels of environmental contamination, and explore the impact of the intervention on domestic routines and self-reported wellness. During implementation, we will work with recipients and stakeholders at community, regional and national level to assess the extent to which interventions are acceptable to target communities, feasible given existing resource constraints, and can be scaled-up across Kenya and elsewhere. This includes work undertaken to understand options for scale-up should the intervention prove successful. This study is the first of its kind to comprehensively assess feasibility and effects of combining improved flooring technologies with tailored behaviour change programming on a wide range of parasitic and enteric outcomes. In doing so, we aim to provide important policy and technical guidance on the impact and effectiveness of new transformative approaches to community health. This is an important first step towards the establishment of transformative, community-driven and cross-sectoral approaches to building out water, sanitation and hygiene-related diseases.
Scalable TRansdiagnostic Early Assessment of Mental Health (STREAM)
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Worldwide, over 250 million children are at risk of not obtaining their developmental potential due to exposure to adverse circumstances. India and Malawi house some of the most disadvantaged populations in the world, with over 10% of all children aged 2 to 9 years estimated to have neurodevelopmental disorders. However, social and economic barriers to access qualified health personnel mean that most of these children do not receive any assessment of neurodevelopment or a clinical diagnosis when needed. Moreover, many parents are unaware of developmental milestones, so clinical opinion is sought only when symptoms become more pronounced and begin to impact daily life with a lost opportunity for early interventions. This avoidable delay is an unfolding tragedy in light of evidence showing that frontline worker delivered interventions can lead to better behavioural and social outcomes and improve long term developmental trajectories. Scalable methods to assess child neurodevelopment and mental health would promote early referral to specialist facilities, ultimately connecting families with affordable, community-based interventions. Directly measuring neurodevelopment allows us to identify the most vulnerable children as early as possible, allowing limited resources to be focused on those most likely to benefit from preventive approaches. Taken together, focusing on brain development in early childhood is critical to revolutionising global mental health of young children. We will realise this goal by developing a Scalable Transdiagnostic Assessment of Mental Health (STREAM), a mobile platform usable in the home or in a routine health facility by non-specialist workers. STREAM will be delivered on a tablet PC and will collect different types of data from 4000 children in India and Malawi. First, parents will be asked simple questions about their child's everyday behaviour, based on established questionnaires that have been validated in low income settings. Second, gamified tasks designed to measure motor, social, and cognitive abilities will be administered on the tablet. Additionally, novel low-cost eye-tracking technology on the same tablet PC will be used to monitor the child's eye movements in simple tasks, such as those assessing preference for social versus non-social images, and measuring how quickly attention shifts to new objects appearing on the screen. Finally, a segment of parent and child interaction will be recorded using the inbuilt camera, and used to code for signs of atypical behaviour. This combination of multiple measures will provide independent channels of data collected on a single platform, significantly improving on current assessment methods that often rely on one technique and expensive, highly skilled but scarce human resources. STREAM will be designed such that it will require minimal training to be administered by non-specialist workers in low and middle income countries, thereby promoting task-sharing, a concept endorsed by the World Health Organization to reach wider populations. This task-sharing approach reduces the burden on the small number of highly-skilled mental-health and child development professionals in these low resource settings. STREAM can also help develop community awareness and, in the longer term, address the barrier of low demand for services in these areas. The development and application of the STREAM platform involves collaborations across the breadth of basic and applied sciences. Our network comprising clinicians, neuroscientists, public health specialists and data scientists spread across UK, India and Malawi is optimally suited to leading this challenge because of our combined expertise deploying novel technologies to measure early childhood neurodevelopment in low-resource settings.
ISPF Fund for Global Health Impact and Capacity Building
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Research Development Fellowship Programme to provide opportunities for talented health researchers based in Africa, so that they can lead research that is responsive to its African settings and can contribute to reducing the burden of disease. It aims to develop emerging African scientists through developing their skills, experience, confidence and research outputs.
Medical Research Council (MRC) Delivery costs of International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF) ODA activities
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Operational costs occurred at Medical Research Council (MRC) associated with hosting and/or managing ODA International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF) programmes.
UKRI South East Asia OHPP Networking Events
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
We are delivering networking events as a central component of the UKRI Southeast Asia programme on infectious diseases with epidemic and AMR potential. All networking events will be delivered in partnership with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the British Embassies.The networking events are a direct response to requests from funding partners in SEA, who emphasised the need to convene researchers from countries involved physically to increase connectivity, foster collaborations and maximise the impact of the activity. In addition to the added value for the funding opportunity, the networking event unlocks value in terms of strengthening relationships with funding partners, emphasising commitment to working on ODA and with partners in SEA.
Co-Designing Clean Energy for Rural Africa with Service Innovations and Digital Twins (CREDiT)
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
CREDiT project aims to demonstrate the potential of solar energy in rural, off-grid African communities through Participatory Technology Development (PTD) and Service-Oriented Business Models, supported by Digital Twin (DT) platforms. The project focuses on three communities facing significant challenges: Mayungu Beach in Kilifi, Kenya; an agricultural village near Kasinthula, Malawi; and an agricultural college community in Chipembi, Zambia. By implementing off-grid solar mini-grids in these areas, the project seeks to generate interdisciplinary knowledge, provide community training, and deliver lasting benefits both locally and more broadly. Led by the University of York (UoY), CREDiT collaborates with Technical University of Mombasa (TUM) in Kenya, Coastal and Marine Resource Development (COMRED) in Kenya, Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) in Malawi, and United Church of Zambia University (UCZ). The project is motivated by the 2023 SDG7 progress report, which highlights the persistent challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa’s access to electricity. Despite abundant solar resources, over 567 million individuals in the region still lack access to electricity as of 2021. Existing solar installations often fail to meet community needs due to a lack of context-specific design, economic viability and are often undersized for expected demand, and the necessary human capital for effective operation and maintenance. The challenge of delivering sustainable and appropriate solar energy solutions is both social and technical. It requires the development of technical and business models that are attuned to social conditions. Addressing this challenge necessitates transdisciplinary collaboration between scientists, engineers, social scientists, business and industry partners, local communities, and policy stakeholders. Rural communities in Africa, often the poorest users, are typically priced out of investment opportunities and face significant challenges such as upfront risks, lack of installation and maintenance expertise, and issues with sustainable affordability. Limited community participation in the design and maintenance of solar projects often results in poor social, financial, and environmental outcomes, leading to projects being abandoned shortly after completion. To address these issues, CREDiT focuses on deploying a template for sustainable business models supported by digitally enabled technologies. This approach aims to guide the development and scaling of distributed solar, maximizing technological performance (energy usage and efficiency, predictive maintenance, reduced waste), social impact (clean energy adoption, equitable benefits, appropriate functionality), and organizational effectiveness (ownership, financing, scalable solutions). The project will develop a replicable process supported by digital technology platforms and business models. These platforms will ensure community-level access to energy, delivering affordable, reliable, long-term sustainable, and equitable energy access in rural off-grid communities. Trials will take place in diverse use-cases across Zambia, Malawi, and Kenya. The digital platform will ensure that all stakeholders, including local government agencies and private investors (national/international), have full visibility of energy production, providing the transparency needed to attract off-grid solar investments. Our approach establishes an interdisciplinary/transdisciplinary framework using equitable socio-technical co-design, addressing power dynamics, marginalization, and context-specific knowledge creation by integrating three key perspectives: (1) a digital platform featuring predictive models, IoT sensors, remote monitoring, AI, and cloud-based technologies to support load forecasting, optimal usage, and maintenance; (2) co-produced sustainable business models focused on affordability and equitability; and (3) community resilience and empowerment through skills training, knowledge, and resources, particularly for women, to optimize solar energy use and manage its lifecycle, ensuring future energy expansion.
Mainstreaming Gender Equality and Social Inclusion for a Just Energy Transition in Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania (JustGESI)
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
The Global Commission on People-Centred Clean Energy Transitions recommends incorporating Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) in any efforts to advance the energy transition.[1] The Independent Expert Group on Just Transition and Development in Africa advocates for a transition based on social justice and feminist values.[2] The UN Gender and Energy Compact (under the auspices of the SDG7) identifies five outcomes for women to lead, participate in and benefit from a just, sustainable, and inclusive energy transition: increasing women’s access and control over energy resources; incorporating GESI in transition pathways, strategies and regulations; supporting women-owned and led businesses; facilitating women's career advancement in the energy transition; and enhancing the knowledge base to understand processes of exclusion.[3] However, empirical evidence shows a persistent gender and inclusion gap in the energy transition. This gap manifests in the lack of participation of women and gender non-conforming people in the sustainable energy labour force. There is limited knowledge of how gender relations and intersecting forms of social discrimination (such as racism or ableism) reproduce energy injustices in the energy transition. During the last decades, many energy projects have incorporated GESI concerns, for example, collecting gender-disaggregated data or holding single-sex learning sessions. However, such approaches fail to challenge the root causes of discrimination and social inequality. Many projects focus on differences between men and women without questioning the homogeneous, universal categories used to characterise diverse groups and complex experiences of power relations and exclusion. Over-simplifying the relationships between gender relations, discrimination, and access to energy resources leads to decontextualised, inappropriate actions (such as when cookstove improvement programmes make inaccurate assumptions about cooking practices and fuel choices). Such generalisations portray women as passive victims or virtuous stewards in ways that increase their responsibility for delivering collective action without the corresponding rewards (such as when biogas-cooking programmes seek to ‘empower’ women but inadvertently result in additional domestic labour). A GESI-transformative approach to the energy transition requires challenging these types of decisions and practices, which tend to reproduce energy injustices, whatever their intentions. JustGESI will deliver substantive action to advance GESI objectives within the energy transition in Africa, focusing on: How to advance GESI objectives within concrete projects and policy interventions. Identifying and promoting institutional and policy reforms that facilitate GESI objectives. Identifying and delivering forms of capacity building that advance transformative strategies to GESI. This interdisciplinary, international partnership will deliver practical, policy and capacity-building responses through a collaborative programme of work across four countries, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania, where our well-established research network has obtained evidence of inclusivity gaps in the energy transition and are already initiating pilot actions to tackle these. The project will address the Ayrton challenge of ‘smart delivery,’ delivering ‘inclusive energy & leave no one behind’ interventions by putting questions of equality, diversity and inclusion at the heart of the transition to sustainable energy. Simultaneously, the project will address the challenges of ‘super-efficient demand’ and ‘modern cooking services’ by focusing on the delivery of sustainable fuels for cooking. At COP28, world leaders committed to clean cooking for all Africans. However, despite pioneering examples of gender-responsive electric cooking programmes, there is not yet a credible international GESI strategy for clean cooking. [1] https://www.iea.org/programmes/people-centred-clean-energy-transitions [2] https://justtransitionafrica.org/ [3] https://genderenergycompact.org/
SMART-SIP+ - Innovative approaches to downstream energy utilisation from solar irrigation pumps in Bangladesh
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
The Aim of this project is to drive forward a large-scale clean energy transition in rural communities in Bangladesh through the design, development and demonstration of smart energy systems which exploit the excess electricity from Solar Irrigation Pumps (SIPs). Context: People/Place: Bangladesh is ranked 7th in the Climate Risk Index 60% of the population (c.100M people) rely on agriculture as their main income source. Intensification of irrigation practices: Allows an additional rice crop (55% of total) to be grown during the dry season (Jan-May). 6M irrigation pumps are used including 1.2M tube-wells powered by diesel engines consuming 1MT/yr imported diesel, emitting 3MT of CO2 (c.4% of Bangladesh’s annual gross emission) Replacement of diesel pumps with SIPs provides a critical route to reliable distributed clean energy. The Asian Development Bank (ADB), supported by key state organisations, propose a roadmap to deliver 45,000 SIPs replacing 200,000 diesel pumps by 2031. SIPs are sized to provide sufficient water during peak irrigation demand (100-150 days per year), so only 40 to 60% of the potential electricity generation of the panels is required for irrigation. The ADB report estimates that the 45,000 replacement SIPs will produce 480GWH/yr of surplus electricity. The current recommended method for utilisation of excess electricity is export to grid, but this often requires expensive grid extension, connection and metering. Post-harvest storage/ processing of crops: Fruit and vegetable production is c.17MT/yr, but post-harvest losses range from 25-40%, whilst farmers obtain a poor price due to surplus supply during peak seasons. Both can be alleviated by the availability of cold storage facilities; however, these are limited in Bangladesh owing to high capex/ energy costs. Additional processing of cereals, fruit and vegetables can add value and reduce losses (milling, drying, juicing), but require energy. These factors present a clear opportunity to leverage the excess electricity from SIPs and utilise it locally and smartly to support agriculture and rural communities. The challenge is that techno-economically validated pathways to seize this opportunity are currently not available to potential users (farmers), operators, investors and policymakers. To meet this challenge our project has the following objectives: Capture demand and supply requirements around SIP locations and their local communities into a structured knowledge base. Address key questions surrounding the design, sizing, and smart operation of farm-based microgrids powered by SIP systems. Tailor system solutions to unique local conditions. Provide socio-technical, techno-economic and Life Cycle Assessments of proposed solutions. Build Decision Support Systems and physical field testing and demonstration sites to enable investors/ decision makers to explore the nature and scale of the opportunity and drive strategic innovation, investment, and policy. Build capacity, capability, and resilience within rural communities by co-creating and co-delivering solutions that ensure equitable access to energy and economic development opportunities. Ayrton Challenges – Super Efficient Demand/ Smart Delivery/ Smart Energy Systems/ Sustainable Cooling/ Inclusive Energy Applications/ Benefits: Results/lessons from this work will also inform solarisation of the >10M diesel irrigation pumps that are currently operated in other Southern Asian countries. Bangladesh is categorised as a ‘Least Developed Country’. By improving access to local reliable and affordable clean energy this project will promote socio-economic development by enhancing business performance and stimulating growth; and reduce poverty and inequality of farming communities (particularly for women), increasing income and employment opportunities and building capacity and capability.
REACH-PSM: Resilient Renewable Energy Access Through Community-Driven Holistic Development in Perovskite Solar Module Manufacturing
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Context Energy inequality continues to hamper socio-economic growth in many African nations, where millions lack reliable access to electricity. Traditional energy sources are expensive, environmentally damaging, and dependent on external supplies, which limits their sustainability and accessibility. The REACH-PSM project (Resilient Renewable Energy Access Through Community-Driven Holistic Development in Perovskite Solar Module Manufacturing) aims to revolutionise energy access by enabling the local development and manufacturing of sustainable perovskite solar modules (PSMs) in Nigeria, Rwanda, Kenya, and South Africa. The Challenge With >500 million people in Africa without electricity, there is an urgent need for scalable, affordable, and environmentally sustainable energy solutions. Current renewable technologies, while beneficial, often fail to address local contexts and can result in significant environmental waste, particularly from end-of-life photovoltaic systems. The challenge lies in developing a localised manufacturing process for next-generation solar technology that is both cost-effective and sustainable, with simultaneous development of efficient end-of-life treatment to mitigate waste, allowing for widespread adoption across Africa. Aims and Objectives The REACH-PSM project seeks to accelerate the development and commercialisation of PSMs by focusing on the following objectives: Delivering commercially competitive low-cost manufacturing of PSMs in partner locations in Africa with a performance of >15% PCE and a lifetime of >10 years. Developing novel components of PSMs, and identification of domestic green supply-chains to enable regional manufacture and improve sustainability. Delivering PSMs designed for the circular economy with optimised end-of-life processing, minimising waste and maximising the circular flow of materials delivering enhanced commercial viability, sustainability, and resource security. Creating novel sustainable business models and community co-designed products that are suitable and appropriate for use. Potential Benefits The REACH-PSM project will accelerate the transforming energy access agenda in Africa by pioneering the development of locally manufacturable PSM, demonstrating the first next generation solar module manufacturing in Africa. This localised production will not only empower communities by fostering energy independence and creating jobs but also set a new standard for sustainable energy solutions. By utilising sustainable materials and processes, the project will also address the environmental challenges associated with traditional solar technologies, offering a more resilient and adaptable energy solution. Ayrton Challenge Areas The project addresses the Next Generation Solar Challenge Area. REACH-PSM advances perovskite technology, which offers the potential of more distributed solar manufacturing thanks to low-cost processing and manufacturing routes. REACH-PSM will collaborate across the Ayrton Fund portfolio to amplify impact. We will align with the Ayrton Challenge on Energy Storage, the LEIA programme, the Climate Compatible Growth Project, and the Zero Emission Generators initiative, exploring synergies in local manufacturing, circular economy principles, and sustainable energy solutions. ODA Compliance REACH-PSM is fully compliant with ODA criteria, as it directly addresses the economic and social challenges of Nigeria, Rwanda, Kenya, and South Africa—countries listed on the OECD DAC. By focusing on localised manufacturing and sustainable energy solutions, the project promotes economic development and improves the welfare of communities most in need. The expected outcomes include significant advancements in energy access, environmental sustainability, and economic empowerment, aligning with the broader goals of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) and SDG13 (Climate Action). We also seek to advance progress towards SDG5 (Gender Equality), SDG9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure), SDG10 (Reduced Inequality), SDG11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) and SDG12 (Responsible Consumption and Production).
African SCENe (Sustainable Community Energy Networks)
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Over 800 million people live without electricity globally, 600 million in Africa. African SCENe (Sustainable Community Energy Networks) was born from a desire to accelerate adequate, affordable, and reliable renewable energy within low-income suburban communities in sub-Saharan Africa, whilst enhancing nutrition, clean energy awareness and education. Our vision is to make clean energy accessible to not only drive climate action but also to enable children raised in off-grid and informal settlements to achieve their full potential. African SCENe proposes to turn schools within informal settlements into Community Energy Hubs (CEHs) through innovative business models that make energy generation and storage technology accessible, fostering sustainable energy practices, enhancing local resilience, and empowering communities to take control of their energy production and consumption. The advent of affordable locally supplied energy technology means this is now possible: we can energise the lives of informal settlement dwellers, stimulating community members to collaborate and share benefits. The challenges we are addressing are the lack of proven business models and community support to make it financially and socially viable. The Ayrton themes we are responding to are firstly ‘smart delivery: inclusive energy and leave no-one behind’ and secondly ‘super-efficient demand: modern cooking services and energy efficiency’. The core team spent 12 months in two major informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya, working with communities to co-create a workable business model that is supported by informal schools and approved by the Kenyan Ministry of Education. Our study has shown that African SCENe’s concept can be physically and economically viable in both off-grid and informal settlements. Our study established a feasible approach to overcome the biggest hurdle in the deployment of clean energy: financing. The theoretical business model prioritises the use of energy generated by the CEHs for school use during teaching hours and for revenue-generating activities afterschool. This revenue will repay the asset costs over 7-8 years. Assets will be funded using a blended finance model (25% impact grant 75% commercial loan). Accurately sizing the assets, managing energy generation/demand, and costs/revenue administration are some of the areas where research innovation is needed. We now want to test this through a 3-year 10-school pilot in Nairobi that would enable us to address social-economic viability and prove the business model. Kenya experiences similar challenges to other African countries: unequal energy access, energy insecurity, low availability of clean energy, food insecurity, disparities in access and participation to education/training, pressure on educational facilities, and large population living in slums. Once proven in Kenya, the model can be scalable across many sub-Saharan African countries. This funding will enable our interdisciplinary research team to answer remaining questions and validate our concept to bring our vision to reality. The wider vision is for equitable and sustainable community energy to play a significant role in meeting African sustainable development goals (SDG). African SCENe is clearly aligned with SDG7 Affordable and Clean Energy (via the provision of accessible distributed solar energy generation) and SDG13 Climate Action (via increased energy resilience, security, and awareness within informal settlements, raised capacity for climate change-related planning and a focus on the marginalised), and delivers against a further 11 SDGs (see Fig4: Our Alignment with Sustainable Development Goals). Notably, our proposition can improve access and quality of education, enabling informal schools to deliver the new Competency-Based Curriculum through accessing power for IT/labs.
Moving IMPACT: Integrated Means to Power Agriculture, Clean Cooking and Transportation
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Clean energy access will be key for achieving the global development goals; it has clear links to health, education, water access, etc... Many regions, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, have low electricity access today. Scalability, cost-effectiveness and abundance of solar irradiance make solar the best technology for this endeavour. Solar Home Systems (SHS) have successfully provided basic services like lighting and mobile phone charging to many communities. However, SHS offer low power output, which limits their ability to support more energy-intensive applications such as electric cooking. Electric stoves, which could significantly reduce reliance on wood stoves, offer health and environmental benefits but require much more power than what SHS can provide. Connecting multiple SHS to form a larger grid has been considered but is often impractical due to high costs and limited scalability. Instead, community-scale solar mini-grids, with larger generation and storage, present a viable alternative. These mini-grids can be designed to support household cooking and industrial and agricultural uses such as grain milling and cooling. They can also provide power for electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, an important development in many African cities where motorbike taxis are common. Electric motorbikes offer a cleaner alternative to fuel-powered engines but require reliable and substantial power sources for charging. Integrating mini-grids with local distribution networks can enhance their efficiency and reliability. By connecting mini-grids to these networks, they can share resources and provide power during peak demand times or when the main grid is down. This integration can benefit both the mini-grids and the distribution system, creating a more resilient energy network. The installation of solar panels requires a significant land area, which can conflict with agricultural activities and conservation efforts. However, solar panels can power agricultural equipment like water pumps and with appropriate co-design (agrivoltaics) the panels can provide shade and support soil temperature control and water conservation. Additionally, the revenue from mini-grid services can support local farmers and enhance their economic stability. Our project will explore how mini-grids with EV charging infrastructure for small vehicles can be integrated into agricultural areas and support various community needs. We will develop geographical models to identify optimal locations for these mini-grids and evaluate how different technologies and applications can be combined. Our research team, with expertise in infrastructure planning, political geography, and electrical engineering, will focus on how mini-grids can interact with local distribution networks to maximize their benefits. We plan to test these concepts in real-world settings by deploying a small set of EVs and suitable charging infrastructure. The interaction with the community, industrial developers and national regulators based in Ghana, Rwanda and Kenya will provide steering and inform the development of models and systems required in our work. The project is led by Imperial College London with a consortium of researchers from the University of Strathmore (Kenya), University of Energy and Natural Resources of Ghana, the University of Leeds, the University of Rwanda, the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences and the Kigali Centre for Collaborative Research (Rwanda).
Weather and Climate Science for Service Partnership (WCSSP) India - Calls- tender-PML
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
River outflow to the ocean in the NEMO model of the Regional Coupled System is currently prescribed as pure fresh water input, either at the surface or on a few ocean levels. However, in reality, fresh water gets mixed with marine water in estuaries, and the inflow into the ocean has a very different salinity and temperature profile with depth than what is currently done in the NEMO model at river outflow points. Current Met Office simulations do have stability issues at river outflow points, because of the current crude estimation of river flows. Estuary box models are considered as the way forward for ocean models which can't explicitly resolve estuaries (Matte et al. 2025). This will enable better numerical stability to run month-long or multi-decadal simulations and better oceanic circulation, due to improved temperature and salinity profiles near coastlines. This work will allow a better understanding of the interactions between river outflow and the ocean to enable partners to better assess potential impacts and thus mitigate against climate change. Primary beneficiaries would be the South Asian region, particularly those countries with an Indian Ocean coastline.
Weather and Climate Science for Service Partnership S E Asia (WCSSP) - Calls - tender - UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Strengthened partnership between meteorological services in UK, Philippines, Malaysia Vietnam, and Indonesia - research on understanding and evaluating convective processes over SE Asia.
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