From discovering new sources of clean energy to addressing world hunger, the world faces monumental and complex challenges. Collaboration, deep knowledge, dedication and a truly global outlook will help find the answers the world needs. That’s the thinking behind the University of Nottingham’s multidisciplinary research programme, Beacons of Excellence.
Aligned to the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals, the beacons cover six key areas: the Rights Lab, Precision Imaging, Future Food, Propulsion Futures, Green Chemicals and Smart Products. These are areas in which the university already has world-leading expertise, that also have the potential to create the most benefit to society.
“We wanted to put world-class research areas behind the global challenges that we saw around us,” says Dame Jessica Corner, pro-vice chancellor for research and knowledge exchange. “Bringing research capabilities together is fine. But it isn’t enough. We have to find ways to translate more of these discoveries into ideas and innovations that have a wide impact on society. And if we are going to do that, we have to also attract people to come and work in our key areas and compete better for the funding that exists to deliver those solutions.”
The work of the Rights Lab, for example, was created with a single goal that would have a direct and positive effect on the lives of millions: to end slavery in every corner of the world by 2030. It brings a global community of experts together – from geographers to historians and statisticians – and has already achieved significant success in a wide variety of areas, via many different tools. Dr Doreen Boyd’s work with Google Earth satellite imagery, for example, exposed modern slavery sites in south Asia, while Dr Alexander Trautrims examines the role of slavery in supply chains associated with car washes, the care sector and construction.
How to feed a growing population is one of the most urgent questions facing the world today. The Future Food beacon research strand draws heavily on the university’s existing expertise, drawing in top talent from a variety of fields. Nottingham is one of just a few UK universities that has a farm and a School of Veterinary Science: plus its campus in Malaysia enables research to take place in a tropical zone. Real-world outcomes are vital. In Malawi, for example, more than a third of children suffer from reduced growth due to malnutrition, partly due to “hidden hunger” – deficiencies of zinc and other mineral nutrients in their diet. The GeoNutrition project received £4.4m from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to research how these micronutrient deficiencies could be alleviated.
Precision Imaging has a long and proud history at Nottingham. Physicist and Nobel laureate Sir Peter Mansfield invented the MRI scanner there in the 1970s; and now, more than 40 years later, the Precision Imaging beacon is taking that work into the future. A team led by Dr Matt Brookes developed a revolutionary brain scanner, worn like a helmet, which enables patients to move naturally while being scanned.
The sky’s the limit for the teams working on Propulsion Futures: a flying motorbike and an electric superbike are just two of the ideas they’re working on, while the new research and innovation centre for power electronics and machines is aiming to be a global centre of excellence in power electronics, machines and control, thanks to a £9.4m grant from the Higher Education Funding Council for England.
Green Chemicals aims to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, with a focus on the UN’s goals of sustainable industrialisation and climate action. Its collaborations with industry will deliver sustainable products such as biodegradable plastic packaging, while in the developing world access to life-saving pharmaceuticals such as anti-malarials will improve due to new low-energy, greener manufacturing processes.
Smart Products brings together experts from engineering, the arts, social sciences and computing to harness the digital revolution – enabling manufacturers and consumers to together create new kinds of personalised products. Researchers are also exploring human-robot collaboration in sectors ranging from healthcare to food manufacturing.
Focusing on specific areas doesn’t just help teams focus; it also enables the university to bring in more funding, says Corner. “It helps us understand our priorities, but has also helped our academic colleagues be very clear about what they need in order to address challenges and formulate bold proposals for programmes, projects, infrastructure and equipment. The beacons enable connection with funding bodies, industrial partners, charities and policy makers, and can align with their agendas and funding streams.”
Having six very clearly defined areas also enables better collaboration across the globe. Corner points out that no single institution can do everything. “We have great people, across a huge range of disciplines. But it’s unlikely that any one institution will have everything at its disposal to tackle these very wide-ranging and complex problems. Working in partnership with other institutions or individuals and other groups in different parts of the world is really important.”
And the beacons also help attract the most vital aspect of innovation: great people. The university will recruit 100 Nottingham research and Anne McLaren fellows by the end of 2022. Sixty have been appointed already, with many in beacon areas. The university is committed to appointing more women and people from BAME backgrounds to follow in the footsteps of people such as Prof Liz Sockett, the university’s first female academic to be made a fellow of the Royal Society for her work on friendly bacteria that can kill pathogenic superbugs.
The university has always been a great place to innovate, says Corner, but the beacons are ushering in an era of new possibilities. “There’s always something going on. But right now, using our relationships around the world to work on common problems is particularly exciting. We’ve made significant contributions to society before, but we are trying to do this in a more expanded, forceful and definitive way.”
