The Engineering X Pandemic Preparedness Programme, led by the Royal Academy of Engineering, has awarded nearly £0.5 million in grants to projects which address the challenges of recovering from the outbreak of COVID-19 and building preparedness for future pandemics.

Twenty-five awards of between £15,000 and £20,000, made to existing awardees of the Academy from sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, India and the UK, will enable the development of new engineered solutions to a range of pressing needs. These include the measurement and reduction of viral loads in confined spaces, systems to protect health workers from infection, and innovative low-cost designs for essential equipment such as ventilators, masks and diagnostic devices.

Sustained community transmission is a key challenge in the recovery from the current pandemic and there is a much greater awareness of the important role of engineering in infection control now than before COVID-19 struck. Engineers themselves have learned a great deal about how to mobilise and offer their skills and expertise where appropriate. Grants have been awarded to 14 projects focused on engineering solutions to reduce the spread of COVID-19, ranging from new techniques for vaccine delivery and diagnostic testing to technology aimed at reducing the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and other infectious agents in our workplaces, transport systems and public spaces.

Several projects awarded to engineers in sub-Saharan Africa propose innovative adaptive measures which could enable large swathes of the labour force affected by lockdown measures to return safely to work, from street hawkers in Nairobi to university lecturers in Accra.

Professor Peter Guthrie FREng, Chair of the Engineering X Pandemic Preparedness Programme Board, said, “With these new grants, Engineering X is supporting projects with potential for significant impact, with engineers bringing innovative approaches to the challenges of the pandemic, particularly focusing on ways of easing lockdown.

“Beyond the immediate impacts of these grants, we also want to ensure engineers are equipped to be at the forefront of global efforts to fight future pandemics. Engineering X aims to generate an evidence base of engineering interventions and to develop a global community that will help develop collective resilience and ensure we are in better shape to navigate future pandemics and systemic shocks of a similar nature.”

Engineering X is an international collaboration, founded by the Royal Academy of Engineering and Lloyd’s Register Foundation. This latest initiative from Engineering X has benefited from input from meetings hosted by the Academy for international networks of science and engineering academies (CAETS and Euro-CASE). The purpose of the meetings is to share insight into how engineers across the world are responding to the pandemic, and to connect organisations and individuals delivering critical solutions and products. The Academy intends to build on this work with similar collaborations in the future.

The twenty-five projects which address issues relating to infection control, medical innovation, establishing a ‘new normal’ and effective collective action can be found here.

Notes for Editors

1. Engineering X is an international collaboration, founded by the Royal Academy of Engineering and Lloyd’s Register Foundation, that brings together some of the world’s leading problem-solvers to address the great challenges of our age. Our global network of expert engineers, academics and business leaders is working to share best practice, explore new technologies, educate and train the next generation of engineers, build capacity, improve safety and deliver impact.

2. Engineering X Pandemic Preparedness Programme, led by the Royal Academy of Engineering, is supporting the UK and global engineering community to learn from the current COVID-19 pandemic through global sharing of lessons on disruptive solutions and best practice approaches in the prevention, preparedness, response and recovery from pandemics.

   There are two streams to this Programme, made possible through funding from the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy:

15 projects are being supported through Stream 1 which is funded under the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) and is aimed at tackling global or local pandemic-related challenges that manifest in countries approved as recipients of UK aid funding. A list of eligible countries can be found in this link. This call was open to lead applicants in DAC list countries or the UK with an existing relationship with the Royal Academy of Engineering – this may be as a current or previous grant award holder, collaborator, partner or member of the Fellowship.

10 projects are being supported through Stream 2 which aims to fund innovation projects in UK universities. It is funded by the Investment in Research Talent Fund. This call was open to awardees and other affiliates of the Academy who may collaborate with partners internationally.

3. The Royal Academy of Engineering is harnessing the power of engineering to build a sustainable society and an inclusive economy that works for everyone. In collaboration with its Fellows and partners, the Academy is working to tackle the greatest challenges of our age by growing talent and developing skills for the future, driving innovation and building global partnerships and influence policy and engaging the public.

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Pippa Cox at the Royal Academy of Engineering: 

• Africa Prize finalists tackle food waste, improve cervical cancer screening, secure banking through artificial intelligence, and ensure off-grid energy is easy to use and maintain.

A more affordable, effective cervical cancer screening device, a digital platform to help farmers plan and distribute crops, a new way to secure banking through facial recognition, and a tool that monitors the condition of solar PV installations; these are the four innovations selected as finalists for the Royal Academy of Engineering’s 2020 Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation.

The finalists were selected from a shortlist of 15 African innovators effecting positive change in their communities, who have all received eight months of training and support through the Africa Prize. All four finalists have developed innovative ways to solve global problems, and are developing their ideas into strong businesses that can benefit entire communities.

“Despite a global pandemic placing immense pressure on entrepreneurs worldwide, we’ve been inspired by these four innovators’ ability to adapt, collaborate, and thrive,” said Rebecca Enonchong, Africa Prize judge and Cameroonian entrepreneur.

The Africa Prize supports the brightest minds across the continent, equipping them with skills to reshape and rethink their businesses. It is the continent’s biggest prize dedicated to engineering innovation, and has a proven track record for identifying successful engineering entrepreneurs.

“The Africa Prize is more than just an award,” added Enonchong. “It is designed to upskill and support entrepreneurs in the long term, building capacity across the entire innovation ecosystem in Africa. Supporting one innovator can transform a community, and we believe that, together, our network of innovators will help transform the continent.”

To date, the 86 Africa Prize alumni businesses have raised more than 14 million USD in grants and equity and created more than 1500 new jobs, with over 50% of these going to women and a significant proportion to disabled people and youth.

The finalists

This year’s finalists hail from Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda:

• From Nigeria, Farmz2U is a digital platform that reduces food waste by helping farmers plan their crops. Data expert Aisha Raheem developed Farmz2U after a health scare prompted her to eat more healthily. She is determined to reduce food waste and improve people’s nutritional intake.

  During the COVID-19 pandemic, the disruption of traditional distribution channels has driven farmers and the rest of the agricultural supply chain online. Farmz2U has used support from the Africa Prize and the Academy’s Project CARE (COVID Africa Rapid Entrepreneurs), to ensure that it is well positioned to respond to the increased demand for its services.

• BACE API is a Ghanaian platform that uses facial recognition and artificial intelligence to verify identities remotely. Tech entrepreneur Charlette N’Guessan and her cofounders developed the software after their research revealed that Ghana’s banks have a significant problem with identity fraud and cyber-crime, with approximately $400 million spent annually by Ghanaian financial institutions to identify their customers.

  While facial recognition software isn’t new, BACE API can use live images or short videos taken on phone cameras to detect whether the image is of a real person, or a photo of an existing image. During the global pandemic, digital platforms like BACE API have become essential in replacing in-person verification processes like fingerprinting. N’Guessan’s team has signed key partnerships with Ghanaian financial institutions since joining the Africa Prize shortlist, and is using the training to refine the company’s market strategy.

• In Uganda, Remot is helping Ugandan schools, businesses and solar companies manage off-grid power systems more effectively. Created by David Tusubira and his colleagues, the system provides more than just data about energy use. Remot examines the system itself for inefficiencies and potential problems, monitoring the condition and performance of solar PV installations.

  Manufactured on site at their offices in Kampala, the hardware device nicknamed ‘Davix’, after its co-founder, is running in nearly 500 schools, 11 solar maize mills, and solar water pumps on office blocks in the DRC, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Uganda. Despite the pandemic hampering sales targets, Tusubira’s team has added nine employees since being shortlisted for the Africa Prize, and a local assembly plant is being built in Kampala, Uganda.

• Also from Uganda, Dr William Wasswa’s PapsAI speeds up cervical cancer screening, diagnosis and patient record management, making it more affordable and reliable. While digital microscopes are most effective for screening for cervical cancer, they are expensive and are rarely used in low-income countries.

  PapsAI’s digital microscope slide scanner quickly scans high-resolution cervical cell images from pap smears. Dr Wasswa also developed an analytical tool for diagnosis and classification of images, and the software assesses the likelihood of a patient contracting cervical cancer given their risk factors. A separate system manages and archives patient records using artificial intelligence. Dr Wasswa has used the COVID-19 lockdown to assess workflow at the hospital where PapsAI is being trialled, and has hired four full-time staff.

The 2020 finalists will pitch their innovations to a panel of judges and a live online audience on 3 September 2020. The winner will be announced at the virtual event, and will receive £25,000, with £10,000 awarded to each of the runners-up.

The seventh Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation is now open. Individuals and small teams living and working in sub-Saharan Africa who have a scalable engineering innovation that can solve a local challenge are invited to enter. Interested entrants can find more information here. The deadline for entries is 14 September 2020.

The shortlist

The other 11 candidates shortlisted for the Africa Prize 2020 were:

• Aquaprotein, Jack Oyugi from Kenya – an affordable protein supplement for animal feed, made from invasive water hyacinth
• CATHEL, Catherine Tasankha Chaima from Malawi – an affordable antibacterial soap made from agricultural waste and other plant-based extracts
• CIST Ethanol Fuel, Richard Arwa from Kenya – a clean cooking ethanol made from invasive water hyacinth
• DryMac, Adrian Padt from South Africa – a containerised drying system that uses burning biomass instead of electricity to dry and preserve crops
• Eco Water Purifier, Timothy Kayondo from Uganda – a digital system that turns bones, cassava peelings, coconut shells and other waste into an activated carbon water filter
• EcoRide, Bernice Dapaah from Ghana – bamboo bicycles made by Ghanaian women and youth from sustainable materials and recycled parts
• Garbage In Value Out (GIVO), Victor Boyle-Komolafe from Nigeria – automates and digitises the collection, processing and sale of recyclable materials
• GrainMate, Isaac Sesi from Ghana – a simple handheld meter to accurately measure the moisture content of grains to prevent rotting, insect infestation and quality reduction
• Lab and Library on Wheels, Josephine Godwyll from Ghana – a mobile, solar-hybrid cart with gadgets and e-learning resources to encourage reading and teach STEAM subjects in under-resourced schools
• Safi Organics, Samuel Rigu from Kenya – a novel chemical process that turns crop waste into a range of affordable fertilisers
• Tree_Sea.mals Mini-Grid, Tracy Kimathi from Kenya – a solar system that powers communal refrigeration storage spaces in rural Kenya

Notes to editors

A full set of photographs and b-roll of the entrepreneurs can be found here.

1. About the Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation

The Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation, founded by the Royal Academy of Engineering, is Africa’s biggest prize dedicated to engineering innovation. It awards crucial commercialisation support to ambitious African innovators developing scalable engineering solutions to local challenges, demonstrating the importance of engineering as an enabler of improved quality of life and economic development.

An eight-month period of tailored training and mentoring culminates in a showcase event where a winner is selected to receive £25,000 along with three runners-up, who are each awarded £10,000.

The Africa Prize is generously supported by The Shell Centenary Scholarship Fund and the UK Government’s Global Challenges Research Fund. Further information can be found here:

https://www.shellcentenaryscholarshipfund.org/

https://www.ukri.org/research/global-challenges-research-fund/

Judges and mentors of the Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation have provided over 1,970 hours of support to entrepreneurs since the prize was established – this equates to a value of roughly £985,000 in support. This year, they are:

• Chair of judges: Malcolm Brinded CBE FREng, President of the Energy Institute, Chair of EngineeringUK
• Dr Ibilola Amao, Founder and Principal Consultant, Lonadek Consulting
• Rebecca Enonchong, Founder and CEO, AppsTech
• Dr John Lazar CBE FREng, angel investor and technology start-up mentor

The shortlist judging panel also included Mariéme Jamme, co-founder of Africa Gathering and founder of #iamtheCODE and SpotOne Global Solutions. Jamme has recently stepped down as Africa Prize judge.

More information can be found here: www.raeng.org.uk/africaprize

2. About the Royal Academy of Engineering

The Royal Academy of Engineering is harnessing the power of engineering to build a sustainable society and an inclusive economy that works for everyone. In collaboration with our Fellows and partners, we’re growing talent and developing skills for the future, driving innovation and building global partnerships, and influencing policy and engaging the public.

Together we’re working to tackle the greatest challenges of our age.

Further information can be found here: www.raeng.org.uk

For media queries and interview requests, please contact:

Africa

• Anzet du Plessis, Proof Africa on behalf of the Royal Academy of Engineering
• anzet@proofafrica.co.za
• +27 83 557 2322

UK and International

• Engineering’s ‘COVID 19’ – exceptional individuals and teams of engineers to be honoured

• Pandemic service achievements span the whole field of engineering from ventilators and vaccines to hospital building and infection tracking 

The Royal Academy of Engineering has awarded 19 individuals and teams of engineers with the President’s Special Awards for Pandemic Service for exceptional engineering achievements in tackling COVID-19 throughout the UK.

The awards have been made to teams, organisations, individuals, collaborations and projects across all technical specialities, disciplines and career stages within the UK engineering community who have contributed to addressing the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Specially commissioned silver medals will be presented to all 19 winners later this year.

The President’s Special Awards for Pandemic Services

The winners are:

• Ventilator Challenge UK Consortium. Dick Elsy CBE led the initiative to combine the knowledge and skills of 33 UK technology and engineering businesses across the aerospace, automotive and medical sectors, to produce more than 13,000 Smiths and Penlon ventilator devices for the NHS. 
• University College London-Ventura CPAP breathing aids were developed by a team led by Professor Rebecca Shipley and Professor Tim Baker working with Mercedes–AMG High Performance Powertrains. The team manufactured 10,000 breathing aids for use in UK hospitals and shared the designs with organisations from 105 other countries at no cost.
• University of Cambridge Open Ventilator System Initiative team led by Dr Tashiv Ramsander developed a high-performance ventilator for manufacture in low and middle-income countries that became the first intensive care quality ventilator to be manufactured in Africa.
• University of Southampton for PeRSo. The engineering team developed the Personal Respirator Southampton, a respirator for healthcare workers providing a much higher level of protection than surgical masks.
• Babcock International Group Plc for the rapid development and manufacture of a new medical ventilator product, Zephyr Plus, coordinated across several major companies in the UK and Germany, with 39 suppliers and MoD logistics. 
• Jean Morris and a team of young engineers from the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) took a central role in building and testing prototype ventilators against a developing MHRA specification.
• Dr Antony Robotham at the University of Plymouth, who designed an environmentally friendly face shield, manufactured from recycled materials that are compostable or recyclable at the end of life.
• Dr Dominic Pimenta is a cardiology registrar at one of London’s busiest hospitalswho led the design and manufacture of face shields with the team at Makerversity for frontline NHS and care home staff. His charity, HEROES, has produced 100,000 reusable face shields as well as thousands of reusable gowns and scrubs.
• Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge. The IfM team helped local hospitals to make the best use of their resources, streamlining logistics for sourcing and storing vital PPE, informing decision-making on emergency demand, and developing a ventilator sharing system to be used in emergencies. 
• Tharsus for Bump, a social-distancing system providing real-time alerts when wearers get too close. Led by CEO Brian Palmer FREng and CTO Dave Swan, the technology’s smart data insights inform rapid decision making, allowing employers to maximise workplace capacity and providing data on team contact in the event of an outbreak.
• Dr Ravi Solanki and Raymond Siems, volunteers for the charity HEROES. In less than two days, their team turned an idea into a platform with genuine impact: a secure website through which more than 543,000 items of much-needed support have been provided to NHS workers, from sustainable PPE to counselling services and child care.
• Professor Chris Toumazou FREng FRS FMedSci of Imperial College London for developing a rapid, affordable COVID-19 test based on a lab in a cartridge technology that provides test results in just over an hour. A total of 5.8 million tests are now being deployed throughout NHS in preparation for the flu season. 
• Professor Zhanfeng Cui FREng and his team from the University of Oxford for the Oxford rapid viral RNA test for COVID-19. It can detect SARS-CoV-2 infection in 30 minutes and could be invaluable in developing countries because no specialist equipment is needed.
• Professor Harris Makatsoris from King’s College London for developing a ‘factory-in-a-box’ that allows the rapid manufacture of synthetic RNA vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 virus and minimises the space required for high-volume vaccine production.
• Professor Catherine Noakes from the University of Leeds for her role in advising the NHS and the government at the highest level during the pandemic, shaping life-saving guidance based on her expertise in environmental and engineering controls.
• Sewers4COVID from the University of Exeter: a team led by Professor Dragan Savic FREng applied machine learning to sewer epidemiology to estimate the number of infected people in a certain geographical area to track the spread of infection.
• BOC Customer Engineering Services, who maintained the oxygen supplies to treat COVID-19 patients across the UK. BOC engineers set up oxygen systems at six Nightingale centres, including the largest medical oxygen system ever installed.
• Matt Benson, Elliot Dervish and Jonathan Parker of Teledyne-e2v, who developed and manufactured the Handy Hook for front line NHS staff across Essex and London, to limit their interaction with surfaces carrying the virus. 
• Martyn Frackelton and Ian Watkins from Mott MacDonald, who project managed both NHS Nightingale London and NHS Nightingale North West, enabling the massive field hospitals to care for patients within two weeks of being announced.

Professor Sir Jim McDonald FREng FRSE, President of the Royal Academy of Engineering, says: “The COVID-19 pandemic is the biggest public health crisis of our time and has presented society with multiple challenges. Engineering expertise and innovation has been central to the global fight to save lives and protect livelihoods. 

“I am also incredibly proud of engineers everywhere who have worked round the clock to maintain essential services, critical supply chains and infrastructure in unprecedented circumstances, using their training and skills to find innovative solutions to a host of problems and to help mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on our daily lives.”

Professor Raffaella Ocone OBE FREng FRSE, Chair of the Academy’s Awards Committee, says: “Engineering skills—including innovation and interdisciplinary collaboration—have proved to be of vital importance during the current pandemic. We were delighted that the breadth of nominations for these awards reflected so much of the extraordinary work engineers have been doing. 

“While I am delighted that we are able to recognise some of these outstanding achievements with these awards I am mindful that the important work of the vast majority of engineers will remain largely outside the public’s consciousness. They are all deserving of our thanks and admiration for their continuing positive contribution to society.”

Notes for editors

1. The President’s Special Awards for Pandemic Service were overseen by the Academy’s Awards Committee, which identifies winners for all of the Academy’s prizes and awards (with the exception of the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering and the MacRobert Award for UK Engineering Innovation). 

• Professor Raffaella Ocone OBE FREng FRSE (Chair)
• Dr Alan Belfield FREng
• Professor Mojtaba Ghadiri FREng 
• Tony Graham FREng
• Professor Yike Guo FREng 
• Professor David Johnson FREng 
• Dr Raouf Kattan FREng 
• Professor Andrew Lewis FREng
• Alan Newby FREng
• Professor Graham Reed FREng
• Dr Richard Taylor FREng
• Dr John Tubman FREng 
• Jane Wernick CBE FREng

2. The Royal Academy of Engineering is harnessing the power of engineering to build a sustainable society and an inclusive economy that works for everyone. In collaboration with its Fellows and partners, the Academy is helping to tackle the greatest challenges of our age by growing talent and developing skills for the future, driving innovation and building global partnerships, and influencing policy and engaging the public. 

For more information please contact: 

Enhanced radar detection of drones and other small objects using electromagnetic metamaterials and modelling the role of wood jams in natural flood management are among the research areas supported by the Royal Academy of Engineering through 16 new engineering Research Fellowships announced today. Together with projects such as novel techniques to enhance the safety and security of nuclear and radioactive materials, they have the potential to make a significant contribution to health, transport, next generation computing, safety and measurement systems and decarbonisation.

The Academy’s Research Fellowships are designed to advance excellence in engineering by enabling early-career researchers to concentrate on basic research in any field of engineering. Each awardee receives five years’ worth of funding to advance their research careers. They also receive mentoring from experienced Academy Fellows, providing valuable advice and industry links that will enable the researchers to establish themselves as future leaders in their fields.

Professor Philip Nelson CBE FREng, Chair of the Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellowships Steering Group, says: “I am delighted to announce the award of Research Fellowships to 16 of the most promising global research talents selected from a competitive application process. The variety and impact of the research being done by these awardees demonstrates the depth and breadth of world-leading engineering expertise we have within our universities. We would like to thank the government for the Investment in Research Talent initiative, which has provided the Academy with a significant increase in funding to attract and retain the best research talents in the UK and support their research and career development.”

The full list of Research Fellows and their projects is as follows:

• Dr Humberto Almeida Jr, Queen’s University Belfast

Uncertainty quantification in the design of future composite aerostructures

• Dr Giorgia Bosi, University College London

Engineered patient stratification and therapeutic planning: application to atrial fibrillation

• Dr Yang Cao, University of Edinburgh

Making database systems learn and making them robust

• Dr James Ewen, Imperial College London

Controlling friction through molecular engineering

• Dr Elizabeth Follett, Cardiff University

Structure and function of wood jams for natural flood management

• Dr Rand Ismaeel, University of Southampton

Monitoring of ocean methane through optical fibre isotope detection

• Dr Himanshu Kaul, University of Leicester

The Lung Pharmacome

• Dr Aurora Maccarone, Heriot-Watt University

Underwater three-dimensional optical imaging based on quantum detection

• Dr Peter Martin, University of Bristol

Transforming the national infrastructure for detecting, characterising and mapping radiation

• Dr Timothy Moorsom, University of Glasgow

Active topological plasmonics for computer processors

• Dr Greg Mutch, Newcastle University

Advancing facilitated-transport membranes for disruptive carbon dioxide separation

• Dr Auro Perego, Aston University

Novel tuneable dissipative optical frequency combs: from visible to mid-infrared

• Dr Alexander Powell, University of Exeter

Electromagnetic metamaterials for enhanced radar detection of small objects

• Dr Timothy Runcorn, Imperial College London

New fibre optics for advanced biomedical imaging

• Dr Nidhi Simmons, Queen’s University Belfast

Enabling mission-critical applications through an intelligent URLLC framework

• Dr Yuriko Suzuki, University of Oxford

Robust visualisation of blood vessels in patients with vessel-narrowing disease

Notes for editors

1. The Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellowships support early-career researchers to establish successful research careers and become future research leaders in their fields. The scheme provides funding for five years to allow awardees the freedom to concentrate on basic research in any field of engineering and establish a track record in the field. Funding for the Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellowships is provided by the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Engineering for Development Research Fellowships through the government’s Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF).

The scheme is currently open for applications until Monday 21 September 2020. In this round, we have a joint sponsorship with Orthopaedic Research UK to support research in the musculoskeletal field. The current round therefore accepts applications for any one of the following research fellowship schemes:

• RAEng Research Fellowship
• RAEng Engineering for Development Research Fellowship
• RAEng/Orthopaedic Research UK Research Fellowship

For more information, please visit: RAEng Research Fellowships

2. The Royal Academy of Engineering is harnessing the power of engineering to build a sustainable society and an inclusive economy that works for everyone. In collaboration with our Fellows and partners, we’re growing talent and developing skills for the future, driving innovation and building global partnerships, and influencing policy and engaging the public. Together we’re working to tackle the greatest challenges of our age.

For more information please contact:

Pippa Cox at the Royal Academy of Engineering

T: 020 7766 0745

E:  Pippa Cox

The Royal Academy of Engineering has announced seven outstanding engineering researchers as recipients of its prestigious Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowships. They will work on a wide variety of engineering projects, from sustainable coastal protection and reducing air pollution in cities to AI-driven developments in healthcare.

The Fellowships, which are supported by the Leverhulme Trust, allow awardees to focus on full-time research for up to a year by covering the costs of a replacement academic to take over their teaching and administrative duties. This not only allows mid-career engineers to reinvigorate their research interests, but it also gives other junior academics an opportunity to gain valuable teaching and administrative experience.

Professor Stephen McLaughlin FREng FRSE, Chair of the Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowships selection panel, said: “Academic career progression can result in increased administrative and teaching commitments, at the expense of the time available for personal research projects. The Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowships are awarded to enable mid-career academics to focus on such projects by relieving them of additional workload responsibilities.

“I am very pleased to see such a diverse range of topics covered by this year’s awards, from tackling environmental issues such as coastal protection, CO₂ emissions and air pollution, to developing and improving healthcare provision. These are research projects that could deliver significant benefits to society and the economy.”

The full list of 2020/21 Royal Academy of Engineering Leverhulme Trust Research Fellows is as follows:

• Dr Christopher Edwin Blenkinsopp, University of Bath

Dynamic Revetments: Sustainable coastal protection by working with nature

• Dr Mahsa Derakhshani, Loughborough University

Machine learning solutions for scalable, mission-critical wireless networks

• Dr Suhaib Fahmy, University of Warwick

Accelerated Distributed Machine Learning for Real World Systems

• Dr Carolina Font-Palma, University of Chester

ICED: Integrated Cryogenic separation for CO2 Emissions Decrease

• Dr Alison Jones, University of Leeds

Engineering tools for analysis of impingement in the human hip joint

• Dr William Andrew McMullan, University of Leicester

City-scale air pollution; from simulation to virtual reality

• Dr Barbara Villarini, University of Westminster

AI-Driven Organ Reconstruction and Morphological Features Extraction from Medical Images

Notes for editors 

1. The Leverhulme Trust was established by the Will of William Hesketh Lever, the founder of Lever Brothers. Since 1925, the Trust has supported grants and scholarships for research and education. Today, The Leverhulme Trust is one of the largest all-subject providers of research funding in the UK, distributing over £60m a year. The Trust provides funding across a range of academic disciplines such as arts, sciences, engineering and social sciences, with an aim of supporting talented individuals to realise their personal vision in research and professional training.

Details of researchers awarded RAEng/Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowships since 2012 are available here: RAEng/Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowships

2. The Royal Academy of Engineering is harnessing the power of engineering to build a sustainable society and an inclusive economy that works for everyone. In collaboration with our Fellows and partners, we’re growing talent and developing skills for the future, driving innovation and building global partnerships, and influencing policy and engaging the public. Together we’re working to tackle the greatest challenges of our age.

For more information please contact: 

Pippa Cox at the Royal Academy of Engineering

T: 020 7766 0745

E:  Pippa Cox