Queen’s Anniversary Prize 2023

Congratulations to Strathclyde, for being awarded a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher & Further Education, in recognition of its research and innovation in Photonics.

The ultimate superhard engineering material that isn’t diamond

An international team led by Edinburgh with collaborators in the Universities of Bayreuth and Linköping, have created a new ultra-incompressible material that rivals diamond.

AI laser could replace stethoscopes

Research at Glasgow has shown how a laser camera pointed at a person’s neck, combined with AI, can pinpoint signs that they may have cardiovascular illness by detecting murmurs or irregular heartbeats.

Using quantum entanglement to enhance 3D imaging

A new five year project will shortly begin at Strathclyde to develop a system which will enable enhanced 3D imaging of a biological sample through quantum entanglement. The project has been funded by a just under €2M European Research Council grant, and will safely extend the limits of deep-tissue imaging, with applications in many fields including neuroscience.

Protected droplets create a new transport route for medicines

A team of researchers from the University of Edinburgh, University of Gothenburg, Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf, ETH Zürich and the Osaka Institute of Technology, have revealed that the fundamental mechanism behind stimuli-responsive emulsions are morphological changes of the stabilising microgels. This could revolutionise methods of targeting medicines to specific locations in the body.

First all-electric organic laser

Researchers at St Andrews have made the first semiconductor laser that doesn’t require a separate light source, is more compact than previous devices, and operates in the visible region of the EM spectrum.

Compressing light to study the nature of matter

A new method of creating laser pulses, more than 1,000 times as powerful as those currently in existence, has been proposed by researchers in the UK at Strathclyde and South Korea at UNIST and GIST.

Swimming with Gravitational Waves

Specialist sound and lighting was used in November to bring gravitational waves to the public via the unusual medium of a swimming pool! An audiovisual performance and sonic journey gave the public sound both above and below the water representing gravitational waves, the discovery of which was made in part due to Glasgow researcher contributions.

Single atoms talking to one another

A team at Heriot-Watt have solved one of the fundamental problems facing quantum communications as part of a Europe-wide collaboration. The team have developed a new semiconductor system with single atoms that automatically all emit light at the same frequency, removing the need for additional equipment and reducing significant costs.

Physicists and linguists team up

A collaboration involving physics and linguistics researchers at Edinburgh has received a British Academy Talent Development Award which will be used to make new discoveries about a core aspect of human behaviour and cognition.

Dr Calum Ross, Heriot-Watt

who has been awarded a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship to develop a mass manufacturing process for hyper-fast optical fibre.

Prof Steve Barnett, Glasgow

who has been inducted as a member of the Academia Europaea, an international fellowship of all aspects of academic endeavour.

Prof Alexander Morozov, Edinburgh

who has received the 2023 Annual Award from the British Society of Rheology, for his work on linear and nonlinear instabilities of elastic and viscoelastic fluids.

UKRI’s Funding Finder

All of UKRI’s funding in one place, search by Council and funding type. Examples: Future Leader Fellowships, Ernest Rutherford Fellowships, travel grants, and technology readiness.

The Royal Society

A number of grants and Fellowships are either currently or shortly will be available from the Royal Society.

Partnership Grant

Funding schools and colleges up to £3,000 to run investigative STEM projects in partnership with STEM professionals in academia or industry.
Open all year with multiple submission deadlines at the ends of April, June and November.

Interface Vouchers

The SFC funds a number of programmes administered by Interface, to connect business and Scotland’s universities in innovative collaborations. Applications must be made by the SME partner, if you don’t have an SME partner Interface can help.
Rolling scheme, no deadlines.

• Standard Innovation Vouchers, <£5,000 for first-time partnerships

• Student Placement Innovation Voucher, <£5,000

• Advanced Innovation Vouchers, <£20,000 of match funding

Free training: Integrating Impact into your next funding bid

The team at Fast Track Impact offer a number of free trainings each year. The programme for 2024 includes this training on 20 May 2024. You’ll get bid writing tips, real case study examples, and how to ensure your impact goals map onto your impact problem statement, beneficiaries and impact generation activities, whilst managing risks and assumptions.