Tag: Cambridge University

Cambridge and Oxford join forces to unlock over a million biological records for climate research

Stuart Mitchell

The University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford will lead a major new partnership to digitise over 1.1 million natural history specimens, creating a step-change in how researchers and conservationists access vital biodiversity data. Cambridge is awarded £772,000 for the project, part of DiSSCo UK (Distributed System of Scientific Collections UK) – a £155 million national programme to digitise and connect the UK’s natural science collections. Together, the universities of Cambridge and Oxford steward over 12 million specimens – the largest natural science collection in the UK outside London…

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University receives $34.5 million donation for autism research

Stuart Mitchell

The University of Cambridge has received US$34.5 million from philanthropist K. Lisa Yang to support research aimed at improving the health and wellbeing of autistic people and their families. The gift is one of the largest ever philanthropic gifts for autism research to a UK university. The University will join eight other research centres based at Harvard University and MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, which together form the Yang Tan Collective, created to focus research and translation approaches into human health, disease, and environmental challenges, especially engineering solutions to low-cost…

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Cambridge to establish Rokos School of Government

Stuart Mitchell

The University of Cambridge has announced plans to establish the Rokos School of Government, made possible by a commitment of £190 million from investor Chris Rokos. This is believed to be the biggest individual donation made to a British university in modern times. The Rokos School of Government aims to prepare future leaders to be able to navigate the ever-more-challenging demands of both domestic and international politics in a new and complex world of great structural change.   Mr Rokos has agreed to make an initial gift of £130 million,…

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Cambridge University to divest from fossil fuels with ‘net zero’ plan

Stuart Mitchell

The University of Cambridge aims to divest from all direct and indirect investments in fossil fuels by 2030 as part of the University’s plan to cut its greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2038, more than a decade before the date set by the UK Government. The £3.5 billion Cambridge University Endowment Fund – one of the biggest of its kind in Europe – intends to ramp up investments in renewable energy as it divests from fossil fuels.  This latest plan puts Cambridge at the head of the race to…

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Cambridge researchers launch charity to tackle ‘slow motion spinal cord injury’ affecting up to a million UK adults

Stuart Mitchell

Myelopathy.org, has just launched, it is a charity dedicated to one of the most common, yet under-diagnosed neurological conditions. The charity is the brainchild of Dr Mark Kotter, neurosurgeon and clinician scientist at the University of Cambridge, who works on a disorder known officially as Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy. Myelopathy is caused by arthritic changes affecting the spinal column of the neck. Because of the close proximity, these can exert pressure on the spinal cord and trigger a “slow motion spinal cord injury”. “If you haven’t heard of myelopathy, you are…

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