Tag: University of Birmingham

New initiative aims to tackle violence against women and children

Stuart Mitchell

Experts are launching a major research programme that aims to reduce acts of violence against women and children (VAW/C) in six countries across the Global South – boosting long-term health and security. Researchers will work with survivors of VAW/C in South Africa, Mexico, Peru, India, Brazil, and Sri Lanka to produce trauma-informed research that will help to better prevent violence and build local research capacity. VAW/C affects one in three women and around one billion children worldwide, with devastating effects on people’s physical and mental wellbeing. Backed by £3 million…

Read More

Experts enter fourth dimension to create better medical devices

Stuart Mitchell

Experts at the University of Birmingham and Imperial College London have launched a project aimed at revolutionising medical device engineering by incorporating a fourth dimension—time— into design to achieve new functionality.  The 4D Health Tech initiative addresses a critical gap in medical device design: neglect of time-dependent changes in the human body. Traditional medical devices fail to account for growth, movement, and tissue regeneration or degeneration, leading to compromised functionality and shortened lifespan.   For example, paediatric implants do not grow with the child and must be regularly changed. Stoma bags…

Read More

River water temperatures swing from hot to cold: major discovery shows value of open-source environmental data

Stuart Mitchell

Scientists have unveiled rapid fluctuations in river water temperature across the United States (US), with rivers controlled by dams showing more frequent and volatile thermal changes. Experts at the University of Birmingham and Indiana University based their research on national scale, open-source data from the US Geological Survey. Such data are an essential scientific resource for understanding environmental variability between different places and over time, especially in a warming and increasingly human-dominated world. In this research, the authors leveraged 15 years’ worth of high-resolution temperature data nationally in the first…

Read More

Global partnership creates toolkit for tough conversations about AI

Stuart Mitchell

Recognizing the urgent need for deeper discussions about Artificial Intelligence’s societal impact, a global team of experts has developed a glossary that goes beyond standard definitions to spark critical conversations.  “Critical Conversations about AI: A Glossary for Big Questions and Bold Ideas” is derived from key insights gained at last month’s Action AI Summit, in Paris, where participants identified the need for a resource that goes beyond conventional definitions.  The AI landscape is evolving rapidly – raising profound questions about societal, ethical, and philosophical implications. By exploring rarely discussed terms…

Read More

Partnership working key to unlocking EV battery recycling problem

Stuart Mitchell

Recyclers, battery manufacturers, and electric vehicle manufacturers must work together to revolutionise lithium-ion battery (LIB) recycling processes to meet ever-growing demand for electric vehicles (EVs) and energy storage systems, according to a new study.   Current recycling methods, such as pyrometallurgy (using high temperatures to extract metals) and hydrometallurgy (employing aqueous solutions to recover metals) face significant challenges including high energy consumption, environmental impact, and inefficient recovery of materials.   Adopting advanced techniques like direct recycling and upcycling could cut costs by up to 40% while minimising secondary pollution. Emerging technologies such…

Read More