The science minister, Amanda Solloway, announced that 97 science and research leaders would receive Future Leader Fellowships, which come with shares of the £113m funding to “bring their innovative ideas from lab to market”.
Among the beneficiaries is Dr Dimitrios Kanoulas from University College London, who is building autonomous four-legged 'RoboHike' robots for navigating difficult terrain. He hopes that they could provide assistance in construction, agriculture and rescue missions at the scene of natural disasters. This will enable fast, robust and reliable navigation in situations where timely delivery of services and emergency aid is essential.
Newcastle University’s Dr Yujiang Wang hopes to use her share of the funding to develop a system that combines long-term brain recordings with wearable environmental sensors to capture and analyse fluctuations during epileptic seizures. Her work would provide insights into seizure activity, helping...