-
First 2 winners of the Newton Prize are an affordable
portable device to monitor maternal health, and a pioneering
solar energy project, with each being awarded £200k to address
global challenges
-
During the visit, also announces further
research agreements securing further collaboration between the
two countries
Science Minister has today (Wednesday 1 November)
announced the first 2 winners of the Newton Prize 2017, during a
two-day India visit where he outlined the strength of
collaboration with Indian partners and the UK’s ambitions to
develop the relationship further.
The winning projects, which will each receive a £200,000 grant,
include the development of a portable device to measure blood
pressure and pulse of expectant mothers to try and prevent deaths
from the biggest causes of maternal deaths worldwide, and a solar
energy programme that will look at providing cheaper and more
efficient solar power. Both projects are partnerships between UK
and Indian researchers.
The Newton Prize has been developed to celebrate and further
encourage the partnerships that UK researchers have forged with
their colleagues in Newton Fund partner countries. Further prize
awards will also be made in Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam in the
coming weeks.
The collaborations developed under the Newton Fund address some
of the world’s most pressing challenges, by utilising the
skillsets of UK researchers and researchers globally to improve
the quality of life for many around the world.
said:
These Newton Prize winners not only embody international
collaboration on crucial issues, but also illustrate our
ambition to work with our global partners on a wide variety of
mutually-beneficial research.
The Newton Prize demonstrates how the UK is working with
partners to address important international issues. This
complements the work we are undertaking as part of our upcoming
Industrial Strategy to support our world-class research and
innovation sector, helping them work collaboratively to address
the great challenges of our time.
The UK-India Newton Fund, known as the Newton-Bhabha Fund, is an
instrumental part of the UK-India research and innovation
relationship, with a joint commitment of more than £200 million
joint investment up until 2021. This collaboration enables the UK
to produce higher quality research and innovation and to maintain
its scientific excellence.
In addition to announcing the winners of the Newton Prize,
announced India-specific
Rutherford Fellowships that will be delivered by the British
Museum, British Library and Natural History Museum, as well as
global Rutherford fellowships through the British Academy.
also made a number of further
research announcements, funded by Newton-Bhabha Fund:
- The publication of a Research Councils UK and Department of
Biotechnology commissioned report on AMR mapping that provides a
deeper understanding of antimicrobial resistance and outlines
recommendations to address this growing global challenge
- A joint pilot innovation project between the Science and
Technology Facilities Council’s Central Laser Facility at the
Rutherford Appleton Laboratories and India’s Tata Institute of
Fundamental Research to upskill Indian engineers on cutting edge
technology as they jointly develop control systems for high power
lasers
- 4 new projects funded within the ‘Energy Demand Reduction in
the Built Environment’ programme that will seek to monitor energy
use and demand with the overall aim to achieve reductions in
carbon emissions
- 8 new projects funded within the India-UK Water Quality
Programme, supporting policymakers, water managers, business and
local communities to improve India’s water quality
- Extension in funding for the India-UK Water Centre for a
further 2 years, which facilitates collaboration and cooperation
between researchers, policy makers and water managers in the UK
and India
- £7 million of joint investment on the Agricultural-Data
Enhancement for Animal and Plant Health programme which will seek
to enhance existing animal and plant health data growing on each
country’s expertise in this area
Notes for Editors
-
The first of the 2 successful projects seeks to overcome the
challenge of obstetric haemorrhage, pre-eclampsia and sepsis
which accounts for more than 50% of maternal deaths
worldwide. The winning scientists from St Thomas’ Hospital in
London and the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College in Belgaum,
India, tested the introduction of a device that measures
blood pressure and pulse, and is affordable, easy-to-use, and
portable with low power requirements. The device has already
been introduced in 10 countries across Asia and Africa, and
initial results show that the system strongly predicts the
risks of complications and its introduction into maternity
care will help save lives. The UK and Indian partners for
this project are the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the
Department for Biotechnology, India.
-
The second Newton Prize winner is the APEX-II programme,
which is developing a new product that uses solar cells to
supply clean, sustainable and affordable energy, and is led
by Brunel University of London and the Indian Institute of
Technology in Delhi. Low-cost, high-efficiency energy is a
key global development challenge, and by advancing the
technology around perovskite solar cells, this project is
addressing this challenge and aims to help improve the
quality of life of people around the world by developing
cheaper and more efficient solar cells. This delivers benefit
to both the UK and India, by enabling UK researchers to draw
on the expertise of the very best scientists to develop new
technologies in solar energy. The UK and Indian partners for
this project are the Engineering and Physical Sciences
Research Council (EPSRC) and the Department for Science and
Technology, India.
