- Publicly funded researchers and businesses in Scotland are making a huge difference in tackling COVID-19, helping us to better understand the disease and combatting the impact of the pandemic on people’s lives
- From tracking COVID-19 progression across Scotland in real time, to developing state-of-the-art AI to evaluate the risk of COVID-19 infection indoors, researchers and businesses in Scotland are coming up with creative ways to beat COVID-19 and its effects
- These projects are just a snapshot of work carried out by people and businesses in Scotland, funded by UK Research & Innovation (UKRI)
Over the past year, up and down the UK, thousands of research and innovation projects have been publicly funded to tackle the pandemic.
Researchers and businesses in Scotland are playing a key role in how the UK is combatting COVID-19. Their work forms part of a £550 million COVID-19 rapid investment programme by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) – the largest public funder of research and development in the UK.
The diversity of UKRI-funded projects is vast – from the world’s first COVID-19 treatments and vaccines, to projects that help us understand and mitigate the impact of the pandemic on our economy, environment, education, arts sector and mental health. This funding builds on decades of public investment and research expertise which have provided the backbone to our national COVID-19 response.
Scotland’s biggest universities have received significant UKRI funding for a number of projects.
The Universities of Edinburgh, Strathclyde and Aberdeen have come together to track COVID-19’s progression across Scotland in real-time by using patient data, which allows them to rapidly assess the impact of new treatments and vaccines.
The University of Edinburgh is also working on a separate project that looks to answer key questions about the characteristics of new diseases such as COVID-19.
The University is collecting data and samples to create a bank available to researchers and industry and an open-access platform to evaluate treatments and diagnostics. The project has already led to the recent identification of a key protein found in the blood of patients with severe COVID-19.
The University of Glasgow has also been awarded UKRI funding to develop a new interactive tool to evaluate the risk of infection by COVID-19 indoors. Adapting their unique expertise and using state-of-the-art AI, they are modelling what happens to droplets and aerosols when people breathe, talk, cough and sneeze in indoor spaces, as well as how face masks, ventilation or room size affect infection risk.
Dr Andrea Cammarano from the University of Glasgow said: “Our funding from UKRI was integral to the development of our project.
“Thanks to our engineers a new intelligent tool using state-of-the-art AI will enable government, industry and business to find ways to safely manage people in indoor spaces during the pandemic and post-lockdown.”
Another project at the University of Stirling aims to gain a greater understanding of attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccines by surveying 5,000 people. Findings will be shared with key people involved in vaccine policy in the UK to help shape campaigns and interventions that are trusted and support high uptake.
Professor Charlotte Deane, COVID-19-Response Director at UKRI said: “Looking back over the past year, it’s clear that the pandemic has had a devastating impact on so many aspects of our lives, but I take more than a glimmer of hope from the extraordinary work being undertaken by researchers and businesses across the UK.
“These projects are just the tip of the iceberg. They show the tenacity and creativty of our research and innovation communities in Scotland and beyond, who have stepped up in the most challenging of times to come together and fight back against this devastating disease.”
These projects are among 3,600 new COVID-19 projects, totalling over £554 million, being funded by UKRI across the country in response to Covid-19.
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