The UNESCO Week of Sound, a week of events organised around the themes of hearing health, the sound environment and musical expression which aims to educate the public and raise awareness about the importance of the quality of our sound environment, is taking place in Edinburgh this week, it’s first edition in the United Kingdom.
Edinburgh Central MSP and culture secretary Angus Robertson has welcomed the event, saying: “I’m delighted that Edinburgh has been chosen by UNESCO as the first city in the UK to host this global cultural event. Edinburgh and Scotland’s links with UNESCO are strong, and the Week of Sound taking place here is another demonstration of our close bond.
“When I visited the global headquarters of UNESCO in Paris, we celebrated the success of the world’s first-ever UNESCO trail—based in Scotland—that brings together some of Scotland’s most iconic, diverse and culturally significant sites.
“Of course, the week-long festival will itself be taking place in a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the centre of my constituency – Edinburgh’s Old and New Towns. I invite all to take a look at the programme and enjoy the free events.”
Produced in partnership with the University of Edinburgh, the UNESCO Week of Sound will take place the week commencing Monday 16th October 2023 and will host a number of concerts, workshops, talks and discussions on sound and how it relates to some of the predominant issues and questions of our time.
Head of the University of Edinburgh’s Reid School of Music, based at Edinburgh College of Art, Dr Martin Parker, who is leading the UNESCO Week of Sound in Edinburgh, said: “The UNESCO Week of Sound explores how sound connects with some of the biggest issues facing the world today. From climate change and mental health to the sounds of protest and community action to artificial intelligence.
“The Reid School of Music at the University of Edinburgh is the perfect place to engage the public and student body with new ideas and performances that connect with global challenges that concern us all.
“We are thrilled to host a new chapter of the UNESCO Week of Sound here in Edinburgh.”
The Scottish Government’s Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture, Angus Robertson MSP who will give a speech at the event next week, welcomed the news that the UNESCO Week of Sound will be held in the Scottish capital.
He said: “I’m delighted to welcome the UNESCO Week of Sound to Edinburgh, the first city in the UK to host this global event.
“With our 12 UNESCO designations across Scotland—including Edinburgh’s Old and New Towns and the Forth Bridge—our links with the United Nation’s global cultural body is strong.
“I greatly look forward to building on this during the UNESCO Week of Sound.”
The UNESCO Week of Sound takes place in Edinburgh from Monday 16th October to Friday 20th October 2023.
All events held at the UNESCO Week of Sound are free.
To find out more and book tickets for the events, please visit www.weekofsound.scot.
Scotland is set to receive its first total-body scanner in a boost to clinical research that aims to improve the detection, diagnosis and treatment of complex, multi-organ diseases.
The Total-Body Positron Emission Tomography (PET) facility, due to be operational in 2024, will capture images of patients’ entire bodies quicker, in more detail and use less radiation than existing scanners.
In combination with data from the other new scanner in London, the Scotland scanner forms part of a new National PET Imaging Platform (NPIP) which experts believe will accelerate the development of new drugs and diagnostics.
The platform, a partnership between Medicines Discovery Catapult (MDC), the Medical Research Council (MRC) and Innovate UK, aims to advance healthcare research and clinical trials, and unlock new treatments for complex diseases like cancer as well as cardiovascular and neurological diseases.
The NPIP Scotland Total-Body PET facility will allow academics to connect to the new platform to share data and collaborate on research.
The scanners are part of a £32 million investment intothe ground-breaking technology by the UK Government, through the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Infrastructure Fund.
The facility, based at the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh, will be jointly managed by the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow.
NPIP’s Total-Body PET scanners have higher sensitivity than current technology and will reveal new insights into biology and disease.
PET scanning is a non-invasive imaging technique that can detect diseases’ early onset.
Current PET technology leaves large sections of the human body out of the field of view, requiring the patient to be repositioned multiple times to achieve a full-body view.
Supplied by Siemens Healthineers, the two Total-Body PET scanners will capture superior images of a patient’s entire body in near real-time.
The new scanners are also faster, exposing patients to much lower doses of radiation, meaning more patients – including children – can participate in clinical trials to improve understanding of diseases.
The speed of Total-Body PET scanners mean that NPIP will be able to facilitate more patient scans, enhancing the scale and impact of clinical research projects.
This richer picture of human health will help researchers to develop new diagnostics, improve the quality and speed of drug discovery, and bring them to market quicker to benefit patients.
NPIP’s network of infrastructure and intelligence will provide a complete picture of patients and how they respond to new drugs and treatments.
Uniquely, it will also connect insights from many research programmes and trials. In doing so, it will begin to build a rich bank of data that the PET community can access for the benefit of patients.
Professor David Newby, The University of Edinburgh, Co-Director of the NPIP Scotland Centre, said: “The Scotland Total-Body PET facility will bring together academics, industry and clinicians to create an integrated and accessible national PET facility for the benefit of patients across Scotland and the north of England.
“The Total-Body PET scanner will allow us to examine patients in ways that haven’t been possible before, propelling medical innovation and discovery, and ultimately improving the detection, diagnosis and treatment of complex diseases, including cancer.”
Dr David Lewis, University of Glasgow, Co-Director of the NPIP Scotland Centre, said: “Total-Body PET scanners are a quantum leap forward in the technology of body scanning, and we are proud that a partnership between the University of Edinburgh and the University of Glasgow will jointly manage one of the first of these cutting-edge scanners in the UK.
“The Scotland Total-Body PET scanner will be a catalyst for innovative new research and cross-sector collaboration, ultimately benefitting patients by improving our understanding of complex diseases.”
Dr Juliana Maynard, Director of Operations and Engagement for the National PET Imaging Platform and Head of Translational Imaging at Medicines Discovery Catapult, said: “PET scanning is nothing short of transformational for patients who need it the most.
“Total-Body PET scanners can detect serious diseases with unprecedented speed and accuracy. NPIP will allow the kind of collaboration in imaging research the likes of which the UK has never seen before. It means that, collectively, we can power forward drug discovery with renewed confidence and drive world-leading capabilities in detection, diagnosis, and treatment.”
COLLECTION DAY: SATURDAY 25 NOVEMBER from 10am – 4pm
Their Finest Hour is a digital preservation project run by the University of Oxford, and supported by volunteers around the country, which aims to collate as many World War Two stories and artefacts as possible from across the UK.
The project is running a series of Digital Collection Days across the UK, where members of the public can bring war-related memories, photographs, diaries, and any other remnants of the War to be recorded and uploaded to a free-to-access online archive.
As these stories are fast fading from living memory, it is vital that they – and the wartime objects that often accompany them – are preserved for future generations.
The Collection Day will be taking place Saturday 25th November between 10:00-16:00, at Rainy Hall, New College, University of Edinburgh if you are interested in attending.
Sign-ups for the event are not compulsory, but would be appreciated (so that we can gauge numbers) via the following link: https://edin.ac/451MiRy.
Business leader, educator and entrepreneur Judy Wagner has been appointed Vice Chair of neurodiversity champions Salvesen Mindroom Centre.
Ms Wagner, a strong advocate for diversity in the workplace for three decades, has been a trustee of the Edinburgh-based charity for the past three years during which time her influential business network has helped to expand the charity’s reach and impact.
She has also enabled the charity to broaden its scope of service delivery and attracted new clients and opportunities to extend its services.
An Edinburgh University graduate and Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, she has been heavily involved in championing diversity issues since co-founding international executive search business FWB Park Brown in 1993 and has also worked with Scottish Enterprise to establish the Balancing the Boardroom project, the first of its kind in Scotland for women on boards.
Last year she was part of an independent review on Women in Entrepreneurship commissioned by the Scottish Government. She focused on the education sector, liaising with key leaders across the whole sector, examining how enterprise and diversity, including neurodiversity, could be embedded in our education system.
“There is no doubt that the best teams embrace diversity of all forms,” she says. “And the benefits of embracing neurodiversity in the workplace are well proven in ensuring success, attracting and retaining key talent and creating a welcoming environment.”
Ms Wagner, who is also passionate about Salvesen Mindroom’s role as a key partner in the Salvesen Mindroom Research Centre, part of the Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences at The University of Edinburgh, is committed to helping establish the charity as a centre of excellence for Neurodiversity, supporting children, young people and those in the workplace with leading research, advice and practical resources.
Salvesen Mindroom Centre’s Chair Sandy Manson, who has long argued for diversity to become a key business priority, says: “Judy’s ethos and enthusiasm are a perfect fit for us.
“She embraces everything we are trying to achieve and has already proved an impressive force for good on various fronts, including using her networks to publicise and attract delegates for the global It Takes All Kinds Of Minds conference we held in the city in March. We look forward to enhancing our offering further with her guidance as Vice Chair.”
Salvesen Mindroom Centre is a charity that champions all forms of neurodiversity and supports all kinds of minds. Their mission is to be a leading centre for change, in how we live, work and learn. They will achieve this through support, education, advocacy, and research. Visit their website for more information on the charity’s work.
Environmentally conscious SMEs are being offered the chance to reduce their carbon footprint and lower energy bills thanks to a new partnership between Royal Bank of Scotland, the Edinburgh Climate Change Institute (ECCI) and the University of Edinburgh.
The free course allows businesses to identify the simple, cost-effective steps they can take to reduce emissions and save on outgoings while also helping the planet at the same time.
Successful applicants will take part in three 2-hour workshops that begin by helping SMEs to understand their own energy and carbon usage data and how they can build their own tailored ‘Carbon Reduction Plan’.
The free workshops also explain how taking positive environmental action can result in lower energy usage and therefore lower bills. Organisations can become more cost efficient by making positive changes such as changing boiler settings, installing smart lighting systems, swapping to sustainable suppliers and upgrading insulation.
The scheme is currently accepting applications from all sectors, having already supported over 60 participants from industries such as manufacturing, charity and education.
Applications for the next cohort close on 3rd October, with a later session set to launch at the start of November also welcoming candidates.
Code Hostels completed the course earlier this year and has used the learnings from the programme to make sustainable improvements across the business, including buying more produce from local suppliers and switching to eco-friendly cleaning products.
Talking of his experience, Jamie Greig, Operations and Design Consultant at Code Hostels, said:“The programme was a game changer for us. As a business, when you start looking at reducing emissions it can seem like an incredibly daunting process, and net zero targets can seem a long way off.
“We found it really valuable to chat to the other groups on the cohort, and we quickly realised we weren’t alone in the challenges we were facing.
“Sustainability in the hospitality industry is a personal passion of mine and we know that many other SMEs across the hospitality sector are experiencing the same challenges as we had at Code. I now run my own separate business, Our Property Bear, using energy monitors to help hotels and hostels monitor and reduce their energy consumption.”
Judith Cruickshank, Chair, One Bank Scotland said:“Royal Bank of Scotland is delighted to work with the University of Edinburgh’s Edinburgh Climate Change Institute to deliver a programme which can make a real difference to SMEs across all sectors.
“It offers the insight, learnings and access to experts to help businesses see the opportunities it can offer them – and see the potential tackling climate change could make.”
Prof Dave Raey, Executive Director of ECCI, University of Edinburgh said:“The Climate Springboard programme is inspiring. The great engagement and responses from participating businesses is a testament to the fantastic work of the team here at Edinburgh Climate Change Institute and our partners at the Royal Bank of Scotland.
“In simultaneously helping to cut energy costs and carbon emissions for such a wide array of businesses, they are delivering exactly the kinds of cost-effective climate action so desperately needed in every sector.”
The scheme is currently accepting applications from all sectors, having already supported over 60 participants from industries such as manufacturing, charity and education.
Applications for the next cohort close on 3rd October, with a later session set to launch at the start of November also welcoming candidates.
SMEs looking to learn more about their emissions and how they can start reducing them are invited to register their interest here. More information about the programme is available here.
Do you have memories of The Old Royal Infirmary that you would like to share? We want to hear them!
The “Recycling a Hospital” project aims to reuse wood and slate from the reconstruction of the Old Royal Infirmary, the future home of the Edinburgh Futures Institute, to honour memories connected to the building.
Please join our Recycling a Hospital Community Poetry and Image Workshop where we hope to bring together people from the community with memories of the building (births, illness, recovery, and so on) that we can shape into text.
A European mission to explore how gravity, dark energy and dark matter has shaped the Universe has launched following £37 million UK Space Agency funding.
The Euclid space telescope will map the “dark Universe” by observing billions of galaxies out to 10 billion lightyears, across more than a third of the sky, to gather data on how its structure has formed over its cosmic history.
Led by the European Space Agency (ESA) and a consortium of 2,000 scientists across 16 countries, Euclid will spend six years venturing through space with two scientific instruments: a UK-built visible imager (VIS) that will become one of the largest cameras ever sent into space, and a near infrared spectrometer and photometer, developed in France.
Secretary of State for Science and Technology Chloe Smith said: “The launch of the Euclid mission is a truly significant moment. Backed by £37 million in UK funding and supported by our remarkable scientific talent and expertise, the mission will launch one of the largest cameras ever into space to look out across our universe.
“The mission will gain unparalleled insight into the mysteries of how the Universe was formed, delivering ground-breaking discoveries that will redefine what we know about space.”
Dr Paul Bate, Chief Executive of the UK Space Agency, said: “Watching the launch of Euclid, I feel inspired by the years of hard work from thousands of people that go into space science missions, and the fundamental importance of discovery – how we set out to understand and explore the Universe.
“The UK Space Agency’s £37 million investment in Euclid has supported world-class science on this journey, from the development of the ground segment to the build of the crucial visible imager instrument, which will help humanity begin to uncover the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy.”
The Euclid spacecraft being loaded into the SpaceX Falcon 9 fairing ahead of launch, on 27 June 2023. Credit: SpaceX.
Euclid took off on board a SpaceX spacecraft from Cape Canaveral in Florida at 4.12pm (BST) on 1 July.
The UK Space Agency’s funding goes back to 2010, up to 2024, and is divided between teams at University College London, The Open University, University of Cambridge, University of Edinburgh, University of Oxford, University of Portsmouth and Durham University.
All these institutions have contributed to the development and implementation of the Euclid UK Science Ground Segment (UKSGS), which runs the Euclid data analysis. Led by the University of Edinburgh, which hosts Euclid’s UK Science Data Centre (SDC-UK), the UKSGS will process hundreds of petabytes of data over the next six years to produce maps of the galaxies and dark matter of the Universe.
The wider Euclid Consortium includes experts from 300 organisations across 13 European countries, the US, Canada and Japan.
The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) also contributed to design and development work on Euclid instrumentation and provided funding to UK astronomy teams who will analyse the data returned from the mission, including studies on the physics responsible for the observed accelerated expansion of the Universe.
Executive Chair at STFC Professor Mark Thomson said: “Euclid will answer some of the biggest and most profound questions we have about the Universe and dark energy. Congratulations to everyone involved in the design, construction and launch of Euclid – we are opening a new window on the cosmos.
“This is a fantastic example of close collaboration between scientists, engineers, technicians, and astronomers across Europe working together to tackle some of the biggest questions in science.”
Research funded by the UK Space Agency
University College London (MSSL and P&A) – Design, build and testing of Euclid’s VIS optical camera (£20.5 million)
UCL researchers have led on designing, building and testing the VIS optical camera, one of Euclid’s two instruments, working with teams at Open University as well as in France, Italy and Switzerland.
The core electronics for the instrument, including its complex array of 36 CCDs (that convert photons into electrons), were built at UCL’s Mullard Space Science Laboratory.
The camera, one of the largest ever sent into space, will take high resolution, panoramic images of a large swathe of the Universe, going back 10 billion years and covering a third of the night sky.
Professor Benjamin Joachimi (UCL Physics & Astronomy) is also playing a key role in the ground-based part of the mission (the ground segment), converting Euclid’s raw data into statistical summaries that can be compared to our current theoretical models of the universe.
Professor Mark Cropper, leader of the VIS camera team at UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory, said: “The VIS instrument will image a large swathe of the distant Universe with almost the fine resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope, observing more of the Universe in one day than Hubble did in 25 years.
“The data will allow us to infer the distribution of dark matter across the Universe more precisely than ever before. The galaxies being imaged are up to 10 billion years old so we will also see how dark matter has evolved over most of the Universe’s history. The Universe on this scale has not yet been seen in this level of detail.”
Professor Tom Kitching, one of four science co-ordinators for Euclid, said: “The puzzles we hope to address are fundamental. Are our models of the Universe correct?
“What is dark energy? Is it vacuum energy – the energy of virtual particles popping in and out of existence in empty space? Is it a new particle field that we didn’t expect? Or it may be Einstein’s theory of gravity that is wrong.
“Whatever the answer, a revolution in physics is almost guaranteed.”
University of Edinburgh (£8.9 million)
Edinburgh has been involved in the design and build of Euclid from its earliest days – leading the Euclid gravitational lensing data analysis, the UK Data Science Analysis and host to the UK’s Euclid Science Data Centre which will process hundreds of petabytes of data throughout the mission.
Professor Andy Taylor, leader of the gravitational lensing analysis for Euclid, the UK’s Euclid Science Data Analysis and SDC-UK, said: “This is a very exciting time for astronomy, and cosmology in particular.
“Euclid is designed to answer some of the biggest questions we have about the Universe. It has been a lot of hard work by many scientists to get here, but the results could change how we understand nature.
Professor Alkistis Pourtsidou, leader of Euclid’s nonlinear modelling team said: “Euclid is going to provide a very large and very detailed 3D map of the Universe, across the sky and along time.
“This map is a remarkable achievement combining state-of-the-art science and engineering. We want to extract the maximum amount of information from it and use it to figure out how nature works at the most fundamental level.
Dr Alex Hall, deputy leader of the gravitational lensing science working group, said: With the launch of Euclid begins an astronomical observing campaign that is amongst the most ambitious ever attempted.
“By imaging over a billion galaxies, Euclid will allow us to make a map of dark matter with unprecedented precision that will answer fundamental questions about our Universe. The next few years are going to be very exciting, and it is a privilege to be part of this incredible project.”
University of Oxford – Developing lensing signal measurement and correction for the effects of telescope and detectors on the data (£2.1 million)
Oxford’s Department of Physics has played a significant role in the lensing data analysis. As well as contributing to the development of the method used to measure the lensing signal, the team have specialised in correcting for the effects that the telescope and imaging detectors have on the data.
No telescope system is perfect – there is always some blurring and distortion of the images – and Oxford’s role has been not only to build the software models but also to devise ways of calibrating those models using dedicated in-orbit data from Euclid. These are crucial steps that allow the lensing measurements to be used to explore the dark side of our Universe.
Professor Lance Miller, leader of the work at the University of Oxford, said: “This is an incredibly exciting time.
“This space mission is the result of years of work and for us here in Oxford, that work continues as we put the finishing touches to the software that will be analysing some of the first Euclid data sent back to Earth, from August onwards.
“I have been working on Euclid since its inception, so to have reached this major milestone today is extraordinary. It is fantastic to be part of a mission that could play a fundamental role in our understanding of the Universe.
University of Portsmouth – Writing code for data analysis (£1.8 million)
The University of Portsmouth’s team, led by Ernest Rutherford Fellow, Dr Seshadri Nadathur, has been working with the wider European team, writing code that will help analyse data from the spacecraft.
Dr Seshadri Nadathur, from Portsmouth’s Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, said: “Galaxies are not randomly scattered around the sky – instead there are patterns in their positions that are relics of correlations created at the time of the Big Bang, shaped over billions of years by the interplay of gravity pulling galaxies together and the expansion of the Universe driving them apart.
“By measuring and understanding these patterns in the maps Euclid will provide, we will learn about the mysterious force of dark energy that seems to be driving the Universe to expand ever faster.
“The team at Portsmouth has been busy developing and testing software that builds the maps and allows them to correct for any spurious patterns in the galaxy positions that arise purely due to variations in the performance of the telescope and instruments, so that we can isolate the true cosmological patterns we are interested in.”
Durham University – Building Euclid tolerance to radiation and supercomputer mock data (£1.3 million)
Professor Richard Massey, of Durham University’s Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy/Institute for Computational Cosmology, is a founder of the Euclid mission and has been developing its design and science goals for 20 years.
Work from a team of international researchers has included making Euclid’s camera more tolerant to the high radiation environment in which it will need to survive above the Earth’s atmosphere, learning from our experience with the Hubble Space Telescope.
As well as leading on Euclid’s radiation monitoring and mitigation strategy, Durham has used supercomputer simulation capabilities to create mock data to train Euclid’s analysis software, which will be compared against the spacecraft’s real observations.
Professor Richard Massey said: “When exploring any wild new frontier, the first step is to map the land. Euclid will make the largest ever map (with a tiny ‘you are here’ at the centre) and will show the invisible Universe.
“By revealing where dark matter and dark energy hide, we hope to take the second step – to discover what they are and trigger a gold rush of new science about how they behave.
“Euclid is like the Hubble Space Telescope, but with a wide-angle view. It will let astronomers stand back and see the sweeping vista of the Universe – but with the same high-resolution detail.
“Exploring and mapping new frontiers is the most human thing possible. Helping shape our next look into the dark has been a privilege.
“It has taken 20 years to make Euclid’s technology possible, engineer its details, and navigate the politics of competing against other proposed missions that would all discover amazing things. That rocket carries the sense of exploration and lifetimes’ work of thousands of scientists and engineers.”
The Open University – Developing and testing VIS detectors (£1.2 million)
The Open University’s Centre for Electronic Imaging (CEI) has been involved in developing the detectors for the VIS instrument and testing how they will perform in the harsh radiation environment in space.
The team will continue to monitor the detectors during the mission, to help mitigate the effects of the damage caused by high energy particles outside the Earth’s protective atmosphere, allowing Euclid to return the best possible science for the mission lifetime.
Dr Jesper Skottfelt, CEI Fellow at The Open University, said: “After 15 years of CEI involvement in the Euclid mission, it is exciting to see the spacecraft being launched.
“Our study of the VIS detectors has led to the development of new techniques to correct the effects of radiation damage which will enhance science return for this and future space missions.
“We look forward to seeing the progress Euclid will deliver towards answering some of the most fundamental questions we have about our Universe.
University of Cambridge – Developing astrometric calibration pipeline for Euclid image data (£870,000)
The University of Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy (IoA) team has been involved in Euclid since 2010, supporting development of the astrometric calibration pipeline for the optical image data from Euclid, ensuring that the positions of the billions of sources to be imaged by Euclid can be determined to exquisite accuracy.
Nicholas Walton, leader of the IoA Euclid team and a Director of Research at the University of Cambridge, said: Dark energy and dark matter fundamentally govern the formation and evolution of our Universe.
“The Euclid mission will finally uncover the mysteries of how these ‘dark’ forces have shaped the cosmos that we see today, from life here on Earth, to our Sun, our Milky Way, our nearby galaxy neighbours, and the wider Universe beyond.”
A new project by researchers in Edinburgh aims to identify combinations of existing drugs that could be used together to treat motor neuron disease (MND).
Led by Prof Siddharthan Chandran, Group Leader at the UK Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI) and Director of the Euan MacDonald Centre for MND Research, both at the University of Edinburgh, the £3.3 million project is funded by the medical research charity LifeArc, as part of an ongoing partnership between the charity and the UK DRI.
The partnership brings together the strengths of UK DRI’s research into discovery science with LifeArc’s translational expertise to take exciting lab discoveries forward and translate them into tangible benefits for patients.
MND is a life-limiting condition that causes progressive weakness of the muscles due to the degeneration of motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord. There is currently only one drug approved to treat the disease in the UK, riluzole, which has only a modest effect.
There is an urgent unmet need for effective therapies to treat MND. But the brain is complex, and targeting one biological pathway with a single drug might not be enough to slow down or stop the degeneration of motor neurons.
The new project seeks to drastically accelerate the development of new treatments by identifying existing drugs which target multiple disease mechanisms implicated in MND.
Typically, new drugs can take up to 15 years to progress through development and clinical trial stages, but with this approach, treatments could be tested in the clinic within four years.
Prof Siddharthan Chandran, Group Leader at the UK Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI) and Director of the Euan MacDonald Centre for MND Research, both at the University of Edinburgh, said: “As has been shown for cancer therapy, using combinations of drugs that target different pathways might be our best chance of slowing or stopping the progression of MND.
“This innovative project is an important next step in identifying effective medicines for MND.”
In the first stage of the study, the researchers will prioritise the top drug candidates, using both laboratory-based tests on motor neurons grown in the lab from patient donated stem cells, and a machine-learning, artificial intelligence approach to review published scientific studies of MND.
Next, the top candidate drugs will be tested in pairs in combination in the stem cell models of MND, against different biological pathways known to be implicated in MND.
The ultimate goal is to seek regulatory approval to test the most promising and effective combinations of drugs in the Euan MacDonald Centre’s MND-SMART (Motor Neuron Disease – Systematic Multi-arm Adaptive Randomised Trial) trial.
This pioneering trial across 20 sites in the UK is designed to shorten the time it takes to find medicines that can slow or stop MND. Unlike typical clinical trials which test a single treatment, MND-SMART is testing several treatments at the same time. It is also an adaptive trial which means that new drugs can be added, and those proven ineffective can be dropped.
This new project complements another recently announced MND initiative, EXPERT-ALS, which aims to rapidly identify promising drug candidates in small scale trials, before definitive evaluation in Phase 3 platform trials such as MND-SMART.
Dr Paul Wright, MND Translational Challenge Lead at LifeArc said:“Our involvement in this research is part of an ambitious long-term £100m funding programme we have launched to help tackle neurodegenerative conditions and find treatments where none currently exist.
“By working with UK DRI we are uncovering promising life science research, like Professor Siddharthan’s, that we can support with funding or by offering our scientific resources and expertise in translational research.
“Ultimately, our aim is to accelerate the process of finding medical breakthroughs that can prevent and stop these life-threatening diseases progressing.”
Edinburgh Women’s Aid, (EWA), is marking its 50th anniversary this year with a series of events, including its latest seminar, ‘Changing the Landscape: 50 years of activism and action against domestic abuse’, attended by over 80 guests at Edinburgh University, including Councillor Cammy Day, Leader of the City of Edinburgh Council.
The seminar explored the role of research in changing the policy landscape around domestic abuse and looking back on the development of EWA, which has supported tens of thousands of women and children for the past 50yrs who have been able to access the safe accommodation and support, including legal advice and help securing employment.
Guest speakers at the event, which was co-hosted by the School of Social and Political Science at Edinburgh University, in partnership with genderED, included Professors Rebecca and Russell Dobash who began researching domestic abuse in Scotland, shortly after the first refuge in the city opened in 1973 and unveiled a map of refuges which have opened around the world over the past 50 years.
Over the years, they have published 11 books and numerous articles on violence, gender and murder, including their ‘Violence Against Wives’ study into the incidence and nature of domestic abuse in Scotland, later published as Violence Against Wives: the case against the patriarchy (1979).
Council Leader Cammy Day said: “Nobody should have to suffer abuse, whatever form it takes.
“Over the last 50 years, Edinburgh Women’s Aid has been unwavering in their commitment to help and support victims and survivors of domestic abuse. We know that there is still a way to go before we live in a world where domestic abuse is history. Our policies, such as the Multi-Agency Domestic Abuse Policy, is designed to provide an understanding and supportive service to those affected by this issue and to those who work to help them stay safe.
“We know that there is more that we can do to offer support, as an organisation and as individuals. As a Council we’re part of the Equally Safe Edinburgh Committee which is working to make the city safe for women, children and young people and recently I became an ambassador for White Ribbon Scotland to encourage men to play their part and stand up and speak out against violence against women. Working together we can make sure we provide the very best safeguards that we can to anyone at risk of harm.”
Professor John Devaney, Head of School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh, whose research interests relate to domestic abuse and family violence, said: “Our understanding about what causes and sustains domestic abuse has improved significantly over the past fifty years.
“While the range of effective support available to child and adult victims has improved significantly in that time, unfortunately the level and nature of funding of support services is still too little given the scale and consequences of the issue.
“Edinburgh Women’s Aid are to be commended for the high quality of support they offer to child and adult survivors, and the University of Edinburgh remains committed to working in partnership regarding placement opportunities for students, joint research, and support for students and staff who experience domestic abuse.”
Fran Wasoff, one of the founding members of Edinburgh Women’s Aid, and also a senior lecturer and a Professor of Family Policies in the subject area of Social Policy at the University of Edinburgh, where her research interests were in family law and policy, also attended the event, reflecting on 50 years of domestic abuse in Scotland and how we change the landscape going forward.
The seminar also provided an opportunity to pay tribute to those who have provided support for women and their families over the past five decades in the city.
Linda Rodgers, Chief Executive of Edinburgh Women’s Aid, said: “It felt like a moment in history, bringing together these amazing people who have changed the research landscape and as a result improved policy and practice in relation to domestic abuse.
“I am so proud that Edinburgh Women’s Aid continues to lead the way in supporting research, improving policy and changing societal attitudes to domestic abuse.”
Stop It Now! Scotland and NSPCC Scotland are today (Wednesday, March 15, 2023) hosting ‘Public Health Approaches to Preventing Child Sexual Abuse’
The online event will look at the evidence on preventing sexual abuse and what could be done in Scotland to better protect children before abuse begins and to help with their recovery
Stop It Now! Scotland and the NSPCC are calling on the Scottish Government to develop a national strategy to tackle child sexual abuse that focuses on prevention to make the country a safer place to grow up.
The two charities, which are today hosting an event in partnership with the Scottish Parliament, say working together to stop the abuse from happening in the first place will prevent the devastating impact it has on the mental health of children and adult survivors.
They are urging the Scottish Government to develop a comprehensive and coordinated national approachto prevent child sexual abuse, which involves health, police, education, community safety, children’s services, social services, housing and the wider community. The child protection charities say it is vital that everyone understands what child sexual abuse is and knows how they can be part of preventing it.
A review of UK data revealed that 15 per cent of females and 5 per cent of males will experience some form of sexual abuse before the age of 16. This means at least 80,000 children in Scotland will have been affected by this issue before they leave high school. Although this is thought to be an under-representation of the scale of the problem and the actual number of children who have experienced sexual abuse in Scotland is not known.
The charities say that to understand the numbers of children in Scotland affected and the scale of the suffering it is crucial that a prevalence survey is conducted. At the event, leading experts will discuss current evidence on preventing child sexual abuse and explore the next steps needed to make Scotland the safest country for children to grow up.
Joanne Smith, NSPCC Scotland’s Policy and Public Affairs Manager, said: “Child sexual abuse has a devastating impact on people’s lives.
“The response, to date, has focused largely on bringing perpetrators to justice and providing some children with therapy and support. But we believe that as a society our focus should be on preventing child sexual abuse before it occurs, before people at risk of abusing become offenders, and before potential victims become actual victims. Understanding child sexual abuse, and what causes it, is a vital step towards developing effective prevention strategies.”
Stuart Allardyce, Director, Lucy Faithfull Foundation / Stop It Now! Scotland, said: “We are calling on the Scottish Government to carry out a dedicated prevalence survey to identify the levels of sexual offending against children in Scotland, alongside a national strategy for tackling child sexual abuse.
“We know that sexual abuse has an enormous impact on the mental health outcomes for children and adult survivors and the economic costs for the criminal justice system.
“We believe sexual harm towards children and young people could be reduced if we focused more on prevention, including therapy being offered to adults who are worried about their sexual thoughts and feelings towards children.”
Childlight, based at the University of Edinburgh, also launches the first comprehensive global data repository today, which will look at all forms of child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA), with the aim of being able to show the scale and nature of this abuse.
The international team, made up of experienced individuals from academia, the private sector, law enforcement and non-governmental organisations, will produce an annual report, global dashboard and index with the data that can be used by tech companies, law enforcement agencies and those who work in child protection so they can take action to prevent CSEA.
Speakers at the online event will include:
Professor Elizabeth Letourneau, Moore Centre for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse, School of Public Health, John Hopkins University
Pat Branigan, Assistant Director – Together For Childhood – NSPCC
Stuart Allardyce, Director, Lucy Faithfull Foundation / Stop It Now! Scotland
MSP Clare Haughey, Minister for Children and Young People
Children and young people can contact Childline for free, confidential support and advice 24 hours a day online at www.childline.org.uk or on the phone on 0800 1111.
Anyone with concerns about a child’s wellbeing can contact the NSPCC Helpline on help@nspcc.org.uk. The NSPCC practitioners provide free and confidential help and advice and can take appropriate steps to help keep children safe. If a child is in immediate danger, please call 999.
