The Impact of UK-US Research Collaboration Contents Foreword
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The impact of UK-US research collaboration Contents Foreword Chatty business 4 From armpit cheese to 18 The UK and the US are two research These case studies also emphasise the “A lightbulb went off, How voice systems allow speech-impaired people computer-eating bacteria powerhouses: our scientists have important role that research funders to communicate in the workplace As part of a multi-year project, researchers explored won an impressive 358 Nobel Prizes1 play in creating an environment where and I said, ‘We gotta the role of design in the field of synthetic biology and, between us, we host all of the such collaboration can flourish. All get these people A welcome upgrade to smoother flying 6 world’s top 10 universities2.The US of the research projects described together.’” Recently developed algorithm helps aviation weather Justice will prevail but in what form? 20 is the number one choice for co- here have received support from UK forecasters predict — and avoid — turbulent skies Researchers examine how countries seek authorship for UK researchers and joint Research and Innovation (UKRI). retribution for past national atrocities publications have a citation impact 2.75 In most cases, UKRI funding was “There were a lot of Researchers dig deep to avoid arsenic 8 times greater than the global average3. complemented by support from funders heated arguments... in Bangladesh’s groundwater How to emerge from a deep recession 22 in the US – including the National but it was always While shallow tubewells contain dangerously high levels Economists have found that lowering interest rates isn’t As the case studies in this brochure Science Foundation, National Institutes of arsenic, groundwater at depths of 150 to 200 meters is always enough for a struggling economy to recover show, working together has much of Health and US Department of to make everything considerably safer more tangible impacts than simply Agriculture – as well as other partners better.” How metals in the brain might play 24 increasing citations – UK-US in the UK and EU. What lab animals and people 10 a part in Alzheimer’s collaborations have been able to don’t have in common Researchers found both chemically reduced iron increase our understanding of I’m very proud of the role that “One of the Researchers develop a step-by-step approach to assess the and various calcium compounds in brain tissue, Alzheimer’s disease, revive a dying UKRI North America has played in different impacts that a drug or a chemical might have on neither of which are normally found in the brain language, improve the lives of establishing collaborative funding advantages that we animals versus people people with speech impairments opportunities between UKRI and US have through a UK- Antarctica’s icy lakes are brimming with life 26 and much more. funders, with the express purpose US alliance is a larger Death by a thousand microorganisms 12 International collaborations shed light on continent’s of facilitating partnerships between What researchers have done to tackle subglacial lakes and melting glaciers These impacts were only possible researchers in our two countries. international impact.” emerging plant disease through the combination of unique What can first-ever galaxies tell us 28 expertise from both countries and I look forward to continuing to work How studying the disappearing Kiowa 14 about our universe? the cross-fertilisation of ideas with our partners in the US to build language helped revive it Astronomers find recently discovered faint galaxies across geographical and disciplinary on and grow this relationship, so that Stories told in this unique tribal language are brimming are also some of the oldest boundaries. Transatlantic collaboration we can support many more impactful with complex and elegant sentences typical of Kiowa can help researchers in niche fields find projects – like the ones described here Acknowledgements 30 others working in the same space; it – in the future. New blood test could speed up liver 16 can challenge researchers to question disease diagnosis their assumptions and adopt new Chloë Somers Test could some day be sold as a kit and used approaches; it can increase the reach Director, UK Research and Innovation to monitor liver wellness and reputation of a research project. North America 1. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/lists/all-nobel-prizes/ 2. https://cwur.org/2018-19.php 3. https://www.elsevier.com/research-intelligence?a=507321 2 3 Chatty business How voice systems allow speech-impaired people to communicate in the workplace Users can select day-to-day So, for instance, a user could quickly Higginbotham had been working While AAC technologies have evolved phrases such as “How’s it select day-to-day phrases such as with his colleague David Wilkins to significantly in the last few decades going?” and “Would you like “Hello,” “Good-bye,” and “How’s it build Frametalker, a language system from picture boards and typewriters, that photocopied?” going?” It’s what the late John Todman, that allowed users to carry out topic- for instance, to apps available on a key member of the team and a giant specific conversations. Meanwhile, smartphones and tablets, the ultimate In the winter of 1963, 21-year-old in the world of AAC systems referred Todman, then a psychology professor goal — as yet the Holy Grail — is to make Stephen Hawking was diagnosed with to as “quickfire comments.” The at the University of Dundee and Alm’s conversation as fluid as possible. For an ALS, a motor neuron disease. Over research tool, which was focused on the colleague, was developing TALK, which AAC user that would potentially mean the years, the famous physicist and workplace, also allowed users to select enabled users to carry out casual increasing the speed of communication author who passed away in March phrases such as “Would you like that conversations that weren’t necessarily from an average two words per minute 2018, became bound to a wheelchair photocopied” or “There’s someone on focused on a particular topic. While to 30 or so words per minute. (The and came to rely on a computerized the phone for you.” the end goal of the systems seemed average person without a speech voice system to communicate, which he impediment talks at a rate of 150-180 described as helping him “communicate words per minute.) In fact, research better now than before I lost my voice.” “It was a meeting of shows that during a conversation, people are expected to take no longer These voice systems — known two determined minds.” than a second or two to respond either as Augmentative and Alternative with words or gestures before being held Communication or AAC — are designed accountable for their “delayed” response. for people who, like Hawking, have a “Real communication is all about different on the surface, both were degenerative neuron disease or have interacting and personalities and jokes focused on increasing speed and Today, CONTACT is part of InterAACt, Multiple Sclerosis, Cerebral Palsy, or and teasing, which requires speed fluidity of communication. CONTACT a larger language framework, owned CONTACT, an AAC system that some other condition that severely and intelligence in the system,” says incorporated elements of both systems by Tobii Dynavox, one of the world’s researchers in the US and UK developed, impairs their speech. Norman Alm, a computer scientist and to predict words based on user largest AAC companies. The system allows users to carry out functional, day- now-retired academic from Dundee frequency and context. not only enables speech-impaired users to-day conversations with relative ease. While several of these voice systems University and one of four researchers to communicate more easily but, by The system also allows them to set the exist, in the early 2000s, a team of US on the team. When renowned experts in their field extension also benefits friends and tone of a conversation to casual, normal, and UK researchers joined forces to come together, the collaboration family. According to Alm, while AAC or formal. create CONTACT, a computer program The team came about when Todman isn’t always easy. “It was a meeting system users only account for one-third that would elevate the quality of met Jeff Higginbotham, a professor of of two very determined minds,” says of one percent of the world’s population, Image courtesy of Jeff Higginbotham communication from message making Communicative Disorders at the Higginbotham, referring to himself “worldwide that’s a lot of people, and for — where users express themselves University of Buffalo, at an international and Todman. “There were a lot of them, it’s a huge problem because if you one word at a time — to interactive conference on AAC, and suggested they heated arguments … but it was always can’t communicate, you can’t be human.” talk, which would allow them to select work together with Alm as well as Portia to make everything better.” The team commonly used phrases, resulting File, a computer scientist at Abertay also collaborated with a US-based This research was supported by UKRI’s in faster and more substantive University in Dundee. engineering firm Enkidu Research as Engineering and Physical Sciences communication. part of the effort. Research Council and the European Union. 4 5 A welcome upgrade to smoother flying Recently developed algorithm helps aviation weather forecasters predict – and avoid – turbulent skies Millions of people around the world turbulence tends to be transient, so PhD thesis on the generation of gravity are afraid of flying. For some, it’s the these forecasts aren’t always accurate. waves in an unbalanced jet stream. feeling of being trapped in a small In his thesis, Williams had briefly space for hours; for others, it’s a sense As a solution, in 2008, a transatlantic mentioned the idea of an algorithm of powerlessness.