North-west firms and universities among beneficiaries of £550 million Covid-19 research funding in past year

A number of North-west research teams and businesses have benefited from over £550 million of government funding put towards tackling the Covid-19 pandemic over the last 12 months.

Over the past year, 3.600 research and innovation projects nationwide have secured funding from a rapid investment programme by the country’s largest public funder of research and development, UK Research and Innovation. The £554 million investment has supported research into Covid-19 treatments, the Oxford AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, as well as projects to understand the pandemic’s impact on topics ranging from economics and mental health to education and the environment.

In the North-west, a team of engineers and scientists are developing an affordable and easy-to-use ventilator to help patients in low- and middle-income countries suffering from severe respiratory problems due to COVID-19. The project, which is co-ordinated by UKRI’s Daresbury Laboratory in Cheshire, aims to create a ventilator that does not rely so heavily on compressed gases and mains electricity supply, major limitations of using current ventilators in many places.

Research teams from the North-west’s biggest universities have also received significant UKRI funding to better understand COVID-19. For example, the University of Manchester is leading an international coalition to use mass spectrometry techniques to understand how the disease presents in patients. In order to provide information at a molecular level about the virus, 500 scientists are refining testing approaches and treatment options, as well as speeding up the development of new treatments.

Researchers from the University of Salford are conducting a major study into the benefits system as it copes with an unprecedented wave of applications for Universal Credit during the COVID-19 pandemic. The evidence should help policy makers and practitioners to develop rapid solutions.

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 creativity of our research and innovation communities in the North West and beyond, who have stepped up in the most challenging of times to come together and fight back against this devastating disease.”