Departmental news

Professor Stefan Bon has been honoured by McMaster University with the prestigious Les Shemilt Lectureship for his achievements in chemical engineering.

Dr Mary-Ann Stephenson has been appointed as the new Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission. The EHRC is Britain's independent equality and human rights regulator. It is a United Nations accredited ‘A status’ National Human Rights Institution (NHRI).

Its role is to make the country a fairer place by enforcing and upholding the laws that safeguard everyone’s right to fairness, dignity and respect.

The University of Warwick has proudly presented the inaugural Ashton Award to an extraordinary group of alumni who studied at Warwick between 1979 and 1989, in recognition of their collective achievements in shaping the transformation of Namibia. The Ashton Award, named after Baroness Catherine Ashton, the University’s first female Chancellor and a global advocate for diplomacy and justice, celebrates the power of collective alumni action to bring about meaningful change.

Warwick has retained sixth place position in the latest University rankings. The Daily Mail University Guide 2026 highlighted excellence in graduate salaries, support for students to achieve high-skilled jobs, and research quality.

University of Warwick, ZARM and Georgia Tech have hit upon a breakthrough in space life support systems thanks to the magnetic properties of water.

The Universities of Warwick and Birmingham opened the first of their respective 1.2 GHz NMR facilities at Warwick, the result of a £23M investment from UKRI that solidifies the West Midlands as a powerhouse for NMR spectroscopy.

The first evidence-based assessment of how the Government’s Inheritance Tax (IHT) reform would affect farm estates has been published by the Centre for the Analysis of Taxation (CenTax), led by Professor Arun Advani of Warwick Economics and Dr Andy Summers of the LSE.

CenTax analysis finds that there is scope for better targeting the reforms to extend protection for family farms and other small businesses whilst further reducing the use of agricultural and business property as a tax shelter.

A farm estate, which is the focus of the analysis, is defined as the total net wealth of an individual who has died owning some farmland or other farm assets on which they had claimed tax relief.

Using detailed HMRC inheritance tax data, The Impact of Changes to Inheritance Tax on Farm EstatesLink opens in a new window finds that, as currently designed, the planned reforms do protect family farms to a large extent - just under one third of farm estates would be impacted by the reform; and that of that 30 per cent, around 200 estates per year potentially comprise family farms valued at less than £5 million - but there is scope for better targeting the reforms to extend protection for farms and other small businesses whilst further reducing the use of agricultural and business property as a tax shelter.

The report proposes two options for better targeting the reform whilst still raising at least as much revenue overall:

• A ‘minimum share rule’ that would remove relief for passive investors in farmland and other business assets, reducing the use of these assets as a tax shelter. Restricting relief to estates whose relief claims cover at least 60% of the total estate could fund an increase in the combined allowance for 100% relief to £5 million per estate, whilst still raising at least as much revenue as planned reform overall.
• An ‘upper limit on relief’ that would cap relief at the first £10 million of claim, funding an increase in the allowance for 100% relief to £2 million per estate. The effect would be to extend protection for family farms and other small businesses.

Addressing concerns that family farms would need to be sold to pay the tax, the report finds that:-

• Almost half (49%) of all impacted farm estates would see a tax increase of less than 5 percentage points.
• All of the 25 farm estates per year facing an increase larger than 15pp are valued at over £7.5 million.
• 86% of impacted farm estates could pay their entire IHT bill out of non-farm assets, leaving around 70 farm estates per year that could not.

Dr Andy Summers, Director of the Centre for Analysis of Taxation (CenTax) and Associate Professor at London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) said:

“Our analysis shows that the Government’s reform largely protects family farms whilst limiting claims by the wealthiest estates. But the relief could be better targeted to reduce its use for tax planning and further extend protection for businesses, including farms.”

• PHOTO - His Majesty's Treasury, Whitehall
  
  
• Read the report in full on the CenTax website: The Impact of Changes to Inheritance Tax on Farm Estates (2025)Link opens in a new window Arun Advani, Sebastian Gazmuri-Barker, Sanaya Mahajan, and Andy Summers
  
  
• The Centre for the Analysis of Taxation (CenTax) is an independent research centre dedicated to improving public understanding of tax policy and helping to design a better tax system. This research was funded by the Nuffield Foundation and abrdn Financial Fairness Trust.

To drive safety in our future airspace, WMG has been working with the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on new research to assess how future electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft can be safely integrated into UK skies. The 18-month study, funded by the Department for Transport, forms part of the regulator’s Future of Flight programme and applies systems thinking to assess the safety of future eVTOL aircraft operations in UK airspace.

Earlier this year the UK Government recognised agri-tech, in its Industrial Strategy, as a key frontier industry within Advanced Manufacturing.

The recognition marks a pivotal shift by the government - acknowledging the sector’s potential to drive growth, enhance productivity, strengthen climate resilience, and reduce agricultural emissions - while prioritising a sustainable and secure food supply for the UK.

This also aligns with the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) new food strategy for England, to tackle UK food resilience and enhance supply chains, while protecting nature and biodiversity.

Warwick Agri-Tech, established in 2022, is a pioneering initiative that brings together the expertise of two leading University of Warwick departments – WMG and the School of Life Sciences. By integrating advanced engineering with plant science, the initiative aims to shape the future of agriculture.

As part of this mission, Warwick Agri-Tech has launched a new Pilot Facility featuring state-of-the-art robotics designed to support sustainable food production and accelerate agricultural innovation.