Departmental news

The EDITH trial (‘Early Detection using Information Technology in Health’) is backed by £11 million of government support via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). It is the latest example of how British scientists are transforming cancer care, building on the promising potential of cutting-edge innovations to tackle one of the UK’s biggest killers. Read the full news item here.

This week we are delighted to interview Associate Professor Dr Serena Natile, for our Warwick Law School Staff Spotlight series.

We're delighted to announce that Professor Lisa Dikomitis will be joining us as Director of Warwick Applied Health from 1 May 2025. Currently based at Kent and Medway Medical School, Prof Dikomitis is an anthropologist whose research encompasses global health, migration and refugee studies, health services research and medical education.

A student from WMG at the University of Warwick was honoured to represent the UK at the inaugural Kunoichi Cyber GamesLink opens in a new window at the CODE BLUE cyber security conference in Tokyo recently.

Team UK joined competitors from Japan, the USA, and Europe, to compete in the world first, in-person, under 30, female international CTF competition.

Team UK was made up of young women who have been part of the National Cyber Security Centre’s (NCSC) CyberFirst Bursary programme, and were sponsored by Amiosec, BT, Interrupt Labs, Immersive Labs, TryHackMe, and Microsoft.

The Kunoichi Cyber Games in November 2024 aimed to champion women in cyber security and inspire young women to pursue careers in cyber. On the first day of the games the teams showcased their technical skills, and on day two they took part in forums on various topics based on the competition’s themes.

The Department of History is looking to appoint a Research Fellow for a fixed-term period of 24 months from 1 September 2025 to work with Dr Anna Toropova on the Wellcome Trust funded Career Development Award: ‘Traumatised Minds, Neurosis and Hysteria in Soviet Medicine and Culture, 1917-1953’.

This project examines scientific, medical and cultural approaches to psychological trauma in the Soviet Union between 1917 and 1953.

The full advert and job description can be found on the University of Warwick website. For informal queries, please contact Dr Anna Toropova at anna.toropova.1@warwick.ac.uk.

The deadline for applications is Sunday 16 March 2025 at 11.55pm.

The International Institute for Nanocomposites Manufacturing (IINM) at WMG, University of Warwick has celebrated its 10^th anniversary.

Launched in 2014, the IINM was the world’s first institute exploiting polymer processing techniques and supporting industry with innovative manufacturing technologies to produce polymer nanocomposites.

A decade later, it has supported manufacturers operating in telecommunications; electronics; pharmaceuticals; aerospace; automotive; security and medicine, including international organisations such as JLR; Baker Hughes; James Walker; Synthos; Versarien Graphene Ltd; First Graphene Ltd, Thomas Swan & Co Ltd and Black Swan Graphene, as well as highly innovative SMEs such as Senergy Innovations Ltd.

To commemorate the milestone, guests were invited for a guided tour, where they had the opportunity to meet the founder and Director of the IINM, Professor Tony McNallyLink opens in a new window, as well as academic leads Professor Chaoying WanLink opens in a new window and Dr Lukasz FigielLink opens in a new window; Research Fellows and PhD students to talk about current research.

Former LLB student and Chief Executive of the Society of Authors Nicola Solomon was awarded an OBE in the 2025 King's New Year’s Honours list for services to Literature and the Creative Industries.

WMG at the University of Warwick welcomes the recent Edge Foundation report on Degree Apprenticeships in England.

As a major provider of degree apprenticeships in engineering and digital technologies in the West Midlands, WMG recognises the transformative impact that they have on employers and learners who gain real industrial experience alongside a degree qualification.

The report explores the experiences of apprentices, employers, and education and training providers (ETPs), and makes a number of key recommendations for Government and Skills England to explore, which WMG strongly supports.

Professor Rob Thornton, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education at WMG, said: "Degree Apprenticeships provide fantastic opportunities for young people to learn and gain work experience, at the same time delivering value for and meeting the ongoing skills needs for businesses.

“While awareness of these programmes and their popularity is growing, ETPs may struggle to meet this demand due to administrative complexity and the fragmentation of apprenticeship standards. It's vitally important that employers take the lead in defining apprenticeship standards, but these also need to be flexible to allow ETPs to tailor their programmes to better meet employer and regional needs, and incorporate the world-leading research and development being carried out in our universities."

Find out more about WMG Degree Apprenticeship programmes here: Degree Apprenticeships

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves MP has delivered a major policy speech outlining a number of changes to UK planning law, including a pledge to "introduce a new approach to planning decisions on land around stations, changing the default answer to yes.”

Dr Amrita KulkaLink opens in a new window, Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics, comments:-

“Among a number of policy headlines in her speech today, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced ‘a new approach to planning around stations’ in order to make more land available for housing.

"Policies to increase access to housing in general, and access to affordable housing in particular, in and near cities can improve economic growth and individual prosperity, while preventing households from being forced to re-locate to regions with worse opportunities.

“In 2021, the US state of Massachusetts introduced reforms (Chapter 40A) that required municipalities to permit apartment buildings and higher density development within an 0.5-mile radius of commuter rail and subway stations.

“With colleagues, I simulated the results of the Chapter 40A reforms in Greater Boston. We found that while the effects of this policy vary from place to place, it has the potential to increase housing supply and reduce house prices and monthly rents, especially in strictly regulated suburban municipalities near Boston, in the long run.

“Although the US and UK planning systems are very different, we may well see similar effects here in the UK as a result of this policy change."

• Read the US research: Kulka, Amrita and Sood, Aradhya and Chiumenti, Nicholas, Under the (Neighbor)Hood: Understanding Interactions Among Zoning Regulations (December 24, 2024). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4082457 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4082457