Projects and programmes

Led by Dr Richard Kirkham, Deputy Director of the Thomas Ashton Institute for Risk and Regulatory Research, the programme brings University of Manchester academics together with partners from the universities of Bath, Exeter, and Sussex, to catalyse, convene and conduct research and innovation in support of the UK's national security and resilience.

This ambitious five-year investment, funded by the UK Research and Innovation, is building a secure and resilient world strategic theme, will enable the SALIENT team to build strong connections across a broad group of stakeholders in central and local government, the devolved administrations and crucially, the public.

SALIENT will drive interdisciplinary research to tackle some of the UK's most challenging security problems. Their focus will be on robust and secure supply chains, global order in a time of change, technologies used for security and defence, behavioural and cultural resilience, and strengthening resilience in our natural and built environments.

SALIENT aims to:

• Enhance security across our virtual and physical environments;
• Strengthen the country's societal and economic resilience, by improving awareness around the key risks and threats we might be facing;
• Informing UK decision-making and preparedness.

Visit the SALIENT website for more information

The Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP) accounts for 235 projects with a total whole life cost (WLC) of £678bn and £726bn of monetised benefits; many of these projects form a key part of the government’s commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050. For example, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is leading on the delivery of the ‘CCUS Innovation Programme’ – this requires novel technologies to support the deployment of carbon capture, usage and storage across the UK.

Enabling the successful realisation of the economic and societal benefits from investments like CCUS and other GMPP projects will require a strengthening of project delivery skills and capability across the civil service, particularly in the context of sustainability and social value. The GMPP is overseen by a Cabinet Office organisation, the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA). The IPA is also the lead for the project profession in government. It recently published a ‘functional strategy’ as part of a wider suite of policy documents that are aligned, in part, to the NetZero challenge.

The functional strategy emphasises the need to enhance sustainability skills across the project profession, but there is a need to assess the practical steps that are necessary to ensure the most appropriate learning and professional development mechanisms are in place

This project seeks to inform the work of the IPA in this regard, and in discussion with the Director of the Project Delivery Profession (IPA) we have identified two over-arching research questions:

1. What are the challenges and opportunities to embedding sustainability into long term projects and programmes, within the context of NetZero by 2050?
2. What are the challenges and opportunities in upskilling project delivery professionals to focus on embedding sustainability into long term projects and programmes? What skills do they need, how do they acquire these, how do they apply them?

Project team

• Dr Richard Kirkham, The University of Manchester
• Dr Kate Lawrence, University of Leeds

This research will address the issue of effective regulation through the concept of the "mindful regulator". This draws its theoretical basis from high-reliability organisations, and the concept of "safety mindfulness". A mindful approach to regulation focuses on the ability to simultaneously build a trustful relationship with organisations, while maintaining an ability to detect potential safety failures.

These are trainable skills that can be taught, developed and refined. Our project will aim to identify, develop and evaluate these capabilities of safety inspectors, in partnership with major UK regulators.

We have three main aims:

• To develop a theoretical model of the mindful regulator.
• To test this model through the design and implementation of an intervention, using a rigorous random control trial (RCT) design.
• To develop the skills and capacities of UK regulators.

Project team

• Sharon Clarke, The University of Manchester.
• Sara Willis, The University of Manchester.

This project aims to enhance occupational safety and health (OSH) in Malaysia’s construction sector by promoting the early integration of safety considerations into project design - known as Design for Occupational Safety and Health (DfOSH). Drawing on the UK’s decades of experience with similar regulations, the initiative brings together academia, industry, and government stakeholders in Malaysia to co-create practical solutions, build capacity, and exchange knowledge. The goal is to reduce workplace fatalities and injuries, support regulatory compliance, and foster long-term socio-economic benefits through safer construction practices.

This project explores the potential link between professional sports participation and the development of neurodegenerative diseases, specifically cognitive impairment, dementia, and Parkinson’s disease. Through two comprehensive scoping reviews, the research aims to quantify the risks and identify contributing exposures among professional athletes. The findings will support the UK’s Industrial Injuries Advisory Committee (IIAC) in making evidence-based recommendations to government. Led by an interdisciplinary team at the University of Manchester, the project addresses a growing public health concern and contributes to the broader understanding of occupational health risks in elite sports.

The Institute was named as delivery partner in a NERC grant looking at data integration and sharing. The team is building a Digital Solutions Hub (Hub) as a gateway to a broad set of inter-connected toolkits that facilitate improved access and better use of NERC data. The digital platform will have especially broad impacts on the environment, society and the economy by facilitating easier access and use of NERC data in business, government and society.

The hub aims to build a digital platform and a set of toolkits that facilitate improved access and better use of NERC data, integrated with other datasets (economic, environment, health and social) to support decision making across a range of sectors. It's initial focus will be on two ‘use-cases’, health and climate change.

The platform will work to open standards, be interoperable with data APIs following industry standards and protocols, utilising open source approaches to develop replicable code. The platform will open-up connections to supercomputing resources to run models and simulations to support decision making.

The platform sits on top of a whole range of data from NERC and other partners and connects to computational resources(e.g. JASMIN) to run powerful tools and models on the data. Other projects will be co-developed as the programme of work evolves over the next 4-5 years in collaboration with partners.

Based at The University of Manchester the projects bring together a wealth of expertise in developing digital solutions for real world problems. The project is led by Professor Richard Kingston with Professor John Ainsworth, Professor Andy Brass, Professor Hugh Coe, Professor James Evans, Dr Caroline Jay, Professor Sarah Lindley, Dr Maria Sharmina and Dr David Topping.

Find out more on the Digital Solutions website.

As we move towards a greener economy and New Zero, a review of evidence exploring the risks of occupational lung disease (OLD) in the renewable energy sector is important. As the renewable energy sector continues to expand, it is vital to understand and address potential health risks to workers, as well as to build a sustainable and responsible industry.

There is a knowledge gap regarding the risks of OLD in the renewables sector, and there are currently no reviews considering the impact of exposures in this sector on respiratory health. A thorough review would bridge this knowledge gap, providing critical insights into the risks associated with various tasks and exposures within the sector.

To ensure that this review is essential and not duplicative, confirmation has been sought that the required information is not already available or being researched elsewhere. Searches of existing literature have been conducted to establish that significant gaps persist, warranting an in-depth investigation. The report will add to existing knowledge by consolidating and synthesizing available data, highlighting trends, and identifying research areas that require further exploration. This comprehensive review will serve as a valuable resource for policymakers, regulators, industry stakeholders, and researchers, enabling them to make informed decisions and develop targeted interventions to safeguard workers' respiratory health.

Many workers are employed in the renewable energy sector and the industry is expanding. Workers can be engaged directly in various activities such as manufacturing, installation, maintenance, and decommissioning of renewable energy systems, as well as indirectly in feeder industries. The potential for harm to these workers, if not adequately addressed, can lead to respiratory illnesses, reduced productivity, and increased healthcare costs. As there are already changes in working practices in the renewable energy sector, the timing of this review is important to ensure health and safety practices align accordingly to ensure worker well-being and the sector's sustainable growth.

This report aligns to strategic goals of both Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and The University of Manchester. As an authoritative source on occupational health and safety matters, the HSE leads efforts to protect people and places, including in emerging industries like renewable energy. For The University of Manchester, contributing to this research aligns with its commitment to cutting-edge interdisciplinary research with real-world impact. It aligns with both organisations’ commitments to reducing carbon emissions and Net Zero targets.

The team undertaking this review have a strong track record in conducting research on occupational health and safety issues, including experience in epidemiology, clinical respiratory medicine, exposure assessment, risk assessment, and health surveillance.

The SAFEFLOW leadership team from The University of Manchester, University of Hull, and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), have created an ambitious and focused network and consortium that has identified key areas of high impact academic research dedicated to the health, safety, and wellbeing (HSW) of the floating offshore wind (FLOW) sector so that it can be included in the design, construction, and operational processes of floating offshore assets.

A key, and unique, differentiator for the network is in being multi-disciplinary. FLOW is thought of as a mainly engineering and technology domain, but HSW risks to people on the facilities cannot be addressed without essential expertise provided by the social sciences that considers human response to challenges posed by a FLOW facility. The network will bring together the engineering and technology of the FLOW system with human factors disciplines that study how environmental, organisational and job factors, plus human and individual characteristics, influence the behaviour at work - and how that can affect health, safety, and wellbeing.

Exploring the role of psychological diversity for safety-related outcomes.

The research team assessed the effectiveness of the ENSURE safety and security culture development programme delivered at the Henry Royce Institute​.

The Japanese Government's Society 5.0 initiative is a forward-looking approach to integrate science, technology, and innovation for sustainable development, emphasising digital technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation. It aims to foster a resilient and sustainable society, blending cyberspace with physical spaces in a human-centric system. The World Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan, serves as a key milestone in realising Society 5.0, focusing on collaborative innovation to enhance connectivity and quality of life. The United Kingdom (UK)'s active participation underscores a mutual commitment to these innovative goals.

In the context of Society 5.0, the built environment holds critical importance. The integration of AI and automation is growing across multiple scales, from single projects to broader urban and infrastructure development. Both the UK and Japan are promoting the joint creation of sustainable built environments using these innovative technologies. However, effectively applying Society 5.0 principles in the built environment still requires further clarification and development. To this end, this project aims to strengthen the collaboration between the UK and Japan in the built environment, focusing particularly on the Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Operations (AECO) sector. It involves a systematic approach to identify the sector's needs and preferences to align with Society 5.0 principles, followed by creating and testing prototypes. These prototypes will be demonstrated and assessed at the Osaka Expo to develop a collaborative roadmap that guides the practical integration of Society 5.0 concepts into the built environment.

Through this project, we aim not only to advance scientific understanding of the interface between technology and human-centric systems but also to provide practical solutions, identify industry needs and establish a comprehensive strategy for implementation and dissemination.

The TAI is supporting the delivery of The Health and Occupation Research Network (THOR), which monitors the incidence of work-related ill-health in the UK and Ireland.

THOR is the only UK-wide surveillance system collecting medically diagnosed case reports of work-related ill-health, with more than 100,000 reports collected since 1989. Four surveillance schemes collect medically certified data on work-related ill-health from medical professionals to estimate the incidence of work-related ill-health and monitor trends over time.

THOR is run by the Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health (COEH) at The University of Manchester. The COEH engages in research and education concerning the relationship between the environment and human health, with special reference to occupational and other environmental factors. The work is partly funded by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

Find out more on the THOR website.

This project investigates the prevalence and impact of Acute Coronary Syndromes (ACS) among workers in the offshore energy sector. Commissioned by the Energy Institute, the study will conduct a comprehensive literature review and assess available data sources to understand the incidence, risk factors, and management of ACS in this high-risk occupational group. The findings will inform evidence-based recommendations for future research and interventions aimed at improving worker health and safety in the growing renewable energy industry.