Virtual internships

This project developed a toolkit for schools and colleges at the University of Birmingham to highlight ‘what works’ when conducting virtual internships with internal and external partners

Evaluation of No_Code Pilot

No_Code project is a programme of activities funded by the Community Renewal Fund (CRF) led by Greater Birmingham & Solihull LEP (GBSLEP). This report is an evaluation of the No_Code pilot

Evaluation of No_Code Pilot

No_Code project is a programme of activities funded by the Community Renewal Fund (CRF) led by Greater Birmingham & Solihull LEP (GBSLEP). This report is an evaluation of the No_Code pilot

Investing in regional equality:four English examples

Some international cities have innovated to successfully overcome significant social and economic inequalities in recent years. City-REDI, University of Birmingham, in partnership with CIPFA, has sought to understand whether English local authorities could emulate this success.Using the nine key success factors identified in a previous report, "Investing in regional equality: lessons from four cities", we examined the experiences of four different areas in England: Dudley, Enfield, South Yorkshire and Tees Valley. We wanted to know which of the nine success factors were applicable in the English context, whether they were being used to their full potential and what barriers local authorities were facing.All nine success factors identified from international experience are in evidence in England. We found examples of innovative practice across all four areas. We also identified a tenth success factor that appears to be important in England: Transferable learning and knowledge exchange.Despite these good examples, implementation of some success factors has been more challenging in England than in the international city-regions explored in previous work. In particular, local areas have struggled to invest for the long term and to conduct effective monitoring and evaluation

Investing in regional equality:four English examples

Some international cities have innovated to successfully overcome significant social and economic inequalities in recent years. City-REDI, University of Birmingham, in partnership with CIPFA, has sought to understand whether English local authorities could emulate this success.Using the nine key success factors identified in a previous report, "Investing in regional equality: lessons from four cities", we examined the experiences of four different areas in England: Dudley, Enfield, South Yorkshire and Tees Valley. We wanted to know which of the nine success factors were applicable in the English context, whether they were being used to their full potential and what barriers local authorities were facing.All nine success factors identified from international experience are in evidence in England. We found examples of innovative practice across all four areas. We also identified a tenth success factor that appears to be important in England: Transferable learning and knowledge exchange.Despite these good examples, implementation of some success factors has been more challenging in England than in the international city-regions explored in previous work. In particular, local areas have struggled to invest for the long term and to conduct effective monitoring and evaluation

A review of the economic and social value produced through funding PhD students

UK Research and Innovation funded over £3bn into PhD-level study in 2022/23. The impacts of PhD study can have significant positive impacts on professional and personal development, especially for women, as well as generate significant returns for the individual, the Exchequer, industry, and university-industry collaborations. Still, there is a need to better understand the how PhD study fits into a place-based strategy, and civic role of universities, and their relationships with industry and place. This report shares the findings of a rapid evidence review into the economic and social impacts of PhDs to improve evidence and make an informed case for PhD study as part of a wider civic mission

Author Correction: The Anglo-Saxon migration and the formation of the early English gene pool.

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The Anglo-Saxon migration and the formation of the early English gene pool.

The history of the British Isles and Ireland is characterized by multiple periods of major cultural change, including the influential transformation after the end of Roman rule, which precipitated shifts in language, settlement patterns and material culture1. The extent to which migration from continental Europe mediated these transitions is a matter of long-standing debate2-4. Here we study genome-wide ancient DNA from 460 medieval northwestern Europeans-including 278 individuals from England-alongside archaeological data, to infer contemporary population dynamics. We identify a substantial increase of continental northern European ancestry in early medieval England, which is closely related to the early medieval and present-day inhabitants of Germany and Denmark, implying large-scale substantial migration across the North Sea into Britain during the Early Middle Ages. As a result, the individuals who we analysed from eastern England derived up to 76% of their ancestry from the continental North Sea zone, albeit with substantial regional variation and heterogeneity within sites. We show that women with immigrant ancestry were more often furnished with grave goods than women with local ancestry, whereas men with weapons were as likely not to be of immigrant ancestry. A comparison with present-day Britain indicates that subsequent demographic events reduced the fraction of continental northern European ancestry while introducing further ancestry components into the English gene pool, including substantial southwestern European ancestry most closely related to that seen in Iron Age France5,6

The Anglo-Saxon migration and the formation of the early English gene pool

The history of the British Isles and Ireland is characterized by multiple periods of major cultural change, including the influential transformation after the end of Roman rule, which precipitated shifts in language, settlement patterns and material culture1. The extent to which migration from continental Europe mediated these transitions is a matter of long-standing debate2,3,4. Here we study genome-wide ancient DNA from 460 medieval northwestern Europeans—including 278 individuals from England—alongside archaeological data, to infer contemporary population dynamics. We identify a substantial increase of continental northern European ancestry in early medieval England, which is closely related to the early medieval and present-day inhabitants of Germany and Denmark, implying large-scale substantial migration across the North Sea into Britain during the Early Middle Ages. As a result, the individuals who we analysed from eastern England derived up to 76% of their ancestry from the continental North Sea zone, albeit with substantial regional variation and heterogeneity within sites. We show that women with immigrant ancestry were more often furnished with grave goods than women with local ancestry, whereas men with weapons were as likely not to be of immigrant ancestry. A comparison with present-day Britain indicates that subsequent demographic events reduced the fraction of continental northern European ancestry while introducing further ancestry components into the English gene pool, including substantial southwestern European ancestry most closely related to that seen in Iron Age France5,6

Photometry of the Didymos System across the DART Impact Apparition

On 2022 September 26, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft impacted Dimorphos, the satellite of binary near-Earth asteroid (65803) Didymos. This demonstrated the efficacy of a kinetic impactor for planetary defense by changing the orbital period of Dimorphos by 33 minutes. Measuring the period change relied heavily on a coordinated campaign of lightcurve photometry designed to detect mutual events (occultations and eclipses) as a direct probe of the satellite’s orbital period. A total of 28 telescopes contributed 224 individual lightcurves during the impact apparition from 2022 July to 2023 February. We focus here on decomposable lightcurves, i.e., those from which mutual events could be extracted. We describe our process of lightcurve decomposition and use that to release the full data set for future analysis. We leverage these data to place constraints on the postimpact evolution of ejecta. The measured depths of mutual events relative to models showed that the ejecta became optically thin within the first ∼1 day after impact and then faded with a decay time of about 25 days. The bulk magnitude of the system showed that ejecta no longer contributed measurable brightness enhancement after about 20 days postimpact. This bulk photometric behavior was not well represented by an HG photometric model. An HG 1 G 2 model did fit the data well across a wide range of phase angles. Lastly, we note the presence of an ejecta tail through at least 2023 March. Its persistence implied ongoing escape of ejecta from the system many months after DART impact