New funding to tackle space storms and political storms

Improving space weather forecasts and preventing political polarisation is the aim of new University of Reading studies kickstarted by a grant from a £104 million research fund. 

Dr Luke Barnard, of the University of Reading’s Department of Meteorology, and Dr Miriam Sorace, of the Department of Politics and International Relations, have been named Future Leaders Fellows by UK Research and Innovation.

UKRI’s Future Leaders Fellowships allow universities and businesses to develop their most talented early career researchers and innovators. £104 million of funding was awarded to 68 UK academics to lead research into global issues.

Predicting space weather

As part of the Future Leaders Fellowships, Dr Luke Barnard has been awarded £892,000to improve forecasts of coronal mass ejections. Dr Barnard will work with partners at the Met Office, Rutherford Appleton Lab, and KU Leuven throughout the research project.

Dr Barnard said: "Space weather poses a significant threat to modern society. Violent eruptions from the Sun can disrupt our power grids, communications systems, and satellite operations, potentially causing widespread economic damage and safety risks. 

“Our ability to predict these events has not significantly improved despite over a decade of intensive research. This is due to gaps in our understanding and limitations in our observations. 

“I will lead a research team to develop a new forecasting system that will enhance our understanding of space weather physics. This work is essential for better preparing and protecting our technology-dependent society from space weather hazards."

Combatting economic inequality

Dr Miriam Sorace has been awarded £1.2 million to develop her research project, DIVIDED, which focuses on two inter-related challenges to democracy: economic inequality and political polarisation.

The project, which aims to strengthen democracies around the world, will involve collaboration with the UK Labour Party, Meta, Opinium, EES and the LSE Data Science Institute. 

Dr Sorace said: “Economic inequality and political polarisation pose significant threats to democratic stability and effectiveness.

“Economic inequality can erode social cohesion and trust in democratic institutions. Political polarisation can paralyse decision-making processes and increase social tensions. We know that these challenges are interconnected - as inequality increases, political polarisation also rises. What we do not know is the micro-foundation explaining this relationship. Studying these micro foundations is central to devising appropriate policies to both depolarize and reduce inequality.

“The project will establish new datasets and new methodologies to test the novel mechanism – social conduction/isolation – which is theorised to underlie the inequality-polarization link. It will develop strategies to mitigate polarisation, even in highly unequal societies. Ultimately, I hope the research programme will contribute to strengthening democratic processes and fostering more inclusive, cooperative social and political environments.”

Image: Left: Dr Luke Barnard. Right: Dr Miriam Sorace.