STAGE aims to demonstrate the importance and feasibility of a life-course approach to prevent accelerated ageing, as defined by the accumulation of multi-morbidity, and to integrate knowledge into transferable person-centred solutions for early diagnosis and screening, treatment and long-term management of multi-morbidity. To achieve this, STAGE is proposing a life-course approach to better understand ageing with multi-morbidity, providing evidence-based solutions to support the transformation of healthcare to address the profound health and demographic challenges ahead. The approach capitalises on European collaborations of longitudinal cohorts and biobanks spanning the entire life-course, actioning exposome and disease networks trajectory analysis, as well as, the biology of ageing, to explore how a person develops ageing with multi-morbidity. The project objectives integrate an ethical, social, historical, and infrastructural framework; environmental, epidemiological and biological life-course approaches; artificial intelligence powered integrated person centred solutions and applications; cohort-based clinical studies; and a FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable) life-course health and geospatial data portal with robust management, dissemination, engagement and exploitation activities. STAGE's evidence based methods will translate into a person-centred prevention and care intervention in longitudinal cohorts in Finland and Germany, co designed with citizens, patients, healthcare providers, SMEs, and policymakers. It will also embed social sciences and humanities and engage stakeholders to develop a neighbourhood healthy ageing index, person-centred predictions of multi-morbidity, and healthcare and policy recommendations. Ultimately, STAGE will create solutions for agile, high-quality, person-centred health and care services that are life-course and gender sensitive, needs-based, and designed to enhance resilience and participation.
This feasibility study will assess the economic, technical and environmental opportunity to develop a value chain for the recycling of niobium products.
Globally about 0.3% of niobium is recycled back to a niobium product, which is derived from high content niobium products such as superconducting electromagnets. Niobium is present in very small quantities, ~0.1%, in items such as steel. Although the value of niobium products consumed in the UK is small their impact is high as it leads to high performance steels and new applications such as batteries where the contribution to UK GVA of niobium bearing applications is estimated at £13.5bn. Emerging applications such as high capacity and high charge rate batteries are using niobium.
The UK and Europe have no active primary source, and this creates a theoretical vulnerability for an area of strategic emphasis. This feasibility study seeks to understand the case for recycled vs primary and to develop a roadmap towards a market in secondary niobium.
Industry users of niobium need to have confidence in supply and to ensure that they are sourced in a responsible way including through recycling. Investors, OEMs and governments are keen to ensure that Environmental Social Governance (ESG) impacts have been considered and mitigated through the supply chain.
This project supports the objectives of the Met4Tech Circular Economy Centre.
**PigProGrAm** aims to develop and demonstrate a novel farm-focused solution for the harvesting of green ammonia from livestock. This innovation will help to create a more sustainable livestock industry in the UK, reducing the environmental impacts of production by reducing ammonia emissions, whilst at the same time creating an additional income stream for farmers. The generation of green ammonia and conversion to hydrogen from agricultural waste streams delivers valuable products used to decarbonize power and transportation.