North East space industry group gets £2.5m funding to boost research

A group including North East universities, businesses and the North East Combined Authority has been awarded £2.5m to further develop the region's space research and innovation activity.

The North East Space Communications Accelerator (NESCA) involves Northumbria, Newcastle and Durham universities along with the North East Combined Authority, Space North East England, the North East Space Leadership Group and 14 industry partners. It will launch early next year and will build on recent growth of the North East' space industry capabilities - including the £50m plans to create the North East Space Skills and Technology (NESST) hub at Northumbria University.

Funding has come from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) - the Government's main funding body for engineering and physical sciences research in the UK - and will be used by NESCA to focus on development of new space communications technology, which is an area in which the North East has already developed a reputation. It is one of seven projects nationally to share in £22m of funding designed to help regional clusters.

It will focus on three key strands over the next four years: innovation, place and people. Innovation activity will support promising ideas through the commercialisation process, with a proportion of the funding made available for universities and organisations outside of the region.

Meanwhile the place strand will focus on promotion of the North East at national and international space industry events. This activity will be in partnership with the North East Combined Authority.

And under the people strand, the consortium will hone in on building skills required by the space industry, with activities including student summer schools and professional development for those already working in the industry

Prof Vincent Barrioz, of Northumbria University’s department of mathematics, physics and electrical engineering, is leading the project. He said: “The North East is recognised as a prime location for the rapid growth of space innovation, skills development, investment, and industry, which, if nurtured, will transform the industrial landscape of the region.

“NESCA will provide the structure and resources to ensure that innovation taking place in our universities is driven by, aligned with, and delivered in collaboration with regional partners to deliver place-based impact. Specifically, it will bridge the gap between space research and industry-ready products launching in the market.”

Prof James Osborn, director of Durham University's £5m Space Research Centre, said: “This is an exciting opportunity that represents a crucial step towards positioning North East England as a leader in space innovation. NESCA’s collaborative approach brings together a range of diverse expertise to advance sustainable space technologies and resilient communications systems.

“This initiative not only strengthens our region’s capabilities but also aligns with our commitment to creating long-term, responsible solutions for space exploration.”

At Newcastle University, space research has covered artificial intelligence (AI), spatial data analytics, earth observation, communication and observation astrophysics. It hosts the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Geospatial Systems that trains the next generation of PhD graduates and closely works with industrial partners.

Dr Deepayan Bhowmik, a senior lecturer in data science at the school of computing, said: "With the recent and rapid growth in North East’s space industry, NESCA is a timely investment from EPSRC that will boost the innovation and impact in the region. Resource availability through NESCA will strengthen industry-academic engagements even more and support regional skills development.

“Leveraging the School of Computing’s strength in applied Data Science & AI, Newcastle University will lead in delivering AI in Space research and skills-related activities within NESCA that nicely complement the other two university partners.”

Meanwhile, Northumbria has also announced a multi-million pound investment in its first university-wide high-performance computing facility which aims to give researchers access to state-of-the-art technology built to handle large scientific datasets at high speeds.

The university has teamed up with global digital firms Lenovo and Logicalis to deliver the new Higgs high-performance computing (HPC) cluster, which it hopes will put it at the forefront of technological innovation and further boost research excellence. The system is named after renowned scientist Peter Higgs, who was born in Newcastle.

Prof Louise Bracken, pro vice-chancellor (research and knowledge exchange) at the university, said: “This is a major investment which will continue the sustained growth in our research capabilities at Northumbria and demonstrates our commitment to building capacity to support the world-class research that goes on here. This really will be a revolutionary project for many of our researchers, particularly those working with large datasets which need to be processed at high speeds. I’m really pleased we’re working with Lenovo and Logicalis to bring the latest high-performance computing technology to our campuses."