a. aim(s) of the research: It seems that some children and young people (CYP) remain ill for a long time after infection with COVID virus. They are said to have ‘long COVID’. Something similar can follow a common childhood infection called glandular fever. Doctors don’t know how to diagnose long COVID, how common it is or how long it goes on for. There is no simple test for long COVID. We need to know more about it if we want to treat it. b. background to the research: Little is known about long COVID in adults or CYP. Risk factors for worse COVID in CYP include obesity, pre-existing diseases, learning disabilities, diseases of the brain, mental health problems and coming from an ethnic minority. The CYP likely to be most at risk of long COVID are teenagers who are more at risk of persistent fatigue and mental health problems after other viral infections. c. design and methods used: We will approach 30,000 CYP, half of whom we know had COVID. We expect 6,000 to agree to help us and we will ask them whether they still have physical or mental problems at 3, 6,12 and 24 months afterwards. We can compare the 3,000 responders who had a positive COVID test with the 3,000 responders who didn’t test positive. We can then agree on what is a medical diagnosis of long COVID and how we might treat it. d. patient and public involvement: (PPI): We will have a paid PPI lead who will ensure co-production with carers and CYP. We will also use some funds to encourage busy carers and CYP to give their valuable time to complete the survey s.e. Complete transparency: We will share all our results ASAP for free with anyone who wants to see them, especially the CYP who take part.

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

Medical imaging has transformed clinical medicine in the last 40 years. Diagnostic imaging provides the means to probe the structure and function of the human body without having to cut open the body to see disease or injury. Imaging is sensitive to changes associated with the early stages of cancer allowing detection of disease at a sufficient early stage to have a major impact on long-term survival. Combining imaging with therapy delivery and surgery enables 3D imaging to be used for guidance, i.e. minimising harm to surrounding tissue and increasing the likelihood of a successful outcome. The UK has consistently been at the forefront of many of these developments. Despite these advances we still do not know the most basic mechanisms and aetiology of many of the most disabling and dangerous diseases. Cancer survival remains stubbornly low for many of the most common cancers such as lung, head and neck, liver, pancreas. Some of the most distressing neurological disorders such as the dementias, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and some of the more common brain cancers, still have woefully poor long term cure rates. Imaging is the primary means of diagnosis and for studying disease progression and response to treatment. To fully achieve its potential imaging needs to be coupled with computational modelling of biological function and its relationship to tissue structure at multiple scales. The advent of powerful computing has opened up exciting opportunities to better understand disease initiation and progression and to guide and assess the effectiveness of therapies. Meanwhile novel imaging methods, such as photoacoustics, and combinations of technologies such as simultaneous PET and MRI, have created entirely new ways of looking at healthy function and disturbances to normal function associated with early and late disease progression. It is becoming increasingly clear that a multi-parameter, multi-scale and multi-sensor approach combining advanced sensor design with advanced computational methods in image formation and biological systems modelling is the way forward. The EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Medical Imaging will provide comprehensive and integrative doctoral training in imaging sciences and methods. The programme has a strong focus on new image acquisition technologies, novel data analysis methods and integration with computational modelling. This will be a 4-year PhD programme designed to prepare students for successful careers in academia, industry and the healthcare sector. It comprises an MRes year in which the student will gain core competencies in this rapidly developing field, plus the skills to innovate both with imaging devices and with computational methods. During the PhD (years 2 to 4) the student will undertake an in-depth study of an aspect of medical imaging and its application to healthcare and will seek innovative solutions to challenging problems. Most projects will be strongly multi-disciplinary with a principle supervisor being a computer scientist, physicist, mathematician or engineer, a second supervisor from a clinical or life science background, and an industrial supervisor when required. Each project will lie in the EPSRC's remit. The Centre will comprise 72 students at its peak after 4 years and will be obtaining dedicated space and facilities. The participating departments are strongly supportive of this initiative and will encourage new academic appointees to actively participate in its delivery. The Centre will fill a significant skills gap that has been identified and our graduates will have a major impact in academic research in his area, industrial developments including attracting inward investment and driving forward start-ups, and in advocacy of this important and expanding area of medical engineering.

We propose to create the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in intelligent integrated imaging in healthcare (i4health) at University College London (UCL). Our aim is to nurture the UK's future leaders in next-generation medical imaging research, development and enterprise, equipping them to produce future disruptive healthcare innovations either focused on or including imaging. Building on the success of our current CDT in Medical Imaging, the new CDT will focus on an exciting new vision: to unlock the full potential of medical imaging by harnessing new associated transformative technologies enabling us to consider medical imaging as a component within integrated healthcare systems. We retain a focus on medical imaging technology - from basic imaging technologies (devices and hardware, imaging physics, acquisition and reconstruction), through image computing (image analysis and computational modeling), to integrated image-based systems (diagnostic and interventional systems) - topics we have developed world-leading capability and expertise on over the last decade. Beyond this, the new initiative in i4health is to capitalise on UCL's unique combination of strengths in four complementary areas: 1) machine learning and AI; 2) data science and health informatics; 3) robotics and sensing; 4) human-computer interaction (HCI). Furthermore, we frame this research training and development in a range of clinical areas including areas in which UCL is internationally leading, as well as areas where we have up-and-coming capability that the i4health CDT can help bring to fruition: cancer imaging, cardiovascular imaging, imaging infection and inflammation, neuroimaging, ophthalmology imaging, pediatric and perinatal imaging. This unique combination of engineering and clinical skills and context will provide trainees with the essential capabilities for realizing future image-based technologies. That will rely on joint modelling of imaging and non-imaging data to integrate diverse sources of information, understanding of hardware the produces or uses images, consideration of user interaction with image-based information, and a deep understanding of clinical and biomedical aims and requirements, as well as an ability to consider research and development from the perspective of responsible innovation. Building on our proven track record, we will attract the very best aspiring young minds, equipping them with essential training in imaging and computational sciences as well as clinical context and entrepreneurship. We will provide a world-class research environment and mentorship producing a critical mass of future scientists and engineers poised to develop and translate cutting-edge engineering solutions to the most pressing healthcare challenges.

177 million tonnes of virgin aggregates, 15 million tonnes of cement and 2 billion bricks were used to build houses, civic and commercial buildings, roads and railways, etc, in the UK in 2016. Meanwhile, 64 million tonnes of waste arose from construction and demolition. Materials from construction and demolition are mainly managed by down-cycling with loss of the value imparted to them by energy-intensive and polluting manufacturing processes; for example, high value concrete is broken down into low value aggregate. Environmental damage is associated with the whole linear life cycles of mineral-based construction materials, and includes scarring of the landscape and habitat destruction when minerals are extracted from the earth; depletion of mineral and energy resources; and water use and emission of greenhouse gases and other pollutants to air, land and water, during extraction, processing, use and demolition. It is important to take action now, to return materials to the resource loop in a Circular Economy, and reduce the amount of extraction from the earth, as the amount we build increases each year. For example, the UK plans spend £600 billion to build infrastructure in the next decade. The UKRI National Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Research Centre for Mineral-based Construction Materials therefore aims to do more with less mineral-based construction materials, to reduce costs to industry, reduce waste and pollution, and benefit the natural environment that we depend on. There is potential for mineral-based construction materials to be reused and recycled at higher value, for example, by refurbishing rather than demolishing, or by building using reusable modules that can be taken apart rather than demolished, so all the energy that went into making them isn't wasted. It may also be possible to substitute minerals from natural sources by other types of mineral wastes, such as the 76 million tonnes of waste arising from excavation and quarrying, 14 million tonnes of mineral wastes that come from other industries, or 4 billion tonnes of historical mining wastes. We can also be more frugal in our use of mineral-based construction materials, by designing materials, products and structures to use less primary raw materials, last longer, and be suitable for repurposing rather than demolition, and using new manufacturing techniques. First, our research will try to better understand how mineral-based construction materials flow through the economy, over all the stages of their life cycle, including extraction, processing, manufacture, and end-of-life. The Centre will work to support the National Materials Database planned by the Office of National Statistics, which will capture how, where and when materials are used and waste arises, so that we have the information to improve this system. We will also study how any changes we might make to practices around minerals use would affect the environment and the economy, such as greenhouse gas emissions, costs to businesses, or jobs. Second, we will work on technical improvements that we can make in design of mineral-based products and structures, and in all the life-cycle stages of mineral-based construction materials. Third, we will look at how changes in current business models and practices could support use of less mineral-based construction materials, such as how they might be able to move more quickly to new technologies, or how they might use digital technologies to keep track of materials. We will explore how the government can support these changes, and how we can provide education so that everyone working in this system understands what they need to do. In the first 4 years of our Centre, 15 postdoctoral researchers will gain research experience working in the universities for 2y and will then work with an industrial collaborator for a year, to implement the results of their research. More than 20 PhD and 30 MSc students will also be trained in the Centre.