The winners of this year’s Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists  in the UK are:

Life Sciences Laureate: Prof. Christopher Stewart (Newcastle University): Christopher leads a laboratory where groundbreaking research on microbiome-based therapies for pre-natal infant mortality is already making a life-saving impact.

Chemical Sciences Laureate: Prof. Liam Ball (University of Nottingham): Liam has transformed green manufacturing on an industrial scale, developing safer and more efficient methods of producing pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals with minimal environmental impact.

Physical Sciences & Engineering Laureate: Prof. Benjamin Mills (University of Leeds): Benjamin is transforming our understanding of climate change on earth and in space with revolutionary methods to predict long-term climate change. His research not only uncovers Earth’s climate history over billions of years, but also how other planets might evolve to support life.

As the largest unrestricted prize for UK scientists under the age of 42, the Blavatnik Awards celebrate Britain’s greatest young minds in their fields. This year, the three Laureates—each awarded £100,000 in unrestricted funds—were chosen from a shortlist of nine finalists, representing some of the brightest young scientific minds across the UK.

Among them, the three Laureates are tackling some of the most complex and pressing issues in science and society:  infant mortality, green manufacturing and predicting long-term climate change.

Tonight’s prize-giving gala at The Orangery, Kensington Palace highlights the growing impact of regional universities across the UK driving scientific breakthroughs.

The worldwide network of telecommunications cables lying on the bottom of the world's oceans offers unique potential for scientific use if the fibre-optic cables themselves are used as or equipped with sensors. Based on this, the GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam and the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel are now setting up the research infrastructure SAFAtor (SMART Cables And Fiber-optic Sensing Amphibious Demonstrator), that can be used to monitor the world's oceans. It will be included in the portfolio of the major Helmholtz infrastructures and funded by the Helmholtz Association with 30 million euros as a strategic development investment. Among other things, the plan is to equip initially one demonstrator cable with appropriate sensor technology before deploying it in the deep sea in order to obtain important real-time data on climate and geological hazards. So far, almost no data exists from the seafloor. SAFAtor aims to close this data gap in the oceans. GFZ scientist Prof. Dr Fabrice Cotton, head of GFZ Section “Seismic Hazard and Risk Dynamic” is the project lead (PI). Co-PIs are GFZ researchers Prof. Dr Charlotte Krawczyk, Director of GFZ-Department Geophysics, who will take over the lead after two and a half years as scheduled, and Prof. Dr Frederik Tilmann, Head of GFZ Section “Seismology”, as well as Prof. Laura Wallace, Head of GEOMAR Research Unit “Marine Geodynamics”. The SAFAtor project will run for five years and will start with a kick-off meeting at the GFZ on Potsdam's Telegrafenberg on 5-6 March 2025.

In recent years, China has been rapidly advancing the development of its low-altitude economy, with 2024 being recognized as the "Year One" of low-altitude economy in China. Driven by policy support and technological innovation, China’s low-altitude economy is expected to grow into a trillion-yuan industry in 2025, positioning itself as a key driver of economic transformation and industrial upgrading. This rapid expansion presents both opportunities and challenges for Geographic Information Science and Technology, which plays a crucial role in optimizing airspace management and supporting UAV-based applications. A research team from the State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, carried out a comprehensive review on the opportunities and challenges for Geographic Information Science and Technology in this evolving field. Their study provides valuable insights into the role of geographic information technologies in supporting low-altitude economic activities, particularly in the areas of airspace resource utilization, air traffic infrastructure, and UAV operation management. The study offers a scientific foundation for advancing geographic information applications in this field. Journal of Geo-information Science has published the study.