The Royal Academy of Engineering has awarded its prestigious Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowships to eight outstanding engineering researchers working on a wide variety of engineering challenges.
Projects include driving innovation in music informatics through knowledge-driven deep learning, and developing new ways to improve the modelling of musculoskeletal disease. Other researchers will study cybersecurity in GPS-denied drone operations, and eco-friendly food packaging using sustainable nanocomposite materials. Computational fluid dynamics is being used to study irregular breathing patterns to improve drug treatment of respiratory disease, and cutting-edge generative AI will be deployed to help ensure autonomous vehicles are ready for the complexities of real-world roads.
The Fellowships, which are supported by the Leverhulme Trust, allow awardees to focus on full-time research for up to a year by covering the costs of a replacement academic to take over their teaching and administrative duties. This allows mid-career engineers to reinvigorate their research interests and also gives other junior academics the opportunity to gain valuable teaching and administrative experience by stepping in during the duration of the award.
Professor Mark Sandler FREng, Chair of the RAEng / Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowships panel, said: "The LTRF award continues a proud tradition of supporting pioneering research from across the whole of engineering. This year’s eight awardees are bringing forward bold ideas and innovative approaches to address a variety of challenges. We are truly inspired by their work and proud to support such exceptional individuals from across the UK whose pioneering research will play a vital role in shaping a smarter, safer, and more sustainable world.”
The full list of 2025/26 RAEng/Leverhulme Trust Research Fellows is:
Dr Svetlana Aleksandrova, University of Leicester
Irregular breathing patterns for targeted drug delivery
Dr James Chandler, University of Leeds
MAGPIE: Magnetic-Pneumatic Intelligent Endoluminal Robots for Lifesaving Care
Dr George Fazekas, Queen Mary University of London
Knowledge-driven deep learning for music informatics
Dr Anthony Herbert, University of Leeds
Multi-STEP: Multi-scale STructural Evaluation Platform for in-vitro musculoskeletal disease models
Dr Alma Oracevic, University of Bristol
DroneShield: Cyber vulnerability analysis in GPS-denied environments
Dr Dan Sun, Queen‘s University Belfast
Protein/nanoclay nanocomposites for sustainable food packaging
Dr Shuqiu Wang, University of Bristol
Developing next-generation quantum microscopes for future energy-efficient electronics
Dr Dezong Zhao, University of Glasgow
A leap towards scalable autonomous vehicles through data-efficient AI
Notes for editors
1. The Leverhulme Trust was established by the Will of William Hesketh Lever, the founder of Lever Brothers. Since 1925, the Trust has supported grants and scholarships for research and education. Today, The Leverhulme Trust is one of the largest all-subject providers of research funding in the UK, distributing over £60m a year. The Trust provides funding across a range of academic disciplines such as arts, sciences, engineering and social sciences, with an aim of supporting talented individuals to realise their personal vision in research and professional training.
Applications are now open for the next round of Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowships. The deadline is 13 November 2025, 4pm GMT
2. The Royal Academy of Engineering is harnessing the power of engineering to build a sustainable society and an inclusive economy that works for everyone. In collaboration with our Fellows and partners, we’re growing talent and developing skills for the future, driving innovation and building global partnerships, and influencing policy and engaging the public. Together we’re working to tackle the greatest challenges of our age.