Universities minister visits Imperial robots to announce extra medical funding (but skips the students)
Sam Gyimah has promised extra funding for medical projects on his first official outing as universities minister.
Science and Universities minister Sam Gyimah has officially kicked off his tour of UK universities by visiting Imperial and announcing extra funding for medical research.
The Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) will provide £70 million to support projects such as manufacturing centres to speed up the development and production of medicines and virtual reality programmes to aid patient recovery.
Gyimah met with several academics to see how robotics can improve medical practices. These projects include Zeno, a robot that helps autistic people to understand and convey emotions; the iKnife, which detects whether tissues are cancerous; and the Da Vinci surgical robots. Gyimah was also shown how AI can be used to analyse brain scans to aid the diagnosis of conditions such as Alzheimer’s.
"Funding will unlock the innovations that will help people live better, longer lives"
Gyimah described the research being carried out at Imperial as “brilliant” and said the new funding from the ISCF will “unlock the innovations that will help people live better, longer lives”.
He added: “This investment will not only support high value, highly skilled jobs but will develop lifesaving treatments that could change lives across the UK.”
When Gyimah took over the role as universities minister from Jo Johnson in a cabinet reshuffle earlier this month, he announced he would be touring UK universities. In an article for The Times, Gyimah wrote: “I will continue to visit institutions across the country to meet with vice-chancellors, lecturers and researchers, but also, crucially, to speak directly to students.
“I want them [students] to have a voice and be heard in the corridors of power. I’d like to be thought of as a minister for students as much as a minister for universities. Politics should be a dialogue, not a monologue, so I’m looking forward to discussing tuition fees, safe spaces, access to higher education, and our potential post-Brexit, in a robust and honest fashion.”
It is not known whether Gyimah spoke with any students during his visit to Imperial.
