This network will focus on developing the next generation of advanced technologies for rehabilitation, targeting musculoskeletal, cardiorespiratory, neurological and mental health conditions. It will be connected to the new £70 million National Rehabilitation Centre (NRC), a major national investment in patient care, innovation and technology, due to open to patients in 2024. The NRC is being co-located with the specialist £300m+ Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre on the Stamford Hall Rehabilitation Estate so that the two centres can benefit from the sharing of a wealth of knowledge, expertise and facilities. This EPSRC networkplus is therefore an exceptionally timely opportunity to capitalise on this significant investment, actively involving the UK Engineering & Physical Science community in this initiative and embedding technology innovation at the earliest stage. Advances in medicine have resulted in a significant increase in survival rates from trauma and injury, disorders and disease (acute and chronic). However, survival is often just the start, and the higher rates have led to an increase in rehabilitation needs, involving many patients with complex conditions. Technology has an increasingly important part to play in rehabilitation, to support a limited number of skilled healthcare professionals, reduce hospital stays, improve engagement with rehabilitation programmes, increase independence and improve outcomes. Speeding up recovery and helping patients get back to work and life has considerable personal, social and economic impact. This network will bring together researchers, healthcare providers, patient & user groups, industrial partners and supporting organisations (e.g. policy makers, charities) to develop a world-class research community and infrastructure for advanced rehabilitation technologies. By connecting new innovative technologies and advanced materials with our growing understanding of mental and physical health, this network will support the provision of novel, transformative, affordable solutions that will address current issues, allowing patients to lead more independent and fulfilling lives and reducing the burden on limited NHS resources. Supported by a core membership of experts from the rehabilitation field, this network aims to introduce researchers who are not typically involved in rehabilitation technology research into a network of rehabilitation experts. Central to the grant will be a series of Grand Challenge Blended Workshops and supported conversations designed to identify critical areas for research, with funding for feasibility projects to build those collaborations and drive forward innovation. The network will explore multimodal approaches that target both physical and mental rehabilitation. Technology innovation will focus around three key areas: 1) advanced functional materials, 2) patient-specific devices & therapy, and 3) closed loop measurement and rehabilitation.

The SEED fellowship focuses on scoping and developing a new UK-China creative industries research and innovation hub through scoping sectors, engaging stakeholders, empowering participants, and developing future-focused visions and strategies. This supports the AHRCs long-standing ambition to bring together China-UK creative industry stakeholders to develop research-industry partnerships for long term collaboration. Through a programme of scoping studies including research, workshops and creative activities the fellowship aims to understand the needs of, barriers to, and opportunities for creative industry practitioners and researchers to develop cross-cultural and collaborative projects between the UK and China. This will enable us to develop a strategic vision and an evidence-informed delivery plan for the UK-China creative industries research and innovation (R&I) hub to be launched in 2024. We aim to strengthen existing partnerships and expand new R&I partnerships for the scaling up of sustained collaboration between the UK and China over the next 5-15 years. Our engagement activities will build a community of businesses, academics and industry members that are well trained and supported to enable them to build successful working relationships. The activities of the fellowship will build the foundations of a centre of excellence for creative debate, knowledge sharing, training, facilitating partnerships and accessing expertise that can be further strengthened through the future Hub's activities. Unique to this fellowship is the Empower programme which will provide seed funding for UK-China projects that produce creative outputs, generate productive connections and test the effectiveness of the resources being produced by the fellowship team. Through the development of resources, including a toolkit, we will support cross-cultural collaboration which will be showcased through mixed-media content on social media platforms and our website. The model for this fellowship draws together expertise from across the breadth of the creative industries - in academia, business, policy and skills training from both the UK and China - in working groups, an Advisory Board and partnerships to ensure diverse needs and requirements are captured and embedded in the plan of the hub. The fellowship will facilitate the launch and implementation of the hub in 2024. The research, sector knowledge and liaison with the research and innovation community are all focussed on developing a strong future UK-based Hub to support the work of the China-based Hub. The future Hub will be well equipped and fully resourced to act as a docking station for accessing knowledge and expertise; a centre of excellence for training creative entrepreneurs with cultural sensitivity; a club for intelligence gathering, creative debate and showcasing to the Hub's community and the general public, an accelerator for business research, innovation and growth, as well as business to business engagement; a facilitator of collaborative and interdisciplinary research partnerships; and a platform to create the conditions for sustained and productive partnerships between the creative industries in the UK and China.