THE NEWTON PRIZE
The Newton Prize is a £1 million annual investment by the UK Government’s Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) in the best science and development partnerships between the UK and Newton Fund partner countries.
The Prize celebrates excellent innovation, research and knowledge-sharing and is awarded to Newton Funded projects already demonstrating tangible impact on global challenges.
The UK National Commission for UNESCO delivers the prize on behalf of BEIS and the aims of the prize are closely aligned with UNESCO’s mandate to use science and innovation, as well as international collaboration in science, to promote peace, security and sustainable development. Every Newton Prize applicant has the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals at the forefront of their work, and this is a key element to becoming a successful prize winner.
The Newton Prize Committee reviews all of the shortlisted applications, along with feedback from the expert peer reviewers, and selects the winners using a consistent scoring system. Find out more about how to apply, how to register as an expert reviewer, or simply more about the prize by clicking on the links below.
“Being a Newton Prize peer reviewer has been a really rewarding experience. Not only has it given me insight into international research and innovation in specific areas, but it has also facilitated an opportunity for me to provide creative, encouraging feedback to academics and practitioners across the globe.”
“I benefited from and enjoyed participating as a Newton Prize peer reviewer due to the high quality of the proposals shown in the call which gave me the opportunity to learn how other people try to solve global problems/challenges using holistic and interdisciplinary approaches”
“I have had the pleasure of reviewing the Newton Prize contributions over the past few years and have been really impressed at the high standard of applications which have been submitted across a range of disciplines.”
Being fortunate in securing a role as a reviewer for the past three years, reviewing the most challenging and thought provoking projects have helped me gain greater scientific proficiency and qualifications for tackling wide-ranging future projects.
WINNERS
Meet the Newton Prize Winners
Each year, from 2017 until 2021, outstanding Newton funded projects, fellowships or other awards will win the Newton Prize to advance or develop existing Newton funded work. The Prize will be awarded for the best research or innovation that promotes economic development and social welfare.
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2019 Partner Countries
ASIA – CHINA, INDONESIA, PHILIPPINES
The 2019 projects achieving excellence in science, research and innovation are all contributing to delivering the Sustainable Development Goals. With work focussed on eliminating malaria in the Philippines, tackling climate change in China and addressing gender-specific issues in Indonesia these partnerships are all building a more sustainable future. Read about all the shortlisted projects here; winners will be announced early in 2020..
CHINA
Development of an integrated urban framework for climate services in the Yangtze River Delta region
CHINA
Transforming Service Design and Big data Technologies into Sustainable Urbanisation
CHINA
Applying nature-based coastal defence to the world’s largest urban area – from science to practice
CHINA
A High Performance Solar Heat and Power System Employing the Innovative Photovoltaic/Thermal Technology
CHINA
Sino-British Centre for Research on Avian Diseases
INDONESIA
The gendered everyday political economy of Kampung eviction and resettlement in Jakarta
INDONESIA
Development of serology diagnosis of chronic aspergillosis and histoplasmosis in Indonesia
INDONESIA
Mainstreaming Integrated Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation into Coastal Urban Agglomeration Policy
INDONESIA
Transmission dynamics and molecular epidemiology of arboviruses in Indonesia
INDONESIA
Tempe to Improve Memory in Elderly People with Dementia
PHILIPPINES
Water-Energy-Nutrient Nexus in the Cities of the Future
PHILIPPINES
Low-cost Portable Molecular Diagnostic Platform for Rapid Detection of Poultry Infectious Pathogens
PHILIPPINES
Using genomics to trace Salmonella transmission and antimicrobial resistance in the poultry and swine food chains in Metropolitan Manila
PHILIPPINES
Enhanced surveillance for control and elimination of malaria in the Philippines
CHAIR’S AWARD: INDONESIA
Developing Affordable Energy Efficient Bridge Health Monitoring and Early Warning System with Wireless Sensor Networks and Multi Agent System
CHAIR’S AWARD: PHILIPPINES
Tissue engineering of bronchi in health and sickness: assessing the effect of matrix stiffening on cellular changes in the airways
CHAIR’S AWARD: CHINA
LIVEQuest: A self-contained wearable Internet-of-Things System for Precision Livestock Agriculture
CHAIR’S AWARD: CHINA
Regional crop monitoring and assessment with quantitative remote sensing and data assimilation
CHAIR’S AWARD: CHINA
Novel approaches to the design of multitargeted drugs to treat endemic cancers
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2018 Partner Countries
LATIN AMERICA – BRAZIL, CHILE, COLOMBIA, MEXICO
Find out how winners in 2018 strengthened science partnerships between the UK and Latin America, delivering pioneering work to improve infrastructure and work towards a peaceful future. Winning projects supported the indigenous Guarani people to restore the Atlantic Forest in Brazil, powered sustainable development in Colombia with coffee waste and developed drought-resistant bean varieties to improve food production in Mexico.
BRAZIL
Improving the lives of the Guarani people by saving the Atlantic Forest
The Atlantic Forest in Brazil is one of the world’s richest biomes, home to a large number of species unique to that area. A Newton-funded project between researchers in the UK and Brazil is helping the Guarani restore the Atlantic Forest in their territory.
CHILE
Strengthening energy infrastructure to withstand extreme weather and natural disasters
Newton funded scientists in the UK and Chile are using mathematical models to develop a framework that will strengthen power systems in Chile and other countries vulnerable to environmental hazards.
COLOMBIA
Turning environmentally damaging coffee waste into electricity
Scientists working on a Newton Fund project in Colombia have found that environmentally damaging coffee waste could be turned into electricity using a microbial fuel cell.
MEXICO
New drought resistant beans for sustainable food supply in Mexico
Researchers in the UK and Mexico are developing climate ready elite bean varieties to combat drought related crop losses for Mexican and Latin American agriculture.
CHAIR’S AWARD: CHILE
Documenting the past for a more peaceful future
Examining the case of Chile and the unprecedented documentation work undertaken by civil society organisations during the Pinochet dictatorship, an international research team has shown how the act of documentation itself is an important mode of resistance to human rights violations.
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2017 Partner Countries
ASIA – INDIA, MALAYSIA, THAILAND, VIETNAM
Our 2017 winners created innovative, knowledge-sharing, partnerships between countries to tackle challenges such as natural disasters, maternal health and disease control. From improving the diagnosis of rare genetic diseases in children in Thailand to improving conditions in rural areas of India through low cost, high-efficiency solar energy production all our winning projects have changed lives.
INDIA
Creating more efficient solar energy
There is a need for a low upfront cost, high-efficiency source of energy production to improve the quality of life in villages in India. The Newton-Bhabha APEX-II programme is a flagship project in solar energy between India and the UK, building on the achievements of an earlier programme.
INDIA
Better monitoring of maternal health saves lives
Obstetric haemorrhage, pre-eclampsia and sepsis account for more than 50% of maternal deaths worldwide. This Newton-Bhabha funded project is testing the introduction of a new vital sign device into routine maternity care at community and hospital level.
MALAYSIA
Sustainable energy from effluent waste processing
Palm oil production is a major contributor to the Malaysian economy but this industry is also a large source of highly polluting waste effluents. This Newton-Ungku Omar Fund project aimed to tackle the issue of generating electricity and biofuel from effluent waste.
CHAIR’S PRIZE: THAILAND
International Network for Shrimp Health (INSH)
This Newton Fund project built on a previous Researcher Links workshop to establish a UK-Thai network in shrimp health focused on knowledge exchange and capacity building, and challenging disease control in aquaculture.
THAILAND
Improving diagnosis of rare genetic diseases in children
Using the recognised expertise of the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, this Newton Fund project supported Chulalongkorn Paediatrics to develop their own genomics platform and supporting analytics and infrastructure.
VIETNAM
Communicating in a disaster
From 2005 to 2014, Vietnam was hit by 649 natural disasters destroying almost half a million homes and causing 10,000 casualties annually. This Newton Fund project tackled the problems of maintaining communications under hostile conditions.
THE NEWTON PRIZE
The Newton Prize is a £1 million annual investment by the UK Government’s Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) in the best science and development partnerships between the UK and Newton Fund partner countries.
The Prize celebrates excellent innovation, research and knowledge-sharing and is awarded to Newton Funded projects already demonstrating tangible impact on global challenges.
The UK National Commission for UNESCO delivers the prize on behalf of BEIS and the aims of the prize are closely aligned with UNESCO’s mandate to use science and innovation, as well as international collaboration in science, to promote peace, security and sustainable development. Every Newton Prize applicant has the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals at the forefront of their work, and this is a key element to becoming a successful prize winner.
The Newton Prize Committee reviews all of the shortlisted applications, along with feedback from the expert peer reviewers, and selects the winners using a consistent scoring system. Find out more about how to apply, how to register as an expert reviewer, or simply more about the prize by clicking on the links below.