Visit from the Minister for Science, February 6th 2026

Great energy at the National Edge AI Hub this past Friday as we welcomed the Minister for Science, Rt Hon Lord Patrick Vallance, to our Newcastle University offices!

It was a fantastic opportunity to showcase the wide scope of innovative work happening across the Hub, from real‑time edge intelligence to applied AI research impacting industry and society.

The visit included hands‑on demos, lab tours, and conversations with our academics, researchers, and PhD students who are driving this innovation forward.

Demos presented during the visit include:

The Hybrid VFL demo from our researchers at The University of Hull, Mostafa Anoosha and Dhaval Thakker

A Federated Learning Demo from our researchers at Newcastle University School of Computing, presented by Rui Sun

Demos of the Newcastle Urban Observatory led by Phil James at Newcastle University
Trusted Smart Home Demos by Dev Jha in the School of Computing

Literal Labs Demos by Rishad Shafik in the School of Engineering at Newcastle University

NHS Edge AI demos  by Deepayan Bhowmik

Cyber Security Risks in Connected and Autonomous Vehicles by our researchers at Nottingham Trent University Maria Drolence, Ganesh Bhagwat, Omprakash Kiwartya, and David Brown

Our academic teams and PhD researchers demonstrated how collaborative, multi‑institution work is driving real innovation across the UK.

Huge thanks to all colleagues across our partner universities who contributed their time, expertise, and brilliant demonstrations.  These partners include: Newcastle University, University of Hull, Aston University, Lancaster University, University of York, Nottingham Trent University, University of Leicester, Cardiff University, Durham University, University of St Andrews, Queen’s University Belfast, Imperial College London, University of Warwick, Swansea University, University of Southampton, and Lancaster University. 

Proud to be part of this momentum at Newcastle University and the National Edge AI Hub.