Category: Universities

MIL-OSI Analysis: Zonal pricing is dead – here’s how the UK should change its electricity system instead

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Cassandra Etter-Wenzel, DPhil Candidate in Energy Policy, University of Oxford

Marcin Rogozinski/Shutterstock

The UK government has decided against setting different prices for electricity based on the locations of consumers.

Zonal pricing would have categorised Britain into distinct zones, each with wholesale electricity prices that reflect how much power is generated locally, and how much demand there is for it. It would have raised prices in areas with lots of demand but low generation, like London, and lowered them where supply outstrips demand, such as in the turbine-rich Scottish Highlands.

This might have caused an immediate increase in the energy bills of already vulnerable households in some high-demand, low-generation areas, such as Tower Hamlets in London and Blackpool in north-west England.

But the idea was to encourage the construction of renewable energy to meet high demand in higher-priced zones, and prompt big electricity consumers to move to where electricity is cheaper. It was also intended to ease the need for new infrastructure to transmit electricity over long distances, like pylons. Australia, Norway and several EU nations already use this method.

The ultimate goal of zonal pricing was to make the price of electricity more accurately reflect generation and transmission costs. However, one thing has significantly inflated electricity prices in recent years, which this pricing method wouldn’t have addressed on its own: gas.

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Gas is expensive, even more so since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Britain’s electricity system operator brings power plants onto the system to meet demand in order of the lowest to highest marginal costs.

The point at which supply meets demand forms the wholesale price of electricity. Renewable sources, like wind and solar, have zero or very low marginal costs. But most of the time the wholesale price is set by gas plants, because they can readily fill a gap in supply but have high and erratic marginal costs (largely tied to what they pay for fuel).

We need another, cheaper technology to set the wholesale price of electricity. Batteries, which can store electricity over several hours, and options capable of storing energy for longer, such as compressed air and low-carbon hydrogen, could be just the thing.

The idea is simple: batteries can be charged at times when there is a lot of surplus electricity generation (on a bright, windy day, for example) and discharge it at times of peak demand (or when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow). This would entail grid operators (and ultimately, consumers) not having to pay gas plants to fire up when renewable generation cannot meet the shortfall.

Unfortunately, batteries comprised just 6% of Britain’s total electricity capacity in 2024. Investment in energy storage has lagged behind what the government forecasts is necessary to meet its 2030 clean power goals, but it is at least increasing.

Research shows that the more money that is invested in batteries, the more associated costs come down. If used instead of gas to stabilise the grid, energy storage could significantly lower the wholesale cost of the UK’s energy over time, and with the right balance of policies, household bills too. This would require subsidies to cover some of the cost of making and installing batteries, and planning mandates to build new renewables alongside new batteries.

Affordable and fair

The government could also try alternatives to zonal pricing. Wholesale electricity prices could reflect the “strike” price in renewable energy contracts. This is the price at which developers have agreed to build clean electricity generation projects, like wind farms. This would mean that gas no longer sets the wholesale price, but stable, predictable prices agreed years in advance, which would help to regulate the retail costs consumers pay.

Solar arrays installed on farmland in Devon, southern England.
Pjhpix/Shutterstock

These types of reforms can help set efficient energy prices, which the government usually talks about as the price needed to encourage investment in new energy technologies. But just because prices are efficient, it doesn’t mean they’re fair. Some households struggle to afford their energy bills even when markets are working efficiently. So, when prices change to encourage cleaner energy, it can hit them harder.

The government should implement new policies and expand eligibility for existing measures to take the burden off energy-poor households. These include social tariffs, which offer discounted rates to vulnerable consumers, and discounts for blocks of electricity use when renewables are generating a lot of it.

Transition funds could help poorer households meet bills, while schemes to encourage home insulation and other improvements could see more homes with rooftop solar panels and battery storage.

This support, combined with increasing investment in energy storage and renewables, will lower the wholesale price of electricity over time – and make energy more affordable (and fair) for everyone.

Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?

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Anupama Sen has previously received funding from the Quadrature Climate Foundation and Children’s Investment Fund Foundation.

Cassandra Etter-Wenzel and Sam Fankhauser do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Zonal pricing is dead – here’s how the UK should change its electricity system instead – https://theconversation.com/zonal-pricing-is-dead-heres-how-the-uk-should-change-its-electricity-system-instead-260985

MIL OSI Analysis –

July 17, 2025
MIL-OSI Analysis: MethaneSat: The climate spy satellite that went quiet

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Vincent Gauci, Professorial Fellow, School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham

Satellites circling the Earth have many different functions, including navigation, communications and Earth observation. About 8%-10% of all active satellites are military or “dual use” serving intelligence or reconnaissance functions as spy satellites.

But it was a climate satellite serving as both spy and “name and shame” police officer in the sky that recently caught the world’s attention when it went quiet.

MethaneSat was developed to spot emission hot spots or plumes of invisible methane pollution from space. Built by the US non-profit, the Environmental Defense Fund with Nasa’s support, it tracked methane leaks from oil and gas sites, farms and landfills across the globe.

These are among the biggest human-caused emission sources. But methane emissions are traditionally hard to spot because they come from so many relatively small point sources or plumes.

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This specialist observation satellite was developed and deployed because methane acts differently to other greenhouse gas emissions. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that, over 20 years, is more than 80 times more powerful a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

Since 1750, additional human-caused methane emissions have contributed directly and indirectly, to around 60% of the global warming of carbon dioxide over that time.

Methane also has a short lifetime. Where carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere for in excess of 100 years, relying on plant uptake for its removal from the atmosphere and conversion into other carbon forms, methane is broken down in the atmosphere by molecules known as hydroxyl radicals. These are nicknamed “the atmosphere’s detergent”, because they effectively remove methane from the atmosphere in less than ten years.

A gas flare at an oil refinery – one of many pinpoint sources of methane emissions.
hkhtt hj/Shutterstock

This combination of short lifetime and high global warming potential (a measure of the climate strength of the gas relative to carbon dioxide) makes methane both a problem and an ideal target for reduction. In fact, growth in atmospheric methane is occurring at such a rate that it is placing us dangerously off track from meeting our Paris agreement obligations to stay within 1.5°C of climate warming by 2050 and 2°C by 2100.

Eyes in the sky

But how can we achieve these reductions and what was the role of MethaneSat in seeking to meet this objective?

There are two ways atmospheric methane concentrations can be reduced. A recent and more challenging proposition is that methane is actively removed from the atmosphere.

This is difficult because it relies on technological advances that are at their earliest stages (although growing more trees can go some way to achieving this). Another more realistic approach is to reduce emissions and then to let atmospheric chemistry do the work of removing excess methane in the atmosphere.

The global methane pledge was announced in 2021 at the UN climate summit, Cop26, in Glasgow. This aimed to reduce human-caused methane emissions by 30% on 2020 levels by 2030. More than 150 countries have now signed up to this pledge. If successful, it could reduce warming by up to 0.2°C by 2050. That’s why MethaneSat was so useful.

MethaneSat is fitted with a hyperspectral sensor – which can record sunlight reflected off Earth in hundreds of narrow colour bands across the spectrum, far beyond what our eyes can see. It’s capable of picking up concentrations of methane in air at minute quantities.

This sensor allowed the satellite to spot individual plumes of methane, so it had a crucial role in identifying those problem areas. Given that these are dispersed but also individual point sources, it was invaluable in intervening in the leaks, permitting identification of those responsible so they could be held to account and so address the problem.

No one instrument can cover what MethaneSat could do with freely available data. It had high precision, high spatial resolution and, critically, global coverage and it was particularly useful at identifying plumes in nations that don’t have the resources for the sort of regional surveys using aircraft mounted systems that can fill the gap in developed regions.

Now that MethaneSat is no longer operational, there are some other tools to identify small anthropogenic emissions sources, but they tend to be regionally focused like the aircraft measurements mentioned.

Other satellites gather similar data but that data sits behind commercial paywalls, whereas MethaneSat data was freely available. Collectively, these drawbacks mean that it’s just going to be that much harder to spot the emissions MethaneSat was so good at tracking.

Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?

Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 45,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.

Vincent Gauci receives funding from the NERC, Spark Climate Solutions, the JABBS Foundation and has received funding from the Royal Society, Defra and the AXA Research Fund.

– ref. MethaneSat: The climate spy satellite that went quiet – https://theconversation.com/methanesat-the-climate-spy-satellite-that-went-quiet-261022

MIL OSI Analysis –

July 17, 2025
MIL-OSI Analysis: AI can be your wingman when online dating – but should you let it?

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Natasha McKeever, Lecturer in Applied Ethics, University of Leeds

YWdesign/Shutterstock

Many dating app companies are enthusiastic about incorporating generative AI into their products. Whitney Wolfe Herd, founder of dating app Bumble, wants gen-AI to “help create more healthy and equitable relationships”. In her vision of the near future, people will have AI dating concierges who could “date” other people’s dating concierges for them, to find out which pairings were most compatible.

Dating app Grindr is developing an AI wingman, which it hopes to be up and running by 2027. Match Group, owner of popular dating apps including Tinder, Hinge and OK Cupid, have also expressed keen interest in using gen-AI in their products, believing recent advances in AI technology “have the power to be transformational, making it more seamless and engaging for users to participate in dating apps”. One of the ways they think gen-AI can do this is by enhancing “the authenticity of human connections”.

Use of gen-AI in online dating is not just some futuristic possibility, though. It’s already here.

Want to enhance your photos or present yourself in a different style? There are plenty of online tools for that. Similarly, if you want AI to help “craft the perfect, attention-grabbing bio” for you, it can do that. AI can even help you with making conversation, by analysing your chat history and suggesting ways to reply.

Extra help

It isn’t just dating app companies who are enthusiastic about AI use in dating apps either. A recent survey carried out by Cosmopolitan magazine and Bumble of 5,000 gen-Zers and millennials found that 69% of respondents were excited about “the ways AI could make dating easier and more efficient”.

An even higher proportion (86%) “believe it could help solve pervasive dating fatigue”. A surprising 86% of men and 77% of the women surveyed would share their message history with AI to help guide their dating app conversations.

Dating today can feel like a mix of endless swipes, red flags and shifting expectations. From decoding mixed signals to balancing independence with intimacy, relationships in your 20s and 30s come with unique challenges.Love IRL is the latest series from Quarter Life that explores it all.

These research-backed articles break down the complexities of modern love to help you build meaningful connections, no matter your relationship status.

It’s not hard to see why AI is so appealing for dating app users and providers. Dating apps seem to be losing their novelty: many users are reportedly abandoning them due to so-called “dating app fatigue” – feeling bored and burnt out with dating apps.

Apps and users might be hopeful that gen-AI can make dating apps fun again, or if not fun, then at least that it will make them actually lead to dates. Some AI dating companions claim to get you ten times more dates and better dates at that. Given that men tend to get fewer matches on dating apps than women, it’s also not surprising that we’re seeing more enthusiasm from men than women about the possibilities AI could bring.

Talk of gen-AI in connection to online dating gives rise to many ethical concerns. We at the Ethical Dating Online Network, an international network of over 30 multi-disciplinary academics interested in how online dating could be more ethical, think that dating app companies need to convincingly answer these worries before rushing new products to market. Here are a few standout issues.

Pitfalls of AI dating

Technology companies correctly identify some contemporary social issues, such as loneliness, anxiety at social interactions, and concerns about dating culture, as hindering people’s dating lives.

But turning to more technology to solve these issues puts us at risk of losing the skills we need to make close relationships work. The more we can reach for gen-AI to guide our interactions, the less we might be tempted to practise on our own, or to take accountability for what we communicate. After all, an AI “wingman” is of little use when meeting in person.

Also, AI tools risk entrenching much of dating culture that people find stressful. Norms around “banter”, attractiveness or flirting can make the search for intimacy seem like a competitive battleground. The way AI works – learning from existing conversations – means that it will reproduce these less desirable aspects.

Gen-AI may reproduce the negative elements of online dating culture.
fizkes/Shutterstock

Instead of embracing those norms and ideals, and trying to equip everyone with the tools to seemingly meet impossibly high standards, dating app companies could do more to “de-escalate” dating culture: make it calmer, more ordinary and help people be vulnerable. For example, they could rethink how they charge for their products, encourage a culture of honesty, and look at alternatives to the “swiping” interfaces.

The possibility of misrepresentation is another concern. People have always massaged the truth when it comes to dating, and the internet has made this easier. But the more we are encouraged to use AI tools, and as they are embedded in dating apps, bad actors can more simply take advantage of the vulnerable.

An AI-generated photo, or conversation, can lead to exchanges of bank details, grooming and sexual exploitation.

Stopping short of fraud, however, is the looming intimate authenticity crisis. Online dating awash with AI generated material risks becoming a murky experience. A sincere user might struggle to identify like-minded matches on apps where use of AI is common.

This interpretive burden is annoying for anyone, but it will exacerbate the existing frustrations women, more so than men, experience on dating apps as they navigate spaces full of with timewasting, abuse, harassment and unwanted sexualisation.

Indeed, women might worry that AI will turbo-charge the ability of some men to prove a nuisance online. Bots, automation, conversation-generating tools, can help some men to lay claim to the attention of many women simultaneously.

AI tools may seem like harmless fun, or a useful timesaver. Some people may even wholeheartedly accept that AI generated content is not “authentic” and love it anyway.

Without clear guardrails in place, however, and more effort by app companies to provide informed choices based on transparency about how their apps work, any potential benefits of AI will be obscured by the negative impact it has to intimacy online.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. AI can be your wingman when online dating – but should you let it? – https://theconversation.com/ai-can-be-your-wingman-when-online-dating-but-should-you-let-it-254666

MIL OSI Analysis –

July 17, 2025
MIL-OSI Analysis: Looking for meaningful romantic relationships? Start by diversifying your friendships and forgetting your wishlist

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Mariko Visserman, Assistant Professor in Psychology, University of Sussex

loreanto/Shutterstock

When you’re looking for a relationship, chances are you’ll start off with a wishlist for your ideal partner. Maybe someone who is attractive or wealthy, someone who likes the same movies and the outdoors. Seems like a solid starting point, right? The problem is that in the real world, these wishlists are rarely helpful. And how realistic is the idea that one person can fulfil all our needs in the first place?

In 2017, researchers conducted a large speed-dating study. They wanted to see how well the preferences people indicated for a potential partner predicted who they wanted to see again after the event.

The researchers were left with nothing: people’s wishlists did not predict who they actually liked. Instead, they suggested that the best predictor of whether you like someone is seeing how they make you feel when you interact with them. Do you feel comfortable in their presence? Do they make you laugh?

The scientific evidence suggests that you have to meet people in the flesh if you want to find your match.

Dating today can feel like a mix of endless swipes, red flags and shifting expectations. From decoding mixed signals to balancing independence with intimacy, relationships in your 20s and 30s come with unique challenges. Love IRL is the latest series from The Conversation’s Quarter Life that explores it all.

These research-backed articles break down the complexities of modern love to help you build meaningful connections, no matter your relationship status.

People used to find their romantic partner by tapping into their social networks – through friends, family, or the people they met in their daily lives. Nowadays, we often look for a romantic partner using online dating platforms, which allow us to access a larger network of potential romantic partners than ever before.

This apparent abundance may encourage a critical comparison with your wishlist and you may spend a lot of time swiping through profiles of potential partners, without initiating meeting them.

Research suggests that doing so can leave you feeling paralysed by an overload of choice and less optimistic about your chances. Research also shows that people tend to have fewer matches as the number of profiles on offer increases.

The researchers of this paradox suggest that you may be wise to put yourself on a dating diet: only looking at a limited number of profiles each day and exploring them with a curious mind. Then, when contact is established and you feel positive about the initial interaction, the real experiment begins.

When you spend a long time interacting online you may construct an idealised version of your potential partner and what you hope they’re like. That leaves you all the more likely to be disappointed when meeting them in person, as it’s easy for them to fall short of your expectations.

When you spend long time interacting online you may construct an idealised version of your potential partner.
dodotone/Shutterstock

A better strategy would be to meet them in the flesh with a curious mind, before becoming overly invested in an online persona that is not a fair representation of what the other person may be like.

Taking it offline

Whether you will go on to have a satisfying relationship in the long run depends more than anything on your relationship expectations and behaviour.

Being kind and attentive to each other’s goals and needs ensures each partner’s happiness and will help weather any challenge, small or large, that couples inevitably face. But here too, technology may disrupt your mindful awareness of others – for example being on your phone in the presence of your partner – posing a risk to enjoying relationships.

Couples today also seem to have historically high expectations for their partner to help them fulfil all their goals and needs. You may want a partner to be a passionate lover, your best friend, your motivational coach and help you achieve personal growth.

In other words, people’s wishlists people carry into relationships too, as we long for a partner to fulfil all our needs.

Diversifying your friendships can put less pressure on your romantic connection.
Dupe/Daniel Bughiu

Demanding all of this from one partner can place too much pressure on the relationships, rather than satisfying your needs. You may be left with a dissatisfying relationship that falls short of your expectations.

In some ways, we may all benefit from adopting lower expectations when looking for a partner and when being with them long term. This may help us appreciate them instead of taking their support and kind acts for granted.

It’s also a good idea to diversify your relationships. Having other important close (and even less close) relationships can help fulfil some needs your partner may not be best suited to meet, such as friends who like the same movies you do or who like to explore the outdoors together.

Research has shown that a greater diversity of relationships benefits happiness, as different relationships can serve different roles in fulfilling your needs, which may take some pressure off “the one” fulfilling all your needs.

Putting some brakes on your expectations for a romantic partner, when looking for a partner and when sharing your life with them, may help you to see more clearly who they are and appreciate what they contribute to your life.

Mariko Visserman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Looking for meaningful romantic relationships? Start by diversifying your friendships and forgetting your wishlist – https://theconversation.com/looking-for-meaningful-romantic-relationships-start-by-diversifying-your-friendships-and-forgetting-your-wishlist-254022

MIL OSI Analysis –

July 17, 2025
MIL-OSI Submissions: Angels, witches, crystals and black cats: How supernatural beliefs vary across different groups in the US

Source: The Conversation – USA (3) – By Christopher P. Scheitle, Associate Professor of Sociology, West Virginia University

Education, income and demographics shape our views of the unseen world, a survey found. karetoria/Collection Moment via Getty Images

Younger Americans are more likely to express belief in witchcraft and luck, as our new research shows.

As sociologists who research the social dynamics of religion in the United States, we conducted a nationally representative survey in 2021. Our survey posed dozens of questions to 2,000 Americans over the age of 18 on a wide range of beliefs in supernatural phenomena – everything from belief in the devil to belief in the magical power of crystals.

Our statistical analyses found that supernatural beliefs in the United States tend to group into four types.

The first represents what many consider “traditional religious beliefs.” These include beliefs in God, the existence of angels and demons, and belief in the soul and its journey beyond this lifetime.

A second represents belief in “spiritual and mental forces,” some of which are associated with either paranormal or new age beliefs. These include communicating with the dead, predicting the future, or believing that one’s soul can travel through space or time.

A third group represents belief in “witches and witchcraft.” This was measured on our survey with questions about the existence of “black magic” and whether it was “possible to cast spells on people.”

The fourth and final group represents beliefs in supernatural forces that shape “luck” – for instance, that “black cats bring bad luck.”

Our analysis finds that higher education and higher income are associated with lower levels of all four types of supernatural belief. Those with a bachelor’s degree or higher, for instance, score below average on all four types of belief, while those with less education score higher than average on all four.

Looking at race and ethnicity, we found that Latino or Hispanic individuals were more likely than white individuals to express belief in the “witches and witchcraft” form of supernatural belief. About 50% of Latino or Hispanic individuals in our survey, for example, strongly agreed that “witches exist.” This compares with about 37% of white individuals.

Comparing gender differences, we find that women are more likely than men to believe in the “spiritual and mental forces” forms of supernatural belief. For instance, about 31% of women in our survey agreed that “it is possible to communicate with the dead” compared with about 22% of men.

Why it matters

Our research addresses two key questions: first, whether people who hold one type of supernatural belief are also more likely to hold other types of supernatural beliefs; and second, how do different types of supernatural belief vary across key demographic groups, such as across educational levels, racial and ethnic groups, and gender?

Answering these questions can be surprisingly difficult. Most scientific surveys of the U.S. public include, at best, only one or two questions about religious beliefs; rarely do they include questions about other types of supernatural beliefs, such as belief in paranormal or superstitious forces. This could lead to an incomplete understanding of how supernatural beliefs and practices are changing in the United States.

An increasing number of Americans are leaving organized religion. However, it is not clear that supernatural beliefs have or will follow the same trajectory – especially beliefs that are not explicitly connected to those religious identities. For example, someone can identify as nonreligious but believe that the crystal they wear will provide them with supernatural benefits.

Moreover, recognizing that supernatural beliefs can include more than traditionally religious supernatural beliefs may be vital for better understanding other social issues. Research has found, for example, that belief in paranormal phenomena is associated with lower trust in science and medicine.

What’s next

Our survey provides some insight into the nature and patterns of supernatural belief in the U.S. at one point in time, but it does not tell us how such beliefs are changing over time.

We would like to see future surveys – both ours or from other social scientists – that ask more diverse questions about belief in supernatural beings and forces that will allow for an assessment of such changes.

The Research Brief is a short take on interesting academic work.

Christopher P. Scheitle receives funding from the National Science Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. The research discussed in this article was supported by a grant from the Science and Religion: Identity and Belief Formation grant initiative spearheaded by the Religion and Public Life Program at Rice University and the University of California-San Diego and provided by the Templeton Religion Trust via The Issachar Fund.

Bernard DiGregorio receives funding from the National Science Foundation. The research discussed in this article was funded by a grant from the Science and Religion: Identity and Belief Formation grant initiative spearheaded by the Religion and Public Life Program at Rice University and the University of California-San Diego and provided by the Templeton Religion Trust via The Issachar Fund.

Katie E. Corcoran receives funding from the National Science Foundation, the John Templeton Foundation, and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. The research discussed in this article was supported by a grant from the Science and Religion: Identity and Belief Formation grant initiative spearheaded by the Religion and Public Life Program at Rice University and the University of California-San Diego and provided by the Templeton Religion Trust via The Issachar Fund.

– ref. Angels, witches, crystals and black cats: How supernatural beliefs vary across different groups in the US – https://theconversation.com/angels-witches-crystals-and-black-cats-how-supernatural-beliefs-vary-across-different-groups-in-the-us-258377

MIL OSI –

July 17, 2025
MIL-OSI Analysis: California farmers identify a hot new cash crop: Solar power
Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Jacob Stid, Ph.D. student in Hydrogeology, Michigan State University

This dairy farm in California’s Central Valley has installed solar panels on a portion of its land. George Rose/Getty Images

Imagine that you own a small, 20-acre farm in California’s Central Valley. You and your family have cultivated this land for decades, but drought, increasing costs and decreasing water availability are making each year more difficult.

Now imagine that a solar-electricity developer approaches you and presents three options:
- You can lease the developer 10 acres of otherwise productive cropland, on which the developer will build an array of solar panels and sell electricity to the local power company.
- You can select 1 or 2 acres of your land on which to build and operate your own solar array, using some electricity for your farm and selling the rest to the utility.
- Or you can keep going as you have been, hoping your farm can somehow survive.
Thousands of farmers across the country, including in the Central Valley, are choosing one of the first two options. A 2022 survey by the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that roughly 117,000 U.S. farm operations have some type of solar device. Our own work has identified over 6,500 solar arrays currently located on U.S. farmland.

Our study of nearly 1,000 solar arrays built on 10,000 acres of the Central Valley over the past two decades found that solar power and farming are complementing each other in farmers’ business operations. As a result, farmers are making and saving more money while using less water – helping them keep their land and livelihood.

A hotter, drier and more built-up future

Perhaps nowhere in the U.S. is farmland more valuable or more productive than California’s Central Valley. The region grows a vast array of crops, including nearly all of the nation’s production of almonds, olives and sweet rice. Using less than 1% of all farmland in the country, the Central Valley supplies a quarter of the nation’s food, including 40% of its fruits, nuts and other fresh foods.

The food, fuel and fiber that these farms produce are a bedrock of the nation’s economy, food system and way of life.

But decades of intense cultivation, urban development and climate change are squeezing farmers. Water is limited, and getting more so: A state law passed in 2014 requires farmers to further reduce their water usage by the mid-2040s.

California’s Central Valley is some of the most productive cropland in the country.
Citizen of the Planet/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

The trade-offs of installing solar on agricultural land

When the solar arrays we studied were installed, California state solar energy policy and incentives gave farm landowners new ways to diversify their income by either leasing their land for solar arrays or building their own.

There was an obvious trade-off: Turning land used for crops to land used for solar usually means losing agricultural production. We estimated that over the 25-year life of the solar arrays, this land would have produced enough food to feed 86,000 people a year, assuming they eat 2,000 calories a day.

There was an obvious benefit, too, of clean energy: These arrays produced enough renewable electricity to power 470,000 U.S. households every year.

But the result we were hoping to identify and measure was the economic effect of shifting that land from agricultural farming to solar farming. We found that farmers who installed solar were dramatically better off than those who did not.

They were better off in two ways, the first being financially. All the farmers, whether they owned their own arrays or leased their land to others, saved money on seeds, fertilizer and other costs associated with growing and harvesting crops. They also earned money from leasing the land, offsetting farm energy bills, and selling their excess electricity.

Farmers who owned their own arrays had to pay for the panels, equipment and installation, and maintenance. But even after covering those costs, their savings and earnings added up to US$50,000 per acre of profits every year, 25 times the amount they would have earned by planting that acre.

Farmers who leased their land made much less money but still avoided costs for irrigation water and operations on that part of their farm, gaining $1,100 per acre per year – with no up-front costs.

The farmers also conserved water, which in turn supported compliance with the state’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act water use reduction requirements. Most of the solar arrays were installed on land that had previously been irrigated. We calculated that turning off irrigation on this land saved enough water every year to supply about 27 million people with drinking water or irrigate 7,500 acres of orchards. Following solar array installation, some farmers also fallowed surrounding land, perhaps enabled by the new stable income stream, which further reduced water use.

Irrigation is key to cropland productivity in California’s Central Valley. Covering some land with solar panels eliminates the need for irrigation of that area, saving water for other uses elsewhere.
Citizen of the Planet/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Changes to food and energy production

Farmers in the Central Valley and elsewhere are now cultivating both food and energy. This shift can offer long-term security for farmland owners, particularly for those who install and run their own arrays.

Recent estimates suggest that converting between 1.1% and 2.4% of the country’s farmland to solar arrays would, along with other clean energy sources, generate enough electricity to eliminate the nation’s need for fossil fuel power plants.

Though many crops are part of a global market that can adjust to changes in supply, losing this farmland could affect the availability of some crops. Fortunately, farmers and landowners are finding new ways to protect farmland and food security while supporting clean energy.

One such approach is agrivoltaics, where farmers install solar designed for grazing livestock or growing crops beneath the panels. Solar can also be sited on less productive farmland or on farmland that is used for biofuels rather than food production.

Even in these areas, arrays can be designed and managed to benefit local agriculture and natural ecosystems. With thoughtful design, siting and management, solar can give back to the land and the ecosystems it touches.

Farms are much more than the land they occupy and the goods they produce. Farms are run by people with families, whose well-being depends on essential and variable resources such as water, fertilizer, fuel, electricity and crop sales. Farmers often borrow money during the planting season in hopes of making enough at harvest time to pay off the debt and keep a little profit.

Installing solar on their land can give farmers a diversified income, help them save water, and reduce the risk of bad years. That can make solar an asset to farming, not a threat to the food supply.

Jacob Stid works for Michigan State University. Funding for this work came from the US Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture program and the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Michigan State University. He also receives funding from the Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research.

Annick Anctil receives funding from NSF and USDA.

Anthony Kendall receives funding from the USDA, NASA, the NSF, and the Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research. He is an Assistant Professor at Michigan State University, and serves on the nonprofit board of the FLOW Water Advocates.

– ref. California farmers identify a hot new cash crop: Solar power – https://theconversation.com/california-farmers-identify-a-hot-new-cash-crop-solar-power-259653
MIL OSI Analysis –
July 17, 2025
MIL-OSI: Wilshire Indexes and GCM Grosvenor Launch Private Market Infrastructure Index, Laying Foundation for Broader Strategic Alliance

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

LONDON and CHICAGO, July 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Wilshire Indexes, a global leader in index design, and GCM Grosvenor (NASDAQ: GCMG), a leading global alternative asset management solutions provider, today announced the launch of the jointly developed FT Wilshire Private Markets Infrastructure Index (the “Index”). This first-of-its-kind benchmark fills a void for the asset class by providing investors with a transparent, reliable reference point based on the performance of a diversified universe of leading open-ended infrastructure funds. Until now, infrastructure investors lacked a comprehensive benchmark that truly reflected the breadth of the market. To address growing demand for passive exposure to this universe of assets, GCM Grosvenor is developing one or more investable vehicles designed to track the Index, with anticipated launches in the coming months.

The Index was created through close collaboration between Wilshire Indexes and GCM Grosvenor, leveraging the breadth, depth, and global scale of both organizations, with support of a select group of leading open-ended infrastructure funds. Wilshire Indexes will calculate and govern the benchmark, drawing on its four-decade heritage of transparent, rules-based index methodologies and next-generation data analytics technology. GCM Grosvenor, leveraging its $82 billion alternative investments platform, will contribute ongoing private market insights and risk management expertise as the Index evolves. In addition, GCM Grosvenor is advancing plans for a single point-of-entry investment vehicle, which it will manage, that will track the Index and offer investors streamlined access to diversified infrastructure exposure.

“This partnership brings together Wilshire Indexes’ index innovation with GCM Grosvenor’s deep private markets expertise to deliver a simple, scalable solution for infrastructure investing,” said Mark Makepeace, Chief Executive Officer of Wilshire Indexes. “We’re proud to help set a new standard for transparency and accessibility in private assets.”

Jon Levin, President of GCM Grosvenor, added, “Institutional investors are increasingly asking for an efficient way to gain diversified infrastructure exposure. Working with Wilshire Indexes lets us answer that call today – and lays the groundwork for additional alternative investment products.”

North Dakota Trust Lands, a longstanding collaborator with both Wilshire Indexes and GCM Grosvenor, played an instrumental role in forging the partnership behind the index and anticipated investor-focused product. “Allocators like us have long searched for a volatility-matched, risk-appropriate, and investable infrastructure benchmark, and we believe that Wilshire Indexes and GCM Grosvenor have the best expertise to help bring this vision to life,” said Frank Mihail, Chief Investment Officer of North Dakota Trust Lands.

Following the launch of the Infrastructure Index, the Wilshire Indexes and GCM Grosvenor intend to collaborate on additional alternative investment indices and complementary investable products across the alternative investments landscape. Future initiatives will capitalize on the breadth, depth, and global scale of both organizations, leveraging advanced data analytics and scalable technology platforms to further enhance transparent access to alternative assets.

Wilshire Indexes expects to publish the initial Index results to subscribers in the third quarter of 2025. GCM Grosvenor anticipates launching the prospective tracking vehicles later this year, subject to customary approvals.

About Wilshire Indexes

Wilshire Indexes is a global index provider that empowers institutional investors, asset managers and retail intermediaries with unmatched flexibility in solving benchmarking, portfolio construction, and risk management challenges. Transforming the way investors use benchmarks to realize their objectives, Wilshire Indexes provides global coverage of the markets through the leading FT Wilshire Index Series. Combining new technology and modular products in a growth-aligned commercial model designed for collaboration, efficiency, and speed to market, Wilshire Indexes offers a completely new way to work with an index provider.

About GCM Grosvenor

GCM Grosvenor (Nasdaq: GCMG) is a global alternative asset management solutions provider with approximately $82 billion in assets under management across private equity, infrastructure, real estate, credit, and absolute return investment strategies. The firm has specialized in alternatives for more than 50 years and is dedicated to delivering value for clients by leveraging its cross-asset class and flexible investment platform. GCM Grosvenor’s experienced team of approximately 550 professionals serves a global client base of institutional and individual investors. The firm is headquartered in Chicago, with offices in New York, Toronto, London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Seoul and Sydney. For more information, visit: gcmgrosvenor.com.

About North Dakota Department of Trust Lands

The North Dakota Department of Trust Lands manages 2.6 million mineral acres, 700,000 surface acres and 13 permanent education trusts, including the Common Schools Trust Fund currently valued at over $7.5 billion. The Department operates under the direction of the five-member North Dakota Board of University and School Lands, chaired by the governor of North Dakota. Mineral royalty income, agricultural rents and easement revenues from state-owned lands are invested to provide income and grow trusts to benefit education now and for future generations. Since 2014, the Common Schools Trust Fund has distributed more than $2 billion to support North Dakota K-12 education, reducing the burden on local property taxpayers and the state’s general fund. During the 2025-2027 biennium, the Common Schools Trust Fund will distribute $585 million, translating to approximately $2,508 in funding per K-12 student and contributing 24% of the state funding share.

Media Contact

Tom Johnson and Abigail Ruck
H/Advisors Abernathy
tom.johnson@h-advisors.global / abigail.ruck@h-advisors.global
212-371-5999

The MIL Network –

July 17, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Senators Collins, Smith, King Introduce Bill to Combat Lyme and Other Tick-Borne Diseases
US Senate News:
Source: United States Senator for Maine Susan Collins

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Tina Smith (D-MN) today introduced legislation to reauthorize the Kay Hagan Tick Act, their landmark legislation to improve research, prevention, diagnostics, and treatment for tick-borne diseases, which became law in 2019. Senator Angus King (I-ME) joins them as an original co-sponsor. The Kay Hagan Tick Act unites the effort to confront the alarming public health threat posed by Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases. Confirmed cases of Lyme disease reached a record number in Maine – 3,035 – last year. Senators Collins and Smith named their bill in honor of former Senator Kay Hagan (D-NC) who passed away on October 28^th, 2019, due to complications from the tick-borne disease known as the Powassan virus.

“Last year, Maine reported over 3,000 cases of Lyme disease—a record in our state. The reauthorization of our Tick Act is urgently needed to continue to support those who struggle with Lyme and other tick-borne illnesses and keep improving research, diagnostics, treatment, and prevention for these terrible diseases,” said Senator Collins. “Resources from the Tick Act have led to exciting developments such as the first-ever clinical trial for a Lyme disease vaccine for people, which is underway right now at the MaineHealth Institute for Research.”

“My home state of Minnesota is proud to have more than 10,000 lakes and thousands of rivers for us to enjoy, and we’re always especially eager to get outside after a long winter,” said Senator Smith. “Unfortunately, the number of Lyme disease cases in the state—and states across the country—is on the rise. This bill would empower regional centers to lead the response against these diseases and expanded the federal government’s role in researching, testing and treating these diseases. For the sake of Americans’ health and well-being, we need to keep moving this bill forward.”

“Our state has been battling diseases like Lyme for decades, so it is critical we continue to invest in our research and understanding of these vector-borne diseases to better protect Maine residents and visitors,” said Senator King. “The Kay Hagan Tick Act will further the prevention efforts that keep us safe by funding research, testing and diagnostics along with resources for improved data collection. I am proud to work on this critical bipartisan legislation that will help mitigate this long-term public health threat for the future safety and health of all Maine people.”

“Reauthorizing the Kay Hagan Tick Act will continue the nation’s coordinated framework for tick-borne disease surveillance, diagnostics, and prevention”, said Griffin Dill, Director of the University of Maine Tick Lab. Continued support means earlier detection, targeted interventions, and fewer families facing the physical and financial burden of Lyme disease and other emerging infections. Through this investment, Congress can ensure a proactive approach to safeguarding our communities from increasing threats related to ticks.”

“With an estimated 500,000 new cases of Lyme disease each year, it is critical that the United States is equipped to effectively prevent, detect, and respond to this growing public health threat,” said Bonnie Crater, co-founder and board member at Center for Lyme Action. “We applaud the foundation laid by the Kay Hagan Tick Act, which established the National Public Health Strategy to Prevent and Control Vector-Borne Diseases in Humans and we are committed to working with Congress and federal agencies to ensure this strategy is fully implemented and strengthened. We commend Senator Collins, Senator King, and Senator Smith for their bipartisan leadership in advancing the reauthorization of this vital legislation to protect the health and safety of Americans nationwide.”

Using a three-pronged approach, the Kay Hagan Tick Reauthorization Act would:
1. Require the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to continue implementing and updating, as appropriate, its National Public Health Strategy to Prevent and Control Vector-Borne Diseases in People. This strategy has been integral in expanding research into tick-borne diseases, improving testing and diagnostics, and coordinating efforts across the federal government.
1. Reauthorize Regional Centers of Excellence in Vector-Borne Disease for five years. Funding for these centers, which was allotted in 2017, expires this year. These Centers have led the scientific response against tick-borne diseases, which now make up 75 percent of vector-borne diseases in the U.S. There are four centers located at universities in California, Florida, Texas, and Wisconsin.
1. Reauthorize CDC Grants to State Health Departments to improve data collection and analysis, support early detection and diagnosis, improve treatment, and raise awareness. These awards would help states continue to build a public health infrastructure for Lyme and other vector-borne diseases and amplify their initiatives through public-private partnerships.
In May, Senator Collins delivered the opening remarks at the Center for Lyme Action Congressional Series and spoke to the need for continued federal funding for tick-borne disease research. Click here to watch and here to download her remarks. Senator Collins has also urged leading health officials to continue to support the development of treatment for these illnesses, including the clinical trials currently ongoing in Maine for the first Lyme disease vaccine for people.

Senator King is a longtime advocate for the elimination of vector-borne diseases. His SMASH Act, bipartisan legislation to reauthorize critical public health tools that support states and localities in their mosquito surveillance and control efforts, especially those linked to mosquitos that carry the Zika virus, and improve the nation’s preparedness for Zika and other mosquito-borne threats like West Nile virus, chikungunya, and Eastern Equine Encephalitis (“triple-e”) virus was signed into law in 2019. A re-authorization of SMASH was introduced in 2023 and included in the Pandemic All-Hazards Preparedness Act Reauthorization.
MIL OSI USA News –
July 17, 2025
MIL-OSI: LIS Technologies Inc. Appoints Distinguished Nuclear Expert Lloyd Jollay as its UF6 Systems Manager
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

Lloyd Jollay’s addition continues LIS Technologies’ initiative to build a management team consisting of veteran nuclear industry specialists and leaders.

Oak Ridge, Tennessee, July 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — LIS Technologies Inc. (“LIST” or “the Company”), a proprietary developer of advanced laser technology and the only USA-origin and patented laser uranium enrichment company, today announced that Lloyd Jollay, a seasoned nuclear engineering professional with over 30 years of experience in nuclear safety, materials management, and advanced fuel cycle operations, has been appointed as it UF₆ Systems Manager.

“LIST’s patented CRISLA technology has the potential to support the revitalization and growth of the nation’s nuclear-fuel supply chain,” said Lloyd Jollay, UF₆Systems Manager of LIS Technologies Inc. “The Company has taken a leading role in this industry’s innovation and decisive steps to rebirth, demonstrate and subsequently commercialize its technology. I look forward to putting my industry experience to work in support of this mission.”

Former Vice President of Isotopes and Nuclear Fuel Cycle at Boston Government Services, Lloyd Jollay led the development of nuclear safety programs and provided licensing support for emerging advanced reactor and isotope production initiatives. His extensive background includes managing criticality safety programs, supporting the peaceful use and transport of uranium materials, and advising on nuclear nonproliferation strategies within the DOE and NNSA complex.

Figure 1 – LIS Technologies Inc. Appoints Seasoned Nuclear Engineering Professional Lloyd Jollay as its UF₆Systems Manager.

In his prior roles, Mr. Jollay held multiple leadership positions at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. His work included directing nuclear material applications, overseeing high-enriched uranium (HEU) supply and return efforts, and managing multimillion-dollar budgets supporting domestic and international nuclear nonproliferation. He also led criticality safety teams, supporting safe nuclear operations through rigorous documentation, evaluations, and compliance with regulatory bodies including NPO, NNSA, and the DNFSB. Mr. Jollay holds an MBA and a B.S. in Engineering Physics from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where he also completed coursework toward an M.S. in Nuclear Engineering.

He is a certified Six Sigma Black Belt, has completed advanced training in SCALE and MCNP, and maintains active membership in the American Nuclear Society and the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management.

“I’m pleased to welcome Lloyd to LIS Technologies,” said Jay Yu, Executive Chairman and President of LIS Technologies Inc. “Bringing in seasoned leaders is essential as we scale, and Lloyd’s depth of experience in the nuclear sector will strengthen our management team at a critical juncture. His track record and commitment to the industry will be instrumental as we work to position LIST at the forefront of America’s nuclear fuel supply chain revitalization.”

“Lloyd’s addition comes at a pivotal moment as we move toward the next phase of our technology’s development,” said Christo Liebenberg, CEO and Co-Founder of LIS Technologies Inc. “With decades of experience in nuclear operations and non-proliferation, and his many connections with nuclear entities in the Oak Ridge area and nationwide, he brings along fresh perspective to help guide our work responsibly. Lloyd has consistently championed innovative solutions throughout his career, and I am pleased to have him on the team.”

About LIS Technologies Inc.

LIS Technologies Inc. (LIST) is a USA based, proprietary developer of a patented advanced laser technology, making use of infrared lasers to selectively excite the molecules of desired isotopes to separate them from other isotopes. The Laser Isotope Separation Technology (L.I.S.T) has a huge range of applications, including being the only USA-origin (and patented) laser uranium enrichment company, and several major advantages over traditional methods such as gas diffusion, centrifuges, and prior art laser enrichment. The LIST proprietary laser-based process is more energy-efficient and has the potential to be deployed with highly competitive capital and operational costs. L.I.S.T is optimized for LEU (Low Enriched Uranium) for existing civilian nuclear power plants, High-Assay LEU (HALEU) for the next generation of Small Modular Reactors (SMR) and Microreactors, the production of stable isotopes for medical and scientific research, and applications in quantum computing manufacturing for semiconductor technologies. The Company employs a world class nuclear technical team working alongside leading nuclear entrepreneurs and industry professionals, possessing strong relationships with government and private nuclear industries.

In Dec 2024, LIS Technologies Inc. was selected as one of six domestic companies to participate in the Low-Enriched Uranium (LEU) Enrichment Acquisition Program. This initiative allocates up to $3.4 billion overall, with contracts lasting for up to 10 years. Each awardee is slated to receive a minimum contract of $2 million.

For more information please visit: LaserIsTech.com

For further information, please contact:

Email: info@laseristech.com
Telephone: 800-388-5492
Follow us on X Platform
Follow us on LinkedIn

Forward Looking Statements

This news release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In this context, forward-looking statements mean statements related to future events, which may impact our expected future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as “expects”, “anticipates”, “intends”, “plans”, “believes”, “will”, “should”, “could”, “would” or “may” and other words of similar meaning. These forward-looking statements are based on information available to us as of the date of this news release and represent management’s current views and assumptions. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, events or results and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may be beyond our control. For LIS Technologies Inc., particular risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in our forward-looking statements include but are not limited to the following which are, and will be, exacerbated by any worsening of global business and economic environment: (i) risks related to the development of new or advanced technology, including difficulties with design and testing, cost overruns, development of competitive technology, loss of key individuals and uncertainty of success of patent filing, (ii) our ability to obtain contracts and funding to be able to continue operations and (iii) risks related to uncertainty regarding our ability to commercially deploy a competitive laser enrichment technology, (iv) risks related to the impact of government regulation and policies including by the DOE and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission; and other risks and uncertainties discussed in this and our other filings with the SEC. Only after successful completion of our Phase 2 Pilot Plant demonstration will LIS Technologies be able to make realistic economic predictions for a Commercial Facility. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which apply only as of the date of this news release. These factors may not constitute all factors that could cause actual results to differ from those discussed in any forward-looking statement. Accordingly, forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as a predictor of actual results. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this news release, except as required by law.

Attachment
- LIS Technologies Inc.
The MIL Network –
July 16, 2025
MIL-OSI Russia: Student design bureaus: a breeding ground for engineering personnel

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University –

An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

The Polytechnic University held an intensive educational course “Student Design Bureaus as a Tool for Preparing Highly Motivated and Conscious Engineers” for employees of industrial partner companies. Participants discussed how design bureaus help students master real engineering tasks.

The goal of the intensive course is to introduce representatives of enterprises to the capabilities of SKB, demonstrate examples of successful projects and discuss prospects for joint work on developing the country’s engineering potential. Organizers are representatives of SKB “System Engineering”. The project became the winner in April 2025 competition of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation in the direction of “Student Design Leadership”Several design bureaus and engineering teams of the Polytechnic University are participating in its implementation.

“To achieve technological leadership by 2030, we must involve young people in solving real engineering problems today, at the training stage. Student design bureaus allow not only to develop skills, but also to form the right professional motivation and awareness in students,” noted Oleg Rozhdestvensky, head of the SPbPU Office of Technological Leadership, on the basis of which the project is being implemented.

Head of SKB “System Engineering”, Director of the Higher School of Power Engineering Alena Aleshina emphasized that SPbPU SKB is built as a multi-level ecosystem: school KBs – youth KBs – student KBs – employer. This allows us to identify talented children at early stages, support their training and involve them in project activities.

The participants of the intensive course discussed the development trajectories of student design bureaus at universities, their goals and objectives, as well as the role of an industrial partner in this system. Special attention was paid to how to establish cooperation between an enterprise and SKB SPbPU, how student projects help solve specific problems under the guidance of curators representing companies, and ensure an influx of qualified personnel. The experts also shared examples of successfully implemented projects.

The presentation session presented the areas of work of SKB “System Engineering”, starting with school design bureaus and ending with the best practices of interaction between industry and the university.

The project to create a network of school design bureaus is a joint initiative of the Government of St. Petersburg and the Advanced Engineering School “Digital Engineering” of SPbPU (PISH CI). Director of the Center for Continuing Professional Education of PISH CI Sergey Salkutsan said that SHKB is a network of engineering creativity clubs based in schools. Students in grades 8–11, under the guidance of instructors, master engineering skills, work with modern software and solve real problems of industrial companies. The goal is early career guidance for schoolchildren, development of practical competencies and training of future qualified personnel for the industry.

In the X-Lab Engineering Creativity Laboratory, students learn to combine knowledge from different disciplines when solving practical problems. Senior research fellow at PISh CI Mikhail Zhmailo spoke about the project workshop, which is part of the educational program and combines design, engineering, digital manufacturing, project management, and teamwork.

Head of the engineering team Polytech Voltage Machine, engineer of the Higher School of Transport IMMiT SPbPU Vsevolod Gaiduk introduced the intensive participants to the team that develops robotic platforms for high cross-country ability and ground electric transport. Polytechnicians create solutions for people with disabilities and for firefighting.

Arseniy Klyuev, Senior Lecturer at the Higher School of Power Engineering, spoke in more detail about the SKB Power Machines — Polytech. This is a unique educational cluster focused on training personnel for the Power Machines company. The end-to-end training trajectory begins with the school’s engineering classes and continues through youth and student design bureaus, bachelor’s and master’s programs. Senior students are involved in real engineering projects implemented in the interests of the company under the guidance of curators — specialists with experience in implementing R&D from the university and employees of the enterprise. The success of the project is ensured by coordination between the university and the company, effective infrastructure, a motivation system and corporate culture.

Director of the Higher School of High-Voltage Power Engineering Viktor Belko showed the structure of the Electrical Machines department within the SKB Power Machines — Polytech. For example, the Electrical Insulation Laboratory trains personnel in the context of growing demand for domestic technologies. The main goal is to involve students in research activities from their first years to accumulate practical experience in the field of electrical insulation and electrical machines, which cannot be fully ensured within the framework of traditional educational standards. The center, based on successful experience in fulfilling contracts in the field of electrical engineering and an established research base, interacts with industrial partners and forms flexible teams of students under the supervision of specialists from the university and companies.

Of particular interest was the practical case of interaction between the Power Machines company and students, starting from the second year, in terms of participation in the educational program. Leading project manager Alexandra Grigorieva presented the areas of work and the results of interaction with SPbPU within the framework of the Power Machines Trajectory, which formed the basis for the advanced training of junior students for further participation in the Power Machines – Polytech SKB. Students gain the opportunity to receive a scholarship, master a working profession and find employment.

The seminar participants visited the laboratories and workspaces of the SKB “System Engineering” teams and saw the students’ developments. Including a racing car and a solar car of the Polytech North Capital Motorsport engineering racing team, the results of the work of X-Lab and SKB “Unmanned Aviation Systems”, as well as a fire robot of the Polytech Voltage Machine team.

Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source of the information. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

.

MIL OSI Russia News –

July 16, 2025
MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Tang Ping-keung to visit Jiangsu

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

Secretary for Security Tang Ping-keung will visit Jiangsu Province tomorrow to lead 75 members of the Security Bureau Youth Uniformed Group Leaders Forum, and members of Shenzhen University and youth groups of the public security forces of Macau to continue a study tour there for a better understanding of the country’s history and culture, as well as its modern development.

The six-day study tour, which started on July 15, took place in Nanjing and will proceed to Wuxi. Under Secretary for Security Michael Cheuk joined the visit on July 15 and 16.

Mr Tang will return to Hong Kong on July 20. During his absence, Mr Cheuk will be Acting Secretary.

MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

July 16, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: Ken Henry urges nature law reform after decades of ‘intergenerational bastardry’
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Phillipa C. McCormack, Future Making Fellow, Environment Institute, University of Adelaide

Former Treasury Secretary Ken Henry has warned Australia’s global environmental reputation is at risk if the Albanese government fails to reform nature laws this term.

In his speech to the National Press Club on Wednesday, Henry said reform was needed to restore nature and power the net zero economy.

Speaking as chair of the Australian Climate and Biodiversity Foundation, Henry said with “glistening ambition”, Australia can “build an efficient, jobs-rich, globally competitive, high-productivity, low-emissions nature-rich economy”.

The speech comes at a crucial time for nature law reform in Australia. The new Environment Minister Murray Watt has committed to prioritise reform, after the Albanese government failed to achieve substantial changes to these laws in the last parliament.

On Wednesday, Henry condemned previous failed attempts to reform the laws. He described delays in improving environmental management as “a wilful act of intergenerational bastardry”.

The need for fundamental reform

The Albanese government abandoned efforts to pass important reforms in its first term.

Environment Minister Murray Watt has committed to achieving reforms within 18 months, acknowledging “our current laws are broken”.

In his speech on Wednesday, Henry agreed with this sentiment. He described the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act as “a misnomer, if ever there was one”.

Henry is both a former Treasury Secretary and former chair of National Australia Bank. He also wrote Australia’s most important white paper on tax reform.

Henry has previously said environmental law reform could be a template for other essential, difficult law reform, such as fixing Australia’s broken tax system.

He understands Australia’s broken environmental laws. In 2022-23, he led an independent review into nature laws in New South Wales. That review found the laws were failing and would never succeed in their current form.

At the start of his speech on Wednesday, Henry came close to tears when he acknowledged Greens Senator Sarah Hansen-Young’s support for those who look after injured and orphaned native animals.

As a bureaucrat in Canberra, Henry also used to rescue injured animals and nurse them back to health.

Logging and land clearing for development destroys koala habitat.
Pexels, Pixabay, CC BY

Big challenges ahead

As Henry noted on Wednesday, Australia faces enormous challenges. These include the need to rapidly build more housing and triple renewable energy capacity by 2030.

But before building suburbs, wind farms, transmission lines, mines and roads, projects need to be assessed for their potential to harm the environment.

Henry on Wednesday called for sweeping changes, drawing on Graeme Samuel’s 2019-20 review of the EPBC Act. The changes include:
- genuine cooperation across all levels of government, industry and the community
- high-integrity evidence to inform decision making
- clear, strong and enforceable standards applied nationwide
- an independent and trusted decision-maker, in the form of a national Environment Protection Authority
- a natural capital market, which – if well-designed – could provide a financial incentive for nature restoration and carbon storage in the form of tradable credits.
Without the reforms, Henry said, Australia would not “retain a shred of credibility” for two global commitments: reaching net zero emissions, and halting and reversing biodiversity loss.

The net zero commitment is at risk because existing laws are not sufficient to protect carbon sinks, such as forests. The roll out of renewable energy is also being slowed by inefficient approvals processes.

Henry said the concept of “ecologically sustainable development”, which seeks to balance economic, social, and economic goals, needs serious rethinking. This concept has been the foundation of environment policy in Australia, including the EPBC Act, for the past 30 years.

Henry wrote the first Intergenerational Report for the federal government in 2002. He has criticised governments for allowing environmental destruction that will leave future generations worse off.

He has variously described Australia’s failure to steward our natural resources as an intergenerational tragedy, as intergenerational theft, and a wilful act of intergenerational bastardry – claims he repeated on Wednesday.

Making money grow on trees

Henry grew up on the Mid North Coast of NSW where his father, a worker in the timber industry, helped log native forests.

Land clearing is the main threat to Australian biodiversity, and preventing native vegetation loss would also cut greenhouse gas emissions.

The foundation Henry chairs advocates for the protection and restoration of Australia’s native forests. Henry has previously backed a plan to store carbon in native forests, which would mean trees were protected and not cut down.

In his Press Club address, Henry lamented ongoing land clearing, poor fire management in remnant forests, and logging of habitat for endangered species such as the koala and the greater glider. He also called for nature laws that enable projects to be delivered in a way that not only protects but also restores nature. For instance, he said carbon credits could help fund the Great Koala National Park proposed for NSW.

Logging continues in old growth native forest.
Chris Putnam/Future Publishing via Getty Images

What’s the Australian government doing?

Despite Murray Watt’s stated commitment to nature law reform, there are signs the environment may again come off second-best.

At a recent meeting with key stakeholders, including industry and environment groups, Watt said compromise was needed. He warned environmental protections must come with streamlined project approvals “to improve productivity”.

Henry on Wednesday acknowledged faster approvals were needed, saying:

We simply cannot afford slow, opaque, duplicative and contested environmental planning decisions based on poor information mired in administrative complexity.

But he said faster approvals should not come at a greater cost to nature. In his words:

with due acknowledgement of the genius of AC/DC, there is no point in building a faster highway to hell.

Henry said the current parliament has time to put the right policy settings in place. The remedies also enjoy broad stakeholder support. “We’ve had all the reviews we need,” he said. “All of us have had our say. It is now up to parliament. Let’s just get this done.”

Phillipa C. McCormack receives funding from the Australian Research Council, Natural Hazards Research Australia, the National Environmental Science Program, Green Adelaide and the ACT Government. She is a member of the National Environmental Law Association and affiliated with the Wildlife Crime Research Hub.

– ref. Ken Henry urges nature law reform after decades of ‘intergenerational bastardry’ – https://theconversation.com/ken-henry-urges-nature-law-reform-after-decades-of-intergenerational-bastardry-261167
MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –
July 16, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: Ken Henry urges nature law reform after decades of ‘intergenerational bastardry’
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Phillipa C. McCormack, Future Making Fellow, Environment Institute, University of Adelaide

Former Treasury Secretary Ken Henry has warned Australia’s global environmental reputation is at risk if the Albanese government fails to reform nature laws this term.

In his speech to the National Press Club on Wednesday, Henry said reform was needed to restore nature and power the net zero economy.

Speaking as chair of the Australian Climate and Biodiversity Foundation, Henry said with “glistening ambition”, Australia can “build an efficient, jobs-rich, globally competitive, high-productivity, low-emissions nature-rich economy”.

The speech comes at a crucial time for nature law reform in Australia. The new Environment Minister Murray Watt has committed to prioritise reform, after the Albanese government failed to achieve substantial changes to these laws in the last parliament.

On Wednesday, Henry condemned previous failed attempts to reform the laws. He described delays in improving environmental management as “a wilful act of intergenerational bastardry”.

The need for fundamental reform

The Albanese government abandoned efforts to pass important reforms in its first term.

Environment Minister Murray Watt has committed to achieving reforms within 18 months, acknowledging “our current laws are broken”.

In his speech on Wednesday, Henry agreed with this sentiment. He described the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act as “a misnomer, if ever there was one”.

Henry is both a former Treasury Secretary and former chair of National Australia Bank. He also wrote Australia’s most important white paper on tax reform.

Henry has previously said environmental law reform could be a template for other essential, difficult law reform, such as fixing Australia’s broken tax system.

He understands Australia’s broken environmental laws. In 2022-23, he led an independent review into nature laws in New South Wales. That review found the laws were failing and would never succeed in their current form.

At the start of his speech on Wednesday, Henry came close to tears when he acknowledged Greens Senator Sarah Hansen-Young’s support for those who look after injured and orphaned native animals.

As a bureaucrat in Canberra, Henry also used to rescue injured animals and nurse them back to health.

Logging and land clearing for development destroys koala habitat.
Pexels, Pixabay, CC BY

Big challenges ahead

As Henry noted on Wednesday, Australia faces enormous challenges. These include the need to rapidly build more housing and triple renewable energy capacity by 2030.

But before building suburbs, wind farms, transmission lines, mines and roads, projects need to be assessed for their potential to harm the environment.

Henry on Wednesday called for sweeping changes, drawing on Graeme Samuel’s 2019-20 review of the EPBC Act. The changes include:
- genuine cooperation across all levels of government, industry and the community
- high-integrity evidence to inform decision making
- clear, strong and enforceable standards applied nationwide
- an independent and trusted decision-maker, in the form of a national Environment Protection Authority
- a natural capital market, which – if well-designed – could provide a financial incentive for nature restoration and carbon storage in the form of tradable credits.
Without the reforms, Henry said, Australia would not “retain a shred of credibility” for two global commitments: reaching net zero emissions, and halting and reversing biodiversity loss.

The net zero commitment is at risk because existing laws are not sufficient to protect carbon sinks, such as forests. The roll out of renewable energy is also being slowed by inefficient approvals processes.

Henry said the concept of “ecologically sustainable development”, which seeks to balance economic, social, and economic goals, needs serious rethinking. This concept has been the foundation of environment policy in Australia, including the EPBC Act, for the past 30 years.

Henry wrote the first Intergenerational Report for the federal government in 2002. He has criticised governments for allowing environmental destruction that will leave future generations worse off.

He has variously described Australia’s failure to steward our natural resources as an intergenerational tragedy, as intergenerational theft, and a wilful act of intergenerational bastardry – claims he repeated on Wednesday.

Making money grow on trees

Henry grew up on the Mid North Coast of NSW where his father, a worker in the timber industry, helped log native forests.

Land clearing is the main threat to Australian biodiversity, and preventing native vegetation loss would also cut greenhouse gas emissions.

The foundation Henry chairs advocates for the protection and restoration of Australia’s native forests. Henry has previously backed a plan to store carbon in native forests, which would mean trees were protected and not cut down.

In his Press Club address, Henry lamented ongoing land clearing, poor fire management in remnant forests, and logging of habitat for endangered species such as the koala and the greater glider. He also called for nature laws that enable projects to be delivered in a way that not only protects but also restores nature. For instance, he said carbon credits could help fund the Great Koala National Park proposed for NSW.

Logging continues in old growth native forest.
Chris Putnam/Future Publishing via Getty Images

What’s the Australian government doing?

Despite Murray Watt’s stated commitment to nature law reform, there are signs the environment may again come off second-best.

At a recent meeting with key stakeholders, including industry and environment groups, Watt said compromise was needed. He warned environmental protections must come with streamlined project approvals “to improve productivity”.

Henry on Wednesday acknowledged faster approvals were needed, saying:

We simply cannot afford slow, opaque, duplicative and contested environmental planning decisions based on poor information mired in administrative complexity.

But he said faster approvals should not come at a greater cost to nature. In his words:

with due acknowledgement of the genius of AC/DC, there is no point in building a faster highway to hell.

Henry said the current parliament has time to put the right policy settings in place. The remedies also enjoy broad stakeholder support. “We’ve had all the reviews we need,” he said. “All of us have had our say. It is now up to parliament. Let’s just get this done.”

Phillipa C. McCormack receives funding from the Australian Research Council, Natural Hazards Research Australia, the National Environmental Science Program, Green Adelaide and the ACT Government. She is a member of the National Environmental Law Association and affiliated with the Wildlife Crime Research Hub.

– ref. Ken Henry urges nature law reform after decades of ‘intergenerational bastardry’ – https://theconversation.com/ken-henry-urges-nature-law-reform-after-decades-of-intergenerational-bastardry-261167
MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –
July 16, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: University comic takes readers ‘through the looking glass’ to highlight invisible symptoms of MS A University of Aberdeen student has come up with a creative way to educate the public about the ‘invisible symptoms’ of a condition that affects more Scots than almost anywhere else in the world.

Source: University of Aberdeen

Claire wanted to support support families, children and loved ones of those with MS. Artwork by CHIP Collective.

A University of Aberdeen student has come up with a creative way to educate the public about the ‘invisible symptoms’ of a condition that affects more Scots than almost anywhere else in the world.
Postgraduate student, Claire Robertson, and a team of health professionals and comic artists designed a comic to raise awareness of multiple sclerosis (MS), a condition that is estimated to affect more than 17,000 people in Scotland.
Inspired by her dad’s experience of living with the condition, Claire used the unique medium to describe the everyday struggles faced by people with MS.
The comic, titled ‘Through the MS Looking Glass: Navigating the Unseen’, highlights the ‘invisible’ or hidden symptoms of MS, told through an Alice in Wonderland-style narrative, where familiar characters represent different symptoms.
“I wanted to create a health comic on multiple sclerosis because my dad has MS and was diagnosed in 2011,” says Claire, a third year PhD student from the School of Psychology. “As my PhD project is all about how to make effective and engaging health information through the use of comics, I really wanted to be able to make my own health comic during the project process that can have a dual purpose – be used as an experimental material in my research but also can get people engaged with health information.”
Determined to support other families, children and loved ones of those with MS, Claire wanted to tell a story that would inform others about the hidden aspects of the condition.
She explains: “I was conscious that I didn’t just want to make the comic about my family’s experience with MS, so I reached out to MS charities to ask them which health topics they felt were either underrepresented or poorly communicated.
“One of the topics on the shortlist was ‘invisible’ symptoms of MS, and I felt as though a comic could do a really nice job of making these invisible symptoms concrete and visible through visual metaphors and raising awareness of the impact that these symptoms can have on daily life for people with MS.”
Invisible symptoms describe aspects of MS that people struggle with but aren’t immediately apparent to others. They include pain, fatigue, brain fog, bladder and bowel difficulties, dizziness and mental health challenges.
Following the Alice in Wonderland narrative, the invisible symptoms are embodied by characters akin to the ones from Wonderland.
“The reasoning for this is embedding unfamiliar concepts in a story that is likely familiar to the majority will hopefully make it slightly less daunting and ‘new’.”
Claire continues: “I am very aware that if someone hasn’t heard of MS before, the health information may seem quite abstract and confusing – like if you were picking up a leaflet about a health condition you didn’t really know about.
“So, throughout the comic, I have tried to use accessible language and avoid unnecessary jargon. I hope this will make it a bit easier for the reader to understand and enhance their engagement through storytelling and impactful visuals.”
Claire adds: “The comic’s main message is that everyone’s MS journey is unique and it is important to be supportive and understanding of the struggles people are going through.
“Even if you can’t visually see what symptoms someone is dealing with, it doesn’t mean they aren’t there and having a big impact on daily life.”
The comic is supported by the University of Aberdeen, University of Dundee, the MS Trust, and the Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic at the University of Edinburgh. The artwork was created by Cat Laird and Ashling Larkin from CHIP Collective. You can download ‘Through the MS Looking Glass: Navigating the Unseen’ here.
Claire’s PhD is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

MIL OSI United Kingdom –

July 16, 2025
MIL-OSI Africa: ‘A Dream Realized’: Mercy Ships Supports First-Of-Its-Kind African Dental Education Symposium
Source: APO – Report:

What began as a dream two years ago has now become a reality in Casablanca, Morocco. On July 11 and 12, 2025, representatives from 24 nations across the continent gathered at Université Mohammed VI des Sciences de la Santé (UM6SS) for the inaugural African Dental Education Symposium, which culminated in the creation of the groundbreaking African Education Dental Association (AEDA).

The need for an association of this kind is pressing, as African nations face a critical shortage of dental professionals. According to the World Health Organization, there are just 0.44 dentists per 10,000 people (https://apo-opa.co/46H8Yv2) in Africa, compared to around 7 per 10,000 (https://apo-opa.co/4f0Tgx6) in many high-income countries. Only 84 dental schools operate (https://apo-opa.co/46H8Yv2) across 26 African nations. This contributes to the fact that, as of 2021, around 42% of Africa’s population have untreated oral diseases.

The symposium, initiated by Professor Ihsane Benyayha, Dean of the UM6SS Dental School, and supported by international surgical charity Mercy Ships, brought together deans and directors from dental schools across Africa. This gathering, and its successful signing of a new association, marks a new chapter in intentional collaboration and innovation in dental education.

“I think that we, as African leaders, African professors, African dentists, we can do a lot for our countries. We should help each other. I see that we have an American Dental Education Association, and a European one… Why not an African Education Dental Association?” said Professor Benyayha.

“We’re at a time where it should no longer be acceptable for any country to have one dentist per 1 million people. Now is the time to solve this issue and overcome it. All the stakeholders and leaders we need are in this room. We need to ask ourselves; how can we take the next step?” said Dr. David Ugai, Mercy Ships Country Director for Guinea.

The African Dental Education Symposium centered around a clear purpose: to catalyze African nations collaborating in new and dynamic ways to train dental professionals, develop sustainable education programs, and strengthen access to dental health throughout the continent.

Key to fulfilling this mission is the launch of the African Education Dental Association, modeled after similar associations in the United States and Europe. The association will provide African dental educators with a unified voice, a space for sharing best practices, and a clear structure for long-term collaboration.

“This is the realization of a great dream… This symposium is a necessity because everyone was in their own countries, working in isolation. But thanks to the symposium, we will be able to join forces, combine efforts, and try to share our points of view. Cooperation between African countries will allow the various dental schools in Africa to speak with one voice,” said Professor Mohamed Siddick Fadiga, Head of the Department of the Université Gamal Abdel Nasser de Conakry Dental School in Guinea.

The symposium also featured international leaders, including the FDI World Dental Federation, the American Dental Education Association, and Association for Dental Education in Europe, offering their support as African deans and program directors take the lead in transforming dental education for the next generation.

As of 2025, Mercy Ships has partnered with UM6SS to support the training of more than 20 dental professionals from Guinea, Benin, and Madagascar in advanced specialization programs. After graduating, these students will return home equipped to teach, mentor, and expand access to dental care in their own communities.

“This symposium is the first to my knowledge. It’s the first time I’ve seen so many schools come together in one country to discuss the problems of dental education in Africa. So, it’s quite clear that this symposium is part of the history of dental education in Africa, and I hope it’s just the first of more,” said Professor El Hadj Babacar Mbodj, Dean of UCAD Dental School in Senegal.

Mercy Ships’ partnerships extend far beyond Morocco. Across Africa, long-term collaboration with universities and ministries of health is helping expand infrastructure, enhance clinical training, and equip faculty to strengthen dental healthcare capacity. These efforts currently span the continent, including:
- In Guinea, Mercy Ships’ ongoing partnership with Université Gamal Abdel Nasser de Conakry (UGANC) has revitalized the nation’s dental education opportunities and renovations have more than doubled the school’s training capacity.
- In Senegal, an upcoming expansion to the dental school at Universite Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar will increase clinical training chairs from 30 to over 70.
- In Togo, Mercy Ships is helping to build the first simulation and clinical training space at the University of Lomé, which first opened a dental program in 2019.
- In Benin, Mercy Ships is training future educators to reopen the nation’s only dental school, which closed in 2018 due to a lack of specialty professors and infrastructure.
- In Burkina Faso, a brand-new partnership will support training faculty development at the country’s growing dental school.
- In Madagascar, Mercy Ships is sponsoring dentists for specialization to become specialists and future national university professors.
- In Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau, and Liberia, Mercy Ships is sponsoring a student exchange program through Université Gamal Abdel Nasser de Conakry that will increase access to dental education and expand the dentist workforce in their respective countries.
“In the school’s years of existence, we have never thought about the next generation of teachers. But thanks to this partnership with Mercy Ships, we have hope for the survival of the school with the continuity of these young graduates who will return with their diplomas to our country. So, this partnership, for us, is very precious,” shared Professor Jeannot Randrianarivony, Dean of the University of Mahajanga Dental School in Madagascar.

The African Dental Education Symposium reflects the heart of Mercy Ships’ mission: to bring hope and healing through surgical care and education, training, and advocacy. Events like the symposium offer a glimpse into a sustainable future where nations are equipped, educators are empowered, and communities have access to the care they need.

– on behalf of Mercy Ships.

For more information about Mercy Ships, contact:
Eveline Vanduynhoven
International PR manager – Special Projects
Mercy Ships
international.media@mercyships.org

ABOUT MERCY SHIPS:
Mercy Ships operates hospital ships that deliver free surgeries and other healthcare services to those with little access to safe medical care. An international faith-based organization, Mercy Ships has focused entirely on partnering with nations in Africa for the past three decades. Working with in-country partners, Mercy Ships also provides training to local healthcare professionals and supports the construction of in-country medical infrastructure to leave a lasting impact.

Each year, more than 2,500 volunteer professionals from over 60 countries serve on board the world’s two largest non-governmental hospital ships, the Africa Mercy and the Global Mercy. Professionals such as surgeons, dentists, nurses, health trainers, cooks, and engineers dedicate their time and skills to accelerate access to safe surgical and anesthetic care. Mercy Ships was founded in 1978 and has offices in 16 countries as well as an Africa Service Center in Dakar, Senegal. For more information, visit www.MercyShips.org and follow @MercyShips on social media.

Media files

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MIL OSI Africa –
July 16, 2025
MIL-OSI Russia: Russian-Armenian educational partnership: the second launch of the course “Fundamentals of project activities” with the Polytechnic University

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University –

An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

The Russian-Armenian University in Yerevan held the final defense of student projects completed within the framework of the course “Fundamentals of Project Activity” (OPA), which SPbPU and RAU have been implementing for the second year. 20 project teams were admitted to the in-person defense, and 19 of them successfully confirmed their results, demonstrating a noticeable qualitative growth compared to the pilot launch of the 2023/2024 academic year. 17 teams showed significant product and educational results.

The course “Fundamentals of Project Activities” is part of the strategic partnership of the two universities and a key tool for implementing a practice-oriented education model. Since the 2024/2025 academic year, the discipline has become mandatory for five areas of study at the Institute of Economics and Business of RAU (economics, tourism, trade and hotel business, management) and was available optionally to students of other programs. Starting next year, at the initiative of the management and teachers of RAU, there will be even more areas of study where this discipline will be mandatory.

The second launch of the course at RAU involved 12 mentor teachers, whose training began in December 2024. RAU teachers completed an intensive course on project activity tools and mentoring of student projects, and experienced the entire process of completing the course that students face.

In February 2025, an introductory lecture was held for RAU students, where they learned about the structure and features of the upcoming course. The lecture was given by teachers of SPbPU and RAU: senior researcher of the International Academic Competence Center “Intelligent Enterprise Technologies” of the Digital Engineering School Anton Ambrazhey, senior lecturer of the Higher School of Project Activity and Innovation in Industry (IMMiT) Inna Seledtsova and head of the Department of Educational Policy and Quality Control of Education of RAU Ruzanna Airapetova.

In April 2025, Anton Ambrazhey and Inna Seledtsova visited RAU on a working visit, discussed the intermediate results of the projects with the teams and course mentors, and gave recommendations for their further implementation and specification.

A distinctive feature of the second launch of the course at RAU was the involvement of external customers (travel agency GoToDili, Green Rock, Green Training Center). The projects presented by the customers confirmed the trend that began to form during the first launch: the OPD course at RAU is capable of creating a new level and diversity of products in the tourism landscape of Armenia. Thus, most of the projects this year from internal and external customers of RAU were dedicated to the current needs of the tourism industry of Armenia, and the internal tasks of the university were also well presented as projects.

According to the results of the 2024/2025 competition, the first place was taken by the project “Conducting an assessment of the quality of education by students of the Institute of Economics and Business”, completed by students of the Management program under the mentorship of the senior manager of the Department of Economics and Finance Iveta Stepanyan. The second place was taken by the project “Cultural and educational event “Russian Language Day”, mentored by Associate Professor of the Department of Russian Language and Professional Communication Liana Petrosyan. The third place went to the project “Green Tourism”, implemented under the guidance of the chief manager of correspondence courses of the IEB Lolita Tashchyan.

“At the last defense, seventeen projects out of twenty received high scores. It is clear that a core of motivated mentors and students is being formed. Perhaps it is the personalized approach to the team, the high involvement of mentors that is the unique path of RAU project activities, along which we will continue to help colleagues develop,” noted Anton Ambrazhey.

Inna Seledtsova emphasized the research significance of the work: “It is very important that many projects have come closer to understanding the true needs of the end users of their project results: someone went with a mentor to Dilijan to talk to tourists, someone conducted online surveys with business owners and identified an unobvious need for training, someone conducted surveys among students. We still have room to grow in the quality of such studies, which are a key link in understanding the problems of the project, but the first steps in this year’s research were very worthy.”

At the final series of meetings with mentors, with the Vice-Rector of RAU for Academic Affairs Marina Khachatryan, with the Head of the Department of Educational Policy and Quality Control of Education of RAU Ruzanna Ayrapetova, the course support team from SPbPU recorded development vectors for the next academic year: localization of part of the educational content, adaptation of project activity artifacts to the specifics of RAU, strengthening of the internal PR course, training of new mentors in the fall of 2025 and the third launch of the course with updated materials in February 2026.

An important result of the second launch of the course was the formation of the need for independent processes for implementing the “Fundamentals of Project Activity” at RAU. If in the first launches the course was supported, for the most part, within the framework of processes identical to SPbPU, then by the upcoming third launch not only the need for content localization has been identified, but also the need for our own student assessment system, for motivating them and mentors, for adaptation to online learning, since the OPD course became RAU’s first experience in mass online learning. All this will form the basis for the joint work of SPbPU and RAU in the next academic year.

Interview with Anton Ambrazhey AndInna Seledtsova

Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source of the information. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

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MIL OSI Russia News –

July 16, 2025
MIL-OSI Russia: Stop Calling Me: How China Fights Internet Fraud and Spam Calls

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –

An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

BEIJING, July 16 (Xinhua) — Chinese citizens can avoid providing explicit personal information to internet service providers by using “cyberspace identifiers.”

On July 15, 2025, China enacted the Regulations on the Public Service Related to Cyberspace Identifiers. This step is aimed at promoting cyberspace identifiers and strengthening the protection of personal information privacy online.

According to the document, an online identifier operates in two forms: one as a set of letters and numbers, and the other as an online account. Both correspond to a person’s real identity, but exclude any information in plain text.

If an Internet user decides to use a cyberspace identifier to register and verify his or her identity, the relevant Internet service provider shall not require him or her to provide additional information in plain text unless this is provided for by laws and administrative regulations or without the user’s consent.

Citizens will no longer be forced to provide personal information such as ID card numbers or real names to internet service providers when they register for services or verify their identity.

According to the Ministry of Public Security (MPS), more than 6 million Chinese citizens have received and activated digital IDs since the introduction of the online service.

HEADACHE OF THE CHINESE POPULATION

For many years, the Chinese have suffered from telephone and Internet fraud, as well as from spam calls and spam messages. Such forms of fraud include various deception schemes, as well as auto-dialing of subscribers to random numbers: a person picks up the phone and hears a pre-recorded voice message with an offer to buy an apartment, take out a loan, and so on. Another concern is that when making calls, scammers or spammers can accurately name a person’s first and last name, and sometimes even an ID number.

According to a 2024 study on spam calls in China by analytics company iiMedia Research, more than 91 percent of subscribers reported receiving calls from scammers and spammers.

In particular, about 56 percent of subscribers received unwanted phone calls less than 10 times a day, and about 27 percent received unwanted phone calls 10-15 times a day. The share of subscribers who received such calls 16-20 times a day accounted for 10 percent.

He Yanzhe, an employee of the China Institute of Electronic Technology Standardization, noted that some organizations do not implement security measures such as authentication and access control when setting up data transmission interfaces, which allows hackers to intercept the interface and obtain data in real time.

Lao Dongyang, a professor at Tsinghua University School of Law, said some information collection agencies require users or consumers to provide “authorization packages” for various reasons including “improving service quality,” which is the main reason for data leaks.

LEGISLATIVE SUPPORT

The regulations on public service related to cyberspace identifiers, issued in May this year, are China’s latest effort to combat cyber fraud and spam calls.

In June 2023, China established a government service platform for issuing digital identification documents based on the verification of their real counterparts, such as the ID card and the national demographic information database.

The National Cyberspace Personal Identifier Platform will only collect personal information that is strictly necessary for online authentication purposes, the rules say.

In accordance with the “minimum and necessary” principle, the cyberspace identifier platform will only provide the results of the verification to the ISPs. In cases where the retention of the user’s real identity information is required by law, the platform must do so only with the explicit consent of that user.

According to the Ministry of Defense, the official mobile application for registration and verification of online IDs has been downloaded over 16 million times. In addition, registration of a digital personal ID is voluntary.

In China, the Telecommunications and Internet Fraud Prevention Law came into effect on December 1, 2022.

The law stipulates that public security organs shall cooperate with relevant government departments and enterprises to establish an early warning and suppression system for fraud, and take timely measures to prevent potential victims from falling into the traps of telecommunications and online fraudsters.

According to the law, those who travel to regions where telecommunications fraud is serious and are suspected of being involved in fraudulent activity, as well as those who have been convicted and punished for telecommunications and online fraud, may be prohibited from leaving the country.

THE PRACTICE OF REMAINING STRUGGLE

In practice, the National Telecommunication and Internet Fraud Control Center of China has developed its official mobile application. This application can recognize suspicious calls, messages, websites or applications and promptly warn the user about possible data leaks.

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) technology to combat fraud in China is also impressive. In one case reported to police in Kunshan City, Jiangsu Province, East China, it took just 10 minutes to track the movement of funds and prevent the withdrawal of 500,000 yuan. Eight hours later, the suspects were located overseas, and 24 hours later, an online arrest warrant was issued. Using AI, police arrested nine suspects and returned more than 70 percent of the stolen funds to the victim within three days.

According to He Yongliang, an official with the Kunshan City Public Security Bureau, police efficiency has increased more than sixfold thanks to the creation of an “AI police team” comprising 30 digital officers who assist in analyzing victim reports, tracking suspects and conducting investigations.

“Since their implementation, 609 fraud cases have been detected, and the total amount of funds recovered was 32.47 million yuan,” he added.

Another area of combating telecommunications and Internet fraud in China is strengthening international cooperation in this area.

In November 2024, the PRC MoS announced that all major telecom fraud centers located in northern Myanmar near the China-Myanmar border had been neutralized.

More than 53,000 Chinese nationals suspected of fraud have been arrested through joint efforts by Chinese and Myanmar police since the MDS launched a special campaign in 2023 to crack down on telecom fraud in northern Myanmar targeting China and its nationals, the ministry said in a statement.

Despite all these efforts, attackers and spammers are updating their “toolkits” to include AI technologies. Several major Chinese cities, including Beijing and Hangzhou, have already reported scams that involve fake faces or voice synthesis using AI technology.

Some experts believe that mirror measures can be taken to combat these problems – by expanding the use of AI technologies to promptly identify and stop illegal activities.

For example, Chinese brand Honor officially launched the world’s first AI-based fraud detection technology at the device level in September last year. The technology, based on a deep learning model, can identify fake AI-generated content in real time by analyzing facial features and behavior patterns in an image. -0-

Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source of the information. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

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MIL OSI Russia News –

July 16, 2025
MIL-OSI: Willis and the University of East Anglia launch wildfire risk partnership in response to escalating global threat

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

LONDON, July 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Willis, a WTW business, (NASDAQ:WTW), today announced a new collaboration with the University of East Anglia (UEA) to deepen understanding of global wildfire risk. With wildfires now rivalling the losses caused by other perils such as hurricanes, this partnership aims to deliver credible scientific insight that helps insurers and reinsurers keep pace with a rapidly changing risk landscape.

Wildfires have intensified in recent years, becoming larger, more destructive, and increasingly unpredictable. Shifting climate conditions are expanding fire-prone areas beyond traditional hotspots and triggering more intense and destructive fires, while urban growth and rising property values are amplifying the potential for catastrophic loss. From insured losses amounting to US$1.5 billion during Australia’s Black Summer bushfires in 2019-20 to the US$40 billion in damage caused by this year’s Palisades and Eaton fires in Los Angeles, wildfires are no longer a secondary peril.

This collaboration will focus on helping the insurance sector understand the shifting nature of wildfire risk, including changes in fire frequency, intensity, geography, and the growing threat of urban conflagrations. By combining Willis’ catastrophe risk expertise with the leading climate and fire science of Dr. Matthew Jones at UEA, the partnership will support clients in anticipating wildfire-related losses and responding with more informed risk strategies.

Dr. Matthew Jones co-leads the State of Wildfires Report, an annual initiative with an international network of fire scientists from 60 institutions covering six continents. This report examines the causes of extreme wildfire events of the latest fire season, evaluates future wildfire risks under climate change, and identifies opportunities to minimise risk through climate action and land management practices.

“The insurance industry can no longer treat wildfire as a niche peril confined to a few known hotspots,” said Dr. Daniel Bannister, Weather & Climate Risks Research Lead at the Willis Research Network. “We are seeing more frequent, fast-moving fires capable of devastating urban areas and overwhelming response systems. As insurers grapple with the mounting human and economic toll, robust and accessible insights from cutting-edge research are needed more than ever before. By partnering with UEA, we aim to distil the latest research into meaningful insights that help our clients understand and manage wildfire risk, today and into the future.”

“Wildfires are a growing threat that will worsen as the climate warms, and societies are increasingly feeling the brunt of their impacts worldwide. It is critical that our research keeps pace with the emerging threat, for example by providing better prediction and warning systems and guiding forest management and fire prevention strategies that best protect society from wildfires,” said Dr. Matthew Jones. “UEA’s partnership with Willis represents a bridge between science and society and that will ensure that our research delivers real-world benefits that make communities more prepared for and resilient to wildfires.”

About WTW

At WTW (NASDAQ: WTW), we provide data-driven, insight-led solutions in the areas of people, risk and capital. Leveraging the global view and local expertise of our colleagues serving 140 countries and markets, we help organizations sharpen their strategy, enhance organizational resilience, motivate their workforce and maximize performance.

Working shoulder to shoulder with our clients, we uncover opportunities for sustainable success—and provide perspective that moves you. Learn more at wtwco.com.

About the University of East Anglia

The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a UK Top 25 university (Complete University Guide and HESA Graduate Outcomes Survey). It also ranks in the UK Top 20 for research quality (Times Higher Education REF2021 Analysis) and the UK Top 10 for impact on Sustainable Development Goals. Known for its world-leading research and good student experience, its 360-acre campus has won seven Green Flag awards in a row for its high environmental standards. The University is a leading member of Norwich Research Park, one of Europe’s biggest concentrations of researchers in the fields of environment, health and plant science. www.uea.ac.uk.

Media Contacts

Lauren David
Lauren.david@wtwco.com

+44 7385947619

The MIL Network –

July 16, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: Politics with Michelle Grattan: Malcolm Turnbull on Australia’s ‘dumb’ defence debate

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra

The Albanese government remains in complicated territory on the international stage. It has to tread carefully with China, despite the marked warming of the bilateral relationship. It is yet to find its line and length with the unpredictable Trump administration.

Meanwhile, with the new parliament meeting for the first time next week, the federal Opposition remains in a tough spot, still reeling from a brutal election defeat. The Liberals have an untested leader and uncertainty over what policies they will keep and which they will scrap, with their future commitment to net zero emissions by 2050 yet to be reconfirmed.

Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has personally navigated the highs and lows of these issues, and joins the podcast today.

On AUKUS and national security, Turnbull says the debate has “never been dumber”.

The fundamental problem with our debate about national security is a profound lack of patriotism, because not enough people are putting Australia first. I mean I’m not saying that our politicians should be like Donald Trump, in terms of his bravado and braggadocio – you know all that sort of stuff he goes on with – but they should be like Trump in the sense of putting Australia first.

You know Donald Trump expects other countries to stand for themselves. Who is the foreign leader that is an ally that he respects the most? [Israel’s Prime Minister] Bibi Netanyahu. Bibi Netanyahu stands up for himself and brutally. And brutally. I mean, Netanyahu’s attitude is, if you’re in the Middle East, if you’re weak, you’re roadkill.

On defence spending, Turnbull calls a proper review on what Australia needs, rather then spending a certain percent on defence.

We’ve got to have a proper examination of what capabilities we need, and what capabilities we can afford. The point about submarines is, if you’re going have a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines – they’re literally the most expensive defence platforms in the world – then you’ve got to work out what else you need and then what that’s going to cost you. That will come to quite a lot more than [the current] 2% of GDP, I would estimate.

Turnbull also warns of a “reckless” degree of “delusion” in Canberra about the risk of not getting nuclear-powered submarines from the US.

On global affairs, Turnbull says the Albanese government has performed well in a time of uncertainty.

It’s complicated, but they’re managing this disrupted global environment well. The directions they’re going in are correct. The need plainly is to strengthen partnerships, alliances, relations with countries other than the United States.

[…] There’s a degree of anxiety about China because we don’t share the same political values. It clearly wants to displace the United States as the hegemon in this region […] I think the government and certainly most Australians would recognise that the days of American primacy in this region are over and the outcome for us that we want to have is, as [a former Japanese prime minister] Shinzo Abe used to say, a free and open Indo-Pacific, a balance between the two powers. Indeed as [Foreign Minister] Penny Wong said, a region where no one dominates, nobody is dominated.

On Albanese’s failure to meet yet with the US president, Turnbull says it doesn’t matter “a huge amount”.

It is very important for the prime minister of Australia to have a good personal relationship with Donald Trump. It really is. When I was prime minister, my relationship with him got off to a very stormy start, but it was a very good one, because by standing up to his bullying, I won his respect.

[…] When he does meet with Trump, it’s got to be in a situation where he can have an extended discussion, where it’s a substantive meeting and they can really get to know each other. So I think it’s not just the timing of the meeting, but the quality of the meeting.

On the Liberal Party, Turnbull is pessimistic about its chances of moderating its views, even with Sussan Ley, generally regarded as centrist, as leader,

[Ley’s] problem, even if she was centrist, and even if was genuine about moving the party back to the centre, I would question whether she can do it. Because there are not many moderates left in the party room in Canberra. How many moderates are left in the branches anymore? Has there been a sort of self-sorting now? Essentially the party […] has moved off into that right wing.

[…] The leader has a lot of authority. However, there is the right wing of the party and you cannot separate it from the right-wing media. From the Murdoch media in particular, they’re joined at the hip. I mean, they’re almost the same thing. They operate in the context of the Liberal Party almost like terrorists. Or like terrorists in this sense: they don’t kill people or blow things up, but they basically are prepared to burn the joint down if they don’t get what they want. I mean, I experienced that.

Despite reservations, Turnbull says quotas for women are the only way to the Liberal party to where it wants to be.

Everything else has been tried and it’s failed […] My view is that the party has got to say, well, we recognise this is contrary to grassroots tradition. But unless we do something fairly draconian and directive, then we’re not going to be able to get to the parity of men and women that we want, that we’ve said we wanted for years, and which the electorate clearly prefers.

Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Politics with Michelle Grattan: Malcolm Turnbull on Australia’s ‘dumb’ defence debate – https://theconversation.com/politics-with-michelle-grattan-malcolm-turnbull-on-australias-dumb-defence-debate-261178

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

July 16, 2025
MIL-OSI China: Intl dermatology summit showcases China’s expanding medical leadership

Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

More than 150 leading dermatologists from China and worldwide gathered in Shanghai on July 12-13 for the International Medical Derm Summit 2025, highlighting the country’s expanding leadership in global dermatology research and treatment of chronic skin conditions.

Professor Zhang Jianzhong, chairman of the Chinese Medical Association’s 13th Committee of the Chinese Society of Dermatology, speaks at the International Medical Derm Summit 2025 in Shanghai, July 12, 2025. [Photo courtesy of CAWA]

The summit, organized by the Chinese Aging Well Association (CAWA), focused on breakthrough treatments for eczema, alopecia areata and vitiligo, all chronic conditions that severely impact quality of life and require long-term care coordination.

“This meeting has established a high-level, bidirectional academic exchange platform between East and West, showcasing China’s groundbreaking achievements in eczema registry studies, innovative systemic therapies, and standardized practices,” said Professor Zhang Jianzhong, chairman of the Chinese Medical Association’s 13th Committee of the Chinese Society of Dermatology and director of the Department of Dermatology at Peking University People’s Hospital.

Zhang added that the summit “offers new approaches to elevating standardized diagnosis, treatment, and full-course management of chronic inflammatory skin diseases — both in China and globally.”

The two-day summit underscored China’s expanding role in health care innovation by showcasing contributions to international best practices and advancing research that benefits patients worldwide.

Wen Zhongyi, vice president and secretary-general of the Chinese Aging Well Association, speaks at the International Medical Derm Summit 2025 in Shanghai, July 12, 2025. [Photo courtesy of CAWA]

“This summit’s focus on inflammatory skin diseases like eczema is profoundly significant, fully embodying the ‘patient-centered’ philosophy,” said Wen Zhongyi, vice president and secretary-general of CAWA. “We hope that this successful gathering will serve as a pivotal practice in implementing the Healthy China 2030 blueprint, bringing together world-leading dermatology experts, thereby collectively writing a new chapter in skin health.”

“Pfizer has long partnered with the Chinese dermatology community to drive the discipline forward, and we are delighted to witness China’s accelerated transition from a participant to a source of innovation,” said Felix Cao, chief medical officer of Pfizer China. “We will continue to deepen industry-academic collaboration to advance innovation that benefits more patients.”

The summit opened with a focused discussion on eczema, a chronic inflammatory skin disease affecting approximately 230 million people globally, including 70 million in China, nearly a third of whom experience moderate to severe symptoms.

Presentations and case discussions covered complete eczema care — from early diagnosis and targeted treatments to long-term management strategies backed by real-world clinical data. Chinese experts presented updates to China’s 2025 national eczema treatment guidelines, showing a shift from traditional steroid treatments toward personalized, precision treatments that improve patients’ quality of life.

Explaining this new approach, Professor Zhang emphasized that current eczema treatment focuses on patient outcomes, improving symptom control and emotional well-being.

Felix Cao, chief medical officer of Pfizer China, speaks at the International Medical Derm Summit 2025 in Shanghai, July 12, 2025. [Photo courtesy of CAWA]

The summit highlighted the AHEAD registry, the world’s largest real-world study of JAK1 inhibitors. The Chinese-led study includes 42 clinical sites with more than 1,000 patients, providing evidence to shape treatment standards globally.

The summit also addressed alopecia and vitiligo, two autoimmune skin conditions affecting physical appearance and emotional well-being, particularly in young patients.

Alopecia causes sudden and unpredictable hair loss and can occur at any age, but often appears in childhood or adolescence. JAK inhibitors offer a treatment option for the condition, with growing evidence supporting their effectiveness in controlling inflammation and promoting hair regrowth. For vitiligo, which causes white skin patches due to pigment cell loss, experts said effective treatment must address more than just cosmetic concerns.

The summit underscored the importance of moving beyond one-size-fits-all care for both conditions, emphasizing how personalized, compassionate treatment improves clinical outcomes and patients’ lives.

MIL OSI China News –

July 16, 2025
Israeli research finds that when plants talk, insects listen

Source: Government of India

Source: Government of India (4)

There is evidence that plants and insects interact through sound, researchers at Tel Aviv University said on Tuesday, opening a new frontier in the study of acoustic communication in nature.

The study, published in the journal eLife, suggests that female moths detect ultrasonic distress signals emitted by dehydrated tomato plants and use this information to decide where to lay their eggs.

Moths usually lay their eggs on tomato plants to provide food for their larvae after they hatch.

The research was led by Rya Seltzer and Guy Zer Eshel in the laboratories of Yossi Yovel and Lilach Hadany, both professors at the university’s Wise Faculty of Life Sciences.

“We revealed the first evidence for acoustic interaction between a plant and an insect,” the team said in a statement.

The findings build on previous research by the group, which revealed that plants emit ultrasonic sounds when under stress.

The discovery could have implications for agriculture and pest control, opening up possibilities for managing crop health and insect behaviour through sound.

While the ultrasonic sounds emitted by plants are outside the range of human hearing, they can be picked up by many insects and some mammals, such as bats.

Investigating this preference, the researchers presented female moths with two healthy tomato plants – one with a speaker playing sounds registered from a drying plant, and one that was silent.

The moths preferred the silent option, suggesting they use these cues to identify optimal sites for laying eggs.

Further experiments confirmed that the moths’ choices were guided specifically by sound and only to sounds from the plants.

“Here, we’ve seen that there are animals that are capable of making sense of these sounds,” said Hadany.

“We think that this is just the beginning. So, many animals may be responding to different plants.”

-Reuters

July 16, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Life Sciences Sector Plan to grow economy and transform NHS
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

Press release

Life Sciences Sector Plan to grow economy and transform NHS

The government has today (Wednesday 16 July) launched a bold new Life Sciences Sector Plan as part of the government’s flagship Industrial Strategy.
The government has today (Wednesday 16 July) launched a bold new Life Sciences Sector Plan as part of the government’s flagship Industrial Strategy, setting out a ten-year mission to harness British science and innovation to deliver long-term economic growth and a stronger, prevention-focused NHS.

The UK is already a global leader in life sciences, with the sector worth around £100 billion to the economy, and employing around 300,000 people. This plan, developed in close coordination with the government’s 10 Year Health Plan, doubles down on that strength – turning cutting-edge research into real-world results: new treatments, faster diagnoses, and more lives saved. It’s about making sure breakthroughs happen here – and stay here – creating jobs, improving lives in every part of the country, and driving growth.

Life sciences’ critical importance to both driving economic growth and improving our health – 2 of the core elements of the Plan for Change – has been shown through the government’s action to date to support the sector. The Chancellor re-committed up to £520 million for the Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund at the Spending Review to pull investment into the UK, and red tape is being slashed to speed up clinical trials, while an up to £600 million investment will deliver a Health Data Research Service that will be unmatched globally – bringing the power of data to bear to unlock breakthroughs in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases.

The plan sets out a comprehensive roadmap built around 3 core pillars:

1. Enabling World-Class R&D – strengthening the UK’s leadership in science and discovery
2. Making the UK an outstanding place to start, scale and invest – growing homegrown companies and attracting global capital
3. Driving Health Innovation and NHS Reform – delivering better outcomes for patients and a more modern, preventative healthcare system

6 bold actions to kickstart change

The Life Sciences Sector Plan will be supported over the lifetime of the Spending Review by government funding of over £2 billion, alongside funding from UKRI and NIHR. Actions include:

1. Unlocking NHS data to find new cures

Up to £600 million investment to build the world’s most advanced health data system – helping scientists develop better treatments faster.

2. Speeding up clinical trials

Cutting red tape so patients can join trials sooner – and get access to life-changing medicines quicker.

3. Backing British manufacturing

Up to £520 million to invest in life sciences manufacturing projects – creating high-skilled jobs and making more treatments and medical devices here at home.

4. Getting new treatments to patients faster

Making regulation simpler and faster by boosting departmental support for the MHRA with additional investment – so doctors can use safe, effective innovations without delay.

5. Helping doctors use cutting-edge tech

A new NHS ‘passport’ to roll out proven tools faster – like AI cancer scanners or wearable devices that detect disease early.

6. Backing brilliant UK firms to grow

Helping fast-growing companies raise investment, scale up, and stay in the UK – with at least one major industry partnership secured every year.

Built for delivery

This Plan was shaped with input from over 250 organisations including doctors, scientists, NHS leaders and industry experts to ensure it delivers real impact. It builds on the strong foundations of the 10-Year Health Plan, extending its ambition by uniting health and growth interventions into a single, coherent strategy for the Life Sciences sector. Every action has clear goals and named leads. This is a Plan designed to deliver, not in isolation but as a vital part of the government’s broader Plan for Change.

Early momentum

The plan builds on the Chancellor’s commitment to reduce regulatory costs by a quarter, with increased investment in the MHRA to accelerate approvals and improve efficiency. It aims to streamline MedTech market entry through closer coordination between the MHRA and NICE.

The government is also focused on strengthening the UK’s clinical research infrastructure by improving trial delivery, expanding patient access, and embedding research more effectively within the NHS.

We have already started delivering on key actions, from investing up to £600 million in the Health Data Research Service alongside Wellcome, through to committing over £650 million in Genomics England and up to £354 million in Our Future Health, while the rollout of ‘innovator passports’ will help speed up the adoption of new tech and treatments on the NHS. This is clear evidence of our commitment and confidence in life sciences as a driver of both economic growth and better health outcomes.

Why life sciences matter

Life Sciences is one of 8 priority sectors in the government’s Industrial Strategy – reflecting the sector’s high growth potential.

Life sciences companies employ over 300,000 people, with more than three-quarters of jobs outside London and the Southeast, supporting opportunity in every part of the UK.

The sector improves economic productivity by improving health. With long-term illness a major drag on workforce participation, better health leads directly to a stronger, more resilient economy.

The Life sciences sector attracts record levels of private investment. In 2023, the UK raised the third highest amount of life sciences equity finance in the world, behind only the US and China.

It is a UK export powerhouse -medicines and medical technologies were the UK’s third largest goods export by value in 2024.

And it is innovation-intensive, with 17% of all UK business R&D spend is in pharmaceuticals, the highest of any sector.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is also revolutionising the Life Sciences sector across research, diagnostics, treatment, and manufacturing, reshaping how we prevent, treat, and manage disease. The potential economic impact is substantial, with McKinsey Global Institute estimating that AI could generate $60–110 billion annually for the pharmaceutical and medical-product industries alone .

Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, said:

Our world-leading life sciences sector employs hundreds of thousands of people and is a powerhouse for economic growth that puts more money in people’s pockets. Our Plan for Change is ramping up this success story even further.

The ten-year life sciences plan we have released today as part of our Industrial Strategy will cut red tape and deliver the investment we funded at the Spending Review so it can stay ahead of the curve globally and we can reap the economic rewards for years to come.

Science and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said:

The life sciences sector is one of the crown jewels of the UK economy. It sits at the heart of both our Plan for Change, and our Modern Industrial strategy, as a unique catalyst for both economic prosperity, and better health outcomes for people across the UK.

Moving in lockstep with industry, academia and our NHS, we will unleash this sector as a force for good and for growth. The suite of measures we’re announcing today will unlock its full potential — attracting global investment, accelerating innovation, and delivering breakthroughs that will make the UK healthier, wealthier, and even more open for business.

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said:

We’re committed to making the UK a life sciences superpower, and our modern Industrial Strategy has earmarked it as one of 8 priority sectors so it can double down on our strengths and keep us at the cutting edge of innovation.

This government is taking the bold action needed to help this £108 billion industry flourish and create new high-skilled, well-paid jobs right across the country, making our Plan for Change a reality.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said:

This Life Sciences Sector Plan represents a pivotal moment in our mission to rebuild the NHS and shift our healthcare system from one that treats illness to one that prevents it.

By bringing together the brilliance of British science with the power of our NHS, we’re not just improving healthcare outcomes – we’re building a stronger economy and creating jobs across the country.

The £2 billion investment will help us make the most of our world-leading health data, speed up access to innovative treatments, and transform the experience of patients. This is how we deliver a health service fit for the future – by embracing innovation that saves lives, cuts waiting times, and makes the NHS sustainable for generations to come.

The plan comes just days on the same day as the fourth “Made in the UK, Sold to the World” Roadshow, a government-led initiative designed to boost SME exports in the Life Sciences sector.

The roadshow focuses on the 8 sectors highlighted in the modern industrial strategy, forming part of the government’s commitment to supporting high-growth industries with the greatest potential to create jobs, increase productivity, and drive long-term economic growth.

Support for the Life Sciences Sector Plan

Professor Sir John Bell, President of the Ellison Institute of Technology and UK Government Life Sciences Champion said:

With our world-leading science base, genomics capabilities and industrial heritage, our Life Sciences sector can truly be among the best globally, ensuring the UK is developing and benefiting from the technologies of the future. We must however move past high level ambitions. This plan, with an inbuilt, relentless focus on delivery, provides the vehicle to take us there.

Deepak Nath, CEO of Smith+Nephew, said:

Smith+Nephew welcomes the publication of the government’s Life Sciences Sector Plan and its clear recognition of the critical role that medical technology plays in building a sustainable, high-performing NHS.

We are encouraged by the plan’s focus on the full life cycle of medical technologies – from research and development, and manufacturing, through to regulation, evaluation and adoption – and by the continued engagement with industry throughout its development. We look forward to supporting the plan’s implementation.

Dr Tony Wood, Chief Scientific Officer, GSK, said:

We welcome the government’s Life Sciences Sector Plan – in particular, the reforms to incentivise more UK clinical trials, establish a new Health Data Research Service and create a network of translational labs and clinics to accelerate drug discovery and development. These changes can bring unique competitive advantage to the country and make the UK a leader in future life sciences research.

Tim Sheppard, SVP & GM, North Europe, IQVIA, said:

IQVIA welcomes the Life Sciences Sector Plan and its bold ambition to realise more investment in commercial R&D than any other country in Europe by 2030.

Human data science and AI technology underpin our global leadership in commercial clinical research, we recognise the potential in the Plan for the Health Data Research Service to be a catalyst in the UK Government’s commitment to create the world’s most advanced and secure health data platform, enhancing the UK’s attractiveness for global trials and AI investment.

The Life Sciences Sector Plan will strengthen IQVIA’s ability to offer its global life sciences sponsors a seamless and efficient development pathway from early phase trials to regulatory approval and enhance patient access to innovative treatments – improving patients’ lives and driving further economic growth in the UK.

Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said:

The Liverpool City Region has a proud history of innovation and is fast becoming recognised as a powerhouse in health and life sciences – from pioneering infection and disease control to cutting-edge manufacturing.

This plan is a welcome step towards unlocking the sector’s full potential, and I’m confident our region will play a central role in delivering that ambition. With our world-leading assets in biomanufacturing, digital health and infectious disease research, we’re already demonstrating how innovation in our region can improve lives, create highly skilled jobs, and attract global investment. Backed by the right partnerships and investment, we can help cement the UK’s place as a global leader in life sciences.

Lord Ara Darzi, Paul Hamlyn Chair of Surgery, Imperial College London, Consultant Surgeon, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and Independent Member of the House of Lords said:

This plan is a detailed blueprint for implementation. It marks a profound change not just in how we go about enabling discovery but also in the way we deliver it. It sets the United Kingdom up to lead not just in trialling innovation but in making such innovations have real world impact for the benefit for patients, the National Health Service, and economic growth.

Dr. Vin Diwakar, Clinical Transformation Director at NHS England, said:

The Life Sciences Sector Plan is a major step forward, accelerating patient access to the latest health innovations through better industry partnerships, solidifying the NHS’s role in economic growth. Through initiatives like the Health Data Research Service and ‘innovator passports,’ we’re unlocking data’s potential for cures and fast-tracking proven health technologies, ultimately transforming patient care and making the NHS fit for the future.

Peter Ellingworth, Chief Executive of the Association of British HealthTech Industries (ABHI) said:

ABHI welcomes the publication of the Life Sciences Sector Plan. Developed with meaningful engagement from the HealthTech industry, it recognises the critical role that HealthTech will play in driving innovation and supporting the NHS to deliver the reforms needed to ensure its long-term sustainability. We are particularly encouraged by the commitments to regulatory reform, investment in research infrastructure, and measures to accelerate the adoption of innovation. To succeed, this strategy must be delivered in genuine partnership with industry and the NHS, and focused on removing the persistent barriers that prevent patients from benefiting from the best technologies. ABHI and our members are committed to playing an active role in translating these ambitions into tangible improvements for patients, the NHS and the economy.

Paul Tredwell, Executive Vice President of Accord Healthcare said:

It is very encouraging to see a Life Sciences Sector Plan which for the first time recognises the immense contribution of the off-patent industry, a sector which provides around 80% of all the UK’s medicines. As one of the largest manufacturers supplying medicines to the NHS, and a company currently applying to the government’s LSIMF scheme, we welcome this Sector Plan as a positive step and look forward to working with government on policies that will support future growth and investment.

Nicola Perrin MBE, Chief Executive of the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) said:

We’re pleased to see life sciences recognised as a priority sector for the UK. This is a triple win for the economy, for the NHS and for patients. It will benefit people across the country and unlock new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat disease.

We welcome the positioning of research at the heart of the Life Sciences Sector Plan, from the earliest stages of discovery science and beyond. We also welcome the focus on ensuring that the NHS embraces new discoveries and innovations – these will only have an impact if they get to patients quickly and effectively.

It’s reassuring to see a clear focus on implementation and accountability in the plan. This will help to ensure urgent action and real change. Medical research charities must be key delivery partners – they support R&D that focuses on patients, addresses areas of unmet need and accelerates impact.

Dr Samantha Walker, Director of Research and Innovation at Asthma + Lung UK, says:

We are pleased to see the Life Sciences Sector Plan setting out an array of opportunities for action to accelerate the growth of the UK’s respiratory research and innovation sector.

There has been too little scientific progress for people living with lung conditions – the third biggest killer in the UK. This plan for investment, with its focus on innovation and access to health data for research, could help drive desperately needed improvements to the diagnosis and treatment of lung disease, which affects 1 in 5 people in the UK.

With effective implementation, this plan could lead to research investment that will save lives and significantly reduce the number of preventable A&E visits due to asthma attacks and COPD exacerbations. Furthermore, it has scope to increase the growth of the life sciences sector and will benefit the UK economy by cutting days lost to sickness.

Louis Taylor CBE, CEO of the British Business Bank, said:

In the UK, we are very good at starting high-potential companies and creating breakthrough innovation, but what’s often lacking is the capital to scale these startups. The British Business Bank has been at the heart of growing the UK innovation economy for the last ten years. Today, the Bank is the largest investor in UK venture and venture growth capital funds and the most active late-stage investor in life sciences and deeptech. We welcome today’s Life Sciences Sector Plan and will continue to support the growth of this critical sector.

Mike Fairbourn, Vice President & General Manager, UK & Ireland for Becton Dickinson said:

Becton Dickinson welcomes the UK government’s publication of the Life Sciences Sector Plan. The plan’s focus on accelerating regulatory approvals, streamlining procurement pathways and investing in innovative manufacturing underscores the crucial role of medical technology in driving better health outcomes and economic growth. We strongly support these commitments and stand ready to work hand-in-hand with government, the NHS and regulators to deliver on these ambitions. Together, we can unlock the full potential of the UK’s medical technology industry to bolster the UK life sciences sector and the wider economy, and to benefit patients across the country.

Dr Daniel Mahony, Chair of the UK BioIndustry Association said:

Making the UK an outstanding place in which to start, grow, scale and invest in life science companies is key to driving UK economic growth. The life science sector plan is right to focus on getting substantially more public and private investment in early-stage companies, improved access to data, trials and skills to help companies grow, and more streamlined regulation and market access pathways to get innovative medicines to NHS patients. We particularly welcome the focus on unlocking pension funds to increase investment in scaling life science companies. In this parliament, the UK has the opportunity to create a truly-world leading life sciences ecosystem that works for start-ups, scale-ups and established global companies alike.

Dr Kevin Lee, CEO of Bicycle Therapeutics said:

Bicycle Therapeutics welcomes the government’s vision to make the UK a Life Sciences superpower as part of its bold and ambitious Industrial Strategy. We support the strategy’s aspiration to accelerate the growth of UK companies by encouraging investment in the sector, simplifying the regulatory environment, and leveraging the UK’s unique healthcare ecosystem to innovate in clinical trial design. At Bicycle, we view this plan as an opportunity to support the advancement of our work to unlock the potential of our Nobel prize-winning science and create new medicines for a wide variety of diseases, starting with cancer. We are excited by the prospect of working in an ever more innovative and productive sector that will see British scientific breakthroughs transform the lives of patients across the globe.

Professor Sir Rory Collins, Principal Investigator and Chief Executive of UK Biobank, said:

The Life Sciences Sector Plan shows how, with long-term thinking, the UK can build on its many world-leading institutions and facilities to deliver a world-class base for science. UK Biobank is living proof of the value of long-term thinking and the impact it can have on life sciences, with projects like our recent decade-long work scanning 100,000 volunteers that is transforming health research and helping the NHS.

The UK government continually supports UK Biobank as shown by its £20 million investment for our project to measure proteins in the blood of our half a million volunteers. This investment is helping generate the world’s most comprehensive health data and, by making it so accessible, we’re effectively able to crowdsource the minds of the planet’s greatest experts. That accessibility is why philanthropists and industry from around the world keep amplifying the government’s investment, leading to more data that drives even more research.

Professor Ugur Sahin, Managing Director, CEO and Co-Founder of BioNTech said:

We believe that innovative treatments reach patients faster when sectors collaborate towards a common goal. The renewed Life Sciences Plan reflects this spirit and has the potential to transform medicine through real progress in cancer care and beyond – both in the UK and globally.

Helen Dent, CEO of British In Vitro Diagnostic Association (BIVDA) said:

This plan reflects the government’s understanding of the challenges facing the life sciences industry and their commitment to driving investment, growth, and innovation across the sector.

Pledges which reduce the cost and streamline the adoption of diagnostics, MedTech and genomics are hugely welcome, as are measures to introduce low-friction procurement and contracting mechanisms.

Ultimately, success will depend upon continued collaboration between government, industry, and the healthcare system to ensure its ambition is matched by delivery. BIVDA looks forward to supporting this process and bolstering the UK’s position as a world-leader in life sciences.

Hyoungki Kim, CEO and Vice Chairman of Celltrion, said:

As a South-Korea based company with a global outlook, we are committed to adapting to the long-term dynamics of the markets we serve. The UK is a key supply destination for us, and we remain committed to supporting the NHS through the increased availability of biosimilar medicines in the coming years. The UK is an important supply destination for us, and we are planning substantial investments to expand our biosimilar medicine supply in the coming years. We therefore welcome the recognition in the life sciences plan that biosimilars are a critical means of delivering value to the NHS and, importantly, expanding patient access. This acknowledgement reinforces our confidence in prioritising the UK as a central focus of our global efforts.

Massimiliano Collela, Chief Executive Officer of CMR Surgical, said:

We are grateful to the government for their support of leading UK Tech and Life Sciences scale-ups like CMR Surgical through the government’s Industrial Strategy, the 10 Year Health Plan and the Life Sciences Sector Plan. With the government’s support, the UK innovation sector continues to flourish.

Lars Petersen, President & Chief Executive Officer of FUJIFILM Biotechnologies, said:

FUJIFILM Biotechnologies warmly welcomes the UK government doubling down on its commitment to life sciences with this timely and ambitious new Sector Plan.

The UK has long been a global powerhouse in life sciences R&D – but what truly excites me about this plan is its potential to supercharge the life sciences ecosystem. By combining world-class discovery, cutting-edge development, and advanced manufacturing under one cohesive vision, the UK is positioning itself to not just lead in innovation but ensure the entire life sciences value chain flourishes.

I’m especially pleased to see the critical role of innovative medicines manufacturers, like FUJIFILM Biotechnologies, recognised as essential to the UK’s future growth. This isn’t just about planning; it’s a clear roadmap to unlocking our potential to fuel economic growth, spark groundbreaking innovation, and improve patient outcomes across the board.

The government’s pledge of £520 million in grants to expand the UK’s medicines manufacturing sector can also be a game-changer. Remaining globally competitive requires action, and this is exactly the kind of commitment needed to kickstart a new era for the UK’s life sciences. Combined with ongoing private-sector investment and the support of an empowered Life Sciences Sector Council, we’re looking at the foundation of a win-win scenario for government, business, patients, and innovators alike.

As one of the UK’s largest investors in innovative medicines manufacturing, FUJIFILM Biotechnologies stands ready to seize this opportunity. We look forward to helping turn this vision into a reality and build a stronger, more sustainable future for life sciences in the UK.

Richard Stubbs, Chair of the Health Innovation Network said:

The UK is now in a race to the top to become a global powerhouse for the life sciences sector. To achieve this, we will need to go further to find, test and implement health innovations at pace and at scale. It is right that place-based innovation capacity and capabilities have been identified in the Life Science Sector Plan as a key enabler for the sector.

The Health Innovation Network is proud of the impact that we deliver with our partners in the NHS, academia and industry – from SMEs to multinationals – to improve patient outcomes, release capacity in the NHS to cut waiting lists and to drive economic growth, all priorities that are rightly recognised in this plan. The contribution the life sciences sector has to improve the health and wealth of the country is more evident now than ever. Through working locally with our vibrant life science sector, our health innovators, and our NHS staff we will deliver real change on the ground that has a national impact, and that supports the bold ambitions set out in the Life Sciences Sector Plan.

Yamin Mohammed Khan, CEO of hVIVO said:

We were pleased to establish a working partnership with the Office for Life Sciences in support of their sector plan. The UK has a remarkable and longstanding legacy in life sciences, something which we at hVIVO are proud to be a part of as the world leading provider of human challenge trials. The UK has a proven track record of innovation that continues to thrive. As a global pillar in health research and life sciences, the UK plays a vital role in shaping the future of healthcare and scientific advancement. We’re excited to see how this 10-year plan unfolds, helping the UK maintain its global reputation and further strengthen its leadership in the life sciences sector.

Mark Robinson, Vice President and General Manager, UK and Ireland, and North Europe at Illumina, said:

Illumina strongly supports the UK government’s ambition, outlined in the Life Sciences Sector Plan, for genomics to contribute to half of all healthcare interventions by 2035. The plan’s focus on integrated health data, streamlined clinical trials, and expanded genomic infrastructure aligns with Illumina’s mission to unlock the power of the genome to improve human health for all. Illumina’s longstanding partnerships in the UK have played a key role in advancing our understanding of the genome, and we look forward to continuing these collaborations to support the UK’s leadership in global genomic research and innovation.

Dr Stella Peace, Interim Executive Chair of Innovate UK said:

The Life Science Sector Plan positions innovation as a critical engine with the potential to power breakthroughs, drive economic growth and transform lives. The plan sets out how we will unlock the full potential of UK life sciences by backing the businesses, researchers and technologies shaping the future of healthcare and delivering real societal impact. Innovate UK look forward to being part of bringing this plan to life.

David Marante, Vice President UK and Ireland at Intuitive, said:

We know how important equity of access to innovation is to improve patient care in the NHS. For the last 2 decades we’ve worked together with NHS Trusts in England to implement da Vinci robotic-assisted surgery programmes, harnessing our innovations to help enhance patient and care team experience, and reduce waiting lists through increased productivity to ultimately improve patient outcomes.

With health innovation as a key pillar of the government’s vision for the UK’s Life Sciences sector, we’re excited to continue supporting NHS care teams to improve equity of access to minimally invasive care with da Vinci RAS, enabling patients to get back to what matters most.

Mark Samuels, Chief Executive of Medicines UK, said: 

Generics and biosimilars account for 4 in every 5 NHS prescriptions, making them a cornerstone of patient care and an essential part of the UK’s life sciences ecosystem. We welcome this plan’s recognition of their vital role. 

The off-patent sector operates in a highly competitive global environment. To maintain supply and attract sustained investment, the UK must offer a policy and operating landscape that is both supportive and internationally attractive. 

We are encouraged by the strategy’s ambition and clarity – particularly its objective to make the UK a world leader in the adoption of off-patent medicines, with a strong emphasis on biosimilars.

A thriving off-patent sector delivers access and value for the NHS and forms the foundation for future pharmaceutical innovation and investment. We look forward to working with Government to deliver on this important agenda.

Lawrence Tallon, Chief Executive of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, said:

I welcome the publication of the Life Sciences Sector Plan and fully support its ambition to make the UK a global leader in life sciences and a country where innovation delivers for everyone.

It’s great to see the MHRA is recognised as a pivotal partner in delivering the plan’s vision – by supporting innovation, protecting public health, and making the UK a global destination for innovators to research, develop and launch cutting-edge medical products.

Working with our partners across the sector, we will continue to enable safe and effective innovation that benefits patients, the public, and the economy.

Kit Erlebach, Chairperson of the UK’s Medicines Manufacturing Industry Partnership (MMIP) and Senior Director, Engineering at FUJIFILM Biotechnologies UK said:

The UK government’s new Life Sciences Sector Plan signals a clear and ambitious commitment to the future of life sciences in the UK. This plan provides a unique opportunity to build upon our nation’s strengths in research, development, and manufacturing, creating a fully connected and world-leading life sciences ecosystem, with innovative large and small medicines producers.

By articulating a clear vision for medicines manufacturing alongside discovery and development, the UK is laying the foundation for a thriving sector that benefits patients, drives innovation, and delivers economic growth. The focus on medicines manufacturing as a key component of this strategy is vital, providing the necessary support to strengthen the UK’s position on the global stage.

The allocation of £520 million in grants for expanding medicines manufacturing capabilities demonstrates the government’s dedication to fostering a competitive and sustainable industry. Combined with continued private-sector investment and collaboration across the sector, this targeted support will create new opportunities for innovation, employment, and improved health outcomes.

The Medicines Manufacturing Industry Partnership (MMIP) is proud to have contributed to support the development of this Sector Plan. In a rapidly changing international context, today’s announcement is a key step on the journey to enhance the UK’s international competitiveness. We are committed to working with Government to drive implementation of this plan, and the other necessary steps set out in the MMIP’s 10-year vision to deliver on our shared ambition.

Darius Hughes, UK General Manager for Moderna, said: 

Moderna welcomes the UK government’s Life Sciences Sector Plan as a bold and timely commitment to strengthening the UK’s position as a global leader in healthcare innovation and adoption. 

Through our strategic partnership, we’ve invested in UK-based mRNA R&D and manufacturing, because we believe in the UK’s ability to turn scientific excellence into real-world impact. 

This Plan gets the fundamentals right — from smarter regulation to investing in talent and unlocking the potential of health data — and we look forward to continuing our work together to deliver meaningful outcomes for patients, the NHS, and the economy.

Professor Patrick Chinnery, Executive Chair of the Medical Research Council, said:

The new Life Sciences Sector Plan sets out a bold vision to transform how one of the UK’s most dynamic and globally competitive sectors delivers for our economy and for people around the world.

The Medical Research Council is committed to playing a central role in realising this vision by accelerating the translation of curiosity-driven research into innovations that support disease prevention, earlier diagnosis and better treatments.

In partnership with researchers, charities and industry, we will help more people live healthier, more productive lives, and attract further investment to strengthen the UK’s life sciences sector.

Matthew Taylor CBE, Chief Executive of the NHS Confederation, said:

Health leaders will welcome the publication of the life sciences sector plan which will play a crucial role in building an NHS that’s fit for the future. Having a thriving UK life sciences and innovation sector is key to ensuring patients get access to the treatments and innovations they need and at the best value to the health system.

For the government’s NHS reforms to succeed a successful life sciences programme is key, and the sector benefits from using the NHS as a testbed and delivery partner for new innovations. We look forward to working with the Office of Life Sciences, the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England to ensure the views of health system leaders are reflected in the implementation of the plan so that it can deliver for both the health system and life sciences sector.

Dr Sam Roberts, Chief Executive of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), said:

We warmly welcome the publication of the government’s Life Sciences Sector Plan, which sets out how NICE will ensure patients get faster, fairer access to transformative new medicines and life-changing healthtech, while supporting a thriving life sciences industry in the UK.

This comprehensive plan establishes a clear vision for how NICE, the NHS, and industry can collaborate to truly transform people’s lives through better, more equitable access to innovation. At NICE, we are committed to playing our part in ensuring that the UK remains at the forefront of life sciences innovation while delivering a sustainable and effective health service for all.

Ros Deegan, CEO of OMass Therapeutics, said:

The new Life Sciences Sector Plan outlines ambitions that fit the UK’s world-leading capabilities and should help small and medium sized Life Sciences businesses scale, grow and keep innovation within the UK. As a growing biotechnology company with products approaching the clinic, we are encouraged to see actions designed to cut clinical trial approval times and improve access to capital – 2 critical factors that will benefit the sector and the wider economy.

Dr. Lucinda Crabtree, Chief Financial Officer of Oxford Biomedica, said:

The UK government’s Life Sciences Sector Plan sets out a clear commitment to making the UK a global hub for health innovation. At OXB, we have experienced first-hand how targeted government support — including funding from Innovate UK — can help unlock growth and build globally competitive capabilities. The plan’s focus on accelerating clinical trial processes, streamlining regulatory pathways, and investing in manufacturing, genomics, and health data infrastructure will support innovation and improve access to breakthrough treatments. These initiatives are vital to establishing the UK as a key market to scale life sciences businesses, attract investment and world-class talent, and drive long term economic growth.

Gordon Sanghera CBE, CEO and Co-founder of Oxford Nanopore Technologies, said:

The UK’s ambition to further expand the integration of genomic and molecular data into health systems and the economy – at scale – is exactly the kind of bold infrastructure investment that can improve lives and drive economic growth. In that system, being able to move quickly from innovation to implementation is essential to translating UK science into global health and economic impact.

Roland Sinker CBE, Chief Executive of Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said:

As I outlined in the Innovation Ecosystem Programme report, there is a significant opportunity to deliver meaningful benefits to the NHS and patients through innovations developed by UK life sciences companies. I fully support the Life Sciences Sector Plan and its clear commitments to advancing research, enabling UK life sciences to thrive, and accelerating health innovation. These actions are essential to ensuring that NHS staff and patients are among the first to benefit from the latest breakthroughs.

Richard Saynor, CEO of Sandoz said:

We welcome the government’s commitment to becoming a world leader in the uptake of off-patent medicines. The target of £1 billion of savings from biosimilars is both realistic and achievable. Increasing their use will unlock greater worker productivity and increase the health of the UK population – a major contribution to the government’s growth imperative. As a committed partner to the NHS and government, Sandoz will dedicate resources and expertise to realise the goals for the off-patent sector within the Life Sciences Strategy.

Neil Daly, CEO and Founder of Skin Analytics, said:

We welcome the clear action plan in the Life Sciences Sector Plan for streamlining and speeding up the adoption of proven healthcare technologies and feel the plan will make a meaningful difference to UK health innovators. In skin cancer, this means that the NHS can move much more swiftly to establish appropriately regulated autonomous AI triage as standard practice for all patients. This will find more cancers, free up clinician time and save taxpayers’ money.

Dr Michael Spence, University College London President and Provost said:

Universities will be at the heart of making the UK the leading life sciences economy in Europe. With its backing for world-class research and clinical trials, the Life Sciences Sector Plan will help us achieve even more.

London is a global centre for innovation, with Euston already a leading area for life sciences where world-class universities, healthcare, and life science companies come together. With new investments in Oriel at St Pancras Way with Moorfields Eye Hospital, and a state-of-the art neuroscience facility at Grays Inn Road, UCL is at the heart of making the area a global leader. The new Life Science Hub at Euston station is a step towards realising the huge potential in this area and achieving the government’s ambitions

John-Arne Røttingen, CEO of Wellcome, said:

The ambition set out in the Life Sciences Sector Plan is hugely welcome. Life sciences are a historic strength of the UK, and this strategic vision is important to cement the country’s advantage in the future. The plan’s emphasis on the importance of early-stage research is particularly shrewd. Basic discovery science underpins later health breakthroughs and clinical trials, making it the essential bedrock for a thriving research economy.

The focus on speeding up trials and on data infrastructure for research will not only lead to real impact for patients but also strengthen the UK’s attractiveness to innovative researchers and businesses.

If the level of ambition in the plan is matched by meaningful action and investment, the UK will be well on its way to securing its place as a global life sciences leader.

Notes to editors

The full collection of Industrial Strategy sector plans can be found here.

DSIT media enquiries

Email press@dsit.gov.uk

Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 6pm 020 7215 3000

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Updates to this page

Published 16 July 2025
MIL OSI United Kingdom –
July 16, 2025
MIL-OSI Russia: School-conference on medicinal chemistry in Ufa brought together young scientists from all over Russia

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: Novosibirsk State University –

An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

From June 23 to 27, 2025, the III All-Russian School-Conference on Medicinal Chemistry for Young Scientists was held at the Interuniversity Student Campus of the Eurasian Scientific and Educational Center in Ufa. This year, the event was held for the first time with international participation and brought together more than 100 participants from different regions of Russia and the Republic of Belarus.

The event was organized by the Ufa Institute of Chemistry of the Ufa Federal Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Bashkir State Medical University of the Russian Ministry of Health, the N.N. Vorozhtsov Research Institute of Organic Chemistry of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine and Medical Technologies (IMMT) NSU and the Scientific Council of the Russian Academy of Sciences on Medicinal Chemistry.

The event is held every two years. The first school on medicinal chemistry was organized in 2021 at the N.N. Vorozhtsov Institute of Organic Chemistry of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The main objective of the event was to familiarize young Russian scientists, postgraduates and students with modern methods and approaches used in medicinal chemistry. The second school on medicinal chemistry was held in 2023 at St. Petersburg State University as part of the All-Russian Conference with International Participation “Ideas and Legacy of A.E. Favorsky in Organic Chemistry” with the support of the St. Petersburg Branch of the D.I. Mendeleyev Russian Chemical Society. This year, the hosts of the youth school were researchers from Ufa.

Medicinal chemistry is an interdisciplinary field that covers the development and synthesis of new medicinal compounds, the study of their metabolism and action at the molecular level. These were the topics that the intensive five-day program of the school was devoted to. Participants were treated to plenary lectures, flash reports, master classes on chromatography, molecular modeling, critical thinking and vaccinology, as well as excursions and the Sabantuy of Young Scientists. As one of the organizers, Egor Mustaev, noted, the flash report format was a key innovation this year:

— This format gave each participant the opportunity not only to present their work, but also to gain important experience in public speaking. In addition to the reports, the school became a platform for live communication and exchange of experience between young researchers and leading scientists from Russia and Belarus, — said Egor.

Several experts from NSU presented reports at the school-conference. Thus, the following delivered plenary lectures:

— Head of the Department of Medical Chemistry of the Institute of Medical and Medical Technologies of NSU, Doctor of Chemical Sciences, Professor, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Nariman Faridovich Salakhutdinov; topic of the speech: “Natural Compounds in the Creation of New Drugs in Medicine”;

— Associate Professor of the Department of Medical Chemistry, Doctor of Chemical Sciences Olga Ivanovna Yarovaya; lecture topic: “Bird Flu: An RNA Virus with Pandemic Ambitions.”

The keynote report on the topic “HPLC-MS methods in the development and preclinical studies of new drugs” was presented by Artem Dmitrievich Rogachev, PhD, senior researcher at the Laboratory of Molecular Pathology at the Institute of Medical and Technical Technologies of NSU.

Young scientists – students also presented flash reports. Faculty of Natural Sciences of NSU.

Among the participants of the school was Serafim Tishchenko, a young researcher from Novosibirsk, representing the Laboratory of Functional Analysis of Viruses (LFAV) of the Research Institute of Organic Chemistry:

— I attended lectures and master classes, especially the practical course on molecular docking. Everything was very interesting and useful. I presented work on the development of antiviral drugs against orthopoxviruses and the RS virus. Now I am preparing to enter graduate school at NSU, — Seraphim shared his plans.

The school’s distinctive feature remains its emblem – a laboratory mouse, which this year received an updated look and became the star of photo zones and souvenirs.

The School and Conference on Medicinal Chemistry continues to strengthen its position as a key platform for young scientists involved in the development of new drugs. Thanks to a careful approach to the program, an open format and rich communication, it becomes not only an educational but also an inspiring event in the scientific community.

Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source of the information. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

.

MIL OSI Russia News –

July 16, 2025
MIL-OSI Australia: Doorstop – UTAS, Sydney campus

Source: Murray Darling Basin Authority

JASON CLARE, MINISTER FOR EDUCATION: Thanks very much for coming along this morning.

I’m here at the University of Tasmania’s campus right here in the heart of Sydney training the next generation of nurses and paramedics. And a couple of weeks ago we kicked off for the first time paid prac. That’s financial support.

Paid prac is financial support for teaching students, for nursing students, for midwifery students and for social work students to provide them with a little bit of financial help while they do the practical part of their training, with the practical part of their university degree.

Placement poverty is a real thing. As we developed the Universities Accord, one of the things that leapt out time after time talking to students was the financial challenges that come with doing the practical part of your university degree. And students over there in the background mentioned it to me just a minute ago. One student told me that she had to delay or extend her degree for a year just because of the financial challenges of doing your prac and having enough money to put food on the table, to pay your bills. This is one of a whole suite of recommendations in the Universities Accord that we’re implementing.

Another thing that came out of the Universities Accord was the reform that is needed to our HECS system, or what we used to call HECS – what we now call HELP – to student debt. Next week I’ll introduce two pieces of legislation into the Federal Parliament. The first cuts students debt by 20 per cent and the second one will cut funding to child care centres that aren’t up to scratch.

On the first bill, this is something that we promised the Australian people during the election campaign – that we would cut the student debt of 3 million Australians by 20 per cent. It’s worth something in the order of $16 billion dollars. And for the average Australian with a student debt it will cut their debt by more than $5,500. It will take a lot of weight off the shoulders of a lot of young Australians who are just out of uni, just getting started, just getting on their feet looking to move out of home or save up to get a mortgage. That money taken off their HECS bill will make a world of difference.

And the other bill that we’ll introduce next week, as I said, will cut funding from child care centres that aren’t up to scratch. This is something that we promised in the last week of Parliament before the election was called. We did that in response to the revelations that came out of the Four Corners exposé earlier this year about abuse and neglect in child care centres.

The truth is that if we want real reform in early education and care, if we want every child care centre to pay attention to safety, to give it the priority that it needs and deserves, then the most powerful weapon the Federal Government has to wield here is money. Child care centres don’t work, don’t operate without the child care subsidy. It represents about 70 per cent of the funding that runs a child care centre.

The purpose of this legislation isn’t to shut child care centres down, it’s to raise standards up. What it will do is set conditions on centres that if they don’t meet the sort of standards that parents expect and that our kids deserve, then funding will be suspended or removed entirely. And, as I said, the purpose of this is not to shut centres down but to lift standards up. It’s just one of the things that we need to do to improve the safety of children in our child care centres.

Today I’m also releasing this document, which is a roadmap of some of the key reforms that we will roll out in education over the next 12 months. It doesn’t set out everything, but it sets out some of the key reforms, including this legislation to cut student debt by 20 per cent, including this legislation to cut funding to child care centres that aren’t up to scratch. But this year we will also introduce legislation to improve the integrity of the international education system and legislation to permanently establish an Australian Tertiary Education Commission. That and much more that’s needed to make our education system better and fairer and safer.

Happy to take some questions.

JOURNALIST: Minister, on child care, when can we expect to see a national child care worker register up and running, and what’s the process from here to establish that?

CLARE: It’s a good question. I was asked this question this morning. Work is already underway on that. States and territories have agreed that we need one and we need to accelerate the work to stand that up.

The first steps are what the states are taking now – Victoria has already said that it will augment its existing teacher register to include the educators that work in their centres. They think that they can do that over the course of the next few months. What we want to do is see all states build that up and then join it up. So that work is underway with states at the moment as well as the federal authority that’s responsible in this area, called ACECQA.

JOURNALIST: You have acknowledged that the government has been too slow on child care reform. Who’s the minister responsible for that, and who do you hold responsible for the fact that it has been slow?

CLARE: I’ve been pretty blunt. I’ve said that, yes, action has been taken but more action is needed and it needs to happen quicker. I don’t think Australian parents are interested in excuses here. They want action. And action requires all levels of government to work together and the industry to join in as well.

Have a look at the revelations today that another 800 children have to get tested, blood tests and urine tests. Think about the anxiety that mums and dads are going through today, think about the trauma that kids are going to have to go through with all of that testing.

Now, the company that runs those centres should have known where this bloke was and when he was working there. The Victorian Government is working as quickly as they can to track all of this down. But it highlights to me the importance of having a national database or a national register like the one you just asked in the previous question so you can track people down when they cross borders, when they move centres.

JOURNALIST: And what point do you think it would become – you know, that particular case, that person moved around a lot. At what point do you think it would become suspicious if someone within the system was moving around a lot?

CLARE: So conscious this is a live investigation, so let’s pose this question in general terms.

JOURNALIST: Yeah.

CLARE: If we build this register the right way it helps us to identify or prompt red flags when somebody is moving for the wrong reasons. There’ll be some times people who will move between centre and centre because they’re labour hire, but there may be instances where people are moving from centre to centre because they’re quietly being moved on.

If the system works the way it needs to work, when something is not right, the police are called and the regulator comes in. And, if necessary, the centre is shut down.

JOURNALIST: We’re hearing some parents demand that centres only have female staff. What do you think of that?

CLARE: I think you might have asked me this question, Fiona, last week, there’s a bit of media about this. Have a look at the Four Corners evidence that shows that this is not just a problem with blokes. It’s a problem with women as well. We’ve had royal commissions. We’ve had the child safety review that I commissioned after that serial paedophile was arrested and convicted in Queensland. We know what we need to do here. In none of those reports did they recommend this. What they’re recommending is that register, they’re recommending national mandatory safety training so that the 99.9 per cent of people who work in our centres who are good, honest, hard-working people who love our kids and care for them and educate our kids have the skills they need to identify the person that’s up to no good, and things like CCTV so that we can deter bad people from doing bad things and help police when bad things happen. There’ll be individual centres that will talk to mums and dads about the way in which they operate in the system. But just cutting blokes out of it all together is not going to be the solution.

JOURNALIST: Is it discrimination, Minister?

CLARE: I don’t think there’s any example of any other profession in the country where it’s gender specific. The more important point I want to stress here is if we’re serious here about making sure that our kids are looked after and they’re safe, just identifying one gender is not the way to do it.

JOURNALIST: And also just on a follow-up on this matter, parents have naturally lost confidence in the system because of what’s happened. Some parents are now opting for in-home care where grandparents or relatives look after kids. Would you ever envisage a situation where the government might subsidise something like that, where parents or grandparents got paid to look after their grandchildren or –

CLARE: That’s not something the government is considering.

What we want to make sure of is that the system is as safe as it needs to be. We want it to be affordable, we want it to be accessible, but most important of all we want our kids to be as safe as they possibly can be.

Now, this is an essential service for mums and dads. There’s more than a million mums and dads out there today who are watching this, it might be in their own workplace. They might be working from home, but they know how important this is. They can’t live the lives that they’re living without this. But it’s also important for their kids, too. It’s providing them with the building blocks for the education they’re yet to have.

If you ask principals and teachers at schools, they’ll tell you that they can identify the kids when they first arrive at primary school that have been in early education and care, whether it’s sitting up straight, whether it’s listening or whether it’s having those literacy and numeracy fundamentals. All of those things make them ready to learn.

Now, at the moment there’s lots of kids in early education and care, but there’s some that are still missing out because they’re from really poor and disadvantaged backgrounds. And they start school already behind. So, we’ve got to make the system better. We’ve got to make the system fairer. But, most importantly, we need to make the system safer.

JOURNALIST: Do you support Jillian Segal’s policies to withhold funding from universities if they fail to stop or address antisemitism?

CLARE: So, we’re considering Jillian Segal’s report, the Special Envoy on antisemitism. I won’t respond today to those recommendations. But there are things that we are already doing in this space. I need to underline the point that there is no place for the poison of antisemitism in our universities.

JOURNALIST: So, you won’t say whether you support –

CLARE: Hang on.

JOURNALIST: Sorry.

CLARE: There’s no place for the poison of racism in all of its ugly and obnoxious forms in our universities or anywhere else. I’m not going to say today what our response to that recommendation will be. What I will say is we’ve taken a number of steps already. We’ve established a National Student Ombudsman for the first time so students that make complaints to their universities that are unheard have an independent person to complain to. And that ombudsman is up and running right now.

Second is TEQSA, who is the higher education regulator, already has powers in this area, whether it’s to put conditions on universities or to apply to a court to impose fines on universities. There’s an open question about the powers that TEQSA has today and whether they should be changed. That’s something that is being considered right now as part of a broader review of university governance.

The other thing I would say is that I don’t intend to look at this report in isolation. But next month the Government will receive a report from the Special Envoy in Combating Islamophobia, and so we wait to see what his recommendations will be. And broader than that, I’ve asked the Race Discrimination Commissioner to conduct a review of racism in our universities. The fact is it exists in our universities in all its ugly forms – ask Indigenous students, ask Islamic students, ask Asian students, ask international students, ask the people who work in our universities of different backgrounds, and they’ll tell you that it is real and that action is needed.

Before we consider those recommendations to their final conclusion, I want to look at the recommendations of the Special Envoy on Islamophobia, and I also want to see the work of the Race Discrimination Commissioner.

JOURNALIST: Just on that same topic, does that mean you probably won’t expect the Government’s response to those recommendations, including funding, until after those reports come down? And there were also some specific mentions of social media and growing antisemitism amongst young people because of social media. Would you back an awareness campaign or the report’s recommendation of a project to support trusted voices to publicly refute antisemitic views?

CLARE: That’s a little outside my portfolio. I’d make the general point that social media plays a role here. It’s not the only reason, but one of the benefits of removing access to social media for young people under the age of 16 might be that less of this poison enters the ears and eyeballs of our young Australians.

On your first question, we expect to see that report from the Special Envoy on Islamophobia next month. We’ll get the report from the Race Discrimination Commissioner later this year. But I do think I need to look at all of those reports that might make different recommendations here. I want to tackle racism in whatever form it comes.

JOURNALIST: So, it would be a holistic response, not just addressing antisemitism?

CLARE: There are recommendations in that report that apply to education. There’s recommendations that apply to other parts of government as well.

JOURNALIST: So, it won’t be accepted in full, the recommendations?

CLARE: I didn’t say that. Don’t put words in my mouth.

JOURNALIST: At the same time, then?

CLARE: I’m saying that we’re considering it carefully. We’ve got to consult as part of that. I want to see what the Special Envoy on Islamophobia has to say as well. I think that’s fair. I think that’s the right thing to do. But it’s not just antisemitism and it’s not just Islamophobia – ask Indigenous kids at university today and they’ll say, “well, don’t forget me.”

JOURNALIST: So next month we’ll expect –

CLARE: Next month, we’ll receive the report from the Special Envoy on Islamophobia.

JOURNALIST: And then you’ll hand down – or you’ll say whether you adopt the recommendations?

CLARE: Next month we’ll receive the report from the Special Envoy on Islamophobia. Later this year, we’ll get the report from the Race Discrimination Commissioner, which will look at this across the board.

JOURNALIST: And I do have just one more on funding and then we can go back to child care. But there have been some comparisons of this funding issue to the Trump administration, what we’ve seen with Harvard and Columbia University. Is that really something that a Labor Government would consider doing – removing funding from a public institution? So, isn’t that kind of a gross overreach, as some people have said?

CLARE: I’ll make no comment on that. Have a look at my previous answer. I made the point that TEQSA, the regulator, has powers here already. They’re different in kind to what’s being recommended in this report. But they enable TEQSA to go in and either put conditions on a university or to penalise them, to apply to a court to issue fines. There’s an open question about the role that TEQSA plays here. They’re already playing an important role in helping universities to lift their standards. I mentioned a couple of pieces of work that are ongoing in Government at the moment. There’s a separate piece of work on improving the governance of our universities generally. You would have seen reports today from chancellors, which I welcome, about how do we improve the way in which decisions are made about the remuneration of vice chancellors. That makes sense on its face to me, but that body that’s doing that work about the governance of our universities will present its recommendations to Government in October of this year.

JOURNALIST: On that, can I just ask you – this is a bit outlandish – but do you think VCs are overpaid?

CLARE: Well –

JOURNALIST: Given that

CLARE: My answer to that is that I think it makes sense – I think it makes a lot of sense, the decisions around the pay of vice-chancellors to be considered by the Remuneration Tribunal. That’s what chancellors have suggested today. When you think about it, public universities are largely funded by public funds. Politicians’ salaries are set by the Remuneration Tribunal. So are the salaries of judges and public servants. But I will wait to see that report, which we’ll get in a couple of months, about reforms to the governance of universities, not just salaries of vice‑chancellors but also what more we need to do in areas of wage theft and making sure that everybody who works in universities are properly paid. And then broader reforms that they’re considering about the councils, the senates, the boards of universities, how they operate, who are represented on them, to make sure that our universities are fit for the future.

Our universities are incredibly important and they’re going to be more important tomorrow than they are today, just like TAFEs. When I was a kid less than 10 per cent of people had a university degree. Now it’s almost 50 per cent. We know that by the middle of this decade even more kids will go on to uni and more will go on to TAFE, and we’ve got to make sure that our whole tertiary education system is set up for them. And this is part of it.

JOURNALIST: Oh, hi Minister Clare, just back to child care, we learned yesterday that accused paedophile Joshua Brown worked at an additional four daycare centres, bringing the total now to 23. My question is: does the casualised nature of the workforce pose risks to children? And how will a centralised system for monitoring workers that you have planned actually work?

CLARE: This question gives me an opportunity to talk about the pay rise that’s rolling out for child care workers now. My older cousin has worked in the sector for 30 years. I remember when my eldest was first in child care I said, “how do I pick a good centre?” And she said, “find a place where the team has been there forever. Where they’re permanent and where they love working there and they all know each other, and they all know the kids.” Right. One of the benefits of paying people more is more people want to do the job. And we’ve seen already with the start of the rollout of the 15 per cent pay rise, more people applying to work in the sector and drop in vacancies. That’s going to help with that balance about permanency as well as casual workers.

I really do worry that with all of the horror that mums and dads are experiencing that people who work in this sector are just as angry and just as horrified with what they’re seeing and that a lot of people are feeling like there’s a target on their back and that they might not want to work here. We need good people in this sector more than ever, and this pay rise is one part of that.

In terms of how the register will work, that’s something that my Department is working with state and territory departments on right now. We’ve agreed that we need to do it. We’re working on the system and how it should work. I talked about setting it up and joining it up. And this will be one of the things that’s considered when education ministers meet for a standalone meeting on child safety next month.

JOURNALIST: Can I ask one more question about the Segal recommendations?

CLARE: Sure.

JOURNALIST: Former Labor Minister Ed Husic today came out and sort of told the Government not to be too heavy-handed, is how he put it, in responding to the antisemitism crisis. Do you have any thoughts on that? And do you think the report enacted in full would be too heavy-handed?

CLARE: It may be an opportunity to say that Ed’s a great bloke and he’s one of my best mates, and I take his counsel and advice all the time. And I think you can see from my answer today that this is something that we’re going to give careful consideration to, having a look at it not in isolation but having a look at racism in all its ugly forms across our universities and across our community.

JOURNALIST: Is this something that you think that federal resources should be used to police, when it comes to universities and how they deal with these things?

CLARE: Sorry, Fi, just explain a little.

JOURNALIST: Is it – so when we’re talking about universities dealing with antisemitism and other related issues, should federal resources be used to monitor how they’re going with that?

CLARE: They already are. They already are. When you think about the decision that I made and that I got states to agree to set up the student ombudsman, it was very much about that. It wasn’t just about that. All of the horrific evidence that came to me when I first got this position about the sexual assault and harassment of particularly female students in our universities, in particular, in student accommodation, made me believe that action was required, and action was taken. And that’s why that ombudsman was set up.

That involves, I think more than $50 million dollars of taxpayer money, Commonwealth money, to set that agency up, to set that ombudsman up. And we’ve given that ombudsman real teeth so that when she makes a recommendation universities have to implement it. There’ll be legislation I’ll re-introduce into the parliament around that as well when parliament returns.

The investment that we’ve made to ask the Race Discrimination Commissioner to conduct a review into respect at unis, into racism in our universities, I think is evidence that I do believe the Commonwealth has a role here to make sure that our universities are safe places too, that many don’t feel afraid to go to uni. We want more people to want to study at uni. These are places where people study, work and live. They’ve got to be as safe as they possibly can be. There is no place for any type of racism in our country, whether it’s in our unis or anywhere else.

JOURNALIST: Dom, anything from you?

JOURNALIST: Yes, thank you. Just want to go back to the HECS stuff.

CLARE: Sure, mate.

JOURNALIST: And ask: with the introduction of the legislation next week, after that, when can we expect the next tranche of university reforms from the Accord? Do you have – is HECS still the focus of that tranche in terms of, you know, how it’s indexed, some other tweaks that can be made, will that be looked at soon?

CLARE: Thanks for the question. It’s an opportunity for me to explain in a little bit more detail the bill that will go in next week.

Number one, it will cut student debt by 20 per cent, but it will also make structural changes to the way HECS, or student debt operates. It will increase the amount of money you have to earn before you start paying off HECS from 54,000 to I think it’s about $67,000.

So, in other words, you don’t start paying off your university degree until your degree starts to pay off for you. And it makes an even more important structural change to the way in which you pay off the debt. It will effectively reduce the amount that you have to pay off each and every year when you’re on a low income.

So, the best way to explain that is if you’re on an income of $70,000 today, when this legislation passes it will reduce the minimum amount you have to repay every year by about $1,300. So that’s a real cost of living benefit for a lot of people that are on very modest incomes.

JOURNALIST: Just a two-parter then, still on HECS: in terms of has any modelling been done that by raising that people are worse off in the long term? For example, less payments equals more money that then gets indexed each year, so if you don’t reach that threshold, you know, for three more years, you’ve got a higher HECS debt that gets indexed and it kind of compounds?

CLARE: Okay, that’s an important opportunity to make the point that this is a minimum repayment. There is nothing that stops or will stop people from making additional repayments if they choose to do so.

JOURNALIST: And then the indexation – sorry, just to clarify – the indexation I was referring to was how HECS, the money gets taken out every month, but then it gets only subtracted, I think, from the debt at the end of each year, or in June or something like that. So, indexation is applied.

CLARE: Okay.

JOURNALIST: Is that what you’re looking at as well? Is that part of the next tranche?

CLARE: So, in last year’s budget we announced part 1 of our response to the Universities Accord. This is a blueprint for the next decade. It’s a big report with a lot of recommendations. We have implemented now in part or in full about 31 of those recommendations. But over the – in part with the support of the Tertiary Education Commission, which has now been established in an interim reform a week or so ago, we will now look at other recommendations in that report and what the next steps need to be in reforming our higher education system, in making it better and fairer. And in the report, I released today, it touches on some of those things.

One of them, which is not the sexiest thing – it won’t make the front page of the paper – but it’s a structural change which is going to be very important is changing the way we fund our universities. That will start from January of next year. And the introduction for the first time ever of real needs-based funding for our universities.

Last year I struck agreements with every state and territory to fix the funding of our public schools on a needs-basis, like David Gonski said we should all those years ago. Now we want to apply the same sort of model to our universities, so funding follows the students and more students from disadvantaged backgrounds, from the outer suburbs of our cities, from our regions who need more support to not just start a degree but finish a degree get it.

JOURNALIST: And that includes the Jobs Ready Graduate Scheme?

CLARE: That’s something we’re asking ATEC to have a look at. All right. Thank you.

ENDS

MIL OSI News –

July 16, 2025
MIL-OSI Africa: Bribery in South Africa: law now puts a duty on companies to act
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Rehana Cassim, Professor in Company Law, University of South Africa

Bribery is one of the most common forms of corruption in South African companies and state institutions. This has a number of harmful outcomes.

Firstly, research shows that it weakens democracy and slows down economic growth. It also creates expensive barriers for honest businesses to succeed because it distorts fair competition. If bribery is not stopped or punished it has a demoralising effect, because it erodes trust and creates a culture where ethical conduct is undermined.

In 2024 a new law came into force in South Africa that puts a duty on companies to take proactive steps to prevent bribery. This law falls under a broader law dealing with corruption in South Africa.

The new provisions make it a crime for companies to fail to prevent bribery by an associated person. This is a major policy shift in South African anti-corruption law, and aligns with the United Kingdom’s anti-bribery legislation.

An associated person is anyone who performs services for the company. This can include suppliers, joint venture partners, distributors, consultants, and other professionals advising the company. It can even be other companies, like subsidiaries.

In my research I found that South Africa took inspiration from the United Kingdom (UK) Bribery Act 2010. The law makes it a criminal offence for commercial organisations to fail to prevent bribery by associated persons.

Despite some successes, enforcement of the UK Bribery Act has been slow and the volume of prosecutions has been low.

Based on my research into company conduct, given the current challenges in law enforcement and the low conviction rates for crimes of corruption, the new law might not work as well as hoped.

But with improved enforcement, it has potential to reduce bribery in South Africa.

What’s behind the new law?

The new addition to the law was introduced after a commission of inquiry found evidence of widespread bribery and corruption under former president Jacob Zuma.

For example, Angelo Agrizzi, former chief operating officer of African Global Operations (Pty) Ltd (formerly known as Bosasa), testified that Bosasa won about US$129 million in government tenders by paying about US$4 million in bribes to politicians and government officials. He said that every contract in which Bosasa was involved was linked to bribery and corruption.

The new law is designed to prevent this from happening.

If a person associated with a member of the private sector or an incorporated state-owned entity gives, agrees or offers to give a bribe (or gratification) to another person, the company could be held liable. This applies to companies as well as individuals, partnerships, trusts and other legal entities.

The bribe must be given by the associated person to get business for the company or to gain a business advantage for it. Importantly, a company can be found guilty even if it didn’t know about the bribe.

What counts as a bribe?

A bribe (or gratification) is not just money. It includes avoiding a loss or other disadvantage, releasing any obligation or liability, or giving any favour or advantage.

The bribe does not actually have to be given. It is enough if the associated person agrees or offers to give the bribe.

It is not clear yet if hospitality or promotional expenditures count as bribes.

Under the UK Bribery Act a hospitality payment is not regarded as a gratification unless it is disproportionate. In my view South Africa should follow the same approach.

For example, if paying for transport from the airport to a hotel for an on-site visit, taking clients to dinner, or giving them tickets to an event aligns with the norms for the industry, this probably will not be seen as a bribe.

Facilitation payments is another tricky area. These are small bribes made to minor officials to get routine administrative tasks done, such as applying for visas, clearing customs or getting licences.

The new law doesn’t say whether facilitation payments are regarded as bribes. In my view, they should be.

What companies need to do

Companies can avoid liability under the new law if they can prove that they had adequate procedures in place to prevent bribery by associated persons.

But the law doesn’t explain what “adequate procedures” are. Until the South African government provides guidance on this, it is useful to look at the guidance provided under the UK Bribery Act. It recommends the following:
- Companies should adopt procedures that are proportionate to the bribery risks they face and the nature, scale and complexity of their activities.
So a larger company operating in a high-risk market where bribery is known to be common must do more to prevent bribery than a smaller company in a low-risk market where bribery is less common.
- The company’s board of directors should foster a culture where bribery is never acceptable.
- Companies should periodically assess their exposure to potential bribery risks.
- Companies should carry out due diligence procedures on their associated persons.
- Companies should communicate their anti-bribery polices internally and externally. They should also provide training to ensure that everyone understands their anti-bribery position.
- Companies should monitor their procedures and improve them where necessary.
The way forward

The South African government should urgently publish official guidelines to help companies understand what they must do to comply with the new law.

The principles of South Africa’s corporate governance code, the King IV Report, can also be used to help companies comply with the new law. These principles promote ethical leadership, an ethical culture, risk management, accountability and transparency.

Guidelines are also important for small and medium enterprises. They also have a legal duty to put in place adequate procedures to prevent bribery.

Companies that have not already put in place anti-bribery procedures should act quickly. And they should check that their corporate hospitality policies are reasonable and proportionate to their businesses.

Companies should also evaluate their relationships with the people associated with them.

Setting up anti-bribery procedures may have cost implications. But not having them could cost far more. Having adequate procedures in place is the only defence under the new law.

– Bribery in South Africa: law now puts a duty on companies to act
– https://theconversation.com/bribery-in-south-africa-law-now-puts-a-duty-on-companies-to-act-260148

MIL OSI Africa –
July 16, 2025
MIL-OSI Africa: President Ramaphosa appoints acting Minister of Police

Source: APO – Report:

.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources, Gwede Mantashe, as Acting Minister of Police with immediate effect.

Minister Mantashe will serve in this capacity until Prof Firoz Cachalia, who will retire from his position at the University of the Witwatersrand at the end of this month, assumes his position at the start of August.

Minister Mantashe will retain his responsibilities as Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources.

– on behalf of The Presidency of the Republic of South Africa.

MIL OSI Africa –

July 16, 2025
MIL-OSI Analysis: Bribery in South Africa: law now puts a duty on companies to act
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Rehana Cassim, Professor in Company Law, University of South Africa

Bribery is one of the most common forms of corruption in South African companies and state institutions. This has a number of harmful outcomes.

Firstly, research shows that it weakens democracy and slows down economic growth. It also creates expensive barriers for honest businesses to succeed because it distorts fair competition. If bribery is not stopped or punished it has a demoralising effect, because it erodes trust and creates a culture where ethical conduct is undermined.

In 2024 a new law came into force in South Africa that puts a duty on companies to take proactive steps to prevent bribery. This law falls under a broader law dealing with corruption in South Africa.

The new provisions make it a crime for companies to fail to prevent bribery by an associated person. This is a major policy shift in South African anti-corruption law, and aligns with the United Kingdom’s anti-bribery legislation.

An associated person is anyone who performs services for the company. This can include suppliers, joint venture partners, distributors, consultants, and other professionals advising the company. It can even be other companies, like subsidiaries.

In my research I found that South Africa took inspiration from the United Kingdom (UK) Bribery Act 2010. The law makes it a criminal offence for commercial organisations to fail to prevent bribery by associated persons.

Despite some successes, enforcement of the UK Bribery Act has been slow and the volume of prosecutions has been low.

Based on my research into company conduct, given the current challenges in law enforcement and the low conviction rates for crimes of corruption, the new law might not work as well as hoped.

But with improved enforcement, it has potential to reduce bribery in South Africa.

What’s behind the new law?

The new addition to the law was introduced after a commission of inquiry found evidence of widespread bribery and corruption under former president Jacob Zuma.

For example, Angelo Agrizzi, former chief operating officer of African Global Operations (Pty) Ltd (formerly known as Bosasa), testified that Bosasa won about US$129 million in government tenders by paying about US$4 million in bribes to politicians and government officials. He said that every contract in which Bosasa was involved was linked to bribery and corruption.

The new law is designed to prevent this from happening.

If a person associated with a member of the private sector or an incorporated state-owned entity gives, agrees or offers to give a bribe (or gratification) to another person, the company could be held liable. This applies to companies as well as individuals, partnerships, trusts and other legal entities.

The bribe must be given by the associated person to get business for the company or to gain a business advantage for it. Importantly, a company can be found guilty even if it didn’t know about the bribe.

What counts as a bribe?

A bribe (or gratification) is not just money. It includes avoiding a loss or other disadvantage, releasing any obligation or liability, or giving any favour or advantage.

The bribe does not actually have to be given. It is enough if the associated person agrees or offers to give the bribe.

It is not clear yet if hospitality or promotional expenditures count as bribes.

Under the UK Bribery Act a hospitality payment is not regarded as a gratification unless it is disproportionate. In my view South Africa should follow the same approach.

For example, if paying for transport from the airport to a hotel for an on-site visit, taking clients to dinner, or giving them tickets to an event aligns with the norms for the industry, this probably will not be seen as a bribe.

Facilitation payments is another tricky area. These are small bribes made to minor officials to get routine administrative tasks done, such as applying for visas, clearing customs or getting licences.

The new law doesn’t say whether facilitation payments are regarded as bribes. In my view, they should be.

What companies need to do

Companies can avoid liability under the new law if they can prove that they had adequate procedures in place to prevent bribery by associated persons.

But the law doesn’t explain what “adequate procedures” are. Until the South African government provides guidance on this, it is useful to look at the guidance provided under the UK Bribery Act. It recommends the following:
- Companies should adopt procedures that are proportionate to the bribery risks they face and the nature, scale and complexity of their activities.
So a larger company operating in a high-risk market where bribery is known to be common must do more to prevent bribery than a smaller company in a low-risk market where bribery is less common.
- The company’s board of directors should foster a culture where bribery is never acceptable.
- Companies should periodically assess their exposure to potential bribery risks.
- Companies should carry out due diligence procedures on their associated persons.
- Companies should communicate their anti-bribery polices internally and externally. They should also provide training to ensure that everyone understands their anti-bribery position.
- Companies should monitor their procedures and improve them where necessary.
The way forward

The South African government should urgently publish official guidelines to help companies understand what they must do to comply with the new law.

The principles of South Africa’s corporate governance code, the King IV Report, can also be used to help companies comply with the new law. These principles promote ethical leadership, an ethical culture, risk management, accountability and transparency.

Guidelines are also important for small and medium enterprises. They also have a legal duty to put in place adequate procedures to prevent bribery.

Companies that have not already put in place anti-bribery procedures should act quickly. And they should check that their corporate hospitality policies are reasonable and proportionate to their businesses.

Companies should also evaluate their relationships with the people associated with them.

Setting up anti-bribery procedures may have cost implications. But not having them could cost far more. Having adequate procedures in place is the only defence under the new law.

Rehana Cassim does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Bribery in South Africa: law now puts a duty on companies to act – https://theconversation.com/bribery-in-south-africa-law-now-puts-a-duty-on-companies-to-act-260148
MIL OSI Analysis –
July 16, 2025
MIL-OSI Russia: Sobyanin: Moscow is the only region where a graduate received 400 points on the Unified State Exam

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: Moscow Government – Government of Moscow –

An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

Sergei Sobyanin congratulated graduates on the end of the period unified state exam (USE), in Moscow more than 90 thousand people passed it. He wrote about this in his telegram channel.

“For the second year in a row, the capital remains the only region where graduates showed the highest results.

400 points Nadezhda Yashmolkina, a student at school No. 1514, scored 100 points in one subject, 1,651 Muscovites received 200 points for two exams, and four received 300 points for three subjects,” the Moscow Mayor said.

Source: Sergei Sobyanin’s Telegram channel @mos_sobyanin

More and more schoolchildren are taking the Unified State Exam in natural sciences and technical subjects. The results are also improving. The number of those who scored 100 points in computer science has increased sixfold, twofold in chemistry, and 1.2 times in biology.

For admission, graduates from the capital choose the country’s leading universities. For example, Nadezhda Yashmolkina will study at the Faculty of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, and Stefania Nechaeva from School No. 1535, who received 300 points, chose the Chemistry Faculty of Lomonosov Moscow State University.

The high achievements of young Muscovites are also the result of a special approach to preparing graduates for the Unified State Exam in the capital’s schools. Special practical training takes up at least 40 percent of the study time, and on the Moscow Electronic School platform you can watch video analysis of assignments and take tests with automatic checking.

“The kids, together with their parents and teachers, have done a great job. Good luck and further success!” the Mayor of Moscow wrote.

Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source of the information. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

.

MIL OSI Russia News –

July 16, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: Why is Israel bombing Syria?

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ali Mamouri, Research Fellow, Middle East Studies, Deakin University

Conflict in Syria has escalated with Israel launching bombing raids against its northern neighbour.

It follows months of fluctuating tensions in southern Syria between the Druze minority and forces aligned with the new government in Damascus. Clashes erupted in the last few days, prompting Israeli airstrikes in defence of the Druze by targeting government bases, tanks, and heavy weaponry.

Israel Minister Amichai Chikli has called the Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa –

a terrorist, a barbaric murderer who should be eliminated without delay.

Despite the incendiary language, a ceasefire has been reached, halting the fighting – for now.

Syrian forces have begun withdrawing heavy military equipment from the region, while Druze fighters have agreed to suspend armed resistance, allowing government troops to regain control of the main Druze city of Suwayda.

What do the Druze want?

The Druze are a small religious minority estimated at over one million people, primarily concentrated in the mountainous regions of Lebanon, Syria, Israel, and Jordan.

In Syria, their population is estimated at around 700,000 (of around 23 million total Syrian population), with the majority residing in the southern As-Suwayda Governorate – or province – which serves as their traditional stronghold.

Since the 2011 uprising against the Assad regime, the Druze have maintained a degree of autonomy, successfully defending their territory from various threats, including ISIS and other jihadist groups.

Following Assad’s fall late last year, the Druze — along with other minority groups such as the Kurds in the east and Alawites in the west — have called for the country to be federalized.

They advocate for a decentralised model that would grant greater autonomy to regional communities.

However, the transitional government in Damascus is pushing for a centralised state and seeking to reassert full control over the entire Syrian territory. This fundamental disagreement has led to periodic clashes between Druze forces and government-aligned troops.

Despite the temporary ceasefire, tensions remain high. Given the core political dispute remains unresolved, many expect renewed conflict to erupt in the near future.

Why is Israel involved?

The ousting of the Assad regime created a strategic opening for Israel to expand its influence in southern Syria. Israel’s involvement is driven by two primary concerns:

1. Securing its northern border

Israel views the power vacuum in Syria’s south as a potential threat, particularly the risk of anti-Israeli militias establishing a foothold near its northern border.

During the recent clashes, the Israeli military declared

The Israeli Defence Forces will not allow a military threat to exist in southern Syria and will act against it.

Likewise, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has stated he will not allow Syrian forces south of Damascus:

We are acting to prevent the Syrian regime from harming them [the Druze] and to ensure the demilitarisation of the area adjacent to our border with Syria.

In line with these warnings, the Israeli Air Force has conducted extensive strikes against Syrian military infrastructure, targeting bases, aircraft, tanks, and heavy weaponry.

These operations are intended to prevent any future buildup of military capacity that could be used against Israel from the Syrian side of the border.

2. Supporting a federated Syria

Israel is backing the two prominent allied minorities in Syria — the Kurds in the northeast and the Druze in the south — in their push for a federal governance model.

A fragmented Syria, divided along ethnic and religious lines, is seen by some Israeli policymakers as a way to maintain Israeli domination in the region.

This vision is part of what some Israeli officials have referred to as a “New Middle East” — one where regional stability and normalisation emerge through reshaped borders and alliances.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar recently echoed this strategy, stating:

A single Syrian state with effective control and sovereignty over all its territory is unrealistic.

For Israel, the logical path forward is autonomy for the various minorities in Syria within a federal structure.

The United States’ role?

According to unconfirmed reports, Washington has privately urged Israel to scale back its military strikes on Syria in order to prevent further escalation and preserve regional stability.

The US is promoting increased support for Syria’s new regime in an effort to help it reassert control and stabilise the country.

There are also indications the US and its allies are encouraging the Syrian government to move toward normalisation with Israel. Reports suggest Tel Aviv has held talks with the new Sharaa-led regime about the possibility of Syria joining the Abraham Accords (diplomatic agreements between Israel and several Arab states), which the regime in Damascus appears open to.

US Special Envoy Tom Barrack has described the recent clashes as “worrisome”, calling for de-escalation and emphasising the need for

a peaceful, inclusive outcome for all stakeholders – including the Druze, Bedouin tribes, the Syrian government, and Israeli forces.

Given the deep-rooted political divisions, competing regional agendas, and unresolved demands from minority groups, the unrest in southern Syria is unlikely to end soon.

Despite another temporary ceasefire, underlying tensions remain. Further clashes are not only possible but highly probable.

Ali Mamouri does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Why is Israel bombing Syria? – https://theconversation.com/why-is-israel-bombing-syria-261259

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

July 16, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: Why is Israel bombing Syria?

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ali Mamouri, Research Fellow, Middle East Studies, Deakin University

Conflict in Syria has escalated with Israel launching bombing raids against its northern neighbour.

It follows months of fluctuating tensions in southern Syria between the Druze minority and forces aligned with the new government in Damascus. Clashes erupted in the last few days, prompting Israeli airstrikes in defence of the Druze by targeting government bases, tanks, and heavy weaponry.

Israel Minister Amichai Chikli has called the Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa –

a terrorist, a barbaric murderer who should be eliminated without delay.

Despite the incendiary language, a ceasefire has been reached, halting the fighting – for now.

Syrian forces have begun withdrawing heavy military equipment from the region, while Druze fighters have agreed to suspend armed resistance, allowing government troops to regain control of the main Druze city of Suwayda.

What do the Druze want?

The Druze are a small religious minority estimated at over one million people, primarily concentrated in the mountainous regions of Lebanon, Syria, Israel, and Jordan.

In Syria, their population is estimated at around 700,000 (of around 23 million total Syrian population), with the majority residing in the southern As-Suwayda Governorate – or province – which serves as their traditional stronghold.

Since the 2011 uprising against the Assad regime, the Druze have maintained a degree of autonomy, successfully defending their territory from various threats, including ISIS and other jihadist groups.

Following Assad’s fall late last year, the Druze — along with other minority groups such as the Kurds in the east and Alawites in the west — have called for the country to be federalized.

They advocate for a decentralised model that would grant greater autonomy to regional communities.

However, the transitional government in Damascus is pushing for a centralised state and seeking to reassert full control over the entire Syrian territory. This fundamental disagreement has led to periodic clashes between Druze forces and government-aligned troops.

Despite the temporary ceasefire, tensions remain high. Given the core political dispute remains unresolved, many expect renewed conflict to erupt in the near future.

Why is Israel involved?

The ousting of the Assad regime created a strategic opening for Israel to expand its influence in southern Syria. Israel’s involvement is driven by two primary concerns:

1. Securing its northern border

Israel views the power vacuum in Syria’s south as a potential threat, particularly the risk of anti-Israeli militias establishing a foothold near its northern border.

During the recent clashes, the Israeli military declared

The Israeli Defence Forces will not allow a military threat to exist in southern Syria and will act against it.

Likewise, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has stated he will not allow Syrian forces south of Damascus:

We are acting to prevent the Syrian regime from harming them [the Druze] and to ensure the demilitarisation of the area adjacent to our border with Syria.

In line with these warnings, the Israeli Air Force has conducted extensive strikes against Syrian military infrastructure, targeting bases, aircraft, tanks, and heavy weaponry.

These operations are intended to prevent any future buildup of military capacity that could be used against Israel from the Syrian side of the border.

2. Supporting a federated Syria

Israel is backing the two prominent allied minorities in Syria — the Kurds in the northeast and the Druze in the south — in their push for a federal governance model.

A fragmented Syria, divided along ethnic and religious lines, is seen by some Israeli policymakers as a way to maintain Israeli domination in the region.

This vision is part of what some Israeli officials have referred to as a “New Middle East” — one where regional stability and normalisation emerge through reshaped borders and alliances.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar recently echoed this strategy, stating:

A single Syrian state with effective control and sovereignty over all its territory is unrealistic.

For Israel, the logical path forward is autonomy for the various minorities in Syria within a federal structure.

The United States’ role?

According to unconfirmed reports, Washington has privately urged Israel to scale back its military strikes on Syria in order to prevent further escalation and preserve regional stability.

The US is promoting increased support for Syria’s new regime in an effort to help it reassert control and stabilise the country.

There are also indications the US and its allies are encouraging the Syrian government to move toward normalisation with Israel. Reports suggest Tel Aviv has held talks with the new Sharaa-led regime about the possibility of Syria joining the Abraham Accords (diplomatic agreements between Israel and several Arab states), which the regime in Damascus appears open to.

US Special Envoy Tom Barrack has described the recent clashes as “worrisome”, calling for de-escalation and emphasising the need for

a peaceful, inclusive outcome for all stakeholders – including the Druze, Bedouin tribes, the Syrian government, and Israeli forces.

Given the deep-rooted political divisions, competing regional agendas, and unresolved demands from minority groups, the unrest in southern Syria is unlikely to end soon.

Despite another temporary ceasefire, underlying tensions remain. Further clashes are not only possible but highly probable.

Ali Mamouri does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Why is Israel bombing Syria? – https://theconversation.com/why-is-israel-bombing-syria-261259

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

July 16, 2025