Research Funding | Prof. Hubert Shum's Research Team

External Grants

2027 – 2030

✦ Circular Economy For and in Space (CE4Space)
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Networks (Ref: 101311999): €4.48 mil (€1.39 mil to Durham University), Co-Investigator ()
Received from European Commission, EU

2026 – 2029

✦ Multi-Modal Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Detection and Tracking
Durham University Match Fund Program (Ref: 4257297): £97,647, Principal Investigator ()
Received from Openworks Engineering/Durham University, UK

Researched and developed deep learning based multi-model software and hardware platform for drone detection and tracking.
Supported the studentship of a PhD, hardware equipment, data and resource access.

2026 – 2030

✦ FARMAR: Farmer-in-the-loop heritage-aware AI and Robotic Mechanisation for Agricultural Resilience
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Staff Exchanges (Ref: ): €1.79 mil (€535k to Durham University), Co-Investigator (PI: Dr Amir Atapour-Abarghouei)
Received from European Commission, EU

2026 – 2029

✦ Satellite Mitigation For Ground-based Optical Astronomy
STFC Astronomy Observation and Theory Small Awards (Ref: ): £658,742, Co-Investigator (PI: Prof. James Osborn)
Received from STFC, UK

2026 – 2027

SpaceWatch: Deployable Ground-based Sensors for Detection, Tracking and Characterisation of Space Objects for Sustainable Operations and Reliable Communication
NESCA Lift-off Fund (Ref: 5077931): £64,843, Principal Investigator ()
Received from North East Space Communication Accelerator, UK

2026 – 2027

Reliable Communications To Small Launch Vehicles
NESCA Lift-off Fund (Ref: 5003894): £60,345, Co-Investigator (PI: Prof. James Osborn)
Received from North East Space Communication Accelerator, UK

2026 – 2026

AI Feasibility Study with Mech-Tool Engineering Ltd
Consultancy (Ref: ): £2,949, Principal Investigator ()
Received from Mech-Tool Engineering Ltd, UK

2023 – 2027

✦ Northern Health Futures Hub (NortHFutures)
EPSRC Digital Health Hub Pilot Scheme (Ref: EP/X031012/1): £4.17 million, Co-Investigator (PI: Prof. Abigail Durrant)
Received from The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, UK

Founded a new digital health hub in North East England with world-leading research expertise in health, social care and digital technology design.
Aimed to co-create a health-tech research & innovation ecosystem addressing unmet health needs and inequalities.
Formed a consortium with 6 universities including Durham University, Newcastle University, Northumbria University, Teesside University, University of Cumbria and University of Sunderland.
Worked with 44 project partners, including the NHS, city councils, patient and public involvement groups, and industry partners such as Amazon, IBM and Microsoft.
Evaluated and awarded multiple sandpit projects worth over £800k in total.

2022 – 2024

✦ Skin Lesion Classification with Real-World Data
Knowledge Transfer Partnership (Ref: 13457): £143,393, Principal Investigator ()
Received from Innovate UK, UK

Tackled health inequality introduced by data bias in AI health applications.
Researched and developed a robust, bias-aware skin lesion classification system validated with NHS data.
Supported a collaboration with Prof. Toby P. Breckon, Dr Noura Al Moubayed, and Dr Amir Atapour-Abarghouei at Durham University, as well as the industry partner Evergreen Life.
Recruited a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow Dr Thomas Winterbottom for research and development.

2022 – 2023

Autonomous Persistent Wide Area Surveillance of Human and Vehicle Activity
Defence and Security Accelerator (Ref: DSTL0000007030, ACC6031106): £93,978, Co-Investigator (PI: Prof. Toby P. Breckon)
Received from The Ministry of Defence (DASA), UK

To enhance the surveillance capacity of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, researched and developed a 360-degree thermal surveillance solution.
Supported a research project with Toby P. Breckon, Amir Atapour-Abarghouei and Neelanjan Bhowmik.
Recruited two Post-Doctoral Research Fellows Yona Falinie A. Gaus and Brian K. S. Isaac-Medina for system development.

2020 – 2021

Tracking Drones Across Different Platforms with Machine Vision
Security Technology Research Innovation Grants Programme (S-TRIG) (Ref: 007CD): £32,727, Principal Investigator ()
Received from The Catapult Network (S-TRIG), UK

Provided the UK government with extra capacity to identify and counter hostile drones (see YouTube demonstration).
Supported a research project with Chris G. Willcocks, General Autonomy Ltd., Toby P. Breckon and Daniel Organisciak.
Recruited two Research Assistants Brian K. S. Isaac-Medina and Matthew Poyser for developing the project.
Interviewed by the UK Catapult Network on how AI and computer vision enhance security.
Demonstrated project outcomes in the TRIG showcase event.

2019 – 2020

✦ D-FOCUS: Drone-FOrmation Control for countering future Unmanned aerial Systems
Defence and Security Accelerator (Ref: DSTLX-1000140725, ACC6007422): £124,901, Principal Investigator ()
Received from The Ministry of Defence (DASA), UK

Tackled defence and security concerns on malicious unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) through the research and development of an innovative counter-UAV system using multiple drones.
Supported a collaborative research project with Prof. Subramanian Ramamoorthy from the University of Edinburgh, Dr He Wang from the University of Leeds, and the industry partner DroneLab.
Supported the recruitment of a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Dr John Hartley and the cost of equipment.
1 out of 3 universities, together with the University of Cambridge and University College London, awared in this call.

2019 – 2019

Wound Monitoring with Depth Cameras on Portable Systems
GX Project Grants Scheme (Ref: ): £10,242, Principal Investigator ()
Received from Newcastle Gateshead Initiative, UK

Designed and developed a smartphone-based wound-monitoring application for accessible healthcare monitoring with a depth camera.
Supported a collaborative research project with an industrial partner Indigo Multimedia.
Recruited a Research Assistant Bingzhang Hu for developing the project.

2019 – 2022

Modelling Human Motion for Synthesis and Recognition with Deep Learning on Surface Features
Royal Society International Exchanges (Ref: IES\R2\181024): £12,000, Principal Investigator ()
Received from The Royal Society, UK

Researched human body surface representations using deep learning.
Supported a collaborative research project with Dr Antonio Mucherino from the University of Rennes 1, France.

2019 – 2021

Autonomous Monitoring for Patients and Older People using Smart Environments with Sensor Fusion
Royal Society International Exchanges (Ref: IES\R1\191147): £11,940, Co-Applicant (PI: Dr Edmond S. L. Ho)
Received from The Royal Society, UK

Researched artificial intelligence solutions for motion-based disease prediction via color video feeds, facilitating more accessible healthcare in developing countries.
Supported a collaborative research project with Prof. Samiran Chattopadhyay from Jadavpur University, India.

2017 – 2019

An Affective Smart Environment for Personalized Learning and Teaching
Royal Society International Exchanges (Ref: IE160609): £11,841, Principal Investigator ()
Received from The Royal Society, UK

Researched facial analysis with deep learning, facilitating autonomous student learning support in developing countries.
Supported a collaborative research project with Dr Matangini Chattopadhyay from Jadavpur University, India.

2015 – 2018

Sustainable Green Economies through Learning, Innovation, Networking and Knowledge Exchange (gLink)
Erasmus Mundus Action 2 Programme (Ref: 2014-0861/001-001): €3.03 million, Northumbria University Funding Management Leader (PI: Prof. Nauman Aslam)
Received from Erasmus Mundus

Led by Northumbria University, supported collaborative research and capacity development among 18 partner universities, with 9 from Europe and 9 from Asia.
Enabled mutual capacity development between developed and developing countries through a research programme emphasising training and staff exchanges.
Led the grant management within Northumbria University and coordinated cross-institute grant management and research activities.
Within my research team, supported 3 Post-Doctoral Research Fellows (Dr Worasak Rueangsirarak, Dr Ying Huang, Dr Pengpeng Hu) and 1 PhD (Dr Shanfeng Hu).

2014 – 2016

✦ Interaction-based Human Motion Analysis
EPSRC First Grant Scheme (Ref: EP/M002632/1): £123,819, Principal Investigator ()
Received from The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, UK

Official project report on UK Research and Innovation.
Researched interaction features for modelling human-human and human-environment interactions.
Supported 1 Post-Doctoral Research Fellows (Dr Lining Zhang) for 18 months.

Internal Grants

2027 – 2028

Out of Service: Engaging with Infrastructure Rupture, Failure and Collapse
Institute of Advanced Study Major Projects (Ref: ): £13,470, Co-Principal-Investigator (Co-PI: Prof. Jutta Bakonyi)
Received from Durham University Institute of Advanced Study, UK

2025 – 2026

Cross-Institutional Research Capacity Development in Human-Robot Interaction
Seedcorn Funding Singapore Management University and Durham University (Ref: 3787041): £15,000, Principal Investigator ()
Received from Singapore Management University/Durham University, Singapore/UK

Forged a new strategic research collaboration between Singapore Management University and Durham University.
Facilitated joint research in human-robot interaction and cross-institutional capacity building.

2025 – 2026

Robotics and Sensing Equipment for Research and Education
EPSRC Core Equipment (Ref: ): £70,000, Principal Investigator ()
Received from EPSRC via Durham University, UK

Procured the latest robotics and sensing equipment for research and education.

2025 – 2025

A Pilot Study To Deliver Healthcare Innovation For Diabetic Eye Disease In The North East
EPSRC Impact Acceleration Accounts (Ref: 2960307): £22,500, Co-Investigator (PI: Prof. Camila Caiado)
Received from EPSRC via Durham University, UK

Co-developed a pilot study for diabetic eye disease with the NHS.

2024 – 2028

✦ Durham University Space Research Centre
Durham University Strategy Research Fund (Ref: 1755302): £2.76 million, Co-Founder and Co-Investigator, Department of Computer Science Leader (PI: Prof. James Osborn)
Received from Durham University, UK

As a Co-Founder, founded a new multi-disciplinary European Space Agency and supported by the Satellite Applications Catapult to found a new European Space Agency lab at Durham.
As Computer Science Leader, oversaw the recruitment of one Associate Professor, one Post-doctoral Research Fellow and one fully-funded PhD for the Computer Science department, corresponding to £460k of income.
Connected the Computer Science Department with the Department of Physics, Business, Law and School of Government and International Affairs to attract space research and grant opportunities.
Identified business synergies with industrial partners such as NVIDIA, Thales, and Lockheed Martin.
To train skilled workers for the space industry, led the curriculum design of a new course MSc in Scientific Computing and Data Analysis - Space Science and Engineering.

2024 – 2025

Advancing 360 Degree Real-time Video Surveillance with Automated Anomaly Detection
EPSRC Impact Acceleration Accounts (Ref: 2312537): £54,980, Co-Investigator (PI: Prof. Toby P. Breckon)
Received from EPSRC via Durham University, UK

Increased the Technology Readiness Level of the team’s ongoing 360 surveillance research.

2022 – 2022

Pose Estimation for Health Professional Education: Development of an Objective Computerized Approach for Measuring and Assessing Technical Competencies in Nursing
Northumbria University Application Seed Funding Scheme (Ref: ): £16,428, Co-Applicant (PI: Dr Merryn D. Constable)
Received from Northumbria University, UK

Researched deep learning based autonomous action quality assessment on nursing training.
Supported a multi-disciplinary research project involving computer science from Durham University, nursing and psychology from Northumbria University, and medicine from McMaster University.
Recruited my PhD Francis Xiatian Zhang as a Part-time Research Assistant.

2020 – 2022

Start-Up Research Grant (Ref: ): £8,000, Principal Investigator ()
Received from Durham University, UK

Supported the development of my new research team on human-centric computer vision and graphics.
Provided resources to attract, train and support 7 PhDs in the first two years.
Facilitated the awarding of multiple external grants such as the 2022 Knowledge Transfer Partnership and the 2020 Security Technology Research Innovation Grants Programme (S-TRIG).

2015 – 2017

Top-Up Fund for EPSRC Projects (Ref: ): £24,300, Principal Investigator ()
Received from Northumbria University, UK

Increased the scale of my EPSRC project EP/M002632/1.

2015 – 2017

Research and Enterprise Reward Scheme (Ref: 510972): £9,700, Principal Investigator ()
Received from Northumbria University, UK

Initiated collaborative research projects with academic and industrial partners.
Hired 3 part-time Research Assistants (Ranti Endeley, Alex Ono, Matin Salali) for research support.

2013 – 2018

Capital Expenditure for Research Equipment (Ref: 2013: 510227, 2014: 510536, 2015: 511276 & 511671, 2016: 511988, 2017: 512820): £134,000, Principal Investigator ()
Received from Northumbria University, UK

Received successively five years of competitive internal grants to set up a new Motion Capture and Virtual Reality for both research and teaching.
Purchased hardware equipment including inertia-based 3D motion capture system, industrial-level 3D scanners, virtual reality equipment, visual sensors, 4K production cameras and camcorders, and high-performance GPU workstations.

2012 – 2013

Start-Up Research Grant (Ref: 100700-IO114845): £2,000, Principal Investigator ()
Received from Northumbria University, UK

Facilitated a new research project and produced an IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics paper.

2012 – 2012

Vacation Research Assistantship (Ref: ): £1,000, Principal Investigator ()
Received from The University of Worcester, UK

Recruited a short-term Research Assistant Chris Blythe and produced a conference paper.

2009 – 2010

Initiating Knowledge Transfer Fund (Ref: 7P-2414): £15,000, Contributing Researcher (PI: Prof. Taku Komura, PhD Supervisor)
Received from Edinburgh Research and Innovation Department, The University of Edinburgh, UK

Initial development for commercialising my ACM Transactions on Graphics publication.
Produced software for crowd interaction simulation as a plugin of Autodesk Maya.
Resulted in a patent.

Scholarships

2026 – 2030

Vision-Language Models for Counter-UAS and Decision Support
EPSRC Doctoral Landscape Award (Ref: ): £102,000, Principal Investigator ()
Received from EPSRC via Durham University, UK

2020 – 2022

Postgraduate Research Scholarship (Ref: ): £65,000, Principal Investigator ()
Received from Northumbria University, UK

Supported one PhD student (Dr Manli Zhu) for three years of study.

2018 – 2021

Postgraduate Research Scholarship (Ref: ): £65,000, Principal Investigator ()
Received from Northumbria University, UK

Supported one PhD student (Dr Daniel Organisciak) for three years of study.

2017 – 2018

Graduate Program for Embodiment Informatics (Ref: H29-LDGSN-024 & H29-LDGSN-025): ¥2.93 million (~£20,000), Co-Applicant (PI: Prof. Shigeo Morishima, Japanese Partner)
Received from Waseda University, Japan

Researched 3D car shape reconstruction from a 2D sketch, addressing demands from the automotive industry in Japan.
Supported 1 Japanese PhD (Naoki Nozawa) from Waseda University, Japan, to work under the supervision of Dr. Hubert P. H. Shum at Northumbria University, UK.

2015 – 2016

MEXT Top Global University Project Scholarship (Ref: ): £5,500, Co-Applicant (PI: Prof. Shigeo Morishima, Japanese Partner)
Received from The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology

Researched character animation with real-time body surface deformation.
Supported 1 Japanese PhD (Dr Naoya Iwamoto) from Waseda University, Japan, to work under the supervision of Dr. Hubert P. H. Shum at Northumbria University, UK.

2015 – 2018

Postgraduate Research Scholarship (Ref: ): £65,000, Principal Investigator ()
Received from Northumbria University, UK

Supported a PhD student (Dr Jingtian Zhang) for three years of study.

2015 – 2018

Postgraduate Research Scholarship (Ref: ): £65,000, Principal Investigator ()
Received from Northumbria University, UK

Supported a PhD student (Dr Yijun Shen) for three years of study.