Five new research hubs across the UK will receive more than £52 million in government funding to develop technology that spots serious illness earlier, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has announced. Industry, charity and NHS partners will add a further £37.5 million in cash and in-kind support, taking the total value of the programme past £89 million.

The hubs, funded through UKRI's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, are based in Exeter, London, Southampton and Sunderland. Each one targets a different clinical challenge: brain health and dementia, traumatic brain injury, heart disease, respiratory infection and eye health.

At the University of Exeter, the BRAINIAC hub will build the UK's first network of NHS brain health clinics, where artificial intelligence combines blood tests, brain scans and memory tests. UKRI says the approach could speed up dementia diagnosis by up to 50 per cent, with more than 1,700 patients involved across 10 NHS sites.

Imperial College London will lead work on tools that assess head injuries at the pitch side and after road accidents, while King's College London focuses on personalised heart care. Southampton's hub is developing smartphone apps that listen to coughs and breathing, alongside wearables and rapid tests for respiratory infections.

The fifth hub, based at the University of Sunderland, will use AI to read routine eye scans for early signs of diabetes and heart disease. Science Minister Chris McDonald visited Sunderland Specialist Eye Hospital to launch that hub, known as NORI, which received just over £9.1 million from UKRI. UKRI says the investment builds on earlier hubs whose work has included AI-assisted brain tumour surgery, and that the new tools are designed to help people manage their health outside hospital and ease pressure on the NHS. Read the full announcement on the UKRI website.