UBDC social scientist receives smart data research fellowship

Bartolemeo Meletti and Dr Mingyu Zhu will use their Fellowships to address some of the UK's most pressing challenges, from combating AI-generated misinformation to forecasting demand for electric vehicle charging infrastructure.  

UBDC's Dr Mingyu Zhu is a Research Associate in Urban Studies & Social Policy. His research will combine smart meter data, housing characteristics, and weather records to model unhealthy indoor conditions.

By developing a thermal model and national cold-homes index, the ‘Cold homes and health risks’ project will help target interventions to reduce illness, fuel poverty, and health inequality. 

Bartolomeo Meletti is a Senior Lecturer in Law and Head of Knowledge Exchange at CREATe, the Centre for Regulation of the Creative Economy. He will develop legal andtechnical infrastructure to manage copyright, data protection, and permissionsin digital cultural collections. 

Working with major institutions such as the British Library, the ‘Unlocking cultural and creative data’ project will enable safer access to cultural data for research, innovation, and responsible AI.

Professor Sara Carter, Vice President and Head of College of Social Sciences at UofG, said: “I am delighted that two of our colleagues have received these prestigious Fellowships that will allow them to make a real difference to society and how we live our everyday lives. This reflects the quality and scale of social sciences at the University of Glasgow and the vital impact of our research and teaching.”

The Fellowship projects, each worth up to £200,000, cover SDR UK's four research themes: productivity and prosperity, health and wellbeing, digital society, and sustainability.

 All projects will start in February 2026 and run for 18 months.

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