Research outcomes and highlights

Selected research highlights from Prospero and its progenitor HPC systems at LJMU:

  • November 2025: Prospero users named amongst the world’s most influential scientists.

  • November 2025: Prospero modelling of Additive Manufacturing in a paper by Andrew Burgess features at the 9th International Conference on Engineering Technologies, in Konya, Turkey.

  • October 2025: Prospero is igniting discoveries in dinosaur locomotion.

  • September 2025: High-profile outcomes from Prospero are summarised in a review article written by Cristin Merritt of our HPC partners Alces Flight.

  • September 2025: Prospero’s fifth birthday is celebrated with a multi-disciplinary symposium .

  • March 2025: Prospero helps astronomers discover oxygen in the most distant galaxies .

  • October 2024: New Scientist Live ‘huge success’ for astrophysicists (LJMU news story)

  • October 2024: Space Oddity: Most distant disc galaxy discovered (LJMU news story; CNN write-up)

  • September 2024: The universe is smoother than the standard model of cosmology suggests – so is the theory broken? (LJMU news story)

  • June 2024: The story of Prospero’s genesis features in Professor Robert Crain’s inaugural professorial lecture .

  • May 2024: James Webb telescope sees most distant galaxy (LJMU news story)

  • May 2024: Scientists to simulate 14 billion years of cosmic evolution (LJMU news story)

  • February 2024: TARGET project secures €10m funding to predict heart disease and stroke with AI (LJMU news story)

  • October 2023: Biggest ever supercomputer simulation to investigate the Universe (LJMU news story)

  • August 2023: Magnetic fields “central to creation of Milky Way” (LJMU news story)

  • August 2023: Scientists from the Astrophysics Research Institute showcase their latest simulations of the universe at event (LJMU news story)

  • July 2023: Discovery of new type of space dust excites astrophysicists (LJMU news story)

  • Dec 2022: Prospero characterises the most distant galaxies discovered with the James Webb Space Telescope (LJMU news story)

  • Dec 2022 Dr. Juan Ahuir-Torres wins best presentation and young researcher award at the ISAAT2022 symposium for his molecular dynamics simulations.

  • Mar 2022: Physicists to simulate the evolution of the Universe (LJMU news story)

  • Jan 2022: Royal Astronomical Society award for ARI’s ‘virtual universes’ (LJMU news story)

  • Jan 2016: Galaxies are “wasteful” and retain fewer materials needed to build stars and planets, says new study (LJMU news story)

  • Apr 2016: Educate North Awards 2016 (LJMU news story)

  • Jan 2016: Simulated evolution of the Universe (LJMU news story)

  • Mar 2015: ARI creates simulation of the Universe with realistic galaxies (LJMU news story)

Major research grants (>£25k) linked to Prospero and its predecessors

  • Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Grant and Project Partner Matched Funding, 2025, total £100,000
    PI: Dr Eddie Blanco-Davis LRF: Dr David Hitchmough
  • Royal Society Research Grant, 2025, £25,000
    PI: Professor Rui Leite Portela Martiniano
  • EU Horizon Research & Innovation Programme, 2024-2028, €10,000,000
    PIs: Professor Sandra Ortega-Martorell & Prof Ivan Olier-Caparroso
  • Science & Technology Research Council Astronomy Small Award (x2), 2024-2028, £500,000
    PI: Professor Robert Crain
  • Science & Technology Research Council Astronomy Small Award, 2024-2028, £500,000
    PI: Professor Ian McCarthy
  • Science & Technology Research Council DiRAC facility, 2024-2027, 500 million core-hours (in-kind £9 million)
    Co-Is: Professor Robert Crain, Dr. Andreea Font, Dr. Robert Grand, Professor Ian McCarthy
  • Royal Society University Research Fellowship, 2023-2031, £1,300,000
    PI: Dr Jonathan Henshaw
  • Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship, 2023-2031, £864,000
    PI: Dr Gavin Lamb
  • Science & Technology Research Council Ernest Rutherford Fellowship, 2023-2028, £526,000
    PI: Dr Robert Grand
  • UKRI Frontier Research Grant (Selected by the ERC for a Consolidator award), 2023-2028, £2.2 million
    PI: Prof Peter Falkingham
  • Science & Technology Research Council DiRAC facility, 2022-2025, 470 million core-hours (in-kind £8.4 million)
    Co-Is: Professor Robert Crain, Dr. Andreea Font, Professor Ian McCarthy
  • Science & Technology Research Council Consolidated Grant, 2019-2022, £1.5 million
    PI: Professor Phil James, multiple co-Is from the Astrophysics Research Institute
  • Science & Technology Research Council Ernest Rutherford Fellowship, 2019-2024, £484,000
    PI: Dr Renske Smit
  • UK Research & Innovatation Future Leaders Fellowship, 2019-2026, £965,000
    PI: Dr Sebastian Kamann
  • Royal Society University Research Fellowship (renewal), 2019-2022, £434,000
    PI: Professor Robert Crain
  • European Research Council Consolidator Grant, 2018-2023, EUR1.7 million
    PI: Professor Ian McCarthy
  • Science & Technology Research Council Centres for Doctoral Training, 2017-2021, £226,000
    Co-PI: Dr Andreea Font; Co-Is: Professor Robert Crain, Professor Ian McCarthy
  • Royal Society University Research Fellowship, 2014-2019, £504,000
    PI: Professor Robert Crain

Publications using Prospero:

Research outputs produced by the Prospero userbase are tracked centrally using the Symplectic database. Users are added to the Symplectic Prospero group as part of the onboarding procedure. An up-to-date list of publications from the Prospero userbase can be provided on request. Between 2020 and 2025, the Prospero userbase produced nearly 1000 articles, published in over 300 journals.