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Aqueduct

Beta opening soon. Free while it’s in beta.

Find the UK researchers who can solve your R&D problem

Describe a technical challenge in your own words. Aqueduct searches across UK publications and projects, finding the researchers whose work addresses your challenge, sets out why, and provides you with the evidence behind every match.

Type your own challenge. Register and we’ll run it as your first search.Register with this challenge

Who it’s for

Three kinds of organisation use Aqueduct to find research expertise. Each brings a different question.

IndustryR&D teams in defence, energy, manufacturing, space and life sciences looking for a technical partner, a feasibility study or a Knowledge Transfer Partnership.How it helps RTOsResearch and technology organisations, such as Catapults, building consortia, finding academic partners for bids and scouting expertise.How it helps UniversitiesKnowledge exchange teams routing an incoming enquiry to the right colleague, across departments, in one search.How it helps

NHS or public sector? Bring a service or clinical challenge to the platform in the same way. We are currently exploring health research data for a later release.

What you get back

For each researcher who fits: who they are, why their work matches your challenge, and the evidence behind it. Pick a type of organisation to see an example.

The challenge

“We need a coating that stops marine growth on offshore sensors without using biocides, and lasts at least two years in the North Sea.”

One of the matches Aqueduct returns

Morag Lindsay
Marine materials and surface engineering, University A
Established researcher, 18 years publishing · Affiliation from latest publication
Good fit
2 cited papers, UKRI award
  • fouling-release coatings
  • non-biocidal surfaces
  • marine biofilms
  • sensor housings
  • sea trials

Why it fitsWritten by AI for this challenge

She develops biocide-free fouling-release coatings 1 and tests them on instrumented buoys in Scottish waters 2. She also leads a funded project with an offshore operator on sensor housings A.

Evidence

  • 1
    Fouling-release coatings without biocides for marine sensorsPaper, 2025, cited in the assessment
    DOI [example]
  • 2
    Field performance of low-adhesion coatings on instrumented buoysPaper, 2024, cited in the assessment
    DOI [example]
  • A
    Durable antifouling for offshore sensor housingsPrincipal investigator, with [offshore operator], [dates]Source: UKRI Gateway to Research, [award ref]

Researcher summaryFrom OpenAlex, written in advance

Morag Lindsay researches surface chemistry for immersed structures, focusing on coatings that resist marine fouling without releasing biocides. Her recent work moves from laboratory panels to instrumented buoys and offshore sensor housings.

84 indexed outputs

Illustrative examples. The researchers, universities, papers and projects are fictional.

An assessment, not a list of names

Fit in words

Strong, good, partial or weak. Never a score, and never a judgement of the person.

Every claim cited

Numbers mark papers, letters mark funded projects. Each opens the record it rests on.

Ranked your way

Best match, Cutting edge or Collaboration-ready: change the order without changing the matches.

A first email, drafted

We don’t hold contact details. We find the public profile and draft an introduction for you to send.

If nothing fits, we say so, rather than pad the list.

How it works

  1. Describe the challenge

    In your own technical terms: the objective, what is in the way, and the constraints that matter.

  2. We read the evidence

    Your challenge is compared with publications and UKRI-funded projects from UK universities.

  3. See who fits, and why

    A written assessment for each match, with its sources. You decide who to approach.

For industry

Find the academic partner your R&D problem needs

R&D teams in defence, energy, manufacturing, space and life sciences looking for a technical partner, a feasibility study or a Knowledge Transfer Partnership.

Register interest

  • Start from the problem

    Describe it the way your engineers would. You don’t need to know the academic vocabulary or who works where.

  • See the evidence before you make contact

    Each match comes with the papers and funded projects it rests on, so you can judge the fit yourself.

  • A way in, not a cold call

    We find the researcher’s public profile and draft a first email for you to send.

For RTOs

Build the right consortium for the bid

Research and technology organisations, such as Catapults, building consortia, finding academic partners for bids and scouting expertise.

Register interest

  • Look beyond your usual network

    Search across UK universities for the expertise a call demands, not only the groups you already know.

  • Partners with a track record

    See who has published on the question and who has already led funded projects in the area.

  • Scout quickly, in your own terms

    Test an idea for a consortium in minutes and see whether the expertise exists before you commit.

For universities

Route every enquiry to the right colleague

Knowledge exchange teams routing an incoming enquiry to the right colleague, across departments, in one search.

Register interest

  • One search across departments

    Take an enquiry as it arrives and see who across your institution works on it, whatever school they sit in.

  • Answer with evidence

    Reply to a company with named colleagues and the published work that makes them relevant.

  • Shaped around your institution

    We’re interested in working with universities on their own researchers and industry relationships. Talk to us.

Built on open research data
  • OpenAlexPublications
  • ORCIDResearcher identifiers
  • UKRI Gateway to ResearchPublicly funded projects

Be among the first to try it

The beta is free. We’re inviting a small number of organisations to test it with their own challenges before it opens more widely.

Prefer to talk first? support@aqueduct.org.uk

Please don’t include anything confidential, or any personal or patient information.

We use these details to invite you to the beta and to understand interest. If you share a challenge, we may run it as your first search. We don’t share your details. Ask us to delete them at any time at gdpr@aqueduct.org.uk. See our privacy notice.

For researchers

Profiles are built only from published papers and funded projects. We don’t hold contact details, and a fit rating describes how well a body of work matches one challenge, not the person.

Before the beta opens, we’ll publish what we hold, where it comes from, and how to view, correct or remove a profile. Questions: gdpr@aqueduct.org.uk

Questions

What does it cost?

Nothing during the beta.

Where does the data come from?

Open research data: OpenAlex for published papers, ORCID iDs for researcher identifiers, and UKRI Gateway to Research for publicly funded projects. We will list each source, with its licence, before the beta opens.

Who sees my challenge?

Researchers and other users don’t. We use it to run your search and, in aggregate, to understand what people are looking for. We never show anyone who searched for what.

Is a fit rating a judgement of the researcher?

No. It describes how their published work matches one challenge. A partial fit for your problem may be a strong fit for someone else’s.