The bees are dying, and without pollination services, human food supplies will be severely threatened. We already face a grave challenge to produce enough food to feed the world's projected population of 9 billion by 2050 and any loss of ecosystem services, particularly pollination, will exacerbate this problem.

The Collaborate to Innovate (C2I) Awards were launched by The Engineer, partnering with EPSRC and Engineering UK, to celebrate the role collaboration plays in developing new ground-breaking engineering solutions. The leads for three of the winning projects highlight their experiences here.

We hear from Professor Jon Binner, Professor of Ceramic Science and Engineering at the University of Birmingham, on how this area of research responded to the Shaping Capability approach by EPSRC in 2011.

Professor Sethu Vijayakumar, Director of the EPSRC-supported Edinburgh Centre for Robotics and a judge on Robot Wars, discusses the gap between the public's perception of robotics and AI and the reality, while looking at the challenges and opportunities facing the sector in the future.

The academic year is in full swing and we are busy working towards our Delivery Plan's three strategies: Balancing Capability, Building Leadership and Accelerating Impact. Professor Tom Rodden provides an insight into what Balancing Capability is, and what it means for the research community.

Climate Week (16-23 September) is a Scottish Government-led national campaign to raise awareness and inspire action on climate change. Vicky Pope talks about two key environmental issues and the task of identifying research themes to tackle them.

We take it for granted that the sporting action at the Olympics will be framed by a majestic stadium. But why do stadiums take the forms that they do? And why do these forms often differ quite markedly from each other?

Since 2004, EPSRC has provided year-long placement opportunities for a number of Year in Industry (YINI) students.

How can your phone predict a national health epidemic and advise of areas which may be of danger, to avoid? Vasileios Lampos at the University College London explains how user generated content may lead to breaking discoveries in public health surveillance, which could support major events like the Olympic Games.

Holly Fleming and Catherine Lynch are students in the EPSRC and MRC-funded Centre for Doctoral Training in Optical Medical Imaging (OPTIMA CDT). They tell us about the challenges involved in organising the inaugural Transmed Student Conference in May 2016.