News in Brief: council collaborations, cricket campaigns and Cambridge climate challenges

A light-hearted round up of this week’s stories, from AI accelerators to a fellow joining The Celebrity Traitors

Queens' Professor Hannah Fry is joining The Celebrity Traitors 2026Ryan Teh for Varsity

by Neve Wilson

Tuesday May 12 2026, 9:49pm

Cam maths icon joins The Celebrity Traitors 2026

Queens’ fellow and presenter Hannah Fry has been announced as one of 21 contestants in the second series of The Celebrity Traitors. The mathematician will feature on the show alongside other celebrities including James Blunt, Michael Sheen and Joe Lycett. The contestants will play for a prize of £100,000 to be donated to a charity of their choice. Fry joined Cambridge in January 2025 as the University’s first ever professor of the public understanding of mathematics and has featured on a number of programmes, including Have I Got News for You? And The Secret Genius of Modern Life. She also hosts The Rest Is Science podcast.

Cambridge launches AI accelerator to help local councils

The University of Cambridge has announced a Local Government AI Accelerator, a programme which will help universities and government work together to innovate the use of AI in public services. The Accelerator, which will last 12 months, connects Cambridge researchers with local councils so they can develop practical AI solutions to operational challenges, including automating housing data collection and detecting fly-tipping. The inaugural Accelerator programme will incorporate six projects, with each receiving up to £25,000. Councils involved include Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council. The University is also working with the London Borough of Camden to make social housing allocation more fair and transparent.

News in Brief: plays, peregrines, and pilot voting

Cambridge Climate Challenge won over by Canopy and Concrete

A faith-based climate donation initiative and carbon-negative concrete project have won at the 2026 Cambridge Climate Challenge, which brings together postgraduates and postdoctoral researchers to support early-stage climate entrepreneurship. Canopy, an initiative that encourages Muslim communities to donate to climate charities, won in one category. The other category was won by Green Mixes, which has developed a 'biochar' additive that can substitute for cement, turning concrete from an emitter into a carbon sink. Other commended projects included Smokeless Stubble Initiative, which aims to tackle open-field burning in North India, and SupportCycle, which pitched reusable period underwear made from indigenous fibres to support girls in Uganda.

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