Durham University receives €275,000 to help create an ‘AI Sandbox’

By Amee Joshi

Durham University will receive €275,000 to co-lead the development of an ‘AI Sandbox’, a controlled environment to test artificial intelligence models.

This is part of an international project which aims to support skills development and business growth with AI innovation.

This funding, from the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), is a portion of the €2 million that has been awarded for the overall project.

This funding, from the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), is a portion of the €2 million that has been awarded for the overall project

This project is part of the European AI Sandbox for Entrepreneurial Learning Project, which aims to create and promote this ‘AI Sandbox’.

Durham University is co-leading this project, and says that it will ‘share the new tools with our spinout companies, student start-ups, and partners in North East England.’

According to the Durham University website, its expertise in advanced research computing and AI infrastructure will contribute to its goal to “help shape approaches to responsible AI use that align with European standards”.

Durham University joins other funded members of the Arqus Alliance- the universities of Granada, Graz, Leipzig, Lyon 1, Maynooth, Minho, Padua, Vilnius-  and their respective regions, to use AI in “university spinouts, start-up enterprises, and local Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises”.

This marks the first joint project that the University has secured external funding for since joining the Arqus Alliance in 2024.

In September 2025, the University joined the UK government’s efforts into establishing an ‘AI Growth Zone’ hub in the North East, a move Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost Mike Shipman said would allow the University to use its “expertise in cutting-edge AI research, supercomputing capabilities, and graduate skills” for the benefit “of the region and the wider UK economy”.

The University is also creating its own AI Skills Centre of Excellence in collaboration with Microsoft, while its Leverhulme Centre for Algorithmic Life was established to “study the relationship between human life and machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms”.

It is also a partner in the £12 million National Edge AI Hub, which researches data protection in Edge AI systems, while its Advanced Research Computing support unit holds a supercomputer, Bede, which supports further research into AI.

Photography by Seana Barrett