Recent Project Additions to the EDC

The ESPRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Renewable Energy Northeast Universities Plus (ReNU+) is a transformative programme that will train a new generation of Doctoral Carbon Champions (DCCs) who are characterised by scientific and engineering excellence and capable of interdisciplinary systemic thinking to accelerate Net Zero. The outcome from ReNU+ will be that DCCs will meet critical needs in high-skill employment across industry, policy, education and government and convert key challenges in resilience and equity into economic opportunities for the United Kingdom. This will be achieved through a professionally accredited training programme in a thriving environment of research excellence led by Northumbria, Newcastle and Durham universities.The 2023-2035 energy landscape sets a compelling context for ReNU+ and in particular, the need for future leaders in this space in the United Kingdom. Locally generated renewable energy will provide the UK with increased energy security and critically important additions in electricity capacity to meet domestic and industrial demands. This is only one piece of the landscape however, which also includes sustainability (e.g. critical materials supply), resilience (e.g. climate change mitigation) and an equitable transition to Net Zero, which offers both economic and health benefits. The absorptive capacity for ReNU+ DCCs is partly evidenced by the forecast of 694,000 new UK jobs in the low carbon and renewable energy economy by 2030 (source: UK Local Government Association). The ReNU+ training programme has a core focus on developing key skills that facilitate understanding of and engagement with the wider Net Zero system including investment, regulation and end-user engagement. It will become a reference for high-skill training in Net Zero that redefines the role of scientists and engineers as critical catalysts for decarbonisation who deliver impact well beyond technology. ReNU+ identifies a critical link between equality, diversity and inclusivity and decarbonisation and includes key innovations to leverage this link. Consequently, DCCs will also develop societal and citizenship values as they become living examples of the future workforces to enable an equitable and sustainable transition to Net Zero. This approach has been validated by our partners who have co-designed and will co-deliver the ReNU+ training programme. This support includes national and local Government, multinational companies, small-to-medium enterprises and charity organisations

The aim of this Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) is to equip students with essential interdisciplinary skills needed by industry and to deliver cutting edge research in the area of superconductivity. The unique properties of superconducting materials mean that they can deliver revolutionary technologies which will help to decarbonize our energy production and improve healthcare. Superconductors are also an essential component in many quantum devices such as those used for quantum computing.The promise of limitless carbon free power promised by magnetically confined plasma nuclear fusion reactors can only be realised using superconducting magnets. Other major applications under development, which also will contribute to reducing carbon emissions include superconducting cables for electrical power transmission, light and powerful motors and generators for electric and hybrid power aircraft, superconducting magnetically levitating trains and high efficiency generators for wind-power generators. Development, manufacture, and deployment of these technologies needs people with the skills our CDT will deliver.Superconductors are also an essential component in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines used for medical diagnosis and this forms the majority of the current £7 billion per annum market in superconductors that is projected to double by 2030. Development of improved superconducting materials will transform MRI both in terms of reducing cost and thereby availability and enabling higher magnetic field strengths that increase resolution and enhanced diagnostic capabilities.We will capitalize on the UK's established leadership in superconductivity through the development of a CDT with cohort-based training that will engender teamwork and an interdisciplinary approach in close collaboration with industry and international research facility partners. This is crucial to drive the development of these groundbreaking superconducting technologies and to empower our graduates with the combination of technical and personal skills sought after by industry.The CDT brings together graduate superconductivity training in the Universities of Bristol, Oxford and Cambridge across their Physics, Material Science, Engineering and Chemistry departments. The CDT is created in partnership with 26 industrial companies, international research institutions and other educational institutions. Our training programme includes lecture-based learning, extensive practical training in relevant techniques and experimental methods as well as real-world experience at implementing the knowledge gained within projects based at one of our partners.The CDT will form a nucleus for the UK superconductivity community offering training and networking opportunities to those outside of the CDT.

The direct numerical simulation (DNS) of turbulence and related phenomena, e.g. combustion, remains one of the great challenges in the mathematical and physical sciences. The range of length- and time-scales involved is significant, with extremely fast, finely structured, many-species reaction processes interacting non-linearly with large-scale turbulent motions. High-order numerical methods can provide efficient resolution but current approaches are based on high-order finite differences or (pseudo-)spectral methods, which are not well suited to complex geometries, and hence the study of real turbulence applications is very limited. The development of high-order numerical schemes for non-trivial geometries is of clear benefit to the numerical modelling and combustion communities. The aim of this project is to develop a promising new mesh-free framework for high-order DNS of turbulent reacting flows in arbitrarily complex geometries. Very recent developments of a high-order mesh-free method - the Local Anisotropic Basis Function Method (LABFM) - show promise in providing considerable geometric flexibility as well as high-order accuracy (e.g. 10th order in space). The intention of this feasibility study is to lay the foundations for the next generation of DNS codes, in a meshless framework, enabling simulations of flame-turbulence-structure interactions hitherto impossible. In the longer term this will result in a greater understanding, both fundamental and in application, of turbulent reacting flows, and will support the development of related technologies, such as hydrogen production at scale, cleaner combustion, and low calorific gas utilisation.

Decarbonisation of the UK's energy system will require substantial action at a regional and local level. Therefore, the UK's energy system is growing rapidly to a more decentralised model by 2050 with a great level of small-scale electricity and heat generation at the distribution level, where wind and solar renewable energies will play a large role. However, the intermittent nature of these renewable sources presents a great challenge in energy generation and load balance maintenance to ensure stability and reliability of the power network. This highlights the need for electricity storage technologies as they provide flexibility to store excess electricity for times when it is in demand. The majority of recent installations deploy fast response electricity storage systems (e.g. batteries) with short-duration electricity storage (minutes-days) and short-discharge duration of up to 4 hours. However, technologies with long-duration electricity storage (days-weeks) and medium-duration discharge of over 4 hours, with negligible capacity and efficiency degradation are required to ensure power supply security in all weather conditions (e.g. wind or solar energies are not available for several days).There are several possible technologies for long-duration energy storage, e.g., pumped-hydro storage, liquid air energy storage and compressed air energy storage (CAES). Among them, adiabatic CAES systems (ACAES) has the lowest installed energy capital costs (2-50$/kWh) for a wide range of storage applications from micro scale (few kW) to large scale (few MW). In conventional ACAES systems, the electricity is used to compress air in compressors, generating high levels of heat during the process. The heat of the compressed air is removed at the outlets of the compressors and stored in a thermal energy storage (TES) unit, while the cool compressed air is stored in a cavern at depths of hundreds of metres. To discharge the energy on demand, the cool compressed air heats up in the TES before expansion in turbines to generate electricity.Despite its promising features for decarbonising the electricity power system, there are major challenges which hinder further development of ACAES systems, including (1) limitations on the underground geology, (2) low roundtrip efficiency and (3) thermal and structural challenges on the TES unit because of high-temperature air at the outlets of the compressors. This proposal aims to address these major challenges through development of an affordable micro-scale co-generation near-isothermal and adiabatic CAES system with overground air storage vessels (micro-Ni-ACAES). The system utilizes near-isothermal and high-efficiency compressor/expander devices, TES and heat exchanger units based on an innovative composite phase change material and air storage vessels. The project will perform a fundamental experimental and modelling analyses to gain deep insight into the flow and thermal fields in the near-isothermal compressors/expanders as well as charging and discharging kinetics of the TES unit. Both isochoric and isobaric storage processes will be analysed. These fundamental studies will lead to efficient designs of the micro-Ni-ACAES system components and further support the development of a thermodynamics-based design tool. The design tool will be used to identify the system's optimum operating condition and control strategy for steady-state and dynamic operations of the system. Additionally, the project will include a techno-economic and environmental impact assessment in order to evaluate the economic viability of the system, as well as CO2 abatement and fossil fuel savings over the system's lifetime. The proposed high efficiency co-generation micro-Ni-ACAES systems are believed to be the future of the CAES technology, eventually culminating in decentralised microgrid power network in application to district energy network or commercial sectors (e.g. business parks).

SuperAIRE aims to establish a world-leading network connecting academia, industries, and policymakers across the spectrum of artificial intelligence (AI) for renewable energy (RE), particularly wind, solar, marine, and bio energy. This includes generation, storage, transmission/distribution and demand side management. These represent most of the research areas in the UKRI's Energy and Decarbonisation theme. With SuperAIRE, we aim to create the conditions in which AI for RE can be promoted much more rapidly than at present to boost the development and deployment of RE. We will not only exploit the transformative power of AI in different RE subsectors but also address common challenges and optimise performance across the RE ecosystem. Supported by a broad partnership currently with 30 partners across industry (23), leading R&I organisations (5), and policymakers (2), we will incubate a Supergen AI+RE research community seizing the opportunity to enhance the UK's role as a global leader in the intelligent and digital transformation of the RE sector.Despite the recent growth in all subsectors, progress in essential technologies supporting the lifecycles of RE systems lags behind. AI offers strategic advantages in overcoming the limitations of traditional methods which struggle to process the increasing complexity and big data in RE systems. It will enable decision-supporting digitalisation, operational efficiency optimisation, cost-effective integration, multi-scenario adaptability, and technological cross-applicability. Though there are some current critical masses in AI for RE, the communities are facing many challenges, e.g., the fragmented nature of the landscape, subsystem isolation, and limited scope. SuperAIRE will address these challenges by enabling shared learning on common research challenges in different RE subsectors through promoting novel generic approaches complemented with refinements tailored to subsector's unique needs; forging a holistic view to facilitate system-wide AI applications; and fostering comprehensive solutions that go beyond single-task focuses to exploit the full potential of AI in enhancing the RE ecosystem.SuperAIRE will carry out diverse activities to engage with stakeholders, facilitate knowledge exchanges, catalyse community coherence, identify cross-sector opportunities, address skill gaps, support nurturing high-skill professionals with multidisciplinary expertise, and disseminate project outcomes. These activities include four key challenge workshops, bimonthly seminars, flexible funds, outreach activities, an international conference, etc. SuperAIRE will support early career researchers (ECRs) from both academia and industry via a dedicated ECR Forum, a mentoring scheme, secondment opportunities, and ECR grants. We will emphasise Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in all activities. Based on the current critical mass and emerging gaps and opportunities, we have also proposed six pre-defined research themes (RTs) to steer our Network+ activities, especially in guiding discussions, identifying challenges and opportunities, streamlining research coordination efforts, shaping a research landscape report, and developing a whitepaper. This includes RT1 Robust and trustworthy AI; RT2 Prediction and forecasting across scales; RT3 AI-powered digital twins; RT4 Intelligent control and management; RT5 Smart integration; and RT6 Intelligent robotics and autonomous systems in resource assessments, operations, and maintenance. Bolstered by strong support from project partners, we will consolidate core achievements and pursue the establishment of a new Supergen Hub in AI for RE at the end of SuperAIRE. Through these endeavours, we aim to enhance the efficiency, resilience, and affordability of RE, ultimately transforming the RE sector and addressing environmental challenges via AI

Meeting emerging science and engineering modelling challenges requires scientists who can master complex theory and simulation techniques, can assimilate data, and can collaborate in multidisciplinary teams with expertise across a range of modelling scales. Securing the UK's position as a world-leading research hub into the future therefore requires a well-integrated pool of researchers with a skillset that is both broad and deep.HetSys is leading the way in addressing these needs by producing students with the tools necessary to meet the challenges of the future through our training programme. We are training the scientists who will develop the next generation of computational models, implemented in reusable software with robust error bars from uncertainty quantification (UQ), and who can learn from experimental and simulated data on an equal footing through advances in 'scientific machine-learning' (SciML). Linking heterogeneous materials models with UQ allows performance to be improved, enabling the technology needed to reach net zero through a step-change in design capability. The ongoing AI revolution has necessitated a redesign of our training programme to enable us to build on what we learnt during the first funding period and deliver our new vision. In particular, changes to our core training enable our students to (i) embed robust and sustainable research software engineering (RSE) in modelling; (ii) quantify modelling uncertainties through enhanced use of statistical methods; and (iii) exploit new trends in scientific machine learning.The research focus of HetSys on new paradigms in the behaviour of heterogeneous materials remains vital for the competitiveness of the UK's high-value manufacturing and automotive industries. Prominent examples of challenges we are addressing include the design of (i) energy materials for future vehicles with reduced carbon footprints; (ii) low dimensional and/or strongly correlated materials for quantum devices; (iii) high entropy alloys for fusion applications; (iv) biomolecules for combatting infectious diseases. Historically, the modelling pattern has focused on just one length- or time-scale; HetSys transforms this landscape by explicitly targeting the multiscale modelling of heterogeneous systems required by industry. The expertise we have accumulated opens up opportunities to capitalise on the transformative combination of mechanistic modelling with data-driven approaches (SciML). This requires a broader combination of disciplinary expertise, provided through our enhanced bespoke training programme.Only a cohort approach can train high-quality computational scientists who can develop and implement new modelling methods in close collaboration with other scientists. The cohesive, interdepartmental cohorts and training programme we are creating lower many of the current barriers to interdisciplinary work and demonstrate our vision for the future of scientific endeavour, where teams of researchers work together to combine their skills and expertise. Only a critical mass of students and a large and highly collaborative team of supervisors makes this targeted and fully inclusive training approach feasible. HetSys supports the delivery of EPSRC's Physical and Mathematical Sciences Powerhouse strategic priority, helping to provide the platform on which research and innovation across the sciences is built.

Improving the efficiency of Solar PV is the single most important enabler in reducing electricity costs and accelerating the deployment of this crucial renewable technology. The use of functional nanolayers in solar cells has been the single most important upgrade that enabled record-breaking efficiencies above 25%. To fully reach the potential of functional nanolayers, a physical, chemical, and mechanistic understanding of the interfaces is imperative. The recent focus on efficiency and rapid development has led to a 'trial and error' optimisation approach to improving performance, leading to a limited understanding of the underlying mechanism. This limited knowledge is constraining further enhancements of functional nanolayers, limiting the efficiency at around~26% for the last 9 years for single-junction silicon solar cell. In NanoPED, the focus is to develop an understanding of the physical structure as well as the device properties. The goal is to identify the structural changes and physical mechanisms that govern the operation of interfaces in solar cells, strategically linking the synthesis and processing to the atomic structure of functional nanolayer materials. By understanding the connection between the nanostructure and device operation, NanoPED will enable the rational design of these ground-breaking materials, providing ultimate control over the interface chemistry. Ultimately, opening a path to higher efficiencies for various solar cell structures. This will significantly reduce the price of solar energy, paving the way for accelerated adoption and delivering much-needed reductions in carbon dioxide emissions to address climate change concerns. This interdisciplinary project will build upon the fellow's strong engineering background into a high-level material science. This project will provide the fellow valuable experience and advanced expertise to pioneer new and advanced materials for optoelectronics devices

In recent years, machine intelligence (MI) based on artificial neural networks has made enormous progress, entering almost all spheres of technology, economy and our everyday life. However, much of the field's current growth is reliant on an ever-increasing consumption of computational power, and as a consequence electrical power. This growing demand for larger and faster systems is unsustainable, even with the current focus on developing bespoke hardware for MI processes. Today's data centres already consume about 2% of the total power generated worldwide. This number is growing exponentially; IBM vice president of research, Mukesh Khare, extrapolated in 2019 that the power consumed by neural networks could exceed the world's electricity production by 2040. We must therefore urgently look for fundamentally new computational principles to drive MI.A promising solution to this problem is to use light, rather than electrons, as the primary carrier of information in artificial neural networks. In optical neural networks (ONNs) the wave properties of light - coherence and superposition - can streamline the "matrix multiplication" operation (the most computationally expensive operation in MI), thereby offering a new route to greatly enhance computational speeds, with dramatically lower power consumption.This project aims to advance a crucial component of the ONN: the activation function (AF). This nonlinear function is applied to each neural unit as information passes through the multiple layers of a "feedforward" neural network, serving as a "gasket" between the layers of matrix multiplications. In principle, the AF role can be played by any nonlinear optical element. In practice, however, implementation of large ONNs with purely optical AFs is challenging due to losses, lack of flexibility and error accumulation.Here we will use organic semiconductor devices to provide the activation function, with circuits of photodiodes and OLEDs transforming and transferring the signal between optical layers. This will allow us to condition the signal at each layer and correct for possible errors, while still exploiting the advantages of light propagation for the computationally expensive steps. OLED displays in smart phones can contain millions of emitters, and so the concept is potentially scalable to very large ONNs capable of performing very complex computational tasks.The project is a collaboration of two groups. The PIs at the University of St Andrews are leaders in organic semiconductor optoelectronics and the Oxford PI possesses world-leading expertise in optical computing hardware. The St Andrews group will develop the "activation chips" - integrated arrays applying the AF to multiple optical units. The Oxford group will incorporate these activation chips into ONN systems suitable for various applications. In particular, a conceptually novel ONN system for computer vision will be developed. This system will allow a neural network to "see" and interpret objects directly, bypassing the need for converting an image into an electronic form. Such a system will have ultra-low latency and could find applications in autonomous vehicles, remote sensing and intelligent robotics. We will also use the activation chips to implement the Oxford group's innovative approach to direct training of ONNs, which does not involve digital simulation and hence is both faster and more robust to errors.

Offshore wind farms (OWFs) have become an important way of renewable energy utilization due to the advantages of rich resources, high utilization hours of power generation, and land saving. The produced power is often transmitted to the onshore power system by modular multi-level converter (MMC)-high voltage DC (HVDC) technologies. Therefore, both sides of the AC tie line between OWF and MMC are interfaced through power electronic devices having high controllability.OWFs often adopt the grid-following controller, and it has two control structures: decoupled current control (DCC) and decoupled sequence control (DSC). They are required to ride through a fault in modern power systems, so some innovative fault ride-through (FRT) strategies must be used so that the fault behaviors of OWFs are significantly different from synchronous generators (SGs).In addition, the MMC has two typical control modes: voltage-frequency (VF) control and grid-forming control. The control objective of the MMC is to provide a voltage and frequency reference for the OWF-MMC system. When the traditional VF control is used, the MMC does not have the current limiting function, so the MMC is easily blocked within an extra short time due to overcurrent if a fault occurs. To limit the fault current and control the system voltage, the grid-forming controller has been developed and become a research hotspot. However, the research on fault characteristics of the OWF-MMC system and their impact on protection performance is still in its infancy. Some incidents have happened outside and within the European Union (EU) since the protection scheme is not configured well. In the UK, the world's largest operating offshore wind farm-Hornsea was disconnected from the onshore grid in 2019 due to the wrong operation of the protection system. During this accident, the system frequency declined below 49 Hz and almost one million people across England and Wales experienced blackouts. Some blackouts and equipment damage have also been reported in the Germany Bard1 project partly due to improper protection and control configurations. Therefore, protection technologies for the OWF-MMC system are extremely important to maintain power supply reliability, device safety, and grid stability

A recent study by UK universities found that cooling currently accounts for 10-20% of the country's energy consumption, and the demand for cooling is expected to increase several-fold in the coming years. The Imperial College's Demand.ninja model shows that London is experiencing the fastest increase in cooling demand worldwide, mainly due to frequent and severe heatwaves. A separate study from the University of Oxford warns that the UK is unprepared for a 30% relative increase in cooling demand, the third-largest globally, after Ireland and Switzerland. Additionally, emerging sectors such as hydrogen production require significant cooling for efficient storage and distribution, with the production of ammonia as a hydrogen carrier being a high cooling demand process at 2.8 GJ/ton-ammonia.Cooling is an energy intensive practice. If we continue to use grid electricity to power cooling systems, along with the increasing demand for other uses like electric vehicles, the grid will become significantly strained, hindering its decarbonisation. The Reef-UKC network aims to lead research in discovering the next generation of renewable energy technologies to meet the growing demand for cooling. We'll undertake evidence-based, multidisciplinary research using pump-priming funds and networking activities to leverage renewable energy sources for cooling. Our research will maximise system-level integration benefits while addressing the unique challenges of the UK's economic, environmental, societal, behavioural, and political contexts. Since cooling is a multidimensional challenge, we will focus on several fronts (F) to achieve our goals.F1: Develop efficient renewable-powered cooling system-level solutions to meet the existing and future demand for cooling, specifically in rapidly growing sectors, e.g., Hydrogen, data centres.F2: Consider environmental and social impacts and behavioural changes.F3: Contemplate Cold economy, business modelling, sustainability, and design for circularity.F4: Integrate the developed solutions with the developed cooling (and potentially heating) networks approaches by other research initiatives. F5: Develop policies and regulatory frameworks to incentivise the adoption of the technology packages and communication with the UK government and local authorities

It is widely recognised that low density development is unsustainable and generates significant Green House Gases (GHGs). Nevertheless, most UK development is built on greenfield land where public transportation is poor and services are scarce. If the UK is serious about 'net zero', then new ways of planning and developing are urgently required.'Urban retrofit' is defined as repairing existing places by adapting urban form to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions, protect the environment and support sustainable lifestyles. Changes to the layout of neighbourhoods are starting to be delivered, including via infrastructure programmes such as separated bike lanes, planning policies that encourage high-densities, and community-based projects like urban greening.The problem is that implementation is slow, fragmented and increasingly controversial. Investment often flows to affluent places rather than communities in the greatest need of support, and the principal actors in the UK's planning and development systems face various delivery challenges. Planning authorities struggle with institutional inertia and time-limited funding meaning retrofitting is poorly coordinated. Property developers stick to tried and tested business models to reduce risk resulting in a preference for low density, mono-use greenfield development rather than mixed-use projects on brownfield land. Communities face capacity challenges and place adaptation is often contested. If the UK is to meet its net zero targets and achieve a just transition, then urban retrofitting must be prioritised, equitably directed and implemented more effectively.URBAN RETROFIT UK will be led by the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence and coproduced with international, national and local planning, property and community partners, including in five UK core cities - Belfast, Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow and Sheffield. Its aim is to examine the barriers to urban retrofitting, challenge the prevailing growth-logic of planning and development, and coproduce a conceptual framework plotting the critical points of intervention needed to scale up retrofitting through planning and development systems. The objectives are to:Conduct a global evidence review on urban retrofit informed by international partners and a study tour.Identify and investigate a series of urban retrofit cases in collaboration with local authority partners to understand what is working and pinpoint where implementation gaps could be closed.Work with partners to understand where the spatial inequalities of current urban retrofit practice lie and how the barriers to 'scaling up' effective and equitable practices could be addressed.Establish an international URBAN RETROFIT HUBS network between UK and Global North cities facing comparable place-adaptation challenges and initiate new two-way learning partnerships with Global South cities where the context for urban retrofit is different but opportunities exist to explore lesson-sharing. To maximise knowledge exchange across sectoral boundaries and between places, URBAN RETROFIT UK's findings will be shared throughout the project at jointly delivered events with UK partners and internationally via the URBAN RETROFIT HUBS network. New theoretical perspectives on the UK's planning and development systems and coproduced empirical evidence on urban retrofit will be shared through an international symposium and evidence review, a report, film and magazine articles, and academic outputs including articles and an edited book

This project aims to develop a real-time opportunistic maintenance strategy for Floating Offshore Wind Turbines (FOWTs) to support reductions in operation and maintenance costs and unplanned downtime, as well as maximization of energy production efficiency. Specifically, a failure information transformation framework will be developed to transfer failure information from other types of wind turbines (onshore and fixed bottom) and used for FOWTs. This is due to the abundance of failure datasets for other wind turbine types compared to that of FOWTs. The framework will analyze the differences in failure characteristics of multiple types wind turbines and provide new cumulative failure datasets of offshore wind turbines, enhancing the data foundation of the wind energy sector. Subsequently, a novel maintenance process simulation tool coupled with scientific algorithms will be created to simulate the maintenance processes of FOWTs accurately and reliably, including non-standard lifecycle datasets. The model will address non-standard failure and repair operations for FOWTs, supporting the generalization of maintenance process simulation. Additionally, an opportunistic maintenance process determination framework will be constructed to provide an offline maintenance strategy for FOWTs. The model works in real-time and is capable of dynamically capturing opportunistic maintenance windows, removing restrictions of maintenance strategy planning introduced by low accessibility and insufficient maintenance experience. The project will provide the floating wind sector with new knowledge regarding operation and maintenance, coupled with the development of new datasets, simulation tools, and new maintenance concepts. Overall, the outcomes of the project will contribute to operational and maintenance cost reduction, maximizing energy production efficiency, and reducing the unplanned downtime of FOWTs and wind farms in general

The EPSRC CDT in Net Zero Aviation in partnership with Industry will collaboratively train the innovators and researchers needed to find the novel, disruptive solutions to decarbonise aviation and deliver the UK's Jet Zero and ATI's Destination Zero strategies. The CDT will also establish the UK as an international hub for technology, innovation and education for Net Zero Aviation, attracting foreign and domestic investment as well as strengthening the position of existing UK companies. The CDT in Net Zero Aviation is fully aligned with and will directly contribute to EPSRC's "Frontiers in Engineering and Technology" and "Engineering Net Zero" priority areas. The resulting skills, knowledge, methods and tools will be decisive in selecting, integrating, evaluating, maturing and de-risking the technologies required to decarbonise aviation. A systems engineering approach will be developed and delivered in close collaboration with industry to successfully integrate theoretical, computational and experimental methods while forging cross theme collaborations that combine science, technology and engineering solutions with environmental and socio-economic aspects. Decarbonising aviation can bring major opportunities for new business models and services that also requires a new policy and legislative frameworks. A tailored, aviation focused training programme addressing commercialisation and route to market for the Net Zero technologies, operations and infrastructure will be delivered increasing transport and employment sustainability and accessibility while improving transport connectivity and resilience. Over the next decade innovative solutions are needed to tackle the decarbonisation challenges. This can be only achieved by training doctoral Innovation and Research Leaders in Net Zero Aviation, able to grasp the technology from scientific fundamentals through to applied engineering while understanding the associated science, economics and social factors as well as aviation's unique operational realities, business practices and needs. Capturing the interdependencies and interactions of these disciplines a transdisciplinary programme is offered. These ambitious targets can only be realised through a cohort-based approach and a consortium involving the most suitable partners. Under the guidance of the consortium's leadership team, students will develop the required ethos and skills to bridge traditional disciplinary boundaries and provide innovative and collaborative solutions. Peer to peer learning and exposure to an appropriate mix of disciplines and specialities will provide the opportunity for individuals and interdisciplinary teams to collaborate with each other and ensure that the graduates of the CDT will be able to continually explore and further develop opportunities within, as well as outside, their selected area of research. Societal aspects that include public engagement, awareness, acceptance and influencing consumer behaviour will be at the heart of the training, research and outreach activities of the CDT. Integration of such multidisciplinary topics requires long term thinking and awareness of "global" issues that go beyond discipline and application specific solutions. As such the following transdisciplinary Training and Research Themes will be covered:1. Aviation Zero emission technologies: sustainable aviation fuels, hydrogen and electrification2. Ultra-efficient future aircraft, propulsion systems, aerodynamic and structural synergies3. Aerospace materials & manufacturing, circular economy and sustainable life cycle4. Green Aviation Operations and Infrastructure5. Cross cutting disciplines: Commercialisation, Social, Economic and Environmental aspects 75 students across the UK, from diverse backgrounds and communities will be recruited

The EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Robotics and AI for Net Zero (RAINZ CDT) is a new CDT in Robotics and AI (RAI) which will train and develop the next generation of multi-disciplinary robotic systems engineers. These engineers will be trained in both research and commercialization of RAI, and will help revolutionise lifecycle asset management of critical infrastructure in support of the UK's Net Zero Strategy. The research focus of the CDT will be on how RAI can provide step-changes at each stage of the lifecycle of Net Zero energy generation assets through the adoption of new innovative technologies, workflows, etc., which will increase safety, reduce costs, and enhance the overall viability of such systems. Initially there will be a focus on the use of RAI in operations & maintenance, through inspection, maintenance, and repair activities, and the decommissioning of infrastructure in renewables (wind, solar, geothermal, tidal, hydrogen) and nuclear (fission and fusion). The research in the CDT will also support the decarbonization of these phases for assets across a diverse range of sectors. The scope of research will expand through the lifetime of the CDT to address the other lifecycle phases: Design, Logistics, Construction and Recycling.The RAINZ CDT is a partnership between three of the UKs leading Universities and represents an unparalleled critical mass of complimentary end-to-end robotic systems research capabilities, facilities and sustainability expertise. It has been co-created with leading industrial partners in the Net Zero sector to address the national challenge that "advanced robotics requires highly skilled workers such as engineers, leading to a need to train new workers".RAI used in the energy sector are often deployed into complex, hazardous and high-value environments, but significant barriers, both technological and cultural, are limiting its estimated economic yield to £0.6B gross value added (GVA) by 2035 instead of a potential £23B GVA. Overcoming these barriers is a key focus of this CDT. In addition to addressing a vital national need, it will support local initiatives, such as the Blenheim Palace Solar Farm in Oxford. It will also support the levelling-up agenda across the three host cities, as well as in West Cumbria through the Robotics and AI Collaboration (RAICo) facility, which has been established to build an innovation pipeline for new RAI solutions in both the nuclear and other sectors. The RAINZ CDT will adopt an innovative cohort training and research model to ensure graduates are not only subject matter experts, but have highly valuable skills in teamworking, multi-disciplinary systems integration, industrial engagement, and commercialisation. Each cohort will be recruited to conduct research directed towards an industry co-created cross-sector challenge which will evolve for each new cohort. Cohort 1's challenge will be Autonomous Environmental Interactions in Constrained Environments. PhD projects for each cohort will be co-created with industry to address gaps in enabling science and technologies through both fundamental and applied research. Robots are highly complex systems drawing on a diverse range of research areas. Whilst RAINZ students will undertake their own individual research, it will be significantly enhanced through collaborations with others. There will be annual research sprints where the cohort will come together to demonstrate elements of their research on industry defined demonstrator scenarios. The CDT will create an innovation pipeline that will produce high-quality, highly skilled and employable Robotic Systems Engineers with an aim that at least 50% - 75% of the graduates are employed in robotics industries. It has an ambition to have supported the creation of 5 spin-out companies and the submission of at least 5 Fellowship proposals

A consortium of the Universities of Edinburgh, Exeter, Strathclyde and Swansea supported by the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) will run the Industrial Centre for Doctoral Training for Offshore Renewable Energy (IDCORE). This partnership offers a unique combination of experience in research, development and knowledge-exchange with major industry stakeholders in the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) sector. This is complemented by the extensive experience with ORE projects of both SAMS, in the environmental and societal impacts, and the Fraser of Allander Institute (Strathclyde), in macro- and micro-economics.The large scale deployment of ORE technologies is key to the UK achieving its net-zero carbon energy objectives while, at the same time, delivering secure, reliable and affordable energy. Both of these objectives must be achieved with minimal environmental impact. This requires the continuing development of new techniques and technologies to design, build, install, operate, and maintain energy generating machines in a hostile marine environment. Successful ORE projects must be affordable and minimise their environmental impact. Success will create green jobs at all levels in coastal communities across the UK and generate significant economic impact. The ORE sector, which includes companies ranging from world-leading technology development SMEs (like Orbital Marine Energy and MOcean Energy) through to international energy companies as well as engineering majors, consulting engineers and project developers, is creating a massive demand for highly trained scientists and engineers with a broad skill base.The consortium is ideally-placed to support the industry in meeting these challenges through a conjoined infrastructure, which begins in some of the best academic research centres with leading test facilities and extends through a unique combination of demonstration facilities, ultimately to test and deployment sites. IDCORE will conduct internationally leading research, provide a vibrant training environment and deliver a body of high-quality post-doctoral staff for the sector. This proposal presents a revised training programme in response to changes in the sector (particularly the rapid growth of offshore wind, the commercialisation of tidal stream energy, and the drive to develop floating wind systems for deeper water). It also includes Swansea University for the first time, strengthening our links to developments in the Celtic Sea and bringing significant expertise in computational modelling and aerodynamics. IDCORE provides a solid background in professional, technical and transferable skills to a diverse cohort of students drawn from a wide variety of STEM backgrounds. It is designed to deliver a tightly-knit cohort of highly-skilled graduates, forming a strong foundation for the future development of the sector. Our training is innovative and multi-disciplinary, using a variety of delivery methods and unique facilities, including: the Kelvin hydrodynamics lab, FastBlade, the FloWave Ocean Energy Research Facility, offshore measurement systems (Wave and ADCP measurement array and surveying), the South West Mooring Test Facility, accelerated fatigue testing facilities (DMAC), survey vessels and field study areas. Through established links with partner organisations including the ORE Catapult and the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC), students will be placed and, wherever possible, site-trained in large-scale test facilities, prototype demonstration and small-farm demonstration sites. The training will also benefit from the extensive experience of the consortium in advanced engineering analysis and simulation, and access to UK-leading computational facilities. The training package offered by the centre provides our students with unparalleled engineering experience in applied offshore renewable energy R&D

Energy security and supply is of utmost importance in today's society and it is abundantly clear that nuclear fission will play an increasing critical role in delivering the net zero carbon agenda by 2050. A significant challenge for nuclear fission in the UK is its nuclear legacy, resulting from over 60 years of civil nuclear power generation and nuclear weapons production. This nuclear 'clean-up', including the decommissioning of legacy nuclear facilities and the long-term disposal of radioactive wastes, will cost upwards of £230bn and is a multi-generational project. To be able to progress safely, securely and efficiently with nuclear decommissioning and waste disposal, it is crucial to understand the underpinning chemistry of radionuclides within radioactive wastes. This project aims to deliver a step-change in fundamental understanding of uranium chemistry - a key component of radioactive waste management. Understanding uranium behaviour, e.g. uranium solubility and mobility, in engineered and natural environments is key to the safe decommissioning of legacy nuclear facilities and the long-term disposal of radioactive wastes. These systems are dynamic, with changes in chemistry likely to occur over the lifetimes of legacy nuclear and disposal facilities. It is therefore essential to understand how these changes in chemistry will impact on uranium behaviour in nuclear decommissioning and disposal scenarios including in deep geological disposal conditions. This fellowship will combine electrochemistry and advanced X-ray spectroscopies to investigate industrially and environmentally relevant reactions of uranium for the first time.Uranium behaviour is controlled by its oxidation state and the presence of complexing ligands, chemical species which are present in groundwaters and other solutions that come into contact with uranium-containing systems. These ligands can strongly bind uranium and stabilise solid- or solution-phase uranium species, significantly altering its behaviour. Changes in reduction/oxidation (redox) conditions can therefore have a significant impact on the behaviour of uranium and the chemical processes underlying these changes are not fully understood. These underlying chemical processes, or 'redox pathways', can control the eventual fate of uranium and the presence of different complexing ligands may significantly alter these redox pathways. Therefore, it is important to understand these fundamental processes to gain a holistic understanding of uranium chemistry and behaviour in dynamic systems where changes in redox and solution conditions may be expected. This fundamental understanding can then inform radioactive waste handling strategies and nuclear decommissioning approaches, promoting the safest and most efficient approaches to dealing with the nuclear legacy.In this fellowship, an electrochemical cell will be used to control the redox potential in experimental systems to change the oxidation state of uranium. Using a range of techniques, the changes in chemical bonding environment and oxidation state will be monitored during these reactions. The goal here is to produce controlled reactions whereby the changes in uranium chemistry at the molecular level can be probed during these key redox pathways, creating a step-change in the understanding of uranium redox chemistry in the presence of key complexing ligands. This analysis will be done using a multi-technique approach, measuring concentrations of uranium in solution and the chemical form of uranium in both the solid and solution phases. X-ray spectroscopy will be a key technique for analysing the chemical speciation, shedding new light on crucial reaction pathways occurring in these highly relevant systems.

Electrical engineering, through power electronics, machines and drives, underpins all renewable electricity generation, conversion and integration. The drive to achieve higher power and higher efficiency, use more sustainable materials, and provide greater control and reliability for next generation renewables relies on rapid step changes in technology for the underlying power electronics, machines, drives and control systems (PEMD). The drive for improved efficiency in industry alongside the increasing electrification of transport and heating and cooling is encouraging the development of PEMD in academia and industry. The UK government and industry are building the skills, knowledge and supply chain to support these sectors, but sustainable renewable generation is making slow progress towards the PEMD technology that is needed to underpin next generation renewables.N-ZEEE will bring together for the first time the diverse and disparate research activity in emerging electrical engineering for next-generation renewables to form a coherent community of engineers that can empower significant change in the approach to this critical and enabling field. N-ZEEE will be a community of academia, industry, policy makers and wider stakeholders to ensure cross-sector technology transfer in addition to renewables-specific developments that will enable next generation wind, marine, photovoltaic and novel future energy generation and allow the UK to deliver its energy and climate priorities and pioneer underpinning PEMD research.The N-ZEEE Network will enable the transition to future PEMD generation, conversion and integration technologies by:1. Building a strong academic and industrial research community focused on delivering next-generation-enabling PEMD technologies by fostering new relationships and building on established relationships to grow an extensive and coherent network of knowledge, research and practice.2. Providing a network of research excellence in enabling PEMD technology leading to a Supergen Hub of excellence in PEMD whilst enhancing existing and future sector-focused Supergen Hubs. The current hub model has a patchwork of narrowly-focused PEMD research into application-specific technology; instead, N-ZEEE will provide a centre of critical mass that can be tapped into by existing and future sector-specific Hubs.3. Creating a Network within which cross-cutting themes will strengthen the UK's ability to develop next-generation-enabling PEMD technology for renewable generation, conversion and integration. The Network will nurture the integration of ideas between different PEMD fields (e.g. electric automotive and aviation), creating a community that can make the rapid progress required to achieve net-zero within the critical timescales.4. Providing support for early career researchers to build solid relationships and develop their networking expertise so that they can drive forward future research in enabling electrical engineering. The early career researchers of today will be supported to become the research leaders of tomorrow. 5. Providing a forum for doctoral students researching PEMD within existing application-focused Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs) to come together to share ideas and develop their networks in an open and constructive environment (e.g. Aura, IDCORE, Sustainable Electric Propulsion, ReNU)

Technology critical metals (TCMs) are pivotal to achieving Net Zero goals. These metals include for example lithium, cobalt, rare earths and platinum group metals. TCMs are deemed to be "critical" because they are economically important but at risk of short supply. The UK Government's Net Zero Strategy: "Build Back Greener" (2021) highlights the supply of these materials as a key challenge for the UK's energy transition and the need for a circular economy in these materials. They are used in wind-power, EV motors and batteries, LEDs, solar-cells and the hydrogen economy.The Government's (2022) Critical Minerals Strategy, "Resilience for the Future", emphasises the importance of these materials and the global supply-chain pressures. The UK's first critical mineral list identified 18 elements as TCMs (British Geological Survey, 2022).Currently, recycling rates for TCMs are very low, for example < 5% for neodymium , used in rare earth magnets ("Critical Raw Materials Resilience" EU report). There are a number of reasons for this, including a lack of specific incentives or legislation, current product designs often impede separation, in some applications there is a very low concentration of the critical material, often the value chains are fragmented, and current recycling processes, designed for bulk metals, are rather crude resulting in the finely distributed TCMs being lost in a linear economy.The overarching aim of RECREATE is to develop a circular economy for TCMs, keeping the materials or components in the highest value form with the lowest environmental footprint. The project brings together three of the leading research institutes in the UK (Universities of Birmingham, Leicester and Edinburgh) who each specialise in different technologies for the extraction and re-use or recycling of TCMs. The project includes leading industrial and public-sector players and policy makers, all involved in the drive to create a circular economy for critical materials in the UK. The research is informed by a system-wide perspective derived from a deep understanding of the industrial challenges for recycling of these materials, and of the governance structures that drive a circular economy. This project will undertake low TRL transformative research to generate radical improvements in automated sorting, "short loop" recycling, pyrometallurgical and chemical processes with reduced environmental impact, biological processes for dilute effluents, and new materials and product-designs which make re-use or recycling easier. Ultimately the project is developing a toolbox of technologies which can sense, sort, separate and re-use or recycle a broad range of TCMs from a wide range of products. These new technologies will be benchmarked using life cycle and techno economic assessment and the legislative drivers for a circular economy will be explored.

Quantum Technology is based on quantum phenomena that govern physics on an atomic scale, enabling key breakthroughs that enhance the performance of classical devices and allow for entirely new applications in communications technology, imaging and sensing, and computation. Quantum networks will provide secure communication on a global scale, quantum sensors will revolutionise measurements in fields such as geology and biomedical imaging, and quantum computers will efficiently solve problems that are intractable even on the best future supercomputers. The economic and societal benefit will be decisive, impacting a wide range of industries and markets, including engineering, medicine, finance, defence, aerospace, energy and transport. Consequently, Quantum Technologies are being prioritised worldwide through large-scale national or trans-national initiatives, and a healthy national industrial Quantum Technology ecosystem has emerged including supply chain, business start-ups, and commercial end users.Our Centre for Doctoral Training in Applied Quantum Technologies (CDT-AQT) will address the national need to train cohorts of future quantum scientists and engineers for this emerging industry. The training program is a partnership between the Universities of Strathclyde, Glasgow and Heriot-Watt. In collaboration with more than 30 UK industry partners, CDT-AQT will offer advanced training in broad aspects of Quantum Technology, from technical underpinnings to applications in the three key areas of Quantum Measurement and Sensing, Quantum Computing and Simulation, and Quantum Communications.Our programme is designed to create a diverse community of responsible future leaders who will tackle scientific and engineering challenges in the emerging industrial landscape, bring innovative ideas to market, and work towards securing the UK's competitiveness in one of the most advanced and promising areas of the high-tech industry. The quality of our training provision is ensured by our supervisors' world-class research backgrounds, well-resourced research environments at the host institutions, and access to national strategic facilities. Industry engagement in co-creation and co-supervision is seen as crucial in equipping our students with the transferable skills needed to translate fundamental quantum physics into practical quantum technologies for research, industry, and society.To benefit the wider community immediately, we will make Quantum Technologies accessible to the general public through dedicated outreach activities, in which our students will showcase their research and exhibit at University Open Days, schools, science centres and science festivals.

The scientific discipline of fluid dynamics is primarily concerned with the measurement, modelling and underlying physics and mathematics of how liquids and gases behave. Almost all natural and manufactured systems involve the flow of fluids, which are often complex. Consequently, an understanding of fluid dynamics is integral to addressing major societal challenges including industrial competitiveness, environmental resilience, the transition to net-zero and improvements to health and healthcare. Fluid dynamics is essential to the transition of the energy sector to a low-carbon future (for example, fluid dynamics simulations coupled with control algorithms can significantly increase wind farm efficiency). It is vital to our understanding and mitigation of climate change, including extreme weather events (for example in designing flood mitigation schemes). It is key to the digitisation of manufacturing through 3d printing/additive manufacturing and development of new greener processing technologies. In healthcare, computational fluid dynamics in combination with MRI scanning provides individualised modelling of the cardio-vascular system enabling implants such as stents to be designed and tested on computers. Fluid dynamics also shows how to design urban environments and ventilate buildings to prevent the build-up of pollutants and the transmission of pathogens.The UK has long been a world-leader in fluid dynamics research. However, the field is now advancing rapidly in response to the demand to address more complex and interwoven problems on ever-faster timescales. Data-driven fluid dynamics is a major area where there are rapid advances, with the increasing application of data-science and machine learning techniques to fluid flow data, as well as the use of Artificial Intelligence to accelerate computational simulations. For the UK to maintain its competitive position requires an investment in training the next generation of research leaders who have experience of developing and applying these new techniques and approaches to fluids problems, along with professional and problem-solving skills to lead the successful adoption of these approaches in industry and research.The University of Leeds is distinctive through the breadth, depth and unified structure of its fluid dynamics research, coordinated through the Leeds Institute for Fluid Dynamics (LIFD), making it an ideal host for this CDT. The CDT in Future Fluid Dynamics (FFD-CDT) will build on the experience of successfully running a CDT in Fluid Dynamics to address these new and exciting needs. Our students will carry out cutting-edge research developing new fluid dynamics approaches and applying them across a diverse range of engineering, physics, computing, environmental and physiological challenges. We will recruit and train cohorts of students with diverse backgrounds, covering engineering, mathematical, physical and environmental sciences, in both the fundamental principles of fluid dynamics and new data-driven methodologies. Alongside this technical training we will provide a team-based, problem-led programme of professional skills training co-developed with industry to equip our graduates with the leadership, team-working and entrepreneurial skills that they need to succeed in their future careers.We will build an inclusive, diverse and welcoming community that supports cross-disciplinary science and effective and productive collaborations and partnerships. Our CDT cohort will be at the heart of growing this capability, integrated with and within the Leeds Institute for Fluid Dynamics to deliver a dynamic and vibrant training and research environment with strong UK and international partnerships in academia, industry, policy and outreach.

The UK has set a target to reach net zero emissions by 2050. Heat accounts for nearly half of the UK's energy consumption. Among several possible solutions, heat pumps are considered as one of the most promising technologies for decarbonising the domestic heating sector. Among all heat pumps, air source heat pumps (ASHP) are the most cost-effective option for householders. the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) recommends mass deployment of heat pumps to comply with the net zero target, and their net zero 'Further Ambition' scenario includes the deployment of 19 million heat pumps in homes by 2050. However, the uptake of heat pumps in the UK is very low at present. In 2018, heat pump sales in the UK were around 27,000 units (most are ASHPs), significantly lower than other EU countries. This represents a grand challenge for the government, industry, business, and research communities.There are a number of technological and non-technological barriers hindering the wide uptake of heat pumps, particularly air source heat pumps in the UK. There is a mismatch between the current ASHP products and the existing infrastructure and property configuration. Over 80% of houses in the UK use gas boilers for space heating, so their heat emitters (i.e., radiators) are designed for high temperature heat supply using gas boilers. However, most ASHPs available in the market have a relatively low heat production temperature. Secondly, ASHPs are vulnerable to ambient conditions. Their heating capacity and coefficient of performance drop dramatically as the ambient air temperature falls. Furthermore, frost starts to build up at the surface of the outdoor unit when the air temperature drops to around 6 C, so the outdoor units have to be regularly defrosted. Non-technical barriers have also played an important role behind the low uptake of heat pumps. The current UK heat pump market suffers from high capital cost and a low awareness of the product.This project, based on the PI's pending patent (Application number: 2015531.3), aims to develop a novel flexible, multi-mode air source heat pump (ASHP). This offers energy-free defrosting and is capable of continuous heating during frosting, thus eliminating the backup heater that is required by current ASHPs. We will address the key technical and non-technical challenges through interdisciplinary innovations. Our project is also supported by leading industrial companies with substantial contributions (e.g. the compressor). The developed technology offers energy-free defrosting and can be operated at different modes to benefit from off-peak electricity and/or warm air during the daytime. It will be much more energy-efficient than the current products, and thus could facilitate rapid uptake of air source heat pumps, making an important contribution to the decarbonisation of the domestic heating sector in the UK.

Harvesting the energy of sunlight offers a realistic, clean and sustainable solution towards energy generation with net-zero carbon emissions. Such aspiration has created an urgent need for a powerful catalogue of new inorganic or hybrid semiconductors to serve as cheap, efficient and stable light-harvesting materials for solar energy conversion. Particularly desirable are semiconductors enabling low energy pay-back time of fabricated light-harvesting devices, for example by material deposition from solution, low-temperature vapour deposition, or self-assembly of nanoscale building blocks. Intriguingly, many of these materials have recently been found to straddle the boundaries of "traditional" hard inorganic semiconductors (e.g. silicon) and classic "soft" molecular solids, opening up a complex array of exciting new fundamental science. The unusual properties displayed by such materials, including structural flexibility, strongly anharmonic lattice potentials, ionic migration, nanoscale assembly, or complex charge-screening processes are still poorly understood despite their critical impact on electronic properties and hence device performance.The overarching scientific aim of this Open Fellowship is to provide a paradigm shift in our fundamental understanding of the charge-lattice interactions that govern such effects. Specifically, the programme will reveal how interactions between photogenerated charge carriers and their surrounding ionic lattice affect parameters such as charge-carrier mobilities and recombination, and light-driven lattice instabilities that are critical to performance in energy-harvesting devices. Materials explored will expand from an initial selection of semiconducting metal halides, chalcohalides, metal chalcogenides, bisimides, and antimonides. Through observations across grouped materials clusters, this Fellowship programme will link charge-lattice interactions to attributes such as stoichiometry, electronic and structural dimensionality, lone-pair chemistry, structural flexibility, vibrational and dielectric response, lattice softness and anharmonicity, and ionic mobilities. Importantly, an examination of charge-lattice interaction across such a vast range of semiconducting materials in unison will enable patterns to be discernible that could not be discovered through work carried out on isolated materials. Through a powerful combination of advanced spectroscopic and structural techniques, this Fellowship will establish clear correlations and mechanisms linking core properties critical to efficient light-harvesting with basic material properties at an atomistic, electronic and structural level. This ambitious programme will further co-ordinate activities across a large number of Project Partners and collaborators, inspiring new synthetic activity and providing design tools urgently needed for computational materials screening. Overall, this Fellowship will tackle the complex array of exciting fundamental science arising in "soft" inorganic and hybrid semiconductors, seeking to develop new understanding to bridge the gap between existing models for well-established hard and soft semiconductors. The resulting discoveries will provide a blueprint for light-harvesting materials, guiding and accelerating the development of next-generation inorganic and hybrid crystalline semiconductors for the net-zero carbon transition. In addition, this Fellowship will serve as a springboard for advocacy in in the Net Zero area, through interactions with stakeholders, including policy makers, industrial partners, research councils, and learned societies. The Open Fellowship will also be leveraged to create an effective mentoring network for women in energy research in order to widen the talent pool in an area vital to planetary and human health

Universal access to a secure electricity supply is essential for the economic development and welfare of the population of Burkina Faso. Rapid urbanisation and an increased use of air conditioning (AC) has led to an 8.4% annual increase in the country's electricity demand since 2010. The nation's generation capacity is unable to keep up, resulting in frequent power outages, and a 45% dependence on energy imports creating high and volatile costs for consumers.An uninterrupted and affordable electricity supply would increase household incomes; improve education of children; save time and money collecting alternative fuels, particularly for women; improve the productivity of businesses; and accelerate the installation of new electricity connections. These direct benefits would reduce current rates of social and economic poverty, unemployment, illiteracy and emigration in the country.Upgrading the country's electricity generation and supply system is a long-term challenge, but in the short-term, our project partners, the Government of Burkina Faso and national electricity utility, SONABEL, believe the implementation of demand side management (DSM) programmes (electricity efficiency and flexibility) in the housing sector (which accounts for 33% of national electricity use) would better balance supply and demand and unlock these beneficial development outcomes.The Government has also committed to reduce electricity demand and improve energy efficiency in homes to cut Green House Gas emissions and help mitigate the effects of climate change, a phenomenon that disproportionately effects the Sahel region where Burkina Faso is located and is itself further exacerbating electricity demand as households are increasingly using AC to stay cool.However, at present, there is almost no data on household electricity demand, efficiency or flexibility in Burkina Faso for a successful, evidence based implementation of DSM. The aims and objectives of this research and partnership building project will address this substantial gap in knowledge. The project has been developed collaboratively with the Government of Burkina Faso and SONABEL to ensure the research delivers the data and evidence they need.For the direct research, a socio-technical residential electricity study will be undertaken with 100 households in Ouagadougou. Field measurements of electricity demands and internal temperatures of homes will provide empirical insights into households' electricity load profiles, use of AC, time-of-use and peak loads. An efficiency and flexibility survey will be completed to understand households' current practices and opportunities for improving energy efficiency at home, as well as identifying load shifting and curtailment actions that households would be willing to implement to prevent power outages. Diversity in responses due to the socio-technical characteristics of the households and dwellings will be studied.Simultaneously a range of partnership building activities (e.g. research visits, project meetings, workshops, mini conference) will be undertaken. These are tailored to the stage of the project programme to either inform the delivery of the direct research or form a platform for discussion, dissemination and impact generation of the research findings.An international network of 6 Universities will be created where future research on energy and development challenges in Burkina Faso and other African countries will stem. The network will also act as a platform for ongoing mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and skills. To deliver development impact within the project's life time, workshops with the Government and SONABEL will turn the research findings into evidence based recommendations to inform future policy and DSM programmes. Project partner GGGI will use their extensive network, to engage wider stakeholders and beneficiaries, so a range of routes to impact are achieved

Engineers use computer tools to design complex structural components, be they airplane wings or high-rise buildings. The most common technique underneath such computer tools is finite element analysis (FEA). For not-so-demanding structural applications, simple linear elastic finite element models are sufficient to conduct the design process. However, when it comes to advanced structural applications such as gas turbine blades or nuclear reactor components, they experience severe loading conditions, which are high temperatures and/or high-pressure dynamic loads (impact). For such high-temperature applications, advanced structural ceramics and their composites are the natural choices of materials. Designing these structures made of ceramics against impact is non-trivial as it involves complex damage evolution mechanisms. Hence, engineers conduct a variety of experiments and large-scale computational (FEA) simulations to understand their behaviour. However, these experiments and simulations are time-consuming and costly. Most often, they have to conduct simple linear elastic FEA models which are far less time-consuming but do not account for complex damage mechanisms. Such a limitation naturally results in a sub-optimal design of these advanced structural components. One of the ways to overcome this challenge is to exploit the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to see if finite element computer simulations can be accelerated and yet reliably predict complex damage mechanisms.The proposed research addresses this industry-relevant problem and aims to develop an AI-driven accelerated FEA tool to simulate dynamic brittle fracture evolution in advanced structural ceramics. When we use AI models for such physical problems, the inherent problem is their reliability as they are often termed as 'black box modes' leading to uncertainties in their predictions. In this perspective, the proposed project takes a hybrid approach whereby data-driven deep learning models are adaptively combined with physics-based traditional FEA models in an integrated framework, thoroughly validated using experimental testing. Such a hybrid strategy aids in achieving accelerated, yet reliable simulations for complex physical problems such as the dynamic damage evolution in structures made of brittle ceramic materials. More specifically, engineers or end-users can specify the level of the desired accuracy depending on the design stage of the structural component. The adaptive simulation framework will then appropriately hybridise deep learning-based predictor and traditional FEA, resulting in an optimal damage prediction balancing the computational costs and accuracy.The global objective is to equip engineers with the necessary simulation tools whereby both accuracy and speed are ensured. This helps in transitioning the current industrial approach of using simplistic models into adopting AI-driven models that captures complex physical mechanisms, ultimately leading to the efficient and safe design of advanced structural components.

Cyber-physical risks pose new challenges to the UK security and defence community. Nation state actors are increasingly equipping themselves with tools capable of causing damage to cyber-physical systems. During times of elevated threat, e.g. the Ukraine war, it has become common for such tools to be used in the theatre of conflict, but the risk that they will be used outside the affected region also increases, as does the risk that they will fall into the hands of non-state actors and used more widely than against conventional cyber-physical systems. At the same time, society as a whole is developing a growing reliance on social-media, apps, connected IoT devices and both AI and Mixed Reality. By itself, this also has major security implications leading to high volumes of new crimes that need addressing but, when used in combination with cyber-physical attacks, a qualitatively different form of attack is experienced, known as a hybrid threat because of its similarity to the hybrid cyber/kinetic warfare that has emerged as a feature of recent conflicts.Our team will create a cohort of leaders equipped with specialist skills specifically adapted to tomorrow's cyber-physical risks. They will learn how to (1) manage risks that develop jointly across the cyber and physical domains, (2) reduce risks in one domain by intervening in the other domain, (3) understand how criminal groups protect their interest by operating across domains, and (4) pre-empt the propagation of unintended consequences from one domain to the next. These future leaders will also undertake an intense programme of activities designed to nurture key complementary skills. The eXchange, Lead!, Get it Done, and Next Step schemes will be shaped with our industry partners to address important gaps highlighted in a recent government report: "40% of businesses reported that cybersecurity job applicants are deficient in their complementary skills". Beyond fostering technical expertise, the CDT will help students and partners develop an acute awareness of the wider issues and dilemmas posed by all such work in democratic societies.To deliver an exceptional learning experience, we bring a powerful group of industry partners and academic experts from the engineering, natural and social sciences within a single-site research training centre in London. Academically excellent and pro-active within and between cohorts, the 50+ CDT students will specialise in a range of scientific techniques from at least two of the following four 'cyber-physical risk' themes. These were selected in consultation with students and partners based on their relevance, attractiveness and employment opportunities:1. Futures: forecast how future socio-technical trends will shape the geopolitical implications of cyber-physical risk, understand how to co-design effective control and mitigation measures for different legal, technical, and policy contexts in order to support societal resilience.2. Cyber-physical systems: support regulation of IoT devices, detect 'below the radar' attacks against cyber-physical control systems; contribute to the resilience of critical infrastructures.3. Online Communication: prevent the misuse of social media for disinformation campaigns, detect incitement to hate crime in games, analyse crime related communication on the dark web, etc.4. Simulation and Interaction: develop and apply simulation technologies (e.g., digital twins, VR, XR) for the study of human behaviour in a range of cyber-physical risk scenarios. EPSRC areas directly relevant to the following themes: Artificial intelligence technologies, Building a secure and resilient world, Digital security by design, Digital signal processing, Human communication in information and communication technologies, Human-computer interaction, ICT networks and distributed systems, Image and vision computing, Natural language processing, Operational research, Pervasive and ubiquitous computing

Our CDT in Inorganic Materials for Advanced Manufacturing (IMAT) will provide the knowledge, training and innovation in Inorganic Chemistry and Materials Science needed to power large-scale, high-growth, current and future manufacturing industries. Our cohort-centred programme will build the skills needed to understand, transform and discover better products and materials, and to tackle the practical challenges of manufacturing, application and recycling.IMAT CDT addresses the 'Meeting a user need' CDT focus area, while also addressing 3 EPSRC strategic priorities: 'Physical Sciences Powerhouse', 'Engineering Net Zero' and 'Quantum Technologies'.'Inorganics' are essential to many industries, from fuel cells to electronics, from batteries to catalysts, from solar cells to medical imaging. These materials are made by technically skilful chemical transformations of elements from across the breadth of the Periodic Table: success is only achievable via in-depth understanding of their properties and dynamic behaviour, requiring systems-thinking across the boundaries of Chemistry and Materials Science. The sector is characterized by an unusually high demand for high-level (MSc/PhD) qualified employees. Moreover, wide-ranging synergies in manufacturing challenges for 'inorganics' mean significant added value is attached to interdisciplinary training in this area. For example, understanding ionic/electronic conductivity is relevant to thermo-electric materials, photo-voltaics, batteries and quantum technologies; replacing heavy metals with earth-abundant alternatives is relevant to chemical manufacturing from plastics to fragrances to speciality chemicals; and methods to manufacture starting from 'natural molecules' like water, oxygen, nitrogen and CO2 will impact nearly every sector of the chemical industry.IMAT will train graduates to navigate interconnected supply chains and meet industry technology/sustainability demands. To invent and propel future industries, graduates must have a clear understanding of scientific fundamentals and be able to quickly apply them to difficult, fast-changing challenges to ensure the UK's leadership in high-tech, high-growth industries. A wide breadth of technical competence is essential, given the sector dominance of small enterprises employing <50 people. The 'inorganic' sector must also meet challenges associated with resource sustainability, manufacturing net zero, pollution minimisation and recycling; our cohorts will be trained to think broadly, with awareness of environmental, societal, legal and economic factors. Our creative and highly skilled graduates will transform sectors as diverse as energy generation, storage, electronics, construction materials, consumer goods, sensing/detection and healthcare.IMAT builds upon the successful EPSRC 'inorganic synthesis' CDT (OxICFM) and (based on extensive end-user/partner feedback) expands its training portfolio to include materials science, physics, engineering and other areas needed to equip graduates to tackle advanced materials challenges. It addresses local, national and international skills gaps identified by our partners, who include companies spanning a wide range of business sizes/sectors, together with local enterprise partnerships and manufacturing catapults. IMAT offers a unique set of training goals in 'inorganic' chemistry and materials - a key discipline encompassing everything made which is not an organic molecule: from salts to composites, from acids/bases to ceramics, from organometallics to (bio)catalysts, from soft-matter to the toughest materials known, and from semi-conductors to super-conductors. A unifying training spanning this breadth is made possible through the strength of expertise across Oxford Chemistry and Materials, and our national partner network. Our goal is to empower future graduates by equipping them with this critical knowledge ready to apply it to new manufacturing sectors

Lancaster University, together with a formidable consortium of industrial and third-sector partners, proposes a Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) aimed at cultivating international research leaders in Statistics and Operational Research (STOR) through a programme in which real-world challenge is the catalyst for cutting-edge methodological advancement.Our partners face a challenging reality: the demand for highly-trained STOR data specialists consistently exceeds the available supply. This situation is exacerbated by the ever-growing significance of data in both the economy and society. Our proposal directly addresses this pressing demand, focussing on the priority area "meeting a user-need".The newly envisioned Centre builds upon the strengths and knowledge derived from an existing, internationally recognised EPSRC CDT. Expanding upon this foundation and with the input of an enlarged partner network, including blue-chip companies, SMEs, and third-sector organisations, we propose a Centre poised to recruit and train 70 students across five cohorts. This program will harness industrial and charitable challenges as inspirational springboards for conducting the highest calibre research.The new programme will innovate by* Developing a new MRes programme co-designed and delivered with our partners;* Including a comprehensive training programme on advanced, reproducible programming for STOR, co-ordinated by the Centre's dedicated, industry-funded, Research Software Engineer;* Embedding industrial and third-sector collaboration throughout the student experience;* Hosting seeded research clusters: vibrant, cross-cohort, cross-sector retreats to explore and develop early-stage challenges emerging from the shared interests of STOR-i and its partners;* Developing an ambitious doctoral exchange programme with highly regarded international university partners, comprising student exchanges, co-supervision and shared training activities.Our partners play an integral role in the Centre's plans, with 80% of doctoral projects adopting a CASE-like approach, receiving co-funding and co-supervision from industrial partners. All other students will engage in industrial research internships. Additionally, partners will lead problem-solving events, data immersion experiences, and contribute to Continuing Professional Development (CPD) activities such as leadership talks, fireside chats, and advanced programming training.The partnership is deeply committed to ensuring the broader impact of STOR-i as a national resource. To this end, the Centre will establish a suite of funded activities open to all UK STOR doctoral students. These include an annual STOR summer school with an emphasis on leadership skills, advanced programming, and a data dive focused on charitable endeavours. Additionally, students will have access to masterclasses and research visits.STOR-i will deliver a wide range of benefits and scientific outcomes to the end-user community, underpinned by three fundamental pillars:1. People: Our CDT will inject 70 highly talented, diverse PhD graduates into the field, armed with the technical, interpersonal, and leadership skills essential for flourishing careers in STOR across a range of sectors. These graduates will serve as catalysts for innovation, driving cutting-edge research, and enhancing the UK's economic competitiveness.2. Knowledge: The CDT will generate a wealth of cutting-edge research, disseminated in top STOR journals, and presented at major international conferences. This research will tackle substantial real-world challenges, yielding fresh insights and breakthroughs in STOR.3. Impact: Our CDT will make a tangible difference in society and the economy by producing (i) case studies and (ii) a repository of documented and reproducible software, available to the public. This will facilitate widespread adoption of our research, leading to meaningful societal and economic impact.

In a consortium led by Heriot-Watt with St Andrews, Glasgow, Strathclyde, Edinburgh, Dundee, Huddersfield and NPL, the "EPSRC CDT in Use-Inspired Photonic Sensing and Metrology" responds to the focus area of "Meeting a User-Need and/or Supporting Civic Priorities" and aligns to EPSRC's Frontiers in Engineering & Technology priority and its aim to produce "tools and technologies that form the foundation of future UK prosperity".Our theme recognises the key role that photonic sensing and metrology has in addressing 21st century challenges in transport (LiDAR), energy (wind-turbine monitoring), manufacturing (precision measurement), medicine (disease sensors), agri-food (spectroscopy), security (chemical sensing) and net-zero (hydrocarbon and H2 metrology).Building on the success of our earlier centres, the addition of NPL and Huddersfield to our team reflects their international leadership in optical metrology and creates a consortium whose REF standing, UKRI income and industrial connectivity makes us uniquely able to deliver this CDT.Photonics contributes £15.2bn annually to the UK economy and employs 80,000 people--equal to automotive production and 3x more than pharmaceutical manufacturing. By 2035, more than 60% of the UK economy will rely on photonics to stay competitive.UK companies addressing the photonic sensing and metrology market are therefore vital to our economy but are threatened by a lack of doctoral-level researchers with a breadth of knowledge and understanding of photonic sensing and metrology, coupled with high-level business, management and communication skills.By ensuring a supply of these individuals, our CDT will consolidate the UK industrial knowledge base, driving this high-growth, export-led sector whose products and services have far-reaching impacts on our society.The proposed CDT will train 55 students. These will comprise at least 40 EngD students, characterised by a research project originated by a company and hosted on their site. A complementary stream of up to 15 PhD students will pursue industrially relevant research in university labs, with more flexibility and technical risk than in an EngD project.In preparing this bid, we invited companies to indicate their support, resulting in £5.5M cash commitments for 102 new students, considerably exceeding our target of 55 students, and highlighting industry's appetite for a CDT in photonic sensing and metrology. Our request to EPSRC for £6.13M will support 35 students, with the remaining students funded by industrial (£2.43M) and university (£1.02M) cash contributions, translating to an exceptional 56% cash leverage of studentship costs.The university partners provide 166 named supervisors, giving the flexibility to identify the most appropriate expertise for industry-led EngD projects. These academics' links to >120 named companies also ensure that the networks exist to co-create university-led PhD projects with industry partners. Our team combines established researchers with considerable supervisory experience (>50 full professors) with many dynamic early-career researchers, including a number of prestigious research fellowship holders.A 9-month frontloaded residential phase in St Andrews and Edinburgh will ensure the cohort gels strongly, equipping students with the knowledge and skills they need before starting their research projects. These core taught courses, augmented with electives from the other universities, will total 120 credits and will be supplemented by accredited MBA courses and training in outreach, IP, communication skills, RRI, EDI, sustainability and trusted-research. Collectively, these training episodes will bring students back to Heriot-Watt a few times each year, consolidating their intra- and inter-cohort networks. Governance will follow our current model, with a mixed academic-industry Management Committee and an International Advisory Committee of world-leading experts

An enormous portion of low-grade heat (<100C) exists in the form of solar heat and waste heat from residential buildings and industries. However, converting low-grade heat using a conventional solid-state thermoelectric device-based system is challenging due to poor conversion efficiencies and low cost-effectiveness. Electrochemical heat-to-electricity conversion using a thermally regenerative electrochemical cycle (TREC) redox flow battery (RFB) can be considered a promising means for securing cost-effective low-grade heat storage with a sufficiently high-power rating due to the scalability of the redox flow batteries. Despite such benefits, the record conversion efficiency of the TREC RFB is less than 6%, which is far behind its theoretical maximum, which can be over 20% at a temperature gradient of 80C. This is attributable to the electrolyte design that does not consider its thermodynamic and electrochemical characteristics, which are the key aspects of TREC-based systems.Herein, we propose developing an efficient TREC-based RFB system through a data- and modelling-driven screening of the redox chemicals and electrolyte design and developing a scalable demonstrator. Comprehensive analytic thermoelectrochemical model studies and empirical research will be carried out under dynamic operational parameters, such as temperature, flow rate, conductivities, resistance and etc., which have been poorly studied despite their high importance in TREC design. The long-term current-voltage characteristics obtained from both lab-scale and large area multi-stack flow cells will be used for further model development (empirical constants and other dependent variables for overpotential terms) using a feedback loop scheme (i.e., inverse-modelling process).Critical key parameters of redox couples, including but not limited to thermogalvanic (Seebeck) coefficient, reaction entropy, solubility, conductivity, reaction rate and etc., will be collected and assessed by using data collection matrix followed by a series of comprehensive theoretical and experimental screening steps. Quantitatively, through the activities outlined above, this project is aimed to deliver a TREC RFB system with a record-breaking heat-to-chemical-to-electricity conversion efficiency (>10% at 60C temperature gradient at maximum power density) which is equivalent to 70% of the Carnot limit.This project is a challenging and ambitious interdisciplinary engineering study, requiring a broad spectrum of collaborations. Theoretical modelling with the initial screening of redox couples and prototype system development will be conducted at Heriot-Watt University, while the University of Strathclyde will prepare and characterise the fundamental characteristics of candidate redox couples. Close partnership with various external experts will also be carried out for the success of the project. Aarhus Univ. (Prof. A. Bentien's group) will support external research stay opportunities for organic chemical treatment. KIST Europe (in Saarland Univ) also will provide access to state-of-the-art multi-stack battery testing facilities and research staff support for PDRA's research stay. AES Solar Ltd. shall participate as an industrial partner, providing technical support for heat-collector design. LIND Ltd. will also support the project with access to their commercial-scale testing facilities.Outcomes from this work will be an important milestone in both energy storage and electrochemistry areas. We envisage technological advances for efficient and durable solar energy storage that promptly meet the needs of the times for the UK's zero-emission future. In addition, more importantly, the purpose of the project meets the needs of energy security considering recent international armed conflicts in Europe. Alongside the current UK's renewable energy roadmap policy for a carbon-neutral society, this project also fits well in the EPSRC's Energy Storage portfolio.

Hydrogen and alternative liquid fuels (HALF) have an essential role in the net-zero transition by providing connectivity and flexibility across the energy system. Despite advancements in the field of hydrogen research both in the physical sciences and engineering, significant barriers remain to the scalable adoption of hydrogen and alternative liquid fuel technologies, and energy services, into the UK's local and national whole system infrastructure. These are technical barriers, organisational barriers, regulatory and societal barriers, and financial barriers.There are, therefore, significant gaps between current levels of hydrogen production, transportation, storage, conversion, and usage, and the estimated requirement for achieving net-zero by 2050. To address this, our proposed research programme has four interlinked work packages.WP1 will develop forward-thinking HALF technology roadmaps. We will assess supply chain availability and security. Selected representative HALF use cases will be used to identify and quantify any opportunities, risks and dependencies within a whole systems analysis. We will also develop an overarching roadmap for HALF system integration in order to inform technology advancement, industry and business development, as well as policy making and social interventions.WP2 will improve HALF characterisation and explore urgent new perspectives on the energy transition, including those related to ensuring resilience and security while also achieving net-zero. We will contrast the energy transition delivered by real incentives/behaviour versus those projected by widely-used optimisation models. The WP provides the whole systems modelling engine of the HI-ACT Hub, with a diverse array of state-of-the-art tools to explore HALF integration.WP 3 will explore the vital coupling of data and information relating to whole system planning and operational decision support, through the creation of a cyber physical architecture (CPA). This will generate new learning on current and future opportunities and risks, from a data and information perspective, which will lead to a whole system ontology for accelerated integration of hydrogen technologies.WP 4 considers options for a future energy system with HALF from a number of perspectives. The first is to consider expert views on HALF energy futures, and the public perceptions of those views. The second perspective considers place-based options for social benefit in HALF energy futures. The third perspective is to consider regulatory and policy options which would better enable HALF futures.Embedded across the research programme is the intent to create robust tools which are investment-oriented in their analysis. A Whole Systems and Energy Systems Integration approach is needed here, in order to better understand the interconnected and interdependent nature of complex energy systems from a technical, social, environmental and economic perspective.The Hub is led by Prof Sara Walker, Director of the EPSRC National Centre for Energy Systems Integration, supported by a team of 16 academics at a range of career stages. The team have extensive experience of large energy research projects and strong networks of stakeholders across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. They bring to the Hub major hydrogen demonstrators through support from partners involved in InTEGReL in Gateshead, ReFLEX in Orkney, and FLEXIS Demonstration in South Wales for example. We shall engage to create a vibrant, diverse, and open community that has a deeper understanding of whole systems approaches and the role of hydrogen and alternative liquid fuels within that. We shall do so in a way which embeds Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in the approach. We shall do so in a way which is a hybrid of virtual and in-person field work consultation and develop appropriate digital tools for engagement

LITEFLOATCON aims to build an international and intersectoral partnership for high-quality research development on innovativelight-weight high performance concrete (LWHPC) and its application on multi-purpose modular floating structures for coastal spaceutilisation.To achieve this ambition, LITEFLOATCON brings along a multi-disciplinary team comprising 33 researchers from nine academicpartners with complementary expertise. The scientific objectives include: (1) developing innovative LWHPC suitable for coastalapplications, (2) investigating the influence of various additives on the rheological and mechanical properties 3) assessing thedurability properties 4) measuring the fatigue performance of LWHPC of various compositions developed (5) conceptualdevelopment of novel modular floating structural units with optimised shape and size, (6) developing an easy-fit inter-modularconnector, (7) examining the global and local structural and hydrodynamic performances of the modular floating units, and (8)generating Life-Cycle Analysis and performance-based design guidelines and recommendations.The outcomes of LITEFLOATCON include long-term and sustainable international partnerships that enhance the quality of researchtowards a modular floating LWHPC system with verified system design, material durability and structural safety, and an analysis andassessment framework for social and environmental impacts. These contribute to the development of next-generation coastalstructures, to improved scientific knowledge of material and structural behaviour in harsh marine environments, to design standardisation of the offshore industry, and to Europe's climate and sustainability goals

LITEFLOATCON aims to build an international and intersectoral partnership for high-quality research development on innovativelight-weight high performance concrete (LWHPC) and its application on multi-purpose modular floating structures for coastal spaceutilisation.To achieve this ambition, LITEFLOATCON brings along a multi-disciplinary team comprising 33 researchers from nine academicpartners with complementary expertise. The scientific objectives include: (1) developing innovative LWHPC suitable for coastalapplications, (2) investigating the influence of various additives on the rheological and mechanical properties 3) assessing thedurability properties 4) measuring the fatigue performance of LWHPC of various compositions developed (5) conceptualdevelopment of novel modular floating structural units with optimised shape and size, (6) developing an easy-fit inter-modularconnector, (7) examining the global and local structural and hydrodynamic performances of the modular floating units, and (8)generating Life-Cycle Analysis and performance-based design guidelines and recommendations.The outcomes of LITEFLOATCON include long-term and sustainable international partnerships that enhance the quality of researchtowards a modular floating LWHPC system with verified system design, material durability and structural safety, and an analysis andassessment framework for social and environmental impacts. These contribute to the development of next-generation coastalstructures, to improved scientific knowledge of material and structural behaviour in harsh marine environments, to design standardisation of the offshore industry, and to Europe's climate and sustainability goals

OUR AIM is to commission a user-accessible scanning transmission electron microscope for high resolution imaging and analysis of functional materials in a field-free environment.OUR OBJECTIVES are summarised as: INSTALLATION of the new instrument, named MagTEM2, in collaboration with manufacturers; DEMONSTRATION of MagTEM2's unique capabilities for field-free imaging alongside world-class analytical techniques; EXTENSION of our user-base; and generation of IMPACT.Our focus is not simply to maximise spatial resolution as that compromises other modalities. A single-purpose microscope will not reveal the structure-function links that underpin all materials science. Rather, we will ensure that functional imaging is world class. MagTEM2 will enable multimodal imaging to correlate structure, electro-magnetic functionality and chemical identity down to the atomic scale. Spectroscopic energy resolution, improved through monochromation of the STEM beam, will enable enhanced chemical discrimination and imaging of vibrational and plasmonic modes. High-speed detectors, coupled with potentially gigahertz electrical stimulation of devices, will push the time resolution of MagTEM2 far beyond current capabilities. MagTEM2 will also provide opportunities for doctoral training, the professional development of technical staff and outreach activities. Critically, it will be available to external users, operating alongside substantial complementary infrastructure for materials research at the University of Glasgow. We have assembled a consortium of ~100 academic and industrial users, with wide-ranging ambitions for research that is not currently possible in the UK. Their interests range from developing the next generation of magnetic data storage to the design of materials that will contribute to global goals for climate change mitigation

Modern life on the planet is sustained by constant supply of energy, over 80% of which is currently provided by fossil-fuel-based carbon sources (coal, oil and gas). Climate change crisis, combined with dwindling North Sea fuel resources and volatility in the global fossil-fuel market mean there is a pressing need for securement of sustainable energy sources. In this context, electrochemical technologies are becoming increasingly important due to their prominent role in energy conversion, storage, and chemical industries. With renewable electricity being a key strategic component of UK Government's energy policy, coupled with cost reductions of renewable electricity in recent years, electrochemical technologies will play a key role in enabling decarbonisation. Alongside batteries, electrocatalysis is becoming a well-established direction in the domain of energy technologies (e.g., electrolysers and fuel cells) as well as fuels and chemical manufacturing. The applications include: (i) electrochemical conversion of CO2 to produce fuels and chemicals (e.g., formic acid, syngas, ethanol), facilitating carbon capture and utilisation pathways (CCU), (ii) oxidation of low-value waste chemicals (e.g., glycerol from biodiesel industry or ethylene glycol from PET digestion) to generate high-value products used by chemical industries. The primary benefit of such electricity powered processes is their contribution towards reducing the CO2 emission and transitioning to a sustainable society.However, one of the key challenges in making electrocatalytic technologies economically viable is developing inexpensive catalysts that can be used at the electrodes to drive the chemical reactions efficiently. In this context, use of porous materials as a catalyst is appealing because they have large surface area with well-defined pores and channels with integrated catalytic sites. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are such a class of microporous materials with permanent porosity, and their structure can be designed with exceptional degree of control. While these crystalline materials have enormous potential for applications in gas sorption, catalysis, energy storage, light harvesting etc., their use in electrochemical systems has remained problematic due to low conductivity, and thus, many questions remain open in the field.In this proposal, we aim to gain fundamental insight on how these materials operate as electrocatalysts. The overall idea is that the lessons learned from this project will feed into the design principle of next generation of materials. Due to the structural complexity of the MOFs, 'visualising' their structure under operating condition requires a wide range of technical tools including spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and imaging. For this purpose, we will team up with international researchers to uncover how structural aspects of the materials contribute to the catalytic activity and whether the materials undergo structural reconstruction during catalysis.

This collaborative research proposal between the Oxford Robotics Institute (ORI) and the ETH extends themes of embodied robotic intelligence outlined in Oxford's ongoing Programme Grant "Embodied Intelligence: From Sensing to Collaboration" to include physical intelligence - specifically dynamic manipulation in contact-rich environments and perception suitable for autonomy in wild, natural environments.We propose a strategic collaboration with Prof. Dr. Hutter and Dr. Cadena of ETH Zurich who are world leaders in dynamic locomotion, manipulation and navigation and ETH's Center for Robotics - a coordinated ETH initiative to grow robotics in ETH and Switzerland. Their Robot Systems Lab (RSL) regularly receives plaudits and recognition and has created 6 spin-outs. Interaction with other academics within the Center (e.g. soft robotics, autonomy, controls) is also envisaged.ORI brings expertise in perception for state estimation and navigation, deep learning for locomotion and manipulation and decision making, while ETH has a strong track record in mobile robotics, dynamic locomotion and control. Together, we will develop new approaches to address the challenges of autonomous manipulation and navigation with dynamic robots.Our proposed project is organised into two research strands, which will use the ANYmal quadruped robot as a common platform. The first strand will focus on 'Data-Driven Perception and Navigation ', while the second strand will focus on 'Contact Rich Manipulation for Mobile Platforms'. Together with ETH we have designed an exciting exchange programme that will strengthen our collaboration and benefit from substantive industry support. In addition, we plan to host a standalone symposium to promote the common research links between Oxford and ETH, and another public outreach event linked with one of the main robotics conferences (IEEE ICRA, RSS).In summary, the proposed collaboration presents a unique opportunity to collaboratively explore the challenges of unstructured autonomy and contact-rich manipulation by pairing advances from the first half of our programme grant with expertise from ETH's world class faculty and laboratories. Our proposed collaboration is timely, given the growing importance of the proposed research, while our unique combination of expertise has the potential to have significant impact both in UK academia and in a range of business sectors. We propose a clear research and demonstration plan involving collaborations with several companies in the nuclear sector and the manufacturer of a leading quadruped robot. The project will conclude with live on-site trials at a real nuclear facility

The synergistic effects among the metals are often responsible for the increased activity, selectivity, and stability, hence, the impressive catalytic activity over monometallic by bimetallic counterparts has been reported. Trimetallic catalysts (3MCs) have been successfully used for different reactions, however, there are few reports on 3MCs for electrocatalytic dinitrogen reduction (NR). Most of the catalysts for NR suffer from slow mass and electron transport, low dinitrogen affinity, and reduced activity, therefore we proposed multifunctional 3MCs anchored on a suitable substrate to solve these problems. This project will develop a series of 3MCs for NR on carbon electrode denoted M-D1-D2 (where M (Metal)= Co and Cu) (-D1 - D2 ((Doping 1-Doping 2) = Zn-Li, Zn-Cs, Zn-La, etc.) to boost selectivity and activity of NR in a 0.1 M phosphate buffer aqueous solution compared and reach FEs of over 50% and high ammonium yields to fulfill requirements for industrialization. Dinitrogen is a weak Lewis base; hence it is rational to create a Lewis acid catalytic site to give preference for the binding of dinitrogen over proton. Therefore, we are going to use Li, Cs, Zn, and La as Lewis acid dopants with different affinity (low, moderate, and strong) toward NR. The change of the charge at the surface of the electrode at the atomic level is going to be confirmed by XANES and EXAFS. To further adjust dinitrogen affinity, pyridine derivatives as the heteroatom dopant, (e.g. Pyridine, 4-tert-Butylpyridine, etc.)) will be used. The heteroatoms interact with the pi star orbital of the dinitrogen by electron-donating and increasing the absorption affinity. The change in affinity will be confirmed with dinitrogen temperature-programmed desorption (TPD) measurement. The mechanistic studies will be performed by state-of-the-art techniques of the highest active 3MC. The result will feed back into the synthetic work to guide the optimization of electrochemical performance

Composite materials, such as those based on carbon and glass fibre reinforced polymer play an important role in driving global decarbonisation, through corrosion resistant and high-performance products and light-weighting sectors such as transport that lead to improved fuel economy and so reduce emissions. Our proposal targets sustainability of high value composite components, through embedding ultra-thin glass planar sensors, that can be used during manufacture and through a component's life to assess parameters linked to structural performance. Hence informed decisions can be made to extend useable life and reduce the scrappage associated with manufacture. This makes most efficient use of our limited resource of energy and raw materials. In addition to environmental sustainability, this work will also have economic advantages enabling the UK economy to continue to grow innovative technology and associated highly skilled jobs.Despite the huge lightweighting benefit of composites they are not utilised to their full potential due to variability caused at the manufacturing stage. Composite components and the composite material they are made from are produced together. To achieve the desired material geometry features are included in their laminated structure that generate defects. To realise their full set of advantages new methodologies must be devised that support sustainable deployment integrated during production. At the manufacturing stage, many composite components are consigned to scrap before they go into service because of defect evolution. We are proposing a new non-invasive means to better monitor defect evolution and their affect on the final structural performance of the part. Once a composite component goes into service it is often heavier than necessary due to the design parameters necessary for safety assurance. Having an effective means of monitoring critical regions would motivate a means to reduce structural mass by reducing material usage, which in turn would allow increasing payload and or support a shift to heavier but more efficient designs. We are proposing a sensing methodology that can indicate a reduction in structural performance, as our sensors allow changes in through thickness strain to be captured. A laminated composite structure is designed to carry the load in the plane of the laminations as it is weak through the thickness of laminate. Any change in through thickness strain would be a prime indicator of a reduction in performance. At the end of the composite component's life there are currently limited options for recycling composites with 15% of the 110,000 tonnes of composites produced in the UK each year being reused at their end of life. Our sensors would support reuse and repurposing of large composite structures because a complete history of the component life cycle would be available through monitoring informing designers of the suitability to be deployed in other structural applications.To highlight the advantages of using the novel sensors we have chosen three important case studies/exemplars. The first is in the manufacture of thermosetting composites replacing the costly and time-consuming autoclave with microwave processing, which reduces energy consumption significantly. Our planar glass sensors will be non-conducting and so permit comprehensive in process monitoring, supporting uptake of microwave curing. As described above the through thickness strength of laminated composite materials is limited, hence 3D fibre architectures are being explored. Our second case study focuses on braiding process exploiting the sensor's geometry to fix it into a known position during the consolidation of the 3D fibre architecture in a thermoplastic matrix. Finally, we demonstrate the versatility of our sensors in an infield retrofitting application to extend the life of concrete infrastructure using composite repair patches.

Averting dangerous consequences of climate change and transitioning to societies that use our natural resources sustainably is one of the most existential challenges currently facing humanity. At the technological level, advanced energy materials are needed not only to sustain incremental advances in existing zero-carbon energy technologies, but also to address open technology challenges requiring disruptive breakthroughs. New, emerging classes of energy materials, such as perovskite semiconductors and organic/biologically inspired materials for solar energy harvesting and photovoltaics, or advanced electrode materials for batteries offer great opportunities for achieving higher performance, lower cost and better environmental sustainability than existing energy materials. However, many aspects of their operation remain poorly understood. This is related to their relatively disordered, non-single crystalline microstructures, with complex interfaces that are critical for device operation, and the presence of weakly, non-covalently bonded, functional groups and molecular units. This makes the materials mechanically soft and the dynamics of lattice vibrations has a strong effect on the charge carriers and electronic excitations. However, their performance is surprisingly tolerant to such static and dynamic disorder, which opens a wide space for materials exploration as we apparently do not always need structural perfection.This centre-to-centre collaboration brings together a team of energy materials researchers at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford supported by the VETSOFT EPSRC programme grant with a world-leading group of researchers at Princeton University's Andlinger Centre for Energy and the Environment. Both centres have internationally leading, interdisciplinary teams with a broad spectrum of complementary techniques and scientific capabilities that can be applied and shared across traditional boundaries associated with different materials systems and/or applications. By not working in traditional silos, powerful synergies can be achieved. This is at the heart of the VETSOFT programme grant, which brings together researchers working in soft functional energy materials for diverse applications in photovoltaics, photocatalysis, thermal energy harvesting and energy storage. A similar philosophy also underpins Princeton's Andlinger Centre, which has available a largely complementary set of capabilities. The proposed centre-to-centre collaboration aims to achieve a deeper atomistic understanding and control of important physical processes in soft functional energy materials, in turn driving tangible enhancements in energy materials performance and new device concepts. We have identified three grand research challenges (RCs) for which there is a high added value from the collaboration between the two centres and for which complementary scientific capabilities and methodologies available at the two centres are needed. The centre-to-centre collaboration will allow us to tackle these in a more effective way than any of the participating groups could on their own. The first two RCs address scientific bottlenecks that are holding back the application of perovskite semiconductors in solar cells and of electrode materials for batteries: We will develop approaches for controlled doping of metal halide perovskite semiconductors and new battery anode materials based on niobium tungsten oxides capable of fast charging. The third one aims to achieve a deeper, fundamental understanding of energy transfer processes in biological energy harvesting. The proposed centre-to-centre collaboration will also provide a vehicle for encouraging other, exploratory research projects in advanced energy materials between groups at the two centres, that will lead to a sustained, effective partnership between the two centres outlasting the 4-year funding period of the proposed project

The current shift to marine renewable energies, with UK investment to top £150bn, will likely transform the sustainability (the balance between economic growth, social well-being, and environmental care) and resilience (adapting to change, adversity and new opportunities) of coastal communities and adjacent seas. History tells us that previous energy transitions have led to profound environmental and socio-cultural change for local communities due to their often boom-and-bust nature. Yet most analyses focus on technical and economic criteria and rarely address environmental, social, cultural, and institutional impacts or whether transitions are just (i.e., that they are as fair and inclusive as possible for everyone concerned). This oversight must be addressed to reduce carbon emissions in a way that also improves outcomes for coastal environments and communities.TRANSECTS will address this oversight using a novel transdisciplinary approach, co-developed with coastal resilience stakeholder partners and combining sociology, economics and geography with engineering, ecology, history, law, archaeology, and creative arts. We adopt a place- and time-based research design using learnings from the experiences of different coastal communities during past energy transitions. We combine natural and social sciences with arts and humanities to explore the shifts from non-renewable marine energy sources (whale oil in the 1800s through to offshore oil and gas in the later-1900s) to more sustainable renewable energy sources in the early-2000s. We will analyse differences across geographical scales (small areas to large regions), between mainland coastal and island communities and between different UK regions.The TRANSECTS project has three primary aims:1) Use historical and current case studies to understand marine energy transitions and their impacts on the sustainability and resilience of coastal communities and adjacent seas2) Integrate creative methods with community dialogue and scientific research/expertise to enable communities to explore their roles and responses to energy transitions3) Establish a 'theory of change' for marine energy transitions which will assist coastal communities to improve social, economic and environmental sustainability and resilience, and transform decision-making To achieve these aims, we will explore three cases: the Humber Estuary, the Orkney Islands and east-coast Scotland. Each has changed their main marine energy economic activity from whale oil via offshore fossil fuels to marine renewable energies and has experienced changing economic fortunes, marginalisation and (often hidden) hardship caused by these transitions. TRANSECTS will examine the raw energy sources (whales, oil & gas deposits, offshore wind plus associated habitats and seabed): how much and where they have been located. It will consider the services provided by these resources. The project will assess how nearby communities have been affected during transitions by analysing - for example - migration, employment, and mental and physical health. TRANSECTS will combine empirical data with human stories (from archives and creative methods) to 're-people the past'. It will investigate the fairness and equity of decisions made during energy transitions ('just transition'). Importantly, it will work with communities to develop strategies to enable energy transitions that increase the resilience of coastal and marine ecosystems and the communities that depend on and interact with them

Being 'energy efficient' is something we have all come to better understand in recent times. As we continue to grapple with the cost-of-living crisis we have become ever familiar with the need to make energy-efficient decisions in the home. However, if we are to meet net-zero CO2 emissions targets we must think more globally about how to reduce the burning of fossil fuels. At present, one of the largest sources of CO2 emissions stems directly from the burning of fossil fuels for transportation purposes. Maritime transport alone emits around 1076 million tonnes of CO2 annually and is responsible for around 2.9% of global emissions caused by human activities. Indeed, in the United Nations 2023 Intercontinental Panel on Climate Change report, the authors note that "Rapid and far-reaching transitions across all sectors and systems are necessary to achieve deep and sustained emissions reductions and secure a liveable and sustainable future for all." One sector that contributes significantly to the production of greenhouse gases, via numerous different means, is the metallurgy industry. Whether this be through the burning of fossil fuels to produce the finished metallurgical products, or via the greenhouse gas costs associated with the continued travel of these materials across the globe, for example in the lifecycle of a steel-hulled cargo vessel. It is, therefore, imperative that we begin replacing dense and energy-inefficient materials such as steel, with functionalised energy-efficient light alloys.Molten aluminum alloys are widely utilised for the casting of lightweight parts that can be used to replace their traditional heavyweight counterparts. These high-strength alloys tend to oxidise very quickly when first exposed to air. A thin oxide film develops on the surface of the metal and this helps to protect the aluminium alloys against corrosion. However, the development of these thin films can be both a blessing and a curse. The film acts as a layer of protection from the outside elements which, under regular usage conditions, ensures the metal will not corrode. However, during the casting process, when the aluminum is still in a molten state, this thin oxide film can be encapsulated into the bulk of the liquid metal flow. It has been shown that this encapsulation process, which can happen many times over, necessarily leads to the embedding of these oxide films within the main body of the finished product. As a result of this process, the quality and fatigue life of the solidified cast parts can be greatly diminished. As such, gaining a better understanding of how to control this process plays a pivotal role in reducing the costs associated with the production lifecycle, thus resulting in an increased demand for the usage of lightweight alloys. These 'mass savings' then, in turn, contribute to the reduction of the generation of greenhouse gases. One needs to burn fewer fossil fuels moving a product from A to B given that the product is lighter than its traditional counterpart.The goal of the investigation will be to develop a mathematical model that is able to accurately describe the dynamics between the interface of the liquid metal flow and the oxide layer above. At present, the current state-of-the-art fails to capture this important behaviour. Our model will be validated and verified against current experimental observations and the results that stem from this study will provide new insights as to how this oxidization process can be controlled in a practical setting.

Deep understanding of localized deformation in geomaterials plays a central role in tapping geo-resources and energy, mitigating geohazards and designing built environment. Our project LOG3G seeks to advance and share the knowledge of the multiscale and multiphysics modelling of localization phenomena in geomaterials (soils and rocks), with the aim to create cutting-edge predictive models serving the communities in geophysics, geohazards, and geoengineering. We take an integrated approach by combining the diverse expertise of a multidisciplinary consortium, including geological surveys, constitutive modeling and numerical simulations, laboratory tests, and real-world applications such as CO2 storage and geo-resource/energy exploitation. LOG3G will generate lasting impact on the safety and economy in interaction with geomaterials across the disciplines. The ultimate goals are to develop better insight into the complex localization behavior of geomaterials, to provide the researchers and practitioners with the next generation predictive tools, to share and disseminate the knowledge to broad audience by secondment and training beyond the project network, and finally to contribute to the sustainable development of our society

Solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is arguably the most powerful technology for providing atomic-level structure and dynamics understanding of molecules and materials. The physical and life sciences communities exploit this analytical science technique extensively to address challenging issues in a wide range of systems relevant to, for example, pharmaceuticals, battery materials, catalysis and protein complexes. Importantly, the advances enabled by solid-state NMR as an analytical technique are continually increasing in line with technological progress in the development of new NMR hardware. In particular, the recent development of commercial 1.2 GHz NMR systems stands to open up exciting new directions in NMR methodological development and deliver unprecedented levels of structural, dynamic and mechanistic information. Seven 1.2 GHz NMR systems are already in operation across Europe with further systems soon to be installed in Germany and the USA. UKRI has recently invested in two such systems at the High-Field Solid-State NMR National Research Facility (NRF) at the University of Warwick, and at the Henry Wellcome Building for Biomolecular NMR Spectroscopy at the University of Birmingham. These systems are expected to be operational in the UK in 2025.The proposed project aims to optimise UKRI's substantial investment in high-field solid-state NMR spectroscopy (notably £23M in 1.2 GHz NMR) by working in partnership with fifteen internationally leading laboratories and seven industry partners. The work will focus on sharing technical and application know-how and expertise to deliver new experimental NMR methodologies and protocols, as well as new scientific insight into complex chemical systems. The project will be divided across three main classes of systems: inorganic materials, biosolids and pharmaceuticals, with researchers working in each of these fields. New experimental methodologies will be designed and investigated within the NRF itself, and also exploiting the wide range of NMR hardware and expertise available in the co-investigator team and partner institutions. As well as the main focus of ultra-high field NMR, the NRF and partner institutions will provide access to specialist NMR hardware such as very high- and low-temperature apparatus (100 - 1000 K) to enable complex structural and dynamic phenomena to be probed in greater detail. The techniques developed within the project will enable the capabilities of ultra-high field NMR to be fully realised and will lead to new atomic-level insights into systems of relevance to the wider scientific community and industrial partners. The dissemination of the research and the interaction with international academic and industry partners will help to maintain the UK's position as a world leader in solid-state NMR research

Solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is arguably the most powerful technology for providing atomic-level structure and dynamics understanding of molecules and materials. The physical and life sciences communities exploit this analytical science technique extensively to address challenging issues in a wide range of systems relevant to, for example, pharmaceuticals, battery materials, catalysis and protein complexes. Importantly, the advances enabled by solid-state NMR as an analytical technique are continually increasing in line with technological progress in the development of new NMR hardware. In particular, the recent development of commercial 1.2 GHz NMR systems stands to open up exciting new directions in NMR methodological development and deliver unprecedented levels of structural, dynamic and mechanistic information. Seven 1.2 GHz NMR systems are already in operation across Europe with further systems soon to be installed in Germany and the USA. UKRI has recently invested in two such systems at the High-Field Solid-State NMR National Research Facility (NRF) at the University of Warwick, and at the Henry Wellcome Building for Biomolecular NMR Spectroscopy at the University of Birmingham. These systems are expected to be operational in the UK in 2025.The proposed project aims to optimise UKRI's substantial investment in high-field solid-state NMR spectroscopy (notably £23M in 1.2 GHz NMR) by working in partnership with fifteen internationally leading laboratories and seven industry partners. The work will focus on sharing technical and application know-how and expertise to deliver new experimental NMR methodologies and protocols, as well as new scientific insight into complex chemical systems. The project will be divided across three main classes of systems: inorganic materials, biosolids and pharmaceuticals, with researchers working in each of these fields. New experimental methodologies will be designed and investigated within the NRF itself, and also exploiting the wide range of NMR hardware and expertise available in the co-investigator team and partner institutions. As well as the main focus of ultra-high field NMR, the NRF and partner institutions will provide access to specialist NMR hardware such as very high- and low-temperature apparatus (100 - 1000 K) to enable complex structural and dynamic phenomena to be probed in greater detail. The techniques developed within the project will enable the capabilities of ultra-high field NMR to be fully realised and will lead to new atomic-level insights into systems of relevance to the wider scientific community and industrial partners. The dissemination of the research and the interaction with international academic and industry partners will help to maintain the UK's position as a world leader in solid-state NMR research

Solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is arguably the most powerful technology for providing atomic-level structure and dynamics understanding of molecules and materials. The physical and life sciences communities exploit this analytical science technique extensively to address challenging issues in a wide range of systems relevant to, for example, pharmaceuticals, battery materials, catalysis and protein complexes. Importantly, the advances enabled by solid-state NMR as an analytical technique are continually increasing in line with technological progress in the development of new NMR hardware. In particular, the recent development of commercial 1.2 GHz NMR systems stands to open up exciting new directions in NMR methodological development and deliver unprecedented levels of structural, dynamic and mechanistic information. Seven 1.2 GHz NMR systems are already in operation across Europe with further systems soon to be installed in Germany and the USA. UKRI has recently invested in two such systems at the High-Field Solid-State NMR National Research Facility (NRF) at the University of Warwick, and at the Henry Wellcome Building for Biomolecular NMR Spectroscopy at the University of Birmingham. These systems are expected to be operational in the UK in 2025.The proposed project aims to optimise UKRI's substantial investment in high-field solid-state NMR spectroscopy (notably £23M in 1.2 GHz NMR) by working in partnership with fifteen internationally leading laboratories and seven industry partners. The work will focus on sharing technical and application know-how and expertise to deliver new experimental NMR methodologies and protocols, as well as new scientific insight into complex chemical systems. The project will be divided across three main classes of systems: inorganic materials, biosolids and pharmaceuticals, with researchers working in each of these fields. New experimental methodologies will be designed and investigated within the NRF itself, and also exploiting the wide range of NMR hardware and expertise available in the co-investigator team and partner institutions. As well as the main focus of ultra-high field NMR, the NRF and partner institutions will provide access to specialist NMR hardware such as very high- and low-temperature apparatus (100 - 1000 K) to enable complex structural and dynamic phenomena to be probed in greater detail. The techniques developed within the project will enable the capabilities of ultra-high field NMR to be fully realised and will lead to new atomic-level insights into systems of relevance to the wider scientific community and industrial partners. The dissemination of the research and the interaction with international academic and industry partners will help to maintain the UK's position as a world leader in solid-state NMR research

Solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is arguably the most powerful technology for providing atomic-level structure and dynamics understanding of molecules and materials. The physical and life sciences communities exploit this analytical science technique extensively to address challenging issues in a wide range of systems relevant to, for example, pharmaceuticals, battery materials, catalysis and protein complexes. Importantly, the advances enabled by solid-state NMR as an analytical technique are continually increasing in line with technological progress in the development of new NMR hardware. In particular, the recent development of commercial 1.2 GHz NMR systems stands to open up exciting new directions in NMR methodological development and deliver unprecedented levels of structural, dynamic and mechanistic information. Seven 1.2 GHz NMR systems are already in operation across Europe with further systems soon to be installed in Germany and the USA. UKRI has recently invested in two such systems at the High-Field Solid-State NMR National Research Facility (NRF) at the University of Warwick, and at the Henry Wellcome Building for Biomolecular NMR Spectroscopy at the University of Birmingham. These systems are expected to be operational in the UK in 2025.The proposed project aims to optimise UKRI's substantial investment in high-field solid-state NMR spectroscopy (notably £23M in 1.2 GHz NMR) by working in partnership with fifteen internationally leading laboratories and seven industry partners. The work will focus on sharing technical and application know-how and expertise to deliver new experimental NMR methodologies and protocols, as well as new scientific insight into complex chemical systems. The project will be divided across three main classes of systems: inorganic materials, biosolids and pharmaceuticals, with researchers working in each of these fields. New experimental methodologies will be designed and investigated within the NRF itself, and also exploiting the wide range of NMR hardware and expertise available in the co-investigator team and partner institutions. As well as the main focus of ultra-high field NMR, the NRF and partner institutions will provide access to specialist NMR hardware such as very high- and low-temperature apparatus (100 - 1000 K) to enable complex structural and dynamic phenomena to be probed in greater detail. The techniques developed within the project will enable the capabilities of ultra-high field NMR to be fully realised and will lead to new atomic-level insights into systems of relevance to the wider scientific community and industrial partners. The dissemination of the research and the interaction with international academic and industry partners will help to maintain the UK's position as a world leader in solid-state NMR research

Solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is arguably the most powerful technology for providing atomic-level structure and dynamics understanding of molecules and materials. The physical and life sciences communities exploit this analytical science technique extensively to address challenging issues in a wide range of systems relevant to, for example, pharmaceuticals, battery materials, catalysis and protein complexes. Importantly, the advances enabled by solid-state NMR as an analytical technique are continually increasing in line with technological progress in the development of new NMR hardware. In particular, the recent development of commercial 1.2 GHz NMR systems stands to open up exciting new directions in NMR methodological development and deliver unprecedented levels of structural, dynamic and mechanistic information. Seven 1.2 GHz NMR systems are already in operation across Europe with further systems soon to be installed in Germany and the USA. UKRI has recently invested in two such systems at the High-Field Solid-State NMR National Research Facility (NRF) at the University of Warwick, and at the Henry Wellcome Building for Biomolecular NMR Spectroscopy at the University of Birmingham. These systems are expected to be operational in the UK in 2025.The proposed project aims to optimise UKRI's substantial investment in high-field solid-state NMR spectroscopy (notably £23M in 1.2 GHz NMR) by working in partnership with fifteen internationally leading laboratories and seven industry partners. The work will focus on sharing technical and application know-how and expertise to deliver new experimental NMR methodologies and protocols, as well as new scientific insight into complex chemical systems. The project will be divided across three main classes of systems: inorganic materials, biosolids and pharmaceuticals, with researchers working in each of these fields. New experimental methodologies will be designed and investigated within the NRF itself, and also exploiting the wide range of NMR hardware and expertise available in the co-investigator team and partner institutions. As well as the main focus of ultra-high field NMR, the NRF and partner institutions will provide access to specialist NMR hardware such as very high- and low-temperature apparatus (100 - 1000 K) to enable complex structural and dynamic phenomena to be probed in greater detail. The techniques developed within the project will enable the capabilities of ultra-high field NMR to be fully realised and will lead to new atomic-level insights into systems of relevance to the wider scientific community and industrial partners. The dissemination of the research and the interaction with international academic and industry partners will help to maintain the UK's position as a world leader in solid-state NMR research

Solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is arguably the most powerful technology for providing atomic-level structure and dynamics understanding of molecules and materials. The physical and life sciences communities exploit this analytical science technique extensively to address challenging issues in a wide range of systems relevant to, for example, pharmaceuticals, battery materials, catalysis and protein complexes. Importantly, the advances enabled by solid-state NMR as an analytical technique are continually increasing in line with technological progress in the development of new NMR hardware. In particular, the recent development of commercial 1.2 GHz NMR systems stands to open up exciting new directions in NMR methodological development and deliver unprecedented levels of structural, dynamic and mechanistic information. Seven 1.2 GHz NMR systems are already in operation across Europe with further systems soon to be installed in Germany and the USA. UKRI has recently invested in two such systems at the High-Field Solid-State NMR National Research Facility (NRF) at the University of Warwick, and at the Henry Wellcome Building for Biomolecular NMR Spectroscopy at the University of Birmingham. These systems are expected to be operational in the UK in 2025.The proposed project aims to optimise UKRI's substantial investment in high-field solid-state NMR spectroscopy (notably £23M in 1.2 GHz NMR) by working in partnership with fifteen internationally leading laboratories and seven industry partners. The work will focus on sharing technical and application know-how and expertise to deliver new experimental NMR methodologies and protocols, as well as new scientific insight into complex chemical systems. The project will be divided across three main classes of systems: inorganic materials, biosolids and pharmaceuticals, with researchers working in each of these fields. New experimental methodologies will be designed and investigated within the NRF itself, and also exploiting the wide range of NMR hardware and expertise available in the co-investigator team and partner institutions. As well as the main focus of ultra-high field NMR, the NRF and partner institutions will provide access to specialist NMR hardware such as very high- and low-temperature apparatus (100 - 1000 K) to enable complex structural and dynamic phenomena to be probed in greater detail. The techniques developed within the project will enable the capabilities of ultra-high field NMR to be fully realised and will lead to new atomic-level insights into systems of relevance to the wider scientific community and industrial partners. The dissemination of the research and the interaction with international academic and industry partners will help to maintain the UK's position as a world leader in solid-state NMR research

The EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in "Diversity-led, mission-driven research" proposes a radical inverted model for CDT delivery. By inverted model, we mean that, rather than coalescing around a scientific topic, we will create an inclusive, supportive and inspiring environment to foster diverse teams (postgraduate researchers, supervisors, management teams, external partners) that together lead innovative and interdisciplinary projects. In doing so we foster truly disruptive and excellent research.The prevalence of genuinely disruptive, novel scientific research is dropping as fields become condensed and researchers are siloed. There is a large body of evidence that describes the significant impact of diversity on innovation. Researchers from marginalised and minority backgrounds, however, face significant hurdles throughout their careers, notably at the transition points before and after postgraduate research. There is therefore a compelling scientific and economic case that focussing on diversity will lead to more significant impact in research and contribute to address the shortfall in skilled STEM workers. The resources, peer-learning, training, mentoring, championship and support provided by the cohort-model and the CDT framework will allow to demonstrate that when the appropriate environments are in place, diversity and excellence will flourish.The University of Glasgow is ideally placed to support and host this CDT; its world-leading academic expertise and infrastructures and internationally leading track record in positive research culture offer unique opportunities for collaborative research. It also has accumulated significant experience in inclusive research through various initiatives to support underrepresented communities, including our highly successful James McCune Smith PhD Scholarships for Black British students. Our CDT will build upon these to offer radical new pathways for the training of scientists and the generation of innovative interdisciplinary science around key institutional thematic areas.We will apply evidence-led best practice alongside our longstanding institutional experience to ensure diversity permeates across our recruitment, project selection, training, supervision, mentoring, retention, governance and self-reflection processes. Through tailored, structured support of our researchers and academics, both individually and collectively as annual cohorts, we will foster an inclusive community where our members will be united by a sense of common purpose to effectively tackle mission-driven challenges.Three pillars underpin CDT delivery: CONNECT, community engagement and long-term pipeline building activities attract those who have been discouraged from PhDs or faced insurmountable structural barriers to entry; BELONG, intensive training activities and PhD-spanning cohort building activities, ensure all students are fully prepared for PhD study and integrated into the CDT; and THRIVE, comprehensive training, mentoring, networking and external engagement complements interdisciplinary research activities to foster a pipeline of diverse, talented graduates, with enhanced career prospects across a range of sectors. Through innovative CDT management: our online Catalogue of Possibilities to capture the imagination of applicants; the use of sandpits to generate discipline-crossing projects; enhanced bespoke mentoring from industry and academia; and an inverted crucible exercise to allow students to select projects and supervisors, we will demonstrate the clear pathway from diversity to excellence. We will offer opportunities for diverse talent to thrive, and in doing so generate genuine scientific excellence while building a critical mass of role models and research leaders, as well as novel initiatives in fostering inclusive research culture. The CDT will therefore be a catalyst for genuine, positive change, and act as a beacon for UK Higher Education

This user-need CDT will equip graduates with the skills needed by the UK formulation industry to manufacture the next generation of formulated products at net zero, addressing the decarbonisation needs for the sector and aligning with this EPSRC priority. Formulated products, including foods, battery electrodes, pharmaceuticals, paints, catalysts, structured ceramics, thin films and coatings, cosmetics, detergents and agrochemicals, are central to UK prosperity (sector size > £95bn GVA in 2021) and Formulation Engineering is concerned with the design and manufacture of these products whose effectiveness is determined by the microstructure of the material. Containing complex soft materials: structured solids, soft solids or structured liquids, whose nano- to micro-scale physical and chemical structures are highly process dependent and critical to product function, their manufacture poses common challenges across different industry sectors. Moving towards Net Zero manufacture thus needs systems thinking underpinned by interdisciplinary understanding of chemistry, processing and materials science pioneered by the CDT for Formulation Engineering at the University of Birmingham over the past twenty years, with a proven delivery of industrial impact evidenced by our partner's letters of support and three Impact Case Studies ranked at 4* in the recent Research Excellence Framework in 2021. A new CDT strategy has been co-created with our industry partners, where we address new user-led research challenges through our theme of Formulation for Net Zero ('FFN0), articulated in two research areas: 'Manufacturing Net Zero (MN0)', and 'Towards 4.0rmulation'.Formulation engineering is not taught in first degree courses, so training is needed to develop the future leaders in this area. This was the industry need that led to the creation of the CDT in Formulation Engineering, based within the School of Chemical Engineering at Birmingham. The CDT leads the field: we won for the University one of the 2011 Diamond Jubilee Queen's Anniversary Prizes, demonstrating the highest national excellence. The UK is a world-leader in Formulation; many multinational formulation companies base research and manufacture in the UK, and the supply of trained graduates, and open innovation research partnerships facilitated by the CDT are critical to their success.The CDT receives significant industry funding (>£650k pa), supported by 31 industry partners including multinationals: P&G, Colgate, Unilever, Diageo, Devro, Fonterra, Samworth Bros., Jacobs Douwe Egberts, Nestle, Pepsico, Mondelez, GSK, AZ, Lonza, Novartis, BMS, BASF, Celanese, Croda, Innospec, Linde/BOC, Origen, Imerys, Johnson Matthey, Rolls-Royce/HTRC, JLR Lucideon and SMEs: Aquapak, CALGAVIN and ITS/StreamSensing.Intra and cross cohort training is central to our strategy, through our taught programme and twice-yearly internal conferences, industry partner-led regional research meetings, student-led technical and soft skills workshops and social events and inter CDT meetings. We have embedded diversity and inclusion into all of our projects and processes, including blind CV recruitment. Since 2018 our cohorts have been > 50% female and >35% BAME. We will co-create training and research partnerships with other CDTs, Catapult Centres, and industry, and train at least 50 EngD and PhD graduates with the skills needed to enhance the UK's leading international position in this critical area. The taught programme delivers a common foundation in formulation engineering, specialist technical training, modules on business, entrepreneurship and soft skills including a course in Responsible Research in Formulation. We have obtained promises of significant industry and University funding, with 67 offers of projects already. EPSRC costs will be 44% of the cash total for the CDT, and ca. £27% of the whole cost when industry in-kind funding is included.

Global climate change threatens our future. Urgent societal action is demanded. However, crucial uncertainties regarding the future climate still need to be addressed. Extreme climate events are wreaking enormous environmental, societal, and economic tolls and they are becoming increasingly common and intense. The huge number of uncertainties related to our future climate combine with the sensitivity of the Earth's climate system to create extremely demanding challenges. Extending our understanding for deriving effective solutions demands interdisciplinary collaboration to determine the dominant factors in climate change. Currently, there is a lack of highly qualified mathematicians with the necessary training and experience to address the diverse problems and urgent challenges posed by climate change using computational and data-driven research.Our Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) will train new cohorts of PhD students and build a scientific community to address the grand mathematical challenges raised by the significant levels of uncertainty in our future climate. The mission of our CDT will be to prepare graduates with strong mathematics, physics and engineering backgrounds to apply their skills in mathematical modelling, scientific computing, statistics and machine learning to key climate-related problems in oceanic, atmospheric and engineering contexts. By bringing together leading experts from Imperial College London, the University of Reading and the University of Southampton along with a wide range of external partners, our CDT will be uniquely placed to equip future mathematicians with the tools required to address global climate uncertainties.Our CDT will achieve its goals by developing the mathematics and its applications that are required to understand, better predict and, ultimately, respond to impending changes in the Earth's climate and the associated risks. A particular emphasis will be the creation of a vibrant environment to integrate strong cross-disciplinary engagement and collaboration, both within and between cohorts and disciplines, in advancing the range of scientific techniques, fundamental theories, approaches and applications. This will include engaging with academics, government organisations, industry and the public. As a result, the development of outstanding skills in mathematics and science communication will be a priority. The collaborative and peer-to-peer interactions will help develop the complementary techniques and approaches that will underpin essential technical research and innovation and will be coupled with exciting opportunities to discover and advance fundamental mathematics to provide practical solutions in climate science and beyond. Our CDT will act as a seed for growing the capability and capacity to inform decisions and efforts related to climate change on a rapid timescale. The technical focus of our CDT will be enhanced by activities to appreciate the social, political and economic dimensions of societal response to climate change. Furthermore, sustained efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change will be required during the coming decades. For this reason, along with building a professional community of graduates, the CDT will invest in imaginative outreach programmes involving school pupils and undergraduates, building on opportunities through the institutions partnering with the CDT, including the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment, the National Oceanography Centre, the National Centre for Earth Observations, the UK Meteorological Office, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, and the Natural History Museum

With the 'Net Zero Strategy: Build Back Greener' (1), the transport, energy, and building sectors in the UK are undergoing a paradigm shift. While this has clear environmental benefits, its potential impacts on social systems are often overlooked and there is no consistent approach for assessing equity impacts of net-zero initiatives. Yet, persistent inequalities are of significant concern in the UK, with the 10% richest households hold almost 50% of the country's wealth, in contrast to the bottom 50%, which holds only 9% (2). Schemes and interventions that have untreated or unfair equity impacts rightly cause political issues, sometimes slowing or even stopping progress. With pressing climate change and energy crisis, it is crucial to create data products facilitating social science led research to guide an equitable net-zero transition.Social scientists have access to increasing amounts of data; however, the diversity of data structure and limited data integration tools pose challenges for effectively utilising available datasets (3). New strategies are needed to integrate data from the UK census with the vast information collected via other channels to unlock novel research purposes. Providing research-ready data requires new methodological approaches in combining and creating data infrastructures and training resources that are specifically tailored for social scientists considering their interests and skills.The overall goal of this project is to develop methods, datasets, and training materials for facilitating social science research on impacts of UK's net-zero strategy. While the primary integration will be with the 2021/22 Census, earlier census data will also be used to analyse changes over time. The objective is to combine UK-wide socio-demographic data from the Census with metrics from existing surveys on energy use, efficiency, and mobility demand in smaller population samples. Objectives are:Define and compute metrics to track energy demand from households and individual mobility based on comprehensive evaluation of data availability in different UK regions,Develop and apply methods for generating small-area statistics at output area level (LSOA and MSOA) from energy and travel surveys.Update and augment population synthesis methods with latest census, energy, and mobility data.Demonstrate application of developed methods through case studies and publications focusing on equity in net-zero transition.Create open-source tools and training resources specifically tailored for social scientists.Execute dissemination and outreach activities to ensure researchers are well-informed about the developed data tools and methodologies, promoting wider use of Census data.This proposal fits within ESRC's funding opportunity scopes:services are in place to support researchers who wish to use UK census 2021/2 data for social science-led research.tools and research-ready datasets that enable research with census data have been created. researchers are more aware of the wide variety of census data that will become available and understand how to access and maximise their use of it

We introduce new product and manufacturing concept for heating buildings. This product is based on the technologies existing in Industrial partner for fabrication of magnetic covers and expertise from University of Liverpool in manufacturing of thermal energy storage systems using phase-change materials (PCMs). Collaboration of project participants will open a market niche for covers withself-responding thermo-regulating ability, which reduce overall energy losses for the customers (both domestic and industrial) and smoothen energy consumption during high and low peak periods. The idea of the proposed project is based on the fundamental studies of energy capsules loaded with phase-change materials for storage and release of thermal energy developed under main ERC Consolidator grant "ENERCAPSULE". Different types of the capsule shell (polymeric, carbon-based, inorganic nanoparticles) loaded with nonflammable crystallohydrate PCMs were developed for effective storage of the thermal waste energy within the temperature range 20 - 200 0C and controlled energy transfer into/from energy container. The fundamental knowledge on encapsulation of the PCMs created a new platform for their application as thermal energy storage additives to different host materials. The final project goal is commercialisation of a new product for use in households, hospitals and other social, governmental and industrial estates

Detecting degradation that endangers the safety and impairs availability of infrastructure and components is currently the task of schedule-driven Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE), this process is however costly and disruptive. The attractive alternative is to use condition based Structural Health Monitoring (SHM). Current, SHM typically uses sensors that provide local information only, which may be insufficient for detecting interior degradation or require very dense networks. Furthermore, the performance of both in-situ sensing systems and algorithms to process and interpret the sensor data is reduced when subject to Environmental and Operational Conditions (EOC). This limits their large-scale deployment. USES2 will develop and combine novel emerging sensing technologies (optical fibre and wireless pieozoelectric sensors), advanced processing (compressed sensing, artificial intelligence) and full-mechanical-waveform-based imaging to tackle these issues. Key to this cross-disciplinary work is a new generation of researchers with skills across sensing and signal processing. They will be trained with a unique combination of "hands-on" multidisciplinary research demonstrators, industrial placements, and courses /workshops on scientific and transferable skills. All of which is facilitated by the broad intersectoral composition of the consortium. USES2 will produce world class researchers expert in innovative sensing solutions, advanced mechanical wave processing and robust EOC compensation methods. Their skills will be embodied in a series of laboratory demonstrators and in situ industrially relevant experiments spanning three key sectors of European industry: energy (power plants (nuclear, wind), hydrogen storage, pipeline networks for fuel exploration and transport), mobility for citizens (aircraft, automotive industry) and construction (urban subsurface soil, infrastructures)

Building better batteries is one of the major scientific and societal challenges of the 21st century. However, incremental improvements to current batteries cannot meet the requirements necessary for Europe to reach its net-zero goals by 2050. Next-generation batteries are therefore essential for the transformational improvements in performance required for the electrification of transport and grid-scale storage of energy from renewable resources. Nevertheless, the full potential of such batteries is severely hindered by numerous underlying challenges, many of which centre on the ion transport and interfaces in their constituent materials.Building upon my expertise and proven track record in the atomistic simulation of materials and connecting such simulations to the macroscale, AMPed will revolutionise the understanding and design of the ion transport and interfaces within solid-state battery architectures. AMPed will utilise state-of-the-art classical, quantum mechanical, structure prediction and machine learning approaches to develop battery materials with improved performance, stability and sustainability by achieving the following four key objectives:(1) Establish a new time-domain paradigm for understanding ion transport in solid electrolytes(2) Explore nanostructured solid electrolytes for optimised performance(3) Mitigate resistance and instability at heterointerfaces in solid-state batteries(4) Drive transition to sustainable solid-state sodium batteries These novel and exploratory models will be experimentally validated in partnership with my close network of interdisciplinary experts in battery materials and devices. AMPed will provide transformative opportunities for the design of energy materials and push the boundaries of computational energy materials design, thereby advancing the excellence of energy research in Europe and further consolidating my research at the frontier of computational materials science

The cooling sector currently consumes around 14% of the UK's electricity and emits around 10% of the UK's greenhouse gases. Global electricity demand for space cooling alone is forecast to triple by 2050. Moreover, as air temperature increases, the cooling demand increases, but a refrigerator's Coefficient of Performance decreases. This results in a time mismatch between a refrigerator's efficient operation and peak cooling demand over a day. Clearly, this problem will deteriorate over the coming decades. Indeed, research by UKERC recently reported that cooling sector will cause a 7 GW peak power demand to the grid by 2050 in the UK.A solution is to employ cold thermal energy storage, which allows much more flexible refrigeration operation, thereby resulting in improved refrigeration efficiency and reduced peak power demand. Large-scale deployment of cold thermal energy storage could dramatically reduce this peak demand, mitigating its impact to the grid. Moreover, the UK curtails large amounts of wind power due to network constraints. For example, over 3.6TWh of wind energy in total was curtailed on 75% of days in 2020. Therefore, through flattening energy demand, cold thermal energy storage technology provides a means to use off-peak wind power to charge cold thermal energy storage for peak daytime cooling demand.This project, based on the proposed novel adsorption-compression thermodynamic cycle, aims to develop an innovative hybrid technology for both refrigeration and cold thermal energy storage at sub-zero temperatures. The resultant cold thermal energy storage system is fully integrated within the refrigerator and potentially has significantly higher power density and energy density than current technologies, providing a disruptive new solution for large scale cold thermal energy storage. The developed technology can utilise off-peak or curtailed electricity to shave the peak power demand of large refrigeration plants and district cooling networks, and thus mitigates the impacts of the cooling sector on the grid and also reduces operational costs.

Solar photovoltaics (PV) are predicted to be a key enabling technology on the road to net zero - the international energy agency predicts that solar electricity production should increase from 430 Tw-h in 2017 to 6,410 Tw-h in 2040. (1) To achieve this, new materials, that are cheaper to process and manufacture than the current market leader (crystalline Si) are urgently needed. Inorganic materials with a spontaneous polarization have attracted significant interest for photovoltaics, due to their ability to overcome several limitations of traditional PV materials, but there are a limited number of such materials with the required optical absorption for effective PV. In this project we will use our expertise in data-driven materials science to design new polar PV (PPV) absorbers with the potential to offer excellent efficiencies from cheap, earth-abundant materials.Machine learning (ML) has had a transformative effect on many important industries. However, in materials science, the lack of large labelled datasets of important properties proves a barrier to adopting some of the most commonly applied methods from fields such as image analysis or language processing, where data is not an issue. Recent work has shown that incorporating physical knowledge into ML greatly enhances learning ability, and allows powerful predictive models on limited datasets. In the project we will develop ML methods for PPV materials, that include prior physical knowledge, thus allowing us to learn accurate models for the important properties of PPV materials. These ML models, once trained are highly scalable and will allow us to virtually screen through spaces of hundreds of billions of candidate materials - a scale unimaginable with traditional simulations, let alone with physical experiments.The award will fund the development of a team with a unique combination of expertise in machine learning, photovoltaics and materials design. The proposal includes Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), which has recently invested more than £16 million in state of the art facilities for data science and the Physical Sciences Data Infrastructure, who are developing the technology for facilitating the future of data-driven physical science in the UK. The project will also work closely with experimental groups at QMUL who are world-leading in the development of polar photovoltaic materials and devices.(1) International Energy Agency (IEA) World Energy Outlook 'Sustainable Scenario' https://www.iea.org/weo2018/

The future 'Net Zero Economy' will be based on new forms of energy (e.g., renewable electricity and hydrogen), new feedstocks (sustainably sourced biological and waste materials), and a new depth of data. These changes present particular problems for the process industries (bulk and fine chemicals, food and beverages, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, and utilities etc). To 'Engineer Net Zero' in these industries, they must undergo the most profound transformation since the industrial revolution. To accommodate these new energy types, novel feedstocks and new data, entirely new processes, process technologies and green chemical routes will have to be developed. The scale of the challenge is enormous; manufacturing alone accounts for ~10% of the total economic output of the UK (£203bn Gross Value Added) and ~7% of UK jobs (HMG, 2022).Research Challenges:The PINZ CDT will help to 'Engineer Net Zero' by developing new processes, green chemistries, and process technologies, via Research for Technology Transfer (O2) at the interfaces of process and chemical engineering, and the biological, chemical and data sciences. Our Research Themes (T) have been informed by and co-created with industry:(T1) Energy: The use of renewable electricity and hydrogen demands new ways to perform process steps (reactions, separations, heat transfer) and whole process design.(T2) Feedstocks: Sustainable feedstocks/raw materials and solvents (bio-based, carbon-neutral, waste-derived), will force the development of new process chemistry and technology.(T3) Data: The increasing quantity and quality of data (in-process, LCA, TEA) will dramatically change how we design, operate, and monitor processes.Training Challenges:Build Back Better: Our Plan for Growth (HMT, 2021), and The UK Innovation Strategy: Leading the Future by Creating It (BEIS, 2021) highlight a strategic focus on skills development, innovation, and Net Zero to transform the UK into a global science and engineering superpower. To meet these substantial challenges and maintain the UK as a technology hub and global leader in innovation in the process industries, the UK requires pioneering, innovative, and knowledgeable chemical engineers/chemists. These world-class, doctoral-level graduates will not only be required to navigate these challenges: they will need to lead the change. The PINZ CDT will create these 'Net Zero-enabled' future leaders via a nurturing, supportive and collaborative training environment, which will equip the researchers with the tools to develop, analyse, evaluate, and implement new technologies and processes during their projects and future careers.Student-Centred Training (O1) will underpin everything we do, tailoring research training both at the individual and CDT level, alongside the provision of the management, entrepreneurship, and business skills that industry demands. Throughout their training, we will facilitate peer-to-peer interactions within and across cohorts to build a community and engender a broad exchange of ideas. This is especially important when working with students from diverse academic and personal backgrounds and recognises the contribution diversity makes to a challenge on the scale of Net Zero.Delivery:PINZ will be led by the world's largest Process Intensification Group (PIG, Newcastle University), and the world-leading Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence (GCCE, University of York), leveraging >40 years of combined experience in technology transfer and >40 ongoing industrial partnerships. Only through this combination of the 'biggest and best' can the internationally leading education, training, and research needed to produce the next generation of leaders and innovators for Net Zero be realised.

Since the 2004 Energy Act, nuclear fission has rapidly grown, and continues to grow, in significance in the UK's Energy and Net Zero Strategies.Government's Nuclear Industrial Strategy states clearly that the nuclear sector is integral to increasing productivity, driving growth across the country and meeting our Net Zero target. Nuclear is, and will continue to be, a vital part of our energy mix, providing low carbon power now and into the future, and the safe and efficient decommissioning of our nuclear legacy is an area of world-leading expertise. In order for this to be possible we need to underpin the skill base. The primary aim of SATURN is to provide high quality research training in the science and engineering underpinning nuclear fission technology, focussed on three broad themes:Current Nuclear Programmes. Decommissioning and cleanup; spent fuel and nuclear materials management; geological disposal; current operating reactors (AGRs, Sizewell B, propulsion); new build reactors (Hinkley C, Sizewell C, possibly Wylfa Newydd;Future Nuclear Energy: Advanced nuclear reactors (light water reactors, including PWR3, gas cooled reactors, liquid metal cooled reactors, other concepts); advanced fuel cycles; fusion (remote handling, tritium);Nuclear Energy in a Wider Context: Economics and finance; societal issues; management; regulation; technology transfer (e.g. robotics, sensors); manufacturing; interaction of infrastructure and environment; systems engineering.It has become clear that skills are very likely to limit the UK's nuclear capacity, with over half of the civil nuclear workforce and 70% of Subject Matter Experts due to retire by 2025. High level R&D skills are therefore on the critical path for all the UK's nuclear ambitions and, because of the 10-15 year lead time needed to address this shortage, urgent action is needed now.SATURN is a collaborative CDT involving the Universities of Manchester, Lancaster, Leeds, Liverpool, Sheffield and Strathclyde, which aims to develop the next generation of nuclear research leaders and deliver underpinning (Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 1-3), long term science and engineering to meet the national priorities identified in Government's Nuclear Industrial Vision. SATURN also provides a pathway for mid technology level research (TRL 4-6) to be carried out by allowing projects to be based partly or entirely in an industrial setting. The consortium partners have been instrumental in a series of highly successful CDTs, Nuclear FiRST (2009-2013), NGN (Next Generation Nuclear, 2013-2018) and GREEN (Growing skills for Reliable, Economic Energy from Nuclear, 2018-2023). In collaboration with an expanded group of key nuclear industry partners SATURN will create a step-change in PhD training to deliver a high-quality PhD programme tailored to student needs; high profile, high impact outreach; and adventurous doctoral research which underpins real industry challenges.

HyWay aims to synthesise hydrogen rich syngas from low cost carbon source, and eliminate the environmental issues from conventional waste management (e.g., landfill or incineration). HyWay advances the state-of-the-art in carbonaceous waste management especially plastic waste, waste tires, waste biomass and crude glycerol for hydrogen production. The overall aim of the HyWay is to establish long-term consolidated research collaborations between the participating institutions with complementary expertise and knowledge to design and develop carbon-neutral, scalable, and socially acceptable pathways to sort and convert waste to hydrogen rich syngas as part of next generation sustainable fuels. Through secondments, workshops, training, webinar series, and industry-focused events, HyWay produces multiple avenues for career development, cross-sectoral experiences, and academic training in a multi-cultural and interdisciplinary environment. Research results are translated into training materials, including formal academic and industry courses on waste sorting, chemical recycling technologies, process modelling, machine learning, techno-economic analysis and life cycle analysis for postgraduate students, early-stage and experienced researchers and industry; training tutorials for industrial and technical staffs; and creating the basis for developing academic textbooks for the wider research community and possibly in undergraduate module delivery. There is also a focus on transferable skills, with dedicated trainings activities specially designed to facilitate personal development, technological and communication skills. HyWay delivers through the effective collaboration of 7 member state/associate country universities and companies, and eight third country universities and companies from China, Japan, Australia and Malaysia

Tackling industrial emissions is essential for the UK to deliver on its climate commitments and achieving economic and social prosperity from the transition to net zero. IDRIC was established in 2021 as part of the UKRI Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge to support the decarbonisation of industrial clusters. During this time, IDRIC has developed an influential and impactful network at a critical time and become an essential catalyst bringing together the research and innovation community to accelerate the pace and scale of industrial cluster decarbonisation.Funding for current IDRIC activities will cease in Spring 2024. However, the need for the functions IDRIC is delivering - the research work plus bringing together the relevant players in an environment that allows and encourages trust and collaboration, reduces barriers and accelerates progress - will continue for decades. The UK needs to take long term, multi-decadal decisions to providing long term commitment for industry emission reductions into the 2030s and IDRIC is exceptionally well placed to lead EPSRC activity towards the delivery of the UK's Industrial Decarbonisation Strategy.This proposal represents funding for a 12-month transitional period (April-2024 to March-2025), which will be crucial to support IDRIC in maintaining essential momentum and the community cohesion necessary to safeguard the knowledge, experience and relationships built at this critical time for industrial decarbonisation. The objectives have been co-created with industry and academia building upon the established sense of belonging and the long-term relationships and associated trust required to deliver:Continue to synthesise and disseminate learnings and impacts from the cluster focussed, challenge-led research delivered in 2021-2024.Foresight and horizon-scan of industry-informed research and innovation needs of decarbonisation to deliver towards targets of 2030, 2040 and 2050.Co-create and share knowledge by maintaining active networks and platforms to stimulate cross-learning and engender national/international collaborations for developing net zero solutions.Support policy, skills development and mission advocacy by providing evidence to policymakers, regulators, industry, the wider supply chain and the public to promote decarbonisation.To date, IDRIC have carefully considered that continued engagement is critical and also dependent on stakeholders gaining ongoing strategic benefit from their interaction. This has been key to IDRIC's current success, as shown by bringing together relevant players in an environment that allows and encourages trust and collaboration, reduces barriers and accelerates progress. Therefore, with this 12-month funding we will be prioritising key stakeholder engagement that are aligned with 3 workstreams; Clusters & Partnerships; KE & Synthesis; Cross-cutting Themes (Policy, Skills, EDI). The activities for this phase of IDRIC are designed to utilise IDRIC's unique convening power. They will deliver a suite of outputs e.g. (frontiers report, industry net-zero innovation roadmap) scoped through engagement with the community to ensure maximum impact from the current phase and strategic activities in support of a mapping a clear path for the critical steps required from 2025-2030 - crucial to enabling the realisation of the UKs first net-zero cluster by 2030

Quite frequently matter is subject to irradiation. One can think of electronic devices in space, radiotherapies, materials processing bysputtering, nanoparticle modification, materials in the civil nuclear industry, radiation detectors, and many others. There is a commondenominator to these scenarios, and is that radiation brings matter out of equilibrium, sometimes quite dramatically as in laserablation, leading to a variety of physical, chemical, and biological phenomena at all scales, starting at the attosecond and nanometerwith electronic excitation, and going up to meters and days or even years at the engineering or biological scale, where macroscopicphenomena like failure, fracture, explosion, or death can occur as a consequence of irradiation. Sometimes the goal is to avoid ormitigate damage, and other times is to harness the effects of radiation to alter the properties of materials. In all these scenarios it iscrucial to understand the fundamental mechanisms of material response to intense and fast energy deposition.The research aim of MAMBA is to advance our understanding of material response to irradiation and to apply it to tailor and controlthe properties of materials exposed, purposedly or involuntarily, to intense radiation environments. We have selected five casestudies lying at the frontier of knowledge, and spanning applications in diverse, although connected, fields: space electronics,photovoltaic cells for space applications, radiation-resistant nanostructures for nuclear fusion applications, radiation detectors forclinical studies, proton radiotherapy, and radiolytic hydrogen generation in nuclear decommissioning. These topics will be addressedthrough a combination of experimental and modelling techniques that, to a large degree, are common to these areas. Thiscommonality allows for cross-pollination between themes and for implementing a rich training program that includes Schools, workshops and many PM of secondments

Reliance on renewable energy sources and increased use of green solutions (e.g., electric vehicles) is one of the strategic actions for a sustainable environment in the face of increasing fossil fuel consumption and associated environmental impacts. Supercapacitors are one of the most developed and researched energy storage technologies and have gained enormous attention and acceptance due to their portability and stable performance. Carbon materials mainly used for supercapacitor development are usually made from petroleum-derived feedstocks which are non-renewable and environmentally harmful. Currently, bio-based carbon materials are being extensively researched for the development of supercapacitor materials due to their electrochemical stability and environmental friendliness. Despite the progress made so far in the development of bio-based carbon materials; the search for materials with novel properties and simple fabrication processes has become of great importance for the development of sustainable supercapacitors with high energy density. Therefore, this proposal has three specific objectives: (i) to synthesize new carbon materials suitable for supercapacitors from biomaterials (ii) to fabricate nanocomposite electrodes based on the developed bio-based carbon materials, and (iii) to fabricate a high-efficiency supercapacitor device based on the developed bio-based components. The fabricated supercapacitor device will be fully biodegradable and have the capacity to deliver both high energy density and power density. Therefore, the contributions of this project will be a great step towards solving the energy problems in the EU and beyond, through the development of green technologies for future advances in the production of electric vehicles and portable electronic products

Polluted water is a complex global socioeconomic issue that affects human and animal health, and greatly impacts industries such as agriculture and fishing, recreational activities and transportation. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recently estimated that contaminated water is responsible for almost 500 million deaths per year. In a wide range of applications across sectors, current filtration technologies are ineffective, relying on the specific physicochemical properties of the membrane and the target molecule(s) to be removed, and their manufacture often requires complex and expensive multi-step processes with high associated energy costs.In this project, we will develop bioinspired membranes as new solutions for water purification technologies, selectively removing contaminants with minimal energy input requirements. Utilising advanced polymer synthesis strategies, we will develop new bespoke polymers that can extract transmembrane proteins capable of moving molecules across membrane with exquisite specificity and enable their subsequent incorporation into biomimetic artificial membranes. This will afford water purification membranes with previously unrivalled molecular selectivity and specificity.The new membrane technology developed in this project will help to advance and evolve the landscape of membrane science. The platform materials and approaches devised will be transferrable to additional membrane filtration and water purification applications and will enable universal manufacturing processes to afford high-performance reusable, recyclable devices that can contribute to a circular economy. The need for such new systems is recognised by the UN with Sustainable Development Goal 6 on clean water and sanitation.

Addressing climate change is of existential importance. Although there are many contributing factors, energy production and consumption has one of the most direct impacts on the environment. A significant portion of this can be attributed to computer networks, with some reports estimating that they consume 1.5x the energy of all data centres. However, in contrast to other large scale compute infrastructure, accounting for the carbon emissions of the network is extremely hard. A traffic flow can cross multiple administrative domains in different regions of the world, be processed in devices powered by different energy sources, and share the energy consumption with tens of thousands of other traffic flows.The goal of this project is to quantify, and subsequently reduce, the carbon emissions of computer networks. Concretely, it proposes a comprehensive research agenda that will: (1) identify metrics that cover the end-to-end environmental cost of data transmission; (2) leverage programmable network elements to collect and report the metrics by developing novel carbon-intelligent network telemetry solutions; and (3) design novel, carbon-aware network routing algorithms that utilize the measurements. Overall, the project will enable accurate accounting of computer networks' carbon emissions and develop novel routing algorithms to minimize the carbon emissions of the Internet, combating climate change.If successful, the project will help us meet the targets established by the UK government, which has committed to achieving 'net-zero' by 2050. Specifically, it will help communication providers to minimize their carbon emissions; enable policy makers to reliably check that companies meet government's net-zero goals; and allow consumers to choose communications and ICT providers based on their sustainability claims.

We will train a cohort of students at the interface between the physical and computer sciences to drive the critically needed implementation of digital and automated methods in chemistry and materials. Through such training, each student will develop a common language across the areas of automation, AI, synthesis, characterization and modelling, preparing them to become both leader and team player in this evolving and multifaceted research landscape.The lack of skilled individuals is one of the main obstacles to unlocking the potential of digital materials research. This is demonstrated by the enthusiastic response toward this proposal from our industrial partners, who span sectors and sizes: already 35 are involved and we have already received cash support corresponding to over 27 full studentships. This proposal will deliver the EPRSC strategic priority "Physical and Mathematical Sciences Powerhouse" by training in "discovery research in areas of potential high reward, connecting with industry and other partners to accelerate translation in areas such as catalysis, digital chemistry and materials discovery."The CDT training programme is based on a unique physical and intellectual infrastructure at the University of Liverpool. The Materials Innovation Factory (MIF) was established to deliver the vision of digital materials research in partnership with industry: it now co-locates over 100 industrial scientists from more than 15 companies with over 200 academic researchers. Since 2017, academics and industrial researchers from physical sciences, engineering and computer sciences have co-developed the intellectual environment, infrastructure and expertise to train scientists across these areas.To date, more than 40 PhD projects have been co-designed with and sponsored by our core industrial partners in the areas of organic, inorganic, hybrid, composite and formulated materials. Through this process, we have developed bespoke training in data science, AI, robotics, leadership, and computational methods. Now, this activity must be grown scalably and sustainably to match the rapidly increasing demand from our core partners and beyond. This CDT proposal, developed from our previous experience, allows us to significantly extend into new sectors and to a much larger number of partners, including late adopters of digital technologies. In particular, we can now reach SMEs, which currently have limited options to explore digitalization pathways without substantial initial investment.A distinctive and exciting training environment will be built exploiting the diverse background of the students. Peer learning and group activities within a cross-disciplinary team will accelerate the development of a common language. The ability to use a combination of skills from different individuals with distinct domain expertise to solve complex problems will build the teams capable of driving the necessary change in industry and academia. The professional training will reflect the diversity of career opportunities available to this cohort in industry, academia and non-commercial research organizations. Each component will be bespoke for scientists in the domain of materials research (Entrepreneurship, Chemical Supply Chain, Science Policy, Regulatory Framework). External partners of training will bring different and novel perspectives (corporate, SMEs, start-ups, international academics but also charities, local authorities, consultancy firms). Cohort activities span the entire duration of the training, without formal division between "training" and "research" periods, exploiting the physical infrastructure of MIF and its open access area to foster a strong and vital sense of community. We will embed EDI principles in all aspects of the CDT (e.g. recruitment, student well-being, composition of management, supervisory and advisory teams) to make it a pervasive component of the student experience and professional training

The EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Engineering Hydrogen Net Zero will develop the necessary networking, training and skills in future doctoral level leaders to enable rapid growth in hydrogen-related technology to meet the UK government's 2050 net zero targets. This CDT is a partnership of three world class Universities and around 40 Industrial and Civic organisations. The CDT aims to address the challenging aspects of rapid growth in hydrogen production and usage such as cost, supply and waste chain development, scalability, different system configurations, new technology, and social requirements through a blended cohort co-creation approach. The CDT will provide mandatory and optional training in Fundamental Knowledge, Thinking Innovatively, Business Acumen and Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Community (EDIC). A cohort based CDT is most appropriate for embedding skills in Engineering Hydrogen Net Zero due to the breadth of the training needs and the need for co-support and co-learning.In addition to a tailored co-created skills training program, the CDT will engage with partners to address key research priority areas. The CDT research plans are aligned with the EPSRC's "Engineering Net Zero" research priority, aiming to engineer low-cost hydrogen for net zero. Decarbonisation is not just implementation of a single solution fits all but a complex process of design that is dependent on what is being decarbonised e.g. different types of chemical industry to whether or not there is future access to a hydrogen hub. This results in the requirement for many new solutions to ensure affordability, scalability and sustainability. This includes undertaking research on hydrogen into topics such as, design for scalability, hydrogen on demand, new low cost materials, new interfaces, new processes, new storage means, new energy interactions, new waste management, existing infrastructure adaption and lifespan monitoring and management and social acceptance.The CDT will work with industry and civic partners to generate impact through innovation through research. This will include direct financial benefits, improved policy outcomes through engagement with local authorities, government organizations, and standards bodies, enhanced public engagement and acceptance of hydrogen, and create employment opportunities for students with industry-ready skills. The CDT represents an excellent opportunity for students to work together, with industry and with world leading international experts on impactful projects for a common decarbonisation goal with multifunctional stakeholders.This CDT will build upon the experience of the University partners and the lessons learnt from participation in 7 previous CDT's to bring forward best practice (e.g. buddy scheme and childcare funding) and remove roadblocks to opportunities (e.g. timetable clashes). We will co-create a CDT with international reach and access to over £55m worth of hydrogen and wind turbine demonstrator and research facilities. The team has excellent links with Universities and Industry internationally including partners in Europe, Canada, Malawi, China, USA, Brazil and Australia. CDT students will have opportunities to learn from International experts at a summer design and build, link with world leading experts to build international networks of contacts, undertake CPD activities (such as partner site visits), attend national and international conferences & partners secondments, research sandpits and webinars. All activities will be undertaken with due care, diligence & best practice in EDIC.The academic, industrial and civic team has the expertise to deliver the vision of the co-created CDT through the development of a unique research and training program.

Fusion Power has the potential to solve one of society's greatest challenges: universal access to plentiful, safe & sustainable energy. A person's entire lifetime energy needs can be supplied from fusion energy using the deuterium taken from a domestic bath of water and the tritium that can be bred from the lithium in a single mobile phone battery. Fusion power plants cannot suffer any type of runaway and they do not produce any direct greenhouse gas emissions. However achieving fusion is technically challenging: it requires heating the deuterium & tritium fuel to millions of degrees. At this temperature, the fuel becomes a plasma - a gas of charged particles. The plasma must be confined for sufficient time at sufficient density in order to get more energy out than we put energy in. There are a number of approaches being explored but the most successful are (1) magnetic confinement fusion which holds the fuel by magnetic fields at relatively low density for relatively long times in a chamber called a tokamak, and (2) inertial confinement fusion which holds the fuel for a very short time but at huge densities.The exciting news is that fusion is now entering a golden era. Since 2020, there have been substantial scientific breakthroughs, such as at JET in the UK and at NIF in the US. There has been dramatic expansion into the private sector with over 30 companies globally pursuing a range of approaches and many more establishing the fusion supply chain; governments around the world, but especially in the UK, are investing to accelerate fusion delivery.A remaining critical barrier to making fusion a reality is the shortage of people who understand the inter-related operational constraints for both the plasma fuel and its containment materials, including the breeding of tritium from lithium, all of which must be satisfied simultaneously. The EPSRC CDT in Fusion Power will build on our existing success and international reputation to become the global beacon for training the next generation of fusion leaders. At the core of our CDT is the partnership between six leading research-intensive universities and more than 20 private companies, UK & international labs and government agencies. Our students will benefit from a systems-thinking-based technical training in plasma physics and materials science including tritium breeding & handling. They will benefit from training delivered by non-academic partners in topics such as regulation & licensing, commercialisation & entrepreneurship, sustainability, financing & investment and project management. Through the CDT partners, the students will use internationally leading experimental facilities and high performance supercomputers. Initially through their supervisors and then increasingly independently, students will access international networks of institutions and fusion professionals. During their PhD, students will have the opportunity to build their track record through presenting work at conferences and leading their own "collaboratory" mini project. These scientists and engineers will go on to solve the technical cross-disciplinary challenges, moving fusion forward faster at a rate of more than 20 scientists & engineers per year. We will increase diversity in the fusion community through: positive recruitment & admissions practices; supportive, cohort-based training activities; undergraduate fusion internships for students from under-represented groups; outreach to the public and via sustained relationships with target schools. This supply of the best people will energise the UK fusion industry and enable a global ambition for fusion power plant innovation & development.

The Centre for Doctoral Training in Green Industrial Futures (CDT-GIF) will deliver the next generation of global leaders in the energy transition, through a world-leading, interdisciplinary whole systems research and training programme to address national and global priorities to realise the green industrial revolution. The CDT-GIF is critically important, as skill shortages are currently limiting the opportunities of the green industrial revolution, adding significant risk of loss of economic and social value. For example, over 350,000 additional jobs (28% professional roles) are required to meet the demands of the current UK industrial cluster decarbonisation projects between 2025 to 2040.Therefore, there is a substantial and pressing demand for training doctoral-level graduates to fill these roles to drive R&D for industrial decarbonisation, lead critical important decarbonisation projects, and prepare future graduates for the net zero agenda. The CDT-GIF directly addresses this and is in closed alignment with the EPSRC mission inspired priority 'Engineering Net Zero' by providing an industry-guided, interdisciplinary training environment in transformative low-carbon technologies that will uniquely train 100 doctoral students, whilst leveraging significant investment from academic and industry partners.Four institutions with global standing in decarbonisation (Heriot-Watt University, Imperial College London, University of Bath and University of Sheffield) have partnered with a comprehensive range of stakeholders to ascertain the critically in-demand skills and knowledge that prospective employers are seeking to deliver net zero industries. These include technically trained on systems thinking, career ready and industry literate, and internationally connected. As a result, we have co-developed a training programme, based on three pillars, that will equip our students with these attributes, namely: (1) a cohort-based whole systems taught training programme (2) metaskills development programme (Net Zero Leadership Programme), and (3) unrivalled international opportunities to visit world-leading facilities, e.g. National Carbon Capture Centre (USA), ECCSEL (European network), Heriot-Watt Dubai campus and UNECE Sustainability Week. The training elements of the programme will run parallel to student's research in order to ensure cohesive learning within and across yearly cohorts, building peer-to-peer networks. A series of activities have been designed to foster a cohesive cohort trained in a diverse and inclusive environment that engenders a culture of environmental sustainability, research trust and responsible research and innovation.The CDT-GIF research and training programme is centred on four technological themes, with one cross-cutting systems theme: (1) Advancing carbon capture, utilisation and storage technologies, (2) Green hydrogen & low carbon fuels, (3) Developing next generation CO2 removal technology, (4) Energy processes, systems integration & resource efficiency, and (5) Integrated thematic areas including socio-behavioural change, policy & regulation and net zero economics related to the four technological themes. Within these themes, students will undertake challenging & original research projects that will be co-created with industrial collaborators to discover transformative, responsible and integrated solutions to achieve net zero. Challenging and original research projects will be rooted in one of these research themes, as well as across three integrated thematic areas and supervised by >75 internationally recognised researchers with excellent track record of doctoral supervision.In summary, CDT-GIF has the capacity, expertise and unique training opportunities to deliver the most comprehensive and transformational Centre for Doctoral Training to realise the green industrial revolution.

The Government's commitment to increasing offshore and marine renewable energy generation presents significant technological challenges in designing, commissioning and building the infrastructure, connecting offshore generation to onshore usage, and considering where these new developments are best placed, whilst balancing the impact they have upon the environment. In tandem, this commitment presents opportunities to advance UK capabilities in cutting-edge engineering and technologies in pursuit of net zero.Liverpool is home to one of the largest concentrations of offshore wind turbines globally in Liverpool Bay, the second largest tidal range in the UK, some of the largest names of maritime engineering alongside numerous SMEs, and the Port of Liverpool, a Freeport and Investment Zone status. The latest Science and Innovation Audit (2022) highlights Net Zero and Maritime as an emerging regional capability, and is an area in which the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority has stated its ambition to grow an innovation cluster. The University of Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores University each host world-class research expertise, environments and facilities relevant to addressing these maritime energy challenges, and have an established, shared track record in collaboration with industrial and civic partners.The Centre for Doctoral Training in Net Zero Maritime Energy Solutions (N0MES CDT) will play a vital role in filling critical skills gaps by delivering 52 highly trained researchers (PGRs), skilled in the identification, understanding, assessment, and solutions-delivery of pressing challenges in maritime energy. N0MES PGRs will pursue new, engineering-centred, interdisciplinary research to address four vital net zero challenges currently facing the North West, the UK and beyond:(a) Energy generation using maritime-based renewable energy (e.g. offshore wind, tidal, wave, floating solar, hydrogen, CCS)(b) Distributing energy from offshore to onshore, including port- and hinterland-side impacts and opportunities(c) Addressing the short- and long-term environmental impacts of offshore and maritime environment renewable energy generation, distribution and storage(d) Decommissioning and lifetime extension of existing energy and facilitiesThe N0MES CDT will empower its graduates to communicate, research and innovate across disciplines, and will develop flexible leaders who can move between projects and disciplines as employer priorities and scientific imperatives evolve.

The job of materials science is to develop the materials that we need to make all of the things that we rely on in our daily lives. These range from the materials used to make large scale objects, such as aeroplanes and buildings, right down to the smallest scales like the processors in the electronic devices we use every day. These materials are often complicated and need to be carefully designed with just the right properties needed to do their jobs for many decades and often in incredibly harsh conditions.There are many current challenges that require us to develop new, improved materials. We need to meet our net-zero climate goals and get better at designing products that can be fully recycled, for example. And there are some resources that we currently use in important materials for which we would like to find alternatives. These are difficult challenges and we need to overcome them quickly. But the way that materials scientists have worked to develop a new material in the past is too slow: it can take up to 20 years to develop a new material and we cannot wait that long.Fortunately, recent developments in the computer simulation of materials, in robotics and sensor technology, in our ability to exploit large volumes of data through machine learning and in techniques for quickly making and testing large numbers of different materials can help to speed things up. This idea, bringing digital technologies together to help us make better materials more quickly, is called "Materials 4.0".If we are going to take advantage of Materials 4.0 then we need to make sure that materials scientists have the necessary digital skills. These skills, things like data informatics, machine learning and advanced computer simulation, are not usually covered in depth in undergraduate university courses in science and engineering. So, the Henry Royce Institute, the UK's national institute for advanced materials, in partnership with the National Physical Laboratory, is proposing to set up a Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) that will take at least 70 science and engineering graduates and train them in the techniques of Materials 4.0. These students will work towards PhDs and become leaders in the field of Materials 4.0. They will undertake research projects in universities across the UK (Cambridge, Oxford, Imperial College, Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds and Strathclyde), tackling a broad range of materials science challenges and developing new approaches in Materials 4.0.The need for these new approaches is widespread, throughout academia and in industry. In recognition of this, the training programme that we develop for the CDT will be made available more widely, in different forms, so that we can disseminate skills in Materials 4.0 to existing researchers in universities and industrial companies as quickly as possible. The training approach of the CDT will be to take our students from "Learners to Leaders" over the course of four years. Our students will be working across boundaries between materials science and computer / data science and between academia and industry. They will build new interfaces and help to develop a common language for communication. To strengthen our students' own learning and to disseminate their skills more widely, we will train our students as trainers so that the students are actively involved in designing and delivering training for fellow researchers and take the role of ambassadors for a cultural shift in materials science to modern ways of working.

Fatigue is the most pervasive failure mode that affects nearly all industrial sectors - including energy industries involving power plants, anemo-electric and tidal stream generators; transport vehicles and aircraft; national infrastructure such railway and bridges; military equipment from a blade in an engine to a whole ship; medical devices and human body implants. The economic cost of fracture has been enormous, approaching 4% of GDP, whereas 50-90% of all these mechanical failures are due to fatigue. Most fatigue failures are unexpected, and can lead to catastrophic consequences. In safety-critical sectors such as the aero-space and nuclear industries, there are ever increasing demands for better understanding of fatigue with respect to the microstructure of metallic components and the demanding environments that they are placed in.The ultra-small, ultra fast fatigue testing techniques I have created are able to make a breakthrough by addressing the classic needle in haystack problem in fatigue crack initiation (FCI) and short crack growth (SCG). Fatigue at these early stages is localized within a few hundred micro-meters. However, they account for more than 50% life in low cycle fatigue (LCF) and approximately 90% in the high cycle fatigue (HCF) regime, and contribute to the largest portion of scatter. My micro- and meso- cantilever techniques are capable of isolating FCI and SCG in selected microstructure features, allowing for the systematic exploration of slip evolution, slip band decohesion and short crack propagation in the context of an exquisitely well characterised volume of material. The ultra-fast testing rate up to 20 kHz means robust exploration can be achieved to 10^9 cycles and beyond, in hours in contrast to months or years demanded by the conventional method.This proposal, through further development of state-of-the-art extremely small and fast fatigue testing techniques, looks to radically change the technical scope of fatigue analysis by allowing environmental effects to be systematically explored at the levels of FCI and SCG and across the HCF and LCF regimes. In-situ ultrasonic fatigue testing rig will be installed in an advanced scanning electron microscope, enabling in-situ observation of the progression of HCF FCI and SCG at the resolution of ~ 1 nm. I will apply these cutting edge techniques to underpinning major fatigue issues in Ti and Ni alloys of technologically importance to the aero-engine industry and proton accelerators, specifically:(i) To achieve a breakthrough in mechanistic understanding of HCF FCI and SCG in titanium alloys with respect to the environments and deliver essential HCF FCI and SCG properties;(ii) To make groundbreaking study of fatigue in Alpha Case and dwelling fatigue in titanium alloys, which are major issues in aero-engine industry;(iii) To determine the effect of the heavy irradiation on HCF performance of Ti-alloys that will be used in the next generation proton accelerators;(iv) To achieve comprehensively understanding of the environmental effect on fatigue in single-crystal nickel superalloys that have the heterogeneous distribution of gamma' phase and element segregation;(v) To determine the HCF and LCF performance of the multi-functional coatings on the surface of a nickel turbo blade in the context of atmosphere, temperature and pre-corrosion treatment.A Ultrasonic Fatigue Testing Centre will be established to satisfy the frequent HCF assessment requests from the industry. The new functions developed on the ultrasonic fatigue testing rig in this project will be transferred to the national lab at Culham to update the bespoke rig in a 'hot cell', for study of active materials in support of fission and fusion innovation.

HyWay aims to synthesise hydrogen rich syngas from low cost carbon source, and eliminate the environmental issues fromconventional waste management (e.g., landfill or incineration). HyWay advances the state-of-the-art in carbonaceous wastemanagement especially plastic waste, waste tires, waste biomass and crude glycerol for hydrogen production. The overall aim of theHyWay is to establish long-term consolidated research collaborations between the participating institutions with complementaryexpertise and knowledge to design and develop carbon-neutral, scalable, and socially acceptable pathways to sort and convert wasteto hydrogen-rich syngas as part of next generation sustainable fuels. Through secondments, workshops, training, webinar series, andindustry-focused events, HyWay produces multiple avenues for career development, cross-sectoral experiences, and academictraining in a multi-cultural and interdisciplinary environment. Research results are translated into training materials, including formalacademic and industry courses on waste sorting, chemical recycling technologies, process modelling, machine learning, technoeconomicanalysis and life cycle analysis for postgraduate students, early-stage and experienced researchers and industry; trainingtutorials for industrial and technical staffs; and creating the basis for developing academic textbooks for the wider researchcommunity and possibly in undergraduate module delivery. There is also a focus on transferable skills, with dedicated trainingactivities specially designed to facilitate personal development, technological and communication skills. HyWay delivers through theeffective collaboration of 7 member state/associate country universities and companies, and eight third country universities and companies from China, Japan, Australia and Malaysia

The main goal of the IONBIKE 2.0 proposal is to fully exploit the science and technology of the disruptive "eutectogel" materials andits wide range of emerging applications in energy, bioelectronics and environment. IONBIKE 2.0 MSCA Staff Exchanges proposal is anatural follow-up of the IONBIKE RISE project. It will take advantage of the gained knowledge and momentum by the IONBIKE RISEconsortium in ionic liquid gels in bioelectronics with the addition of new partners as well as the extension of its technical scope toeutectogels and a wider range of applications. IONBIKE 2.0 will provide support for a joint research and innovation project throughthe exchange of staff with 15 partners including sixe European Universities, one Research Institute, two industries and six Universitiesfrom non-EU third countries. IONBIKE 2.0 will encourage collaboration towards a common scientific goal between all partnersthrough staff exchanges, sharing research infrastructures and networking activities. The research is highly interdisciplinary involvingexperts in different areas such as chemistry, polymers, electrochemistry, organic electronics, (bio)electronic devices, energy, chemicalengineering, environmental membranes and medical sciences. IONBIKE 2.0 is very ambitious, and it goes all the way from chemistry of the emerging eutectogels towards applications, including the participation of two industrial partners

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have emerged as the next-generation photovoltaic (PV) technology that offers high performance and lowprojected manufacturing costs. However, the current perovskite/charge-transport-layer (CTL) contacts lack the required long-termstructural and performance stability, which hinders the market entry of perovskite-based PVs. The instability of perovskite/contactinterfaces is a multifaceted challenge that requires a holistic solution to the interfacial defect, charge transfer, chemical stability, anddelamination problems. To overcome this challenge, it is imperative to design novel charge-selective molecules that cansimultaneously passivate perovskite/contact interface defects, facilitate charge transport, form a stable barrier layer, and preserve theintegrity of the contact stack. Therefore, this proposal aims to synthesize a new class of charge-selective molecules and use them todesign highly stable perovskite/CTL contacts that will enable the fabrication of high-efficiency and long-term stable PSCs. Unlikeexisting CTLs, the newly developed charge-selective molecules will be perovskite-specific and incorporate functional linker units,targeting to address all perovskite/contact interface problems simultaneously. Different from the existing literature studies, thisproject will follow not a specific but a complete set of the International Summit on Organic Photovoltaic Stability protocols to revealthe 'true' reliability of perovskite/contact interfaces. The holistic approach of this project, coupled with extensive characterizations,will generate new knowledge to address the long-lasting stability issue of PSCs, thereby enabling the commercialization of thispromising technology. Overall, the advanced device concepts that will be developed could pave the way to the next generation of PV technologies beyond 2030

MetacMed aims to link basic research on acoustic and mechanical metamaterials (MMs) to health and well-being issues. MMs have some remarkable properties, though to make them properly applicable to the targeted applications, their design must be carefully tailored. This will be achieved by bringing together a range of supervisory expertise and creating a network of 10 doctoral candidates (RESs), some of whom will work in the industry. The team includes beneficiaries and associated partners who, if working separately, would not be able to make the planned advances in research and innovation. RESs will each consider ways in which human health can be improved using MMs, e.g. improvement in the resolution of biomedical ultrasound imaging for e.g cancer diagnostics, the design of better spinal implants, monitoring of bone healing, the use of insoles to aid human walking. Another area of interest is to develop MMs that can be used for energy harvesting, to better power e.g. medical devices and reduce reliance on conventional power sources. These are all backed up by fundamental studies into the MMs themselves to provide the background to achieve these tasks. The balance of the network has thus been carefully considered in terms of basic science and applications, with input from industry in areas such as MMs fabrication and exploitation. Associated with the above is a strong set of training events, where the basic features of acoustic and mechanical MMs and their applications will be considered, together with soft-skills training such as writing, presenting, entrepreneurship, gender balance issues, stress management. Regular meetings of the RESs at various member locations will foster collaboration, and this will be reinforced by a carefully-selected set of secondments. A proper management system for both running the network effectively and properly monitoring and supporting PhD progression is built into the proposal, ensuring that successful outcomes are achieved by RESs

Concerted progress in energy sources, sensing, and communications are bringing closer a future in which connected smart sensors will contribute to improved health and sustainable use of resources via environmental, personal health, and process monitoring. For maximum value, data should be generated and processed through means that are reliable, but also cost effective, energy efficient, and ecologically sound. By doing the initial conditioning and processing of incoming data close to the sensor (i.e. at the edge of a sensing network), energy savings and signal integrity can be improved, at the expense of local complexity. The electronic devices performing signal conditioning, data conversion, and decision in such systems are typically realised in state-of-the art and exorbitantly expensive chip manufacturing facilities (fabs).Recent pressure on the chip supply chain has increased the appeal of exploring alternative technologies. Chief among these are thin-film processes in which electronic devices and sensing components can be manufactured at a fraction of the cost, but simultaneously with: a major drop in performance; challenges in manufacturing circuits of the required complexity; and in many cases, much higher energy requirements during operation.At Surrey, we have devised and are developing a design philosophy and associated thin-film electronic device called the source-gated transistor (SGT), with superior power efficiency, stability, and amplification compared to conventional thin-film transistors, advantages which come at the cost of further reducing the operating speed. Our recent observation shows that the best SGT performance arises when combining thin semiconductor materials of high electrical permittivity with low-permittivity dielectrics, in a design that is counterintuitive to traditional approaches but is consistent with first principles.In this project, we will demonstrate SGTs and circuits, with hitherto inaccessible levels of performance and energy efficiency, by combining the advantages of the device architecture with the material properties of suspended crystalline silicon and germanium membranes. The charge carrier mobility of these materials, vastly superior to the usual thin films, and the geometrical scaling afforded by the exceptional SGT functional features, will enable circuits that are >100x faster and >10x more energy efficient than previous SGT-based designs. By expressly merging thin-film and "traditional silicon"-based approaches, these devices will serve as unique building blocks for highly efficient wearable, point-of-care, and distributed sensing systems with built-in sensing, signal conditioning, and decision. Even as we will be using materials aligned with traditional chips, our approach will not rely on the costly state-of-the art fabrication facilities, relieving much needed manufacturing capacity for complex chips e.g. processors and AI accelerators, while delivering transformative functionality to an emerging sensor ecosystem.In this initial project, the route to manufacturing will be explored, but as a secondary concern. We will focus primarily on the demonstration of a ground-breaking concept, through innovative joining of previously disparate materials and fabrication philosophies. In a high-risk, high-reward approach, we will confirm transistor operation, not only as amplifiers and signal conditioning stages, but potentially as sensors for bio-, chemical and mechanical stimuli. We will establish design rules and guidelines, supported by numerical simulation and by material and device characterisation. Thus, these advances will holistically represent a toolkit for the implementation of highly versatile, multipurpose sensing and processing systems towards a connected future beyond the Internet-of-Things. As a catalyst for prolific academic and industrial advances, the research will contribute firmly to maintaining the UK's leadership in emerging electronic technologies.

Hydrogen is ubiquitous and has two faces. On the one hand, it is at the core of the most promising solutions to our energy crisis. Hydrogen isotopes fuel the nuclear fusion reaction, the most efficient potentially useable energy process. Moreover, hydrogen is widely seen as energy carrier of the future and the most versatile means of energy storage. It can be produced via electrolysis from renewable sources, such as wind or solar power, and stored to be used as a fuel or as a raw material in the chemical industry.On the other hand, hydrogen is widely known to cause catastrophic failures in metallic materials and structures, hampering these opportunities. Metals become brittle when exposed to hydrogen-containing environments, with the fracture resistance decreasing by up to 90%. This so-called hydrogen embrittlement phenomenon not only jeopardises the role of hydrogen as a potential solution to the global energy crisis but also constitutes one of the biggest threats to the integrity of the current energy infrastructure. The problem is particularly severe in aggressive environments, such as those experienced by the offshore industry, as corrosive mitigation strategies like cathodic protection exacerbate the production of hydrogen. Moreover, hydrogen embrittlement is becoming increasingly notorious due to the higher susceptibility of modern, high-strength steels. Decades of metallurgical research have led to the development of metals with high and ultra-high strengths. These modern alloys open new horizons in reducing weight, material use and costs while increasing performance and safety (fatigue resistance). For example, ultra-high strength steels are essential in meeting targets on CO2 emissions through vehicle weight reduction. However, the susceptibility to hydrogen embrittlement increases with material strength and the increasing uptake of these new high-performance materials has made hydrogen assisted fractures commonplace across a wide variety of sectors and applications in otherwise benign environments, from bolt cracking at the Leadenhall tower to rail failures in underground systems. There is an urgent need to understand the multiple physical mechanisms behind this hydrogen-induced degradation and develop models that can predict failures as a function of the environment, the loading conditions and the material properties.This EPSRC New Investigator Award aims at developing a new generation of models that can predict local hydrogen uptake and subsequent cracking by resolving the electrochemistry-diffusion interface and shedding light into critical uncertainties in surface behaviour and trapping. An accurate estimation of hydrogen ingress for a given bulk environment is the main bottleneck preventing the application of current chemo-mechanics models in engineering assessment. Occluded areas such as cracks, pits or other defects exhibit very different chemistry to the bulk environment, and local measurements are unfeasible apart from controlled laboratory experiments. NEXTGEM will merge mechanics with electrochemistry, combining experiments, multi-physics modelling and Bayesian inference to resolve the scientific challenges holding back the applicability of hydrogen embrittlement models. This new generation of electro-chemo-mechanics models for hydrogen embrittlement will be used to enable a safe use of high strength alloys, optimise material selection and inspection planning, and prevent catastrophic failures. The project involves world-renowned academic collaborators with expertise complementary to that of the PI and leading firms in the offshore energy sector, operating the oldest large-scale wind farm in the world (Horns Rev 1). The applicability of the models developed will be demonstrated by continuous monitoring of critical components, in a piece of proof-of-concept research that can have wider implications across the transport, defence, construction and energy sectors

Reinforcement learning (RL) is concerned with training data-driven agents to make decisions. In particular, an RL agent interacting with an environment needs to learn an optimal policy, i.e., which actions to take in different states to maximize its rewards. Recently, RL has become one of the most prominent areas of machine learning since RL methods can have tremendous potential in solving complex tasks across various fields (e.g., in autonomous driving, nuclear fusion, healthcare, hardware design, etc.). However, a number of challenges still stand in the way of its widespread adoption. Contemporary RL algorithms are often data-intensive and lack robustness guarantees. Established (deep) RL approaches require a vast amount of data that is readily available in some environments (e.g., in video games). This is often not the case with real-world tasks where data acquisition is costly. Another major challenge is to use the learned control policies in the real world while ensuring reliable, robust, and safe performance. This research aims to provide practical model-based RL algorithms with rigorous statistical and robustness guarantees. This is significant in safety-critical applications where obtaining data is expensive, e.g., in nuclear fusion, learning policies to control plasmas is performed via expensive simulators. The key novelty will be to incorporate the versatile robustness aspects into model-based RL allowing for its broad application across different applications and domains.This project focuses on designing algorithms that make use of powerful non-linear statistical models to learn about the world and can tackle large state spaces present in modern RL tasks. The focus is on obtaining near-optimal policies that are robust against distributional shifts in the environmental dynamics, (adversarial) data corruptions/outliers, and satisfy application-dependent safety constraints during exploration. A major contribution will be novel rigorous statistical sample complexity guarantees for designed algorithms that characterize convergence to optimal robust and safe policies. The obtained guarantees will be efficient in the sense of being independent of the number of states, and hence applicable to complex applications. This will require designing new robust estimators and confidence intervals for popular statistical models. Moreover, the project will result in an entire testbed with distributional shifts and attacking strategies that will be provided to benchmark the robustness of standard and novel robust RL algorithms. This project will be among the first contribution to achieving both robustness and efficiency in MBRL by providing practical algorithms that can be readily applied to emerging impactful real-world tasks such as robust control of nuclear plasmas (an exciting and promising path toward sustainable energy) and efficient discovery of system-on-chip designs.

This project aims to promote the sustainable use of water for urban green spaces during heatwaves and water scarcity restrictions to maintain green spaces as efficient and effective nature-based solutions for urban heat resilience. Increasing heatwave frequency and intensity will result in increased cooling energy consumption and mortality rates, and loss of worker productivity, which impose an additional burden on the economy. The development of effective green spaces for heatwave resilience requires sustainable water use planning and careful management, especially in arid and semiarid regions where irrigation is a key factor to save plants and produce cooling. Improving water efficiency by reducing irrigation without decreasing cooling effects is challenging. The success of this proposal contributes to water conservation and improved thermal comfort under heatwaves in the framework of UN SDG 3, 6, 11 and 13, and European Green Deal. In this project, the management strategy of deficit irrigation will be applied to maximise the productivity of applied water by optimising the trade-off between thermal comfort and irrigation. Estimation of water requirement of urban green spaces is difficult because of the heterogeneous nature of plants, small and isolated individual green spaces and the presence of various microclimates. The lack of approaches addressing all these factors has increased the gap between the irrigation water application and real water demand. This project will use the 3D micro-scale model ENVI-met to estimate ET, water loss from the processes of evaporation and transpiration. The results will be evaluated against on-site measurements in four green spaces. The effects of heatwave and water shortage on cooling of green spaces and thermal comfort will be estimated. By validating and developing ENVI-met for ET estimations based on real environmental conditions, this study will greatly advance decision support tools for nature-based resilience to heatwaves

Meeting the net-zero commitment on greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 means significantly cutting back on emissions by 2035. However, currently, ~80% of our energy supply is dependent on fossil fuels which by default means additional emissions. There is a wide range of technologies that can help us achieve decarbonisation of our energy supply and reach net zero. Using renewable hydrogen to convert emitted CO2, for the sustainable synthesis of chemicals, such as methanol, could result in a ~ 90% drop in CO2 emissions. And this could be possible using existing infrastructure.Indeed methanol is currently used as a solvent, pesticide, and alternative fuel source. It can be blended with gasoline to be used in existing road vehicles, or can be used as a substitute for gasoline or diesel in flex-fuel vehicles and dedicated methanol-fuelled vehicles. However, the lack of robust and active catalysts that convert CO2 to methanol selectively are currently hindering its wide commercial deployment. This project proposes a new way of controllably producing such catalysts, using a method called exsolution. Instead of depositing the catalytically active sites on the surface of the materials, they emerge on the surface from within following a carefully designed pre-treatment. This allows to spatially and chemically control them, while also provide them with stability against agglomeration and poisoning.The project is expected to lead to the production of super-catalysts that will allow us to successfully convert a greenhouse gas to basically a necessary chemical for everyday use. It will also ultimately enable a step-change in our progress towards our 2050 net-zero goals.

Incremental advances in semiconductor technology of the past decades led to unprecedented miniaturization of optoelectronic integrated circuits, which now use billions of transistors, each containing only hundreds of atoms. However, these most sophisticated devices still rely on collective phenomena such as electric currents and light beams. These classical concepts are limited by atomic-scale effects and allow no further progress through miniaturization. Overcoming this bottleneck, would require a new generation of devices where atomic scale effects are no longer an obstacle but are used as a resource to build circuits through precise placement of individual atoms while exploiting quantum effects to boost information storage and processing capacity.Recent innovations in semiconductor material science and technology offer new routes to atomic scale miniaturisation. This project relies on a new type of semiconductor quantum dots, which are tiny semiconductor crystals consisting of only a few thousand atoms. A comprehensive program of material development and experimental physics studies will seek to demonstrate quantum information storage and processing with nuclear magnetic states of individual atoms incorporated into a quantum dot. The broad goal of this proposal is to understand fundamental phenomena and develop material technologies that will stimulate and guide the transition from existing classical digital chips to future devices, which will eventually use every individual atom of a semiconductor crystal as a resource to build integrated circuits with Avogadro-scale number of elementary units and unprecedented information processing power and energy efficiency.

Global energy consumption is rising daily at an astronomical rate. In 2021, we used 176,431 TWh worldwide, which was more than double the amount consumed in 1982 and over six times that used in 1950. Whilst the use of renewable energy has been increasing in recent years, it still only accounts for ca. 16% of our energy consumption, and it is projected that renewables will account for only ca. 20% of global consumption in 2040. Currently, the biggest barrier to the uptake of renewable energy, particularly wind and solar electricity, is the inherent intermittency of the power production and the lack of scalable methods of storing electrical energy. Despite this, there is still a mismatch between the R&D efforts on energy capture and energy storage. Existing energy storage devices are assembled via multiple laborious processing steps and typically employ flammable solvents and fossil fuel-derived materials with poor thermal and chemical stability. Hence, there is a need to identify new solutions for sustainable energy storage. Together with this, materials generated from renewable feedstocks are desperately required to displace fossil fuel-derived products currently used around the world. Strikingly, only ca. 1% of all current polymer and plastic materials are made from renewable resources.The aim of this project is to develop safe, reliable, sustainable and commercially relevant next generation responsive gel electrolyte materials which will facilitate better green energy storage solutions. We will create bespoke functional, renewable polymers that possess unique material properties which make them excellent choices for a plethora of practical applications compared to existing materials currently used. When these unique polymers are combined with ionic liquids, they can form hybrid ionic liquid-polymer gel electrolytes called ionogels - these ionogels are not only more environmentally friendly gel electrolytes but they have enhanced, responsive mechanical properties with a broader scope of applications in fuel and solar cells, transistors, actuators and battery electrolytes. This transformative research programme will deliver new sustainable, responsive ionogel materials with minimal polymer loading (less than 3% w/w), achieved using novel block copolymer solution self-assembly strategies and importantly via greener one-pot processes for in situ ionogel formation, significantly enhancing the industrial viability of these ionogel preparation routes. The ionogels developed in this project will address the significant shortcomings in the underutilisation of renewable energy in the coming years and will thus contribute to the UK's drive to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Given the desperate need for sustainable energy storage solutions, as recognised by the UN with Sustainable Development Goal 7 on affordable and clean energy, the proposed research is timely and impactful

Biomass, as the sole carbon-containing renewable energy source, will undoubtedly continue to play an indispensable role for Europe and the world in addressing the pressing challenges of energy crisis, climate change and environmental degradation. Converting biomass into biomass-derived carbon materials (BCMs) represents a crucial and unique approach to tackling these issues. As there remains a notable gap in our understanding of the mechanisms governing the multiscale structural evolution from biomass to BCMs especially under extreme conditions, TSBCM aims at achieving the targeted synthesis of BCMs by implementing three closely interconnected technical work packages, which are systematically comprehending the intrinsic mechanisms driving multiscale structure evolution using both conventional and unconventional methods (microwave and Joule heating) under extreme conditions, developing universally applicable methods to guide the preparation of BCMs towards desired structures, and demonstrating the proposed general methods through proof-of-concept applications of electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding and energy storage sodium-ion battery (SIB). The University of Edinburgh (UEDIN) and its UK Biochar Research Centre (UKBRC) stand at the forefront of biomass conversion and utilization research. The applicant, beyond the expected excellent research, profits greatly from the experiences of international view and professional skills training (UEDIN, UKBRC, host) supporting his strive for an independent academic career as professor. The successful implementation of TSBCM will facilitate the commercialization of BCMs and accelerate their applications in broad fields of energy storage, EMI shielding, carbon reduction, electronics, etc. Naturally, the applicant, the host, and UEDIN are fully committed to the planned action and to a most successful outcome, which will in turnstrengthen EU's world-leading position in renewable energy technologies.

There is an ever pressing need to develop clean and green methods for energy generation. Fusion is an important part of the solution, in principal at least providing close to unlimited high grade energy with a close to zero carbon footprint. Fusion is at a cross-roads, the physics is well understood but the engineering still needs a great deal of effort to bring about practical fusion. High Temperature Superconductors (HTS) have recently emerged as a serious contender for achieving this goal. The purpose of this project is to overcome the major difficulty of AC losses which are a perennial problem with HTS. HTS are only lossless under DC conditions, this will not be the case with a fusion magnet which will be ramped up and down. In a reactor there are coils which need to be ramped rapidly this will induce AC losses. AC losses are a perennial problem for superconductors which needs to be solved. Once it is solved a huge range of applications will become practical, not only fusion but, for example electric flight, even more powerful wind generators and many more. We aim to solve this problem

Electrochemical energy storage (EES) is crucial in the carbon-neutral future. Nevertheless, the current battery value chain hassignificant risks, especially concerning the supply of critical raw materials. eNargiZinc aims at developing new knowledge, technologyand commercially exploitable products related to innovative and affordable next-generation EES devices, targeting long-termsustainability through the use of abundant and renewable materials and low environmental-impact production processes. A rigoroustraining-through-research programme for ten Doctoral Candidates (DCs) has been designed through an interdisciplinary andintersectoral approach, involving studies on all the essential parts needed to develop sodium-ion batteries, zinc-air batteries, andzinc-ion batteries/supercapacitors. The research within eNargiZinc will focus on developing sustainable electrode materials (biomassderived carbons and their composites, redox-active polymers, hybrid transition metal oxides, and interphases for anode-lessconcepts), electrolytes (solid-state and gel-polymer types), and, especially, on integrating all the developed components into full cellsat an industrially-relevant scale. A Personalised Training Package for each DC will be tailored to allow them to acquire the requiredskills over the three years of employment within the network. To this aim, secondments to other partners (especially in the nonacademic sector), training in complementary skills, and network-wide training events will be implemented. The consortium, which iscomposed of nine beneficiaries and nine associated partners, is addressed to achieve the objectives of eNargiZinc and is based onexcellence, synergy and complementarity. Industrial partners will play a key role in the network, by providing the DCs with exposure to the private sector and access to industrially-relevant facilities, which are essential to validate the findings obtained at lab-scale

Environmental sustainability is one of the greatest challenges the world is facing, with many organisations and countries including the UK setting ambitious targets to reduce emissions and waste and increase renewable energy production. Technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) are seen as a key enabler to achieve these targets. This CDT will address this need by training future leaders in the application of AI to engineer a more environmentally sustainable future. Crucially, the students will not only have a fundamental understanding of AI, but they will also be able to identify the opportunities where sustainability challenges can be addressed using these tools, as well as understanding the business and social implications and needs. Stakeholder meetings and follow-up surveys have identified this type of system-level thinking as one of the key training requirements besides technical ability. Indeed, without considering People, Profit, and Planet together, solutions are unlikely to be adopted on a wide scale. Further to that, our unique selling point is that students will be trained with a view to directly respond to industry and societal challenges identified from our pool of 30 non-academic stakeholders which we will continuously refresh and grow.Together with our network of stakeholders, we have identified 5 themes as the focus for the research: (1) Sustainable Operations and Circular Economy, (2) Sustainable Transport and Logistics, (3) Energy and Buildings, (4) AI for Biodiversity and (5) Sustainable AI. The first 4 deal with specific application areas where AI can improve environmental sustainability. For example, AI can be used to make transport more efficient including shipping and realise targets for net zero. AI can also be used to better manage energy use and production e.g. through intelligent electric vehicle charging and decentralised energy markets. Theme 5 deals with hardware, software, and social/business solutions to deal with the sustainability of AI itself. For example, ChatGPT-v3 is estimated to have cost an equivalent of over 550 tons of CO2 to train. This can be addressed by building low-powered hardware and algorithms, and understanding the quality/cost trade-offs. Interdisciplinary projects and projects that span multiple themes are particularly encouraged.Alongside AI, sustainability is a core theme of our training, which has a range of sustainability-themed cohort activities, including innovation camps, hackathons and outreach activities, as well as regular team exercises where sustainability practices in organisations are scrutinised, re-scoped and improved. The aim is to produce a sustainability mindset whilst creating a collaborative team spirit and have an immediate impact in the operations within organisations. In addition, equality, diversity and inclusion principles are embedded throughout the CDT, from recruitment activities, to training of the management and supervisory team, as well as accommodating students with diverse backgrounds through a flexible training approach. Throughout, responsible research and innovation will be at the forefront and integrated within the training. This will be enhanced by our close collaboration with the Responsible AI (RAI) UK centre.Whilst there are bespoke compulsory modules, a range of optional modules from 3 different faculties are offered to supplement any gaps in knowledge depending on the chosen topic of research. These range from technical subjects such as machine learning and embedded devices to economics and supply chain management. In addition, an extensive range of online and short training workshops will be available throughout the CDT, from software carpentries for data analysis to training around policy (e.g., how to engage with government and writing policy documents) and commercialisation. These training and cohort-building activities provide students with more than a PhD, and significantly enhance their employability.

Controlling transport of liquid matter through channels with dimensions from Ångströms to nanometres is a key challenge in many areas of science and engineering. However, progress in this field is hampered by our lack of understanding, as the conventional macroscopic description of transport phenomena breaks down. Explaining the anomalous transport behaviour at the sub-nano scale necessitates close integration of experiments with atomistic model calculations. The emerging field promises huge technological and socio-economic impact. However, it is essential to train a new generation of early-stage researchers in the diverse skills that are needed to develop and apply precisely controlled nanofluidic mass transport. This, in a few words, is the aim of FLUXIONIC program: bridging Physics, Chemistry, Materials Science, and emerging nanoscale technologies. We created the network comprising academic and private partners with the major objective to offer an integrated training and a strong program of secondments to young researchers. FLUXIONIC will provide a rigorous, balanced, and timely supra-disciplinary training delivered by internationally leading scientists, with seamless opportunities to move between industry and academia. Recent exciting developments in experimental and theoretical methods to study transport of fluids and charged particles at the nanoscale mean that we are now at a stage where exploration of key processes is viable and fundamental and applied breakthroughs can be expected from our research program. The additional impact of FLUXIONIC will be structuring the EU research environment through long-term collaborations, consolidating doctoral training programs, and bridging the R&D in academia and industry. We will train young researchers for future leadership in the rapidly growing fields of nanotechnology with strong impacts on core challenges of modern society: clean water, disease treatment, sustainable production, storage and usage of energy

Controlling transport of liquid matter through channels with dimensions from Ångströms to nanometres is a key challenge in many areas of science and engineering. However, progress in this field is hampered by our lack of understanding, as the conventional macroscopic description of transport phenomena breaks down. Explaining the anomalous transport behaviour at the sub-nano scale necessitates close integration of experiments with atomistic model calculations. The emerging field promises huge technological and socio-economic impact. However, it is essential to train a new generation of early-stage researchers in the diverse skills that are needed to develop and apply precisely controlled nanofluidic mass transport. This, in a few words, is the aim of FLUXIONIC program: bridging Physics, Chemistry, Materials Science, and emerging nanoscale technologies. We created the network comprising academic and private partners with the major objective to offer an integrated training and a strong program of secondments to young researchers. FLUXIONIC will provide a rigorous, balanced, and timely supra-disciplinary training delivered by internationally leading scientists, with seamless opportunities to move between industry and academia. Recent exciting developments in experimental and theoretical methods to study transport of fluids and charged particles at the nanoscale mean that we are now at a stage where exploration of key processes is viable and fundamental and applied breakthroughs can be expected from our research program. The additional impact of FLUXIONIC will be structuring the EU research environment through long-term collaborations, consolidating doctoral training programs, and bridging the R&D in academia and industry. We will train young researchers for future leadership in the rapidly growing fields of nanotechnology with strong impacts on core challenges of modern society: clean water, disease treatment, sustainable production, storage and usage of energy

Controlling transport of liquid matter through channels with dimensions from Ångströms to nanometres is a key challenge in many areas of science and engineering. However, progress in this field is hampered by our lack of understanding, as the conventional macroscopic description of transport phenomena breaks down. Explaining the anomalous transport behaviour at the sub-nano scale necessitates close integration of experiments with atomistic model calculations. The emerging field promises huge technological and socio-economic impact. However, it is essential to train a new generation of early-stage researchers in the diverse skills that are needed to develop and apply precisely controlled nanofluidic mass transport. This, in a few words, is the aim of FLUXIONIC program: bridging Physics, Chemistry, Materials Science, and emerging nanoscale technologies. We created the network comprising academic and private partners with the major objective to offer an integrated training and a strong program of secondments to young researchers. FLUXIONIC will provide a rigorous, balanced, and timely supra-disciplinary training delivered by internationally leading scientists, with seamless opportunities to move between industry and academia. Recent exciting developments in experimental and theoretical methods to study transport of fluids and charged particles at the nanoscale mean that we are now at a stage where exploration of key processes is viable and fundamental and applied breakthroughs can be expected from our research program. The additional impact of FLUXIONIC will be structuring the EU research environment through long-term collaborations, consolidating doctoral training programs, and bridging the R&D in academia and industry. We will train young researchers for future leadership in the rapidly growing fields of nanotechnology with strong impacts on core challenges of modern society: clean water, disease treatment, sustainable production, storage and usage of energy

Communications and information networks are ubiquitous in our daily life, and information and communications technology (ICT) is estimated to contribute 1.8%-2.8% of carbon emissions. The successful deployment of 5G has revealed that the total power consumption for a 5G communication system is much higher than that in 4G due to more densely placed base stations in 5G. A recent study also revealed that a potential 6G system would consume nearly 50 times higher power than a 5G system due to a larger number of antennas, a wider spectral bandwidth occupation, and a denser base station deployment strategy. 5G techniques have already been standardized and deployed in real life without the priority on net-zero sustainability. Therefore, to lead the sustainability innovations for next generation net-zero communications, we should reshape the physical layer techniques for 6G.Improving energy efficiency has become the priority worldwide and has been identified as a key technology enabler for next generation 6G systems, and a number of industries and research institutes are chasing for net zero sustainable technology to achieve the objectives of cutting energy usage and carbon emission. This project aims for underpinning research in sustainable communication systems, which aligns with the UK government's top priority and ambitions on net zero in Wireless Infrastructure Strategy: a vision for 2030 (Source: GOV.UK).Power consumption for a communication system is directly linked to physical components such as physical hardware and physical signals. Hardware upgrade via advanced manufacturing can cut power consumption but with limited contributions in 6G when more base stations are required to serve a given area. Therefore, a fundamental breakthrough in energy efficient physical signal design, more precisely waveform design, is timely and specially positioned to achieve net-zero goals in 6G.A number of advancements have been achieved since 1924 when Harry Nyquist developed the foundation of today's digital communication signals. However, the existing waveform design in communication systems faces a number of fundamental challenges (a) Existing energy efficient air interface waveform designs are limited by the Mazo limit, which can only save power by up to 20% without any performance loss. However, the 20% power saving is no longer sufficient and the 20% is achievable at the cost of sophisticated and energy consuming signal processing. (b) Mathematically derived waveforms are limited by known mathematical models and are unlikely to be the optimal. (c) Machine learning can assist signals to have better performance but machine learning algorithms require lots of processing power. (d) Existing signal waveforms and AI models are commonly deployed using high energy consuming hardware because powerful computing resources are needed. To address the above challenges, an ambitious program is proposed including i) fundamental explorations of new waveforms beyond the conventional 20% power saving limit, ii) co-design of waveform and artificial intelligence to derive advanced waveform formats and cut the complexity of AI models, iii) low-cost hardware proof of concept with power saving validations.The fundamental research breakthrough in the signal waveform design with intelligence will have impacts on researchers' work across many areas and fields, from circuit design to new communication systems, artificial intelligence algorithms, sensors and sensor networks, green communication techniques, advanced signal processing, biomedical signals, and other areas.

Hydrogen is said to be both a blessing and a curse. It is ubiquitous and its applications will drive the technology of a net-zero carbon society. However, it is also infamous for "embrittling" metallic materials, dramatically reducing their ductility, fracture toughness and fatigue crack growth resistance. Hydrogen-assisted failures are commonplace across the transport, defence, construction and energy sectors, and their prevention is being held back by the lack of mechanistic understanding of what is known to be a particularly challenging phenomenon. As a result, significant cross-disciplinary research efforts have been allocated to the characterisation of this hydrogen embrittlement phenomenon and to the development of observation-driven mechanistic interpretations. My aim for ResistHfracture is to bring a paradigm change by going from the analysis of the problem to the design of a new generation of materials that will provide intrinsic resistance to hydrogen-assisted cracking. This will be achieved by exploring a counter-intuitive paradigm that carries a high risk but potentially also a high return: to deliberately introduce defects that can act as 'beneficial traps', sequestering the hydrogen away from harmful locations and hindering hydrogen diffusion within the metal. Materials will be engineered with a spatially-controlled distribution of voids, establishing a new "hydrogen trapping" paradigm through the combination of experimental and computational techniques spanning the areas of solid mechanics, nanofabrication, phase field fracture, additive manufacturing, multi-scale materials characterisation, and physical chemistry. This multi-disciplinary endeavour will establish new avenues for counteracting the deleterious effect of hydrogen, bringing new fundamental insight on trapping and surface phenomena, and laying the scientific foundations for engineering solutions that can address the pressing need of safely deploying a hydrogen energy infrastructur