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The relentless growth of the amount, variety, availability, and the rate of change of data has profoundly transformed essentially all aspects of human life. The Big Data revolution has created a paradox: While we create and collect more data than ever before, it is not always easy to unlock the information it contains. To turn the easy availability of data into a major scientific and economic advantage, it is imperative that we create analytic tools that would be equal to the challenge presented by the complexity of modern data. In recent years, breakthroughs in topological data analysis and machine learning have paved the way for significant progress towards creating efficient and reliable tools to extract information from data. Our proposal has been designed to address the scope of the call as follows. To 'convert the vast amounts of data produced into understandable, actionable information' we will create a powerful fusion of machine learning, statistics, and topological data analysis. This combination of statistical insight, with computational power of machine learning with the flexibility, scalability, and visualisation tools of topology will allow a significant reduction of complexity of the data under study. The results will be output in a form that is best suited to the intended application or a scientific problem at hand. This way, we will create a seamless pathway from data analysis to implementation, which will allow us to control every step of this process. In particular, the intended end user will be able to query the results of the analysis to extract the information relevant to them. In summary, our work will provide tools to extract information from complex data sets to support user investigations or decisions. It is now well established that a main challenge of Big Data is how 'to efficiently and intelligently extract knowledge from heterogeneous, distributed data while retaining the context necessary for its interpretation'. This will be addressed first of all by developing techniques for dealing with heterogenous data. A main strength of topology is its ability to identify simple components in complex systems. It can also provide guiding principles on how to combine elements to create a model of a complex system. It also provides numerical techniques to control the overall shape of the resulting model to ensure that it fits with the original constraints. We will use the particular strengths of machine learning, statistics and topology to identify the main properties of data, which will then be combined to provide an overall analysis of the data. For example, a collection of text documents can be analysed using machine learning techniques to create a graph which captures similarities between documents in a topological way. This is an efficient way to classify a corpus of documents according to a desired set of keywords. An important part of our investigation will be to develop robust techniques of data fusion. This is important in many applications. One of our main applications will address the problem of creating a set of descriptors to diagnose and treat asthma. There are five main pathways for clinical diagnosis of asthma, each supported by data. To create a coherent picture of the disease we need to understand how to combine the information contained in these separate data sets to create the so called 'asthma handprint' which is a major challenge in this part of medicine. Every novel methodology of data analysis has to prove that its 'techniques are realistic, compatible and scalable with real- world services and hardware systems'. The best way to do that is to engage from the outset with challenging applications , and to ensure that theoretic and modelling solutions fit well the intended applications. We offer a unique synergy between theory and modelling as well as world-class facilities in medicine and chemistry which will provide a strict test for our ideas and results.

Future fusion power plants for clean energy production will need to operate with a mixture of different hydrogen isotopes, namely deuterium and tritium (D-T). The ITER experimental tokamak, currently being built in France, is an international fusion facility which will demonstrate burning plasma operation with D-T mixture. It is crucial to predict and optimise the fusion performance of ITER which requires deeper understanding of the effect of isotope mass on plasma confinement, transport and stability. The JET tokamak in the UK is in a phase of D-T experimental campaigns with both full tritium and deuterium-tritium operation. Together with the ITER-like combination of plasma facing components this phase addresses key aspects of operation with different hydrogen isotopes and will demonstrate ITER regimes in D-T. The project focuses on the analysis of JET-ILW edge plasma data in support of predictive models for the edge transport barrier. JET is in an excellent position for creating a high quality confinement and profile database suitable for studying core and edge contributions to the global confinement, to study the isotope scaling of the edge structure, to investigate the inter-ELM transport and the micro turbulence limiting the edge gradients.

The UK Government has an ambitious target of reducing CO2 emissions by 80% by 2050, and energy demand reduction will have to play a major part in meeting this goal. While traditional research on mitigation of carbon emissions has focused on direct consumption of energy (how we supply energy, what types of fuel we use, and how we use them etc.), the role that materials and products might play in energy demand reduction is far less well studied. One third of the world's energy is used in industry to make products, such as buildings, infrastructure, vehicles and household goods. Most of this energy is expended in producing the key stock materials with which we create modern lifestyles - steel, cement, aluminium, paper, and polymers - and we are already very efficient in producing them. A step change in reducing the energy expended by UK industry can therefore only come about if we are able to identify new ways of designing, using, and delivering products, materials and services. Before firm recommendations can be made to decision-makers regarding the combined technical and social feasibility of new products and material strategies, a fundamental set of research questions will need to be addressed. These concern how various publics will respond to innovative proposals for product design, governance and use. For example, more energy efficient products may need to operate differently or look very different, while a significant shift from an ownership model to a service delivery model (e.g., direct car ownership to car clubs and rental) can also deliver considerable material efficiency and energy demand reduction. Will members of the wider public and key decision-makers welcome, oppose, or actively drive such supply chain innovations, and what are the implications of knowledge about public views for decision-makers in the corporate and government sector? Understanding the answers to these questions is the main focus of this project. The research led by Cardiff University, and partnered with the Green Alliance, will combine qualitative and quantitative social science methodologies - in particular expert interviews and workshops, deliberative research and a (GB) national survey. The project has 4 phases, spanning a 45 month period. Work Package 1 involves initial work with UK INDEMAND partners, and interviews with industry and policy representatives, to identify the assumptions being made about people and society in key pathways for materials energy demand reduction. Work Package 2 involves four workshops - held in Edinburgh, Cardiff, London and a rural location - where members of the public will deliberate the identified pathways to change. In Work Package 3 we will conduct a nationally representative survey of 1,000 members of the British public, further exploring public perspectives on ways of designing and changing our use of materials. A particularly innovative aspect of the project is a set of targeted policy engagement activities (in Work Package 4) where we will hold workshops, interviews and other direct stakeholder involvement, exploring the implications of the findings about public views with key decision-makers in UK businesses, policy and the political sphere (including Parliamentarians through the Green Alliance's Climate Leadership programme for MPs). Along with the empirical data gathered in Work Packages 1, 2, and 3, the activities in Work Package 4 will allow us to formulate clear recommendations for action on achieving a reduction in UK final energy consumption through bringing knowledge of social barriers and opportunities to bear on governmental policy and industry decision-making about innovative materials and products delivery/use.

This project aims to understand how novel energy storage technologies might best be integrated into an evolving, lower-carbon UK energy system in the future. It will identify technical, environmental, public acceptability, economic and policy issues, and will propose solutions to overcome barriers to deployment. As electricity is increasingly generated by highly-variable renewables and relatively inflexible nuclear power stations, alternatives to the use of highly-flexible fossil-fuelled generation as a means of balancing the electricity system will become increasingly valuable. Numerous technologies for storing electricity are under development to meet this demand, and as the cost of storage is reduced through innovation, it is possible that they could have an important role in a low-carbon energy system. The Energy Storage Supergen Hub is producing a UK roadmap for energy storage that will be the starting point for this project. The value of grid-scale storage to the electricity system has been assessed for some scenarios. For extreme cases comprising only renewable and nuclear generation, the value is potentially substantial. However, the value of energy storage to the UK depends on the costs and benefits relative to sharing electricity imbalances through greater European interconnection, demand-side electricity response, and wider energy system storage, and the optimal approaches to integrating energy storage at different levels across the whole energy system are not well understood. This project will take a broader approach than existing projects by considering energy system scenarios in which storage options are more integrated across the whole energy system, using a series of soft-linked energy and electricity system models. Demand-side response and increased interconnection will be considered as counterfactual technologies that reduces the need for storage. Three broad hypotheses will be investigated in this project: (i) that a whole energy system approach to ES is necessary to fully understand how different technologies might contribute as innovation reduces costs and as the UK energy system evolves; (ii) that a range of technological, economic and social factors affect the value of ES, so should all be considered in energy system scenarios; and, (iii) that the economic value of the difference between good and bad policy decisions relating to the role of energy storage in the transition to low-carbon generation is in the order of £bns. A broader, multidisciplinary approach, which extends beyond the techno-economic methodologies that are adopted by most studies, will be used to fully assess the value of energy storage. This project will therefore also examine public acceptability issues for the first time, compare the environmental impacts of storage technologies using life-cycle analyses, and examine important economic issues surrounding market design to realise the value of storage services provided by consumers. All of these analyses will be underpinned by the development of technology-neutral metrics for ES technologies to inform the project modelling work and the wider scientific community. These multidisciplinary considerations will be combined in a series of integrated future scenarios for energy storage to identify no-regrets technologies. The project will conclude by examining the implications of these scenarios for UK Government policy, energy regulation and research priorities. The analyses will be technical only to the point of identifying the requirements for energy storage, with absolutely no bias towards or against any classes of storage technology.

Conjugated polymers (CPs) have emerged as promising materials for the production of fluorescent devices. They exhibit semiconducting behaviours as they have suitable and structure to allow conduction and the formation of excitons. They possess the ease of processing of plastics, and the electronic behaviour of metals and semiconductors. They have high quantum yields and extinction coefficients in solutions. They can be dissolved in a range of solvents depending on their functionality, and their chemical and physical characteristics can be finely tuned by changing the side groups. Due to their unique properties, it has been proposed that CPs could be used to synthesis nanoparticles that can be used in imaging and drug delivery systems. This project aims to answer if nanoparticles can be synthesised from CPs, focusing on Poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3HT), Poly[2-methoxy-5-(2-ethylhexyloxy)-1,4-phenylenevinylene] (MEH-PPV) and Cyano-Polyphenylene vinylene (CN-PPV). If nanoparticles can be synthesis, then the project will aim to address if the CPNs can be used in a Point of Care (POC) assay (as an initial proof of concept). Further development will be to take the CPNs forward for both a bioimaging and treatment application (i.e. can CPNs be used for theranostics). The first step of the project will be to see if tuneable emission of the CPs can be achieved by a) Studying their characteristics in different solvents (solvatochromism) and b) If a change in the initial concentration of CPs affects emission. The goal will be to have a CP that can be tuned throughout the entire spectrum with narrow, distinct bands. The second step of the project will be to take the most promising CP and determine if nanoparticles can be synthesised by simple aqueous methods (such as miniemulsion or nanoprecipitation). The project will look at both PEG as a surfactant to make the CPNs water soluble, and also using silica to form cores (or shells) surrounding the CPNs. A wide variety of experiments will be done to determine fluorescence viability and size of nanoparticles. The third step of the project will to answer if the CPNs surface can be functionalised for antibody conjugation. This will involve testing different conjugation methods (such as adding a thiol or carboxyl group to the CP or silica shell), determining zeta potential of the shell and ultimately determining if antibody can be conjugated to the surface. Finally, the project will address the question of can the CPNs be used in a POC assay. This will involve optimising and developing the immunoassay for studies with prostate/bowel cancer biomarkers or else bacterial growths in patients with impaired lung function. By using CPs which can be synthesised with relatively simple aqueous chemistry, and are more biocompatible compared to heavy metal QDs, the ultimate goal is to translate the CPNs into an assay for proof of concept. This can then be taken forward as a potential theranostic application.

New methods of construction are needed to advance the capability of aircraft structures, meet business demands & reduce manufacturing costs. One is the use of bonded assemblies for primary structure. FAA currently requires that unless the strength of the structure can be proven to match or exceed the design requirements, it must have mechanical fasteners to prevent critical failure. Bonded structures allow a significant reduction in weight due to using thinner skins. If 'Chicken rivets' are mandated, then this negates any benefit in terms of weight saving. The only current reliable way of testing the bonded assembly strength is proof loading - expensive & unrealistic for testing every part. An NDE method of testing a bonded assembly is needed to allow the use of lightweight bonded primary aerostructures. This must allow assessment that the desired strength is achieved, or identify areas of a weak-bonded area to allow repair. The project will investigate the application of phased array inspection approaches to determine bond strength, firstly studying current best practise with linear phased arrays and moving on to compare this to the recently developed nonlinear phased array approach.

Context: The invention of artificial lighting, dating from Joseph Wilson Swan and Thomas Edison's seminal contributions to the invention and commercialization of the incandescent light bulb in 1879, is arguably one of the most important inventions of humankind. Artificial lighting permits most human activities to continue past sundown, thus immeasurably increasing worldwide human productivity. Though Edison's device was much brighter than candle lighting, it was inefficient, converting only 0.2% of electricity into light. Since this seminal invention, many other lighting devices have been developed, from the tungsten lamp, to fluorescent tubes to halogen lighting to light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). With each further iteration in lighting technology, the quality (pureness of colour), power efficiency and brightness of the light produced by the device have each improved. Light emission also enables information displays, televisions and computer screens. Producing devices that are energy efficient is of particular importance as, according to the US Department of Energy, it is estimated that 1/3 of commercial electricity use and 10% of household electricity consumption in the United States alone is dedicated towards artificial lighting. Artificial lighting represents a $15 Billion market in the United States alone and almost $91 Billion worldwide, corresponding to 20% of total worldwide energy output. The environmental impact related to this energy consumption is enormous and is estimated to be responsible for 7% of global CO2 emissions. Whereas inorganic LED and organic or polymer OLED lighting is now the state of the art in artificial lighting, their high cost and small active surface area are still barriers to wide adoption. In fact, for large surface area outdoor lighting applications, low-pressure sodium lamps are still the technology of first choice. Within this context, there is an urgent need to find alternative artificial lighting technologies that are of lower production cost, more energy efficient, colour tunable and can be used in environments not currently accessible to current LED and OLED technologies. It is implicit that in a similar manner to OLEDs, such a new lighting technology would have applications in visual displays, telecommunication and sensors. Organometallic complexes capable of harnessing light and/or electrical current and transforming such energy into useful work are at the heart of many important applications. An application that is of particular interest to my research group is energy-efficient visual displays and flat panel lighting based on either a phosphorescent light-emitting electrochemical cell (LEEC) architecture or an OLED architecture. Currently, most ionic transition metal complex-based (iTMC) LEECs rely on the use of a charged iridium(III) complex as the luminophoric material. These complexes can be readily solution processed. Iridium complexes phosphoresce and thus the maximum photoluminescence quantum efficiency (PLQY) theoretically attainable is unity. The external quantum efficiency (EQE) of a LEEC device has been found to scale proportionately to the solid-state PLQY and as such bright devices are possible. Despite the advantages listed above, LEECs incorporating iTMCs have several weaknesses: (i) low EQE; (ii) limited stability of the device and (iv) colour quality, particularly with reference to blue light emission. This grant proposal targets the development blue-emitting iridium(III) cationic complexes that will act as a luminophoric material in both LEEC and OLED devices. The two main goals are: 1. to obtain a LEEC that emits brightly in the blue region of the spectrum and that is stable over thousands of hours and that can quickly illuminate upon the application of an external voltage; to produce higher performance deep blue emitting OLEDs.

Two of the most critical global challenges currently being faced are energy security and climate change. In the UK, more than £100 bn of investment in new UK power stations and grid infrastructure is projected within the next decade, both to replace ageing plant and to allow for the incorporation of renewable sources. Such changes will involve a paradigm shift in the ways in which we generate and transmit electricity. Since a central element of all items of power plant is electrical insulation, meeting our future challenges through the deployment of new innovative plant, this will require the development and exploitation of new high performance insulation material systems. Polymer nanocomposites have demonstrated clear potential, but the lack of detailed understanding of the underlying physics and chemistry is a major impediment to the technological realisation of this potential. In certain laboratory studies, nanodielectrics materials have out-performed unfilled and traditional micro-composite insulating materials. However, entirely contrary results have also been elsewhere. Undoubtedly, this variability in macroscopic behaviour comes about as a consequence of our inability to define and control the key factors that dictate the dielectric behaviour of nanocomposites. The overarching aim of this project is to resolve this issue such that the potential of dielectric nanocomposites - nanodielectrics - can be fully exploited. As such, the project is totally aligned with the EPSRC Materials for Energy theme in which it is accepted that "in the field of advanced materials it will be necessary to strengthen approaches to the rational design and characterisation of advanced materials and their integration into structures and systems". It also aligns with the Advanced Materials theme of the "Eight Great Technologies", it which it is accepted that "these materials are essential to 21st century manufacturing in a UK market worth £170 billion per annum and representing 15 per cent of GDP". Our research hypothesis is that the macroscopic properties of nanodielectrics cannot be reliably controlled without understanding the processes that occur at the interfaces between the matrix material and the nanoparticles, because these regions directly affect two critical issues. First, interfacial interactions will affect the nanoparticle dispersion, which has a major bearing on many physical properties and, second, the nature of the interface determines the local density of states in the system, and thereby the material's overall electrical characteristics. To understand such local processes is challenging and we propose to do this through a combination of computation simulation and experiment, where both aspects are closely aligned, thereby allowing the simulation to direct experiment and the experimental result to refine the simulation. The work programme has been divided in 3 distinct themes, which will progressively move the work from fundamentals to exploitation. Theme 1 will therefore concentrate on model systems, where simulation and experiment can be most closely aligned. Theme 2 will then seek to deploy the key messages to the development of technologically relevant systems and processes. Throughout, Theme 3 will engage with a range of stakeholders that will range from key industry players (equipment manufacturer s, energy utilities, standards bodies) to the general public t maximise the reach and significance of its ultimate impact (economic, environmental, societal). We see the involvement of our Industrial Users Group as being particularly important, both in helping to guide the project and in terms of ensuring acceptance of the technologies that will ultimately arise.

Doctoral Training Partnerships: a range of postgraduate training is funded by the Research Councils. For information on current funding routes, see the common terminology at https://www.ukri.org/apply-for-funding/how-we-fund-studentships/. Training grants may be to one organisation or to a consortia of research organisations. This portal will show the lead organisation only.

We propose to prepare and study a new class of synthetic ion channels based on dynamic metal-organic complexes that possess a pore-like central channel that will allow for substrate transport across a lipid bilayer. These complexes are obtained through the condensation of simple organic building blocks around octahedral metal ion templates. The modular nature of these complexes and the dynamic nature of their imine bonds will allow us to tune the assemblies to confer different physical properties upon them, while retaining their overall structures. Through tuning we will identify the key characteristics of complexes that can be inserted into lipid bilayers. This project builds upon preliminary investigations that have shown that heptyl-chain-bearing derivatives allowed chloride ions to pass across a membrane, providing a point of departure for our investigations. In other key precedent work we established that it is possible to induce reconstitution of the complexes into entirely different structures in the presence of different templating anions. We will investigate ways to exploit this phenomenon as an approach to controlling flux across a membrane by reversibly triggering reconstitution to form complexes that do not possess central channels, thus inhibiting ion transport. Development of these tuneable, gating ion channels will pave the way to new industrial processes that are driven by the effective separation of high value compounds from impure mixtures, and new chemical transformations involving the selective gating of intermediate species between vesicular reaction chambers. In future, our technologies may also facilitate new treatments for those who suffer from forms of channelopathy.