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Northumberland and its rivers were hard hit by an intense precipitation event on 6th-7th September 2008 which delivered over one month's worth of rainfall (ranging in places from 80 mm to150 mm) within a 24 hour period. The discharge response from Northumberland's eastward flowing rivers was rapid and spectacular. The River Wansbeck burst its banks affecting over 1000 residents in the town of Morpeth and further north, the River Coquet cut off the market town of Rothbury resulting in further damage and evacuation of residents from inundated properties. The September 2008 floods were the largest to affect the Wansbeck and Coquet river systems in historic time with all previous high water marks being exceeded. Further to the north, the River Breamish and River Till were also heavily impacted. While calculation of the flood flow is relatively easy for urbanised sections with good gauging facilities, upper reaches of catchments often are less heavily monitored. Yet, what happens in the upper sectors of catchments during high precipitation events has direct implications for downstream communities. We are focusing on the River Coquet due to the large amount of pre-flood baseline data already obtained by the PI, which will allow the effects of the 2008 floods to be more clearly defined. The river rises at Coquet Head on the Scottish border, has a catchment area of 636 sq. km and runs eastwards for a length of 62 km from source to mouth, draning the southern flanks of the Cheviot Hills. It is an excellent example of a fast flowing upland river on base-rich rocks, and along its length, is joined by a number of major tributaries including the River Alwin and the Ridlees, Usway, Holystone and Wreigh Burns before reaching the town of Rothbury. Downstream of Rothbury, the river is joined by other inflow tributaries before discharging into the North Sea at Amble. We will be focusing on the reach above Rothbury (with a sub-catchment area of 225 sq. km) as this marks a piedmont region where the River Coquet is notably dynamic, actively re-working its floodplain. We are applying under the NERC Urgency scheme to quantify flood impacts in this section of the catchment as the proposed field-based research clearly meets the Scheme's criteria - it is an unexpected and transient scientific opportunity where scientists need to respond rapidly to changing events. Here, fieldwork needs to be undertaken as soon as possible to survey transient flood wash limit evidence and to map channel morphology before the onset of subsequent floods, which may mask the signature of the September 2008 flood. Flood wash limits consisting of erosional trimlines, silt deposition extent and debris trash lines are all inherently transient as they are subject to removal during the flood clean-up as well as by natural processes including decomposition, actions of water currents and grazing. Despite the lack of direct flow gauging, standard hydraulic techniques (collectively termed the Slope-Area Method) exist, and will be used to reconstruct flood discharge from flood water slopes (reconstructed from debris wash limits demarcating the highest stage or flow depth), channel cross section area and flow velocities (reconstructed using hydraulic information and knowledge of channel roughness).

This Large Grant proposal combines the expertise of Sheffield and Leeds to establish a major electroceramics research hub. Electroceramics are advanced materials whose properties and applications depend on close control of crystal structure, chemical composition, ceramic microstructure, dopants and dopant (or defect) distribution. In most cases, properties depend on a complex interplay of structural, processing and compositional variables. They find applications in various physical forms, eg as ceramic discs, thick and thin films and multi-layer devices consisting of alternating layers (up to several hundred) of ceramic and metal electrodes. The particular property of interest may be a bulk property of the crystals, for example, high levels of ionic conductivity, mixed electronic-ionic conduction, ferro-, pyro- piezo-electricity or ferrimagnetism. Alternatively, it may relate specifically to the grain boundaries (or surface layers) in polycrystalline materials and to small differences in composition and therefore electrical behaviour between the bulk and grain boundary (or surface) regions. Such heterogeneous, or functionally-graded ceramics find many applications eg non-ohmic devices in current limiters such as varistors and thermistors. This proposal focuses on new and improved electroceramics for potential near- and long-term applications. The work will be carried out by a multidisciplinary team with complementary skills in materials discovery, modelling, processing and advanced characterisation. Such a multifaceted approach to electroceramics research and development does not exist in the UK within a single institution and the establishment of a 'hub' between the two universities will allow us to compete with the best in the world. Three work packages are proposed.I. New and improved bulk materials: structure-property relations, including: (a) novel perovskite-type materials with targeted functionality: ferroelectricity, reversible electro-strain, piezoelectricity, magneto-electric coupling and mixed conductivity; (b) development of new low temperature co-fired ceramics based on Sillenites; (c) oxygen nonstoichiometry and core-shell phenomena in doped BaTiO3; (d) development of improved lithium battery cathodes based on layered rock salt structures. II. Materials processing and development in thin and thick film form, including:(a) BiFeO3-PbTiO3 and BiMeO3 thin films for ferroelastic/ferroelectric switching for actuator and memory applications; (b) thin film feasibility studies on Solid Oxide Fuel Cell structures; (c) thick and thin films based on the novel ferroelectric system Ba2RETi2Nb3O15 to assess their potential device applications; (d) development of a masked Electrophoretic Deposition technique to deposit planar magnetoelectric composites based on Pb(Zr,Ti)O3-Pb(Ni,Nb)O3 (soft piezoelectric) and (La,Ca)MnO3 (magnetostrictor). III. Modelling of bulk materials and interfacial phenomena: (a) Development of Finite Element modelling of current pathways in (i) heterogeneous ceramics, (ii) local probe measurements within grains and across individual grain boundaries and (iii) multilayer devices; the results will be used to simulate Impedance Spectroscopy data and allow comparison with, and interpretation of, experimental data; (b) Modelling of functional oxides: point defects, electronic band structure calculations and mass diffusion in ceramics; this will underpin the experimental programmes on the development of new materials and the role of dopants in existing materials. Work packages I and II will be supported by a wide range of characterisation techniques available at Leeds and Sheffield for studying bulk and interfacial phenomena. New characterisation techniques will be applied: aberration-corrected TEM allows true atomic scale spectroscopy of interfaces and defects; Kelvin Probe Microscopy gives direct imaging of the work function variation in grain and across grain boundary regions.

Two hundred million people are infected with the Hepatitis C virus. There is no vaccine and the rate at which new strains of the virus arise enable it to evade the human immune system. This study aims to decipher how new viral strains are generated and transmitted, thereby enabling the development of new vaccines.

Edinburgh has a long and distinguished track record in attracting the highest quality undergraduate and postgraduate students and in the post-doctoral training of clinical academics; since 2000, over 100 young clinicians have obtained competitive externally funded fellowships. Best practice in postgraduate recruitment and management has been developed, in part drawing on experience from hosting three 4-year PhD programmes (2 Wellcome funded: Molecular and cellular basis of disease; Cardiovascular research initiative) and the Training Fellowship programme provided in the Wellcome Trust Cardiovascular Research Initiative (1997-2005). Edinburgh's track record in the successful delivery of Clinical Training Fellowships (CTFs) is matched by effective onward career support of clinical Fellows. Recruitment of Fellows remains healthy and vigorous, despite the shift from organ to process based research; in major part because of clinical leadership in organ based specialties. This wealth of senior clinical leadership of international standing encompasses those 'orphan' disciplines which have previously found it difficult to attract clinical PhD fellowships and provides an essential link between high quality organ based clinical groupings and internationally competitive clinical and basic science research laboratories. Edinburgh also has a track record in the training of Veterinarian PhD candidates based in laboratories in the CMVM Centres. Further, there is a strong relationship between the University and NHS Lothian, illustrated for example by the recent amalgamation of their R&D offices. With the Postgraduate Dean for South East Scotland, Edinburgh has been proactive in delivering a new model for clinical academic training consistent with MMC, and capitalising on substantial investments being made in clinical training in Scotland. Against this background, the call for Clinical PhD Portfolio programmes is ideally timed for Edinburgh.