Most of our food is a product of plant reproduction with fertility and seed set critical for crop yield and thus food security. The genetically controlled process of self-incompatibility (SI) is the predominant mechanism used by flowering plants to prevent self-fertilization and thus promote outbreeding and fitness of plant species. Mechanistic understanding of SI can lead to improvements of plant breeding practises to produce better crops. Background & Justification Mechanistically, one of the best-understood SI systems is that of Papaver rhoeas (poppy). In Papaver, the pistil secretes a protein (PrsS) which acts as a signalling 'ligand'. This interacts specifically with a 'self' pollen receptor (PrpS), allowing pollen to distinguish between 'self' and 'non-self' partners. This interaction is the critical step in determining cell-cell recognition and rejection. The interaction triggers a Ca2+ -dependent signalling network resulting in inhibition of incompatible pollen tube growth and programmed cell death (PCD)1,2. Remarkably, the expression of PrpS and PrsS in Arabidopsis pollen and pistil,respectively, prevents self-seed set, effectively rendering Arabidopsis self-incompatible3,4. This demonstrates that the Papaver SI determinants can be functionally transferred between highly diverged plant species. Strikingly, recent results (under review in Nature Plants) show that ectopic expression of PrpS and PrsS triggers PCD in Arabidopsis somatic cells, demonstrating that this bipartite module can function outside the reproductive context, in vegetative tissues where it triggers an SI-like response leading to ectopic PCD. Therefore, the nature of pollen PrpS and its interaction with PrsS is of considerable interest. Aim and Objectives PrpS is a plasma-membrane protein with no homologues in databases. Interestingly, structural predictions, including using the IntFOLD server developed by Dr Liam McGuffin (Reading), predict a transmembrane protein involved in ion transport. Based on these predictions and the SI-induced influx of ions (Ca2+, K+ and potentially H+ ) we hypothesise that PrpS functions as a ligand-gated ion channel. Benefitting from assays that induce a specific response in PrpS expressing Arabidopsis by treatment with recombinant cognate PrsS proteins, the project aims to identify the functional nature of PrpS and establish the dynamics of PrpS-PrsS receptor-ligand interactions. 1. We will establish the basis for the specificity of the PrpS-PrsS interaction using targeted site-directed mutagenesis. Predicted ligand binding residues and 3D models present a good starting point for this aim. Supervised by Dr Liam McGuffin, the student will perform more detailed structural modelling of PrpS proteins as well as predicting the likely interactions between cognate PrpS and PrsS proteins. These in silico studies will allow us to identify specific targets for modification. 2. We will determine if PrpS is indeed an ion channel. In collaboration with Prof Gary Stephens (Reading), we will use electrophysiological studies of PrpS expressed in a heterologous cell system such as HEK cells to establish if PrpS acts as a channel. Patch-clamp electrophysiology will also allow us to identify PrsS-induced channel activation and kinetics, channel conductance and ion selectivity and pharmacological properties. 3. We will establish if PrpS forms a multimeric complex. PrpS is small (~20kDa), whereas ion channel receptors are usually multimeric plasma membrane proteins, this suggests that PrpS may be a subunit that multimerizes. We will use blue native PAGE to determine if PrpS forms oligomers, the level of oligomerization, and if its oligomeric state is dependent on interaction with its cognate ligand. We will use Bimolecular Fluorescence Complementation (BiFC) to visualize PrpS interacting with PrsS in live cells.

The first academic context that informs the research is a concern with the role of national elite in reproducing nations. Much has been written concerning the role of key individuals in delineating the contours of nationalist discourse (Gellner 1983; Greenfield 1992; Kedourie 1971). On the whole, these studies have tended to assert the significance of these ideas without demonstrating their validity empirically. The project examines empirically the life paths (Daniels and Nash 2004) or, in other words, the life histories and geographies of nationalist activists within one place in order to produce a more humanised historical geography of the nation, an approach influenced by the work of Daniels (1993) and Matless (1998). In addition, work on the role of the national elite has been criticised by Smith (1998: 190) for being too 'top-down' in nature. There is a need to examine the role played by national elite and ordinary members of the nation in shaping nationalist discourses. One way of doing this is by focusing on the biographical connections between various nationalists and how they are grounded within particular places. Such a focus also enables us to examine the significance of particular places for the reproduction of nations. There is a growing interest in studying the significance of places for nationalism but this work has tended to examine how places reflect nationalist discourse (Agnew 2004; Appleton 2002; Contino and Skaria 2002). The project examines a different theme by showing how places- and the multiple life paths of nationalist activists within them -can be key sites for shaping nationalist discourses. This project brings together these different strands by examining the role played by different people in Aberystwyth in swaping Welsh nationalism between the 1950s and 1970s. It builds on a broader tradition of examining the Welsh nation (Fevre et al 1999; Gruffudd 1994; Jones 2000). Aims The research has two main aims: to explore the conceptual association between the lifepaths of nationalist actors and the reproduction of nationalist discourse; to examine empirically the role of people in Aberystwyth in shaping the development of Welsh nationalism. The research focuses on the following questions: which Welsh nationalist movements have been associated with Aberystwyth between the 1950s and 1970s?; how have individuals within the town shaped the discourses of these nationalist movements?; to what extent have the social interactions between individuals been important in shaping attitudes toward the Welsh nation?; how have the life paths of nationalist actors in Aberystwyth contributed to the formation of nationalist discourses? The methods used to answer these questions are archival research and oral history research. Archival research has been used to determine the key discourses of Welsh nationalist movements in the period under study. It has also been important as a way of contextualising oral histories conducted with key actors (biographies, autobiographies, correspondence etc.). Oral history research has been used to chart the life paths of key individuals within nationalist movements in Aberystwyth and their impact on the development of the Welsh nation. The proposed research has built on a strong tradition of using oral histories as a way of examining social and spatial change. Potential applications Conceptually, the potential to humanise the historical geographies of the nation by addressing the significance of the life paths of nationalist activists for the reproduction of nations. Methodologically, the potential to show the use of oral history and a biographical approach as means of charting the development of nationalist discourse. Empirically, the potential to illustrate in more detail an important phase in the development of Welsh nationalism, especially with regard to the connections between different movements and protagonists.

There is increasing recognition among academics and practitioners that poverty is multidimensional and context specific. It is the multiple aspects of poverty that together define the experience of the poor. Considering the various dimensions independently is insufficient but existing methods for computing Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) have several weaknesses that prevent meaningful poverty comparison over time, thereby limiting the ability to assess policy impact. Ravallion (2011, 12), for example, has criticised the MPI on the grounds of arbitrariness in selecting indicators and their weights. Another criticism of the MPI is that it measures poverty using a single year survey and therefore lacks dynamics (Addison et al. 2009). There is thus scope for serious empirical research to understand Multi-dimensional Poverty (MDP) as the outcome of dynamic processes in which a personal history, experience, livelihood strategy and associated risks drive some people to enter into a particular dimension of poverty (e.g. health) or make it difficult to help the poor in other dimensions (e.g. asset) escape from poverty. Evidence suggests that in-work poverty in Wales has been on the rise in the past decade (Gottfried and Lawton, 2010; JRF, 2013). Drawing upon the most recently available panel data on Wales and the wider UK (BHPS and Understanding Society) and combining them with qualitative information, we propose to go beyond the existing analysis of MDP by applying state-of-the-art econometric methods which allow us to understand MDP dynamics in Wales in general and in-work poverty in particular. More specifically, our models will help us understand mechanisms by which the duration of poverty in a particular dimension in the past potentially affects subsequent transitions of each component of poverty by modelling unobservable capabilities. The proposed research will establish the scale, importance and geography of in-work poverty in Wales. We will create maps of our MDP results for Wales. Furthermore, the results of the quantitative and spatial analyses will be validated through qualitative interaction on two levels: with departments of local government and voluntary sector organisations which work to tackle poverty at the level of individuals and households; and with individuals and households themselves which are experiencing multidimensional poverty. We will work through established networks of NGOs, such as the Homelessness Forum, and the Supporting People Forum, which unite the first category of participants in the qualitative phase of the inquiry. We will use an accessible briefing describing poverty determinants and proposed frameworks to tackle their effects as an introduction, a semi-structured interview with 15 purposively sampled participants. We will use the same local organisations to identify and interview the second category of participants, again with 15 purposively sampled interviews in situations which represent the key categories elicited from secondary data analysis. This will provide a clearer and more nuanced perspective on the mechanisms determining, and consequent problems arising, from in-work poverty and the families affected by it. Interviews will be audio-recorded, transcribed and analysed in NVivo, using a phenomenological approach to obtain lived experience accounts from the perspective of practitioners and their clients. We will use mixed method procedures, giving equal precedence to the two major methodological perspectives, to provide new insights into efficient and effective approaches to tackling poverty in Wales. In a final stage these insights will be introduced, debated and consolidated into recommendations for policy development through three regional workshops with wider groups of stakeholders in North, Mid and South Wales, respectively. From this concluding round of discursive evaluations of our overall results, we will formulate our policy recommendations.

This is an application for funding to support the establishment of a research network in order to examine systematically, and for the first time, the implications of some of the major socio-cultural transformations witnessed across industrial democracies today for our understanding of how contemporary language revitalization efforts should be designed and implemented. The network will bring together an international and interdisciplinary group of academic researchers, spanning the arts, humanities and social sciences, along with a number of prominent language policy practitioners. There are two principal reasons why such a research network needs to be established. First, public policy efforts aiming to revitalize the prospects of regional or minority languages are increasingly common across Western Europe. Indeed, over the past few decades, such revitalization efforts have become more systematic and far-reaching in scope, encompassing a range of regulatory, distributive and constitutional instruments, and touching on key social domains, including the family home, the education system, the media, the economy and civil society. Second, and more important, these language revitalization efforts have been developed and implemented against a backdrop of radical social change: societies are now increasingly individualistic, diverse and mobile; their economies are increasingly interconnected; and their governance structures are increasingly complex. Many of the assumptions that have traditionally dominated both the academic and public policy literature on language revitalization relate to areas of life that are implicated in current patterns change. Yet, despite this, to date there has been no serious reflection on whether our fast-changing social context should prompt a rethink with regard to how the task of language revitalization should be approached. In response, the network will aim to provide answers to the following key questions: - To what extent do recent changes in the nature of community life and in patterns of interaction among individuals have implications for the emphasis traditionally placed by language revitalization frameworks on the role of the local, territorially defined, community in promoting stable patterns of language use? - To what extent do recent changes in the way that families organize their day-to-day lives and care for their children have implications for the emphasis traditionally placed by language revitalization frameworks on role of the family in promoting language acquisition? - To what extent do contemporary economic developments such as globalization and the advent of skills-based employment have implications for the emphasis traditionally placed by language revitalization frameworks on the need to ensure that the minority language possesses a measure of economic value? - To what extent does the current trend of 'state transformation' and the emergence of new models of governance have implications for the emphasis traditionally placed by language revitalization frameworks on the need for long-term state recognition and support for the minority language? The network will study these questions with reference to a variety of European examples of language revitalization, including Catalonia, the Basque Country, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and with a view to identify lessons that will inform the work of public officials and civil society actors at the regional, state and international levels. The centerpiece of the network's activities during the life of the grant will be held in Aberystwyth, Edinburgh, Geneva and Cardiff between March 2017 and September 2018. The workshops will culminate with an international conference held in Brussels in January 2019. This event will disseminate the main conclusions that arise from the workshops among non-academic audiences. It will be organized in collaboration with the Network to Promote Linguistic Diversity.

This project, through novel and unique analysis methods applied to coronagraph (and other) data, aims to improve the forecasting of the quiescent solar wind and potentially hazardous space weather conditions at Earth. A ballistic solar wind model will be constrained by novel empirical boundary conditions at a point where the solar wind flow has already become radial. The application of boundary conditions at R~6Rs is unique to this project and allows the meaningful study of solar wind characteristics which are currently highly uncertain, such as acceleration. Improvements in space weather forecasting depend primarily on three related categories: (1) Better observations of the Sun, corona, and solar wind; (2) Greater understanding of the physical processes operating in the corona and solar wind; (3) Improvements in data analysis and forecasting methods. The proposed work belongs to the third category and contributes to the other two.