The ultimate ambition of the proposed research programme is reduced environmental impact of aviation and power generating gas turbine engines. Serious emissions reduction can only come from better understanding and modelling of the combustion and emissions generation processes and the roles of different fuels. Several disruptive chemical and particulate species measurement methods will be developed for detailed combustion zone and exhaust characterisation. These transformational new measurement capabilities will be applied to establishing, for the first, time the spatial and temporal evolution of combustion species and unwanted emissions within the engines. Such measurements will inform new understanding of the combustion and emissions generation processes and enable new technical strategies to ultimately deliver improved engine and fuel technologies for reduced emissions.

My fellowship aims to develop expertise in the area of boiling and nuclear thermal hydraulics research via the development of novel analytical and computational techniques, the generation of new experimental data and their application to model the behaviour of boiling fluids in industrial systems. The behaviour of fluids, such as water, used in industrial processes and power generation, is to a large extent governed by the interaction of bubbles and droplets with solid surfaces. These are found in heat exchangers, boilers and condensers and are integral part of the operation of nuclear reactors, which relies on the boiling of water at solid surfaces. Altering the physical and chemical properties of industrial surfaces enables controlling heat and mass transfer in fluid processes such as boiling flows, greatly increasing their potential as coolants. Surface modification could then be used to develop bespoke surfaces to enhance heat transfer in the core and in cooling systems of nuclear reactors. Development of such a technology requires a sound physical understanding of surface effects in fluids through theoretical analysis and numerical modelling. During my fellowship I will develop fundamental modelling techniques to study the surface-dependent behaviour of fluid processes found in nuclear thermal hydraulics applications. The radically new methodologies required to enable this technological inventive step will be developed via collaboration with world leading experts and state-of-the-art facilities found within the Thermofluids, Tribology and Nuclear Engineering Groups of the Mechanical Engineering Department at Imperial College London, enriching the development of computational models of fluid processes with insight from new experiments and simulation at the molecular scale. Collaboration with project partners Rolls-Royce and Hexxcell will ensure direct industrial application of methods and capabilities generated during my fellowship (see the accompanying Project Partner Statements of Support). In-depth knowledge of the influence of surface effects on nuclear reactor thermal hydraulics is crucial to the operation of the current fleet of water-cooled reactors and is required for the design and safety certification of new' Generation III+' plants planned to be constructed in the UK, as well as for the assessment of future reactor concepts. Some of these, such as the Advanced Modular Reactor, are at the core of scoping studies by the government. The knowledge and capabilities generated by this fellowship will provide the civil service, such as the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC), now part of the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), with a solid scientific foundation for the UK civil nuclear energy policy. Outside of the nuclear sector, stakeholders will benefit from industrial exploitation of the new, more capable modelling techniques proposed in the course of my fellowship. The work will have wide application to the design of industrial processes that use, for example, boilers, condensers, heat pipes and cooling systems. These are increasingly relying on the use of Computational Fluid Dynamics simulation (CFD) for their design. Developers of CFD software will benefit from the newly developed physical modelling capabilities delivered by my fellowship and will be able to implement the new simulation approaches into their commercial software packages.

The study of neutron interactions with matter underpins our understanding of everything from the resilience of materials in a nuclear reactor, the production of radionuclides which are produced inside a reactor with potential for medical applications, all the way to understanding the radiobiology of neutron interactions with cells and the potential for both the formation and treatment of cancer. Unlike understanding the interaction of protons, where high fluxes of protons, or even ions, is possible, creating intense beams of neutrons is extremely challenging. As such the properties of matter irradiated by neutrons is an area which still requires advances in research. This is particularly the case for the understanding of nuclear reactors. Present generation reactors have lifetime limits which are often restricted by the materials performance of either the moderator (for example in the AGR power stations this is graphite), reactor pressure vessel (e.g. in PWR designs) or even the reliability of the systems, both electronic and mechanical, that are used in the control and operation of the reactor. Measurements of the degradation of the properties allow a prediction of their lifetime to failure and hence enhances safety and assurance. However, this is rather an empirical approach and a more sophisticated method would be to develop a detailed understanding of the damage mechanisms and how these then link to the macroscopic materials failure characteristics, such as embrittlement or radiation assisted corrosion. To develop this understanding it is necessary to irradiate materials and then understand how their properties are being transformed on the microscopic scale. This may then be used to motivate the development of accurate models of the processes which may be used to predict materials failure. The limited availability of neutron irradiation facilities has resulted in the use of proton irradiation to attempt to simulate the almost identical neutron. However, the neutron is different in a very important way - it is uncharged. As a proton passes through a material, as well as colliding with the atomic nuclei, its charge perturbs the electrons. Thus, the type of damage is very different. To move the field forward a well-developed neutron irradiation programme is required. This can be performed in materials test reactors, but these are expensive, have limited access and thus constrain the volume of research that can be performed. The creation of new reactor test facilities is expensive and challenging due to the challenges and expense in their operation. An exciting alternative is to use an accelerator based approach which accelerates protons and, through a nuclear reaction, converts them to neutrons and thus, a flux of neutrons can be created. To do this requires a high current proton accelerator. It is only recently that credible accelerators with the required properties have been developed and exploited. The present proposal is to use this approach to create an accelerator based neutron irradiation facility at the University of Birmingham. This will be capable of creating neutron fluxes which are close to that inside a nuclear reactor which may be used for materials irradiation. The flexibility of the facility will allow testing of the degradation of materials during the irradiation, i.e. in situ, to better characterise the changes to the material. The intention is to establish a national facility which allows users to develop a scientific programme which links to the higher flux materials test reactors. It will draw in existing facilities such as the MC40 cyclotron at the University of Birmingham, and the precision energy neutron facility at the National Physical Laboratory. This breadth of capability will provide the UK community with a suite of nuclear facilities capable of supporting the development of the nuclear sector.

Metamaterials are artificial materials with characteristics beyond those found in nature that unlock routes to material and device functionalities not available using conventional approaches. Their electromagnetic, acoustic or mechanical behaviour is not simply dictated by averaging out the properties of their constituent elements, but emerge from the precise control of geometry, arrangement, alignment, material composition, shape, size and density of their constituent elements. In terms of applications, metamaterials have phenomenal potential, in important areas, from energy to ICT, defence & security, aerospace, and healthcare. Numerous market research studies predict very significant growth over the next decade, for example, by 2030 the metamaterial device market is expected to reach a value of over $10bn (Lux Research 2019). The 'Metamaterials' topic is inherently interdisciplinary, spanning advanced materials (plasmonics, active materials, RF, high index contrast, 2D materials, phase change materials, transparent conductive oxides, soft materials), theoretical physics, quantum physics, chemistry, biology, engineering (mechanical and electrical), acoustics, computer sciences (e.g. artificial intelligence, high performance computing), and robotics. Historically, the UK has been a global leader in the field, with its roots in the work of radar engineers in the 2nd World War, and being reinvigorated by the research of some of our most eminent academics, including Professor Sir John Pendry. However today, it risks falling behind the curve. As a specific example, the Chinese government has funded the development of the world's first large-scale metamaterial fabrication facility, which has capacity to produce 100,000 m2 of metamaterial plates annually, with projects relating to aerospace, communication, satellite and military applications. The breadth of metamaterial research challenges is huge, from theory, fabrication, experiment, and requiring expertise in large-scale manufacturing and field testing for successful exploitation. We believe that the isolation of research groups and lack of platforms to exchange and develop ideas currently inhibits the UK's access to the interdisciplinary potential existing within our universities, industries, and governmental agencies. It is of the utmost importance to develop interactions and mobility between these communities, to enable knowledge transfer, innovation, and a greater understanding of the barriers and opportunities. The intervention that this Network will provide will ensure that the UK does not lag our international competitors. Via the Network's Special Interest Groups, Forums, National Symposia and other community-strengthening strategies, the enhanced collaboration will help resolve key interdisciplinary challenges and foster the required talent pipeline across academia and industry. As a result we will see an increase in research power for the metamaterials theme, and therefore reaping the impact opportunities of this area for UK economy and society. The Network's extensive promotion of the benefits of metamaterials technology (e.g., case studies, white papers etc), facilitation of access to metamaterial experts and facilities (through the online database) and closer interactions with end-users at appropriate events (e.g. industry-academia workshops) will help grow external investment in metamaterials research. Ultimately the Network will provide the stimulation of a discovery-innovation-enterprise cycle to meet desired outcomes for prosperity and consequentially, society, defence, and security.

The fundamental goal of this proposal is to Re-Imagine Design Engineering so that new ideas and concepts are generated rapidly, and where both the product and its associated manufacturing system (including its supply chain and people) are designed concurrently and fully tailored to each other. By doing this the >70% of lifecycle and supply chain costs that are "locked in" at the concept design stage can be understood, minimised and verified. This programme will target the transformation of Design Engineering via Interoperable Cyber-Physical-Social (CPS) Services in which: (i) engineering competences and multiscale physics are integrated by innovative digital capabilities, (ii) advanced analytics support capture of knowledge, enhance resilience and predict compliance by interoperable 'smart testing' and fully simulated lifecycle analyses to validate model-centric designs, (iii) novel business/supply chain models provide a transparent value stream from digital design through to manufacturing and pathways to ensure the UK develops the next generation of digital engineering talent. Our vision of the future where manufacturing systems are self-organising, self-aware and distributed, brings a radically different manufacturing industry than exists today. This leads naturally to identifying four major research challenges to this programme: 1. Interoperability - CPS Design Theory: How can we generate ideas and concepts rapidly such that artefacts are designed concurrently with manufacturing systems to create resilient extended enterprises with open communication throughout the whole system? 2. The Cyber World - CPS Modelling Design & Manufacture: How can we represent concepts virtually such that key design characteristics driving intended behaviour are understood, coded and realised via robust, intelligently manufactured product variants? 3. The Physical World - CPS Concept to Reality: What verification and validation concepts are needed to find the shortest and most beneficial pathway to physical realisation aided by a cyber-physical-socio manufacturing ecosystem? 4. The Socio World - CPS The Extended Manufacturing Enterprise: How can we translate and exploit concepts in new organisational structures within a cyber-physical-socio ecosystem to accelerate evolution of design solutions across extended enterprises? The four technical challenges are integrated and pose interdependent challenges. They form the four threads which are to be woven together in this programme. A range of approaches for modelling, evaluation and prediction are needed for the whole programme, and dealing with such diverse system entities from simulation models to individual human and business organisations necessitates a diversity of technical approaches. The concept of 'cyber-genes' and 'cyber-seeds' that can be used in an evolutionary approach form the core thread to provide a new CPS design theory but requires significant interlinkage with the other aspects. For example, CAD models in the cyber world are sufficient for some products, but in general systems are multi-functional and multi-disciplinary and will require a range of modelling methods to provide the necessary design evaluation data, such as with whole life costing. Similarly, although possible to communicate with manufacturing (e.g. CNC machines), feedback of intelligent data directly into a live design is not yet done, and new methods are needed in both design systems and the organisation to allow this capability. Overlaying evolutionary algorithms to these will necessarily require all elements to be adapted and changed, as both the system and underlying methods evolve. Therefore, these nature analogous processes and a range of alternative approaches (e.g. fractals, agent-based systems, response surface methodologies etc.) will be explored.