We propose a new phase of the successful Mathematics for Real-World Systems (MathSys) Centre for Doctoral Training that will address the call priority area "Mathematical and Computational Modelling". Advanced quantitative skills and applied mathematical modelling are critical to address the contemporary challenges arising from biomedicine and health sectors, modern industry and the digital economy. The UK Commission for Employment and Skills as well as Tech City UK have identified that a skills shortage in this domain is one of the key challenges facing the UK technology sector: there is a severe lack of trained researchers with the technical skills and, importantly, the ability to translate these skills into effective solutions in collaboration with end-users. Our proposal addresses this need with a cross-disciplinary, cohort-based training programme that will equip the next generation of researchers with cutting-edge methodological toolkits and the experience of external end-user engagement to address a broad variety of real-world problems in fields ranging from mathematical biology to the high-tech sector. Our MSc training (and continued PhD development) will deliver a core of mathematical techniques relevant to all applied modelling, but will also focus on two cross-cutting methodological themes which we consider key to complex multi-scale systems prediction: modelling across spatial and temporal scales; and hybrid modelling integrating complex data and mechanistic models. These themes pervade many areas of active research and will shape mathematical and computational modelling for the coming decades. A core element of the CDT will be productive and impactful engagement with end-users throughout the teaching and research phases. This has been a distinguishing feature of the MathSys CDT and is further expanded in our new proposal. MSc Research Study Groups provide an ideal opportunity for MSc students to experience working in a collaborative environment and for our end-users to become actively involved. All PhD projects are expected to be co-supervised by an external partner, bringing knowledge, data and experience to the modelling of real-world problems; students will normally be expected to spend 2-4 weeks (or longer) with these end-users to better understand the case-specific challenges and motivate their research. The potential renewal of the MathSys CDT has provided us with the opportunity to expand our portfolio of external partners focusing on research challenges in four application areas: Quantitative biomedical research, (A2) Mathematical epidemiology, (A3) Socio-technical systems and (A4) Advanced modelling and optimization of industrial processes. We will retain the one-year MSc followed by three-year PhD format that has been successfully refined through staff experience and student feedback over more than a decade of previous Warwick doctoral training centres. However, both the training and research components of the programme will be thoroughly updated to reflect the evolving technical landscape of applied research and the changing priorities of end-users. At the same time, we have retained the flexibility that allows co-creation of activities with our end-users and allows us to respond to changes in the national and international research environments on an ongoing yearly basis. Students will share a dedicated space, with a lecture theatre and common area based in one of the UK's leading mathematical departments. The space is physically connected to the new Mathematical Sciences building, at the interface of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science, and provides a unique location for our interdisciplinary activities.

The response to Covid 19 (C19) will have far reaching consequences for the NHS. This project focuses on how this response has created significant ethical issues for providers of non-C19 services when deciding how to prioritise and reconfigure services. Our central aim is to evaluate and support ethical decision-making in two non-C19 areas: maternity and paediatrics. We have chosen these areas because they have been significantly affected by the C19 response, with professional and patient organisations highlighting the problematic effects on both areas (First 1001 Days, Royal College of Midwives, Make Births Better). Objectives 1. Conduct a rapid review of current local policies and policy-making processes for non-C19 maternity and paediatric services. 2. Examine how the policies are applied in clinical practice and pilot test approaches to ethics support. 3. Make recommendations for ethics support at local policy-making and practitioner levels; and develop tools to support good decision-making practice. This inter-disciplinary project is an empirically informed ethical analysis of current policies, processes and practice in non-C19 maternity and paediatrics. Design: empirical ethics, employing Frith's symbiotic empirical ethics approach, where philosophical theory is used to explore the data, draw normative conclusions, and make policy and practice recommendations. Methods: rapid review of local policies and decision-making processes; analysis (against the national ethics framework for pandemics) of the values being engaged; interviews with key stakeholders involved in policy formation, and healthcare practitioners to understand how the policies are being applied in clinical practice and what support they might need in their ethical decision-making.

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.