Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
EPSRC
14
the second decade
2004-14
20th anniversary special
part two
CONTENTS
EPSRC: the second
decade 2004-2014
10
4-13 2004: Wonder material graphene is
first isolated; new adventures in ultrasound
begin; maths giant wins major award;
metamaterials pioneer is knighted
14-22 2005: Green chemistry steps up
a gear; new facial recognition software
becomes a Crimewatch favourite;
researchers begin mapping the underworld
24-27 2006: The Silent Aircraft Initiative
heralds a greener era in air travel; bacteria
munch metal, get recycled, emit hydrogen
28-35 2007: A pioneering approach to
prepare against earthquakes and tsunamis;
beetles inspire high technologies; spin out
company sells for US$500 million
36-41 2008: Four scientists tackle
synthetic cells; the 1,000 mph supercar;
strategic healthcare partnerships;
supercomputer facility is launched
24
41
42-49 2009: Massive investments in
doctoral training; the 175 mph racing car
you can eat; rescuing heritage buildings;
the battery-free soldier
50-55 2010: Unlocking the mysteries
of antimatter; spin out sells for US$330
million; harnessing the power of pee
56-61 2011: Spin out company sells for
£7.1 billion; Professor Colin Humphreys
on the GaN LED revolution; the world’s first
synthetic organ transplant
62-69 2012: Meet the MASER – no
longer the laser’s less attractive cousin; the
laundry additive that purifies the air as we
walk; £60 million to encourage innovation
44
70-73 2013: Massive investments in
manufacturing, engineering and energy;
drones to monitor radiation levels
74-79 2014: Slide rules: how two doctoral
students helped Lizzy Yarnold slide to
victory; 20 years of the Southampton
Optoelectronics Centre
80-83 Digging thinking: 10th
anniversary of EPSRC’s pioneering Sandpit
workshops
84-89 EPSRC Science Photo
Competition 2013-14: Gallery of
winning images
77
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64
90 V-signs: At last, the mystery of why
birds fly in V-formation is resolved
91 EPSRC: At a glance
2
Creative partnerships
Chief Executive Professor Philip Nelson reflects on EPSRC’s
second decade, and reveals an era defined by collaborative research
and creative thinking.
Looking back
over 20 years
since EPSRC’s
formation in 1994,
some interesting
patterns emerge.
The first decade
is characterised
by extraordinary
research breakthroughs across the EPSRC
portfolio, from pioneering biomedical
engineering and advanced materials, to
charting new territory in computer science
and developing a host of renewable
energy technologies.
The second decade harnesses the energy
and matches the research excellence of
the first 10 years, and complements it
with a refined sense of purpose – built
on maximising the value of EPSRC
investments, and accelerating the impact
of the research it supports.
We see dedicated centres of excellence
for the training of doctoral students;
the evolution of specialised centres for
manufacturing and innovation; longer, larger,
multi-partner research grants – all focused
on pooling resources and providing the tools
and skills society and industry need for all
our tomorrows.
This collaborative approach is echoed in
EPSRC’s development of partnerships with
universities, business, charities, funding
agencies and government organisations.
Across our portfolio we work with around
2,800 partner organisations, and, at the last
count, 45 per cent of EPSRC-supported
research projects were collaborative with
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research partners. This is demonstrated by
the fact that over 20 years, and particularly
the last decade, our research partners have
contributed over £1.7 billion in funding.
We also have dedicated staff with a
comprehensive understanding of R&D
issues and opportunities. People who know
how to join the dots between universitybased researchers, business and other
organisations, both to enhance and deepen
the body of research itself, but also to
apply the fruits of research for societal and
economic benefit.
By getting involved in the development
of research proposals, and through
engagement in research projects and
postgraduate training, our partners,
particularly from industry, are forging crucial
links with excellent, original academic
research and helping accelerate its
translation for national and global good. It’s
not just about the bottom line.
Take the smartphone, now ubiquitous
across the globe. It’s fair to say that this
modern marvel would not exist as we know
it had it not been for the EPSRC-supported
researchers who helped to develop much of
the technology that makes it such a critical
part of everyday life.
Today, a new generation of EPSRCsupported researchers are pioneering
ways for smartphones to be used for social
good – from personal health monitoring to
tracking disease outbreaks. EPSRC is at the
centre of this cycle of innovation.
Much of this, of course, is a consequence of
globalisation, and the fact that so much of
our daily lives is interconnected, but it’s also
a recognition that a meeting of hearts and
minds really can be greater than the sum
of its parts.
No better example of this can be found
than EPSRC’s Sandpit programme (see
pages 80-83), which celebrates its tenth
anniversary this year.
Built around five-day workshops dedicated
to blue-sky thinking, Sandpits often stretch
beyond the outer reaches of science, and
have led to remarkable research projects
tackling current and future challenges –
such as clean water for all, combatting
terrorism and cyber crime, and developing
new forms of sustainable energy. Such has
been its success, the Sandpit model has
been adopted by other organisations both in
the UK and internationally.
My tenure as Chief Executive of EPSRC
began in 2014, in the final year of its second
decade. Before that, I sat on the other side
of the fence, as a scientist and engineer at
the University of Southampton. But these
boundaries are not as they were.
There is greater collaboration not just
between academia and business, but also
between researchers, universities, research
councils and other funders of research –
and, I believe, a greater willingness from all
parties to join in the process of discovery
and innovation. Creative research from
which we all benefit.
This edition of Pioneer features snapshots
and highlights from the last 10 years, and
is by no means definitive. It does, however,
reflect a period of extraordinary achievement
which would not have been possible without
collective cooperation and commitment.
3
2004
Size zero
In 2004, EPSRC-funded research by
Professor Andre Geim and Dr Konstantin
Novoselov, from The University of
Manchester, led to the isolation of
graphene, a material with many potentially
world-changing applications.
Just six years later, Andre Geim (pictured
below) and Konstantin Novoselov were
awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics
for their graphene research. EPSRC
has supported their research through
continuous funding since 2001.
On the same day they received the award,
both men were back in their lab, continuing
to unveil new and exciting properties
of graphene and other related twodimensional crystal materials.
If you’ve ever drawn with a pencil, you’ve
probably made graphene, which consists
of a sheet of carbon atoms connected in a
honeycomb-like structure.
At just one atom thick, no material is
thinner than graphene. It’s also harder than
diamond and 200 times tougher than steel
– yet can be stretched by a quarter
of its length.
Graphene also has extraordinary properties
as an electrical and thermal conductor,
and almost complete optical transparency,
making it potentially suitable for a host of
commercial applications – from lightweight
materials for aircraft, cars and clothing,
to flexible, super-tough touchscreens for
mobile phones and tablets (already under
development); and from water purification
to next-generation low energy computers.
Geim recalls the momentous days back in
2004 when he and his team, including Dr
Novoselov, then a postdoctoral researcher,
successfully extracted individual sheets
of carbon atoms from bulk graphite – the
material pencils are made from.
True to the two scientists’ reputation for
innovative thinking, they used sticky tape to
strip the graphite down to the atomic level.
Although scientists knew graphene existed
(it was first studied in 1947, and named
in 1987), no one had worked out how to
extract it from graphite.
(Continued on page 6)
Double act: Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov.
Their isolation of graphene and subsequent graphenerelated research led to the Nobel Prize in Physics in
2010 and Knighthoods in 2011.
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April 2: St Mary Axe, otherwise known as the Gherkin, is officially opened in the City of London
4
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February 4: Facebook is launched
5
2004
(Continued from page 4)
The breakthrough came during one of
Geim and Novoselov’s now legendary
Friday evening sessions, when they head
into the lab to try out experimental science
not necessarily linked to their day jobs.
This playful approach is fundamental to
how both men work, and is seen as both a
useful way of maintaining interest in a field
and a means of generating new ideas.
Following discussions with colleagues,
Geim and Novoselov adopted a method that
researchers in surface science were using
– using simple scotch tape to peel away
layers of graphite to expose a clean surface
for study under the microscope.
Once used, the tape was simply being
thrown away. Yet no one had noticed the
material on the tape was thinner than the
material produced by polishing.
They had made graphene, yet had not
realised it.
Konstantin Novoselov continued to explore
how thin the graphite flakes on the tape
could be made. He peeled the layers so
thinly that what was left was one-atom
thick graphene.
The pair then began testing the material
under the microscope, beginning to take
in the vast potential of its properties. They
produced the first isolated graphene flakes
in 2003 and published their findings in the
journal Science in 2004.
Professor Geim says: “Our objective was
simply to see how thin materials could be.
At the time, it was presumed materials one
atom thick couldn’t exist. But our discovery
of graphene proved this supposition
wasn’t correct.”
News of graphene’s discovery sparked a
global explosion in graphene research,
which shows no sign of abating. The global
market for graphene-based applications
could potentially grow to tens of billions of
pounds over the long term, in areas such
as electronics, high-performance materials
and life sciences.
In 2009, the website ScienceWatch.com
revealed Dr Novoselov’s work on graphene
as the most cited of the decade, with
33 academic papers quoted 2,895 times.
Geim and Novoselov, who received
knighthoods in 2011, continue to push the
boundaries of graphene, and its diverse
potential applications.
In November 2014, they revealed in
the journal Nature that monolayers of
graphene, and its sister material boron
nitride, could potentially revolutionise
modern fuel cell technology. They also
revealed that graphene membranes could
be used to sieve hydrogen gas out of the
atmosphere, where it is present in minute
quantities, creating the possibility of
electric generators powered by air.
In 2014, Geim and Novoselov’s original
Manchester graphene paper, which laid
out the foundations of graphene research,
was named among the top 100 cited
publications of all time.
All this from two scientists “whose
playfulness is one of their trademarks”,
according to the Nobel committee.
Professor Novoselov says: “During our
Friday evening experiments I just do all
kinds of crazy things that probably won’t
pan out, but if they do…”
At the time, it was presumed materials
one atom thick couldn’t exist.
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Graphene facts
•
Graphene is over 200 times
tougher than steel
•
Graphene is a far better conductor
than silicon
•
Electrons pass through graphene
at over 100 million metres per
second, behaving as if they have
no mass
•
Graphene is the thinnest material
on earth – one million times
thinner than a human hair
•
Graphene is the world’s first 2D
material, opening the doors to
new, experimental fields
•
As well as being virtually
transparent, graphene is
also flexible
Potential applications
for graphene
•
Next generation, low-energy
computers
•
Graphene paints, to protect metal
structures against corrosion
•
Super-fast internet speeds
•
As lightweight materials for aircraft,
cars and clothing
•
Flexible touchscreens (already
under development)
•
High-frequency electronic devices
•
Large scale electricity storage
•
Lightweight durable batteries
•
Development of other 2D materials
with the potential to create
previously-unimagined
electronic devices
•
Water filters for desalination
and purification
•
Nanoscale graphene-based drug
packages delivered to specific cells
in the body
•
Packaging to keep food fresh
for longer
•
Sensors to detect minute traces of
gases or dangerous chemicals
March 29: The Republic of Ireland becomes the first country in the world to ban smoking in all work places, including bars and restaurants
6
Going large – EPSRC’s contributions to UK graphene R&D
EPSRC has invested widely in graphene
research and development since 2004.
In 2012, EPSRC advised the UK Government
on its £50 million investment in the creation
of a global research and technology hub.
Building on the UK’s research strengths
in many universities and business, the
hub concept was developed by EPSRC, the
Technology Strategy Board and academic
and business stakeholders. It has also been
supplemented by additional investments
from EPSRC and Innovate UK (formerly the
Technology Strategy Board).
Key government investments in graphene:
•
•
£38 million in the National Graphene
Institute (NGI) at The University of
Manchester to develop new production
methods and techniques for largescale manufacture, application and
commercialisation of graphene
£12 million for graphene research
equipment in other leading research
groups across the UK
•
£14 million for EPSRC-supported
research into manufacturing processes
and technologies linked to graphene
•
Over £10 million of EPSRC support
towards fundamental science in
graphene and carbon nanotechnology
•
£2.5 million jointly from EPSRC
and Innovate UK to accelerate the
commercial application of emerging
graphene and related carbon-based
nanotechnologies
•
£15 million from the Higher Education
Funding Council for England (HEFCE)
alongside £5 million support
from Innovate UK to
establish the Graphene
Engineering
Innovation Centre
in Manchester
•
£14 million of
Innovate UK
funding for
the Graphene
Applications
Innovation
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
Centre, based at the Centre for Process
Innovation, part of the High Value
Manufacturing Catapult, in Sedgefield
There are now over 35 active university
groups in the UK, which have attracted over
£90 million in graphene-related EPSRC
research grants and capital investment, as
well as significant investment from Europe
and industry.
Alongside The University of Manchester,
there are EPSRC-supported centres of
excellence and/or graphene programmes
at the universities of Cambridge; Lancaster;
Imperial College London; Oxford; Bath;
Birmingham; Nottingham; Exeter; Surrey;
and Durham.
2014 saw the launch of two EPSRC
Centres for Doctoral Training, based at the
universities of Cambridge and Manchester,
focusing on developing world-leading
expertise in the science and technology
of graphene.
Graphene engineering
Since 2012, EPSRC has invested £26 million
in graphene engineering, which includes
£12 million from the Department of Business
Innovation and Skills.
led by Professor Andrea Ferrari. The centre
has attracted £13 million in additional
support from over 20 partners, including
Nokia, Dyson, Plastic Logic, Philips and
BAE Systems.
The centre works alongside the Centre for
Advanced Photonics and Electronics and the
new EPSRC Graphene NOWNANO Centre for
Doctoral Training in Graphene Technology at
The University of Manchester.
In 2013, the Cambridge Graphene Centre
signed a research collaboration agreement
with leading flexible plastic electronics
manufacturer Plastic Logic. A major element
of this agreement is to develop graphene as
a transparent, conductive layer for plastic
backplanes for unbreakable LCD and flexible
OLED displays.
EPSRC has invested £1.6 million in graphene
engineering at Durham University and the
University of Sheffield. Industrial partners
include Dyson Appliances Ltd, P&G UK
and Applied Graphene Materials (AGM)
– a world leader in graphene production
and applications, founded by EPSRC
grant-holder Professor Karl Coleman at
Durham University.
The University of Cambridge has combined
three of its Graphene Engineering EPSRC
grant awards, totalling £12 million, to
establish the Cambridge Graphene Centre,
September 1: Chechen terrorists take between 1,000 and 1,500 people hostage, mostly children, in a school in the Beslan school hostage crisis
7
2004
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
June 8: Transit of Venus between Earth and the Sun occurs
8
No limit
In 2004, John Pendry,
Professor of Theoretical
Solid State Physics at
Imperial College London,
was knighted for his
revolutionary work
on metamaterials.
With EPSRC’s support, Sir John has
established an entirely new field of science.
By developing and using certain materials
that don’t occur in nature, he has shown
that light can interact with structures that
are smaller than its wavelength, making
it possible to see even at the nano scale,
and then harness the benefits that this
insight brings.
The impetus for Sir John’s research came
from work he was doing with the company
Marconi, attempting to understand why
certain materials absorbed radar. But the
new area of research that this led to has
a huge range of potential applications in
many different fields.
Professor Pendry’s research built on
EPSRC-supported work throughout the
1990s, including a 1997 Senior Research
Fellowship to further his work on ‘a
new class of man-made materials with
extraordinary optical properties’. He said
later: “Having great ideas doesn’t involve
excessive time. What does take time is
working them through. That’s what EPSRC
funding allowed me to do. It put a rocket
under the metamaterials work.”
In 2000, Sir John published a number of
papers developing ideas put forward in
1968 by the little-known physicist Victor
Veselago. The papers set out the theoretical
basis for creating ‘perfect lenses’, which
could be used to see things smaller than
the wavelength of light.
Pendry’s perfect lens utilises what is known
as negative refraction, and sidesteps old
optical limits by bending rays of light the
‘wrong way’. In other words, the so-called
‘resolution limits’ that were thought to
restrict the range of things that we can
examine through optical imaging need
not apply.
In 2002, a second EPSRC Senior Research
Fellowship enabled Sir John to leave his
post as Principal of Imperial’s Faculty of
Physical Sciences to pitch himself into fulltime research.
In 2006, metamaterials hit the headlines
when Sir John published ideas for a
Harry Potter-style ‘invisibility cloak’.
Metamaterials could be used, he said, to
send light around an object, making it look
like it wasn’t there. Journalists have fixated
on the story ever since.
In 2014, metamaterials are finding
application across the electromagnetic
and acoustic domains and are seen as an
enabling technology of the future. Negative
refraction could allow limitless computer
data storage, and revolutionise biological
imaging, nanofabrication and light
harvesting. In theory, it could also lead to
perfectly efficient solar panels.
Research into this emerging field has
grown very rapidly. To date, EPSRC
has invested over £130 million in over
90 projects related to metamaterials and
photonic materials research.
At the University of Southampton, Professor
Nikolay Zheludev has a major EPSRC grant
to develop artificial electromagnetic media
with myriad potential applications in areas
such as telecommunications, energy, data
storage and defence.
Research into nanoscale-structured
metamaterials by Professor Jeremy
Baumberg, from the University of
Cambridge, has revealed a host of novel
and highly exploitable optical properties,
for which he received the Royal Society
Mullard Prize.
Research at the University of Exeter, which
hosts the new EPSRC-funded Centre for
Doctoral Training in Metamaterials, has
led to breakthroughs in the design of thin
radar absorbers and improved RF-ID tag
detection; the team are also developing
acoustic metamaterials to improve
underwater imaging.
In 2014, Sir John Pendry was awarded
the Kavli Prize, considered the Nobel
Prize in nanoscience, with Thomas
Ebbesen and Stefan Hell, in recognition
of his ‘transformative contributions’ to
nano-optics.
Sir John says: “Things have come full
circle: my work on metamaterials began
with attempts with Marconi to solve a
practical problem. It then went theoretical,
as we tried to explore the profound
academic implications of what we were
finding. And now here we are again, with all
kinds of practical applications coming from
our research.”
Left: This striking abstract ‘sculpture’ is part of a nanoscale metamaterial with negative index due to chirality, from the
EPSRC-supported Optoelectronics Centre at the University of Southampton.
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
November2: In the US presidential election, incumbent President George W. Bush is declared the winner over his challenger, Senator John F. Kerry
9
2004
New adventures in
ultrasound
In 2004, Dr Sandy
Cochran (top left), from
Paisley University, was
awarded an EPSRC
Advanced Research
Fellowship to explore
new types of ultrasound
source that might one
day echo across our
oceans or resonate in
our bodies.
A series of EPSRC grants
followed, including a
£5 million Platform Grant to develop
‘SonoPill’ technology.
The SonoPill is a capsule that patients
can easily swallow to carry tiny ultrasound
technology into the body. The gut is a
wonderful viewing window and as the
capsule passes through it, it will relay
images which clinicians can use to
diagnose disease.
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
Now at the University of Dundee, Professor
Cochran says: “So-called capsule
endoscopes have already benefited well
over a million patients and are in common
use in the UK and around the world. We
aim to develop that technology further to
include ultrasound, for the first time seeing
beyond the surface of the gastrointestinal
tract into the tissue itself.
“This will bring significant diagnostic
benefits for patients. We also want to
explore the very exciting possibilities of
treatment with such pills.”
The SonoPill programme includes very
valuable collaborators at Heriot-Watt
University and the University of Glasgow,
and is linked with the NHS and many local
and international industry partners.
In its use of tiny, high performance
ultrasound arrays and its exploration
of therapeutic ultrasound, the SonoPill
research forms a natural extension to the
UK-wide EPSRC-supported ‘Sonotweezers’
programme, involving the universities of
Bristol, Dundee, Glasgow and Southampton
as well as other industry partners.
Following EPSRC funding, the
Sonotweezers programme is developing
new tools for the life sciences and high
value manufacturing using ultrasound
to manipulate microparticles by
electronic alteration of the patterns
of ultrasonic excitation.
The team have already demonstrated
that a ‘sonic lasso’ can be used to grip
July 17: Former South African President Nelson Mandela calls for commitment by the world to take action against Aids
10
microscopic objects, such as cells,
and move them about; this has myriad
possible applications, from assembly
of nanocomposites to cell sorting and
analysis, and engineering of human tissue
from collection of cells.
In 2014, the Southampton Sonotweezers
team helped to develop technology that
could lead to life-changing medical
advances, such as better cartilage
implants that reduce the need for
knee replacement operations.
Using ultrasonic sound fields, the team
showed that cartilage cells taken from a
patient’s knee can be levitated for weeks
in a nutrient-rich fluid, providing a zerogravity environment perfect for optimising
cell growth.
The tweezers can also mould the growing
tissue into exactly the right shape so that
the implant is truly fit-for-purpose when
inserted into the patient’s knee.
Meanwhile, at the University of Glasgow…
In 2004, a team of EPSRC-supported
researchers led by Professor Margaret
Lucas (pictured below left) began
development of an integrated robotic
orthopaedic surgery system incorporating
an ultrasonic cutting blade that could
consign the surgical saw to a museum.
Using conventional powered saws on bone
causes many problems for patients and
surgeons. For example, the action of the
saw produces swarf – small pieces of bone
– that can reduce visibility at the cut site,
create a risk of contamination, and damage
delicate soft tissue structures around the
cut. Also, heating from the sawing action
causes cell death, which is known to
prolong post-surgery healing.
The team’s research led to the development
of ultrasonic cutting tools precise enough
to remove sections from the shell of an
egg without breaking the membrane
underneath. Further EPSRC-funded
projects allowed the group at the University
of Glasgow to develop miniature ultrasonic
orthopaedic devices incorporating novel
transducers and smart materials.
In 2013, Professor Lucas, Professor
Cochran and colleagues at the University
of Edinburgh were awarded a threeyear EPSRC research grant to develop a
needle which is actuated by vibration at
ultrasonic frequencies.
Amongst its many potential benefits,
this will allow doctors to penetrate bone
with needles with much less force than
in contemporary procedures and with
much higher precision, improving the
effectiveness of bone biopsies and allowing
more direct delivery of drugs to parts of the
body obscured by bone.
In 2014, Professor Lucas and Dr Patrick
Harkness were awarded €2.4 million
by the EU Commission to develop an
ultrasonic drill to explore the surface of
Mars. The research builds on much of the
basic knowledge gained from designing
bone cutting devices and also builds
on an earlier EPSRC-funded research
programme led by Dr Harkness, who says:
“Unlike normal rotary drills, our ultrasonic
drill tool doesn’t produce much heat –
meaning that biological material and life
markers will not be damaged.
“Because the drill only requires a very
small downward force, it is ideal for use in
low gravity environments such as Mars or
on asteroids.”
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
August 22: Armed robbers steal Edvard Munch’s The Scream, Madonna, and other paintings from the Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway
11
2004
Knitting it
In 2004, the crocheted artwork above,
developed by two EPSRC-funded University
of Bristol mathematicians, aroused
international media interest.
Sound as a mound
In 2004, an EPSRC-supported
Loughborough University research
team took part in an innovative project
to investigate whether African termite
mounds could inspire new types of
self-sufficient, environmentally friendly
buildings which are also cheap to run.
The project included research in Namibia
to digitally scan the structure of the
termite mounds, which the team turned
into a precise 3D reconstruction of
Big ideas
the mound in a level of detail never
achieved before.
The team discovered that termite
mounds provide a self-regulating living
environment that responds to changing
internal and external conditions. The
human equivalent of these ‘smart’ mounds
would be buildings that meet all energy,
waste management, heating, ventilation
and other needs on site.
The research was filmed by the BBC for
inclusion in a Sir David Attenborough
natural history series screened in 2006.
In 2004, EPSRC held its first ‘Sandpit’ event
(see pages 80-83), setting the template
for similar blue-sky thinking initiatives
subsequently adopted by funding agencies
around the world.
One of the inaugural Sandpits, Mapping
the Underworld (see pages 16-17), brought
together academia and industry to look at
innovative ways to best detect and manage
the UK’s buried infrastructure such as water
pipes, sewers and telephone lines.
Research proposals arising from the
Mapping the Underworld Sandpit spawned
a major research project, now in its third
phase of EPSRC funding.
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
The crochet was a striking object created
by Dr Hinke Osinga and Professor Bernd
Krauskopf to describe the nature of chaotic
systems – such as the weather or a turbulent
river – defined by what are known as
Lorenz Equations.
After months of staring at computer
animations of these surfaces they realised
their computations had naturally generated
crochet instructions. Dr Osinga, who
learnt to crochet at age seven, took up the
challenge, and 25,511 stitches and 85 hours
later the Lorenz Manifold, the name they
called their creation, was born.
Dr Osinga says: “The computer-generated
crochet instructions were remarkable.
Simply by looking at the real-life surface
I would never have designed it the way
the computer did. After all those months
of trying to create it on screen, it was
fascinating to see the surface grow under my
own hands.”
But this wasn’t done just for fun. Osinga and
Krauskopf’s work gave much-needed insight
into how chaos arises and is organised in
systems as diverse as chemical reactions,
biological networks and even your kitchen
mixer. The Lorenz Manifold is a very helpful
tool for understanding and explaining the
dynamics of the Lorenz system.
July 9: SanDisk releases the first SD (Secure Digital) card with a capacity of 1 gigabyte, costing about $500
12
Maths maestro
In 2004, the Norwegian
Academy of Science and
Letters awarded the Abel
Prize, equivalent to a Nobel
Prize for Mathematics,
jointly to Sir Michael Atiyah
FRS, from the University of
Edinburgh, and Isadore
M. Singer, from Massachusetts Institute
of Technology.
Atiyah (pictured) and Singer received
the prize for the Atiyah-Singer index
theorem – one of the great landmarks of
twentieth century mathematics, influencing
profoundly many of the most important
later developments in topology, differential
geometry and quantum field theory.
Professor Atiyah’s Abel Prize Medal citation
recognised his ‘outstanding contribution
to the advancement of mathematics, as
exemplified by his visionary role in the
establishment of the Isaac Newton Institute
in Cambridge. The institute, which is part
funded by EPSRC, is now an internationally
recognised centre of mathematics research
thanks to Sir Michael’s direction and
guidance in its early years.’
In 1990, Professor Atiyah, a Fields Medal
recipient in 1966 (see page 79), became the
first director of the Isaac Newton Institute,
which was set up to meet the need for a
UK national institute in mathematics and
theoretical physics. EPSRC continues to
support the institute.
Interdisciplinary research is a key criterion
in the selection of the Isaac Newton
Institute’s scientific programmes. To date it
has brought together 24 Fields Medallists,
eight Nobel Prize winners, 16 winners
of the Wolf Prize and nine winners of the
Abel Prize.
In 2013, Professor Atiyah, 85, began a new
EPSRC-supported research project, with
Professor Bernd Schroers, into Dynamics
in Geometric Models of Matter.
This ambitious and adventurous research
draws on many different areas in
mathematics and physics; and could pave
the way for a radically new mathematical
language for elementary particle, nuclear
and atomic physics.
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
Home help
In 2004, Roger Orpwood, from the
University of Bath, became Director of
the Bath Institute of Medical Engineering
(BIME), an independent charity developing
assistive technology for disabled people.
Among EPSRC-funded projects carried out
by the institute, Professor Orpwood led
an initiative to develop and
demonstrate dementia
support technologies in a
specially designed smart
house in Gloucester.
Under Roger Orpwood’s stewardship,
over 100,000 of BIME’s innovative products
have been sold, including the Wizzybug
powered wheelchair for children with
conditions such as cerebral palsy, spinal
muscular atrophy, spina bifida and
muscular dystrophy.
The technology includes smart monitors to
help dementia sufferers deal with day-today situations. For example, a smart tap
(pictured) issues a verbal reminder in a
familiar voice to a user who has left a bath
running, and turns off the flow of water if
the bath gets too full.
In 2012, a two-year EPSRC-funded project
in collaboration with BIME developed the
inTouch computer interface for people with
dementia to ‘virtually visit’ relatives and
family, reducing social isolation.
Paperless proposals
In 2004, EPSRC announced that
paper research grant proposals were
to be phased out by March 2005, as
part of a move to further integrate
administration systems between
research councils.
When paperless proposals came
into effect, the Joint Electronic
Submission (Je-S) system allowed
four councils, including EPSRC,
to provide their communities with
electronic research grant services
so that grant proposals can be
completed and submitted on line.
This paved the way for universal
electronic submissions across all
seven research councils.
Good vibrations
In 2004, Perpetuum, a spin out
company from the University
of Southampton, was launched
to commercialise a new kind of
vibration-based energy harvesting
technology developed by Professor
Neil White and his team.
The company’s technology uses
kinetic energy resulting from
vibration to power wireless sensors
via microgenerators, and was swiftly
adopted by industry.
Perpetuum has since become a
global leader in vibration energy
harvesting. Applications for its
technology range from industrial
plant monitoring and transportation
to healthcare and aerospace.
In 2013, Perpetuum won the contract
to equip all 148 of Southeastern
Railway’s Electrostar train stock,
which includes 618 cars and
carriages, with sensor systems
to monitor the wear of bearings
and wheels to help maintenance
engineers determine when
maintenance is needed.
December 26: A 9.3 magnitude earthquake creates a tsunami, causing devastation in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and the Maldives
13
2005
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
February 22: At least six men stage Britain’s biggest robbery ever, stealing £53 million from a Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent
14
Green light for chemistry
In 2005, one of the early protagonists of
green chemistry, Professor Martyn Poliakoff
(pictured), set up the Driving Innovation in
Chemistry and Engineering (DICE) project
at The University of Nottingham, with
funding from the first wave of EPSRC’s
£120 million Science and Innovation
Awards scheme.
The project, which followed a host of
EPSRC research grants, including a
Clean Technology Fellowship awarded to
Professor Poliakoff in 1994, was one of
the first to bring chemists and chemical
engineers together, and helped reinforce
The University of Nottingham’s reputation
as a global leader in green chemistry –
which promotes the design of products
and processes that minimise the use and
generation of hazardous substances.
Working with long-standing industrial
partner, Thomas Swan & Co Ltd, Professor
Poliakoff had already developed a radical
new type of chemical reactor, able to do
the work of a 1,000-litre reactor in just four
litres – and thus requiring much smaller
amounts of chemicals to produce the same
end product.
The reactor exploits the unusual properties
of supercritical fluids (SCFs) which flow
like gases but behave more like liquids –
making them ‘clean’ solvents suitable for
many types of reaction.
In 2007, Professor Poliakoff and DICE
member Professor Mike George, working
with pharmaceutical multinationals
AstraZeneca and Sanofi, and Thomas
Swan, used their expertise in supercritical
fluids to develop a greener approach in
the production of a highly reactive form
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
of oxygen, known as singlet oxygen,
which has applications in areas such as
photosensitised oxidations, and synthesis
of reactive compounds. The team showed
how green chemistry methods could yield
significant reductions in waste during the
production process.
The success of this EPSRC-funded project
sparked the interest of the Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation, since the use of singlet
oxygen may have a critical role to play in
the safer and more effective manufacture of
anti-malarial drugs – combatting malaria
is central to the foundation’s mission.
“Progress has been very good and the
results will be published soon,” Professor
Poliakoff says.
In 2008, a hugely productive EPSRCsupported collaboration between Professor
Poliakoff, who had just been awarded the
CBE, and video journalist, Brady Haran,
resulted in a series of short films on each
of the 118 elements in the Periodic Table.
It took just five weeks. “It was completely
bonkers,” Professor Poliakoff says. “When
we had made the films, we thought we had
finished, but that was just the start of it.”
By 2010, The Periodic Table of Videos had
received nearly 20 million YouTube views
in over 200 countries. The key to their
popularity is their accessibility, and quirky
but knowledgeable approach to their
subjects. Professor Poliakoff says: “One
morning, I discovered that overnight I had
lectured to more people than I had reached
in my entire career.”
By 2011, the Nottingham team’s web
site boasted 320 videos, with content
covering molecules as well as elements
November 30: Surgeons in France carry out the first human face transplant
and featuring a growing multidisciplinary
team of Nottingham colleagues. Today,
the site has 537 videos and over 510,000
subscribers with many followers on
social media.
In 2011, Professor Poliakoff was elected
Foreign Secretary of the Royal Society,
adding to his 2002 Royal Society Fellowship.
The role sees him travelling the world as an
ambassador for chemistry and UK science.
In 2012, Professor Poliakoff was awarded
the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Nyholm
Prize for Education, largely for his work on
The Periodic Table of Videos.
In April 2014, Professors Poliakoff and
George joined chemical engineer Steve
Pickering and 11 industrial partners in an
EPSRC-funded project to investigate the
role that light could play in the manufacture
of chemicals. Poliakoff describes the
project as a direct legacy of DICE.
Another Poliakoff legacy – though he would
never claim it as his – is the building of
the GSK Carbon Neutral Laboratory for
Sustainable Chemistry at Nottingham,
which had been due for completion in 2015.
Sadly, the building was devastated by
a fire in September 2014 but already
the university has pledged the facility
will be rebuilt. The new laboratory will
provide facilities for three new Chairs in
Sustainable Chemistry, funded by GSK,
EPSRC and The University of Nottingham.
GSK has a long-standing strategic
relationship with both EPSRC and the
university, and the new professors will
expand the interdisciplinary approach to
green chemistry that Professor Poliakoff
started more than 30 years ago.
15
2005
Mapping the
Underworld
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
May 5: The United Kingdom general election takes place, in which the Labour Party is re-elected for a third consecutive term
16
In 2005, EPSRC invested in a major
multidisciplinary, multi-university project
to prove the concept of technologies that
could explore the underworld of buried
pipes, cables and utilities beneath our feet.
In the UK it is estimated that up to four
million holes are cut into the UK road
network each year to install or repair
buried infrastructure. Failure to identify
accurately the location of existing buried
assets results in numerous practical
problems, costs and dangers for utility
owners, contractors and road users.
The Mapping the Underworld (MTU) project,
which arose from a seminal EPSRC Sandpit
exercise (see pages 80-83), focused on
developing the means to locate, map in 3D
and record the position of all buried utility
assets without excavation. This would
be achieved through the development of
a single shared multi-sensor platform.
To meet the challenge, the team
developed vibro-acoustics, low frequency
electromagnetic fields, passive magnetic
fields and ground penetrating radar
technologies, combined with intelligent
use of existing utility company records and
ground databases.
The project, led by Professor Chris Rogers,
from the University of Birmingham,
aimed to integrate the sensor and record
information in a single, integrated,
searchable database.
The research led to the establishment of
an industry-sponsored, co-created MTU
Centre of Excellence, which opened up for
the first time the possibility of a national
certification scheme – something the
industry had wished to see for some time.
In 2010, the Mapping the Underworld
project spawned a major archaeology
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
project to help scientists discover unknown
historical treasures hidden beneath the
UK landscape.
The three-year £815,000 initiative was
co-funded by EPSRC and the Arts
and Humanities Research Council
(AHRC) under the Science and Heritage
programme (see page 46).
In 2011, Oxems, a company created to
commercialise research arising from the
MTU project, developed a unique low cost,
low maintenance ‘asset tag’, which can be
attached to exposed assets such as water
pipes, sewers and cabling and detected
when reburied by an ‘intelligent’ sensor
device on the surface without the need
for excavation.
Oxems believes the technology could
reduce the costs to utilities of streetworks
by at least 40 per cent, and prompted
John Divit, Leakage Best Practice Adviser
at Severn Trent Water, to comment: “The
Oxems product could have an impact as
significant as barcodes.”
In 2012, EPSRC invested £6.3 million in a
multidisciplinary, multi-university research
project led by Professor Chris Rogers
focused on transforming the engineering
of cities to deliver a low-carbon, resourcesecure sustainable future.
The wide-ranging project draws on the
social sciences and takes into account
factors such as quality of life, social
aspirations and engineering policy.
Co-investigators on this project include
University College London’s Professor
Hélène Joffe (see pages 28-29) and
Professor Nick Tyler, also from UCL.
In 2013, EPSRC invested £5.8 million in the
next phase of the Mapping the Underworld
May 24: North Korea bans mobile phones
initiative, Assessing the Underworld (ATU),
which broadens the skill base of the MTU
team by introducing leaders in climate
change, engineering sustainability, robotics
and pipeline systems.
A main aim of the four-year project is to
prove the concept of a single integrated
assessment and modelling framework.
The programme has more than 50 project
partners and has attracted over £16 million
of in-kind support. The programme’s
intention is to realise a 25-year vision for
sustainable streetworks.
Also in 2013, Dr Nicole Metje, from
the University of Birmingham, who coleads Assessing the Underworld, was
awarded £241,000 by EPSRC as part of
an Innovate UK-funded project to develop
an inexpensive sensor-based pipeline
leak detection system, which can be
fitted to new water pipelines or retrofitted
opportunistically during repairs or using
keyhole excavation technology.
The project, which is a collaboration
with water companies and other
industry stakeholders, aims to develop
a commercial system that harnesses
the technology.
Chris Rogers says: “This sequence of
funding has underpinned radical thinking
on how cities should be supported in the
far future and how existing infrastructure
systems, some of which date back to the
1800s, can be integrated into the brave new
world of smart and smarter cities.”
In 2014, EPSRC invested in a Quantum
Technology (QT) Hub (see page 79) at the
University of Birmingham. Dr Nicole Metje,
a co-investigator at the hub, will explore the
use of QT sensors for pipeline detection,
working alongside the MTU sensors.
17
2005
Printer’s progress
In 2005, Dr
Adrian Bowyer,
an engineering
researcher
working with
the University
of Bath’s
EPSRC-funded
Innovative
Design and
Manufacturing
Research
Centre,
made a modest application to the centre
for £20,000 to build a 3D printer based on
reproductive biological principles which,
with man’s help, would be capable of
replicating itself.
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
“The sum I asked for was about half the
cost of the cheapest 3D printing machine
available on the market at the time,” says
the recently retired University of Bath
engineer. Not only would he try to run
the whole project on this modest budget,
he set himself “the challenge of turning
a machine that costs £40,000 to buy into
something that costs £400.”
best student project in the country, based
on his work with Bowyer on the RepRap
project. Ed Sells was to prove key to the
development of the technology, and is
now a senior research figure in one of the
world’s leading 3D printing companies,
3D Systems.
The result was RepRap, a remarkable DIY
3D printer that achieved all the project’s
stated goals.
For Dr Bowyer, the key to success was
making the project open source – a free
licence to the product’s design or blueprint,
enabling subsequent improvements to it by
anyone, anywhere.
To achieve this, Dr Bowyer had a secret
weapon in the form of engineering doctoral
student Ed Sells, who in 2005 came within
an ace of winning the national Science,
Engineering and Technology award for the
By 2007, Bowyer and Sells had established
a global ‘virtual’ team of over 30 volunteer
collaborators, from software developers
to designers and mechanical engineers.
Adrian Bowyer says: “The group were
November 30: John Sentamu becomes the first black archbishop in the Church of England with his enthronement as the 97th Archbishop of York
18
unimaginably helpful, and gave us a lot of
bang for our buck.”
By May 2008, within a few minutes of
being assembled, the first ‘child’ RepRap
machine had built the first component for
a ‘grandchild’. Dr Bowyer estimates that by
September 2008 over 100 copies had been
produced around the world.
In 2009, three RepRap volunteers from
New York, Zach Smith, Bre Pettis and Adam
Mayer, used the knowledge from the project
to set up their own company, MakerBot.
“They didn’t have a bean between them,”
says Dr Bowyer who, “being horribly old”,
did have a few beans to rub together and
helped them with $25,000 dollars to form
the start-up – and so, MakerBot was
born. Within four years, the company had
captured 20 per cent of the multi-million
dollar US market in home-use 3D printers.
In August 2010, Dr Ed Sells left Bowyer to
join UK start-up Bits from Bytes, which,
using modified RepRap technology, had
gone from launch in January to a £2 million
business by the end of the financial year.
In 2011, open source hardware company,
Aleph Objects, based in Colorado,
established LulzBot to make 3D printers,
parts and materials which, Aleph says,
are “all developed as part of the RepRap
project”. The company now has 540
employees, and exports worldwide. In the same year, MakerBot raised a further
$10 million from the likes of Facebook’s
Sam Lessin and Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos.
In October 2011, rising bioengineering
star, Jordan Miller, of the University of
Pennsylvania, and a core member of the
RepRap project, used a RepRap Mendel
and a Makerbot 3D printer to make blood
vessels from sugar. His method later
appeared in a special edition of Scientific
American on the future of medicine.
By 2012, MakerBot had generated annual
income in excess of US$11 million and was
selling more than 20,000 printers a year
– including the MakerBot Replicator 2 –
inspired by RepRap.
In June 2013, one of the world’s largest
3D printing companies, Stratasys, made
an offer MakerBot could not refuse. The
company Adrian Bowyer helped create for
$25,000 four years earlier was sold for the
sum of $403 million, with an additional
$200 million in potential performancebased bonuses.
Dr Bowyer says he knew from the outset
that RepRap had the potential to grow
exponentially; but even he could not have
predicted how an idea that began with a
£20,000 EPSRC grant could have developed
so fast, in so many countries, and evolved
in so many diverse ways – with no sign of
slowing down.
The additive manufacturing
revolution
Designed to ‘laser print’ products
layer by layer, with virtually zero waste,
additive manufacturing (AM), otherwise
known as 3D printing, has the potential
to revolutionise the way we make
things. But there are still significant
hurdles to overcome before successful
commercialisation of the technologies.
EPSRC-supported research groups
across the UK are developing worldleading technologies and processes at
the forefront of this research.
In addition to individual AM projects,
EPSRC-supported research groups
include the £4.5 million EPSRC Centre
for Doctoral Training in Additive
Manufacturing and the EPSRC Centre
for Innovative Manufacturing (CIM) in
Additive Manufacturing, hosted by the
University of Nottingham in partnership
with Loughborough University.
CIM projects include development of
ways to deposit more than one material
within a single build process, making it
possible to print entire working systems
(incorporating electronics, for example)
in one go, instead of making individual
parts or components – taking AM to the
next technological level.
Main picture: It’s a rap: Dr
Adrian Bowyer (left) and Vik
Oliver, a member of the RepRap
project, proudly show off a new
addition to the family. All of the
plastic parts for the machine
on the right were produced by
the almost identical machine
on the left.
Top left: the original
RepRap 1.0 ‘Darwin’
prototype.
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
December 11: The Buncefield Oil Depot in Hemel Hempstead, England, is rocked by explosions, causing a huge oil fire
19
2005
Face value
In 2005, Dr Chris Solomon and Dr Stuart
Gibson, two physicists from the University
of Kent, created their first version of an
‘electronic sketch artist’ that has changed
the way UK police forces identify criminals.
Their system, EFIT-V, allows victims and
witnesses to select the best and worst
matches from a group of computergenerated faces, helping identify suspected
criminals in a new way.
Based on the witnesses’ responses, the
computer system eventually ‘learns’ what
type of face they are after and displays
options accordingly.
Dr Solomon’s EPSRC-supported research
led directly to the creation of spin out
company VisionMetric Ltd. Fast forward to
2014 and VisionMetric’s facial composite
products, EFIT-V and E-FIT, have become
the preferred choice of 90 per cent of
British police forces and are used in over
30 countries around the world.
Computerised facial composite systems
in the UK date back to the late 1980s and
the original E-FIT system – which was
developed by John Platten, a software
engineer, and Peter Bennett, a former
Metropolitan Police officer.
Dr Solomon says: “E-FIT has developed a
reputation as a highly reliable and flexible
system for feature-based composite
construction. However, it relies on the
witness’s ability to recall individual
features, provide verbal descriptions and
then select them from stored libraries
of labelled features. This is a task which
extensive psychological research shows
that witnesses often find difficult. Through
our early research in computer vision we
began to suspect that a better approach
could be taken.
“The EFIT-V facial composite system is
based on different principles, employing
a holistic (whole face) approach to
construction. In essence, the witness is
shown a number of randomly generated
faces and is asked to select the one that
best resembles the target. A genetic
algorithm is then used to breed a new
generation of faces based upon the
selected individual. This process is
repeated until the user is satisfied with
the composite generated.”
Today, EFIT-V has evolved into what is
widely accepted to be the most advanced
facial composite software, enabling
the creation of near photo-realistic,
colour images of criminal suspects from
eyewitnesses’ testimony and is credited
with helping to solve hundreds of crimes.
Dr Stuart Gibson says: “The key advantage
with EFIT-V is that the technology allows
people to respond to faces they see
rather than having to break it down into
component parts.
“Police forces using EFIT-V have reported
sustained, correct naming rates up to
10 times the average success rate using
feature-based systems.
“EFIT-V is even effective when witnesses
cannot provide good descriptions of the
face but know that they would recognise
the face if they saw it again.”
EFIT-V is now in use globally, and has
customers from as far apart as Europe,
Australia, USA, Singapore and Chile.
Among excellent customer reviews, a
satisfied client from New Scotland Yard
wrote: “I thought it would be appropriate to
let you know as soon as possible about the
new product. Put simply, I love it… This has
led to six cases so far getting ‘near as
damn-it’ likenesses.”
Spot the fakers: Only one of the pictures above is a real photograph; the others were created by EFIT-V.
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
August 29: Hurricane Katrina makes landfall along the US Gulf Coast, causing severe damage. At least 1,836 die in the aftermath
20
Light touch
In 2005, an EPSRCsupported team from the
universities of Dundee and
St Andrews, led by Dr
Norman Alm, developed a
simple touch-screen aid
to help dementia sufferers
recall their memories.
Young Researcher of
the Year
The aid was simple to
use and stimulated more
enjoyable, rewarding
conversation between
sufferers and those who
care for them.
During development, the
CIRCA system was tested on
40 dementia sufferers in day care, nursing
home and family situations, with many
carers reporting that sufferers seemed like
their old selves.
CIRCA team member Dr Arlene Astell,
of the University of St Andrews School of
Psychology, says: “Dementia sufferers’
declining ability to hold normal conversations
causes a lot of stress and frustration.
CIRCA exploits the fact that, while dementia
sufferers find it hard to recall recent events,
longer-term memory is less affected by
their condition.
“Helping them access their memories
makes living with dementia more bearable
and less distressing for sufferers and
their carers.”
The team secured further EPSRC funding
from the EPSRC-led RCUK Digital Economy
programme to develop an interactive
multimedia activity system that dementia
sufferers can use on their own.
The research led to the formation of Circa
Connect Ltd, a spin out company, which
brings together expertise in the fields of
design, psychology and computer science
to commercialise the work.
Challenging
engineering
In 2005, EPSRC launched its Challenging
Engineering Awards programme,
through which support is given to the
most promising early career researchers.
The highly successful programme
was designed to identify and support
individuals with the potential to
become future leaders of engineering
research, with the ambition of building
a team around them over the course
of a five-year period to achieve their
research vision.
In total, £35 million in Challenging
Engineering Awards was invested
in nearly 40 researchers in areas
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
such as materials, mechanical and
medical engineering, information &
communications technologies and
process, environment & sustainability.
In 2011, many of the features of the
programme were incorporated into
EPSRC’s new Fellowship framework.
Council forum
In December 2005, EPSRC held its first
Council Open Forum. The event, held at
the Royal Institution, opened the floor
to anyone wishing to put questions to
members of EPSRC’s Council, its seniordecision-making body. Open forums
have since been integrated into EPSRC’s
ongoing programme of engagement with
the research community.
April 27: The Superjumbo jet aircraft Airbus A380 makes its first flight from Toulouse, France
In 2005, Dr Julie Macpherson, an EPSRCfunded researcher from the University of
Warwick, won the influential Times Higher
Education magazine’s inaugural award for
Young Researcher of the Year.
She received the award in recognition of
pioneering research into single-walled
carbon nanotubes, which made it possible
to map the chemistry of surfaces at a
molecular level, with potential applications in
areas such as cell signalling processes and
the detection of aircraft corrosion.
Professor Macpherson is also recognised for
her research into the development of new
synthetic diamond electrochemical sensing
devices and techniques.
She co-leads the Warwick Electrochemistry
and Interfaces Group, and is Taught Course
Leader at the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral
Training in Diamond Science and Technology.
The centre is working with companies such
as De Beers Group and synthetic diamond
specialist Element Six to help pioneer new
diamond-enabled technologies.
Professor Macpherson says: “Interfacing
with and integrating diamond into electronic
devices can solve some of the biggest
research problems, such as effective cooling
for faster and more reliable devices; and
lasers that are more powerful and compact
than current devices.”
In May 2014, Professor Macpherson was
awarded a four-year Royal Society Industry
Fellowship in acknowledgement of her work
in diamond electrochemistry.
The fellowship will enable Professor
Macpherson and her team to push forward
the significant work already accomplished
with Element Six.
21
2005
Science and innovation awards
In 2005, EPSRC launched its Science
and Innovation Awards programme, a
major tranche of funding focused on
directly building the UK’s research base
through large-value, long-term grants in
strategically important research areas
identified as being missing or ‘at-risk’
in the UK.
Funded by EPSRC in partnership with
the Higher Education Funding Council
for England (HEFCE) and the Scottish
Higher Education Funding Council, the
projects, awarded annually for five years,
created centres of excellence in their
respective fields under the leadership of a
principal professor. The scheme supported
29 programmes of research activity with a
value in excess of £120 million.
The diversity of the research activity is
testament to the scope of the investment,
with new centres of excellence emerging in
Winging it
In 2005, a team of aerospace engineers
at the University of Bristol, led by Dr
Ian Bond, developed a revolutionary
new technique that could enable
damaged aircraft to mend themselves
automatically, even during a flight.
If a tiny hole or crack appears in the
aircraft – due to fatigue or a stone strike
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
areas such as intelligent
software; graphene and
its applications in nanoelectronics, photonics and
bio-sciences; synthetic
biology and innovation;
carbon capture related
to fossil fuels; energy
efficient cities; statistics
underpinning science,
technology and industry;
and green chemistry.
Among recipients of a
Science and Innovation
Award were Professor
Martyn Poliakoff, from The
University of Nottingham
(see pages 16-17) and
Professor Lynne Gladden
from the University of
Cambridge (see page 24).
Hands-on research: Asieh Kazemi, a researcher from the
University of Bath’s Centre for Graphene Science, operates the
‘nano-factory’, which will allow researchers to build new devices
onto a single graphene layer. The centre has been funded by
strategic investments by the universities of Bath and Exeter into
materials research, and by a £5 million award from the EPSRC/
HEFCE Science and Innovation Awards programme in 2008.
Photograph courtesy: SWNS.com
– epoxy resin ‘bleeds’ from embedded
vessels near the crack to quickly seal it and
restore integrity. The resin and hardener
enable the composite material to recover
up to 80-90 per cent of its original strength,
comfortably allowing a plane to function at
its normal operational load.
In addition to improving aviation safety,
the technology, which mimics the healing
processes found in nature, could also lead
September 12: Israel completes its withdrawal of all troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip
to lighter aircraft, cutting both fuel costs
and carbon emissions.
In 2008, EPSRC awarded Professor
Bond a further grant to continue the
development of these techniques.
In 2014, Professor Bond co-leads the
EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in
Advanced Composites for Innovation and
Science at the University of Bristol.
22
What lies beneath
piping, even if they are buried in sand
or mud.
The team, led by Professor Jonathan Bull,
developed the first truly three-dimensional
sub-seabed profiler called GeoChirp 3D,
which they successfully demonstrated by
imaging the skeleton of The Invincible, a
Royal Navy ship that sunk into the Solent
sands in 1758.
In 2005, a team from the School of Ocean
and Earth Science (SOES) at the University
of Southampton used EPSRC funding to
create a device that could identify undersea
objects such as shipwrecks, mines and
Developed with the help of GeoAcoustics
Ltd, a manufacturer of sonar seabed
survey equipment, the GeoChirp 3D is a
surface-towed seismic system that works
by firing sound waves at the sea floor and
measuring the reflections as they bounce
back from objects and different rock
Taking the heat
In 2005, an EPSRC-supported
team of specialists in fire
chemistry, polymers and textiles,
led by Dr Baljinder Kandola at the
University of Bolton, developed a
range of new, inherently flameretardant polymers.
The breakthrough was a result of
a 2003 project funded by EPSRC
and the MoD to investigate the use
of nano composites in synthetic
materials. The multidisciplinary,
multi-university team’s research
was based around the belief that
the barrier layer and char-forming
properties of nano composites
could improve fire resistance of
synthetic fibres, while enhancing
their physical and mechanical
properties.
The team later turned their
attentions to creating a new
generation of textiles with
applications ranging from soft
furnishings to soldiers’ uniforms.
layers beneath the seabed. The concept
came from the petroleum industry, which
uses seismic reflections to locate oil and
gas fields.
The system, which later went into
production, is capable of imaging the upper
tens of metres of the sub-surface in three
dimensions and provides the perfect base
for shallow-water engineering, archaeology,
military and geological studies.
GeoChirp has been successfully used
during surveys in near-shore and harbour
environments in the UK and internationally.
Development of the GeoChirp system was
funded by GeoAcoustics Ltd, EPSRC and
English Heritage.
Blastproof concrete
In 2005, a research team at the universities
of Sheffield and Liverpool, led by Dr Steve
Millard, began development of a new type
of concrete that could help protect terrorist
targets against car or lorry bomb attacks.
The team’s Ultra High Performance Fibre
Reinforced Concrete (UHPFRC) has needlethin steel fibres added to the concrete mix
instead of or in addition to steel reinforcing
bars to increase its tensile strength.
Developed over four years, in partnership
with the Centre for the Protection of
National Infrastructure, UHPFRC was
found to absorb a thousand times more
energy than plain concrete and could
therefore be used for bomb-proof litter bins
and protection barriers.
The concrete has been utilised in Australia
in the design of slender footbridges and
other specialised applications.
In 2014, Dr Kandola is a member
of the FRBiocomp group at the
University of Bolton, funded by
Innovate UK, which aims to develop
fire-retardant, environmentally
sustainable composites using
natural fibres and biopolymers.
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
November 27: The first partial human face transplant is completed in Amiens, France
23
2006
Silent flight
In 2006, building
on previous EPSRC
investments, the
international Silent
Aircraft Initiative (SAI),
a collaborative venture
between the University
of Cambridge and
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT), unveiled its revolutionary single-wing
concept SAX-40 aircraft (pictured above).
The highly-efficient design, which has
neither flaps nor slats (a major source of
aircraft noise), offered improvements of
around 25 per cent in the fuel consumed in
a typical flight compared to current aircraft
and offered significant noise reductions
compared to conventional aeroplanes.
The academic/industry project, supported
by EPSRC and the Cambridge-MIT Institute,
focused on next-generation aeroplanes
entering into service in 2030 and was led
by Cambridge’s Professor Ann Dowling
(pictured), a world authority on combustion
and acoustics. Commercial partners of this
multi-partner initiative included BA, RollsRoyce and the Civil Aviation Authority.
Interviewed in 2006, Jim Morris, Vice
President of Engineering & Manufacturing
at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said:
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
“This collaboration has stretched our
imagination and generated noise mitigation
ideas that we will be able to study for
potential future use.”
Colin Smith, Rolls-Royce Director of
Engineering and Technology, said: “The
study confirmed that the solution for
extremely low noise must be a highly
integrated combination of engine and
aircraft design and operation.”
In 2007, the Silent Aircraft Initiative led to a
four-year EPSRC-supported project, jointly
with MIT, investigating the development
of embedded engines mounted above the
wing to reduce noise on the ground and
increase the aircraft’s efficiency.
In 2008, Professor Dowling co-led a major
EPSRC-funded project into energy efficient
cities, led by Professor Lynne Gladden at
the University of Cambridge. The findings
of this project, funded by an EPSRC Science
and Innovation Award (see page 18),
influenced future government policy.
In 2009, Professor Dame Ann Dowling, who
received a DBE for services to science in
2007, became head of the Department of
Engineering at the University of Cambridge.
In 2011, EPSRC funded a four-year project
jointly with Caltech focused on reducing
the environmental impact of take-off noise
from aircraft.
The work, co-led by Professor Dowling,
merges with and extends two highly
successful earlier EPSRC-funded jet
noise projects, specifically looking at
aerodynamics and aero-acoustics of
complex geometry hot jets and the
dynamics of co-flowing jets.
In 2014, Professor Dowling co-leads the
new EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in
Gas Turbine Aerodynamics at Cambridge.
In 2014, EPSRC invested over £10 million
in a new National Wind Tunnel Facility.
The investment, which includes £2.6
million from research partner the UK
Aerodynamics Centre, will finance seven
wind tunnels at universities throughout
the UK.
Professor Dame Ann Dowling, who in
2013 became Chair of the UK Aerodynamics
Council, says: “The new wind tunnel
facility will give researchers and industry
access to the world-class facilities and
instrumentation vital for the development
of future quiet, ultra-efficient aircraft.”
In 2014, Dame Ann was appointed
President of the Royal Academy of
Engineering, the first woman in the role.
July 28: The Provisional IRA issues a statement formally ordering an end to the armed campaign it has pursued since 1969
24
Precious metals, such as platinum and
palladium, are used extensively in a wide
range of industrial chemical processes –
providing a vital trigger or accelerator for
chemical reactions. A current EPSRC-project,
of which she is a member, is applying novel
bionano-catalysts for upgrading heavy oils.
Full metal jacket
In 2006, an EPSRC-funded project led
by Professor Lynne Macaskie at the
University of Birmingham demonstrated the
commercial potential arising from ‘feeding’ a
certain type of bacteria on high-sugar waste
products, such as those produced by the
confectionery industry.
The bacteria give off hydrogen as they
consume the waste, and the team used
this gas to generate clean electricity via a
fuel cell – potentially a valuable source of
non-polluting energy in the years ahead. The
waste was supplied by the team’s industrial
partner, Cadbury Schweppes plc, whose
factory is conveniently located just down the
road. The waste would otherwise have been
sent to landfill.
Since 2006, Professor Macaskie has headed
several EPSRC-supported projects to
evaluate the potential for using bacteria to
bio-manufacture precious metal catalysts.
Pipeline to success
In 2006, Syrinix, a company formed in 2004
by Professor Paul Linford to commercialise
his EPSRC-funded blue-skies research at
the University of East Anglia, was named
Business Initiative of the Year in the Times
Higher Education Supplement 2006 awards.
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
In 2006, a sister project to the sugarrelated research, led by the Biotechnology
and Biological Sciences Research Council
(BBSRC), evaluated the potential for sourcing
precious metals from wastes: together these
projects have demonstrated a ‘one stop
shop’ method to bio-manufacture active
catalysts from waste.
The combined research projects spawned
a life of their own through a pioneering
commercial venture launched by Dr Angela
Murray (pictured), a bioscientist at The
University of Birmingham.
In 2009, Dr Murray, whose doctorate was
supervised by Professor Macaskie, used
a BBSRC Enterprise Fellowship Award
to develop a way to recover precious
metals from roadside waste, with the aim
of producing new, cheap catalysts. This
led to the creation of a spin out company,
Roads to Riches. Macaskie and Murray
are both directors of the company, which
works closely with the Birmingham
research teams.
The catalytic converters in most modern
cars are coated with precious metals,
The
company’s
awardwinning
portfolio has
developed
‘listening’
technology
that can help
reduce the
3.3 billion
litres of
treated water
lost every day
in the UK by
making maintenance more cost effective.
The technology uses vibro-acoustic signals
from the water mains pipe and analyses
these sounds to enable leaks to be
detected in their early stages and pinpoint
their location.
Detection stops bigger, more devastating
leaks from springing up and helps water
companies prevent massive loss of water
April 23: YouTube, the popular video sharing website, is founded
including palladium, rhodium and platinum.
Over time, tiny particles of these metals are
ejected through the exhaust system, settling
as highly valuable road dust. Rhodium, for
example, sells for around £100 a gram.
All UK councils are required by law to
clean up and collect road waste, so this
part of Roads to Riches’ operation is free.
Next, the company uses natural separation
techniques, such as magnetism, to sort out
the metals from the organic road waste,
which is processed into low grade building
aggregates, rather than sent to landfill.
What’s left is a metal concentrate, which
traditionally would be sent for energyintensive smelting. The company has
developed a greener option – it sends in
the bacteria.
The bacteria used in the process are already
on their second life, having been used in the
earlier process to create clean hydrogen
from fermented food waste.
After being added to the metal concentrate,
the bacteria emerge wearing what Angela
Murray has described as “tiny nanoparticle
metal jackets”.
The bacteria are then either dried into a
fine powder to make a range of platform
chemicals/catalysts or can be used in
hydrogen fuel cells to generate clean
electricity. In essence, the bacteria producing
the hydrogen are the same ones recovering
the precious metals.
and damage to roads and buildings
surrounding the pipes.
In 2013, Syrinix’s TrunkMinder technology
was short-listed for the Most Innovative
New Technology of the Year title at the
Water Industry Achievement Awards.
Also in 2013, the company secured
£2.1 million in funding from a number
of investors, including the EU-funded
Low Carbon Innovation Fund, and the
Angel CoFund, to accelerate national and
international growth.
In 2014, the company’s TrunkMinder
devices are being commercially deployed
in a major rollout by Thames Water for the
£15 billion Crossrail project, one of the
largest engineering projects in Europe.
To avoid catastrophic pipeline failures,
Syrinix worked closely with Crossrail to
deploy the system on critical water mains,
many of which have been in the ground
for decades and some for in excess of
100 years.
25
2006
Helping humans help
themselves
In 2006, Tissue Regenix, a medical devices
company in the field of regenerative
medicine specialising in human tissue
regeneration products, was founded by
Professors John Fisher and Eileen Ingham
to commercialise their EPSRC-funded
research at the University
of Leeds.
The company’s
proprietary dCELL®
technology platform
works by removing all
cells from the animal
tissue, allowing it to be
used to replace worn out
or diseased body parts –
without the need for antirejection drugs.
Because a patient’s own
cells can populate the
new biological scaffolds,
they are accepted by the
immune system and can
be repaired like normal
tissue. The dCELL®
process can be used to make 20-30
different products.
Potential applications for the technology,
which has been licensed for use in tissue
banks in the UK and South America,
include knee damage repair, heart valves
and advanced wound care for leg ulcers.
In 2010, Tissue Regenix’s first product – a
vascular patch derived from pig tissue
which repairs damaged human veins –
gained its CE mark and was sold globally
outside the USA.
In 2012, the company, now listed on the
London Stock Exchange’s international
market for smaller growing companies
(AIM), opened an office in the USA
as a significant step forward in its
commercialisation strategy.
Today, the Tissue Regenix Group has
a market capitalisation of over £60
million. The basic research that led to the
company’s formation was funded by EPSRC
in 2000, and Tissue Regenix continues to
receive EPSRC support.
Professor Eileen Ingham says: “The
support from EPSRC and other funders,
including the Technology Strategy Board,
over many years has been crucial in
enabling us to pursue the basic technology
and then drive forward its potential. We
were able to use these grants flexibly,
enabling continuity of employment for
key researchers.”
Walking the walk
In 2006, a laboratory designed to make
pedestrian environments safer and easier
to use was set up with EPSRC support
at University College London (UCL). The
investment stemmed from a three-year
EPSRC grant awarded to UCL’s Accessibility
Research Group to create a new lab for
investigating issues related to pedestrians
and the pedestrian environment.
The PAMELA (Pedestrian Accessibility
and Movement Laboratory) project,
led by Professor Nick Tyler, led to the
development of a ‘lab-based’ fullyconfigurable pedestrian walkway, enabling
real-world conditions to be replicated in a
controlled setting.
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
May 1: The Human Genome Project publishes the last chromosome sequence
By monitoring and measuring all aspects
of pedestrian behaviour – from their gait
and biomechanics to how they perceive
the world around them – the project has
generated data leading to improvements
in the design of pavements, footways and
concourses, and will enable new ideas and
products to be tried out.
In 2014, among other EPSRC-supported
projects, Professor Tyler, who has received
over 20 EPSRC research grants, is a
key member of the Transforming the
Engineering of Cities project (see pages
16-17), and co-leads a team investigating
the feasibility of a wholly new concept in
exoskeleton design.
26
Getting in gear
In 2006, Magnomatics, a high
technology company from the
University of Sheffield, was set
up to commercialise groundbreaking research by Dr Kais
Atallah and Professor David
Howe into magnetic transmission
systems, high-torque electrical
machines and electromechanical
actuators and dampers.
The inspiration to form the
company came from an EPSRCsupported project to investigate
the advantages of magnetic
gears over their mechanical
counterparts for a range of
applications.
Members of Dr Atallah’s original
research group formed the core of
the Magnomatics technical team.
In 2012, the company, now active
in a range of industries, including
renewable energy, automotive,
aerospace and defence, secured funding of
£2.5 million to complete the development
of its magnetically-geared motors for the
electric and hybrid vehicle market.
In 2014, Magnomatics has evolved into
a clean technology company employing
over 30 people, with a strong focus on
renewable energy and energy efficiency.
Together with its various strategic
partners, the company is developing a
range of technologies, including high
efficiency, ultra-compact generators for
biometric passports – and so could be
used to help combat crimes such as
identity theft, social security fraud, people
trafficking and terrorism.
Making its mark
In 2006, Warwick Warp, a spin out company
from the University of Warwick, won the
Research Councils UK Business Plan
Competition for its unique software-based
fingerprint identification system.
Warwick Warp’s technology, which was
substantially more reliable and faster
than those available at the time, can
be incorporated into identity cards and
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
In 2009, the system, which can identify
partial, distorted, scratched, smudged, or
otherwise warped fingerprints in just a few
seconds, scored top marks in the world’s
two toughest technical fingerprint tests.
It was ranked best for overall accuracy by
the UK National Physical Laboratory and
placed third overall out of 36 in tests by
the US National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST).
In 2013, the company’s fingerprint
feature extractor was certified for use in
India, where the Warwick Warp is being
deployed in multiple government and
civilian projects.
wind and tidal energy production; ultracompact and efficient marine propulsion
systems; and wheel hub motors and
continuously variable transmissions to
be employed in commercial hybrid and
electric vehicles.
EPSRC & SIP
In 2007, EPSRC set up a new advisory
panel to advise Council, its senior
decision-making body, about how best
to take account of public opinion and
attitudes in policy development.
The Societal Issues Panel (SIP)
complemented the Technical
Opportunities Panel (TOP), which mainly
comprised academics, and the User
Panel (UP), whose main component
is industrialists.
In 2011, EPSRC’s panel system, which
had remained largely unchanged for
nearly two decades, evolved into a
more flexible Strategic Advisory
Network (SAN).
March 21: Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams found social networking service Twitter, officially launched later in 2006
27
2007
Making waves
In 2007, structural earthquake engineer,
Professor Tiziana Rossetto, received an
EPSRC Challenging Engineering award
to establish the Earthquake and People
Interaction Centre (EPICentre), based at
University College London (UCL). She is
also director of the centre.
It was Professor Rossetto’s experience of
surveying the sites of the 2004 earthquakes
and tsunami in Sri Lanka and Thailand with
the UK’s Earthquake Field Investigation
Team (EEFIT) that led her to set up a
multidisciplinary research group under
EPSRC’s Challenging Engineering scheme.
Launched in 2005, the scheme identified
and supported individuals with the potential
to become future leaders of engineering
research, with the ambition of building a
team around them (see page 20).
The EPICentre team of earthquake
engineers, social scientists, psychologists,
coastal engineers and statisticians
investigate and model risk from natural
hazards to buildings and infrastructure
and study their impact on populations. The
team study disasters in the field, and their
research covers earthquakes, tsunami,
volcanoes, floods, risk reduction and
risk representation.
In 2009, with EPSRC support, EPICentre
unveiled a unique wave-generation facility
which can accurately model realistic
tsunami waves. Developed by EPICentre
and marine engineering specialists,
HR Wallingford, the tsunami generator has
a 70-metre long, four metre-wide flume,
and includes a coastal slope and model
beach to show how the coast, buildings and
structures are affected.
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
Professor Rossetto says: “The main gap in
our knowledge is about what happens when
the tsunami wave approaches the near
shore region and then runs inland.
“These flow processes cannot be simplified
using mathematical models because of the
complex interaction that takes place with
beaches, sediment, coastal defences and
then in and around buildings.”
The tsunami generator has been made
available for use by researchers from all
over the world.
An example of a project that will use the
tsunami generator is CRUST, funded in 2014
by EPSRC to develop a new assessment
methodology to help risk management after
earthquakes and tsunami.
The CRUST team brings together expertise
from the University of Bristol and UCL,
and partners widely with industry and
universities worldwide.
In 2010, with support from EPSRC,
EPICentre launched the Virtual Disaster
Viewer (VDV), an innovative web-based
portal that allows earthquake experts to
pool knowledge quickly and effectively to
help relief operations.
The VDV captures before-and-after satellite
images, videos, and real-time field data,
enabling engineers and scientists to
provide detailed damage assessments to
help relief organisations target
emergency supplies, prioritise repairs
and plan reconstruction.
The viewer was used in post-earthquake
field investigations in China in 2008, Italy in
2009 and after the 2010 Haiti earthquake
which killed an estimated 100,000 people.
January 9: Apple CEO, the late Steve Jobs, announces the launch of the first iPhone
In 2011, EPSRC funded a five-year project
led by Newcastle University to enable
UK scientists to visit an earthquake zone
together with the EEFIT team in order
to gather data immediately after an
earthquake has struck.
Researchers, including those from
EPICentre, used the funding to visit the
site of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami
in Japan and the area devastated by
earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand,
both in 2011.
In 2012, Professor Rossetto led the firstever earthquake return reconnaissance
mission to investigate building repair,
strengthening and reconstruction after the
2009 L’Aquila earthquake in Italy. Before
the grant ends in 2016, the team will have
conducted five investigations in total.
In 2013, EPICentre co-director Professor
Hélène Joffe won the prestigious Lloyds
Science of Risk award for her study of
people living in highly seismic areas.
Professor Joffe is a co-investigator in a
major multi-university EPSRC-funded
project led by Professor Chris Rogers
from the University of Birmingham into
sustainable future cities (see pages 16-17).
In 2013, EPSRC funded a £1.6 million
EPICentre project on earthquake and fire
risk. The team are developing tools for
damage evaluation in fire engineering and
are planning an innovative study in Seattle,
USA to get people to prepare and plan for
the effects of earthquake and fire.
This research builds on knowledge of risk
representation gained in the course of
Professor Joffe’s work.
28
Pictures in descending order:
Professor Tiziana Rossetto talks with locals
from Khao Lak, Thailand, as part of an EEFIT
mission after the Indian Ocean earthquake
and tsunami.
The Fast Flow facility at HR Wallingford, site
of the world’s first tsunami generator.
EPICentre team members visited the site
of the devastating 2011 tsunami in Tohuku,
Japan, capturing these dramatic images.
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
May 21: Cutty Sark, the last surviving tea clipper, is badly damaged by fire in Greenwich, England
29
2007
In 2007, XenSource, a company formed
by four EPSRC-supported researchers at
the University of Cambridge’s Computer
Laboratory, was sold to US company Citrix
for $500 million.
XenSource was set up in 2004 to help
commercialise the team’s ground-breaking
software, called Xen, which makes a single
computer appear to be many similar, but
smaller, computers.
Among its key features, Xen enables
several people to use the same computer
server without being able to affect each
other’s personal virtual machine – and
without being aware of each other. Each
virtual machine can run any operating
system and any application.
The notion of getting the most out of the
least number of servers initially attracted
companies that handled large amounts
of data, such as Wall Street banks, which
traditionally had hundreds of thousands
of servers.
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
XenSource began as a consultancy service
advising banks and other businesses on
deploying Xen.
The company’s creators soon realised
there were further business opportunities
in building and supporting an ‘enterpriseready’ version of Xen, and their work
became instrumental in the development of
cloud computing through which companies
undertake large computing jobs. Amazon
was also an early adopter, and used
Xen software in one of the largest cloud
computing bases.
Researchers around the world have
used Xen to develop further research
and generate new applications. Cloud
computing has become ubiquitous for
both the corporate world and for
individual consumers.
In 2014, Citrix offers a suite of security
software including mobile applications for
iOS, Android and Windows smartphones
and tablets.
June 27: Gordon Brown becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
30
Innovation nation
In 2007, EPSRC launched a major initiative
for academics to develop the commercial
potential of their research alongside
commercial businesses in university-based
centres of excellence known as Innovation
and Knowledge Centres (IKCs).
Originally funded by EPSRC, and now cofunded with Innovate UK, with additional
funding from the Biotechnology and
Biological Sciences Research Council
(BBSRC), IKCs were set up to accelerate
and promote business exploitation of an
emerging research and technology field.
Successful projects have developed
new coatings and surfaces that can
be used to turn buildings into power
stations; enhanced jet engine efficiency;
technologies to help the body heal itself,
and systems to combat the threat of cyber
attacks and terrorism.
The seven centres funded to date have
developed ground-breaking work in areas
such as manufacturing technologies for
photonics and electronics; regenerative
medical therapies and devices; and secure
information technologies. They have quickly
established both a global profile and an
international reputation.
Spin out and spin in activity is integral to
the IKC concept. Successful companies
include Microsense, formed to
commercialise research at the Centre for
Secure Information Technologies (CSIT)
IKC at Queen’s University Belfast (see page
35). The company’s award-winning wireless
microwave fence was designed for use
in critical installations such as airports,
power plants and country borders, creating
an invisible but sensitive detection curtain
around a secure location. It is also able
to distinguish between real targets and
nuisance environmental disturbances.
The brief is simple: to ensure great ideas
are swiftly translated into industrial
development, products and jobs. In turn,
the techniques and technologies developed
are fed back into the research ecosystem.
IKCs have also developed successful
partnerships with the Innovate UK-funded
Catapult centres – a network of businessled technology innovation centres designed
to advance innovation in specific fields
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
July 1: Smoking in England is banned in all public indoor spaces
and to enable business to access the
best research and technical expertise,
infrastructure and equipment.
Operating at an earlier stage than
Catapult centres, IKCs are led by an expert
entrepreneurial team and offer a shared
space and entrepreneurial environment in
which researchers can work side by side
with potential customers and professionals
from academia and business.
Since 2007, IKCs have created 801 jobs,
spawned 11 new spin out companies; filed
60 patent applications; initiated
12 licensing deals and brought 60 products
and services to market. They have
also trained 273 doctoral students and
213 MSc students.
The IKC concept has gone down well
with industry, attracting £132 million
in additional research income and
£43 million in business investment
through over 180 partner companies and
340 collaborating businesses.
You can find more about Innovation and
Knowledge Centres in Pioneer 13, available
to download from epsrc.ac.uk.
31
2007
Beetle drive
In 2007, an EPSRC-funded team of
researchers at the University of Leeds
showed that a species of beetle that squirts
its predators with a high-pressure spray
of boiling liquid could provide the key to
significant improvements in aircraft engine
design. Their research also inspired work to
develop new types of nebuliser, needle-free
injections, fire extinguishers and powerful
fuel injection systems.
The bombardier beetle squirts its fiery
potion, which reaches 100 degrees Celsius,
at 300 explosive pulses per second.
The team, led by Professor Andy McIntosh,
believed the beetle’s jet-based defence
mechanism could help solve a problem that
can occasionally occur to jet aircraft at high
altitude – re-igniting a gas turbine engine
which has cut out, when the outside air
temperature is as low as minus
50 degrees Celsius.
“Nobody had studied the beetle from a
physics and engineering perspective as we
did – and we didn’t appreciate how much
we would learn from it.”
In 2010, the Leeds team won the
prestigious Times Higher Education
Outstanding Contribution to Innovation
and Technology Award, in recognition of
their breakthrough in the discipline
of biomimetics.
In 2013, Swedish Biomimetics 3000®,
which has a worldwide exclusive licensing
agreement with the University of Leeds for
the µMist™ platform technology, formed
a technical partnership with motorsport
engineering specialists Cosworth to
advance fuel injection systems
inspired by the bombardier beetle’s
defence mechanism.
The spray’s chemical and physical
characteristics and the insect’s physiology
were simulated using a scaled-up
experimental rig in Professor McIntosh’s lab.
The research, funded initially by EPSRC
and subsequently by Swedish Biomimetics
3000®, led to the development of new
technology, µMist™, which has the potential
to become the platform for the next
generation of eco-friendly mist carrier
systems used in applications such as fuel
injection, medical drug delivery systems
and fire suppression.
Interviewed in 2007, Professor McIntosh
likened the beetle’s defence mechanism
to a pressure cooker controlled by a
complicated system of valves, saying:
“Essentially it’s a high-force steam
cavitation explosion. Using a chamber less
than one millimetre long, this amazing
creature has the ability to change the
rapidity of what comes out, its direction and
its consistency.
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
July 21: The final book in JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, is released selling over 11 million copies in the first 24 hours
32
Knowing the score
In 2007, a consortium of five university
research teams, led by Dr Paul Riley, from
The University of Nottingham, received
£1.6 million in EPSRC funding for a fiveyear project to develop a low cost, high-tech
generator that could transform the lives
of some of the world’s poorest
people by turning sound energy
into electricity. The process,
known as thermo-acoustics,
converts heat from biomass
fuels into sound – and then into
electrical energy.
The creation of a Stove for
Cooking, Refrigeration and
Electricity not only gave the
project its name – the Score
stove project – it also gave
hope to some of the three
billion people around the world
who still cook on an open
fire, resulting in at least four
million premature deaths each
year from smoke inhalation,
according to the World
Health Organisation.
Dr Riley says EPSRC, which leads the
Research Councils UK Energy Programme,
set up to tackle global energy challenges,
had identified rural fuel use in poor areas
as a priority and had set up a workshop to
discuss solutions. He explains: “I knew that
thermo-acoustics has no moving parts,
so it could be made cheaply. Following the
workshop I assembled a multidisciplinary
team of colleagues from several
universities and brought them together
with the charity Practical Action to research
and develop the technology.”
In 2010, the first Score Centre was set up in
Malaysia and ramped up its research with
the aid of three doctoral students.
In 2012, an international conference was
held to disseminate the work of Score, and
people from five continents attended.
In the same year, the Score stove project
received a second round of EPSRC funding
to install more devices in developing
countries’ universities. Electricity
generating stoves were sent to
Kathmandu and Bangladesh
universities, and Kenya installed
75 clean wood burning stoves.
Kathmandu University, with the
support of Dr Riley and his team,
successfully used the stove to
produce electricity and boil water.
The Practical Action charity’s
Teo Sanchez says: “Partnerships
like this, which combine active
involvement of academics and
non-academics from north and
south with effective exchange
of knowledge and know-how,
contribute to real solutions to
help the poor to use technology to
challenge their poverty.”
Twelve clean burning stoves (not electrically
generating) were installed in Kenya and
results published.
In 2011, Score Centres in Bangladesh,
at the University of Engineering and
Technology (BUET), and in Nepal, at
Kathmandu University, were set up. Field
trials in Nepal and Kenya were reported,
confirming the need for a technology that
generated as little as 10 Watts of electricity.
The main uses were seen as being for
lighting, radio and charging mobile phones.
In 2013, Paul Riley and his team won
Siemens’ Empowering People award for
the Score stove technology and secured
further funding to develop the technology
in the field.
Work has still to be done on developing a
stove more adapted and appropriate to the
local conditions.
Dr Riley hopes that, by making it easier to
build and more reliable, the Score stove
will be transformed from highly promising
device to life-saving invention.
Above: Score team members test out the stove in
Kenya.
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
May 3: British child Madeleine McCann disappears from an apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal
33
2007
Bricks from waste
In 2007, Encos, a spin out company from the
University of Leeds, was formed to develop
carbon neutral masonry products made
from waste products. The blocks literally
lock carbon into the fabric of buildings. The
research behind the company’s formation
was developed by Dr John Forth and Dr
Salah Zoorob, and funded by EPSRC.
Dubbed Bitublock, the new building blocks
used 100 per cent recycled and waste
materials as the aggregate, bound together
by bitumen, a heavy by-product of the
petrochemical industry.
The smarter ambulance
In 2007, EPSRC co-invested in a joint
initiative with the Helen Hamlyn Centre
for Design and the Royal Academy of Art
to create a new ambulance interior fit for
21st century healthcare.
The project brought together frontline
paramedics, clinicians, patients, academic
researchers, engineers, designers and
potential purchasers in a co-design
process, specifically looking at ways to
provide healthcare in the community,
reducing hospital admissions and
patient journeys.
The new ambulance’s redesign focused on
improving clinical efficiency and enhancing
patient safety.
Among the changes were better located
equipment storage spaces and an easilycleaned interior, making infection control
much simpler and more effective. The
vehicles were also equipped with some
of the latest mobile communications
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
technologies including patient vital signs
monitoring and hospital data transfer to
specialist stroke, cardiac or trauma units.
Possibly the design change with the
biggest impact was the decision to move
the stretcher from its traditional position
against the side of the ambulance and
place it in the centre. This gave emergency
teams 360 degree access to the patient.
The new design proved a hit with staff.
In 2011, a full-size mobile demonstrator of
the new ambulance interior was formally
launched and went on the road.
Modular equipment packs containing
specific treatment consumables were
incorporated to aid clinical performance,
infection control and stock control.
In 2012, the 21st century ambulance project
won the Industrial Designers Society of
America Silver Award for Research at the
International Design Excellence Awards.
Using a low-energy process, Encos’s
products are manufactured from recovered
aggregates and a patented vegetable oilbased binder, encosol™. The result is net
carbon neutral bricks and building slips
with the looks, strength and performance of
their traditional counterparts, without the
environmental impacts.
In 2011, Encos commissioned a £200,000
test plant at Yorkshire Water’s Knostrop
site in Leeds, where it began producing
carbon-negative masonry from incinerated
sewage. The bricks were subsequently used
to build several test walls at Poundbury
– the experimental urban development in
Dorset designed according to architectural
principles advocated by the Prince of Wales.
In 2012, the award-winning company
conducted successful full scale
manufacturing trials working with
independent construction materials
manufacturer S. Morris Ltd in Somerset.
In 2013, Encos began a partnership with
Columbia Machine, a world-leading
manufacturer of concrete products
equipment, to bring its products to the
mainstream market.
December 20: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II becomes the oldest ever monarch of the United Kingdom
34
Inventor of the year
In 2007, an EPSRCsupported Queen’s
University Belfast (QUB)
lecturer, Dr Maire McLoone
(later O’Neill), was named
British Female Inventor
of the Year at the British
Female Inventors and Innovators awards.
She received the award for a product that
enhances security mechanisms to protect
the public from cyber criminals, such as
hackers, and also helps to identify thieves.
Cool water
In 2007, spin out company Arvia Technology
was formed to commercialise EPSRCsupported research into water treatment at
The University of Manchester by Dr Nigel
Brown and Dr Ted Roberts.
Arvia’s formation followed proof of principle
funding from EPSRC in 2001, which later
awarded follow-on funding to the company.
Arvia’s patented water treatment
method removes and destroys organic
contaminants and oils using a procedure
that is free of process chemicals, is energy
efficient, and produces little solid or
liquid waste for disposal, using a unique
adsorption material called Nyex®.
Since its formation, the company
has received a host of awards and
commendations and in 2009 featured in The
Guardian’s Global Cleantech 100 listing.
In 2010, Arvia secured investments of
£3.8 million to develop its nuclear and
water business.
In 2014, Arvia is collaborating with the UK’s
National Nuclear Laboratory on a project
using its technology to destroy oils and
solvents contaminated by high levels
of radiation currently located at the
Sellafield site.
In 2014, Professor O’Neill’s invention is
used in more than 100 million TV set-top
boxes, and she is widely regarded as one
of Europe’s leading cryptography experts,
helping enhance global data security.
Also in 2014, she received the Royal
Academy of Engineering Silver Medal, one
of only five engineers who have received
the medal in national recognition of their
contribution to society.
In print
in forensic evidence which will prove the
presence or absence of illicit substances.
In 2007, Professor David Russell from the
University of East Anglia founded a spin
out company, Intelligent Fingerprinting Ltd,
based on his EPSRC-supported research
into the detection of drugs and drug
metabolites in fingerprints.
In 2012, Intelligent Fingerprinting received
an investment of £2 million from US
backers, and over the next 15 months
secured almost £700,000 in governmentfunded grants.
The company specialises in the
development of non-invasive diagnostic
screening technology for fast and
convenient point-of-care testing
using fingerprints.
The company has attracted worldwide
interest in its technology for a wide range
of drug-screening applications including
criminal justice, drug rehabilitation, prisons
and the workplace. The technique has
potential for many other uses including
healthcare diagnostics and homeland
security applications.
In 2009, Professor Russell received followon funding from EPSRC to develop biomolecules that specifically bind to residues
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Maire O’Neill went on to become the
youngest ever professor to be appointed
at Queen’s at the age of 32. She was
instrumental in the creation of the Centre
for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT),
an EPSRC Innovation and Knowledge
Centre (see page 31) at QUB, which has
established strong links with global
security organisations.
In 2014, Intelligent Fingerprinting secured
£750,000 in funding from a consortium of
private US-based investors to support the
final stages of development of the world’s
first handheld fingerprint-based drug
screening device, which is able to screen
for multiple drugs and provides results in
less than 10 minutes.
Simple to operate and totally noninvasive, the device is ideal for a variety
of drug screening applications including
drug rehabilitation services, offender
management and criminal justice. The
product is currently in development and will
be available in 2015. The global market for
drug screening was recently estimated to
reach US$2.6 billion by 2015.
April 3: French TGV high speed passenger train breaks the speed record of the fastest conventional train, clocking 357.2mph
35
Picture courtesy Surrey Satellite Technology Limited
2008
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September 15: Lehman Brothers files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, laying the catalyst for the global financial crisis
36
Space aces
In 2008, Surrey Satellite Technology
Limited (SSTL),a company set up in 1985
to commercialise EPSRC-funded research
led by Professor Martin Sweeting at the
University of Surrey, was sold to space
technology giant EADS Astrium for
£40 million.
The company, whose Group Executive
Chairman is Professor Sir Martin Sweeting
FRS, continues to work closely with the
University of Surrey, mainly through the
Surrey Space Centre, a dedicated facility
borne out of research at the university.
Today, SSTL is the world’s leading small
satellite company, with over 500 staff
and export sales of over £150 million.
The company designs, manufactures and
operates high performance satellites and
ground systems for a range of applications
including Earth observation, science and
communications – at a fraction of the price
normally associated with space missions.
In 2013, in a world-first space mission
destined to make space exploration more
accessible, a University of Surrey research
team, led by Dr Chris Bridges, formerly
an EPSRC-supported doctoral student,
in collaboration with SSTL, developed the
STRaND-1 nano-satellite – made from an
unmodified Google Nexus smartphone and
built using advanced commercial off-theshelf components.
Since 1981, SSTL has built and launched
over 40 satellites, and has developed
an innovative approach that is changing
the economics of space. It also provides
training and development programmes,
consultancy services, and mission studies
for the European Space Agency, NASA,
international governments and
commercial customers.
The satellite made its maiden voyage
aboard the Indian Space Research
Organisation’s Polar Satellite Launch
Vehicle, and is currently orbiting the Earth
at around 16,000 miles per hour. It will
be the first test of whether commercial
elements and components found in
everyday devices can survive in the
extreme conditions experienced in space.
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
July 28: The historic Weston-Super-Mare Grand Pier burns down for a second time in 80 years
The satellite’s onboard computer checks
which components of the phone are
working normally and relays images
and messages back to Earth via a radio
system. In phase two of the programme,
the STRaND-1 team hope to switch the
satellite’s in-orbit operations to the phone,
testing the capabilities of a number of
standard smartphone components for a
space environment.
Among the pioneering technologies
developed for the mission is its WARP
DRiVE (Water Alcohol Resistojet
Propulsion system), a novel new
propulsion system that will help the
satellite to perform manoeuvres.
In 2014, SSTL supplied navigation payloads
for the first two Galileo Full Operational
Capability spacecraft launched for a
landmark European satellite navigation
programme led by the European Space
Agency (ESA). Galileo is Europe’s own
global satellite navigation system.
Ultimately, it will consist of 30 satellites
and their ground infrastructure.
37
2008
Healthy
relationships
In 2008, EPSRC co-invested in two major healthcare initiatives
with two new Strategic Partners, Cancer Research UK and the
Wellcome Trust.
With Cancer Research UK, EPSRC co-invested £45 million in
medical imaging research to support the development and
introduction of the latest cancer imaging technologies. The
investment included £5 million from the Medical Research Council
(MRC) and the Department of Health for England.
Four large cancer imaging centres were established to serve as
focal points in techniques such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging
and Positron Emission Tomography. Five cancer imaging research
programmes were also set up to concentrate on a specific area of
imaging research.
In six years the multidisciplinary centres have established
themselves as world-leading facilities in cancer imaging, whose
breakthrough technologies include new techniques to enable noninvasive assessment of disease progression.
The £45 million co-investment with the Wellcome Trust led to the
creation of four UK Centres of Excellence in Medical Engineering
in June 2009. The centres, which are based at Imperial College
London, the University of Leeds, the University of Oxford and
King’s College London, focus on finding new solutions for arthritis;
medical imaging; personalised healthcare; new medical devices
and regenerative therapies.
In 2013, EPSRC strengthened its Strategic Partnerships with
CRUK and the Wellcome Trust with two new major investments.
With CRUK, £35 million was invested in four university-based
centres to develop cutting-edge imaging technologies for basic and
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
clinical cancer research. The total investment is now £116 million.
With the Wellcome Trust, £30 million was invested in a range
of leading-edge research projects including computer-guided
ultrasound technologies, and ways to transform the safety and
efficacy of foetal surgery. The total co-investment is now £75 million.
The partnership principle
Since 2000, EPSRC has forged a network of Strategic
Partnerships with blue-chip global industries and
other ‘research users’, such as major charities and UK
Government departments.
Strategic Partnerships provide a key link between the needs
of research users, such as industry, and long-term academic
research. They also provide joint funding of UK universities
to support research, training and other activities in gap
areas of strategic importance to UK economic and social
wellbeing; and enable clear routes to exploitation.
Beyond the major Strategic Partnerships, such are the
benefits of working with collaborators from industry and
other sectors that 45 per cent of EPSRC’s research
portfolio is collaborative.
EPSRC works with around 2,800 companies and partner
organisations. By ensuring the early engagement between
industry and the research base, the fruits of EPSRC’s
investments can be maximised, helping to keep the UK at
the forefront of global research and innovation.
August 16: Usain Bolt sets a new 100 metres dash world record of 9.69 seconds at the Beijing 2008 summer Olympics
38
Tag team
In 2008, a multidisciplinary
EPSRC-funded research
team, led by Professor
Paul Sermon, a
nanomaterials
engineer at Brunel
University, devised
an ingenious
new bullet tagging
technology that could make
it much harder for criminals who use
firearms to evade justice in future.
The tags primarily consisted of naturallyoccurring pollen, a substance that evolution
has provided with extraordinary
adhesive properties.
The tiny tags, which are invisible to the
naked eye, are designed to be coated
onto gun cartridges. They then attach
themselves to the hands or gloves of
anyone handling the cartridge and are very
difficult to wash off completely.
Crucially, some of these ‘nanotags’ also
remain on the cartridge even after it has
been fired.
This research helped paved the way for
ways to establish a robust forensic link
between a cartridge fired during a crime
and whoever handled the cartridge.
The project was a joint collaboration
between Brighton, Brunel, Cranfield,
Surrey and York universities.
In 2012, the team came up with a refined
version of the technology.
After years of testing, they hit on a
technique that could also stash away skin
cells of any person touching the bullets, to
increase the probability of obtaining useful
associative evidence.
To label the hands of anyone who touches
the bullet, they took the sticky pollen grains
from the Easter lily, and coated them in
titanium dioxide (TiO2) before dropping
them in liquid plastic.
This solution was used to coat the bottom
of the bullet casing. While the pollen is not
uncommon, and TiO2 is found in paints and
sun lotions, together they form a unique
tag, says Professor Sermon.
When tested on coatings on bullets from a
nine millimetre Browning pistol, the team
found that 53 per cent more viable DNA
could be harvested from these bullets than
from uncoated ones.
In 2008, wheels were set in motion to build
the fastest car in the world, Bloodhound
SSC, capable of 1,000mph – 30 per cent
faster than any car that has gone before.
Bloodhound SSC is a jet and rocket powered
car weighing over seven tonnes. Its engines
produce over 135,000 horsepower – six times
the power of a combined starting grid of
Formula 1 cars.
The only other manned vehicles capable
of exceeding 1,000 mph within Earth’s
atmosphere are military fighter jets,
although none can do this speed close to the
ground where the air is thicker.
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
In 2008, EPSRC-supported engineers at the
University of Leeds co-developed a device
to help some of the most impoverished
farmers in Africa maximise crop yields.
The device gathers data on air temperature,
humidity, air pressure, light, soil moisture
and temperature – information crucial to
making key agricultural decisions about
planting, fertilisation, irrigation, pest and
disease control and harvesting.
The research team, led by Professor Jaafar
Elmirghani, worked with two Kenyan villages
to develop the technology, funded under
the Research Councils UK Digital Economy
Programme, led by EPSRC.
The 1,000 mph super car
In addition to setting a new World Land
Speed Record, the project has two other
goals: to inspire the next generation
about science, technology, engineering
and mathematics; and to share an iconic
research and development programme with
a global audience.
Crop logic
An EPSRC-funded aerodynamics team at
Swansea University have played a vital role
in the project, which EPSRC has sponsored
since launch. Swansea’s Dr Ben Evans says:
“Wind tunnels have massive limitations.
Bloodhound is a car, so it’s rolling on the
ground. There are no wind tunnels where you
can simulate this with a car travelling faster
than the speed of sound. Our job is to make
sure the vehicle stays on the ground, and
that the drag is as low as possible.”
In 2015, the Bloodhound team, led by
Richard Noble OBE, will begin its attempt on
the World Land Speed Record.
The devices fed back information via a
wireless network to a central hub, or server,
located at the village school, which was then
sent to agriculture experts to assist farmers’
decision-making. The data was also fed into
agricultural teaching at Kenyan schools.
This project was led by the London
Knowledge Lab, and involved UK
researchers working with the University of
Nairobi, and with rural communities
in Kenya.
In 2014, Professor Elmirghani leads the
£6 million INTelligent EneRgy aware
NETworks (INTERNET) research project
in collaboration with colleagues at the
University of Cambridge and a number
of major industrial players. The five-year
project is funded by EPSRC.
September 10: The Large Hadron Collider at CERN, described as the biggest scientific experiment in the history of mankind, is powered up in Geneva
39
2008
of an industry and academic partnership
producing world-class research for the
benefit of the environment and the
car buyer.
“The most important part of the project
is that the technologies developed are
available and affordable and, as we have
already shown, can be easily implemented
into next-generation models to produce
lower emissions.”
Hotfire
In 2008, a multidisciplinary collaboration
between EPSRC-supported engineers and
industry partners resulted in a concept car
engine that reduces fuel consumption by
15 per cent.
The award-winning system, which sprays
fuel directly into the cylinders of a petrol
engine rather than using a fuel/air mix,
attracted interest from a number of major
car manufacturers.
The project, led by Professor Nicos
Ladommatos, from University College
London (UCL), was a collaboration between
UCL, Loughborough University, Lotus
Engineering and Continental Powertrain.
Interviewed in 2008, Mike Kimberley,
Chief Executive Officer of Group Lotus Plc,
said: “The project is an excellent example
The affordable technology caught the
interest of the car industry, and also won
the Automotive category at The Engineer
magazine’s Technology and Innovation
Awards 2008.
In 2009, the work on the Hotfire project was
completed, and some of the technologies
developed were taken forward by
Lotus Engineering in subsequent
engine development.
In 2015, Professor Ladomattos and
colleagues at UCL begin a new EPSRCfunded project, working with the University
of Brighton, investigating ultra efficient
engines and fuels. A project partner in the
research is UK car manufacturer Jaguar
Land Rover (JLR) with which the university
has had a long-term collaboration,
supporting its advanced engine
research programmes.
RCUK India
In 2008, a major collaborative research
partnership between Research Councils
UK and Indian agencies was launched.
The initiative set up a dedicated Delhibased programme, RCUK India,
which was set up to address major
global challenges.
EPSRC is heavily involved in the
initiative, which spans energy
security, food, arts, humanities, social
sciences, water & climate change,
chronic disease and sustainable
crop production.
Projects co-funded by EPSRC include
research into advanced manufacturing;
smart energy grids and storage; and
sustainable energy.
In just six years the joint research
programme had gone from an almost
zero base to close to £150 million in
jointly-funded UK-India projects.
Early warning
In 2008, at the age of 27,
Olga Kubassova, a former
EPSRC-sponsored doctoral
student at the University
of Leeds, founded medical
software company Image
Analysis to commercialise
her research.
High performance HECToR
In 2008, EPSRC launched HECToR, the
largest and most advanced supercomputing
facility in the UK.
Based at the University of Edinburgh’s
Advanced Computing Facility, the
£113 million service ran for six years and
was managed by EPSRC on behalf of the
UK Research Councils.
The new supercomputer, which was
capable of making 63 million, million
calculations per second – 10,000 for every
person on the planet – provided a worldclass, internationally accessible service for
UK-based academic research.
HECToR also supported the development
of innovative computational technologies
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
and encouraged industry and commerce to
make effective use of high-end computing.
As one of the largest and most advanced
supercomputers in Europe, HECToR played
a key role in keeping researchers at the
forefront of their fields. Its work included
forecasting the impact of climate change,
modelling fluctuations in ocean currents,
projecting the spread of epidemics,
designing new materials and developing
new medicinal drugs.
In 2014, HECToR was decommissioned and
replaced by the ARCHER supercomputer,
one of the fastest on the planet.
You can find out more about HECToR in
Pioneer 12, covering 1994-2003.
The company’s image analysis platform,
Dynamika, allows clinicians a vital window
of opportunity to treat arthritis and other
inflammatory diseases in its early stages. It
does this by turning the abstract concept of
algorithms into innovative software to enable
repeatable and reliable early diagnosis.
The software is now used in hospitals and
clinical departments across Europe, and
Image Analysis has grown to employ 25 staff.
In 2012, Olga Kubassova (pictured) was
named Entrepreneur of the Year at the
Everywoman in Technology Awards, and in
2014 Image Analysis was featured as Wired
magazine’s Start-up of the Week.
August 17: Michael Phelps surpasses Mark Spitz in Gold Medals won at a single Olympics, winning eight in total
40
Cell mates
The year 2008 marked the highly significant
fourth anniversary of an enduring research
partnership between four scientists from
different disciplines: Professors Lee Cronin,
from the University of Glasgow, Natalio
Krasnogor and Cameron Alexander, from
The University of Nottingham, and Ben
Davis from the University of Oxford, who met
during a 2004 EPSRC-sponsored ‘Sandpit’
creative workshop aimed at promoting bluesky, curiosity-led research.
The Sandpit, one of the first in a new
generation of creative workshops, focused
on the potential development of synthetic
chemical-cells, or CHELLS, a phrase coined
at the workshop and now adopted in many
scientific and popular articles on
synthetic biology.
Following on from the Sandpit, Professors
Alexander, Krasnogor, Davis and
Cronin co-authored a discussion piece
in Nature Biotechnology with fellow
Sandpit participants proposing a ‘thought
experiment’ to determine whether an
artificial cell is alive. This led to a thoughtprovoking film with designer James King,
The Imitation Game. And so the Chellnet
network was born.
The film was the first product of a
remarkable multidisciplinary collaboration
between the four scientists, which, through
individual and joint research projects, took
three approaches to the CHELL concept:
polymeric, chemical biological and inorganic.
These projects explored, in different
and complementary directions, ways to
understand how cellular structures might
imitate a living system, and the profound
impact this might have. All four scientists
have since contributed important advances
in synthetic, chemical and computational
biology research.
In 2008, chemist Cameron Alexander, who
has steered his research towards medical
uses for CHELL technology, working with
doctoral student George Pasparakis, took
some initial steps towards creating a
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synthetic copycat of a living cell, using
long-chain molecules to mimic the
surfaces of the real thing.
steps towards creating ‘life’ from inorganic
chemicals, potentially defining the new area
of ‘inorganic biology’.
The EPSRC-supported research could
one day lead to new targeted drug delivery
systems, where the artificial cell capsules
carry drug molecules to attack specific
diseased cells in the body, while leaving
healthy cells intact. It could thus offer a new
weapon in the fight against superbugs.
The inorganic cells, which can store
electrons similar to a battery, and also
harvest solar energy, could potentially be
used in numerous medical applications in
medicine, as sensors or to confine chemical
reactions. By taking a ‘minimal’ approach to
the assembly of inorganic CHELLS they
hope to understand how living systems
can spontaneously emerge in the
‘inorganic’ world.
In 2009, supported by an EPSRC Platform
Grant, chemical biologist Professor Ben
Davis and Paul Gardner, from the Davis
research group, constructed a lipid-bound
‘protometabolism’ that synthesises complex
carbohydrates from simple raw materials.
This encapsulated system may represent
the first step towards the realisation of a
synthetic chemical cell that displays complex
behaviours such as communication with
natural cells.
All four founding members of Chellnet
provided input into this research; Davis has
also worked with Cameron Alexander on the
development of polymer CHELLS.
In 2011, Natalio Krasnogor, at the time
working at The University of Nottingham’s
School of Computer Science, began an
ambitious EPSRC-funded project that takes
a synthetic biology approach to developing
a biological cell equivalent of a computer
operation system. If successful, the research
will lead to a ‘re-programmable cell’ within
a living organism. Not only would this
revolutionise synthetic biology,
it would pave the way for
scientists to utilise biology
as a next-generation platform
from which to build a
‘biological computer’.
The Cronin group’s aims are ambitious:
to engineer/discover routes to artificial
life. These routes may also be relevant to
determining the origin of life on Earth and to
understanding how easy (or hard) it could be
for the emergence of life elsewhere.
In December 2014, Cronin’s team reported
it had succeeded in creating an abiotic
evolving chemical system for the first time.
The process uses a robotic ‘aid’ and could be
used in the future to ‘evolve’ new chemicals
capable of performing specific tasks.
All stemming from a creative thinking
workshop (see pages 80-83) the like of which
none of the four scientists had experienced
before, and which set them on a journey of
discovery which could lead to new forms of
life – but not quite as we know them.
Now at Newcastle University,
where he is professor of
computer science and synthetic
biology, Krasnogor’s expertise
in synthetic biology has helped
to unify the diverse projects
conducted by the Chellnet.
In 2011, Lee Cronin and his
team of EPSRC-supported
scientists took their first tentative
November 11: The RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) set sail on her final voyage to Dubai
41
2009
Investing in future talent
In 2009, in a bold new approach to doctoral
student training, EPSRC invested
£250 million in 44 all-new Centres for
Doctoral Training (CDTs).
It was the biggest-ever single investment in
training scientists and engineers and led to
comprehensive ‘cohort-based’ training for
over 2,000 doctoral students, tackling some
of the biggest problems facing the UK and
the planet, such as climate change, energy,
an ageing population and high-tech crime.
Such has been the success of the initiative,
EPSRC has continued to develop the
programme, particularly through a major
new tranche of investment in 2014.
There are now 115 new CDTs in
33 universities, training over 7,000
postgraduates on specific research
challenges, such as cybersecurity, renewable
energy, robotics and applied photonics.
Based on a series of successful pilot
schemes in ‘cohort-based’ doctoral
training, begun in 2002, the initiative
created communities of researchers,
bringing together diverse areas of expertise
to train engineers and scientists with the
skills, knowledge and confidence to tackle
today’s evolving issues.
Centres for Doctoral Training create new
working cultures, build relationships
between teams in universities and forge
lasting links with industry, providing clear
pathways and opportunities for businesses
and universities to work together. Today
there are 1,000 partner companies – from
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global megabrands such as P&G and Tata
Steel to SMEs.
Combined governmental and partner
funding for CDTs is now £962 million,
including £31 million in capital investment.
It is the UK’s largest investment in
postgraduate training, in areas of key
importance to the UK economy and
society, representing perhaps the biggest
industry-educational trans-sector training
investment in Europe.
EPSRC Associate Director, Dr Alison
Wall, says: “Cohort-based training such
as this brings people together to look
at real-world problems. They don’t just
focus on areas of concern to GSK or
Rolls-Royce, they will often have 10-20
companies working on problems. They
see commonalities of approach, which are
usually multidisciplinary, and they develop
multiple solutions.
“More than 40 per cent of CDT studentships
are collaborative with a company from the
very start. Students work with business and
other mentors and some may spend most
of their time in a company.
“We also help to provide students with
the skills that might lead them to become
entrepreneurs. This is training for the
business environment.
“Nearly half of all EPSRC-supported
students go into business straight after
their doctorate, and most will end up
working in business and government for
their longer-term career.”
January 3: Israeli ground forces invade Gaza
42
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January 20: Barack Obama is inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States of America, becoming the United States’ first African-American president
43
2009
Green speed
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June 1: Air France Flight 447 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean, en route from Rio de Janeiro, killing all 228 on board
44
In 2009, an EPSRC-supported team from
the University of Warwick, led by Dr Kerry
Kirwan, an EPSRC Challenging Engineering
award holder, designed and built the world’s
first fully sustainable Formula 3 racing car.
The WorldF3st (pictured) is made from
woven flax, recycled carbon fibre, recycled
resin and carrot pulp for the steering wheel.
It runs on biofuel made from chocolate and
animal fats and is lubricated with plant oils.
It is both environmentally friendly and fast,
and can achieve 0-60 in 2.5 seconds before
reaching a top speed of 175 mph.
The car was launched at the 2009
Goodwood Festival of Speed,
showcased at the British
Grand Prix and later demonstrated at the
European Grand Prix.
In 2009, WorldF3st was featured as one of
TIME Magazine’s Top 50 Global Inventions.
In 2010, the research team were short-listed
for Times Higher Education magazine’s
award for Outstanding Engineering
Research Team of the Year.
In 2013, EPSRC funded further research at
Warwick to develop recycled composites and
flax-reinforced composites for the LolaDrayson all-electric prototype racing car,
demonstrating the potential of sustainable
technologies in the
motorsport industry.
The car later broke the World Land Speed
Record for a lightweight electric car, hitting
a top speed of 204.2 mph at a racetrack at
RAF Elvington in Yorkshire.
Also in 2013, a multidisciplinary, multiuniversity team led by Dr Kirwan began
a £3 million, three-year EPSRC-funded
project aimed at using plants and bacteria to
recover useful materials, such as platinum,
nickel and arsenic, from contaminated land.
Working with a University of Edinburgh
team, led by Dr Louise Horsfall, the team
use fungi and bacteria to degrade the plant
biomass, a process which unlocks the
metals the plants have accumulated.
The bacteria ingest the metals, forming
metallic nanoparticles for later extraction.
With the fungi the bacteria also produce
chemicals and other products for the
pharmaceutical industry.
The idea for the project emerged from an
EPSRC ‘Sandpit’ (see pages 80-83) involving
scientists from Newcastle, Birmingham,
Cranfield, Edinburgh and
Warwick universities.
In 2014, Dr Kerry Kirwan is Director
of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral
Training in Sustainable Materials and Manufacturing at
the University
of Warwick.
He is also
Strategic
Director
of the
Industrial
Doctorate
Centre and
Head of the
Sustainable Materials
and Manufacturing
Research Group within
Warwick Manufacturing
Group. Dr Kirwan also leads the
university’s Global Research Priority in
Innovative Manufacturing.
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
June 25: The death of American entertainer Michael Jackson triggers an outpouring of worldwide grief
45
2009
Putting life back into stone
In 2009, EPSRC-supported scientists and
preservation experts joined forces to help
save historic York Minster Cathedral from
decay and erosion.
Researchers co-funded by EPSRC and the
Arts and Humanities Research Council
(AHRC) at the Universities of York and
Cardiff used advanced X-ray techniques
to investigate the composition of the
limestone and historic mortars used
to build York Minster, and the ways in
which these have decayed as a result of
weathering and pollution over time.
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Through their research, the project team,
led by Dr Karen Wilson from Cardiff
University, were able to provide crucial
advice to conservation experts on how best
to treat the stone to prevent further decay.
They also advised on the most suitable
materials to be used in the restoration of
York Minster’s East Front.
In 2012, a team led by Dr Karen Wilson
and her fellow Cardiff colleague, Professor
Adam Lee, developed a new treatment
that could help protect historic limestone
buildings from erosion.
Working on York Minster’s iconic
magnesian limestone cathedral, the team
developed a new treatment, utilising
hydrophobic surface coatings, which
protects limestone from erosion by acid
rain and atmospheric pollutants, while
allowing the stone to ‘breathe’.
Findings from the project, which was
funded through the Science and Heritage
Programme co-funded by EPSRC and
AHRC, could now be used to help conserve
other historic limestone buildings around
the world.
January 19: The UK Government confirms a £300-billion bailout package for the United Kingdom’s banking industry
46
50 after 50
In 2009, EPSRC-funded researchers at
the University of Leeds embarked on
the 50 Active Years after 50® healthcare
technologies initiative, focused on
regenerative therapies such as joint and
organ replacements. Its aim was to help
ensure people can live as actively
up to 100 years of age as they did up to
50 years.
The group’s work includes developing
longer-lasting joint replacements for the hip,
knee and spine; bio-regenerative scaffolds
for tissue regeneration in areas such as
heart valves, blood vessels, meniscus
and ligaments; enhancing the quality and
reliability of devices such as implants
and biomaterials and advancing stem
cell therapies.
Based within the prestigious Institute of
Medical and Biological Engineering at Leeds,
the research team, led by Professors John
Fisher and Eileen Ingham, is addressing
these challenges through seven major
centres and EPSRC Programme Grants.
The centres include the EPSRC
Centre for Doctoral Training in Tissue
Engineering and Regenerative Medicine;
the EPSRC/Wellcome Trust-supported
WELMEC Centre of Excellence in Medical
Engineering; and the EPSRC-supported
Innovation and Knowledge Centre (IKC) in
Regenerative Therapies and Devices.
With his team, Professor Fisher, a
member of EPSRC Council, its senior
decision-making body, has pioneered work
on longer-lasting joint replacements,
revolutionary spinal interventions and a new
generation of biological scaffolds for tissue
repair that grow with the body.
Successful IKC projects have included
a portable heart scanner, new surgical
technologies and an award-winning product
that can reverse early-stage tooth decay. The
research that led to this product was funded
by EPSRC, beginning in the 1990s.
The Medical Technologies IKC alone has
attracted over £90 million in research
and innovation funding, as well as over
£50 million in private sector investment in
product development (see page 31).
In 2013, the EPSRC Centre for Innovative
Manufacturing in Medical Devices was
inaugurated at the University of Leeds. The
centre dovetails with the Medical Technologies
Innovation and Knowledge Centre.
Called to account
In 2009, EPSRC introduced its
Knowledge Transfer Account
programme, which saw investment
of £55 million in 25 university-led
projects focusing on grants to
help further exploit the outputs of
EPSRC-funded research.
Universities were given the
flexibility to use their KTA funding
in areas such as proof-of-concept
funding, entrepreneurship training,
networking, people exchange,
business relationship-building and
start-up generation.
Trump card
In 2009, cutting-edge computer modelling
software brought an extinct, trumpet-like
instrument back to life – allowing a work
by Bach to be performed as the composer
intended for the first time in nearly 300 years.
No one alive had heard, played or even seen
a picture of the lituus – a two-metre long
horn made from beech. It was recreated
thanks to software developed by Dr Alistair
Braden, an EPSRC-supported doctoral
student at the University of Edinburgh.
Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, a Swissbased music conservatory specialising in
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
early music, used Edinburgh’s designs to
build two identical examples of the longlost instrument. Both were later used in an
experimental Bach performance.
The research opened up the potential for
tailor-made musical instruments to suit the
individual needs of musicians.
The project also has potential applications
in structural engineering. For example,
acoustic signals could be sent through hardto-reach pipework and ducting in buildings
such as power stations to reveal their
condition accurately.
January 21: Toyota surpasses General Motors to become the world’s largest car maker
Among many successful projects, a
team from Newcastle University used
their Knowledge Transfer Account
funding to develop an ultra low-cost
pre-natal scanner that uses pulses
of high frequency sound to build up
a picture of the unborn child on a
computer screen.
Conventional ultrasound scanners
can cost up to £100,000, but the
device can be manufactured for as
little as £40.
In 2012, Knowledge Transfer
Accounts were replaced by Impact
Acceleration Accounts, which build
on the KTA concept.
47
2009
Synthetic science
In 2009, following a successful blue-sky
thinking ‘Sandpit’ exercise (see pages 8083), EPSRC and the United States National
Science Foundation (NSF) co-invested
£6 million in five new collaborative
research projects between UK and US
researchers in the emerging field of
synthetic biology – a new approach to
engineering biology.
Still in its infancy, synthetic biology could
revolutionise how we make things – from
innovative biofuels to a new generation
of antibodies and vaccines – and the
research projects launched under the
initiative covered areas ranging from
biological and chemical engineering to
plant biology and sociology.
In 2009, EPSRC and the Biotechnology
and Biological Sciences Research Council
(BBSRC), held a year-long series of public
workshops and stakeholder interviews
on the science and issues surrounding
synthetic biology, and helped to articulate
some important questions for those
developing the field.
The Sandpit concept was subsequently
adopted by the NSF and by other UK
research councils – inspired by the
creative thinking it unlocked.
In 2009, EPSRC co-invested in the Centre
for Synthetic Biology and Innovation at
Imperial College London under its Science
and Innovation Awards initiative (see
page 18). The centre is developing the
foundational tools for synthetic biology
and using these to generate innovative
biological applications in healthcare
and industry.
In 2013, EPSRC invested in the SynbiCITE
Innovation and Knowledge Centre (see
page 18), led by Imperial College London.
With funding from BBSRC and the
Technology Strategy Board (now Innovate
UK), the centre aims to serve as a national
resource integrating university and
industry-based research in synthetic
biology and to accelerate this into
industrial processes and products.
It also functions as a vehicle for
the support of UK SMEs and startup companies.
Since its formation, the centre
has generated over £4.5 million in
additional research income.
In 2014, a multidisciplinary
UK/US research team published
Synthetic Aesthetics, a book
resulting from their project of the
same name emerging from the
2009 Sandpit event.
The book explores synthetic biology
and the design of living systems,
using design and art as a way to open
up the discussion.
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October 2: Rio de Janeiro is elected as host city of the 2016 Summer Olympics and Paralympics
48
commissioned by EPSRC and Dstl, which
includes research into converting and storing
other sources of energy such as solar power
and body heat.
In 2011, Professor Bell and colleagues at
Leeds launched Ionix Advanced Technologies
Ltd to commercialise the research.
Sky science
In 2009, research by EPSRC-sponsored
engineers at Queen’s University Belfast’s
Institute of Electronics, Communications
and Information Technology (ECIT), led by
Raymond Dickie, an Engineering Doctorate
student funded by EPSRC, developed
a high performance filter that will allow
weather forecasters to make more
accurate predictions.
The filters will be installed in European
Space Agency satellites for launch between
2018 and 2020, and will enable more
accurate global weather forecasts to
be compiled.
The filters will also help to provide important
new insights into climate change.
ECIT’s research on Frequency Selective
Surface structures has led to major advances
in the design and manufacture of the next
generation of Earth observation satellites.
The company focuses on a range of devices
based on high-temperature piezoelectric
materials which could transform industry’s
ability to electronically monitor and interact
with extreme environments.
The products’ potential market in industries
such as aerospace, oil and gas and nuclear
power is estimated at more than £500 million
per annum.
In 2014, Ionix received funding from Innovate
UK to accelerate the commercialisation of
its products.
The thick of it
In 2009, an EPSRCfunded team at
Imperial College
London’s Department
of Chemistry Cancer
Cells, led by EPSRC
Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr Marina Kuimova
(pictured), showed how cancer cells
become ‘gloopy’ or viscous as they die –
a discovery which could lead to a better
understanding of how to treat cancer.
In 2009, Dr Kuimova won the Roscoe
Medal for Chemistry at the SET for
Britain awards, a national competition
aimed at raising the profile of early-stage
researchers.
In 2010, Dr Kuimova was awarded a
five-year EPSRC Career Acceleration
Fellowship to continue her viscosityrelated research.
Zappy feet
In 2009, a team of engineers at the University
of Leeds, led by Professor Andrew Bell,
developed a system to convert foot power into
battery power for use by foot soldiers. The
system could reduce the weight of troops’
packs by up to 10 kilogrammes. The devices
use high-tech piezoelectric transducers to
convert mechanical stress into electricity.
The project was part of a larger programme
of research called the ‘battery free soldier’,
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In 2012, she received the Royal Society of
Chemistry’s Harrison-Meldola Memorial
Prize for her pioneering studies in the
spectroscopy and imaging of biological
materials.
In 2014, Dr Kuimova was awarded the
International Union of Pure and Applied
Physics C6 Young Scientist Prize in
recognition of her exceptional achievement
in the field of biological physics.
February 1: The wreck of the British warship HMS Victory is discovered in the English Channel
Cleared for take off
In 2009, one of the most sophisticated
aircraft simulators ever created – designed
to mimic the flight deck of supersonic
aircraft Concorde – was officially recommissioned at Brooklands Museum in
Surrey, four decades after the first British
Concorde made its maiden flight.
The simulator was brought back to life
thanks to an EPSRC-supported public
engagement project led by a team from
the University of Surrey and involving
experts from XPI Simulation and dozens of
museum volunteers.
Today, the simulator helps explain to
visitors the roles played by advanced
technologies, and especially airframe and
engine aerodynamics, in making Concorde
the world’s only successful supersonic
passenger transport.
The simulator, one of only two in the world,
cost £3 million in 1975 (equivalent to over
£30 million today).
Well above average
In 2009, a three-year study of over
7,000 academic journal articles showed
that EPSRC-supported researchers
achieve a higher than average citation
rate of 1.6 compared to a UK average of
1.4 and a world average of only 1.0.
The higher rating reflected the impact
that EPSRC-supported researchers
have and also highlighted how
competitive EPSRC-funded research
is internationally.
49
2010
Anti-heroes
In 2010, after years of
research, Professor Mike
Charlton (pictured) and
his team in the Physics
Department at Swansea
University made the firstever direct measurement
of an atom of pure antihydrogen – the simplest form of antimatter.
This was no easy task. When matter and
antimatter come into contact they instantly
annihilate each other, making it very tricky
to keep an atom of anti-hydrogen around
long enough to look at it.
But the team, part of the wider ALPHA
experiment at CERN seeking to make
detailed observations of anti-hydrogen,
developed a technique using magnetic
fields to trap anti-atoms for up to half an
hour (“an eternity for physicists” according
to Mike Charlton), and easily long enough
for them to be studied.
At stake in all this is nothing less than an
understanding of why the universe exists
at all. The picture that we have of how the
universe began suggests that there should
have been equal amounts of matter and
antimatter created in the Big Bang. The
lack of antimatter that we can see in the
universe is a mystery.
By studying antimatter atoms, we may
come to discover some of the tiny but
fundamental asymmetries between
particles of matter and antimatter, which
may explain why they didn’t just cancel
themselves out after the Big Bang, leaving
a universe with nothing in it.
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The ALPHA project breakthrough came
after a period of more than 15 years, during
which EPSRC supported teams from the
physics departments of the universities of
Swansea, Liverpool and Manchester.
Mike Charlton says: “This was the
culmination of many years of effort for
the Swansea team and our colleagues.
EPSRC support helped us to put our
teams together and also paid for specialist
equipment. EPSRC has been by far the
largest source of support for this work
in the UK.”
In 1996, EPSRC was the first national
research council anywhere in Europe to
commit to the ATHENA project at CERN,
which aimed to produce large amounts of
anti-hydrogen atoms for the first time.
Mike Charlton says: “EPSRC took a chance
in funding this highly speculative project in
1996. But its support acted as a catalyst,
persuading other countries to contribute to
the ATHENA consortium. EPSRC’s faith in
the project was key to the success of this
international collaboration.”
Given that CERN was the only place where
research in this area could be carried out,
EPSRC’s support included a large number
of travel grants, in addition to capital and
other investments.
In 2002, the ATHENA consortium, within
which Mike Charlton’s team played a pivotal
role, achieved the world’s first controlled
production of anti-hydrogen atoms. Though
the atoms only lasted for a fraction of a
second before annihilation, this paved the
way for the later trapping experiments and
now the detailed studies of their properties.
The 2002 breakthrough had been made
possible thanks to EPSRC support for the
Swansea team over the previous six years,
particularly through the development of
a positron accumulator – a vital piece of
equipment that enabled the breakthrough.
Built in the UK before being shipped over
and installed at CERN, the accumulator
was able to collect around 100 million
positrons every three minutes, for use in
anti-hydrogen experiments.
In 2013, EPSRC announced further support
for Mike Charlton’s team, this time for
Dr Niels Madsen, a Reader in Physics at
Swansea University’s College of Science.
A £1.66 million grant will fund experiments
to trap anti-hydrogen atoms for still longer
periods of time, and to carry out further
precision measurements of them. EPSRC
support for the Swansea team’s research
will continue at least up to 2017.
Antimatter has long been a staple of
science fiction. We may not be about to
see Star Trek-style warp engines any time
soon, but thanks to Mike Charlton’s team
we may soon be able to understand some
fundamental aspects of the universe.
Mike Charlton says: “The epoch of
EPSRC support for this project, and its
farsightedness in backing it when there
was no guarantee that anyone else would,
is a remarkable story in itself.”
January 4: The US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention removes HIV infection from its list of
communicable diseases of public health significance
50
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
February 24: News reports indicate that Europe risks a double-dip recession after bad results emerge from France, Germany and Italy, with the
Eurozone only growing by 0.1 per cent in the last quarter of 2009
51
2010
Graft masters
In 2010, ApaTech, an award-winning spin
out company launched to commercialise
EPSRC-supported research by medical
materials engineer Dr Karin Hing and
Professor William Bonfield at Queen
Mary, University of London, was acquired
by global healthcare company Baxter
International for US$330 million.
The company was formed in 2001 with
an initial investment of £3 million to
commercialise pioneering research into
synthetic bone substitutes.
The research, which led to a form of
bone graft with enhanced structure and
chemistry to boost healing, was developed
at the EPSRC-supported Interdisciplinary
Research Centre in Biomedical Materials at
Queen Mary, University of London.
ApaTech became an object lesson in how
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
innovative technology from a UK university
can be developed and commercialised
on a global scale. Several successful
venture capital investment rounds
underpinned significant expansion of the
business including new manufacturing
capacity. These enabled it to continue
the development of its lead products,
particularly its bone graft substitute,
Actifuse, which was successfully marketed
in Europe, the United States and other
select sectors around the world.
In 2009, by now an acknowledged leader in
synthetic bone materials for orthopaedic
and dental applications, with a major
manufacturing plant in the UK and growing
sales world-wide, ApaTech generated sales
of around US$60 million.
In the same year, the company was ranked
number two in The Sunday Times Tech
Track 100 Fastest Growing Private Medical
Technology Companies listing.
In 2007, ApaTech won the Business
Initiative Award at the Times Higher
Education Supplement awards.
In 2009, ApaTech was named fastestgrowing company in its category by
Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 for Europe,
the Middle East and Asia.
In 2008, ApaTech received the Research
and Development Award at the Tech Track
awards, in recognition of the innovative
and ground-breaking research which has
underpinned the company’s growth.
In 2011, Dr Karin Hing, a senior lecturer
at Queen Mary, University of London,
received a Royal Academy of Engineering
Silver Medal for her role as the ‘technical
linchpin’ behind ApaTech.
April 20: The Deepwater Horizon oil drilling platform explodes in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers, resulting in one of the largest oil spills in history
52
Manufacturing the future
In 2010, the first three state-of-theart EPSRC Centres for Innovative
Manufacturing (CIMs) were launched under
a new £70 million EPSRC investment to
help UK businesses develop the technology
products of the future and underpin
manufacturing growth.
Specifically the centres were tasked with
enabling the commercial development of
the key discoveries in university-based
manufacturing research.
Based at Southampton, Loughborough and
Brunel universities, the EPSRC Centres
focused respectively on research into
photonics, regenerative medicine and liquid
metals for reuse and recycling.
The new EPSRC Centres built on the
success of the Innovative Manufacturing
Research Centre (IMRC) funding model,
in place from 2001 until 2009, which saw
18 university-based centres receive an
initial block grant for five years, with
potential for up to a further five years.
By 2014, the number of EPSRC Centres for
Innovative Manufacturing across the UK
had grown to 16, covering subject areas
ranging from liquid metal manufacturing
to additive manufacturing. Many of these
Pee power
In 2010, EPSRC awarded a four-year Career
Acceleration Fellowship to Dr Ioannis
Ieropoulos, from the Bristol Robotics
Laboratory (BRL), a University of Bristol/
University of the West England research
facility, to develop his research into how
waste could be used by microbial fuel
cells (MFCs) to generate energy. Live
microorganisms inside the fuel cell process
the waste to produce electricity.
By 2010, the BRL team had already
launched the third generation of EcoBot, a
robot which can power itself by digesting
waste. The early stage work of this
research was funded by EPSRC.
A unique aspect of the team’s research
is the use of urine as a waste material
to power the MFCs. Every day, around
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centres’ directors hail from industry, or
have a strong industrial background.
Some CIMs are focused on future
products such as composites, food and
pharma that will be especially important
to the UK, and some investigate
production technologies and how they
scale up, such as additive manufacturing
and automation.
EPSRC works very closely with Innovate
UK (formerly the Technology Strategy
Board). The CIMs and Innovate UK’s
Catapults – technology innovation centres
– have a particularly close symbiosis,
often overlapping. The Catapults tackle
the problems of today, EPSRC Centres for
Innovative Manufacturing research the
solutions of the future.
Between them, the CIMs and Catapults
cover more than 20 core fields of science,
engineering and business. Together they
are tackling key challenges for modern
industry, including automation, the
digital economy, future cities, continuous
pharmaceutical manufacture, food,
satellites, industrial sustainability,
graphene engineering, sustainable
feedstocks and much more.
EPSRC currently invests £80 million
every year in UK manufacturing research
– mainly through its Manufacturing the
Future initiative. This programme has a
portfolio of 230 projects representing an
investment of over £350 million in cuttingedge work at the UK’s leading universities,
and through collaboration with over
600 companies, which have contributed a
further £136 million.
Together, the manufacturing researchers
supported by EPSRC and the business
partners they work with help decide which
products and production methodologies
the UK should focus on, and work out how
to link the UK’s network of people and
manufacturing processes.
38 billion litres of urine are produced by
humans and farm animals worldwide – the
energy from which, they have shown, could
potentially be harnessed by scaling up
MFCs into stacks.
Another aspect of the research is the use of
waste from oxygen-producing organisms,
such as algae, within a self-sustaining
system through which the bacteria use
their own waste to produce energy.
In 2013, claiming a world-first, Dr Ieropoulos
and BRL colleagues used urine to produce
electricity to charge a mobile phone,
generating enough power to enable the
phone to be used to make a brief call, send
text messages and browse the internet.
In 2014, the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation awarded US$100,000 to BRL
under the Grand Challenges Explorations
Scheme to fund the Urine-tricity project
investigating generating electricity from
urine and wastewater for countries of the
developing world. The project is also funded
by EPSRC.
Dr Ieropoulos says: “Not only is the
technology we are developing a means of
electricity generation, it can also improve
sanitation. The work carried out under
the EPSRC grant is primarily focused
at developing this technology for the
developed world.”
May 15: Aged just 16, Australian teenager Jessica Watson becomes the youngest person to sail non-stop and unassisted around the world solo
53
2010
State of the art
In 2010, the hidden secrets of some of
the world’s most famous paintings were
revealed, thanks to a partnership between
EPSRC and the National Gallery.
A state-of-the-art gas chromatographymass spectrometer (GC-MS), funded by
EPSRC, helped specialists in the National
Gallery’s science department study the
organic chemistry of old master paintings
to understand how paintings were made
and how they have changed over time.
In painstaking investigations, the scientists
used GC-MS to study the characterisation
and composition of paint binding media,
additions to paint media such as resins,
and the composition of old varnishes.
The ground-breaking project culminated
in the first major exhibition of its kind in
summer 2010 and also featured in Pioneer.
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In 2014, the partnership between EPSRC
and the National Gallery led to EPSRC
funding the purchase of a new state-ofthe-art high-tech easel that makes it
possible to examine great works of art in
unprecedented detail.
The computer-controlled easel is capable
of safely holding a very large painting and
moving it in minute steps to make the most
of the latest digital technology.
Identifying the materials used as pigments
provides information on aspects such
as the age of a picture and the painting
technique used.
Scientists and other researchers at the
National Gallery are using digital imaging
to build up a high resolution image of
paintings to learn about their structure, the
way they are made and what needs to be
done for their preservation.
The easel will open up opportunities to try
out new types of research.
Ashok Roy, Director of Collections at the
National Gallery, says:“We expect we will be
able to acquire very high resolution images
in various parts of the spectrum that
would be unobtainable without this
technology, so it is a real advance in our
imaging capabilities.”
The easel helped inspire part of the 2014
Making Colour exhibition, through which
National Gallery visitors were able to get
involved in an interactive experiment that
will feed into future research on human
colour perception.
Nobel achievement
In 2010, Professor Andre Geim and
Dr Konstantin Novoselov, who were
the first to isolate wonder-material
graphene, in 2004, were awarded the
Nobel Prize in Physics for their work.
(see pages 4-7).
January 4: Anti-government protests in Tunisia and later other Arab nations begin. These protests become known collectively as the Arab Spring
54
Calculating carbon
They also used the process with
mayonnaise – creating a five per cent fat
version which tastes as good as the full-fat
one – and with porridge.
Chocolate heaven
In 2010, EPSRC-supported researchers at
the University of Birmingham, overseen
by Professor Ian Norton, previously Chief
Scientist at Unilever, created a low-fat
chocolate which is 60 per cent water –
claiming it tastes as good as a normal bar.
The team replaced fat in foods with caloriefree substances such as water, air or gel.
The low-fat chocolate bar, which melts
at 32-34 degrees Celsius, was created by
bonding water particles with crystals of
cocoa butter. A similar technique was used
as a way to lower salt content in foods by
up to 80 per cent.
While at Unilever, Professor Norton was
an inventor on more than 60 granted
patents leading to many new and innovative
products, including Flora Light and
Chicken Tonight.
In 2014, Professor Norton holds four
EPSRC food-related grants. He also coleads the EPSRC Centre for Innovative
Manufacturing in Food and the Centre for
Sustainable Energy use in Food Chains.
Icy attraction
In 2009, an EPSRCsupported team at
the London Centre
for Nanotechnology
at University College
London (UCL), led
by Professor Steve
Bramwell (pictured),
discovered ‘magnetricity’ – the magnetic
equivalent of electricity.
By proving the existence of currents of
atom-sized ‘magnetic charges’, that behave
and interact just like electric charges, the
UCL team won the Research Project of
the Year prize at the 2010 Times Higher
Education awards.
The research dates back to 1997, when
Steve Bramwell, working with Mark Harris,
from the Science and Technology Facilities
Council, discovered the unusual magnetic
material ‘spin ice’, drawing attention to
certain similarities found within water ice.
In 2010, Professor Bramwell was awarded
the Holweck Medal and Prize for pioneering
new concepts in the experimental
and theoretical study of spin systems.
Two years later he was a co-recipient
of the prestigious Europhysics Prize
for condensed matter physics, for the
prediction and measurement of magnetic
monopoles in spin ice.
In the same year, Professor Bramwell was
named by The Times on its list of the
100 top UK scientists.
In 2014, Professor Bramwell led an
EPSRC-supported team who demonstrated
the surprising properties of thin films of
spin ice.
The pioneering research, which revealed an
unexpected symmetry between electricity
and magnetism, could lead to new and
unusual magnetic material properties, with
potential applications in technology, such
as in ‘magnetic memory’ storage devices or
for use in future computer memory.
The team’s research opens up new
possibilities for the control and
manipulation of magnetricity and magnetic
monopoles in spin ice. This could lead to
a number of applications; for example,
magnetic technology in computer hard
disks is often based on thin magnetic films.
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
May 20: Scientists announce they have created a functional synthetic genome
In 2010,
a carbon
calculator
software tool
developed
by chemical
engineers led by Professor Adisa Azapagic
at The University of Manchester won
major awards from the chemical industry,
including the Outstanding Achievement in
Chemical and Process Engineering prize at
the IChemE 2010 awards.
The team’s CCaLC carbon calculator helps
companies measure and reduce their
carbon footprint at minimum cost and has
been developed in collaboration with a
range of industry partners.
Professor Azapagic, who leads the
Sustainable Industrial Systems research
group at The University of Manchester, is
world-renowned for her work on life cycle
sustainability analysis.
In 2011, CCaLC won the GSK Innovation
Award, from the prestigious Chemical
Industries Association.
In 2013, Professor Azapagic is co-director
of the newly-formed £7.5 million Centre
for Sustainable Energy Use in Food Chains,
funded by the Research Councils UK
Energy Programme, led by EPSRC. In the
same year she was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Academy of Engineering.
Critical chemistry
In 2010, a report by leading economic
forecasting consultancy Oxford
Economics, commissioned by EPSRC
and the Royal Society of Chemistry,
revealed that one in every five pounds
in the UK economy is dependent on
developments in chemistry research.
Industries reliant on chemistry
contributed £258 billion to the UK
economy in 2007 – equivalent to
21 per cent of UK GDP – and supported
six million jobs, accounting for at
least 15 per cent of the UK’s exported
goods and attracting significant
inward investment.
55
2011
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
56
Bright lights
In 2011, UK semiconductor manufacturer,
Plessey, purchased University of Cambridge
spin out company, CamGaN, founded
by Professor Sir Colin Humphreys to
commercialise his ground-breaking
research into gallium nitride (GaN), a
remarkable man-made material
with enormous potential.
Plessey then set up a factory in Plymouth
to make millions of GaN LEDs every week,
using a process developed at the EPSRCsupported Cambridge Centre for Gallium
Nitride to make a new generation of lowcost, low carbon, long-life LED lighting
bulbs which could have a dramatic impact
on carbon emissions, among
other applications and benefits.
Professor Humphreys says: “If everyone
switched to GaN LEDs, we would halve the
amount of electricity used in lighting. This
would reduce the world’s total electricity
consumption by 10 per cent. GaN LEDs
also have a longer lifetime and typically
only need replacing after 60 years of
household use.”
As is often the case, getting to the
point where GaN LEDs can be made
commercially has largely been about
getting costs down. The Cambridge centre’s
breakthrough was in working out a way of
growing GaN-based semiconductors for
LEDs on silicon wafers, which are much
less expensive than the sapphire that was
used before. Getting to that point depends
upon a profound understanding of how GaN
behaves, built up over years of research.
In 1997, an EPSRC grant helped
Professor Humphreys to identify the
particular potential of gallium nitride,
among a number of other promising
semiconductors. He says: “EPSRC should
be congratulated on seeing the importance
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
of gallium nitride. In 1997, that wasn’t
at all clear.”
In 2000, Professor Humphreys was
instrumental in setting up The Cambridge
Centre for Gallium Nitride, which EPSRC
has supported ever since, with grants
jointly to him and to Professor Phil Dawson
at The University of Manchester. The centre
works with UK universities and a range of
industrial partners to investigate GaN’s
unusual properties and develop its myriad
possible applications.
In specialist applications, GaN could
have a transformative effect. New cancer
therapies are being developed which
will use GaN devices to show where the
edges of tumours are, so that X-rays
can be focused on them much more
accurately. GaN could also be instrumental
in developing new therapies which use
protons, rather than X-rays, to zap cancer
cells. This work has been initiated by
Professor Bruce Hamilton at The University
of Manchester in collaboration with
Professor Humphreys.
Deep ultra-violet GaN light could be used
for water purification in the developing
world, as it has been shown to kill all
known viruses and bacteria. In hospitals,
it could be used to wipe out bacteria such
as MRSA. Shining a GaN ultra-violet light
around a ward could be enough to kill any
bugs lurking there.
LED light beam, opening up a new field
of complementary wireless networking
technology with numerous advantages,
including energy efficiency and security.
The term li-fi was coined by its inventor,
Professor Harald Haas, an EPSRCsupported scientist at the University of
Edinburgh and recipient of a 2014 EPSRC
RISE leadership award in recognition of his
achievements. Professor Martin Dawson
at the University of Strathclyde has an
EPSRC Programme Grant to develop li-fi, in
collaboration with Professor Humphreys.
Colin Humphreys says: “We had no idea of
some of these applications even 12 months
ago. Gallium nitride is a good example
of a material where its possible uses
can mushroom, once you have a proper
understanding of how it behaves.
“For example, just by mimicking sunlight,
GaN LED lights have positive effects. We
know that patients on the sunnier side of a
ward get better quicker. And schools with
higher quality lighting get better results.”
In 2014, the Nobel Prize in Physics was
shared by Japanese scientists Isamu
Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji
Nakamura for their invention of blue LEDs.
Colin Humphreys and his team are building
on this important work. The deal with
Plessey is an integral part of the vision.
In the world of computing, gallium nitride
could be deployed in the optical computers
of tomorrow, which would use photons
rather than electrons, making much faster
processing speeds possible.
Commenting on GaN LEDs’ potential for
affordable low-carbon lighting, Professor
Humphreys says: “It’s very important to
us that this research will be exploited in
the UK. If we had stopped at the research
stage, our work would probably have been
picked up and commercialised overseas.
With the extraordinary growth of wi-fi, the
current wavelengths it uses will soon be
saturated. But GaN could be used to create
a kind of ‘li-fi’ – wi-fi provided through an
“This way, we can create more jobs in a
low-employment part of the country and
potentially turn Britain into a major centre
for better, greener lighting.”
January 15: Wikipedia, the free internet encyclopedia, turns 10 years old
57
2011
Autonomous thinking
Tag team
In 2011, Dr Sithamparanathan Sabesan
and Dr Michael Crisp, from the University
of Cambridge, won prizes at the inaugural
ICT Pioneers competition.
The annual competition, which EPSRC
coordinates on behalf of sponsor
companies such as Microsoft, recognises
the most exceptional UK doctoral
students in topics related to Information
& Communications Technology (ICT).
The duo went on to receive a Royal
Academy of Engineering (RAE) ERA
Foundation Entrepreneurship Award,
together with project partner Boeing, for
research into a low-cost location-sensing
system that could save airlines and
retailers millions of pounds.
The team’s research, which uses a form
of radio tagging, was developed as part of
the five-year The INtelligent Airport (TINA)
project, funded by EPSRC and Boeing.
In 2011, Autonomy
Corporation plc was sold
for £7.1 billion to US
computing giant Hewlett
Packard. It was the
largest takeover of a
FTSE 100 company since
Kraft bought out Cadbury for £13 billion
early in 2010.
Founded in 1996 by Dr Mike Lynch to
commercialise his EPSRC-funded PhD
thesis in mathematical computing at
the University of Cambridge, in 16 years
Autonomy became the UK’s biggest pure
software company, with nearly 2,000
employees in the UK, and a world leader
in allowing computers to harness the full
richness of human information.
Over 90 per cent of Fortune 1,000
companies are Autonomy customers and
more than two billion people rely on the
company’s software every day.
Dr Lynch (pictured), who held a research
fellowship in adaptive pattern recognition
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
while at Cambridge, served as CEO of
Autonomy for over 15 years and is widely
regarded as Britain’s most successful
technology entrepreneur.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of
Engineering, and a scientific adviser to the
UK Prime Minister. He was elected a Fellow
of the Royal Society in April 2014.
In 2012, Dr Lynch was inducted into
the Digital Hall of Fame, alongside Tim
Berners-Lee, Warren East and Stephen Fry.
In the same year he joined the advisory
board of Tech City’s Investment Committee.
He is also an adviser to the Prince’s Trust
Technology Group.
In 2013, Dr Lynch co-founded Invoke
Capital, a technology fund vehicle
dedicated to unlocking the potential of
European technology.
In 2013, Invoke made its first investment, in
Darktrace, a cyber-security company based
on ground-breaking mathematical research
at the University of Cambridge.
The TINA project focused on the
development of a next-generation
advanced wireless network to
meet the requirements of future
‘intelligent’ airports for both fixed
and mobile appliances.
Brightest light
In 2011, the brightest gamma ray
beam ever created – over a thousand
billion times more brilliant than
the sun – was produced in EPSRCsupported research led by Professor
Dino Jaroszynski at the University
of Strathclyde.
The device, which can produce laser
pulses lasting a quadrillionth of a
second, is smaller and less costly
than more conventional sources of
gamma rays, a form of X-ray.
Potential uses for the device include
applications in medical imaging,
radiotherapy and PET scanning.
March 11: A 9.0-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit the east of Japan, killing 15,840 people and leaving another 3,926 missing
58
Life savers
EPSRC sponsorship of the project began
in 2006, but the windpipe for Andemariam
Beyene was ‘designed’ and grown in just
two weeks.
Professor Seifalian’s team worked around
the clock to build the polymer windpipe. It
was then taken by doctoral student Claire
Crowley, a key member of the development
team, to Karolinska University in Sweden
where it was ‘seeded’ with the patient’s
own cells by a team led by Professor
Paolo Macchiarini.
In 2011, surgeons in Sweden carried out
the world’s first synthetic organ transplant
using a windpipe ‘grown’ from the patient’s
stem cells.
The full biological trachea was grown in
a bioreactor specially designed for the
procedure by Harvard Bioscience.
Without the new windpipe, the patient,
Andemariam Beyene, from Eritrea, whose
own windpipe had been blocked by an
inoperable tumour the size of a golf ball,
would have died. He had been given just
two weeks to live – not long enough to find
a donor.
The artificial trachea was successfully
transplanted during a 15-hour operation
by Professor Macchiarini, who holds an
honorary appointment at University College
London, and who worked with Professor
Seifalian on the design and development
of the trachea scaffold using a material
known as a novel nanocomposite polymer.
The artificial organ was designed and
developed by a multidisciplinary team led
by Professor Alex Seifalian at University
College London.
Over the past two decades, with funding
from EPSRC and the Wellcome Trust, and
drawing inspiration from natural structures
such as butterfly wings, Professor Seifalian
Whisky a
no-go
another. By analysing the collection of light
scattered from the whisky, the researchers
were able to diagnose the sample.
In 2011, using a ray
of light the width of a
human hair, a team
of researchers at the
University of
St Andrews
developed a
new method for
testing whether
Using this sample, the team were able to
investigate and discriminate single malt
Scotch whiskies based on brand, age and
even which cask had been used.
The chip used in the study was originally
employed to detect bio-analytes in
biomedical studies.
a whisky is genuine.
The method can work out the brand, age
and even which cask was used to create a
single malt, from a sample no bigger than
a teardrop.
His materials have been used in a range
of world-firsts, including transplants of
trachea, nose, ear and tear duct. They are
also poised to find application in artificial
blood vessels, opening up potentially
vast markets.
In 2013, Claire Crowley visited Andemariam
Beyene in Iceland, where he was alive and
well and in his final year as a PhD geology
student at the national university.
In 2014, Professor Seifalian (pictured, with
Claire Crowley) began work on two threeyear EPSRC-supported projects in the field
of regenerative medicine, in partnership
with Pharmidex Pharmaceutical Services.
One project in particular, in partnership
with Biomer Technology Ltd, includes
building a custom-made 3D bio-printer
with multi-printing heads and an
environmental chamber which can print
‘live’ tubular organs with trachea as an
exemplar. This project has paved the way to
printing a range of artificial organs to meet
individual patient needs.
of making stainless steel surfaces become
resistant to bacteria, and also stronger.
By introducing silver or copper into the
steel surface (rather than coating it on to
the surface), the researchers developed
an innovative technique that not only kills
bacteria but also makes the surface very
hard and resistant to wear and tear
during cleaning.
Bacteria resistant surfaces could be
used in hospitals to prevent the spread
of superbug infections on stainless
steel surfaces, as well as for medical
equipment, for example, instruments
and implants.
The technology developed by Professor
Dong and his team could also be adapted
for use in the food industry and in
domestic and professional kitchens.
The patented research, subsequently
presented to the drinks industry, which loses
millions annually to counterfeit producers,
was carried out by physicists Praveen Ashok,
Kishan Dholakia and Bavishna Praveen.
The project involved researchers placing
a tiny amount of whisky on a transparent
plastic chip no bigger than a credit card.
Steely resolve
Using optical fibres the width of a human
hair, the whisky sample is illuminated
by light using one fibre, and collected by
In 2011, materials scientists at the
University of Birmingham, led by Professor
Hanshan Dong, devised an innovative way
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
has developed a new generation of strong,
flexible biocompatible polymers suitable for
use in human patients.
In 2013, Professor Dong was awarded
a £230,000 grant from the Commission
of the European Communities to
develop innovative plasma surface
alloying technologies.
In 2014, Professor Dong is director of the
EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in
Innovative Metal Processing based at the
University of Birmingham.
September 22: CERN scientists erroneously announce their discovery of neutrinos breaking the speed of light
59
2011
The car that drives itself
In 2011, EPSRC-sponsored researchers
from the University of Oxford equipped a
modified Bowler Wildcat off-road vehicle
(pictured) with technology to help it ‘see’ the
world around it, and enable it to drive itself,
without any human intervention. One day
this technology could help cut down on road
accidents and traffic congestion, which cost
the UK economy more than £4.3 billion a
year, or £491 per car-commuting household.
The project is part of research at the
university’s Mobile Robotics Group (MRG) coled by Professor Paul Newman, an EPSRC
Leadership Fellow, and Professor Ingmar
Posner, who say the low-cost technology
enabling the vehicle to drive itself could one
day be a feature on all cars.
The research group use the mathematics
of probability and estimation to enable
computers in cars and robots to interpret
data from cameras, radars and lasers, aerial
photos and road plans.
The group have been at the cutting edge of
research into infrastructure-free navigation
(i.e. navigation without GPS) for over a
decade, and are acknowledged leaders
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
in this area. Paul Newman puts things
succinctly: “If it moves, mobile autonomy
has a role to play.”
The team’s innovative navigation software
can be applied to surveying, mining,
warehousing and agriculture, and it has
already been licensed for use on the
European Space Agency’s ExoMARS project.
MRG’s initial research into autonomous
vehicles, co-sponsored by EPSRC Strategic
Partner BAE Systems, used a Bowler
Wildcat, based on a Land Rover Defender.
Now, working with Japanese manufacturer
Nissan, the team have installed their latest
technology in a Nissan Leaf electric car,
which gives a glimpse of what driving an
‘autonomous’ car of the future might be like.
The car’s low-cost in-car navigation system
uses 3D laser mapping, and can recognise
its surroundings using small cameras and
lasers discreetly built into the vehicle’s body
and linked to a computer in the boot.
Unlike the automated technology that has
already found its way into some production
cars, the system does not rely on GPS for
October 31: The world population reaches seven billion inhabitants according to the United Nations
the cars to find their way. The researchers
explain that such systems cannot provide
the coverage, precision and reliability
autonomous cars need to safely navigate.
Crucially, GPS also fails to tell a robotic car
anything about its surroundings.
The technology is controlled from an iPad
on the dashboard, and at any time a tap
on the brake pedal returns control to the
human driver.
In 2014, Professors Newman and Posner
formed a spin out company, Oxbotica,
to commercialise their research, and to
exploit the Mobile Robotics Group’s suite
of intellectual property and know-how
developed over a decade of research. In
the same year, Professor Newman was
awarded a Fellowship of the Royal Academy
of Engineering.
In 2014, Innovate UK (formerly known
as the Technology Strategy Board)
invested £250,000 in Oxbotica to develop
a production-feasible prototype of a low
cost, infrastructure free (without GPS),
3D imaging device.
60
3D chocolate heaven
Slope sensors
In 2011, an early warning system to
warn of landslides, developed by an
EPSRC-supported team at Loughborough
University led by Professor Neil Dixon, won
The Engineer magazine’s Civil Engineering
Award at its annual awards.
Thought to be the first of its kind in the
world, the Slope ALARMS detection system,
developed through a collaboration between
Loughborough University, Geotechnical
Observations and the British Geological
Survey, is a network of sensors buried
across the hillside or embankment that
presents a risk of collapse. The sensors,
acting as microphones in the subsoil,
record the acoustic activity of the soil
across the slope and each transmits a
signal to a central computer for analysis.
In 2011, to showcase ground-breaking 3D
printing technology, a team of scientists at
the University of Exeter, led by Dr Liang Hao,
unveiled the world’s first chocolate printer
using know-how that could revolutionise the
retail industry.
As well as the life-saving implications for
countries prone to disastrous landslides,
the technique can be used in monitoring
the condition of potentially unstable slopes
built to support transport infrastructure,
such as rail and road embankments, in
developed countries such as the UK.
In 2012, Professor Neil Dixon received a
follow-on EPSRC research grant to develop
a revised lower power design of the Slope
ALARMS sensor.
In 2013, Professor Dixon began work on a
multidisciplinary, multi-partner EPSRCfunded project investigating the sustainable
management of embankment slopes.
The project is led by Professor Stephanie
Glendenning from Newcastle University,
a key member of the Assessing the
Underworld project (see page 17).
Twitter tracks flu
In 2011, a study by
researchers at the
University of Bristol
used social media,
such as Facebook
and microblogging
services like Twitter,
to track events or
phenomena such as
flu outbreaks and
rainfall rates.
The research
geo-tagged
user posts on
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
the microblogging service of Twitter to
investigate two scenarios: levels of rainfall
in a given location and time using the
content of tweets; and regional flu-like
illness rates from tweets to find out if an
epidemic was emerging.
An EPSRC-produced YouTube video of the
printer in action has since received
650,000 hits.
Dr Hao and his team were the first to
develop a way of applying 3D printing
to chocolate, which is a challenging
material to work with because it
requires accurate control of viscosity
and temperature conditions.
Dr Hao says: “In future this kind of
technology will allow people to produce
and design many other products such as
jewellery or household goods. Eventually
we may see many mass-produced products
replaced by unique designs created by the
customer. We also envisage consumers
owning their own 3D printers.”
In 2012, Dr Liang Hao founded Choc Edge
Ltd, to develop and sell its unique 3D
chocolate printer developed under the
research project.
Interviewed in 2012, Dr Hao said: ”The initial
worldwide interest in creative and bespoke
3D chocolate products was enormous… By
next Easter, consumers will be able to order
their own, personalised Easter eggs along
with other chocolate gifts.”
In 2013, the company launched Choc
Creator V2, a more sophisticated and
efficient design, and created a chocolate
printer hub to develop a community of
people engaged in 3D chocolate printing.
Professor Nello Cristianini, who led the
research, says: “Twitter, in particular,
encourages its 200 million users worldwide
to make their posts publicly available as
well as tagged with the user’s location.
The technology featured on popular TV show
The Gadget Man, hosted by Stephen Fry, who
held a high-tech dinner party for friends.
“Our research has demonstrated a method,
by using the content of Twitter, to track an
event when it occurs and its scale.”
In 2014, Choc Creator V2 was highly rated in
a special Christmas party edition of Channel
5’s The Gadget Show.
April 29: An estimated two billion people watch the wedding of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine Middleton at Westminster Abbey
61
2012
The art of science
In 2012, Dr Simon Colton, an
EPSRC Leadership Fellow
based at Imperial College
London, was nominated
for a prestigious World
Technology Arts Award
for his work with The Painting Fool, a
computer programme he developed that
paints original artwork inspired by what
it sees. The pictures in this article are
examples of the Painting Fool’s handiwork.
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
Dr Colton (pictured), an Artificial
Intelligence researcher specialising in
questions of computational creativity,
who today leads Goldsmith University’s
Computational Creativity Group, has
programmed the Painting Fool to
recognise human emotions and create
original paintings, in a variety of styles.
The hope is that one day it will be taken
seriously as an artist in its own right.
Dr Colton’s work has been covered widely
by the UK and international media, both
February 6: Queen Elizabeth II marks her 60th anniversary as British monarch
in print and on television, including BBC’s
Horizon and newspapers such as the
Daily Mail, the Daily Mirror, El Pais and
El Mundo.
The Observer carried a wide-ranging
feature on the Painting Fool, whose work
has been exhibited in five group exhibitions
in London, Brussels, Paris and Lisbon.
In 2013, The Painting Fool turned his
creative talents to poetry, drawing his
inspiration from news stories.
62
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
February 28: Discovery of the largest prehistoric penguin, Kairuku grebneffi, at nearly 5ft tall
63
2012
Meet the MASER
In 2012, pioneering
research by
EPSRC-sponsored
scientists revived
the fortunes of the
MASER (Microwave
Amplification
Stimulated Emission
of Radiation),
a cousin of the
ubiquitous laser, first developed nearly
60 years ago.
Despite predating the laser by five years,
the maser has had little technological
impact – primarily because it was
inconvenient to use.
Masers, which use concentrated beams of
microwaves rather than intense beams of
light, require high magnetic fields and subzero conditions to work. Hence for so long
they were left out in the cold, only able to
operate at temperatures close to absolute
zero, minus 273 degrees Celsius – the
same temperature as interstellar space.
Masers are used only in very specialised
applications such as atomic clocks and as
amplifiers in radiofrequency telescopes,
but the results can be spectacular. For
example, masers were responsible for the
stunning images of the solar system taken
by the Voyager spacecraft.
The researchers, from Imperial College
London, led by Professor Neil Alford
(pictured), and Dr Mark Oxborrow, formerly
of the National Physical Laboratory (NPL)
and now at Imperial, demonstrated new
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
technology that makes it possible for the
maser to function at room temperature,
and without the need for an external
magnet. The breakthrough meant the cost
to manufacture and operate masers could
be dramatically reduced. This paves the
way for their widespread adoption.
Potential applications for the maser include
more sensitive medical scanners; chemical
sensors for remotely detecting explosives;
advanced quantum computer components;
and better radio astronomy devices for
potentially detecting life on other planets.
Professor Alford says: “When lasers were
invented, no one knew exactly how they
would be used; yet they are now ubiquitous.
There’s a long way to go before the maser
reaches that level, but our breakthrough
does mean this technology can start
becoming more useful.”
The research was funded by EPSRC
and, at NPL, through the UK’s National
Measurement Office, and builds on over
20 years of consistently innovative EPSRCsupported materials science research by
Professor Alford.
Professor Alford says: “The work really
started with my first EPSRC grant, in 1995,
enabling me to carry out research into
low microwave loss dielectrics. This was
followed by a small feasibility study, also
funded by EPSRC, which ultimately led
to the maser.”
Over 20 years Professor Alford has been
supported by more than 40 EPSRC grants,
including consecutive Platform Grants,
from 2004-2009, to investigate microwave
dielectric materials, and a six-year
Programme Grant in 2009 to develop
nanostructured materials for energy
efficient refrigeration, energy harvesting
and production of hydrogen from water.
In 2005, among notable achievements
related to his microwave-based research,
Professor Alford led the development
of technology that uses heat delivered
by microwaves to destroy liver tumours.
The EPSRC-funded research team, from
London South Bank University and the
University of Bath, found that by heating
cancer cells to around 80 degrees Celsius
(much higher than previous microwave
treatments) a large region of necrosis –
cell death – can be generated.
In 2007, Professor Alford was awarded a
Royal Academy of Engineering Fellowship;
in 2010, he was awarded Fellowship of the
Royal Society of Chemistry; and in 2013
received an MBE.
In 2013, Professor Alford received a followon EPSRC grant to construct a maser
that can work at room temperature and in
the Earth’s magnetic field. The research
team are exploring new materials that
will miniaturise the maser, which will also
require very low power input to achieve the
threshold required for masing.
As director of materials at Imperial,
Professor Alford’s knowledge is sought
after, and in 2013 he advised Apple on
suitable screen materials for its
iPhone 6 mobile phone.
April 10: Apple claims a value of US$600 billion, making it the largest company by market capitalisation in the world
64
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
July 27–August: The 2012 Summer Olympics are held in London
65
2012
Steel resolve
In 2012, The
Engineering Doctorate
(EngD), EPSRC’s
innovative doctoral
training programme
where students
spend the majority of
their time working in
industry, turned 20 years old.
The EngD is a doctoral level qualification
that involves a taught component and a
large, four-year research project defined
by industry.
In addition to developing a new generation
of industry-savvy doctoral students,
the relationship between university and
industrial sponsor provides a level of
access to industry not normally available
to academics; it also enables companies,
sectors and policymakers to be guided by
the results of the research.
On receiving his Engineering Doctorate
at Swansea University in 1997, Dr Martin
Brunnock (pictured) joined British Steel,
the company which sponsored his EngD.
A year later he was supervising a new crop
of five research engineers from the EngD
scheme. He has since risen through the
company’s ranks.
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
British Steel, which became Corus Group,
was later sold to Tata Steel, one of EPSRC’s
Strategic Partners.
Interviewed in 2002, Martin Brunnock
said: “The benefit of still being involved
in the scheme is that I can help mentor
and encourage new research engineers
with my previous experience. It’s also a
fantastic opportunity to be involved with
new research projects which are generally
at the forefront of technology.”
In 2012, EPSRC co-funded the new COATED
EngD centre at Swansea University,
providing funding to recruit 21 EngD
students between 2012 and 2014.
The range of research projects at COATED
includes boron steel processing, car
chassis fatigue performance, solar cell
development, life cycle analysis and
recycling. The initial investment was
followed two years later by further EPSRC
funding for the COATED 2 initiative, which
will create 40 research doctorate posts at
Swansea University, focusing on generating
energy through new coatings for materials.
In 2013/14, the Swansea Tata plant received
over 200 major international orders for
its lightweight armour steel, Pavise,
formerly known as super-bainite, the
brainchild of Professor Harry Bhadeshia
at the University of Cambridge. Professor
Bhadeshia’s research has been supported
by EPSRC and its predecessor, the Science
and Engineering Research Council (SERC)
for over 20 years. His work with British
Steel led to the unique alloys used to make
the rails for the Channel Tunnel, Europe’s
busiest rail link.
Pavise, developed by Tata Steel in
partnership with the University of
Cambridge and the MoD, is twice as strong
as the current product on the market.
Martin Brunnock says: “The technical
expertise behind this material is nothing
short of brilliant.”
In 2014, Martin Brunnock is Technical
Director of Tata Steel’s Strip Products UK
division based in Port Talbot and Llanwern,
Wales, one of the largest in Europe,
producing five million tonnes of liquid
steel per annum, and with a turnover of
over £2 billion.
The powertrain picture illustrating this
story is an award-winning photograph by
former EngD Steel Technology Research
Engineer Ed Carter, who designed, drew
and rendered up the image himself.
July 30-31: In the worst power outage in world history, the 2012 India blackouts leave 620 million people without power
66
transfer experts. When a university and
an SME identify an opportunity to work
together, the IAA’s flexibility enables the
university to react very quickly with the
company and start the work right away, by
drawing on IAA funding dedicated to them.
A recent example of impact arising from
IAA funding is a research project at the
University of Bath.
The team used their Impact Acceleration
Account to accelerate the development
of technology that could help monitor
blood glucose control in diabetes patients
and an array of age-related conditions,
including Alzheimer’s.
Accelerating impact
In 2012, EPSRC invested £60 million in
UK universities to help the country’s
most pioneering scientists and engineers
create successful businesses from their
research, improve industrial collaboration
and foster greater entrepreneurship.
The three-year initiative awarded ‘Impact
Acceleration Accounts’ (IAAs) ranging
from £600,000 to £6 million to over
30 universities across the UK.
The funding helps support the universities’
best scientists and engineers to build
even stronger collaborations with industry,
Clothing cleans
bridge the gap between the lab and the
marketplace and help them become
better entrepreneurs.
IAAs replaced EPSRC’s highly successful
Knowledge Transfer Account (KTA) and
Knowledge Transfer Secondment (KTS)
schemes, which saw a step-change in
knowledge exchange and collaboration
between universities, business and other
parties and generated significant material
contributions from business.
To exploit EPSRC’s research and training
portfolio, universities employ knowledge
The additive contains microscopic
pollution-eating particles, and clothes
need to be washed in it just once, as the
nanoparticles of titanium dioxide grip onto
fabrics very tightly.
When the particles come into contact with
nitrogen oxides in the air, they react with
these pollutants and oxidise them in
the fabric.
The nitrogen oxides treated in this way
are odourless, colourless, and pose no
pollution hazard. The method removes
5g of nitrogen oxides every day – equivalent
to the daily amount produced by the
average family car.
In 2012, a collaboration between the
University of Sheffield and London College
of Fashion, with initial support from EPSRC,
led to a revolutionary liquid laundry additive
to help make the clothes we wear purify the
air as we move around in them.
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
Project co-leader, Professor Tony Ryan
OBE, of the University of Sheffield, says:
“If thousands of people in a typical town
like Sheffield washed their clothes in
the additive, there would be no pollution
problem caused by nitrogen oxides at all.”
Working with leading medical device
company, glySure Ltd, the Bath research
team demonstrated a new technique that
could be used in blood tests to detect
levels of ‘glycated proteins’ in blood and
tissue samples.
The team’s method allows scientists to
identify signature profiles of glycated
proteins linked to particular diabetic
conditions. In the future the same method
could be applied to new technologies to
screen for diseases like Alzheimer’s.
In 2014, at the end of their first year there
were 457 IAA projects, 152 secondments,
291 new company partners and 38 joint
academic publications.
Contribution from business and other
partners was £22 million, in addition to the
£20 million invested by EPSRC.
High energy investment
In 2012, EPSRC spearheaded a
£40 million investment under the
RCUK Energy Programme, which is led
by EPSRC. The investment included
£20 million jointly with the National
Natural Science Foundation of China in
‘smart’ power grids, which manage the
supply and demand of power through
the national distribution network.
EPSRC also led one of the biggest
Research Council low carbon energy
investments; contributing £26 million
in five new End Use Energy Demand
research centres. The centres are
investigating the complexities of energy
use across society and explore how
energy can be both saved and used
more efficiently. The investment
included a further £13 million from
industrial partners.
May 5: Japan shuts down its nuclear reactors, leaving the country without nuclear power for the first time since 1970
67
2012
Birth of the cool
In 2012, energy storage research
co-developed by EPSRC-supported
researchers at the University of Leeds,
led by Professor Yulong Ding, scientists
at the Chinese Academy of Science, and
commercial partners led to the creation
of a joint EPSRC-supported international
research institute with over 45 researchers
working on more than 20 projects.
The initial project, funded under the
EPSRC-led RCUK Energy Programme,
was an international academic/industry
collaboration. The Leeds team joined
forces with commercial partner, Highview
Power Storage, the UK-based developer of
large-scale long duration liquid air energy
storage (LAES) systems, and Chinese
colleagues to co-design and lab test a
novel cryogenic energy storage system that
stores off-peak energy, using liquefied air
as the storage medium.
During discharge, the system can
simultaneously convert low grade
waste heat into power, further
increasing the overall efficiency by
producing additional power.
Ambient air is drawn from the environment
where it is cleaned, compressed and
liquefied at sub-zero temperatures;
700 litres of ambient air become one litre
of liquid air. The liquid air can be stored in
an insulated storage tank at low pressure
for extended periods of time without
significant losses.
Using pioneering combined heat and power
systems such as this, one day homes could
have their own domestic electrical energy
storage system, providing heating, power,
refrigeration and air conditioning.
The formation of the institute, which
focuses on next-generation energy storage
systems, followed the project’s runaway
success at The Engineer magazine’s 2011
Technology and Innovation Awards, winning
both its category and the grand prize.
When power is required, liquid air is drawn
from the tanks, pumped to high pressure
and heated. This process produces a highpressure gas, which is then used to spin
a turbine which drives the generator to
produce electricity.
£16 million for robotics
such as deep sea installations and nuclear
power plants; and aerial vehicles that
can monitor national borders or
detect pollution.
In 2012, EPSRC invested £16 million in
22 university-based research projects to
develop smart robots and autonomous
systems such as unmanned aircraft –
considered vital to many areas of UK
industry, from oil and gas exploration to
advanced manufacturing.
Led by EPSRC, the project involves an
eight-strong group of partners, including
BAE Systems, Sellafield Ltd and the UK
Space Agency, investing over £4 million
in support.
The projects include ‘nursebots’ that
assist patients in hospitals; safe ways of
monitoring in dangerous environments
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
August 6: Curiosity, the Mars Science Laboratory mission’s rover, successfully lands on Mars
The system uses established technology,
can be built anywhere, and can easily
be scaled up. A pilot facility near Slough
(pictured) began providing electricity to the
National Grid in April 2010, and can meet
the power needs of several hundred houses
for up to eight hours.
In 2014, Professor Yulong Ding joined the
University of Birmingham as the newly
appointed Highview Power Storage/Royal
Academy of Engineering Research Chair
in Energy Storage.
To support Professor Ding in his work,
Highview is relocating its 350kW/2.5MWh
LAES pilot plant to Birmingham.
Regeneration nation
In 2012, EPSRC co-invested with other
research councils £25 million in the
fast emerging discipline of regenerative
medicine. A key part of the investment,
which will produce a set of research
priorities for UK regenerative medicine
research and development, is a new
cross-research council UK Regenerative
Medicine Platform, to work in close
partnership with the £50 million Innovate
UK Cell Therapy Catapult Centre.
Co-investors are: the Medical Research
Council, Biotechnology and Biological
Sciences Research Council, Economic and
Social Research Council and Innovate UK.
68
Picture courtesy Agnese Sanvito
The team have since developed 3D concrete
printers fitted to a gantry and a robotic arm.
Efficiency drive
The printer can make things which cannot
be manufactured by conventional processes
such as complex structural components,
curved cladding panels and other
architectural features.
In 2012, EPSRC-supported scientists
developed 3D computer software that
can create and test automation systems
before they’re even built, potentially saving
manufacturers millions of pounds while
increasing their competitiveness.
The 3D concrete printing research was
funded by EPSRC from 2007-12.
3D concrete printing
In 2012, a team of EPSRC-sponsored
engineers at Loughborough University,
co-led by Dr Richard Buswell and Professor
Simon Austin, developed an innovative 3D
printing technique to create customised
panels for large-scale buildings. The
process was developed at the EPSRC
Innovative Manufacturing and Construction
Research Centre (IMCRC) at Loughborough.
Dr Buswell says: “Freeform gives architects
and builders the creative freedom to design
and build hitherto unfeasible concrete
‘components’, such as curved panels, while
reducing the high cost penalties associated
with traditional methods.”
With further funding from EPSRC, the team
are collaborating with industry partners to
commercialise the process, which could
capture a significant share of the US$450
billion global concrete and cement market.
The software, which builds up a virtual
representation of the automated system,
allowing engineers to get their fingers dirty
in 3D, was developed by a team at the
EPSRC Innovative Manufacturing and
Construction Research Centre (IMCRC)
at Loughborough University.
The tool is aimed at helping manufacturers
save money, increase efficiency, improve
prototype safety and accelerate the process
of getting their products to market.
The research focused on applications
in automotive engine assembly but can
potentially be used across the manufacturing
sector. Commercialisation of the software
tools and services developed by the project
has begun through the licensing of the
software by the university to project partner
Fully Distributed Systems Ltd.
The project, known as Business Driven
Automation, was led by Professor Robert
Harrison. He says: “Conventional automation
systems are slow and complex to service,
reconfigure and integrate. The software
we’ve developed gives a quick, accurate,
virtual 3D prototype view of assembly
machine behaviour before the machines are
physically built.
“We aim to make these tools much easier
and faster to develop and use, and we want
to see them used throughout the machine
lifecycle, not just at initial build.”
Wheel deal
In 2012, an EPSRC-sponsored team from
the University of Lincoln, led by Professor
Paul Stewart, showed how the aircraft of
tomorrow could self-contribute to their
power needs by harnessing energy from
the wheel rotation of their landing gear on
the tarmac.
The feasibility project showed how the
energy produced by a plane’s braking
system during landing – currently wasted
as heat produced by friction in the
aircraft’s disc brakes – would be captured
and converted into electricity by motorgenerators built into the landing gear.
Early detection
10 times more sensitive than the current
gold standard methods for measuring
biomarkers, which are used to indicate the
onset of diseases such as prostate cancer
and infection by viruses including HIV.
In 2012, a team of EPSRC-funded
scientists at Imperial College London, led
by Professor Molly Stevens, developed
a prototype ultra-sensitive sensor that
would enable doctors to detect the early
stages of diseases and viruses with the
naked eye. The visual sensor technology is
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
The sensor could benefit countries where
sophisticated detection equipment is
scarce, enabling cheaper and simpler
detection and treatments for patients.
September 12: Apple unveils its iPhone 5 and iOS 6
69
2013
Investing in the future
In 2013, EPSRC invested in a host of major projects and
centre-based initiatives across its portfolio – including
manufacturing, engineering, robotics, advanced materials
and information & communications technology (ICT).
£39 MILLION FOR UK ENERGY CENTRES
£45 MILLION FOR MANUFACTURING
In 2013, EPSRC co-funded one of the
biggest Research Council investments
to support UK energy efficiency policy,
reduce carbon use and cut greenhouse
gas emissions.
In 2013, EPSRC invested £45 million to
develop innovative new manufacturing
technologies, techniques and systems.
The investment includes:
Five new End Use Energy Demand
research centres received a total of
£39 million from EPSRC, which leads the
Research Councils UK Energy Programme,
the Economic and Social Research Council
(ESRC), and industrial partners, which
contributed £13 million.
•
£21 million for four new Centres for
Innovative Manufacturing
•
£12.2 million towards six flexible
manufacturing projects
•
Six information & communications
technology (ICT) research projects for
UK manufacturing competitiveness
The funding enables the research centres
to look into the complexities of energy use
across society and explore how energy can
be both saved and used more efficiently.
The projects demonstrate the collaborative
nature of manufacturing research and
bring together nine universities and over
70 manufacturing partners.
£32 MILLION FOR INTERDISCIPLINARY
RESEARCH COLLABORATIONS
£47 MILLION FOR ENGINEERING
In 2013, EPSRC invested £32 million in
three major Interdisciplinary Research
Collaborations (IRCs) that could help
revolutionise healthcare. The research
focuses on developing new information
& communications technology (ICT)
applications and systems to tackle
increasingly pressing problems, such
as an ageing population and severely
overstretched hospitals.
The investment, spanning 10 universities
and 18 industry and academic partners,
brings together multidisciplinary
researchers from areas including pathology
and electrical engineering to develop
technologies such as sensors in patients’
clothing that monitor their condition, and
smartphones that can diagnose and track
the spread of infectious disease.
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
In 2013, EPSRC invested £47 million in
new engineering projects to tackle global
challenges such as climate change;
improving healthcare; and meeting basic
needs, including access to clean water.
The investment included £25 million in
five frontier engineering projects in areas
such as nature inspired engineering;
synthetic biology applications to water;
individualised multi-scale simulation;
and simulation of open engineered
biological systems.
EPSRC invested a further £20 million
in large Programme Grants to four UK
universities, focusing on resilience, health
and technology and growth.
ADDITIONAL INVESTMENTS
In 2013, EPSRC invested £85 million
in a range of projects to support and
strengthen research in the areas of
Robotics and Autonomous Systems,
Advanced Materials and Grid-scale
Energy Storage.
The research, involving 20 UK universities,
will underpin key sectors of the
UK economy, including automotive,
manufacturing, aerospace, energy
and healthcare.
£39.4 million will be invested in robotics
and autonomous systems (£25 million
from EPSRC; £8.4 million from higher
education institutions; and £6 million from
industrial partners)
£47.2 million will be invested in advanced
materials (£30 million from EPSRC with
additional funding of £11.7 million from
higher education institutions and
£5.5 million from industrial partners)
£45.6 million will be invested in grid-scale
energy storage (£30 million from EPSRC
with additional funding of £9.8 million
from higher education institutions and
£5.8 million from industrial partners)
£10 MILLION WITH JLR
In 2013, EPSRC and Jaguar Land Rover
co-invested £10 million in the first phase
of a 20-year strategic project led by
four leading UK universities to advance
the UK’s role in developing virtual
simulation technologies.
The investment will give engineers a
more realistic perception of what a design
might achieve, as well as access to more
powerful computers as part of a package
that could put the UK at the leading edge
of virtual simulation globally.
January 17: Japan unveils plans to build the world’s largest wind farm near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant
70
funding from EPSRC and
Sellafield Ltd.
Tom Scott, project lead and
Director of the Interface
Analysis Centre in the
University’s School of
Physics, says: “By using
lightweight and low-cost
unmanned aerial vehicles,
we can immediately and
remotely determine the
spread and intensity of
radiation following any
such event.
In the zone
In 2013, an unmanned aerial drone which
monitors radiation levels after a nuclear
incident was developed by an EPSRCsupported University of Bristol team.
The drone was inspired in response to the
Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011 after
helicopter pilots risked radiation exposure
as they mapped the disaster area.
Oliver Payton, James MacFarlane and John
Fadoulis, from the University of Bristol’s
Interface Analysis Centre, developed the
remote controlled Advanced Airborne
Radiation Monitoring (AARM) system, with
“The systems have
sufficient inbuilt intelligence for
deployment following an incident and
are effectively disposable if they
become contaminated.”
The drone uses laser distancing to enable
safe flight in narrow spaces. It can map the
3D environment with millimetre precision
and also capture high resolution images.
The team are also developing thermal
imaging, gas and acoustic sensors for
the drone.
The on-board microcomputer integrates
multiple sensor streams to provide
radiation mapping with excellent spatial
resolution and sensitivity.
walking to school with
one or two adults) during
the school run.
Walk smart
In 2013, the universities of Salford and
Lancaster won a Modeshift national
transport award for a smartphone app
developed for parents to keep track of their
child’s walking bus (a group of children
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
Salford psychologists
Dr Sarah Norgate and
Nikki Jones teamed up
with researchers Chris
Winstanley, Mike Harding
and Professor Nigel
Davies from Lancaster
University to develop the
app. Dr Norgate says:
“Walking school buses
are an effective way
to promote children’s
independent mobility and road sense. With
this new application, parents can track the
safe arrival of the walking school bus at the
school gates.”
Families at Westwood Park Primary School
in Eccles trialled the app with one of the
February 5: The House of Commons votes in favour of same-sex marriage
The software is controlled from a laptop,
and attachments can be plugged in
according to the task in hand.
The drone’s rotor arms fold back so that
the system can be fitted into a standard
travel case, making it easy to take on a
plane and rapidly deploy.
In 2014, the drone was used to map
radiation surrounding the Fukushima site
to help the clean-up before people can
return to their homes.
In April 2014, the AARM team, led by
Tom Scott, provided Sellafield’s first ever
drone survey of any type, demonstrating
the team’s radiation mapping technology
combined with aerial photography.
James Moore, who leads on UAV
technologies at Sellafield, says: “This
system, to the best of our knowledge,
represents the current state of the art for
radiation-mapping UAS systems.”
In 2014, the Royal Academy of Engineering
awarded James MacFarlane and Oliver
Payton the ERA Foundation Entrepreneurs
Award. The prize is helping them develop
the drone commercially for use in
disasters, routine radiation monitoring at
nuclear sites and mining operations. Spin
out company Imitec has been set up to take
this forward.
walking school bus coordinators, Trish
Kiernan (pictured). Head Teacher Sara
Walker says: “Children are motivated to
see the arrival of the walking school bus
on the screen, and to join other pupils on
the school run.” Mark Mountcastle, Head
Teacher at St Hugh of Lincoln RC Primary
in Stretford, which also helped to trial the
app, agrees. He says: “It’s a brilliant way to
encourage the children not only to walk to
school but to use technology in a creative
and practical way.”
The project is funded by the RCUK Digital
Economy programme, led by EPSRC,
and is part of the Sixth Sense Transport
initiative between the University of Salford,
Lancaster University, the University of
Southampton, the University of Edinburgh
and Bournemouth University to develop
apps that will encourage more sustainable
travel options.
71
2013
acoustics to quickly
locate blockages and
structural defects,
and to determine the
pipe length and the
serviceability of the
pipe, won a multitude
of awards.
Sound affects: SewerBatt™ technology being demonstrated in Singapore for PUB, the
national water company.
Pipeline to success
In 2013, Acoustic Sensing Technology Ltd,
a spin out company from the University of
Sheffield, was formed to commercialise
the EPSRC-supported research of
Professors Kirill Horoshenkov and
Simon Tait, who previously worked at
the University of Bradford.
The technology
builds on 15 years of
EPSRC-supported
work by Professors
Horoshenkov and
Tait at the universities
of Bradford and
Sheffield.
Since its launch in
2013, SewerBatt™,
the idea for which was conceived by water
industry pioneer Richard Long, has received
glowing praise from water industry experts,
leading Piers Clarke, Thames Water’s
Commercial Director, to describe it as “a
phenomenal technology”.
Sweet success
In 2013, a new technique that uses
MRI scans to detect cancer by imaging
tumours’ consumption of sugar was
unveiled by EPSRC-supported scientists
led by Dr Simon Walker-Samuel at
University College London.
The breakthrough could provide a
safer and simpler alternative to
standard radioactive techniques and
enable radiologists to image tumours
in greater detail.
The new technique, called ‘glucose
chemical exchange saturation transfer’
(glucoCEST), is based on the fact that
tumours consume much more glucose (a
type of sugar) than normal, healthy tissues
in order to sustain their growth.
The researchers found that sensitising an
MRI scanner to glucose uptake caused
tumours to appear as bright images on
MRI scans of mice.
In less than 12 months, the company’s
first product, the SewerBatt™, which uses
In 2014, SewerBatts were adopted into
Yorkshire Water’s five-year plan, and the
company began installing them in areas
vulnerable to sewer flooding.
In the future, patients could potentially
be scanned in local hospitals, rather than
having to be referred to specialist
medical centres.
Chicken coup
protein and other feeds given to chickens
bred for meat production.
bioethanol produced.
In 2013, an academic/industry partnership
supported by EPSRC led to a biofuel
production process that also yields a viable
poultry feedstuff as a ‘by-product’.
With project supervisor Dr Emily Burton, of
Nottingham Trent University, Dr Williams
secured funding for Dawn Scholey, a
doctoral student at Nottingham, to join the
team under an EPSRC CASE studentship.
With around 80 billion litres of bioethanol
fuel produced each year from fermented
cereals, the team’s findings are by no
means chicken feed.
The project was borne out of the vision of
biofuels pioneer, Dr Pete Williams of AB
Agri, the agricultural division of Associated
British Foods. Williams was convinced
valuable material was being overlooked
when cereals were fermented to
make bioethanol.
The team showed that Yeast Protein
Concentrate (YPC) made during the
fermentation process could be a costcompetitive alternative to soya-based
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
By examining the composition of the newly
isolated and patented YPC, Dawn showed
it could be both separated from the cereal
matter and was a viable alternative nutrient
readily digested by chickens.
A project at a US bioethanol facility is
already demonstrating the performance of
the process at factory scale.
The new process separates the dried
distiller’s grains (DDGs) into three fractions:
fibre, a watery syrup and YPC, allowing
annual global production of almost three
million tonnes of supplementary highquality protein alongside current levels of
Dr Burton says:
“One concern with
bioethanol is the
perception it will
compete with
food crops
for limited
farmland.
Our new
work
shows how
the two can
live side by side.”
Dr Pete Williams says: “We couldn’t have
got this development started without the
EPSRC CASE studentship that allowed us
to establish the proof of concept, and to
confirm the value-creation potential of our
innovative separation process.”
March 13: Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina is elected the 266th Pope, whereupon he takes the name Francis
72
Knight
of the
web
Unlike airport scanners, the device
(pictured) does not produce an image of
the subject but only analyses radar signals
reflected from the person.
The machines work at a distance of up to
25 metres using low power millimetrewave radar signals that reflect off a weapon
and back to the scanner, but without
compromising people’s privacy or health.
Hide and seek
In 2013, a team of scientists at Manchester
Metropolitan University unveiled a hightech radar scanner which automatically
detects hidden bombs and guns on people.
The scanner works in real time using radar
waves and complex computer programs,
and is destined to revolutionise security
at airports, shopping centres, stadia and
transport hubs.
The technology is designed to rapidly scan
individuals in a crowd as they pass through
areas such as public spaces, gates or
entrances and instantly alert officials as
soon as a threat is detected.
The portable, battery-powered devices
include a handheld system for mobile use
in the street and a larger, extended range
static version suitable for checkpoints or
vehicle mounting.
The prototypes are currently being turned
into commercial versions ready for security
services around the world with customers
already lined up to test the technology.
Project Leader, Professor Nick Bowring,
started to develop the system in 2004 after
initial funding from EPSRC, followed by
the Metropolitan Police and the Home
Office. He says: “The technology is a
combination of a radar system and an
AI-based computer system. It would have
been unthinkable to make it just five years
ago because the computing power and
hardware were just not there.”
thumb-type 34 per cent
faster on tablets than when
using a QWERTY keyboard.
Thumbs up for
new keyboard
Dr Kristensson’s EPSRCsupported research at
St Andrews includes the
development of technology
that could lead to much
faster and easier synthetic
voice systems, such as that
used by Stephen Hawking.
In 2013, an international research team
co-led by Dr Per Ola Kristensson, from the
University of St Andrews, created a new
keyboard that enables faster thumb-typing
on touchscreen devices.
In 2013, Dr Kristensson, who holds an
EPSRC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship,
was recognised by the respected MIT
Technology Review as one of 35 top
young innovators ‘most likely to change
the world’. Previous winners include
the founders and designers of Google,
Facebook, Apple and Tumblr.
The KALQ keyboard minimises thumb
travel distance and maximises alternation
between thumbs, enabling people to
In 2014, Dr Kristensson joined the
Department of Engineering at the
University of Cambridge.
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
In 2013, Nigel Shadbolt, from the University
of Southampton, Professor of Artificial
Intelligence and one of the world’s leading
experts in web science, was knighted in the
Queen’s Birthday Honours List for services
to science and engineering.
Professor Shadbolt’s research has taken
in a broad range of topics, from natural
language understanding and robotics
to computational neuroscience and
memory through to the Semantic Web
and linked data.
Professor Shadbolt, who has held over
20 EPSRC grants over more than 25 years,
is founding director of the Open Data
Institute, with World Wide Web pioneer
Professor Sir Tim Berners-Lee.
From 2000-2007, Professor Shadbolt
led and directed the widely influential
EPSRC-funded Advanced Knowledge
Technologies Interdisciplinary Research
Collaboration (IRC).
The IRC produced some of the most
important Semantic Web research of the
period, such as how diverse information
could be harvested and integrated and how
semantics could help computer systems
recommend content.
In 2009, the Prime Minister appointed
Professors Shadbolt and Berners-Lee as
Information Advisers to transform access
to Public Sector Information. The work
arising from this project led to the highly
acclaimed data.gov.uk site which now
provides a portal to thousands of datasets.
In 2012, Nigel Shadbolt was awarded a
£6.2 million, five-year EPSRC Programme
Grant to lead the SOCIAM (Social Machines)
project, which is researching pioneering
methods of supporting purposeful human
interaction on the World Wide Web.
The aim of the SOCIAM project is to enable
us to build social machines that solve
the routine tasks of daily life as well as
its emergencies.
November 27: Frozen, the highest-grossing animated film of all time, starring Idina Menzel and Kristen Bell, is released
73
2014
Slide rules
In 2014, Lizzy
Yarnold sped
to gold medal
success in
the skeleton
bobsleigh event
at the Sochi Winter Olympics. But her
achievement was not just a reward for her
dedication and athleticism, it was also a
triumph for UK engineering design.
Yarnold’s achievement at the Sanki Sliding
Centre came thanks, in part, to a sled
designed by engineers Rachel Blackburn
and James Roche (pictured) who work with
McLaren Applied Technologies, an offshoot
of the Formula One company.
James and Rachel were EPSRCsponsored students studying for
Engineering Doctorates at the University of
Southampton when they designed ‘Arthur’,
the sled that carried Amy Williams to gold
medal victory in Vancouver in 2010. They
were also key members of the British
Skeleton support team at Sochi 2014,
and were there to witness Lizzy Yarnold’s
triumphant gold medal-winning run.
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
Rachel Blackburn says: “The skills we
learned from the Engineering Doctorate
programme at Southampton, coupled with
the ideas and knowledge of the British
Skeleton and UK Sport support staff, gave
us a good grounding for implementing
engineering solutions. Working with the
athletes themselves helped us put our
ideas into practice.
supporting Amy, Lizzy and their fellow
athletes in their respective successes.
“EPSRC funding was the catalyst that
allowed Rachel and myself to pursue an
academic and latterly engineering career in
such a unique and challenging field.”
Picture courtesy UK Sport
“The project also allowed us to develop new
skills – from track testing, data analysis
and prototyping through to full roll-out
production of the sled.”
Since 2010, James and Rachel have been
working with McLaren in Woking, Surrey to
bring further improvements to the design
of the sled, which they now call Mervyn
Blackroc – after an early sponsor and a
fusion of their surnames.
James Roche says: “It was a fantastic
honour to be able to work with British
Skeleton over the past eight years,
June 12-July 13: The 2014 FIFA World Cup is held in Brazil, and is won by Germany
74
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
September 27: The West African death toll from the Ebola virus reaches 3,000 lives
75
2014
contaminated wastes involves
cement encapsulation, a process
which typically increases the
overall volume.
The research project found that
mixing plutonium-contaminated
waste with blast furnace slag and
turning it into glass reduces its
volume by 85-95 per cent. It also
effectively locks in the radioactive
plutonium, creating a stable
end product.
Heart of glass
In 2014, researchers from the University
of Sheffield, sponsored by EPSRC
and Sellafield Ltd, developed a way to
significantly reduce the volume of some
higher activity nuclear wastes – reducing the
cost of interim storage and final disposal.
The UK spends more than £80 million
every year storing plutonium-contaminated
nuclear waste safely. The current treatment
method for non-compactable plutonium-
Lead researcher, Professor
Neil Hyatt, a co-investigator at
the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral
Training in Nuclear Fission at
the University of Sheffield, says:
“The overall volume of plutoniumcontaminated wastes from
operations and decommissioning is enough
to fill the clock tower of Big Ben seven times
over. Our process would reduce this waste
volume to fit neatly within just one tower.”
Also in 2014, EPSRC invested £4.9 million in
a national research programme looking at
ways of dealing with Britain’s nuclear waste.
The £8 million project, funded under the
RCUK Energy Programme, led by EPSRC,
involves 10 UK universities, led by the
University of Leeds, and brings together
the nuclear industry, the UK Government’s
nuclear advisers and the country’s leading
academic researchers.
More than 40 doctoral and postdoctoral
researchers will work over the next four
years on issues including how best to handle
different types of spent fuel, packaging and
storing waste, and dealing with nuclear
sludges in ponds and silos at nuclear
power stations.
Professor Simon Biggs, who leads the
initiative, says: “The project is primarily
focused on developing new technologies and
providing confidence in the safe storage and
disposal of legacy waste.
“The UK is a technology leader in this
field and the core aim of this project is to
maintain and further develop that skill base.
“This project will be a truly interdisciplinary
effort. We have civil engineers, chemists,
chemical engineers, robotics experts,
radiochemists, mechanical engineers and
material engineers all working together on
30 different projects.”
In addition to the £4.9 million invested by
EPSRC, funding and support for the project,
which builds on an earlier EPSRC-funded
2007 research programme, will come from
the universities and industry partners.
Antibodies exposed
In 2014, an internet service which allows
scientists to find antibodies for use in their
research became the largest antibody
search engine in a US$2 billion industry,
and ranked number one by Google.
The CiteAb service was founded in 2013
by Dr Andrew Chalmers at the University
of Bath following funding from an EPSRC
Knowledge Transfer Account.
Antibodies – proteins produced by the
immune system in response to the
introduction of a foreign body – have a
variety of uses in basic research, diagnostic
tests and therapeutics.
Dr Chalmers says: “One of the biggest
problems for a researcher is being sure
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
that the antibody they’re about to spend
hundreds of pounds on is going to work.
They can waste time and money buying the
wrong one, CiteAb solves this problem.
“We rank antibodies by academic citations
as these are the best guide to whether an
antibody is likely to work in the laboratory
– citations are independent and easily
verifiable, and no one can pay to be the
top hit.”
The CiteAb team work in collaboration
with Bath-based Storm Consultancy and
are currently exploring ways to use the
data CiteAb generates to ensure the longterm success of this research as
a commercial enterprise.
October 21: Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius is sentenced to five years in prison for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp
76
The research team, from the University
of East Anglia’s schools of Mathematics
and Environmental Sciences, created a
computer simulated pattern of ocean
circulation on a hypothetical ocean-covered
Earth-like planet.
Professor David Stevens, from UEA’s
School of Mathematics, says: “We found
that heat transported by oceans would
have a major impact on the temperature
distribution across a planet, and would
potentially allow a greater area of a planet
to be habitable.
“Mars, for example, is in the sun’s habitable
zone, but it has no oceans – causing air
temperatures to swing over a range of
100 degrees Celsius.
Cosmic waves
In 2014, EPSRC-funded researchers at
Until now, computer simulations of
the University of East Anglia (UEA) made
habitable climates on Earth-like planets
an important step in the race to discover
have focused on their atmospheres. But
whether other planets could develop and
the presence of oceans is vital for optimal
sustain life.
climate stability and habitability.
“Oceans help to make a planet’s climate
more stable so factoring them into climate
models is vital for knowing whether the
planet could develop and sustain life.
“This new model will help us to understand
what the climates of other planets might be
like with more accurate detail than
ever before.”
Power prosthetics
In 2014, EPSRC-supported researchers
at the University of Salford moved a
step closer in developing technology
to enhance the mobility of people with
above-knee amputations.
When walking with a single prosthetic leg,
above-knee amputees typically use up to
60 per cent more energy than people who
are able-bodied, causing fatigue and a
40 per cent slower walking speed.
Their solution lies in improving the energy
efficiency of prosthetic legs.
These difficulties can hinder an amputee’s
mobility and thus affect their quality of life.
The energy storage and return capabilities
of prosthetic legs are crucial to improving
an amputee’s gait and mobility, but
most prostheses only store and return
significant energy below the knee and in an
uncontrolled way.
To overcome these problems the team of
engineers and prosthetists, working with
leading prosthetics manufacturer Chas
A Blatchford, are exploring the potential
for using hydraulic technology to harvest
and store energy from the parts of the
prosthesis that absorb power, and then
return that energy to the parts that do
useful propulsive work.
The results will be used to develop
new prosthetic leg designs which have
increased functionality and require less
energy from the amputee.
Project leader, Professor David Howard,
says: “This is an opportunity for truly
transformative research, leading to more
biomechanically-efficient prosthetic legs,
enabling amputees to walk faster for longer
and therefore lead more active lives.”
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
November 12: The Rosetta spacecraft’s Philae probe successfully lands on Comet 67P, the first time in history that a spacecraft has landed on such an object
77
2014
The study shows that NMT is involved in
a wide range of essential processes in
the parasite cell, including the production
of proteins that enable malaria to be
transmitted between humans and
mosquitoes, and proteins that enable
malaria to cause long-term infection.
Malaria demultiplied
The team are working to design molecules
that inhibit NMT’s function, and hope to
start clinical trials of potential treatments
within four years.
The discovery is the culmination of a fiveyear project by a consortium of researchers
from Imperial College London, the National
Institute for Medical Research, The
University of Nottingham, the University
of York, and Pfizer. It is funded by EPSRC,
the Medical Research Council and the
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences
Research Council.
Light fantastic
In 2014, EPSRC-supported researchers at
the University of Cambridge, led by EPSRC
Leadership Fellow Professor Julian Allwood,
revealed that the construction industry is
using almost double the amount of steel in
buildings than is required by safety codes,
which is having a dramatic impact on
carbon emissions.
the required amount of the material to meet
safety standards it would save 1,027 tonnes
of steel.
Since 1989, EPSRC has invested over
£20 million in the ORC, building on research
led by its founding director, Professor
Sir David Payne. Blue-sky research by
Professor Payne’s team led to the invention
of the world’s first telecommunications
optical amplifier, a key device for internet
expansion, and 15 years ahead of its time.
The team analysed 10,000 structural steel
beams in 23 buildings across the UK
and found that, on average, they were only
carrying half the load they were originally
designed for.
The research was conducted by the UK
INdemand Centre, led by Professor Allwood
and funded under the RCUK Energy
Programme, led by EPSRC.
In 2014, a consortium of UK scientists
made an important step towards new
malaria treatments by identifying a way to
stop malaria parasites from multiplying.
The research team showed that the activity
of an enzyme called NMT is essential
for the survival and viability of the most
common malaria parasite.
Supporting act
Buildings covered by the study were ‘typical’
UK steel-framed buildings constructed
within the last
five years, mainly
schools, offices
and residential
buildings.
The study
estimates that
if the design of
the 23 buildings
were optimised
to include only
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
When scaled up to apply to the 290 million
tonnes of steel used worldwide to construct
buildings each year this would save
106 million tonnes of steel annually, averting
214 million tonnes of CO2 emissions.
The centre, comprising the University
of Cambridge, the University of Leeds,
Nottingham Trent University and the
University of Bath, focuses on ways to
significantly reduce the use of both energy
and energy-intensive materials in industry.
Professor Allwood is also a co-investigator
at the EPSRC-funded Innovation and
Knowledge Centre for Smart Infrastructure
and Construction, based at the University of
Cambridge, and is a senior staff member at
the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in
Future Infrastructure and Built Environment
at Cambridge.
In 2014, the EPSRC-supported
Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC) at
the University of Southampton celebrated
its 25th anniversary.
The ORC is now acknowledged as
a world leader in photonics, optical
telecommunication and high-power lasers,
and has spawned a cluster of photonics
companies to commercialise the research,
generating revenues in excess of £100
million and creating more than 500 jobs. It
has also produced over 700 doctoral-level
alumni holding senior positions in industry
and academia worldwide.
Ideas generated at the ORC help power the
global internet, navigate airliners, cut steel,
mark iPads, and manufacture life-saving
medical devices.
Professor Sir David Payne, who in 2012 was
knighted for his services to electronics,
says: “Thanks to long-term backing from
EPSRC, the University of Southampton has
been a world leader in photonics research
for 40 years, enabling the ORC to build
‘critical mass’ rare in academia.”
November 8: US President Obama authorises deployment of 1,500 additional troops to help train and advise Iraqi and Kurdish forces fighting IS militants
78
Fields medal
In 2014, Professor Martin
Hairer, from the University
of Warwick, became the
first UK-based mathematician to win the
prestigious Fields Medal since 1998.
Professor Hairer, who held an EPSRC
Advanced Research Fellowship from 20062012, was recognised for his ‘outstanding
contributions to the theory of stochastic
partial differential equations, and in
particular for the creation of a theory of
regularity structures for such equations’.
The Fields Medal, internationally regarded
as the world’s most prestigious award
in mathematics, is awarded every four
years and recognises the outstanding
achievements of mathematicians aged
under 40. Previous winners include Sir
Michael Atiyah (see page 13), in 1966.
Fat friends
In 2014, an
EPSRC-funded
team from
Heriot-Watt
University and the
University of
Edinburgh came a step
closer in developing a way to make low-fat
cheeses and cakes as tempting as their
full-fat equivalents.
The team, led by Dr Steve Euston of
Heriot-Watt University, produced modified
proteins that easily break down into
micro-particles and therefore closely
mimic the behaviour of fats during
food manufacture.
The proteins will enable manufacturers
to remove much of the fat used in their
products without compromising on
product quality.
Protein-for-fat substitution is not a
completely new idea, but to date it
has been restricted to products such
as yogurts.
The team has achieved particularly
promising results in using proteins to
replace eggs, an ingredient commonly
used as a gelling agent in bakery items.
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
Genius of invention
In 2014, Chris Toumazou,
Regius Professor of
Engineering at Imperial
College London, was
named Inventor of the Year
in the Research category
at the European Patent
Office’s awards for his work on a lowpower USB stick that decodes a patient’s
DNA within minutes.
Thanks to his work, DNA can be analysed
outside a lab environment – helping
medicine take a big step from healing
illnesses to preventing them.
Invention for Professor Toumazou is in
his blood. In the 1980s he developed the
low-power processor vital to multi-channel
cochlear implants invented by Erwin and
Ingeborg Hochmair.
Substituting eggs for proteins not only cuts
fat content, it could also reduce the cost of
products and encourage consumers to eat
more healthily.
The research is being taken forward by
project partner Nandi Proteins, which is
using the findings to extend its range of
proteins with a view to food manufacturers
incorporating them in new low-fat
products that could start reaching the
shops within two years.
Lydia Campbell, Chief Technology Officer
for Nandi Proteins, says: “EPSRC funding
allowed the scientific investigation of the
underlying science of Nandi technology,
and the outcomes will add significantly
to the confidence with which the
technology can be deployed across the
UK and internationally.
“They will also serve to broaden the
innovation of our product range, and to
compete with international companies.”
As part of an Innovate UK-supported
Knowledge Transfer Partnership, the
research team is now also developing
a computer model to help food
manufacturers pinpoint the optimum
level of protein-for-fat replacement for
particular products.
November 15: World leaders gather in Brisbane for the G20 Summit, focusing on economic growth
These implants have restored hearing
to more than 300,000 people since their
introduction in 1986, the year Professor
Toumazou received his first EPSRC
research grant – he has since been
awarded over 20 more.
At the age of just 33, Chris Toumazou
became the youngest professor ever to
teach at Imperial College London – an
achievement all the more remarkable
for someone who left school at 16 with
no qualifications.
At Imperial, he focused on ways of
combining electrical engineering and
microchip technology with biomedicine.
In 2014, Professor Toumazou, who has
launched several highly successful
companies to commercialise his work,
co-leads the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral
Training in High Performance Embedded
and Distributed Systems at Imperial.
Quantum network
In 2014, EPSRC invested in a new
£120 million national network of Quantum
Technology Hubs to explore the properties
of quantum mechanics and how they can
be harnessed for use in technology.
Quantum technologies offer potentially
transformative impacts in key areas such
as quantum metrology and sensors;
quantum simulators; quantum computers
and quantum secure communications.
The new network will involve 17
universities and 132 companies and
will be funded by EPSRC from the £270
million investment in the UK National
Quantum Technologies Programme
announced by the Chancellor in 2013.
The network will consist of four hubs,
selected after a competitive peerreviewed process, led by the universities
of Birmingham, Glasgow, Oxford and York.
Sponsors of the new national network
include Innovate UK, the Department for
Business, Innovation and Skills, National
Physical Laboratory, GCHQ, the Defence
Science and Technology Laboratory and
the Knowledge Transfer Network.
79
Digging thinking
As EPSRC’s Sandpit workshops celebrate 10 years of thinking
differently, Pioneer takes a look at their impact.
According to Einstein, logic will get you
from A to B, but imagination will take
you everywhere. This sentiment, of using
creativity to push science beyond the
boundaries, is at the core of EPSRC’s
‘Sandpit’ initiative – blue-sky thinking
workshops with funded research
programmes the reward for the very
best ideas.
By compressing a research process that
traditionally takes months or years into one
week, and then sparking intense debate and
discussion, the Sandpit concept, introduced
in 2004, has created an explosion of
ideas and given rise to entirely new
scientific disciplines.
Sandpits work by bringing together diverse
and dynamic groups to focus on a realworld problem. Academics from different
disciplines, industry representatives and
the people who face the problem on a daily
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
basis are locked together for a week – and
no idea is off the table.
Through facilitated discussions, creative
sessions and site visits, the problem
is methodically deconstructed and
preconceptions are dispelled along with
traditional approaches.
The subjects discussed, which have
included everything from locating
underground utilities without any digging
(see pages 16-17) to synthetically building
new life, are then re-mapped and scrutinised
from every angle.
Over the course of the Sandpit, new
research groups are formed and ideas are
formulated and developed. The very best
ideas then go through rigorous scrutiny
before funding is awarded based on
the excellence of the proposal and the
resources needed.
Lee Cronin, Regius Professor of Chemistry
at the University of Glasgow and
head of the world-renowned
Cronin Lab, is
looking for the
origin of life
itself.
In 2004,
Cronin, at
the start of a
distinguished
career, took part
in one of the very first
Sandpits. He says: “For
me, Sandpits have had a
profound effect on the way
I think about cross-disciplinary
80
research. They rank amongst some of
the most exciting things I have done. The
EPSRC Sandpit model is the model of how
I often try to do innovation in science now.”
Cronin has taken part in six Sandpits over
the past decade and has adapted the
method to spark creativity within his own lab
at Glasgow. He is not alone.
The Sandpit model has been used by
UK universities and by research teams in
Mexico, New Zealand and Norway. It has
also been adopted by the National Science
Foundation, the United States’ main
government funding agency. Even NASA is
using it to widen its horizons.
But it was very different when Cronin walked
through the door of a Derby conference
centre in January 2004 to take part in the
Chemical Craftwork Sandpit.
The Sandpit method was new, untested
and a radical departure from the funding
mechanisms that academia and research
councils had grown comfortable with.
“It was immensely exciting, with the promise
of money, of new collaborations and a really
fascinating concept,” says Cronin. “But
I was also very tense. I wanted to find
teams to work with and
I was worried I would be
Billy No-Mates.”
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
It is an important point. Group dynamics
play a vital role in the success of a Sandpit.
Organisational psychologist Bharat Maldé
has been involved in assessing participants’
Sandpit suitability from the start, drawing
early inspiration from tribal behaviour and
the Apollo space programme.
Most Sandpits are hugely oversubscribed,
and the selection process has evolved,
taking into account a candidate’s expertise
and interests alongside their personal
approach or outlook.
So who are the perfect participants?
“Personally and interpersonally, they would
be inspirational, unselfish individuals with
the facility to enthuse others as well as be
enthused themselves; to hold their own
without being ‘loud’ or pushy; keen and
curious but in control of their senses or their
worst urges; and blessed with the freedom
to engage with intellectual play without fear
of failure or embarrassment,” says Maldé.
There have been lessons along the way.
Maldé adds: “In one Sandpit, we did so well
at picking affable, positive individuals that no
sparks flew and the event risked becoming
an extended, happy
social activity
rather than a stretching but fun
intellectual exercise.
“Sandpits thrive on diversity: of expertise,
outlooks, disciplines, approaches and life
experience. If there is a unifying quality, it
is the participants’ abiding zest for quest
pursued in the company of curiosity-driven
individuals wishing to push the boundaries.”
Cronin’s fears of being Billy No-Mates
proved unfounded. Chemical Craftwork
connected Cronin with a group of likeminded researchers, including computer
scientist/synthetic biologist Professor Natalio
Krasnogor, chemical biologist Professor
Ben Davis, and chemist Professor Cameron
Alexander – and the CHELL Network in
Chemical Cells was born (see page 41).
Work from this project led to an EPSRC
Leadership Fellowship (2009-2014) for
Professor Alexander, who leads the EPSRC
Centre for Doctoral Training in Targeted
Therapeutics & Formulation Sciences at
The University of Nottingham. The project
also led to enhanced links at Nottingham
with leading pharmaceutical companies
AstraZeneca, Boots, GSK and Pfizer.
(Continued on next page)
81
(Continued from page 81)
Lee Cronin later received an EPSRC
Advanced Fellowship, from 2006-2011
and in 2014 holds an EPSRC RISE
Leadership Fellowship. Professor Natalio
Krasnogor holds an EPSRC Leadership
Fellowship at Newcastle University.
Lee Cronin says: “Sandpits, for me, have
given me exposure to other disciplines and
a whole suitcase of problems that I could
translate into ideas. I could work with people
and develop whole new research fields.”
It is a glowing endorsement for a
concept whose reason for being was
to spark imagination.
The Sandpit process was a response to a
recognised need to invigorate academic
adventure in UK research. At the turn of
the millennium, EPSRC faced two parallel
challenges that would test its ability to
stimulate change within the UK research
portfolio. A number of international reviews
had noted that UK research was very
scholarly but that it lacked adventure.
Support for transformative research
was highlighted as an issue by a major
Government review: Science and Innovation
Investment Framework 2004-2014: Next
Steps, summarised as: ‘How the UK can
best support high risk, high impact research
in novel fields of scientific enquiry’.
The general feeling was that it was not
UK scientists and engineers who were
uncreative, but more the funding system
which had led to a conservative culture.
In parallel was the drive to increase the
amount of multidisciplinary research teams,
to cross-pollinate academic expertise and
create brand new ideas and approaches to
global challenges such as energy security
and climate change.
The simple approach – asking research
teams to be more adventurous through
explicit funding calls – did not inspire
change. It became clear that a much more
radical intervention was required, and the
Sandpit was born.
Ten years later, Cronin is in no doubt that
EPSRC’s Sandpit concept has addressed
the issue. He says: “You need a portfolio of
approaches, and Sandpits have enabled
us to do things we would not otherwise be
doing today.
“Sandpits demand true innovation and give
people the incentive to rise to this challenge.
“For example, my team’s approach to
embodied robotics exploring the origin of life
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
82
would not have happened without Sandpits.
It is too disruptive.
“I enjoy doing research in the UK and this
mechanism has uniquely allowed me to
work in a way that is not possible elsewhere.
There isn’t the mechanism. I recognise
EPSRC’s part in using its initiative to allow
me to think differently.”
A decade on, and the concept continues
to break new ground. In addition to a
raft of organisations adopting the model,
EPSRC continues to use and learn from the
approach with great success and has used
it to foster international partnerships – and
to create science with no boundaries at all.
Sandpits have
had a profound
effect on the
way I think about
cross-disciplinary
research. They are
some of the most
exciting things I have
done. The EPSRC
Sandpit model is
the model of how
I do science now.
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
Five days, 30 people, no limits, funded research
How is it possible that Sandpits are able
to create ambitious, adventurous and
innovative science from scratch in less
than 120 hours? The Devil is in the detail,
including expert facilitation and a fivestage process:
Interact: Give people time to discuss
skills, experiences and areas of interest.
Sessions create an atmosphere where
all feel confident in exploring diverse and
unconventional ideas. Facilitators are
careful to ensure groups and ideas are
not formed too early. Result: Mission
statement created.
Clarify: The group focus on the specific
issue of the Sandpit. Issues are debated
with those who have real-life experience
of the problem to build a comprehensive
picture of the situation. This can include
a site visit.
Mapping the problem begins to highlight
specific technology, knowledge and
research gaps that could hold the key
to future solutions. Result: Problem
statement created.
Create: The group begins to form ideas
in response to the problem. Drawing
on the discussions, experiences and
site visits, smaller groups begin to form
around emerging ideas, self-selecting the
skills and expertise needed for success.
Result: Task forces created.
Develop: The newly-formed research
groups develop, test and refine ideas.
The proposals are repeatedly put under
the microscope by the rest of the group.
At this stage, groups begin to look
at funding issues such as the level of
resources required. Result: A framework
for research.
Implement: At the final stage, proposals
are short-listed and ranked in priority
order by the group as a whole before a
final funding decision is made. Result:
New research programmes, new teams,
new thinking.
Son(s) of Sandpit
Since developing the Sandpit workshop
concept as part of its Ideas Factory
10 years ago, EPSRC has continued to
develop new ways of ensuring UK science
can push the boundaries on convention;
this has led to a number of initiatives
inspired by the Sandpit concept.
These include:
The Big Pitch: 18-month grants
of £250,000 awarded to individual
researchers to encourage bold,
radical thinking.
Dream Fellowships: Awarded to help
researchers with a creative approach to
develop pioneering ideas and ambitious
research directions that enable discovery.
They support individuals with the potential
to profoundly impact or transform an area
of research. A high degree of risk in their
approach is expected.
Creativity@Home: A relatively new
initiative to generate and nurture creative
thinking, aimed specifically at those
leading large programmes of research.
New research directions are expected to
be pursued which have the potential to
lead to high impact outcomes.
Groups can use funding to learn creative
problem-solving tools and techniques or
explore future research vision and crossdisciplinary opportunities.
83
EPSRC Science Photo
Competition 2013-14
EPSRC’s 2013-14 Science Photo Competition, open to all EPSRCsupported researchers and doctoral students, attracted nearly 300 entries,
and provided them the opportunity to share their research through pictures.
Entrants were asked to submit their images in five different categories:
Innovation, Discovery, Equipment, Weird and Wonderful, and People.
Not only are the 15 winning images stunning in their own right, they help to
reflect the exciting research in physical sciences and engineering going on
right now in the UK.
PIONEER
2014
PIONEER 14
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Summer
2014
50
84
1st
Weird and Wonderful
Comedy Lab: Human vs robot
A robot walks into a bar: A robot programmed with novel social intelligence algorithms performs a stand-up
routine at London’s Barbican Centre.
Robothespian, a robot created by specialist robotics company Engineered Arts, was reworked with
computer vision and audio processing technology to tailor its repartee to specific individuals in the audience
and improve its gag delivery. These live experiments explore what makes a good performance and how
technology can help or hinder it.
Toby Harris, a doctoral student at Queen Mary University of London’s Cognitive Science Research Group,
won the Weird and Wonderful category for this photograph, and also won the grand prize for best in show.
By Toby Harris, Queen Mary University of London
2nd
The Gömböc equation
Meet the Gömböc, the world’s only artificial self-righting shape.
Unlike Weebles and inflatable toys, which use a strategically-placed
weight to pull them upright, the Gömböc has no energy source.
No matter how it’s placed on a flat surface, the Gömböc, borne
out of complex mathematical theory, will right itself. The equation
defining the Gömböc appears in the background of the photograph.
By Professor Alain Goriely, University of Oxford
Weird and Wonderful
3rd
Surprise! Wrinkles simulated
The modelling and simulation of soft tissue is helping researchers
to produce detailed facial animations for computer graphics
applications. Such simulations could also be used with, for example,
soft-tissue studies in biomechanics and surgical applications.
Weird and Wonderful
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Summer
2014
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By Mark Warburton, University of Sheffield
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85
From nano-molecules to mega-structures
1st
Discovery
Rayleigh-Taylor instability
This image, of salt water accelerating into fresh water, illustrates what is known as Rayleigh-Taylor instability –
which mixes two fluids of different densities. During this phenomenon fluids form unpredictable patterns.
Mixing is of great interest to oceanographers in their quest to understand the ocean and its effect on climate.
By Megan Davies Wykes, University of Cambridge
2nd
Graphene sunrise
Among its many unique properties, the electrons in ‘wonder material’
graphene behave as massless relativistic particles. This image, taken jointly by
Professor Sir Konstantin Novoselov and Dr Daniel Elias, depicts the scientists’
measurements of graphene’s electrical capacitance (its ability to store an electric
charge) when subjected to a magnetic field.
By Professor Sir Konstantin Novoselov and Dr Daniel Elias, The University of Manchester
Discovery
3rd
Discovery
Subterranean sampling
Fieldworkers from The University of Manchester collect fossil samples in a deep
cave system on Cayman Brac in the Caribbean.
The researchers collected over 5,000 fossilised bones from rare vertebrate
remains found within the newly explored cave systems, in a tropical environment
typically not associated with exceptional preservation. Working with the Science
and Technology Facilities Council’s Diamond Light Source, a kind of giant
microscope, the research team are now using the latest non-destructive imaging
techniques, shining light brighter than a million suns to recover the chemical
ghosts from these subterranean samples.
By Dr Phil Manning, School of Earth, Environmental & Atmospheric Science, The University
of Manchester
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1st
Equipment
Microfluidics – huge advances on the microscale
A micromixer designed to advance the production of liposomes used in vaccine formulations. The
design of the channel has been tailored to improve the mixing speed. So-called lab-on-a-chip
based technologies are making important advances in microsystems for chemical, biological and
medical applications.
By Elisabeth Kastner, Aston University
2nd
From nano-molecules to
mega-structures
A giant drill emerges from a borehole on a London construction site. While
drilling, the borehole was supported by a synthetic polymer solution comprising
tiny polymer molecules.
The solution changes its viscosity according to how fast it flows: it’s thick when
sitting still, liquid when flowing fast. The image highlights the range of scale
sizes that engineers and scientists deal with in their work.
Equipment
By Dr Carlos Lam, The University of Manchester
3rd
3D bronze
This picture shows a complex hollow component being 3D-printed in bronze
metal. The component was later fired in a kiln to produce a solid bronze part.
By Esteban Schunemann, Brunel University
Equipment
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1st
Innovation
Lung cancer cells taking up carbon nano-needles
Resembling tropical islands seen from space, this electron microscope image depicts a pioneering new drug delivery
system. The green islands are lung cancer cells, captured in the process of taking up carbon nanotube nano-needles
(coloured gold), which could one day be used to deliver targeted drug therapies exactly where they
are needed, minimising harmful side effects.
By Dr Khuloud Al-Jamal and Izzat Suffian, King’s College London
2nd
FloorPlay
A demo of an interactive floor display in the engineering building at University
College London. Each of the lights in the floor can be independently lit in one
of millions of different colours, allowing the display to be used as a platform for
many different projects.
By Daniel Harrison, University College London Interaction Centre
Innovation
3rd
Manufactured with light
Using laser colour marking it is possible to create intricate patterns on tiny
surfaces. There is growing interest in this process in the creative industries,
and for security/identification purposes. This picture, of a delicate pattern ‘laser
written’ into a tiny 2x2cm piece of titanium by forming a thin oxide film on the
surface, shows why.
Innovation
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
By Dr Svetlana Zolotovskaya, Dundee University Materials and Photonics Systems (MAPS)
Research Group
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1st
People
Mathematical analysis can make you fly
Mathematics Masters student Joana Grah appears to fly in front of an equation that explains how the trick
is done.
Digital inpainting (think Photoshop) uses sophisticated mathematical algorithms to retouch digital images. Here it was
used to remove the stool on which Joana was sitting originally.
By Dr Carola-Bibiane Schoenlieb, Joana Grah and Kostas Papafitsoros, University of Cambridge
2nd
Discovering, designing,
developing together
Forest-dwelling Mbendjele Pygmies in Republic of the Congo use a picture-based
smartphone app to map their local resources and record evidence of illegal
logging activity.
By Gill Conquest, Extreme Citizen Science research group, University College London
People
3rd
Playing machine learning charades
Academics and software engineers take time out to enjoy a machine learning
version of charades, as part of the Robozoo project, a week-long retreat to
experiment with 3D-printed robots for use in cognitive robotics research.
By Dr Chrisantha Fernando, Queen Mary University of London
People
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Picture courtesy Markus Unsold, Waldrappteam
V-signs
In 2014, the mystery of why birds fly in
V-formations was finally solved with the help
of lightweight sensors, fitted to the back of
migrating birds.
The results from the project will prove
useful in a variety of fields, for example
aerodynamics and manufacturing.
A study of 14 Northern Bald Ibises showed
that each bird synchronises its flapping
to maximise the aerodynamic benefit of
upwash from the wings of the bird in front.
The birds’ formation is so precise they are
also able to avoid downwash from the
birds ahead.
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
Dr Steve Portugal, lead researcher at the
Royal Veterinary College, University of
London, says: “The intricate mechanisms
involved in V-formation flight indicate
remarkable awareness and ability of birds
to respond to the wingpath of nearby
flock-mates.
“Birds in V-formation seem to have
developed complex phasing strategies to
cope with the dynamic wakes produced by
flapping wings.”
These aerodynamic accomplishments were
previously not thought possible for birds
because of the complex flight dynamics
and sensory feedback required.
The custom-built technology, developed
with funding from EPSRC, captured the
movements of every bird within the flock,
recording its position, speed, and wing-flap
during 43 minutes of migratory flight.
UK scientists worked together with
conservation group Waldrappteam, which
trained zoo-bred birds to follow a microlight
to teach juvenile birds migration routes.
The research featured on the front cover of
Nature and appeared in the international
print media. Dr Portugal was also
interviewed for national and local radio
including the Chris Evans Show on
BBC Radio 2.
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About EPSRC
Total value of EPSRC’s
research portfolio:
£4 billion
Total invested by business and
other partners to date:
£1.74 billion
Total invested in research and
training annually:
£800 million
Number of partner
organisations:
2,800
Percentage of research portfolio
collaborative with business and
other partners:
45%
The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is the UK’s
main agency for funding research in engineering and the physical sciences.
EPSRC invests around £800 million a year in research and postgraduate
training to help the nation handle the next generation of technological change.
The areas covered range from information technology to structural
engineering, and mathematics to materials science. This research forms
the basis for future economic development in the UK and improvements for
everyone’s health, lifestyle and culture.
EPSRC is committed to excellence and impact, supporting a research base
and skills portfolio that meets key challenges of the 21st century, such as
supporting an ageing population and meeting the need for sustainable energy.
To this end, EPSRC has pioneered ways to stimulate research and encourage
multidisciplinary collaboration.
EPSRC works with around 2,800 companies and partner organisations. Fortyfive per cent of supported research is collaborative with industry and other
research users. By ensuring the early engagement between industry and the
research base, the fruits of EPSRC’s investments can be maximised, helping
to keep the UK at the forefront of global research and innovation.
You can find out more about EPSRC and how you can work with us by visiting our website:
Pioneer is made by:
works alongside
other Research
Councils
www.epsrc.ac.uk as well as keeping up to date byEPSRC
following
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which have responsibility in other research areas.
Editor: Mark Mallett ([email protected])
epsrc
Design: Rachael Brown ([email protected])
Contributors: Chris Buratta; Grace Palmer; John Yates;
Matt Shinn;
[email protected]
Contact: 01793 444305/442804
PIONEER 14 Winter 2014
The Research Councils work collectively on issues of
common concern via Research Councils UK.
To provide feedback on this magazine, and to
subscribe to print and/or electronic versions of
Pioneer, please e-mail [email protected]
Pictures courtesy of thinkstock.com unless
otherwise stated.
91
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
Leading
edge
09
10
UK infrastructure
Engineering
Engineering and
and Physical
Physical Sciences
Sciences Research
Research Council
Council
the next 50 years
Spotlight on the
research leaders
of tomorrow
The pulling power of the PhD
Bug magnets
Smartphones in space
The lensless microscope
Peer review – why it works
Science minister on engineering the future
Alf Adams, godfather of the internet
The train that runs on hydrogen
For back issues or to subscribe to Pioneer for free, email: [email protected]
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www.epsrc.ac.uk