EPSRC 20th Anniversary 1994-2014 EPSRC 20th anniversary CONTENTS 1994-2014

4-9 1994: EPSRC comes into being; 60-69 2005: Green chemistry steps up Peter Denyer starts a camera phone a gear; new facial recognition software revolution; Stephen Salter trailblazes becomes a Crimewatch favourite; modern wave energy research researchers begin mapping the underworld 10-13 1995: From microwave ovens to 70-73 2006: The Silent Aircraft Initiative biomedical engineering, Professor Lionel heralds a greener era in air travel; bacteria Tarassenko’s remarkable career; Professor munch metal, get recycled, emit hydrogen Peter Bruce – batteries for tomorrow 14 74-81 2007: A pioneering approach to 14-19 1996: Professor Alf Adams, prepare against earthquakes and tsunamis; godfather of the internet; Professor Dame beetles inspire high technologies; spin out Wendy Hall – web science pioneer company sells for US$500 million 20-23 1997: The crucial science behind 82-87 2008: Four scientists tackle the world’s first supersonic car; Professor synthetic cells; the 1,000 mph supercar; Malcolm Greaves – oil magnate strategic healthcare partnerships; supercomputer facility is launched 24-27 1998: Professor Kevin Shakesheff – regeneration man; Professor Ed Hinds – 88-95 2009: Massive investments in 20 order from quantum chaos doctoral training; the 175 mph racing car you can eat; rescuing heritage buildings; 28-31 1999: Professor Sir Mike Brady – medical imaging innovator; Unlocking the the battery-free soldier Basic Technologies programme 96-101 2010: Unlocking the mysteries of antimatter; spin out sells for US$330 32-35 2000: Plastic electronics: Professor 56 million; harnessing the power of pee Sir Richard Friend and colleagues invent a new research discipline; Strategic 102-107 2011: Spin out company sells Partnerships: forging ever-stronger links for £7.1 billion; Professor Colin Humphreys with industry and key collaborators on the GaN LED revolution; the world’s first synthetic organ transplant 36-41 2001: Makers in momentum – the Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre 108-115 2012: Meet the MASER – no programme; Professor Eric Yeatman, longer the laser’s less attractive cousin; the microelectronics maestro laundry additive that purifies the air as we walk; £60 million to encourage innovation 42-45 2002: Professor Dave Hawkes – 3D medical imaging for safer surgery; 116-119 2013: Massive investments in Professor Sam Kingman – using manufacturing, engineering and energy; microwaves to crush rocks drones to monitor radiation levels 46-49 2003: The future is fusion: a step 120-125 2014: Slide rules: how two 110 closer to limitless, clean and safe energy; doctoral students helped Lizzy Yarnold The SUPERGEN sustainable power slide to gold medal victory at the Sochi generation and supply programme Olympics; 20 years of the Southampton Optoelectronics Centre 50-59 2004: Wonder material graphene is first isolated; new adventures in ultrasound 126 V-signs: At last, the mystery of why begin; maths giant wins major award; birds fly in V-formation is resolved metamaterials pioneer is knighted 123 127 EPSRC: At a glance

EPSRC 1994-2014 2 Top 20 Chief Executive Professor Philip Nelson reflects on EPSRC’s 20th anniversary – and two decades of investment in science and engineering research, collaboration, discovery and innovation essential for a successful nation.

Twenty years isn’t grants and the training of 60,000 doctoral Returning to those 28,500 research grants, very long in the students. In addition to the £11 billion every one of these will have undergone a world of research, invested by EPSRC, a further £1.74 billion rigorous process of peer review, facilitated when a discovery has been contributed by research partners by dedicated EPSRC staff. This would not or breakthrough from business, the charitable sector, have been possible were it not for major can take decades universities, government, the charitable initiatives begun in 1994 to develop a robust to reach its sector, learned societies, research councils yet flexible process driven by research destiny. But in the and other funding agencies and government excellence and developed through close 20 years since organisations in the UK and internationally. engagement with the research community. EPSRC was formed, it’s hard not to be This is a powerful endorsement of our Our investment model has also evolved. For impressed by the incredible achievements founding commitments to both research example, we have successfully introduced of the inspirational scientists, engineers excellence and to strengthening the dedicated centres of excellence for the and mathematicians we have supported, pathways between fundamental research training of doctoral students; specialised and the world-changing research they and its translation into products and centres for manufacturing and innovation; have pioneered. services for the good of the UK economy and longer, larger, multi-partner research These achievements include the invention and society, and for a healthier and more grants – all focused on pooling resources of CMOS sensors now used in most sustainable world. and providing the tools and skills society camera phones (pages 6-7); research that Across our portfolio we work with around and industry need for all our tomorrows. made possible the invention of the DVD, 2,800 partner organisations, and, at the last As EPSRC enters its third decade, we barcode scanners and a host of low power will continue to work with the research commercial products (pages 14-15); optical count, 45 per cent of EPSRC-supported community and our partners, including fibre technology that drives the internet projects were collaborative with research those from industry and government, to (page 124); entirely new disciplines such partners. This is part of a growing and develop processes and initiatives that stay as plastic electronics (page 33); green productive dynamic that over two decades true to our Royal Charter of 1994, and chemistry for a more sustainable world has seen a greater desire from our partners ensure that the resources we invest keep (page 61); powerful medical imaging and co-investors to join in discovery and the UK at the cutting edge of international technology, including magnetic resonance innovation; harnessing creative research research excellence while developing the imaging (page 49); breakthroughs in physics from which we all benefit. research leaders of tomorrow. and mathematics for the quantum world To aid this process, EPSRC has a clear set of tomorrow (pages 26, 96-97) and major of strategies and policies, and professional Such is the breadth and scale of our advances in materials science, including staff with a comprehensive understanding research and training portfolio, this the Nobel Prize-winning isolation of of R&D issues and opportunities. People publication can but provide a snapshot of wonder material graphene (pages 50-53) who know how to join the dots between the people, projects and achievements from – all of which have helped to shape our university researchers, business and other the past 20 years, and the influence many of global destinies. organisations, both to enhance and deepen them are now having on the world, and are Since 1994, EPSRC has invested £11 the body of research itself, but also to already having on the future. If the past two billion in pioneering research and doctoral apply the fruits of research for societal and decades are anything to go by, EPSRC’s training; supporting over 28,500 research economic benefit. 40th anniversary will be very special indeed.

EPSRC 1994-2014 3 1994

GENESIS

On April 1 1994, the With an average of 5,000 submissions per “Our task is to judge the work we Engineering and year, at a stroke efficiency was dramatically support not only on the excellence of its Physical Sciences improved, costs came down and staff had research, but also on its relevance to Research Council came more time to support and engage with the the requirements of users in industry, into existence. research community. commerce and elsewhere. At first glance, the Interviewed in1994, Chairman, Dr Alan “The most important form of technology main difference from Rudge (pictured), explained EPSRC’s transfer from the science base is the EPSRC’s previous incarnation, the Science founding priorities: flow of people out of the universities into and Engineering Research Council (SERC), “EPSRC has an exciting and challenging industry, commerce and government. was its remit – which no longer included mission to support high-quality research “If we only supported long-term curiosity- astronomy; biotechnology and biological in the UK, and to make significant driven research, we would have a badly sciences; space research and particle contributions to national competitiveness balanced portfolio. On the other hand, if we physics. In fact, from its inception, EPSRC and to the quality of life. only supported short-term research, driven was a very different beast from SERC “There are three main objectives: by immediate and obvious relevance, there (1981-1994) and its predecessor, the would be something seriously amiss. Science Research Council (1965-81). • Developing and sustaining a national core competence in engineering and “The object is to maintain a well-balanced In addition to a more focused remit, from the physical sciences portfolio – and this is what EPSRC will Day One EPSRC set about streamlining its seek to achieve.” core activities, and its staff adopted a more • Maintaining a world-class teaching focused approach to everything they did. capability in terms of both technical Over two decades, EPSRC has stayed true An example is the early transition to solely content and techniques to these principles, which are enshrined in electronic research grant applications. • Advancing scientific knowledge its Royal Charter of 1994.

EPSRC 1994-2014 March 29: Serbs and Croats sign a cease-fire to end the war in Croatia 4 Olympiadane is a chain of rings and Magnetic attraction was something of In 1994, Professor a record in the field Lynn Gladden, from of supramolecular the University of chemistry. Cambridge, was To get the rings awarded £360,000 by together, the EPSRC to establish Birmingham team, led a centre of expertise by Dr Fraser Stoddart, in the application used supramolecular of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) chemistry – where spectroscopy for use by the UK academic simple pieces are process engineering community. joined to make more NMR spectroscopy is a quality control Ring cycle complex supermolecules. technique used in analytical chemistry to The techniques devised to create the determine a sample’s content, purity and In the summer of 1994, capping a decade molecular structure. of intense research, a team of British molecule may shed light on the process The grant consolidated Professor Gladden’s chemists from the University of Birmingham by which life arose from relatively reputation as a pioneer in the development and Imperial College London worked out simple chemicals. of NMR techniques, including translating the exact structure of a billionth-scale Research such as this could also lead to them from the laboratory into industrial molecular version of the Olympic emblem, new smart polymers that respond to their practice. She has since received over called olympiadane, consisting of five tiny environment, and superfast, nanoscale 30 research grants from EPSRC. interlocking rings of atoms. devices for the computers of the future. In 2001, Professor Gladden (pictured) was awarded the OBE for her services to chemistry and elected a Fellow of the Royal Independent First funding Society in 2004. In 2006, she was appointed to EPSRC’s advice In 1994, EPSRC was allocated Council, its senior decision-making body. £364 million by the government for In 1994, in a move that set the In 2009, she was awarded the CBE for her its first year in existence. It went on blueprint for EPSRC’s commitment services to science. to invest £212 million in academic to wider engagement with the In 2013, Professor Gladden was named as research grants; £72 million in the academic, business and stakeholder a co-leader of the new UK Catalysis Hub, a training of postgraduate students and communities, EPSRC set up two £12.9 million EPSRC investment in catalytic £52 million in support of the Daresbury independent advisory panels to advise science. The Hub is an academic/industrial and Rutherford Appleton Laboratories. the chief executive on future research collaboration focused on supporting UK The responsibility for these facilities areas and their value. economic growth while helping reduce was later passed on to the Science & CO emissions, produce cleaner water and The Technical Opportunities Panel Technology Facilities Council (STFC). 2 (TOP), which mainly comprised generate more sustainable energy. In 2014, EPSRC is responsible for an academics, and the User Panel Today, Professor Gladden leads the annual research and training budget (UP), whose main component was University of Cambridge’s Magnetic of around £800 million. Around 25 per industrialists, advised on how Resonance Research Centre and is also cent of this is allocated to doctoral EPSRC’s budget could be divided in the university’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor level training. order to get maximum benefit, and for Research. also suggested priorities for many of EPSRC’s research programme areas. The new panel system was so Making it successful it remained largely Social Research Council (ESRC), the unchanged for nearly two decades, In April 1994, EPSRC launched Biotechnology and Biological Sciences and was complemented in 2007 its Innovative Manufacturing Research Council (BBSRC) and the by a Societal Issues Panel (SIP) (IM) programme, which aimed Department of the Environment. before evolving into a Strategic to bring industry and academia The programme marked an important Advisory Network in 2011, which together for the benefit of British step up towards a ‘joined-up’ offered a more flexible advisory manufacturing industry. approach to fostering multidisciplinary model combining multiple Joint sponsors of the programme partnerships between the science base stakeholder perspectives. included the Economic and and industry that continues to this day.

EPSRC 1994-2014 April 6: The Rwandan Genocide begins. In 100 days some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were massacred 5 1994 Going mobile

In the mid- Professor Denyer went on to become a 1990s, work prolific entrepreneur, adviser and mentor by VSLI Vision to university start-up companies and a Limited (VVL), a serial investor. small Scottish In 1998, Peter Denyer was awarded the electronics Royal Academy of Engineering’s company formed Silver Medal, and, in the same to commercialise year, together with colleagues the work of David Renshaw, Lu Mingying, Professor Peter and Wang Guoyo, he was Denyer and awarded the Rank Prize in Professor David Renshaw at Edinburgh Optoelectronics for their University, led to the development of pioneering research. electronic chips that can ‘see’ – paving Accepting the Rank Prize, the way for a revolution in mobile cellular Professor Denyer said: “Our technology – the camera phone. work was not always so Previously funded by EPSRC’s predecessor, well regarded, certainly in the Science and Engineering Research its earliest days when the Council (SERC), and then by EPSRC in doubters were many and 1994, Professor Denyer (pictured) and the believers were... well, his team pioneered the development and just ourselves.” manufacture of CMOS (complementary The Royal Society has metal-oxide semiconductor) sensor described Professor Denyer, technology now used in almost all mobile who died in 2010, as ‘a unique phones and also employed in digital combination of electronics cameras, webcams, video-conferencing engineer, distinguished cameras and the optical computer mouse. academic, inventor, company Conventional video cameras of the day CEO and multiple entrepreneur’. had separate light sensors that took “To say that Denyer ‘invented’ images and created electronic signals, the mobile phone camera,” wrote one which then went on to another piece of obituarist, “would be unfair to the rest of electronic hardware. his research team at Edinburgh University VSLI’s breakthrough combined image and to parallel researchers worldwide... capture and processing on a single chip, “But, although the camera phone and set the stage for Professor Denyer and phenomenon was but a twinkle in Denyer’s his team to step into history. eye when he started out, he became VSLI evolved into Vision Group plc and internationally-recognised as a driving became an early manufacturer of CMOS force in the technology known as CMOS image sensors, at its peak selling one which still features in hundreds of millions million cameras a year. of mobile phones around the globe.” By 2006, half of all mobile phones had In 2012, Facebook paid a billion dollars for digital cameras. It is estimated that in 2014 Instagram, a small business that develops the number of mobile phones globally will novelty software to make your phone exceed the number of people on the planet. pictures look like old Polaroids.

EPSRC 1994-2014 April 18: Cricketer Brian Lara hits a world record 375 runs in one day 6 EPSRC 1994-2014 May 10: Nelson Mandela is sworn in as South Africa’s first black president 7 1994

Going underground

In 1994, EPSRC awarded a grant of £390,000 to an engineering research team at Imperial College London to examine subsidence caused by extension tunnelling. The team was led by soil mechanics expert Professor John Burland, who went on to play a leading role as a member of an international team commissioned by the Italian Government to stabilise the Leaning Tower of Pisa – a feat they achieved in 2001. The team, which was also funded by the Department of the Environment and London Underground, conducted important work that informed the safe construction of London’s new Jubilee extension line. Interviewed in 1994, Professor Burland said: “Research in subsidence has been almost impossible, because it has always happened by the time you get on the scene. The Jubilee extension gives us an ideal opportunity to observe how buildings respond to subsidence.” In addition to the Pisa project, Professor Burland advised on a project to ensure the stability of the Big Ben Clock Tower. In May 2008, engineers announced that the Leaning Tower of Pisa had been stabilised and that they had stopped the building from moving for the first time in its history. In April 2011, the scaffolding was removed. Today, Professor Burland is working with London Underground and Crossrail on an EPSRC-sponsored project to assess potential damage to existing tunnels before and after excavation works as part of the multi-million pound London Crossrail project.

EPSRC 1994-2014 May 6: The Channel Tunnel linking England and France officially opens 8 Going underground

Fluid power

In 1994, marine energy pioneer Artemis applications, including highway and off-road Artemis has also designed and Intelligent Power was formed to vehicles. A specially adapted BMW saloon manufactured valves, electronics and control commercialise EPSRC-supported research has achieved fuel savings of 30 per cent. software for two new wind turbines for into hydraulic wave energy technology Mitsubishi for deployment in the west of developed by Professor Stephen Salter In 2010, Artemis Intelligent Power was Scotland and offshore of Fukushima, Japan. acquired by Mitsubishi Power Systems (pictured) and Dr Win Rampen at the Today, Professor Stephen Salter, who Europe (MPSE); it is currently developing a University of Edinburgh in the 1970s and 80s. received the Sustained Achievement Award unique gearless power transmission for very Artemis Intelligent Power performs from the Royal Academy of Engineering large offshore wind turbines. research, development, and technology in 2012, remains a director of Artemis licensing associated with Salter and In 2014, Artemis’ parent company, Mitsubishi Intelligent Power. The device he designed Rampen’s Digital Displacement® (DD) Heavy Industries Ltd (MHI), established a in the 1970s, the Salter Duck, was one of technology, as well as other innovations in new joint venture company with Vestas Wind the world’s first wave energy devices and the control and transmission of fluid power. Systems dedicated to business in offshore remains one of the most efficient. wind turbines. Artemis has won numerous industry awards Professor Salter is Emeritus Professor at for its energy-saving applications, and Plans for the new company include an early the UK Centre for Marine Energy Research continues to work with global companies market launch of a turbine incorporating at Edinburgh University, supported by the to develop DD systems and power the world’s first Digital Displacement® SUPERGEN Marine Energy Consortium, led transmissions for a range of energy-saving Transmission. by EPSRC (see page 48).

EPSRC 1994-2014 August 31: The Provisional Irish Republican Army announces a “complete cessation of military operations” 9 1995 Master of logic

In 1995, Lionel on jet engines. This award followed the developed under the EPSRC-led RCUK Tarassenko Sir Henry Royce High Value Patent Award Digital Economy Programme, uses the (pictured in 1995), seven years earlier, in 2001. latest computer tablet technology to record an EPSRC-funded Also in 2008, Professor Tarassenko became and evaluate patients’ vital signs. The researcher from the first Director of the Oxford Institute of system is being rolled-out across all adult the University Biomedical Engineering (IBME). The IBME wards in the Oxford University Hospitals of Oxford’s hosts a Centre for Doctoral Training in NHS Trust’s acute hospitals, with funding Department of Healthcare Innovation, under the EPSRC- from the NHS Technology Fund and the Engineering led RCUK Digital Economy programme. Safer Hospitals, Safer Wards programme. Science, developed the core technology It also hosts a Centre of Excellence in Origins behind the Sharp Logicook, the world’s Medical Engineering funded jointly by the Lionel Tarassenko’s career-long passion first ‘smart’ microwave oven. It is an Wellcome Trust and EPSRC and led by for digital signal processing began in the early highlight in a remarkable career Professor Tarassenko. – particularly in the field of biomedical early 1980s at Racal, before it evolved into Commercial success engineering. Vodafone, which he joined as a graduate, at A successful entrepreneur, Professor a time when mobile telephony was still just Professor Tarassenko’s pioneering Tarassenko has founded several spin out an idea. His time at Racal included work work, originally in neural networks and companies, including t+ Medical, Oxford subsequently in machine learning, led on the company’s first speech coder, which BioSignals Ltd and Oxehealth. Award- enabled the spoken word to be captured to a host of different applications based winning products include t+Diabetes, a and transmitted digitally. on pattern recognition – from jet engine mobile phone-based tool for diabetes self- diagnostics to patient monitoring. management; and a system for gestational After three years at Racal, Professor Professor Tarassenko’s research has diabetes management, which have been Tarassenko returned to academia to study brought him international recognition taken up by hospitals throughout the Oxford for a doctorate in biomedical electronics in for his work in signal processing and region, from Reading to Milton Keynes. paediatrics. He has remained in academia ever since, and recently returned to biomedical engineering, and he has held In 2006, Professor Tarassenko won the paediatrics-related research to work on the Chair in Electrical Engineering at the Institute of Engineering & Technology University of Oxford since 1997. IT Award for Visensia, a data fusion the non-contact monitoring of babies’ vital In 2000, he was awarded a Fellowship from system providing early warning of patient signs using webcams. He describes his the Royal Academy of Engineering. Six deterioration in critical care. It was the first move back into university-based research years later he was awarded the Academy’s data fusion system to be approved by the as the best decision he ever made. Silver Medal for his contribution to British US Food and Drug Administration. Over Professor Tarassenko says: “I have been engineering. Today, he chairs the Royal 137 licences for the product have been sold very fortunate that my research has Academy of Engineering’s Biomedical in the UK and the US in the last two years. made a positive difference to the care of Engineering Panel. In 2013, Professor Tarassenko launched tens of thousands of patients, and has In 2008, Professor Tarassenko was a new iPad-based early warning patient been translated into products which have awarded the Rolls-Royce Chairman’s monitoring system for ward-based monitored the efficiency of thousands of Award for Technical Innovation for his work monitoring in hospital. The system, jet engines.”

EPSRC 1994-2014 January 12: A major earthquake kills 5,092 people in Kobe, Japan 10 EPSRC 1994-2014 26 February: Barings Bank, the UK’s oldest merchant bank, collapses following £840 million of losses incurred by rogue trader, Nick Leeson 11 1995 Full charge

batteries, particularly enhancing their In 2012, Professor Bruce received the ability to store and retain charge. AkzoNobel Science Award from the Royal He is part of a team of four innovative Society of Chemistry in recognition of his scientists behind research into developing outstanding scientific contribution in the Lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles. fields of chemistry and materials science. Together, Professors John Goodenough, In 2014, Professor Bruce FRS, now at the Mike Thackeray, Bill David and Peter University of Oxford, is working on three Bruce were able to discover electrode EPSRC-funded projects on the materials materials resulting in a lower cost and chemistry and electrochemistry of Lithium- safer alternative to the more expensive air, Lithium-ion and sodium-ion batteries. Lithium cobalt oxide electrodes, which are The project is funded under the Sustainable unsafe when used in large batteries. As a Power Generation and Supply (SUPERGEN) In 1995, an EPSRC-supported team led by result, the Lithium manganese oxide spinel initiative, part of the RCUK Energy Professor Peter Bruce, from St Andrews became the material of choice for the Programme, led by EPSRC. University, developed a rechargeable first generation of modern electric vehicle Professor Bruce says: “Lithium batteries Lithium battery material enabling lighter, batteries, used in cars such as the Nissan are one of the most important technological more reliable, more efficient and greener Leaf and Vauxhall Ampera. developments of the past 20 years. The UK batteries than the prevailing Nickel In 2007, Professor Bruce was elected has played a central role in this technology. Cadmium (NiCad) type. a Fellow of the Royal Society. He is one New materials and new electrochemistry Over the next two decades, Professor will continue to drive the field, leading to new of the pioneers of the Li-air (O2) battery, Bruce (pictured) attracted substantial and which can exceed the energy density of generations of Lithium batteries for use in continuous funding from EPSRC, The Royal rechargeable Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries transport and electricity grid storage.” Society and internationally. He and his and could hold the key for next-generation In May 2014, EPSRC invested £4 million in a colleagues made important advances in the energy storage devices, including for new SUPERGEN Energy Storage Hub, led by science underpinning rechargeable Lithium electric vehicles. Professor Bruce (see page 48).

EPSRC 1994-2014 April 19: A truck bomb at Federal Building in Oklahoma City kills 168 and injures 500 12 Intelligent Energy

In 1995, EPSRC- With 350 staff across operating sites and Peer review progress supported offices globally; it has established major In 1995, EPSRC started its new research into global partnerships including with the system for the peer review of renewable energy, Suzuki Motor Corporation with whom it has grant applications by independent co-led by Dr Paul formed a joint venture company in Japan. experts. The new peer review college Adcock and Dr The company retains close links with comprised 1,650 individuals from Phil Mitchell, from Loughborough and other major UK academia and industry grouped into Loughborough universities, and over half its employees 16 colleges of varying size based on University, resulted in a hybrid battery/fuel hold PhDs. In the last decade it has EPSRC research programmes. cell power source for road vehicles. The achieved a host of notable achievements. Every research proposal was assessed fuel cell was used at cruising speeds while In 2005, the company unveiled the world’s by at least two college members a set of batteries provided acceleration. first purpose-built fuel cell motorbike together with one person from a list The objective was to create an entirely new (pictured), which emits only water vapour, is put forward by the proposer. sustainable power source that would slot near-silent and non-polluting. After an initial sift based on referees’ into the same space as existing engines. In 2008, the company’s fuel cell technology reports, small panels drawn from Interviewed in 1995, Dr Adcock (pictured was used in the first manned flight of a fuel college members put the remaining in 1995) said: “The great thing is that from cell-powered aircraft by Boeing. proposals into peer-ranked order, the driver’s perspective the experience will In 2012, a fleet of zero carbon London which went towards the decision about be just the same as a conventional vehicle.” taxis was used to transport passengers at which proposals should be funded. His optimism was well-founded. the London Olympics. The taxi’s hydrogen For 20 years the peer review system In June 1995, together with Dr Jon Moore fuel cell system, hydridised with Lithium has evolved and matured, but retains and Anthony Newbold, Adcock and Mitchell polymer batteries, allows the vehicles to true to its founding values. formed university spin out company operate for a full day without refuelling, and Advanced Power Sources (APS) Ltd to gives them a top speed of 80 mph. commercialise their work. In January 2014, in partnership with US Mondex In 2001, their work led to the formation retailer and product development company, Over a decade before of another spin out company, Intelligent Brookstone, Intelligent Energy launched the advent of chip Energy, which absorbed APS as part the Upp™ personal energy device to and pin technology of its strategy. A core team of EPSRC- power USB compatible portable electronic and smartphone funded researchers from Loughborough devices. The device provides at least one banking, the University joined the company at its week of charge even to the most power- cashless society inception and to this day continues to lead hungry smartphones. took a step closer in its R&D, providing stability and insight into In March 2014, Intelligent Energy received 1995 with the trial launch of Mondex, an product development. £38 million from GIC, the Singapore electronic purse introduced by NatWest Today, Intelligent Energy is one of the Government’s sovereign wealth fund, for Bank, Midland Bank and BT. fastest-growing companies in Europe and 10 per cent of its share capital, to build The Mondex smart card, which resembled is the world’s largest independent fuel its consumer electronics and distributed a pocket calculator, was launched in cell company. power and generation divisions. Swindon, where residents had the chance to experience e-purchasing for themselves. Mondex allowed users to transfer cash from bank accounts to the card and back again using card-readers. Behind Mondex was a research team led by Professor Haroon Ahmed at the University of Cambridge’s Microelectronics Centre, who spent three decades of EPSRC/SERC- funded research on the reverse engineering of silicon chips and the inspection of integrated circuits, which they used to test Mondex’s integrity. The team also made important inroads into the integration of sensors and electronics on the same chip. Mondex didn’t catch on, but Professor Ahmed’s research demonstrated the possibility of safe and secure e-banking.

EPSRC 1994-2014 British mountain climber Alison Hargreaves becomes the first woman to climb Mount Everest without oxygen or assistance. 13 1996 Legacy of light

In 1996, the first DVD it possible to send information around are carrying forward Alf’s legacy, and are players went on sale. the planet much more quickly than was applying new advances in infrared laser But what if they hitherto possible. technology to tackle emerging challenges never existed? The internet is physically connected by such as the internet’s insatiable need Imagine a world without hugely complex fibre-optic technology for power. the internet, DVDs or underneath the world’s oceans, which it Professor Sweeney, who holds an EPSRC barcodes. If it weren’t uses to send light from one continent Leadership Fellowship, and who leads for one man, Professor to another. the Surrey Photonics Group, says: “A key Alf Adams (pictured), from the University The data carried by these fibre-optic element of my Fellowship is to re-engineer of Surrey, the technology that made these networks is not stored in ‘clouds’ as we the basic crystalline materials from which inventions so widely available, or indeed might think, but in huge data centres in the lasers are made. possible, might never have been invented. strategic sites across the globe, the largest “If our research proves to be correct, of which require the power it takes to Supported by funding from EPSRC’s then most of the temperature control predecessor, the Science and Engineering light a small city to keep their hard drives electronics required by internet lasers Research Council (SERC), Professor spinning and, crucially, keep them cool. could be removed – leading to a substantial Adams’ ground-breaking research into According to a 2010 Greenpeace report, reduction in their energy demand.” infrared lasers at the University of Surrey two per cent of the world’s electricity usage in the 1980s paved the way for a host of can now be traced to these data centres. In 2014, Alf Adams, now Emeritus low-cost and low-power commercial and It’s estimated that the internet accounts Professor at Surrey, was awarded the industrial products without which the for around three per cent of the world’s prestigious Rank Prize in optoelectronics modern world could not function. total energy consumption, a figure that is for his research into the structure of Research underpinned by this technology growing exponentially. semiconductor lasers. continues to this day. The internet in In 2014, a team at the University of Surrey Although he did not file a patent for his particular, which relies on Alf Adams’ led by Professor Stephen Sweeney, a invention, and so has not made a penny strained layer laser technology, has made former PhD student under Alf Adams, from it, he has no regrets.

EPSRC 1994-2014 October 3: OJ Simpson is found not guilty in the murder of Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman 14 EPSRC 1994-2014 November 22: Toy Story is released. It is the first feature-length film created entirely using computer-generated imagery 15 1996

Man of steel In 1996, University of Cambridge In 2011, the UK Ministry of Defence realising that a good way of carrying metallurgist Professor Harry Bhadeshia unveiled a new type of vehicle armour, out long-term work is to put it out to developed a new, carbide-rich and silicon- using another of Professor Bhadeshia’s universities. But academics benefit too – free steel alloy for railway tracks, which inventions. The armour is made from super industry gives us an awareness of critical promised to be tougher and more resistant bainite, the strongest low-alloy steel that issues which we couldn’t get just from to fatigue than traditional materials. has ever been produced, more than six reading academic papers.” The alloy had remarkable properties: as times stronger than conventional steel. Computer modelling has also come on well as being enormously resistant to wear It is also the world’s first nanostructured enormously, and is integral to Professor itself, it also reduced wear on the train material to be manufactured in bulk. Bhadeshia’s research. He says: “I think of wheels, which was almost unheard of. Now, with sponsorship from the Ministry of computer modelling as being like electron Professor Bhadeshia received support for Defence, and with EPSRC input, Professor microscopes, which we also use a lot of. It his basic research into steel from EPSRC. Bhadeshia is attempting to design a kind of helps to cut out the variables, and identify Every year, 17 million people pass along rails steel that has what he calls an “impossible where new knowledge is needed.” made from Harry Bhadeshia’s steel, which combination of properties”. Since 1990, the Material Algorithms Project form the backbone of the 31-mile Channel The new steel will be strong enough to (MAP), funded by SERC/EPSRC and led by Tunnel rail link, Europe’s busiest railway. be ballistic and blast-resistant, but also Professor Bhadeshia, has been particularly In 2009, the SKF University Technology capable of being welded, meaning it will be important in this field, freely distributing Centre on Steels was set up in Cambridge, possible to make large things out of it, such algorithms useful in generating computer with Professor Bhadeshia as its head. The as military vehicles. models of materials. Centre continues to pioneer research in Over the last 20 years, Harry Bhadeshia Professor Bhadeshia says: “MAP is now advanced bearing technology for aircraft has seen significant changes in his field. the largest free source of these algorithms engines, with major support from industry, He says: “The intensity of research has in the world. Without EPSRC’s support, it supplemented by EPSRC. increased enormously; with industry would not have been possible.”

EPSRC 1994-2014 March 16: Mike Tyson knocks out Frank Bruno in the third round to win the world heavyweight boxing title 16 The Hall story

In 1996, Professor Wendy Machinery (ACM), the world’s leading Hall, from the University community of computer scientists. of Southampton, In 2007, among over 20 EPSRC research was awarded a five- grants she has received, Professor Hall year EPSRC Senior established with Professors Leslie Carr and Fellowship to develop the Nigel Shadbolt a Web Science Network for multimedia assistants researchers from different technical and of the future. social science research disciplines to develop Running on auto One of the first computer scientists to a research agenda. Among the network’s undertake serious research in multimedia activities are exchange schemes for doctoral In 1996, a collaboration between a and hypermedia, Professor Hall has been at students and collaborative workshops. University of Portsmouth research team and manufacturer Cetrek led to the development the forefront of this multifaceted discipline In 2009, Professor Hall became a Dame of a ‘smarter’ autopilot for motor boats, ever since. Commander of the British Empire. In the trawlers and small ships. The influence of her work has been same year she was elected a Fellow of the significant in many areas including digital Royal Society. The device used a ‘fuzzy logic’ controller, designed by Dr Martyn Polkinghorne from libraries, the development of the Semantic Also in 2009, Professor Dame Wendy Hall the University’s School of Manufacturing, Web, and the emerging research discipline became principal investigator of the new Materials and Mechanical Engineering, to of Web Science – the science of the World EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in learn about its own performance and make Wide Web. Web Science, based at the University of allowances for heavy cargo, the weather and In 2006, Professor Hall was a founding Southampton and led by Professor Leslie changing tides. director, with Professor Sir Tim Berners- Carr. The centre has evolved into the EPSRC Lee, Professor Sir Nigel Shadbolt (see Centre for Doctoral Training in Web Science The device used self-organising techniques page 119) and Daniel J Weitzner, of the Web Innovation, which Dame Wendy has led from to ensure the vessel arrived at its pre-set Science Research Initiative, a global forum its inauguration in October 2014. destination efficiently. for scientists and scholars to collaborate on Throughout her career, in addition to playing During sea trials the system was 50 per cent the first multidisciplinary scientific research a prominent role in the development of her faster than a standard autopilot when taking effort specifically designed to study the Web subject, Professor Hall has helped shape a 90 degree turn. at all scales of size and complexity. science and engineering policy and education Dr Polkinghorne and his new autopilot were In 2008, Professor Hall was elected and has also championed the role of women subsequently featured on BBC science President of the Association for Computing in science, engineering and technology. programme Tomorrow’s World.

form of transport cause sickness. Quiz masters In seasickness, for example, In 1996, two members of a team that the up and down motion is to triumphed in the final of BBC Television’s blame; in road vehicles the University Challenge, Nick Bradshaw and horizontal motions – braking, Jim Totty, were PhD students supported accelerating and cornering – tend by EPSRC. to cause discomfort. The key to their success was simple, A second tranche of EPSRC according to Nick Bradshaw, and was all funding enabled Professor Griffin down to the nature of the scientific mind. and his colleagues to research Interviewed in 1996, he said: “I think there the design of vehicle seating are more science students who can answer arrangements and also the arts questions than there are arts students Good vibrations prediction of motion sickness. who can answer science questions.” In 1999, after surveying over 3,000 coach Today, Nick Bradshaw (below middle In 1996, Professor Mike Griffin, from the passengers, the team concluded that left) is Vice President of Equity Derivative University of Southampton’s Institute of people are more likely to feel sick during Development at Barclays Capital. Sound and Vibration Research, developed road travel when a vehicle is cornering or procedures for predicting seasickness. making a similar manoeuvre. These were subsequently incorporated However, when passengers are provided into international standards used by ship with a good view of the road ahead designers and shipping operators. feelings of motion sickness are reduced – Professor Griffin’s team’s earlier study suggesting that travel sickness could be of ships, coaches and small passenger significantly reduced by improved forward aircraft identified which motions in each external vision.

EPSRC 1994-2014 December 10: The General Motors EV1, the first production electric car of the modern era, is launched and becomes available for lease 17 1996

Flake’s progress

In 1996, Professor Brian Wilshire from the preserving the delicate ridge lines that from inking systems and casting materials University of Wales, Swansea, developed make each print unique. to fire and explosive detection systems. ‘magnetic flake’ powders that would The technology was successfully trialled The company’s Magneta Flake™, allow scene-of-crime officers to study by the UK Forensic Science Service and manufactured specifically for the recovery fingerprints without having to brush led to the launch of a spin out company of latent fingerprints, is fast becoming them with fine powder, which could lead to commercialise Professor Wilshire’s the first choice preference with many law to smudging. research, K9 Scene of Crime Equipment enforcement agencies. The powder consisted of tiny iron flakes Ltd, (later Crime Scene Investigation A ‘dark’ form of the flake, for use on with an organic coating that helped it stick Equipment Ltd). lighter surfaces, has been developed to the greasy residue in a fingerprint. A Today, staffed by ex-members of the police in conjunction with the University of key element of the process was the use and security services, the company has Central Lancashire with additional funding of magnetism to remove excess powder, developed a wide product portfolio, ranging from EPSRC.

EPSRC 1994-2014 June 23: The Nintendo 64 goes on sale in Japan 18 Car control

Going electronic In 1996, Professor Cliff Burrows, Director of the Fluid Power Centre at the University In 1996, EPSRC began successful of Bath, was awarded £445,000 by EPSRC trials that resulted in the introduction to study driveline controls in cars; of full electronic submission of focusing on maximising efficiency and research proposal forms. reducing emissions. With an average of 5,000 grant The research built on a project funded by applications from researchers the Department for Trade and Industry, received each year since 1994, the Ford, Lucas and Johnson Matthey. initiative dramatically improved efficiency, drove down costs, and A key element of the project was a enabled EPSRC staff to spend more constantly variable transmission, which In 2001, Professor Burrows was made time on supporting the research effectively made gear changing stepless, Director of the newly established EPSRC community and devote less time on so the engine could work at peak Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre paper-led administration. efficiency across a wide range of operating at the University of Bath (see page 36). In conditions, improving fuel economy. 2001, Professor Burrows received the OBE. Man on fire In 1996, a team led by Dr Dougal Drysdale at the University of Edinburgh’s Fire Safety Research Group used an EPSRC-funded research grant to develop mathematical models to predict the way fires develop in buildings and in tunnels. The team also used EPSRC funding to build test apparatus to measure the upward spread of flames on walls. Dr Drysdale went on to write the seminal reference text on fire protection engineering, An Introduction to Fire Dynamics, in 1999. He said it

Today, Dr Drysdale is acknowledged as a is provided to the battery by a compact, leading international authority in his field. In the long term there will be all-electric lightweight, low-cost, 1.2 litre petrol cars which will have a tiny internal engine and generator. Each drive combustion engine driving a generator wheel is connected to an electric to provide power to electric motors in motor which allows for independent the wheels. rear-wheel control. The Evora’s battery can be charged overnight using a conventional domestic Interviewed in 1996, this prediction was made by mains supply. Further innovations David Davies, Director of the Human Sciences and Advanced Technology Research Institute at include regenerative braking control and the EPSRC-supported Loughborough University adaptable suspension designed to both of Technology, increase fuel economy and enhance the driving experience. In 2012, nearly two decades after The work is part of the FUTURE making this statement, David Davies vehicles consortium comprising seven is bang on the money, when UK car universities and 10 industry advisers manufacturer, Lotus, unveiled its and is funded under the £10 million Evora 414E hybrid vehicle. The fully Low Carbon Vehicle Integrated Delivery working concept vehicle was developed Programme, funded by EPSRC and the in collaboration with a consortium of Technology Strategy Board. EPSRC-supported engineers. The team estimate that cars featuring The Evora (pictured) uses a hybrid this technology will be on sale by the end electric drivetrain. Electrical energy of this decade.

EPSRC 1994-2014 July 4: Hotmail, a free internet e-mail service, is launched 19 1997

Hot wheels On October 15 1997 Thrust SSC set a new World Land Speed Record of 763 mph and, in doing so, broke the sound barrier. An EPSRC-supported team of scientists played a vital role in the project.

Words: Phil Davies

EPSRC 1994-2014 February 23: Scientists in Scotland succeed in cloning an adult mammal, dubbed Dolly the Sheep 20 Behind this feat was a team led by World page 86), and the other at the Rutherford the Thrust SSC design team develop Land Speed Record-holder Richard Noble, Appleton Laboratory, the Swansea team and construct a viable design for the with RAF jet fighter pilot, Andy Green, used their aviation design software to refine 16.5 metre, 10.5 tonne car. behind the wheel. the concept of rear-wheel steering. This There was still a world record to beat. Playing a crucial part in Thrust’s involved the use of computational fluid Team Thrust then travelled to Black Rock supersonic success were Professors Nigel dynamics (CFD) – numerical methods and Desert in Nevada, where they successfully Weatherill, Ken Morgan and Dr Oubay algorithms to analyse the flow of fluids. smashed the 1983 World Land Speed Hassan, a team of EPSRC-supported Following computer simulations of the run, Record held by Richard Noble himself with researchers from the University of the team discovered a potential issue: the the 663 mph Thrust 2, and zoomed into the Wales, Swansea. shockwaves generated when breaking the record books. sound barrier. The team, having previously worked with In 2008, EPSRC became a founding the likes of NASA, Rolls-Royce and British Not only would the shockwaves ricocheting sponsor of the BLOODHOUND SSC project, Aerospace, were approached by Richard off the ground and back at Thrust make Richard Noble’s latest land speed record Noble who asked them to use their the supersonic vehicle slow down, they attempt. The plan is hugely ambitious computational modelling techniques to could prove disastrous, causing it to flip – to design and build a car capable of help design Thrust SSC. and crash. exceeding 1,000 mph (see page 85). Through the use of two Cray Research After two years of testing and exhaustive Professors Hassan and Morgan are supercomputers, one at Edinburgh computer modelling, the Swansea providing their expertise in computational University, supported by EPSRC (see researchers succeeded in helping fluid dynamics to the project.

EPSRC 1994-2014 May 2: Labour wins the UK General Election 21 1997 Black gold

In 1997, an EPSRC-supported team from second, horizontal well from where it rises “We’ve seen this project go from something the University of Bath, led by Professor to the surface. With EPSRC’s support, that many people said would not work into Malcolm Greaves, collaborated with the research led to an ‘add-on’ catalytic something we can have confidence in, all in Petroleum Recovery Institute, Calgary, process, known as CAPRI. the space of the last 18 months.” Canada, on an innovative project to In 2006, Petrobank Energy and Resources, Today, THAI is undergoing commercial release ‘heavy’ oil and bitumen trapped in Calgary, started the first THAI field pilot at development at Kerrobert in Saskatchewan, underground reservoirs. These crude oils Conklin in the Athabasca Oil Sands region Canada. Meanwhile, a team led by are very difficult to recover because of their of Alberta, Canada, the largest single Professor Joe Wood, from the University of high viscosity. petroleum resource on the planet. Birmingham, including colleagues at the Over the next decade-and-a-half, Interviewed in 2007, Professor Greaves universities of Nottingham and Manchester, Professor Greaves, who began research said: “It’s been a struggle to get the are using high pressure experiments and into the technology in 1990, continued to invention from an idea to a prototype and specialised computer modelling software refine the revolutionary Toe-to-Heel Air into use. For most of the time people to simulate the detailed behaviour of the Injection (THAI™) system. weren’t very interested because heavy oil THAI-CAPRI process for in-situ catalytic The THAI process injects air into the was so much more difficult and expensive upgrading of heavy crude and bitumen. oil deposit down a vertical well and to produce than conventional light oil. In addition to heavy oil reservoir research, then ignites it. The heat generated in “But with light oil now hitting around the team are investigating light oil the reservoir reduces the viscosity of $100 a barrel, it’s economic to think of applications, where air can be used as an the heavy oil, allowing it to drain into a using heavy oil, especially since THAI can injectant gas for medium and high pressure produce oil for less than $10 a barrel. reservoirs. Emeritus Professor Malcolm Greaves, who is an adviser on the project, says: ”In-situ upgrading of heavy crude, which is one of the main objectives of THAI/ CAPRI, is a massive advance for the oil industry. If it can be done effectively, it could save billions of dollars on refinery upgrades in the UK alone.” At the University of Bath, Emeritus Professor Greaves is conducting studies of downhole gasification in light oil reservoirs for improved oil recovery and hydrogen production/storage – generating a large- scale source of hydrogen for the future hydrogen economy.

EPSRC 1994-2014 August 31: Diana, Princess of Wales, dies in a car crash in a road tunnel in Paris 22 Material gains With EPSRC funding, in 1997 Dr Jon Binner, from the University of Nottingham, developed a way to dramatically speed up production of advanced ceramic components for use in high-tech applications such as military jet engines. By reducing production time to hours rather than months, and hence reducing costs, the microwave treatment process opened up exciting possibilities for ceramic matrix component (CMC) processes in a much wider range of industries such as car manufacturing and mining. The far-reaching project is one of over Taking the heat 20 EPSRC research grants related to ceramics and advanced materials awarded In 1997, an EPSRC-supported research of Nottingham, in partnership with to Professor Binner, who in 2013 assumed team at the University of Nottingham, Roger Bullivant Ltd, to pioneer a process the presidency of the Institute of Materials, led by Professor Saffa Riffat, developed a that turns the foundation piles of new Minerals and Mining, a major engineering novel heat pump for heating and cooling buildings into heat exchangers for ground institution with 18,000 members. buildings. Heat pumps collect heat from source heat pumps. The process has the the environment instead of producing potential to significantly reduce carbon Also in 2013, Professor Binner, now based energy from burning fuel. dioxide emissions. at Loughborough University, received a five-year EPSRC grant to lead a project to In the 2000s, Professor Riffat, now In 2010, the research project won the develop materials for extreme environments, President for the World Society of Manufacturing & Process category at a collaborative programme between Sustainable Energy Technologies, led an The Engineer magazine’s Technology & Loughborough, Imperial College London and EPSRC-sponsored team at the University Innovation Awards. Queen Mary, University of London.

Friendly fire Faradays fire up

In 1997, Dr Jim Lesurf, from St Andrews In 1997, EPSRC introduced its pilot The Faraday Packaging Partnership, for University, working with consumer and Faraday Partnerships – a forerunner example, brokers packaging technology defence conglomerate General Electric of the Technology Strategy Board’s and expertise for the academic and Company and the Defence Research Knowledge Transfer Accounts. Aimed at commercial spheres. The organisation Agency, developed a low-cost system to improving the interaction between UK sums up its winning formula with the help NATO forces avoid shooting their own research and industry, the programme following maxim: Nail the problem. Find side during a war. provided funding for academic research the brains. Present the facts. Exploit Dr Lesurf’s project saw the development of teams to forge partnerships with the outcomes. a target identification device that would give industry, particularly SMEs. Another successful partnership, allied vehicles the same radio signature In total, 24 partnerships were funded 3D-MATIC, which reconstructs 3D as a warm rock or a tree. It built on his under the initiative, which was run by objects and scenes from photographic basic research in the fields of millimetre- the Department of Trade & Industry with data, led to the foundation of the wave and terahertz technology, supported funding from the UK Research Councils, Computer Vision & Graphics Group by EPSRC. Dr Lesurf led the mm-wave with some partnerships evolving and at the University of Glasgow, led group at St Andrews before his retirement flourishing to this day. throughout by Dr J Paul Siebert. in 2004.

EPSRC 1994-2014 September 15: Two US students register a domain for a new kind of website. They call it Google 23 1998 Making people better

In 1998, EPSRC Century; an award followed in 2001 by Transforming the treatment of disease awarded an inclusion in the MIT Technology Review List Among Professor Shakesheff’s Advanced of the World’s 100 Top Young Innovators. commercial achievements, he has designed Fellowship to In 2001, Professor Shakesheff formed new materials which have since been Professor Kevin spin out company Regentec Ltd to licensed by three companies and which are Shakesheff, from commercialise his research, developing a being developed as products in Europe and the University of family of injectable scaffolds that solidify the United States. Nottingham, to within the body. Professor Shakesheff says: “Regenerative continue his work medicine will transform the treatment of in the emerging In May 2014, Regentec rebranded as Locate many of today’s ‘incurable’ diseases. But field of regenerative medicine – creating Therapeutics, after securing investment it’s going to take a long time and if we try new advanced materials and technologies from precious metal and technology group to go too fast we will set the field back by that help stem cells form human tissues. Heraeus Holding, which will help take the company to its next stage of development. many years. The reason for this is that Building on this research, Professor regenerative medicines are very complex. Shakesheff (pictured) co-developed 3D In 2002, Kevin Shakesheff and Steve “My hope is that, within a decade, scaffolds that can be injected into the body Howdle formed Critical Pharmaceuticals regenerative medicine will be able to create without the need for surgery, and which to bring their research to market. The many products and treatments that have leave no solvents or toxic by-products. company, which won the 2002 UK Research both commercial and clinical benefits. The scaffolds are made from biodegradable Councils Business Plan Competition, “The final product will be a living entity polymers which, once inside the body, is thriving to this day, and is developing that is probably personalised for just transform into an open-pored structure unique biological drug products including one patient. like a sponge, creating an environment controlled-release scaffolds. for cells as well as for naturally occurring In 2006, Professor Shakesheff became “We know how to reprogram cells to substances capable of stimulating cellular Director of the Centre for Biomolecular become stem cells; we have technologies growth known as growth structures. Sciences at Nottingham. Under his such as 3D printing and advanced materials that can build those cells into The work was stimulated by an EPSRC leadership, the centre has expanded into organ structures, and we understand a lot Adventure Fund, which allowed the a multidisciplinary £25 million institute. of the cell and tissue biology that allows researchers to apply for funding at a Much of the centre’s research falls within tissues to form and repair. much earlier, speculative stage. EPSRC’s remit. Professor Shakesheff, together with Since 2009, Professor Shakesheff has “I can’t see any fundamental barrier that Professor Steve Howdle, also from the been co-Director of the EPSRC Centre for will stop future generations being able to University of Nottingham, found a way to Innovative Manufacturing in Regenerative grow a personalised organ. Specifically, process scaffolds outside of the body using Medicine. He is also Director of the UK I hope to see, and help, stem cells being carbon dioxide. Using this process enables Regenerative Medicine Platform Hub used to reverse the damage that occurs scaffolds to form at low temperature and in Accellular Technologies, both at the to the heart after a heart attack, restore so preserves the growth factor and cells University of Nottingham. patient health after a stroke and repair ageing joints. attached to them. In 2014, Kevin Shakesheff was named Continuous achievement as one of the UK’s 10 most inspirational “I would very much like these technologies In 2000, Professor Shakesheff was named scientists and engineers in the EPSRC to be the foundation of commercial and Royal Institution Scientist for the New RISE awards. clinical success in the UK.”

EPSRC 1994-2014 May 23: The Good Friday Agreement is accepted in a referendum in Northern Ireland with 75 per cent voting yes 24 Making people better

PIONEEREPSRC 1994-2014 09 Winter 2013 25 1998 Mighty atom

In 1998, for a few seconds, a corner of a A BEC occurs when super-cooled atoms received over 20 EPSRC research grants, lab in Brighton became the coldest place slow down, lose almost all of their energy, including a 2002 Basic Technology grant in the universe. Dr Malcolm Boshier and and are effectively frozen in space. The (see page 30) to develop ‘atomic chips’. colleagues at the University of Sussex’s atoms then all behave identically to form This was followed by a Basic Technology Centre for Optical and Atomic Physics what can be likened to a giant ‘superatom’ Translation grant. used lasers and magnets to trap and visible to the naked eye and big enough to Interviewed in 2005, Professor Hinds cool 100,000 rubidium atoms to just a photograph, yet which still follows the laws said: “By manipulating cold atoms, either few hundred-billionths of a degree above of quantum mechanics. individually or as a cloud or as a BEC, absolute zero (273 degrees Celsius). The BEC has become an important tool we hope to develop a completely new Even the coldest parts of outer space for investigating quantum behaviour, and technology which will be as powerful as are millions of times warmer than the could lead to new and exotic kinds of electronics or optics, but based on the flow temperature reached at Sussex. instruments such as fantastically sensitive of cold atoms instead of the flow of charged When atoms are cooled to such low microwave antennas, super-accurate particles or photons.” temperatures, strange things happen. The GPS navigation technology and quantum Among notable achievements since temperatures created what is known as a information processors. then, Professor Hinds pioneered on-chip Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC), the first Professor Ed Hinds, the centre’s director, integration of cold atom physics, most time it had been achieved in Britain. It has and the project’s principal investigator, prominently demonstrated by creating a been described as a new state of matter. played a pivotal role in supporting Bose-Einstein condensate on a permanent- Professor Boshier’s activities, and magnet chip. then in taking the research forward. In 2006, Ed Hinds became a Royal Society In 1999, Professor Hinds was Research Professor, under a scheme that awarded an EPSRC Senior allows senior researchers to devote their Fellowship to further his research full time to research. The award, he says, into cold atom physics. He has since “made all the difference in letting me drive this technology forward”. In 2008, he won both the Institute of Physics Thomson medal and prize and the Royal Society Rumford Medal. In 2013, Professor Hinds FRS, now Director of the Centre for Cold Matter at Imperial College London, received the Faraday Medal from the Institute of Physics. In 2013, the UK Government committed £270 million over five years towards the development of quantum technologies. Approximately £234 million was allocated to EPSRC. Today, Malcolm Boshier is Scientific Director of the Quantum Institute, Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA, and part of a team attempting to harness atoms provided by a Bose-Einstein condensate to build new devices such as ultra-sensitive miniature sensors.

EPSRC 1994-2014 February 15: Comic Relief is born, beginning with the first Red Nose Day 26 Stardust Meanwhile, in another part of the galaxy, in 1998 an EPSRC-funded research team led by chemist David E. Williams from University College London designed an experiment that looked at the energy of chemical reactions where hydrogen and other atoms join Laser vision together to form simple, In 1998, Dr Steve Rothberg and colleagues small molecules. Alan Hockwell and Jeremy Coupland, The research helped to show EPSRC-supported researchers from that reactions which take Loughborough University, won a major place in cosmic dust could prize at the Metrology for World Class help explain why there is so Manufacturing Awards. much water in deep space. Metrology, loosely described as the science of measurement and application, is crucial to everything we do – from determining the amount of fuel in a tank to measuring Technology, said: “There are so many the length of a piece of wood. It is crucial applications for this technology, from to manufacturing. displays on mobile phones or video The Loughborough team won their award recorders to sophisticated, full-colour flat- for the development of a new kind of panel displays. laser measurement system that took the “I believe this will eventually result technology into new realms. in a quantum leap in opportunities In the same year... for this technology. It is going to A team led by Professor Julian Jones change the way we do things.” at Heriot-Watt University developed an In 2000, the partnership with award-winning technique to control focus Seiko-Epson led to the world’s for laser welding. Laser welding, used first full colour active matrix ink- across the manufacturing sector, requires jet printed polymer LED display. highly precise tolerances, typically within an It measured around five square accuracy of plus or minus 1mm. centimetres and was just two Heriot-Watt’s Dr Duncan Hand and Dr millimetres thick. Frank Haran played a key role in the In 2007, CDT was acquired by project. Together they realised it was long-term collaborator Sumitomo possible to use the light emitted by the Chemical Company and in 2011 it welding process itself as a basis for was valued at £21 million. gauging if the laser is in focus. In 2010, Cambridge Display The research team’s breakthrough, in Thin thinking Technology, whose co-founders collaboration with industrial partner include Professor Sir Richard Friend (see Lumonics UK, was largely made possible In 1998, Cambridge Display Technology page 32) and Professor Donal Bradley, by the EPSRC-funded Laser Engineering (CDT), a company formed to commercialise won a prestigious Technology & Innovation Manufacturing Applications initiative organic light emitting diode (OLED) Award from The Engineer magazine for a involving research groups at Heriot-Watt technology, announced it was planning project to create high quality white light and Liverpool University. to develop a full-size flat-plastic colour using polymer organic LEDs (P-OLEDs). Today, Professor Julian Jones is Vice- display in collaboration with Seiko-Epson. Today, CDT is a world leader in Principal of Heriot-Watt University; The company’s portfolio and vision the research, development and Duncan Hand is Director of the EPSRC attracted investments from the rock band commercialisation of P-OLED technologies. Centre for Innovative Manufacturing Genesis, technology venture capitalist Among many potential applications these in Laser-based Production Processes Herman Hauser and Lord Young. technologies could result in cheaper, at Heriot-Watt; and Frank Haran is Interviewed in 1998, Dr Andrew Holmes, brighter, clearer displays with wide viewing Senior Engineering Manager, Honeywell a co-founder of Cambridge Display angles and ultra-fast response times. Process Solutions, Canada.

EPSRC 1994-2014 December 10, Sir John Pople, who spent his career in the United States, wins the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 27 1999 Imaging innovator

In 1999, Professor which provides navigation and positioning Mike Brady, from the products and services, received a Queen’s University of Oxford, Award for export achievement. launched start-up In 1995, Professor Brady’s career took company, Mirada, to a sharp turn, when he moved into commercialise his medical imaging. EPSRC-supported From 2001 to 2003, Professor Brady research into was Director of the EPSRC/MRC medical imaging. Interdisciplinary Research Centre in In 2001, further medical imaging and signals at the spin-out activity involving two of Professor University of Oxford (see page 35), and in Brady’s companies led to the launch of 2002 he helped create the programme Mirada Solutions, which became a leading for the Life Sciences Interface Doctoral developer of software solutions and Training Centre at Oxford, a new initiative analytical tools for medical imaging. to train the interdisciplinary researchers In 2003, Mirada Solutions was acquired of tomorrow. by CTI Molecular Imaging for $22 In 2004, Professor Brady was knighted for million, and in 2005 was purchased by his services to engineering. He continues Siemens Healthcare. to play a key role in breakthroughs In 2008, following a management in image analysis, working with new buyout, which included acquisition of the technologies and techniques such as technologies and customer base at the positron emission tomography, MRI core of Mirada’s earlier developments, the and computer tomography (3D X-rays), company relocated to Oxford. Now Mirada which have revolutionised the way we Medical, it is a prominent global brand in look inside our bodies. medical imaging software. Professor Brady In one EPSRC-supported project, he is a non-executive director. developed a mathematical physical model The success of Mirada is just one chapter of the passage of X-rays through tissue to in a remarkable story of innovation and explain the creation of a mammogram. This evolution for Professor Brady, who has enabled the matching of one mammogram had a hugely successful research career against another – a major step forward in ranging from developing automated the early detection of breast cancer. sensor-guided vehicles to the detection of Professor Brady’s entrepreneurial flair breast cancer. includes both the creation of spin out In the 1980s Professor Brady founded companies, and activities devoted to the MIT’s world-famous robots laboratory commercialisation of science. For many before going on to lead the Robotics years he served on the board of Isis Research Laboratory at Oxford, developing Innovation, which manages technology innovations such as collision-avoidance transfer and academic consulting for the in robots. University of Oxford. He formed his first spin out company, Today, Professor Brady, who has received Guidance Control Systems (GCS), in 1991 over 30 EPSRC grants during his career, to commercialise EPSRC-supported leads the Department of Oncological research at the robotics lab. In 2006, GCS, Imaging at the University of Oxford.

EPSRC 1994-2014 January 1: The Euro currency is introduced 28 Imaging innovator

EPSRC 1994-2014 January 23: Nikon launches its D1 three megapixel digital SLR camera, costing US$6,000 29 1999

Basic functions In 1999, the foundations were laid for the and laser sciences for generic non-invasive out company, Cortexica Vision Systems, cross-Research Council Basic Technology healthcare therapies. in 1999. Programme, led by EPSRC. The aim of In 2010, Professor Dholakia’s team Launched with the help of Imperial the programme was to give technology developed a new method to create minute Innovations, Cortexica pioneered visual research the same status as scientific self-healing holes in cell membranes to imaging technology that mimics the way research, and to develop new technologies enable targeted drug delivery to cells and the human brain identifies images – with the potential to be adapted across all tissue at will. resulting in an app-based product range areas of science, ultimately leading to new Interviewed in 2010, Dr Gunn-Moore said: that goes from strength to strength, industries of the future. “As a biologist I never thought I would end up including fashion, shoe and accessory The 10-year programme resulted in over working in the physics world. This work came search apps. 50 funded projects with a total investment from a chance conversation with Kishan. Another project funded under the initiative of over £165 million. From April 2005, the It truly is amazing that the light syringe we saw £7 million invested in far-reaching programme was solely funded by EPSRC. created has come so far so fast, and we research led by Professor Tom McLeish Because science is essentially convergent, are able to perform experiments we never at Durham University to unlock the full bringing many methods together to answer thought would be possible four years ago.” potential of plastics. The project was part a single question, while technology is In 2012, Professor Dholakia was awarded of what became a successful 20-year more divergent (in that it can be applied a £4.5 million EPSRC Programme Grant collaboration between academics and in many fields), the Basic Technology to ‘Challenge the Limits of Photonics’. The industry experts to explore how better Programme focused on supporting risky investment is one of many EPSRC grants to build ‘macromolecules’ – the basic new technologies of wide application. he has received since 1999, as he helps components of plastics. The programme’s many highlights included pioneer a new scientific field. In 2011, Professor McLeish and his a four-year 2006 project led by physicist Another project, led by the late Professor team made a breakthrough that should Professor Kishan Dholakia at the University Maria Petrou, from Imperial College ultimately allow experts to create the of St Andrews, working alongside biologist London, demonstrated the true ethos ‘perfect’ plastic with specific uses and Dr Frank Gunn-Moore, also from the of Basic Technology; with fundamental properties by using a high-tech recipe University of St Andrews, which resulted science progressing to technology book. It will also increase our ability to in breakthroughs in the use of ultrasound development and on to formation of a spin recycle plastics.

EPSRC 1994-2014 February 12: President Bill Clinton is acquitted by the United States Senate in his impeachment trial 30 Clear thinking He said it In 1999, Professor • 83% of employers said PhD holders Mohammed Sarwar, had improved the company’s from the University position relative to competitors Industry needs doctoral-level recruits of Northumbria who are adaptable and active right • 60% said PhD recruits are integral at Newcastle, led from day one so that they can fit in to commercial success new research with team objectives. They must be • 63% actively target PhDs that culminated able to talk about what they can do and when recruiting in significant improvements in communicate their skills to people who • 74% said PhD recruits achieve high the production of come from different disciplines. impact results within two years glass containers. of joining Working with The late Professor Tony Ledwith, EPSRC’s second • 66% targeted PhD recruits with industrial chairman, interviewed in 1999. With a background industry experience in industry, Professor Ledwith, a former president container of the Royal Society of Chemistry, emphasised the • 92% of PhD recruits get up to speed manufacturer importance of building closer academic/industrial more quickly after joining compared PLM Redfearn, ties – which EPSRC champions to this day. to graduates the research • 73% highly rate PhD recruits’ team found a influence on standards and way to reduce the In 2011, in keeping with its good practice weight of some commitment to ensure doctoral level glass containers recruits are given the opportunities Around 33 per cent of all doctorate by 33 per they need to flourish in industry, EPSRC holders whose PhDs and related cent without commissioned a major independent doctoral qualifications were supported compromising survey of leading research-intensive by EPSRC continue into academia, while quality or companies on the economic and nearly half find employment in business strength. social impact of PhD-holders they and public services. had recruited. Manufacturers, finance and IT A further benefit was that the The survey, the first of its kind, involved companies are the biggest employers of process had 86 of the UK’s largest research- doctoral graduates in engineering and a consequent intensive companies, including Airbus, physical sciences, representing around effect on energy Augusta Westland, Jaguar Land Rover, 75 per cent of those going into industry consumed during Rolls-Royce, Unilever and Vodafone. and public services. In addition, these manufacture and Among its many findings, the study sectors contribute nearly one third of transportation. showed that: Gross Value Added to the UK.

Stiff records Many new technological innovations stand ever-higher tolerances – repeatedly. And or fall on the precision of their engineering. for ultra-precision engineering we need For example, mirrors and lenses used ultra-stiff structures. The tetrahedron in space programmes must have near- is one of the stiffest geometries known, perfect lenses; and for the next generation because of its high symmetry and ‘closed of car engines improved fuel efficiency loop’ form.” and reduced emissions will depend on The Cranfield team’s tool achieved world- components that have been engineered to record stiffness, enabling it to grind brittle minute tolerances. materials such as glass and ceramics in a To achieve precise nanoscale surface ‘ductile’ fashion. specifications, in 1999 an EPSRC- The benefits of ultra-precision machines supported team at Cranfield University, led such as these are already feeding directly by Professor John Corbett, developed a new into many important areas of technology, breed of machine tool, dubbed Tetraform C, from the manufacture of more reliable based on a tetrahedral frame. car engines to making silicon integrated Interviewed in 1999, Professor Corbett circuits with nanometric accuracy said: “We need tools capable of producing and repeatability.

EPSRC 1994-2014 December 31: Boris Yeltsin resigns as President of Russia, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as the acting President 31 2000 Flexible friends

In 2000, Professor Since 2009, the Technology Strategy Board RUSNANO, focusing on building a mass- Richard Friend has invested some £40 million, unlocking production factory for thin, light and flexible (pictured), Professor more than £100 million of R&D activity, plastic-based e-paper displays. Henning Sirringhaus including academic research into new In 2012, Professor Sir Richard Friend joined and Stuart Evans plastic electronics technologies. EPSRC’s Council, the senior decision- formed Plastic Logic In 2007, the EPSRC-funded Cambridge making body responsible for determining Ltd to commercialise Innovation and Knowledge Centre (CIKC) EPSRC policy, priorities and strategy. their EPSRC- in Advance Manufacturing Technologies In 2012, Eight-19 was crowned Small supported research for Photonics and Electronics was Business of the Year and won the at the University of Cambridge’s launched, providing additional support Renewable Energy Project of the Year Cavendish Laboratory. for Professor Friend’s research team and award at the BusinessGreen Leaders The company’s formation built on the other innovators in the field. This was Awards for its work on the Indigo pay-as- team’s 1989 invention of polymer organic complemented in 2013 by the EPSRC you-go solar system. light-emitting diodes (P-OLEDs), developed Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in In 2013, The University of Cambridge’s with colleagues at the university’s Large-Area Electronics, also at Cambridge. EPSRC-supported Graphene Centre signed chemistry department and with EPSRC In 2009, Plastic Logic and electronic display a research collaboration agreement with funding. Their genius spawned an entirely spin out company Liquavista collaborated Plastic Logic on graphene in flexible new industry – plastic electronics – and the on a project to develop flexible electronic plastic electronics. A major element of the subsequent creation of a new research field displays that support full colour and video agreement is to develop ‘wonder material’ where plastics are made to emit light. – allowing products such as electronic graphene as a transparent, conductive layer Plastic Logic was the first to fully newspapers that can show moving images. for plastic backplanes for unbreakable LCD industrialise the mass production of plastic In 2010, Professor Sir Richard Friend, and flexible OLED displays. electronics in the world’s first factory who was knighted in 2003, Professor In 2013, Plastic Logic joined forces with dedicated to the technology, achieving Neil Greenham and Professor Henning Intel® and Queen’s University Belfast to production yields of plastic electronic Sirringhaus co-founded Eight-19 Ltd to develop Papertab, a flexible, 10.7” plastic displays comparable to the LCD industry. develop organic solar cell technology touchscreen tablet resembling a sheet of With a host of potential applications – from for manufacture. The company’s unique paper. Stuff magazine named Papertab flexible electronic displays and paper-thin proposition includes off-grid pay-as-you- its Innovation of the Year at its 2013 tablet computers, to ultra-efficient lighting go-style mobile phone technology for the Gadget Awards. and low-cost, long-life solar cells – it is developing world – powered by solar cells In 2013, the Plastic Electronics Leadership estimated the global market for plastic based on printed plastic. Group revealed that the UK sector involved electronics will grow to over £80 billion Eight-19 was formed to commercialise 33 universities and 134 companies; had by 2020. The research also created technology developed at the CIKC in generated annual revenues of £234 million; manufacturing processes that combine the Advance Manufacturing Technologies and employed 1,950 people in industry and power of electronics with the pervasiveness for Photonics and Electronics, one of 575 in academia. of printing. seven EPSRC-supported Innovation and Professor Friend says: “EPSRC was quick The story since has been one of constant Knowledge Centres focused on facilitating to provide critical support at the start of achievement, supported by EPSRC the commercial exploitation of academic our research and has since been effective through research grants and dedicated science and technology in partnership in funding the UK community across manufacturing and innovation centres with industry. chemistry, physics and engineering, so that focused on plastic electronics, large area In 2011, Plastic Logic announced a major the UK community has been consistently electronics and related research. US$700 million investment from Russia’s world-leading.”

EPSRC 1994-2014 January 6: US students Jerry Yang and David Filo launch Yahoo 32 Flexible friends

EPSRC 1994-2014 May 4: Ken Livingstone becomes the first Mayor of London 33 2000

Perfect partners In 2000, a ground-breaking strategic development, and provided the UK with an within GSK such that our chemists now partnership in combinatorial chemistry internationally-leading capability hitherto think more broadly about the scientific with UK pharmaceutical giant Glaxo unavailable either in UK universities or challenges they are attempting to address. in industry. Wellcome (now GSK) resulted in joint “Our strategic partnership has stimulated funding for 10 state-of-the-art mass Subsequent EPSRC/GSK investments areas of research within academia and, spectrometers in UK universities – and included installation of new analytical conversely, has introduced new ideas to marked the beginning of an enduring, equipment at the universities of the industrial chemists through two-way highly productive relationship with GSK. Southampton and Swansea, open to exchange of information.” It was the first of EPSRC’s flagship industry and academics alike. Today, EPSRC’s portfolio of Strategic Strategic Partnerships with major In 2008, EPSRC and GSK co-invested in a Partnerships includes a range of companies and other research funders and five-year, £10 million drug discovery and international blue chip industries users; providing access to world-leading development project. including BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, knowledge, highly-trained people and high In 2012, the two organisations announced Procter & Gamble, Jaguar Land Rover, and, specification equipment that is directly they would jointly support a department more recently, Tata Steel in 2014. utilised by industry. (chair) in sustainable chemistry at the The new partnership accelerated the UK University of Nottingham. Over 40 per cent of the research supported pharmaceutical sector’s understanding GSK’s Director of Academic Liaison, Dr by EPSRC is collaborative with industry. of combinatorial technologies, helped Malcolm Skingle, says: “Working with You can find out more about EPSRC’s advance analytical processes used in drug EPSRC changed the cultural mind-set Strategic Partnerships in Pioneer 13.

EPSRC 1994-2014 June 19: Tiger Woods wins golf’s US Open by 15 shots, a record for all majors 34 Famous five Life model

In 2000, EPSRC co-invested £50 million In 2000, University of Processing (CVSSP) at the University of in five new Interdisciplinary Research Surrey-based EPSRC Surrey, together with members of his team, Collaborations (IRCs) focused on new Advanced Research co-developed a web-based system that applications for information technology, Fellow, Professor Adrian could revolutionise the way we shop for computer science and communications in Hilton, developed new clothes online. businesses, homes and hospitals. computer imaging The software they developed takes detailed The investment saw the creation of five technology that allowed measurements of the shopper’s body via a university-based centres and marked a step internet users to create much more personal web-cam. Whether shoppers are change in how interdisciplinary research is ‘lifelike’ models of themselves. pear, apple or hourglass-shaped the new facilitated and fostered, through long-term Able to walk, run and jump, these avatars, software makes it easier for them to order academic/industry collaborations. which could be imported into computer- the correct size. Four of the new IRCs, funded in full by generated scenes using standard 3D The software, co-developed with London EPSRC, tackled issues such as developing modelling packages, gave users a clearer College of Fashion, Bodymetrics and ultra-fast communications using optical impression of whom they are dealing with digital creative agency Guided, works like technology; embedding computers into online, and thus enhanced internet safety. a virtual tape measure, taking accurate everyday objects and environments; In 2003, Professor Hilton (pictured) was measurements and advising the user improving knowledge management awarded a five-year EPSRC Platform Grant on which size garment to buy on a to prevent information overload; and to develop his research into Visual Media, participating retailer’s website. A launch of improving the dependability of computer- and to build a team to pursue long-term the system is anticipated within two years. based systems. research in visual content production, Also in 2013, Professor Hilton received The fifth IRC, funded by EPSRC and the interaction and information retrieval. a five-year EPSRC Programme Grant Medical Research Council, examined how In 2009, the research, which included a to pioneer a new-generation 3D sound to transform medical images and data into project to develop 3D representations of system which creates the live concert or useable clinical information. real faces for realistic animation, was sports experience from the comfort of the Twenty universities and over 40 companies followed by a second five-year EPSRC listener’s living room. were involved in the new IRCs, which also Platform Grant. The programme is in collaboration with the brought to the fore the leadership talents In 2013, Professor Hilton, now Director universities of Southampton and Salford, and innovative research capabilities of of the Centre for Vision, Speech & Signal the BBC and UK industry. the centres’ directors: Professor Sir Nigel Shadbolt (knowledge management); Professor Tom Rodden (embedded computing); Professor Wilson Sibbett Cool news (optics); Professor Cliff Jones (computer system dependability); and Professor Between 2000 and 2003, EPSRC-funded Mike Brady and Professor Dave Hawkes research at the University of Sussex led to (medical imaging), all of whom have major improvements in the longevity and made pioneering contributions in their safety of the Advanced Gas-cooled respective fields. Reactors (AGRs) which currently Interdisciplinary Research provide about 75 per cent of Collaborations (IRCs) the UK’s nuclear energy generating capability. EPSRC Interdisciplinary Research Collaborations (IRCs) are centres of Estimates at the time internationally-acknowledged scientific and suggested that if the technological excellence, with sufficient 14 UK operating AGRs critical mass to make a significant impact closed unnecessarily in areas of key future industrial relevance early, it could lead to to the UK. losses running into billions of pounds, IRCs generally involve several universities threaten the UK’s carbon together with industrial partners, and are dioxide emission targets funded through large, long-term grants, and widen the nation’s typically around £10 million over six years. energy deficit. Recent investments include IRCs in The research also Early-Warning Sensing Systems for informed the scale of the Infectious Diseases; Bionanotechnology; decommissioning process Tissue Engineering; Quantum Information required for the first generation

Processing and Ultrafast Photonics. Magnox reactors.

EPSRC 1994-2014 July 25: An Air France Concorde supersonic passenger jet crashes just after take-off from Paris, killing all 109 aboard and four on the ground 35 2001 Makers in momentum

In 2001, British manufacturing received By 2011, the programme had created Another project, at the University of Bath’s a boost with the launch of 12 EPSRC over 1,300 doctoral level manufacturing Innovative Design and Manufacturing Innovative Manufacturing Research Centres engineers. It had also created 160 new jobs; Research Centre, led to the development (IMRCs). The centres were the first in a safeguarded a further 230 jobs and brought of greener, faster and more efficient food series of investments focused on getting 20 new technologies to market. packaging processes. more science and technology out of the lab Laser focus In collaboration with an independent food and into the factory. One of the centres, based at Heriot-Watt and drinks research centre and industrial Each IMRC built on work already being University, pioneered the development of partners, the team developed an improved done in areas such as rapid prototyping; ‘form-fill and seal’ food packaging process revolutionary planar waveguide CO2 lasers, e-business; recyclable materials and in collaboration with research groups at for foods such as rice, confectionery, pasta modular construction methods. the University of Hull and industrial partner and crisps. During the programme’s 10-year lifespan, Rofin-Sinar UK. Project leader, Dr Ben Hicks, says: “The 15 separate IMRCs were launched, Now manufactured by major international project has shown that reducing costs and each addressing a series of companies for applications in industry saving the planet can go hand-in-hand. manufacturing challenges. and medicine, including glass patterning, “Using the lessons learned from this EPSRC invested a total of £192 million fabric decoration, and inscribing date codes research, 39,000 tonnes of waste could be in the centres, supplemented by on consumer products, global sales of diverted from landfill per year. Based on the £207 million in industrial support from these advanced laser products now exceed current level of landfill tax, this would save over 700 collaborators. US$1 billion. £1.9 million in taxation alone.”

EPSRC 1994-2014 September 11: Two passenger planes hijacked by terrorists crash into New York’s World Trade Center causing the death of 2,752 people 36 EPSRC 1994-2014 October 7: The US invasion of Afghanistan starts with an air assault and covert ground operations 37 2001 MEM’s the world

In 2001, Dr Eric In the 1990s, Dr (later Professor) Yeatman Also in 2011, Professor Yeatman became Yeatman, Professor (pictured) co-founded one of the UK’s co-director of the Digital Economy Lab Richard Syms and first research groups into micro-electro- at Imperial College London. He is also Dr Andrew Holmes, mechanical systems at Imperial, helping principal investigator of the Lab’s flagship from Imperial position the university as a world leader in project Digital City Exchange. College London, co- the field. The Digital City Exchange is a five-year founded Microsaic In the 2000s, Microsaic went on to develop multidisciplinary research programme Systems plc to and market a range of next-generation where researchers are exploring ways to take their EPSRC- mass spectrometry (MS) instruments digitally link utilities and services within a supported research for the analysis of gaseous, liquid and city, enabling new technical and business to market. solid samples. opportunities. The programme is funded by The company’s core product was a desk- A key feature of Microsaic’s MS systems is the RCUK Digital Economy Programme, led sized mass spectrometer instrument that that they are much smaller, consume less by EPSRC. can measure the masses and relative energy, and have lower running costs than Professor Yeatman has acted as a design concentrations of atoms and molecules conventional instruments. consultant for several international in substances. EPSRC support for Professor Yeatman’s companies, and as technical advisory The device was based on micro-electro- work has included successive Platform board member to two venture capital funds. mechanical systems (MEMS) technology Grants, enabling him to co-invent a number developed at Imperial. of new research methods and help position Today, Professor Yeatman’s research MEMS is a technology that uses integrated Imperial College London as a world leader in interests are in energy sources for wireless circuit methods to produce tiny mechanical the field of MEMS and related technologies. devices, radio frequency and photonic MEMS, and sensor networks. devices such as sensors, valves, gears, In 2011, Microsaic was admitted to the mirrors, and actuators in the form of London Stock Exchange. In the same year, Professor Yeatman says: “High value-added semiconductor chips. Professor Yeatman, who was the company’s technology products such as scientific MEMS devices generally range in size chairman throughout the 2000s, was instruments are an area where the UK from 20 micrometres (20 millionths of a awarded the Royal Academy of Engineering can and does have a strong competitive metre) to a millimetre, and usually consist Silver Medal. He was made a Fellow of position internationally. of a central unit that processes data, and the Academy in 2012, and through the “EPSRC support is a vital enabler of components such as micro-sensors that Academy acts as mentor to several young the developments underpinning this interact with the surroundings. academic entrepreneurs. strategically important research field.”

EPSRC 1994-2014 October 23: Apple releases the iPod 38 Straight talking

In the fast-changing world of smart consumer electronics, in 2001 a team of computer experts from Imperial College London, Jeff Kramer, Jeff Magee and Naranker Dulay, developed a new computer language that enables manufacturers to keep reusing software components in products at no extra development cost. Working with software architects at Phillips, the team customised the system for electronic products. Interviewed in 2001, Professor Magee said: “The previous way that TV sets were built gave much less flexibility and involved much more rewriting Keeping mum of software.” Phillips deployed 300 of its software In 2001, Dr Serpil Acar, a Loughborough developed at Loughborough and tested in engineers to work on the system, University-based specialist in engineering specialist crash test laboratories. leading to commercial success. design for women, and in mathematical Today, Dr Acar is founder of the modelling of the spine, began a three-year Biomechanics and Injury Prevention EPSRC-supported project to develop a new research group at Loughborough and also seatbelt for pregnant women. leads the Interdisciplinary Computing Working with car makers Jaguar, Ford and Research Division. The Loughborough team Nissan, over the next decade Dr Acar’s are now in discussion with commercial SeatbeltPlus project evolved into an award- partners to bring SeatbeltPlus to market. It winning patented design. A prototype was could retail for as little as £10.

Called to account Hear today In 2001, after extensive consultation In 2001, Cardiff University researcher Dr John with the research community, EPSRC Culling developed a low-cost hearing test that can be introduced a new initiative, Doctoral done in the home to help people detect hearing Training Accounts (DTAs), which loss earlier. The test worked by measuring offered a more flexible approach in a person’s ability to pick out conversation the way it funds doctoral training by from background noise and on standard passing the funds to universities to audio equipment. allocate rather than issuing them In 2010, Dr Colling developed innovative direct to students. sound-mapping software based on human The new DTAs opened up a wide hearing to help architects design out range of options in the way funds unwanted noise. The maps showed were used to achieve the high quality hotspots where conversations would of student training demanded in an not be intelligible if the room increasingly competitive doctoral were busy. Architects can then training market. adjust their designs to reduce EPSRC required universities to make reverberation until the hotspots commitments relating to the quality are eliminated and audibility of supervision offered to doctoral is maximised. students. It also expected students to The new software is intended receive broadening skills. to be used in conjunction In 2014, the Doctoral Training with standard architectural Account was renamed across all computer programs widely seven UK Research Councils as employed in room design. The Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) research could also help in but still retains its flexible approach the future development in return for high quality doctoral of hearing aids training from universities. and cochlear implants.

EPSRC 1994-2014 October 25: Windows XP is released 39 2001

Natural marvels

In 2001, Alex Parfitt, an EPSRC-supported “Because the idea has come from biology, BAE Systems scientists have recreated this PhD student at the University of Bath, it is a reliable, low-energy system. We have effect with bug-eye – a camera with nine working with a team led by Professor developed a gel-based system that mimics lenses – and about the size of a mobile Julian Vincent, used mechanisms found this behaviour and are applying it as a cover phone camera lens. in nature to devise an adaptive deployable for camouflaging large military vehicles.” This digital device has 60 degrees of camouflage system for the Ministry of In 2003, Alex Parfitt joined BAE Systems peripheral vision and is small and light Defence, which co-funded the project. where he continued his work in bio- enough to fit onto a helmet, which could The team developed a gel that mimics inspired technology. A recent project saw help soldiers spot an enemy out of the the ability of cuttlefish to blend into the development of night sight technology corner of their eye and doubles their level their surroundings. inspired by the Xenos peckii fly, a tiny of vision from previous equipment. Interviewed in 2001, Parfitt, a postgraduate parasite that has 50 separate lenses in It has been suggested that the technology biologist in the university’s department of each of its raspberry-like eyes. could be adapted for use in CCTV cameras mechanical engineering, said: “The beauty Each of the lenses produces a different able to survey a wide panorama of crowded of the cuttlefish system is that it uses the image, which when meshed together forms spaces, or perhaps developed as a tool to light surrounding the fish to camouflage it. a single panoramic view in the fly’s brain. help with keyhole surgery.

EPSRC 1994-2014 December 15: The Leaning Tower of Pisa reopens after 11 years and over £20,000,000 to fortify it, without fixing its famous lean 40 He said it Interviewed in 2001, John O’Reilly, EPSRC’s recently appointed chief executive, addressed an area of perennial concern for the research council that remains equally true today, commenting: “One of our challenges is that the demand for research funding massively exceeds our ability to fund, and in many areas there are more good applications than we can fund… “What we must do is ensure that our money goes into supporting the best research. But this does not mean the resources will be spread thin, with equal shares around – that is not the mode of operation of EPSRC, nor should it be.”

Plasma makes perfect In 2001, Professor Christopher Whitehead the chemicals responsible for the smell of and Dr David Glover, from the University decomposing waste. of Manchester, co-founded Plasma Clean Today, Plasma Clean is one of the country’s Ltd to commercialise core technology leading developers of commercial air Professor Whitehead invented during his purification solutions. EPSRC-funded research into plasmas. With a nationwide network of approved Plasmas are sometimes described as the specialists, the company provides cost- fourth state of matter after solids, liquids effective grease, odour and smoke control and gases. For example, the core of the sun for a wide range of environments, including is in a plasma state. commercial kitchens, washrooms, food Professor Whitehead’s research led to storage, public waiting areas, and food and plasma technology that can blast apart commercial waste sites.

Order from chaos £140 million for In 2001, EPSRC Senior Fellow Laurence Eaves won the prestigious Guthrie Medal e-Science and prize of the Institute of Physics. Mobile monitor In 2001, EPSRC joined forces with the In parallel with his work into quantum In 2001, Professor Bryan Woodward and six other UK Research Councils in the chaos, Eaves and his team studied how Dr Fadlee Rasid, from Loughborough three-phase £140 million e-Science electrons can ‘tunnel’ through materials University, began development of a unique Programme, which it went on to lead. when a magnetic field is present. This led system which uses a mobile phone to The funding supported a range of to the development of a new technique, transmit a person’s vital signs, including projects designed to position British magneto-tunnelling spectroscopy. the complex ECG heart signal, to a hospital science at the forefront of research into The technique provides physicists with or clinic anywhere in the world. computing technologies. a new way to measure the structure of The system enabled a doctor to observe In 2005, the e-Science Core low-dimensional semiconductor materials, remotely up to four different medical Programme leader Professor Tony Hey such as quantum wells, which are at the signals from a freely moving patient. became Microsoft’s Corporate Vice- heart of the modern semiconductor laser Signals that could be transmitted included President of Technical Computing and, diodes used in telecommunications and ECG, blood pressure, oxygen saturation and in 2011, Corporate Vice President of DVD players. It could also help in the body temperature. The technology marked Microsoft Research Connections. development of the next generation of an important advance in telemedicine and transistors and lasers (see page 27). is thought to be a world first.

EPSRC 1994-2014 January 26: An earthquake hits Gujarat, India, causing more than 20,000 deaths 41 2002 3D vision In 2002, Professor Dave Hawkes and and prostate. A 1992 SERC grant enabled of the UCL/KCL Centre for Cancer Imaging colleagues at King’s College London (KCL) Professor Hawkes, with PhD student funded by EPSRC and Cancer Research UK, developed 3D medical imaging technology Derek Hill and postdoctoral student Daniel and co-leader of an EPSRC/Wellcome Trust that enabled surgeons to steer clear of vital Rueckert, to develop the widely used and smart surgery project in liver surgery. regions and yet still work close to them. highly cited image registration technology In June 2014, he was named as co- that underpins much of this work. During an operation it is essential that the investigator of a £10 million EPSRC/ surgeon is aware of critical structures, In 2003, Professor Hawkes became Director Wellcome Trust project to develop blood vessels or nerve fibres that need to be of the EPSRC/MRC-funded Interdisciplinary instruments and visualisations to assist avoided. By taking MRI and X-ray computed Research Collaboration on Medical Images surgeons operating on the fetus for spina- tomography scans of the patient pre-surgery, and Signals, a joint initiative between bifida and other congenital problems while the team developed a 3D representation of University College London, Imperial College still in the womb. the area that the surgeon could follow on a London, the University of Oxford and KCL. Professor Hawkes says: “EPSRC’s support computer screen during surgery. In 2004, Professor Hawkes co-founded IXICO over more than two decades has enabled me To avoid surgeons needing to glance between to bring aspects of his research to market. to build a significant research programme. patient and screen, Professor Hawkes later The CEO of this London Stock Exchange- Most importantly, it led to other support co-devised with Dr Philip Edwards a way to listed company, which provides imaging that pushed several innovations through insert 3D images into the surgical operating solutions to the pharmaceutical industry, is to clinical trial and commercialisation. microscope’s field of view. The microscope Derek Hill, his former PhD student. “This work has achieved wide-ranging displays the image just where the surgeon is In 2005, Professor Hawkes moved his team impact in areas such as neurosurgery, looking, helping them ‘see through’ overlying to UCL, forming the UCL Centre for Medical the study of disease progression in tissue and visualise the exact area they plan Image Computing. He was awarded a five- dementia, image-guided biopsy and focal to operate on. If the surgeon is searching for year EPSRC Programme Grant in 2009. ablation – which is poised to significantly a tumour, for example, the image indicates Today, Professor Hawkes, who has led or change the management of patients with how far away it is. The system became highly co-investigated 39 EPSRC research grants prostate cancer. useful to neurosurgeons. since 1992, co-leads the EPSRC Centre for “There is now a significant body of world- The team have since made major advances Doctoral Training in Medical Imaging at UCL leading medical image computing research at in 3D modelling of soft tissues, developing and also heads the university’s Centre for UCL, KCL, Imperial and Oxford that can trace novel treatments of the liver, breast, lung Medical Image Computing. He is co-Director its roots to the initial EPSRC investment.”

EPSRC 1994-2014 January 9: Michael Jackson receives the Artist of the Century award at the American Music Awards 42 The team went on to develop SCRATCHbot, Shrewd thinking which ‘feels’ its way using rat-like In 2002, an EPSRC-supported team from whiskers, and subsequently won the 2009 the universities of Sheffield and the West of Best of What’s New Award from Popular England began work on a whiskered robot Science magazine. inspired by rodents. Interviewed in 2002, In 2012, the team’s next creation, Shrewbot, Sheffield’s Professor Tony Prescott said: was inspired by the four-centimetre long “For most rodents, whiskers are at least as Etruscan shrew, one of the world’s tiniest significant as eyes are to sighted humans.” mammals, and used ‘active touch’ rather conditions with vital clues about their The robot was designed for use in than vision to navigate its environment. surroundings. The helmet was fitted environments hazardous to humans – such In 2013, inspired by their rodent research, with ultrasound sensors that detect the as natural disaster zones and fire sites – Professor Prescott’s team developed distances between the helmet and nearby which are often cramped, full of dust and a ‘tactile’ helmet, which could provide walls or other obstacles; and was exhibited smoke, and offer limited visibility. firefighters operating in challenging at the 2013 Gadget Show Live event.

And the Emmy goes to ... Advancing doctoral training

In 2002, EPSRC launched its first Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs). What began as a pilot programme to support doctoral training in the life sciences evolved into a major initiative for training the interdisciplinary researchers of tomorrow in strategically important areas. Such was the success of the early CDTs, which evolved from EPSRC’s pioneering Engineering Doctorate In 2002, Professor Andrew initiative in the 1990s, there are now 115 Zisserman and Professor Andrew centres spanning EPSRC’s portfolio. Fitzgibbon received an Emmy Award, the CDTs bring together diverse areas US TV industry’s equivalent of an Oscar, of expertise to train engineers and for their work on Boujou, a 3D camera scientists with the skills, knowledge tracker used in special effects movies and confidence to tackle today’s such as the Harry Potter and Lord of the evolving issues. They also create new Rings franchises. Boujou was borne out working cultures, build relationships of an EPSRC-funded research project at between teams in universities and forge the University of Oxford’s Department of lasting links with industry. Engineering in the 1990s. CDT students receive a programme Today, Andrew Fitzgibbon is a member of taught coursework to develop of the Microsoft Research Group in and enhance their technical Cambridge. A recipient of a Silver Medal interdisciplinary knowledge, and from the Royal Academy of Engineering, broaden their set of skills. Alongside in 2013, he was a core contributor in the this programme they undertake a development of Kinect for Xbox 360. challenging and original research Professor Andrew Zisserman is Principal project at doctoral level. Investigator at the University of Oxford’s Combined governmental and partner Visual Geometry Group and a world- funding for CDTs is now £962 million, renowned computer scientist. including £31 million in capital He began his academic career as a investment. It is the UK’s largest member of Professor Mike Brady’s Oxford investment in postgraduate training, Robotics Group in the 1980s (see page 28) involving over 5,500 students in areas and was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of key importance to the UK economy in 2007. and society.

EPSRC 1994-2014 March 30: Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother dies aged 101 43 2002

New wave crushes rock

In 2002, Dr before grinding, when they will fall apart Engineers at the centre are researching Sam Kingman easily. Rio Tinto, one of the world’s new ways of separating ores based (pictured), from largest mining companies, supported the on the properties of individual rocks, the University of research from its outset. meaning that waste material with no Nottingham, made In 2006, Professor Sam Kingman was valuable minerals contained within it a breakthrough in awarded a personal chair at Nottingham, can be rejected prior to energy-intensive his EPSRC-funded making him one of the youngest further processing. research into using microwave radiation professors in the UK. He later became Professor Kingman says: “Over 20 to break up mineral-bearing rocks. Director of the National Centre for granted patents, 28 PhD students Traditional crushing and grinding of rocks Industrial Microwave Processing (NCIMP). graduated, more than 80 journal papers to extract minerals is massively energy In December 2013, the University of published, and many tens of millions of inefficient. Typically, only one per cent Nottingham and Rio Tinto agreed a pounds of industry investment across of the energy input into rock grinding £6 million, five-year partnership to numerous sectors all across the world actually causes size reduction. develop the next generation of innovative can all trace their roots to my EPSRC first Dr Kingman’s process uses bursts of technologies for the mining industry. grant project. microwave radiation to crumble the rock, The programme is centred around a “Without the support of EPSRC, none of prior to grinding. new facility at Nottingham, the Rio Tinto this would have happened, I am still to Most rocks need just a fraction of a Centre for Emergent Technologies. Its this day extremely appreciative of the second to weaken them sufficiently Research Director is Professor Kingman. support I have been given.”

EPSRC 1994-2014 October 30: Freeview television service begins transmitting in parts of the UK 44 Mussels mastered In 2002, EPSRC-supported researchers at the University of Cambridge, led by Dr David Aldridge, developed an elegant solution to the problems caused by freshwater zebra mussels, which are a major pest, clogging pipelines in water treatment works and power stations, and costing millions of pounds each year to remove. The conventional solution is to poison the mussels with chlorine, but the team developed a greener, more targeted approach that neatly overcame one of chlorine’s major drawbacks – zebra mussels can taste it in the water and close their shells, surviving for three weeks before opening up again, meaning chlorine Together with Bristol firm, TasteTech, The research has been of great interest to must persist over this time to be effective. BioBullet developed a pellet that is both the UK water industry, with at least four Working with Dr Geoff Moggridge from the mussel-palatable and waterproof. companies funding the research to date. Department of Chemical Engineering at Interviewed in 2002, Dr Aldridge said: “The In 2010, following approval by the Drinking Cambridge, the team developed a way to beauty is that we engineer the coating Water Inspectorate, trials began with poison the mussels, 4cm-long creatures materials so that the pellet dissolves and Anglian Water Services Ltd to use the which lay up to 30,000 eggs per year, by degrades, and the entire product degrades pellets in the UK for potable water systems. tricking them into swallowing a dose of within hours of going in the water. toxin packaged to resemble a pellet of food. In the same year, the company secured The research led to the formation of a spin “There’s also no impact on the wider funding of £500,000 from the Technology out company, BioBullet, which developed biodiversity living in rivers and streams that Strategy Board, match-funded by Anglian, potassium chlorine as the lethal ingredient. might receive the outflow water.” Thames Water and TasteTech.

Medallion man British steel In 2002, In 2002, Dr Mary Ryan from Imperial Professor College London and Professor David Chris Williams from University College London Hull, a solved the mystery of why stainless steel theoretical can unexpectedly fail. The metal is not physicist meant to corrode, but it can, and when it from Imperial College London, was does the results can be disastrous, whether awarded the prestigious Dirac medal it’s a hole in your dishwasher or a failed and prize by the Institute of Physics industrial plant. for his decade-long research into superstring and M-theory. ‘Stainlessness’ is created by alloying iron with chromium. As the steel ingot cools The prize followed an EPSRC after it has been made, tiny sulphur-rich Senior Research Fellowship, impurity particles, about 10 millionths of awarded in 1996. around them, creating a tiny nutshell of a metre in diameter, solidify at a lower steel that is not stainless. Corrosion of this In 2012, Professor Hull was made temperature than the steel, remaining layer, just one 10 millionth of a metre thick, a Fellow of the Royal Society. molten for a time after the metal is enough to trigger the main attack. In 2013, Professor Hull (pictured has solidified. In 2011, Professor Mary Ryan was awarded in 2002) was awarded an EPSRC Using an advanced new microscope the the Institute of Minerals, Materials and Programme Grant to lead team found a region around the impurity Mining’s Rosenhain Medal and Prize in research into new geometric particles with significantly less chromium recognition of distinguished achievement structures from string theory, than the rest of the steel. in materials science for her outstanding alongside co-investigators Jerome During cooling of the steel the impurity contribution to applied electrochemistry Gauntlett, Amihay Hanany and particles ‘suck’ chromium out of the steel and corrosion. Daniel Waldram.

EPSRC 1994-2014 December 22: Joe Strummer, lead singer of the seminal British punk band The Clash, dies at age 50 45 20032003 Fusion for the future In 2003, EPSRC assumed responsibility for The plasma in the centre of JET reaches the UK fusion programme, with £48 million temperatures of 100 million degrees, about in funding allocated via the Office of Science 10 times hotter than the centre of the sun. and Technology. These high temperatures are not a safety Fusion, the process by which the concern because the amount of fuel inside sun produces heat and light, has the the tokamak is extremely low, weighing potential to provide an almost limitless about as much as a postage stamp. clean, safe, renewable energy source for In 1997, JET produced 16 mega watts of future generations. fusion power, a world record that still stands The EPSRC grant was awarded to the UK today, but 24 mega watts of heating power Atomic Energy Authority at its Culham site in were needed to do this. Calculations predict Oxfordshire. The grant underpinned the UK’s a bigger tokamak is required to break even. involvement in the EURATOM Joint European A new international tokamak experiment, Torus (JET) project, also at Culham; the called ITER, is under construction in development of the UK’s own fusion device, Cadarache, France. Three times bigger MAST; and research on the materials than JET, it is expected to produce 10 times needed for a fusion power station. more fusion power than heating power – Today the UK fusion programme is centred considered proof that it is possible to build a on the innovative MAST experiment and viable fusion power station. employs around 150 people. While the MAST To match ITER’s designs, JET’s vessel walls remains the UK’s flagship programme, have been changed from graphite to a the UK continues to run JET and is also combination of tungsten and beryllium. New developing materials and technology results with these materials in place are facilities. The fusion programme as a whole helping scientists and engineers to prepare employs around 1,000 people. for ITER’s first operation in 2019. The fusion reactions that turn hydrogen into In 2014, the Culham centre announced it helium in the core of the sun produce a lot will try to set a new world record in nuclear of energy and could be used as the basis for fusion by the end of the decade – when it a power station on Earth. However, making plans to run JET at maximum power, and this process efficient is difficult as additional reach the coveted breakeven goal where energy is required to get the nuclei close fusion yields as much energy as it consumes. enough to fuse together. Formidable Words: Jack Snape engineering and scientific challenges need Jack is an operational research analyst at to be addressed. the Department for Business, Innovation One way of achieving fusion is to trap a and Skills. He is a former EPSRC-sponsored plasma with a magnetic field and heat it PhD student in Plasma Physics and Fusion up in a doughnut-shaped device called a Energy at the University of York, and a tokamak. The JET programme at Culham is Postgraduate Fellow at the Parliamentary the world’s largest tokamak experiment. Office of Science and Technology Education. Picture courtesy EUROfusionPicture

EPSRC 1994-2014 August 2003: Ground-breaking social networking website MySpace is launched – one year before Facebook 46 EPSRC 1994-2014 47 2003 Power rangers

In 2003, SUPERGEN, the UK’s flagship the several dozen university departments Tim Jones and Ross Hatton, working initiative in sustainable power generation involved, along with their numerous with Molecular Solar Ltd, a company and supply, was launched. The ambitious industrial partners, the consortia have they formed to commercialise their work, multidisciplinary research initiative, led broken new ground in the way they have pioneered the development of a new type of by EPSRC, covers a vast green energy approached their subjects. Rather than flexible, organic solar cell. landscape, taking in areas such as climate working on specific, discrete projects in Molecular Solar achieved a record voltage change, fossil fuel extraction rates, isolation, the SUPERGEN projects look at for the cell, which could soon be used in a emissions control, and increasing public entire topics; an approach which has led to wide range of consumer electronics – from awareness of environmental concerns. expansion into areas such as extending the e-readers to mobile phone chargers. life of power plants, advanced photovoltaic SUPERGEN aims to contribute to the UK’s Centres flourishing under the SUPERGEN materials and asset management. environmental emissions targets through a initiative include the UK Centre for Marine radical improvement in the sustainability of An example of the benefits of this approach Energy Research at Edinburgh University the UK’s power generation and supply. is research overseen by the Excitonic Solar (see page 9). Focusing on collaborative research projects Cells Consortium. Tasked with developing between industry and academia, the a new class of solar cell based on organic initiative began with an investment of materials, the consortium’s research £25 million in four consortia: Marine inspired complementary technologies using Energy, Networks & Power Control, the same low temperature processing Hydrogen Energy & Storage and Biomass techniques used to prepare flexible organic & Biofuels. light emitting diodes. Over the At the University of Warwick, a next decade, SUPERGEN-sponsored SUPERGEN, research team led which stands by Professors for Sustainable Power Generation and Supply, built into a network of eight consortia and six hubs, supported by over £100 million of investment, offering a major route for industry involvement in academic research. As well as developing an array of technology now being furthered by

EPSRC 1994-2014 February 17: London introduces congestion charging 48 He said it

So far I have been lucky only twice – with our gecko experiment and the one using diamagnetic levitation. So that’s once every five years. According to these poor statistics I do not expect anything before 2008. Nobel Prize for MRI pioneer Fortunately, one cannot predict or plan even minor discoveries. In 2003, Professor Peter Mansfield, from He went on to secure a place at Queen the University of Nottingham, and Paul Mary, University of London – and never Lauterbur were awarded jointly the Nobel looked back, going on to develop rapid Professor Andre Geim, from The Prize in Physiology or Medicine “for their imaging techniques, thus facilitating University of Manchester, interviewed discoveries concerning magnetic resonance images that can distinguish between in 2003, on science that hits the imaging (MRI)”. healthy and cancerous tissue. media spotlight. Since their launch in the 1980s, MRI Now Emeritus Professor at the University of One year later, together with Dr scanners, which create detailed images Nottingham, Peter Mansfield has received Konstantin Novoselov, Andre Geim made of the body to assist in the diagnosis of UK Research Council support throughout history by isolating ‘wonder material’ medical conditions, have transformed his career, including from EPSRC and its graphene. You can find out more about diagnostic medicine and saved the lives of predecessor the Science and Engineering this remarkable breakthrough and its many thousands of people. Research Council (SERC). potential consequences on pages 50-53. Despite being told at 15 he would Today, there are more than 20,000 MRI In 2010, Geim and Novoselov received the never become a scientist as he had no scanners globally, and over 70 million scans Nobel Prize for their graphene research – qualifications, on leaving school Peter are performed each year. and were made Knights of the Realm Mansfield enrolled in evening classes to get The annual market value for the technology in 2011. the qualifications he needed. is estimated to exceed £5 billion by 2015.

Piston power

In 2003, a team of researchers at the longer than a mobile phone battery. So you He was, of course, speaking in the heady University of Birmingham’s School of might only need to charge the phone twice days before the advent of energy-sapping, Manufacturing and Engineering designed a year, not twice a week.” daily-charging smartphones. and built a fully working single piston micro engine that could be balanced on the tip of your finger. The project hit the mainstream news headlines – and saw team member Mike Ward gracing Richard and Judy’s sofa at ITV to describe the team’s innovative research. The idea behind the project was bold: that a micro engine powered by hydrocarbon fuel would have over 200 times the energy capacity of a typical battery. Interviewed in 2003, Dr Kyle Jiang, who led the EPSRC-supported project, said: “If you ask a group of mobile phone users which part of the phone they dislike the most, 10 out of 10 will say the battery. “What we realised was that a micro engine powered by a cartridge of fuel such as methane or propane could last 30 times

EPSRC 1994-2014 April 14: The Human Genome Project is completed with 99 per cent of the human genome sequenced to an accuracy of 99.99 per cent 49 2004 Size zero

In 2004, EPSRC-funded research by If you’ve ever drawn with a pencil, you’ve development); and from water purification Professor Andre Geim and Dr Konstantin probably made graphene, which consists to next-generation low energy computers. Novoselov, from The University of of a sheet of carbon atoms connected in a Geim recalls the momentous days back in Manchester, led to the isolation of honeycomb-like structure. 2004 when he and his team, including Dr graphene, a material with many potentially At just one atom thick, no material is Novoselov, then a postdoctoral researcher, world-changing applications. thinner than graphene. It’s also harder than successfully extracted individual sheets Just six years later, Andre Geim (pictured diamond and 200 times tougher than steel of carbon atoms from bulk graphite – the below left) and Konstantin Novoselov – yet can be stretched by a quarter material pencils are made from. were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics of its length. True to the two scientists’ reputation for for their graphene research. EPSRC Graphene also has extraordinary properties innovative thinking, they used sticky tape to has supported their research through as an electrical and thermal conductor, strip the graphite down to the atomic level. continuous funding since 2001. and almost complete optical transparency, Although scientists knew graphene existed On the same day they received the award, making it potentially suitable for a host of (it was first studied in 1947, and named both men were back in their lab, continuing commercial applications – from lightweight in 1987), no one had worked out how to to unveil new and exciting properties materials for aircraft, cars and clothing, extract it from graphite. of graphene and other related two- to flexible, super-tough touchscreens for dimensional crystal materials. mobile phones and tablets (already under (Continued on page 52)

Double act: Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov. Their isolation of graphene and subsequent graphene- related research led to the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010 and Knighthoods in 2011.

EPSRC 1994-2014 April 2: St Mary Axe, otherwise known as the Gherkin, is officially opened in the City of London 50 EPSRC 1994-2014 February 4: Facebook is launched 51 2004 Graphene facts • Graphene is over 200 times tougher than steel (Continued from page 50) • Graphene is a far better conductor The breakthrough came during one of News of graphene’s discovery sparked a than silicon Geim and Novoselov’s now legendary global explosion in graphene research, Friday evening sessions, when they head which shows no sign of abating. The global • Electrons pass through graphene into the lab to try out experimental science market for graphene-based applications at over 100 million metres per not necessarily linked to their day jobs. could potentially grow to tens of billions of second, behaving as if they have This playful approach is fundamental to pounds over the long term, in areas such no mass how both men work, and is seen as both a as electronics, high-performance materials • Graphene is the thinnest material useful way of maintaining interest in a field and life sciences. on earth – one million times thinner than a human hair and a means of generating new ideas. In 2009, the website ScienceWatch.com Following discussions with colleagues, revealed Dr Novoselov’s work on graphene • Graphene is the world’s first 2D Geim and Novoselov adopted a method that as the most cited of the decade, with material, opening the doors to researchers in surface science were using 33 academic papers quoted 2,895 times. new, experimental fields – using simple scotch tape to peel away Geim and Novoselov, who received • As well as being virtually layers of graphite to expose a clean surface knighthoods in 2011, continue to push the transparent, graphene is for study under the microscope. boundaries of graphene, and its diverse also flexible Once used, the tape was simply being potential applications. thrown away. Yet no one had noticed the In November 2014, they revealed in material on the tape was thinner than the the journal Nature that monolayers of Potential applications material produced by polishing. graphene, and its sister material boron They had made graphene, yet had not nitride, could potentially revolutionise for graphene realised it. modern fuel cell technology. They also • Next generation, low-energy Konstantin Novoselov continued to explore revealed that graphene membranes could computers how thin the graphite flakes on the tape be used to sieve hydrogen gas out of the could be made. He peeled the layers so atmosphere, where it is present in minute • Graphene paints, to protect metal thinly that what was left was one-atom quantities, creating the possibility of structures against corrosion thick graphene. electric generators powered by air. • Super-fast internet speeds The pair then began testing the material In 2014, Geim and Novoselov’s original • As lightweight materials for aircraft, under the microscope, beginning to take Manchester graphene paper, which laid cars and clothing in the vast potential of its properties. They out the foundations of graphene research, • Flexible touchscreens (already produced the first isolated graphene flakes was named among the top 100 cited under development) in 2003 and published their findings in the publications of all time. • High-frequency electronic devices journal Science in 2004. All this from two scientists “whose • Large scale electricity storage Professor Geim says: “Our objective was playfulness is one of their trademarks”, simply to see how thin materials could be. according to the Nobel committee. • Lightweight durable batteries At the time, it was presumed materials one Professor Novoselov says: “During our • Development of other 2D materials atom thick couldn’t exist. But our discovery Friday evening experiments I just do all with the potential to create of graphene proved this supposition kinds of crazy things that probably won’t previously-unimagined wasn’t correct.” pan out, but if they do…” electronic devices • Water filters for desalination and purification • Nanoscale graphene-based drug packages delivered to specific cells At the time, it was presumed materials in the body • Packaging to keep food fresh one atom thick couldn’t exist. for longer • Sensors to detect minute traces of gases or dangerous chemicals

EPSRC 1994-2014 March 29: The Republic of Ireland becomes the first country in the world to ban smoking in all work places, including bars and restaurants 52 Going large – EPSRC’s contributions to UK graphene R&D

EPSRC has invested widely in graphene Centre, based at the Centre for Process led by Professor Andrea Ferrari. The centre research and development since 2004. Innovation, part of the High Value has attracted £13 million in additional In 2012, EPSRC advised the UK Government Manufacturing Catapult, in Sedgefield support from over 20 partners, including on its £50 million investment in the creation There are now over 35 active university Nokia, Dyson, Plastic Logic, Philips and of a global research and technology hub. groups in the UK, which have attracted over BAE Systems. Building on the UK’s research strengths £90 million in graphene-related EPSRC The centre works alongside the Centre for in many universities and business, the research grants and capital investment, as Advanced Photonics and Electronics and the hub concept was developed by EPSRC, the well as significant investment from Europe new EPSRC Graphene NOWNANO Centre for Technology Strategy Board and academic and industry. Doctoral Training in Graphene Technology at and business stakeholders. It has also been Alongside The University of Manchester, The University of Manchester. supplemented by additional investments there are EPSRC-supported centres of In 2013, the Cambridge Graphene Centre from EPSRC and Innovate UK (formerly the excellence and/or graphene programmes signed a research collaboration agreement Technology Strategy Board). at the universities of Cambridge; Lancaster; with leading flexible plastic electronics Key government investments in graphene: Imperial College London; Oxford; Bath; manufacturer Plastic Logic. A major element Birmingham; Nottingham; Exeter; Surrey; of this agreement is to develop graphene as • £38 million in the National Graphene and Durham. a transparent, conductive layer for plastic Institute (NGI) at The University of backplanes for unbreakable LCD and flexible Manchester to develop new production 2014 saw the launch of two EPSRC OLED displays. methods and techniques for large- Centres for Doctoral Training, based at the scale manufacture, application and universities of Cambridge and Manchester, EPSRC has invested £1.6 million in graphene commercialisation of graphene focusing on developing world-leading engineering at Durham University and the expertise in the science and technology University of Sheffield. Industrial partners • £12 million for graphene research of graphene. include Dyson Appliances Ltd, P&G UK equipment in other leading research and Applied Graphene Materials (AGM) groups across the UK Graphene engineering – a world leader in graphene production Since 2012, EPSRC has invested £26 million • £14 million for EPSRC-supported and applications, founded by EPSRC in graphene engineering, which includes research into manufacturing processes grant-holder Professor Karl Coleman at £12 million from the Department of Business and technologies linked to graphene Durham University. Innovation and Skills. • Over £10 million of EPSRC support towards fundamental science in The University of Cambridge has combined graphene and carbon nanotechnology three of its Graphene Engineering EPSRC grant awards, totalling £12 million, to • £2.5 million jointly from EPSRC establish the Cambridge Graphene Centre, 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

EPSRC 1994-2014 September 1: Chechen terrorists take between 1,000 and 1,500 people hostage, mostly children, in a school in the Beslan school hostage crisis 53 2004

EPSRC 1994-2014 June 8: Transit of Venus between Earth and the Sun occurs 54 No limit

In 2004, John Pendry, Veselago. The papers set out the theoretical At the University of Southampton, Professor Professor of Theoretical basis for creating ‘perfect lenses’, which Nikolay Zheludev has a major EPSRC grant Solid State Physics at could be used to see things smaller than to develop artificial electromagnetic media Imperial College London, the wavelength of light. with myriad potential applications in areas was knighted for his Pendry’s perfect lens utilises what is known such as telecommunications, energy, data revolutionary work as negative refraction, and sidesteps old storage and defence. on metamaterials. optical limits by bending rays of light the Research into nanoscale-structured With EPSRC’s support, Sir John has ‘wrong way’. In other words, the so-called metamaterials by Professor Jeremy established an entirely new field of science. ‘resolution limits’ once thought to restrict Baumberg, from the University of By developing and using certain materials the range of things that we can examine Cambridge, has revealed a host of novel that don’t occur in nature, he has shown through optical imaging need not apply. and highly exploitable optical properties, that light can interact with structures that In 2002, a second EPSRC Senior Research for which he received the Royal Society are smaller than its wavelength, making Fellowship enabled Sir John to leave his Mullard Prize. it possible to see even at the nano scale, post as Principal of Imperial’s Faculty of Research at the University of Exeter, which and then harness the benefits that this Physical Sciences to pitch himself into full- hosts the new EPSRC-funded Centre for insight brings. time research. Doctoral Training in Metamaterials, has The impetus for Sir John’s research came In 2006, metamaterials hit the headlines led to breakthroughs in the design of thin from work he was doing with the company when Sir John published ideas for a radar absorbers and improved RF-ID tag Marconi, attempting to understand why Harry Potter-style ‘invisibility cloak’. detection; the team are also developing certain materials absorbed radar. But the Metamaterials could be used, he said, to acoustic metamaterials to improve new area of research that this led to has send light around an object, making it look underwater imaging. a huge range of potential applications in like it wasn’t there. Journalists have fixated In 2014, Sir John Pendry was awarded many different fields. on the story ever since. the Kavli Prize, considered the Nobel Professor Pendry’s research built on In 2014, metamaterials are finding Prize in nanoscience, with Thomas EPSRC-supported work throughout the application across the electromagnetic Ebbesen and Stefan Hell, in recognition 1990s, including a 1997 Senior Research and acoustic domains and are seen as an of his ‘transformative contributions’ to Fellowship to further his work on ‘a enabling technology of the future. Negative nano-optics. new class of man-made materials with refraction could allow limitless computer Sir John says: “Things have come full extraordinary optical properties’. He said data storage, and revolutionise biological circle: my work on metamaterials later: “Having great ideas doesn’t involve imaging, nanofabrication and light began with attempts with Marconi to excessive time. What does take time is harvesting. In theory, it could also lead to solve a practical problem. It then went working them through. That’s what EPSRC perfectly efficient solar panels. theoretical, as we tried to explore the funding allowed me to do. It put a rocket Research into this emerging field has profound academic implications of what under the metamaterials work.” grown very rapidly. To date, EPSRC we were finding. In 2000, Sir John published a number of has invested over £130 million in over And now here we are again, with all kinds papers developing ideas put forward in 90 projects related to metamaterials and of practical applications coming from our 1968 by the little-known physicist Victor photonic materials research. 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.

EPSRC 1994-2014 November2: In the US presidential election, incumbent President George W. Bush is declared the winner over his challenger, Senator John F. Kerry 55 2004 New adventures in ultrasound

In 2004, Dr Sandy Now at the University of Dundee, Professor In its use of tiny, high performance Cochran (top left), from Cochran says: “So-called capsule ultrasound arrays and its exploration Paisley University, was endoscopes have already benefited well of therapeutic ultrasound, the SonoPill awarded an EPSRC over a million patients and are in common research forms a natural extension to the Advanced Research use in the UK and around the world. We UK-wide EPSRC-supported ‘Sonotweezers’ Fellowship to explore aim to develop that technology further to programme, involving the universities of new types of ultrasound include ultrasound, for the first time seeing Bristol, Dundee, Glasgow and Southampton source that might one beyond the surface of the gastrointestinal as well as other industry partners. day echo across our tract into the tissue itself. Following EPSRC funding, the oceans or resonate in “This will bring significant diagnostic Sonotweezers programme is developing our bodies. benefits for patients. We also want to new tools for the life sciences and high A series of EPSRC grants explore the very exciting possibilities of value manufacturing using ultrasound followed, including a treatment with such pills.” to manipulate microparticles by £5 million Platform Grant to develop The SonoPill programme includes very electronic alteration of the patterns ‘SonoPill’ technology. valuable collaborators at Heriot-Watt of ultrasonic excitation. The SonoPill is a capsule that patients University and the University of Glasgow, The team have already demonstrated can easily swallow to carry tiny ultrasound and is linked with the NHS and many local that a ‘sonic lasso’ can be used to grip technology into the body. The gut is a and international industry partners. wonderful viewing window and as the capsule passes through it, it will relay images which clinicians can use to diagnose disease.

EPSRC 1994-2014 July 17: Former South African President Nelson Mandela calls for commitment by the world to take action against Aids 56 microscopic objects, such as cells, Meanwhile, at the University of Glasgow… In 2013, Professor Lucas, Professor and move them about; this has myriad In 2004, a team of EPSRC-supported Cochran and colleagues at the University possible applications, from assembly researchers led by Professor Margaret of Edinburgh were awarded a three- of nanocomposites to cell sorting and Lucas (pictured below left) began year EPSRC research grant to develop a analysis, and engineering of human tissue development of an integrated robotic needle which is actuated by vibration at from collection of cells. orthopaedic surgery system incorporating ultrasonic frequencies. In 2014, the Southampton Sonotweezers an ultrasonic cutting blade that could Amongst its many potential benefits, team helped to develop technology that consign the surgical saw to a museum. this will allow doctors to penetrate bone could lead to life-changing medical Using conventional powered saws on bone with needles with much less force than advances, such as better cartilage causes many problems for patients and in contemporary procedures and with implants that reduce the need for surgeons. For example, the action of the much higher precision, improving the knee replacement operations. saw produces swarf – small pieces of bone effectiveness of bone biopsies and allowing Using ultrasonic sound fields, the team – that can reduce visibility at the cut site, more direct delivery of drugs to parts of the showed that cartilage cells taken from a create a risk of contamination, and damage body obscured by bone. patient’s knee can be levitated for weeks delicate soft tissue structures around the In 2014, Professor Lucas and Dr Patrick in a nutrient-rich fluid, providing a zero- cut. Also, heating from the sawing action Harkness were awarded €2.4 million gravity environment perfect for optimising causes cell death, which is known to by the EU Commission to develop an cell growth. prolong post-surgery healing. ultrasonic drill to explore the surface of The tweezers can also mould the growing The team’s research led to the development Mars. The research builds on much of the tissue into exactly the right shape so that of ultrasonic cutting tools precise enough basic knowledge gained from designing the implant is truly fit-for-purpose when to remove sections from the shell of an bone cutting devices and also builds inserted into the patient’s knee. egg without breaking the membrane on an earlier EPSRC-funded research underneath. Further EPSRC-funded programme led by Dr Harkness, who says: projects allowed the group at the University “Unlike normal rotary drills, our ultrasonic of Glasgow to develop miniature ultrasonic drill tool doesn’t produce much heat – orthopaedic devices incorporating novel meaning that biological material and life transducers and smart materials. 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.”

EPSRC 1994-2014 August 22: Armed robbers steal Edvard Munch’s The Scream, Madonna, and other paintings from the Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway 57 2004

Knitting it In 2004, the crocheted artwork above, developed by two EPSRC-funded University of Bristol mathematicians, aroused international media interest.

the mound in a level of detail never The crochet was a striking object created Sound as a mound by Dr Hinke Osinga and Professor Bernd achieved before. Krauskopf to describe the nature of chaotic In 2004, an EPSRC-supported The team discovered that termite Loughborough University research systems – such as the weather or a turbulent mounds provide a self-regulating living river – defined by what are known as team took part in an innovative project environment that responds to changing Lorenz Equations. to investigate whether African termite internal and external conditions. The After months of staring at computer mounds could inspire new types of human equivalent of these ‘smart’ mounds animations of these surfaces they realised self-sufficient, environmentally friendly would be buildings that meet all energy, their computations had naturally generated buildings which are also cheap to run. waste management, heating, ventilation crochet instructions. Dr Osinga, who and other needs on site. The project included research in Namibia learnt to crochet at age seven, took up the to digitally scan the structure of the The research was filmed by the BBC for challenge, and 25,511 stitches and 85 hours termite mounds, which the team turned inclusion in a Sir David Attenborough later the Lorenz Manifold, the name they into a precise 3D reconstruction of natural history series screened in 2006. called their creation, was born. Dr Osinga says: “The computer-generated In 2004, EPSRC held its first ‘Sandpit’ event, crochet instructions were remarkable. Big ideas setting the template for similar blue-sky Simply by looking at the real-life surface thinking initiatives subsequently adopted by I would never have designed it the way funding agencies around the world. the computer did. After all those months One of the inaugural Sandpits, Mapping of trying to create it on screen, it was the Underworld (see pages 62-63), brought fascinating to see the surface grow under my together academia and industry to look at own hands.” innovative ways to best detect and manage But this wasn’t done just for fun. Osinga and the UK’s buried infrastructure such as water Krauskopf’s work gave much-needed insight pipes, sewers and telephone lines. into how chaos arises and is organised in Research proposals arising from the systems as diverse as chemical reactions, Mapping the Underworld Sandpit spawned biological networks and even your kitchen a major research project, now in its third mixer. The Lorenz Manifold is a very helpful phase of EPSRC funding. You can find out tool for understanding and explaining the more about Sandpits in Pioneer 14. dynamics of the Lorenz system.

EPSRC 1994-2014 July 9: SanDisk releases the first SD (Secure Digital) card with a capacity of 1 gigabyte, costing about $500 58 Maths maestro Home help In 2004, Roger Orpwood, from the In 2004, the Norwegian University of Bath, became Director of Academy of Science and the Bath Institute of Medical Engineering Letters awarded the Abel (BIME), an independent charity developing Prize, equivalent to a Nobel assistive technology for disabled people. Prize for Mathematics, jointly to Sir Michael Atiyah Among EPSRC-funded projects carried out FRS, from the University of by the institute, Professor Orpwood led Edinburgh, and Isadore an initiative to develop and M. Singer, from Massachusetts Institute demonstrate dementia of Technology. support technologies in a specially designed smart Atiyah (pictured) and Singer received house in Gloucester. the prize for the Atiyah-Singer index Under Roger Orpwood’s stewardship, theorem – one of the great landmarks of over 100,000 of BIME’s innovative products twentieth century mathematics, influencing have been sold, including the Wizzybug profoundly many of the most important powered wheelchair for children with later developments in topology, differential conditions such as cerebral palsy, spinal geometry and quantum field theory. muscular atrophy, spina bifida and Professor Atiyah’s Abel Prize Medal citation muscular dystrophy. recognised his ‘outstanding contribution The technology includes smart monitors to to the advancement of mathematics, as help dementia sufferers deal with day-to- exemplified by his visionary role in the day situations. For example, a smart tap establishment of the Isaac Newton Institute (pictured) issues a verbal reminder in a in Cambridge. The institute, which is part Good vibrations familiar voice to a user who has left a bath funded by EPSRC, is now an internationally running, and turns off the flow of water if In 2004, Perpetuum, a spin out recognised centre of mathematics research the bath gets too full. company from the University thanks to Sir Michael’s direction and of Southampton, was launched guidance in its early years.’ In 2012, a two-year EPSRC-funded project in collaboration with BIME developed the to commercialise a new kind of In 1990, Professor Atiyah, a Fields Medal inTouch computer interface for people with vibration-based energy harvesting recipient in 1966 (see page 79), became the dementia to ‘virtually visit’ relatives and technology developed by Professor first director of the Isaac Newton Institute, family, reducing social isolation. Neil White and his team. which was set up to meet the need for a The company’s technology uses UK national institute in mathematics and kinetic energy resulting from theoretical physics. EPSRC continues to Paperless proposals vibration to power wireless sensors support the institute. In 2004, EPSRC announced that via microgenerators, and was swiftly Interdisciplinary research is a key criterion paper research grant proposals were adopted by industry. in the selection of the Isaac Newton to be phased out by March 2005, as Perpetuum has since become a Institute’s scientific programmes. To date it part of a move to further integrate global leader in vibration energy has brought together 24 Fields Medallists, administration systems between harvesting. Applications for its eight Nobel Prize winners, 16 winners research councils. technology range from industrial of the Wolf Prize and nine winners of the plant monitoring and transportation Abel Prize. When paperless proposals came into effect, the Joint Electronic to healthcare and aerospace. In 2013, Professor Atiyah, 85, began a new Submission (Je-S) system allowed In 2013, Perpetuum won the contract EPSRC-supported research project, with four councils, including EPSRC, to equip all 148 of Southeastern Professor Bernd Schroers, into Dynamics to provide their communities with Railway’s Electrostar train stock, in Geometric Models of Matter. electronic research grant services which includes 618 cars and This ambitious and adventurous research so that grant proposals can be carriages, with sensor systems draws on many different areas in completed and submitted on line. to monitor the wear of bearings mathematics and physics; and could pave This paved the way for universal and wheels to help maintenance the way for a radically new mathematical electronic submissions across all engineers determine when language for elementary particle, nuclear seven research councils. maintenance is needed. and atomic physics.

EPSRC 1994-2014 December 26: A 9.3 magnitude earthquake creates a tsunami, causing devastation in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and the Maldives 59 2005

EPSRC 1994-2014 February 22: At least six men stage Britain’s biggest robbery ever, stealing £53 million from a Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent 60 Green light for chemistry

In 2005, one of the early protagonists of of oxygen, known as singlet oxygen, and featuring a growing multidisciplinary green chemistry, Professor Martyn Poliakoff which has applications in areas such as team of Nottingham colleagues. Today, (pictured), set up the Driving Innovation in photosensitised oxidations, and synthesis the site has 537 videos and over 510,000 Chemistry and Engineering (DICE) project of reactive compounds. The team showed subscribers with many followers on at The University of Nottingham, with how green chemistry methods could yield social media. funding from the first wave of EPSRC’s significant reductions in waste during the In 2011, Professor Poliakoff was elected £120 million Science and Innovation production process. Foreign Secretary of the Royal Society, Awards scheme (see page 68). The success of this EPSRC-funded project adding to his 2002 Royal Society Fellowship. The project, which followed a host of sparked the interest of the Bill and Melinda The role sees him travelling the world as an EPSRC research grants, including a Gates Foundation, since the use of singlet ambassador for chemistry and UK science. Clean Technology Fellowship awarded to oxygen may have a critical role to play in In 2012, Professor Poliakoff was awarded Professor Poliakoff in 1994, was one of the safer and more effective manufacture of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Nyholm the first to bring chemists and chemical anti-malarial drugs – combatting malaria Prize for Education, largely for his work on engineers together, and helped reinforce is central to the foundation’s mission. The Periodic Table of Videos. The University of Nottingham’s reputation “Progress has been very good and the In April 2014, Professors Poliakoff and as a global leader in green chemistry – results will be published soon,” Professor George joined chemical engineer Steve which promotes the design of products Poliakoff says. Pickering and 11 industrial partners in an and processes that minimise the use and In 2008, a hugely productive EPSRC- EPSRC-funded project to investigate the generation of hazardous substances. supported collaboration between Professor role that light could play in the manufacture Working with long-standing industrial Poliakoff, who had just been awarded the of chemicals. Poliakoff describes the partner, Thomas Swan & Co Ltd, Professor CBE, and video journalist, Brady Haran, project as a direct legacy of DICE. Poliakoff had already developed a radical resulted in a series of short films on each Another Poliakoff legacy – though he would new type of chemical reactor, able to do of the 118 elements in the Periodic Table. never claim it as his – is the building of the work of a 1,000-litre reactor in just four It took just five weeks. “It was completely the GSK Carbon Neutral Laboratory for litres – and thus requiring much smaller bonkers,” Professor Poliakoff says. “When Sustainable Chemistry at Nottingham, amounts of chemicals to produce the same we had made the films, we thought we had which had been due for completion in 2015. end product. finished, but that was just the start of it.” Sadly, the building was devastated by The reactor exploits the unusual properties By 2010, The Periodic Table of Videos had a fire in September 2014 but already of supercritical fluids (SCFs) which flow received nearly 20 million YouTube views the university has pledged the facility like gases but behave more like liquids – in over 200 countries. The key to their will be rebuilt. The new laboratory will making them ‘clean’ solvents suitable for popularity is their accessibility, and quirky provide facilities for three new Chairs in many types of reaction. but knowledgeable approach to their Sustainable Chemistry, funded by GSK, In 2007, Professor Poliakoff and DICE subjects. Professor Poliakoff says: “One EPSRC and The University of Nottingham. member Professor Mike George, working morning, I discovered that overnight I had GSK has a long-standing strategic with pharmaceutical multinationals lectured to more people than I had reached relationship with both EPSRC and the AstraZeneca and Sanofi, and Thomas in my entire career.” university, and the new professors will Swan, used their expertise in supercritical By 2011, the Nottingham team’s web expand the interdisciplinary approach to fluids to develop a greener approach in site boasted 320 videos, with content green chemistry that Professor Poliakoff the production of a highly reactive form covering molecules as well as elements started more than 30 years ago.

EPSRC 1994-2014 November 30: Surgeons in France carry out the first human face transplant 61 2005 Mapping the Underworld

EPSRC 1994-2014 May 5: The United Kingdom general election takes place, in which the Labour Party is re-elected for a third consecutive term 62 In 2005, EPSRC invested in a major project to help scientists discover unknown initiative, Assessing the Underworld (ATU), multidisciplinary, multi-university project historical treasures hidden beneath the which broadens the skill base of the MTU to prove the concept of technologies that UK landscape. team by introducing leaders in climate could explore the underworld of buried The three-year £815,000 initiative was change, engineering sustainability, robotics pipes, cables and utilities beneath our feet. co-funded by EPSRC and the Arts and pipeline systems. In the UK it is estimated that up to four and Humanities Research Council A main aim of the four-year project is to million holes are cut into the UK road (AHRC) under the Science and Heritage prove the concept of a single integrated network each year to install or repair programme (see page 92). assessment and modelling framework. buried infrastructure. Failure to identify In 2011, Oxems, a company created to The programme has more than 50 project accurately the location of existing buried commercialise research arising from the partners and has attracted over £16 million assets results in numerous practical MTU project, developed a unique low cost, of in-kind support. The programme’s problems, costs and dangers for utility intention is to realise a 25-year vision for low maintenance ‘asset tag’, which can be owners, contractors and road users. sustainable streetworks. attached to exposed assets such as water The Mapping the Underworld (MTU) pipes, sewers and cabling and detected Also in 2013, Dr Nicole Metje, from project, which arose from a seminal EPSRC when reburied by an ‘intelligent’ sensor the University of Birmingham, who co- Sandpit exercise (see page 58), focused device on the surface without the need leads Assessing the Underworld, was on developing the means to locate, map for excavation. awarded £241,000 by EPSRC as part of in 3D and record the position of all buried an Innovate UK-funded project to develop Oxems believes the technology could utility assets without excavation. This would an inexpensive sensor-based pipeline reduce the costs to utilities of streetworks be achieved through the development of leak detection system, which can be by at least 40 per cent, and prompted a single shared multi-sensor platform. fitted to new water pipelines or retrofitted John Divit, Leakage Best Practice Adviser To meet the challenge, the team opportunistically during repairs or using at Severn Trent Water, to comment: “The developed vibro-acoustics, low frequency keyhole excavation technology. Oxems product could have an impact as electromagnetic fields, passive magnetic significant as barcodes.” The project, which is a collaboration fields and ground penetrating radar with water companies and other In 2012, EPSRC invested £6.3 million in a technologies, combined with intelligent industry stakeholders, aims to develop multidisciplinary, multi-university research use of existing utility company records and a commercial system that harnesses project led by Professor Chris Rogers ground databases. the technology. focused on transforming the engineering The project, led by Professor Chris Rogers, Chris Rogers says: “This sequence of of cities to deliver a low-carbon, resource- from the University of Birmingham, funding has underpinned radical thinking secure sustainable future. aimed to integrate the sensor and record on how cities should be supported in the information in a single, integrated, The wide-ranging project draws on the far future and how existing infrastructure searchable database. social sciences and takes into account systems, some of which date back to the The research led to the establishment of factors such as quality of life, social 1800s, can be integrated into the brave new an industry-sponsored, co-created MTU aspirations and engineering policy. world of smart and smarter cities.” Centre of Excellence, which opened up for Co-investigators on this project include In 2014, EPSRC invested in a Quantum the first time the possibility of a national University College London’s Professor Technology (QT) Hub (see page 79) at the certification scheme – something the Hélène Joffe (see pages 74-75) and University of Birmingham. Dr Nicole Metje, industry had wished to see for some time. Professor Nick Tyler, also from UCL. a co-investigator at the hub, will explore the In 2010, the Mapping the Underworld In 2013, EPSRC invested £5.8 million in the use of QT sensors for pipeline detection, project spawned a major archaeology next phase of the Mapping the Underworld working alongside the MTU sensors.

EPSRC 1994-2014 May 24: North Korea bans mobile phones 63 2005 Printer’s progress

In 2005, Dr “The sum I asked for was about half the best student project in the country, based Adrian Bowyer, cost of the cheapest 3D printing machine on his work with Bowyer on the RepRap an engineering available on the market at the time,” says project. Ed Sells was to prove key to the researcher the recently retired University of Bath development of the technology, and is working with engineer. Not only would he try to run now a senior research figure in one of the the University the whole project on this modest budget, world’s leading 3D printing companies, of Bath’s he set himself “the challenge of turning 3D Systems. EPSRC-funded a machine that costs £40,000 to buy into For Dr Bowyer, the key to success was Innovative something that costs £400.” making the project open source – a free Design and The result was RepRap, a remarkable DIY licence to the product’s design or blueprint, Manufacturing 3D printer that achieved all the project’s enabling subsequent improvements to it by Research stated goals. anyone, anywhere. Centre, To achieve this, Dr Bowyer had a secret By 2007, Bowyer and Sells had established made a modest application to the centre weapon in the form of engineering doctoral a global ‘virtual’ team of over 30 volunteer for £20,000 to build a 3D printer based on student Ed Sells, who in 2005 came within collaborators, from software developers reproductive biological principles which, an ace of winning the national Science, to designers and mechanical engineers. with man’s help, would be capable of Engineering and Technology award for the Adrian Bowyer says: “The group were replicating itself.

EPSRC 1994-2014 November 30: John Sentamu becomes the first black archbishop in the Church of England with his enthronement as the 97th Archbishop of York 64 unimaginably helpful, and gave us a lot of In the same year, MakerBot raised a further bang for our buck.” $10 million from the likes of Facebook’s The additive manufacturing By May 2008, within a few minutes of Sam Lessin and Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos. revolution being assembled, the first ‘child’ RepRap In October 2011, rising bioengineering machine had built the first component for star, Jordan Miller, of the University of Designed to ‘laser print’ products a ‘grandchild’. Dr Bowyer estimates that by Pennsylvania, and a core member of the layer by layer, with virtually zero waste, September 2008 over 100 copies had been RepRap project, used a RepRap Mendel additive manufacturing (AM), otherwise produced around the world. and a Makerbot 3D printer to make blood known as 3D printing, has the potential In 2009, three RepRap volunteers from vessels from sugar. His method later to revolutionise the way we make New York, Zach Smith, Bre Pettis and Adam appeared in a special edition of Scientific things. But there are still significant Mayer, used the knowledge from the project American on the future of medicine. hurdles to overcome before successful to set up their own company, MakerBot. By 2012, MakerBot had generated annual commercialisation of the technologies. “They didn’t have a bean between them,” income in excess of US$11 million and was EPSRC-supported research groups says Dr Bowyer who, “being horribly old”, selling more than 20,000 printers a year across the UK are developing world- did have a few beans to rub together and – including the MakerBot Replicator 2 – leading technologies and processes at helped them with $25,000 dollars to form inspired by RepRap. the forefront of this research. the start-up – and so, MakerBot was In June 2013, one of the world’s largest In addition to individual AM projects, born. Within four years, the company had 3D printing companies, Stratasys, made EPSRC-supported research groups captured 20 per cent of the multi-million an offer MakerBot could not refuse. The include the £4.5 million EPSRC Centre dollar US market in home-use 3D printers. company Adrian Bowyer helped create for for Doctoral Training in Additive In August 2010, Dr Ed Sells left Bowyer to $25,000 four years earlier was sold for the Manufacturing and the EPSRC Centre join UK start-up Bits from Bytes, which, sum of $403 million, with an additional for Innovative Manufacturing (CIM) in using modified RepRap technology, had $200 million in potential performance- Additive Manufacturing, hosted by the gone from launch in January to a £2 million based bonuses. University of Nottingham in partnership with Loughborough University. business by the end of the financial year. Dr Bowyer says he knew from the outset In 2011, open source hardware company, that RepRap had the potential to grow CIM projects include development of Aleph Objects, based in Colorado, exponentially; but even he could not have ways to deposit more than one material established LulzBot to make 3D printers, predicted how an idea that began with a within a single build process, making it parts and materials which, Aleph says, £20,000 EPSRC grant could have developed possible to print entire working systems are “all developed as part of the RepRap so fast, in so many countries, and evolved (incorporating electronics, for example) project”. The company now has 540 in so many diverse ways – with no sign of in one go, instead of making individual employees, and exports worldwide. slowing down. 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.

EPSRC 1994-2014 December 11: The Buncefield Oil Depot in Hemel Hempstead, England, is rocked by explosions, causing a huge oil fire 65 2005 Face value

In 2005, Dr Chris Solomon and Dr Stuart Dr Solomon says: “E-FIT has developed a the creation of near photo-realistic, Gibson, two physicists from the University reputation as a highly reliable and flexible colour images of criminal suspects from of Kent, created their first version of an system for feature-based composite eyewitnesses’ testimony and is credited ‘electronic sketch artist’ that has changed construction. However, it relies on the with helping to solve hundreds of crimes. the way UK police forces identify criminals. witness’s ability to recall individual Dr Stuart Gibson says: “The key advantage Their system, EFIT-V, allows victims and features, provide verbal descriptions and with EFIT-V is that the technology allows witnesses to select the best and worst then select them from stored libraries people to respond to faces they see matches from a group of computer- of labelled features. This is a task which rather than having to break it down into generated faces, helping identify suspected extensive psychological research shows component parts. criminals in a new way. that witnesses often find difficult. Through “Police forces using EFIT-V have reported our early research in computer vision we Based on the witnesses’ responses, the sustained, correct naming rates up to began to suspect that a better approach computer system eventually ‘learns’ what 10 times the average success rate using could be taken. type of face they are after and displays feature-based systems. options accordingly. “The EFIT-V facial composite system is “EFIT-V is even effective when witnesses Dr Solomon’s EPSRC-supported research based on different principles, employing cannot provide good descriptions of the led directly to the creation of spin out a holistic (whole face) approach to face but know that they would recognise company VisionMetric Ltd. Fast forward to construction. In essence, the witness is the face if they saw it again.” 2014 and VisionMetric’s facial composite shown a number of randomly generated products, EFIT-V and E-FIT, have become faces and is asked to select the one that EFIT-V is now in use globally, and has the preferred choice of 90 per cent of best resembles the target. A genetic customers from as far apart as Europe, British police forces and are used in over algorithm is then used to breed a new Australia, USA, Singapore and Chile. 30 countries around the world. generation of faces based upon the Among excellent customer reviews, a Computerised facial composite systems selected individual. This process is satisfied client from New Scotland Yard in the UK date back to the late 1980s and repeated until the user is satisfied with wrote: “I thought it would be appropriate to the original E-FIT system – which was the composite generated.” let you know as soon as possible about the developed by John Platten, a software Today, EFIT-V has evolved into what is new product. Put simply, I love it… This has engineer, and Peter Bennett, a former widely accepted to be the most advanced led to six cases so far getting ‘near as Metropolitan Police officer. facial composite software, enabling damn-it’ likenesses.”

Spot the fakers: Only one of the pictures above is a real photograph; the others were created by EFIT-V.

EPSRC 1994-2014 August 29: Hurricane Katrina makes landfall along the US Gulf Coast, causing severe damage. At least 1,836 die in the aftermath 66 Light touch In 2005, an EPSRC- supported 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. The aid was simple to Young Researcher of use and stimulated more enjoyable, rewarding the Year conversation between In 2005, Dr Julie Macpherson, an EPSRC- sufferers and those who funded researcher from the University of care for them. Warwick, won the influentialTimes Higher During development, the Education magazine’s inaugural award for CIRCA system was tested on CIRCA team member Dr Arlene Astell, Young Researcher of the Year. 40 dementia sufferers in day care, nursing of the University of St Andrews School of She received the award in recognition of home and family situations, with many Psychology, says: “Dementia sufferers’ pioneering research into single-walled carers reporting that sufferers seemed like declining ability to hold normal conversations carbon nanotubes, which made it possible their old selves. causes a lot of stress and frustration. to map the chemistry of surfaces at a molecular level, with potential applications in CIRCA exploits the fact that, while dementia “Helping them access their memories areas such as cell signalling processes and sufferers find it hard to recall recent events, makes living with dementia more bearable the detection of aircraft corrosion. longer-term memory is less affected by and less distressing for sufferers and their condition. their carers.” Professor Macpherson is also recognised for her research into the development of new The team secured further EPSRC funding The research led to the formation of Circa synthetic diamond electrochemical sensing from the EPSRC-led RCUK Digital Economy Connect Ltd, a spin out company, which devices and techniques. programme to develop an interactive brings together expertise in the fields of multimedia activity system that dementia design, psychology and computer science She co-leads the Warwick Electrochemistry sufferers can use on their own. to commercialise the work. and Interfaces Group, and is Taught Course Leader at the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Diamond Science and Technology. such as materials, mechanical and Challenging The centre is working with companies such medical engineering, information & as De Beers Group and synthetic diamond communications technologies and engineering specialist Element Six to help pioneer new process, environment & sustainability. In 2005, EPSRC launched its Challenging diamond-enabled technologies. In 2011, many of the features of the Engineering Awards programme, Professor Macpherson says: “Interfacing programme were incorporated into through which support is given to the with and integrating diamond into electronic EPSRC’s new Fellowship framework. most promising early career researchers. devices can solve some of the biggest The highly successful programme research problems, such as effective cooling was designed to identify and support Council forum for faster and more reliable devices; and lasers that are more powerful and compact individuals with the potential to In December 2005, EPSRC held its first than current devices.” become future leaders of engineering Council Open Forum. The event, held at research, with the ambition of building the Royal Institution, opened the floor In May 2014, Professor Macpherson was a team around them over the course to anyone wishing to put questions to awarded a four-year Royal Society Industry of a five-year period to achieve their members of EPSRC’s Council, its senior- Fellowship in acknowledgement of her work research vision. decision-making body. Open forums in diamond electrochemistry. In total, £35 million in Challenging have since been integrated into EPSRC’s The fellowship will enable Professor Engineering Awards was invested ongoing programme of engagement with Macpherson and her team to push forward in nearly 40 researchers in areas the research community. the significant work already accomplished with Element Six.

EPSRC 1994-2014 April 27: The Superjumbo jet aircraft Airbus A380 makes its first flight from Toulouse, France 67 2005

Science and innovation awards In 2005, EPSRC launched its Science areas such as intelligent and Innovation Awards programme, a software; graphene and major tranche of funding focused on its applications in nano- directly building the UK’s research base electronics, photonics and through large-value, long-term grants in bio-sciences; synthetic strategically important research areas biology and innovation; identified as being missing or ‘at-risk’ carbon capture related in the UK. to fossil fuels; energy Funded by EPSRC in partnership with efficient cities; statistics the Higher Education Funding Council underpinning science, for England (HEFCE) and the Scottish technology and industry; Higher Education Funding Council, the and green chemistry. projects, awarded annually for five years, Among recipients of a Hands-on research: Asieh Kazemi, a researcher from the created centres of excellence in their Science and Innovation respective fields under the leadership of a University of Bath’s Centre for Graphene Science, operates the Award were Professor ‘nano-factory’, which will allow researchers to build new devices principal professor. The scheme supported Martyn Poliakoff, from The onto a single graphene layer. The centre has been funded by 29 programmes of research activity with a University of Nottingham strategic investments by the universities of Bath and Exeter into value in excess of £120 million. (see pages 62-63) and materials research, and by a £5 million award from the EPSRC/ The diversity of the research activity is Professor Lynne Gladden HEFCE Science and Innovation Awards programme in 2008. testament to the scope of the investment, from the University of Photograph courtesy: SWNS.com with new centres of excellence emerging in Cambridge (see page 70).

Winging it – epoxy resin ‘bleeds’ from embedded to lighter aircraft, cutting both fuel costs vessels near the crack to quickly seal it and and carbon emissions. In 2005, a team of aerospace engineers restore integrity. The resin and hardener In 2008, EPSRC awarded Professor at the University of Bristol, led by Dr enable the composite material to recover Bond a further grant to continue the Ian Bond, developed a revolutionary up to 80-90 per cent of its original strength, development of these techniques. new technique that could enable comfortably allowing a plane to function at Today, Professor Bond co-leads the damaged aircraft to mend themselves its normal operational load. EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in automatically, even during a flight. In addition to improving aviation safety, Advanced Composites for Innovation and If a tiny hole or crack appears in the the technology, which mimics the healing Science at the University of Bristol. aircraft – due to fatigue or a stone strike processes found in nature, could also lead

EPSRC 1994-2014 September 12: Israel completes its withdrawal of all troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip 68 What lies beneath piping, even if they are buried in sand layers beneath the seabed. The concept or mud. came from the petroleum industry, which The team, led by Professor Jonathan Bull, uses seismic reflections to locate oil and developed the first truly three-dimensional gas fields. sub-seabed profiler called GeoChirp 3D, The system, which later went into which they successfully demonstrated by production, is capable of imaging the upper imaging the skeleton of The Invincible, a tens of metres of the sub-surface in three Royal Navy ship that sunk into the Solent dimensions and provides the perfect base sands in 1758. for shallow-water engineering, archaeology, Developed with the help of GeoAcoustics military and geological studies. Ltd, a manufacturer of sonar seabed GeoChirp has been successfully used In 2005, a team from the School of Ocean survey equipment, the GeoChirp 3D is a during surveys in near-shore and harbour and Earth Science (SOES) at the University surface-towed seismic system that works environments in the UK and internationally. of Southampton used EPSRC funding to by firing sound waves at the sea floor and Development of the GeoChirp system was create a device that could identify undersea measuring the reflections as they bounce funded by GeoAcoustics Ltd, EPSRC and objects such as shipwrecks, mines and back from objects and different rock English Heritage. Taking the heat Blastproof concrete

In 2005, an EPSRC-supported In 2005, a research team at the universities team of specialists in fire of Sheffield and Liverpool, led by Dr Steve chemistry, polymers and textiles, Millard, began development of a new type led by Dr Baljinder Kandola at the of concrete that could help protect terrorist University of Bolton, developed a targets against car or lorry bomb attacks. range of new, inherently flame- The team’s Ultra High Performance Fibre retardant polymers. Reinforced Concrete (UHPFRC) has needle- The breakthrough was a result of thin steel fibres added to the concrete mix a 2003 project funded by EPSRC instead of or in addition to steel reinforcing and the MoD to investigate the use bars to increase its tensile strength. of nano composites in synthetic Developed over four years, in partnership materials. The multidisciplinary, with the Centre for the Protection of multi-university team’s research National Infrastructure, UHPFRC was was based around the belief that found to absorb a thousand times more the barrier layer and char-forming energy than plain concrete and could properties of nano composites therefore be used for bomb-proof litter bins could improve fire resistance of and protection barriers. synthetic fibres, while enhancing The concrete has been utilised in Australia their physical and mechanical in the design of slender footbridges and properties. other specialised applications. The team later turned their attentions to creating a new generation of textiles with applications ranging from soft furnishings to soldiers’ uniforms. Today, 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.

EPSRC 1994-2014 November 27: The first partial human face transplant is completed in Amiens, France 69 2006

Silent flight In 2006, building “This collaboration has stretched our the environmental impact of take-off noise on previous EPSRC imagination and generated noise mitigation from aircraft. investments, the ideas that we will be able to study for The work, co-led by Professor Dowling, international Silent potential future use.” merges with and extends two highly Aircraft Initiative (SAI), Colin Smith, Rolls-Royce Director of successful earlier EPSRC-funded jet a collaborative venture Engineering and Technology, said: “The noise projects, specifically looking at between the University study confirmed that the solution for aerodynamics and aero-acoustics of of Cambridge and extremely low noise must be a highly complex geometry hot jets and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology integrated combination of engine and dynamics of co-flowing jets. (MIT), unveiled its revolutionary single-wing aircraft design and operation.” In 2014, Professor Dowling co-leads the concept SAX-40 aircraft (pictured above). In 2007, the Silent Aircraft Initiative led to a new EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in The highly-efficient design, which has four-year EPSRC-supported project, jointly Gas Turbine Aerodynamics at Cambridge. neither flaps nor slats (a major source of with MIT, investigating the development In 2014, EPSRC invested over £10 million aircraft noise), offered improvements of of embedded engines mounted above the around 25 per cent in the fuel consumed in in a new National Wind Tunnel Facility. wing to reduce noise on the ground and The investment, which includes £2.6 a typical flight compared to current aircraft increase the aircraft’s efficiency. and offered significant noise reductions million from research partner the UK In 2008, Professor Dowling co-led a major compared to conventional aeroplanes. Aerodynamics Centre, will finance seven EPSRC-funded project into energy efficient wind tunnels at universities throughout The academic/industry project, supported cities, led by Professor Lynne Gladden at the UK. by EPSRC and the Cambridge-MIT Institute, the University of Cambridge. The findings focused on next-generation aeroplanes Professor Dame Ann Dowling, who in of this project, funded by an EPSRC Science entering into service in 2030 and was led 2013 became Chair of the UK Aerodynamics and Innovation Award (see page 68), by Cambridge’s Professor Ann Dowling Council, says: “The new wind tunnel influenced future government policy. (pictured), a world authority on combustion facility will give researchers and industry and acoustics. Commercial partners of this In 2009, Professor Dame Ann Dowling, who access to the world-class facilities and multi-partner initiative included BA, Rolls- received a DBE for services to science in instrumentation vital for the development Royce and the Civil Aviation Authority. 2007, became head of the Department of of future quiet, ultra-efficient aircraft.” Engineering at the University of Cambridge. Interviewed in 2006, Jim Morris, Vice In 2014, Dame Ann was appointed President of Engineering & Manufacturing In 2011, EPSRC funded a four-year project President of the Royal Academy of at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said: jointly with Caltech focused on reducing Engineering, the first woman in the role.

EPSRC 1994-2014 July 28: The Provisional IRA issues a statement formally ordering an end to the armed campaign it has pursued since 1969 70 Precious metals, such as platinum and including palladium, rhodium and platinum. palladium, are used extensively in a wide Over time, tiny particles of these metals are range of industrial chemical processes – ejected through the exhaust system, settling providing a vital trigger or accelerator for as highly valuable road dust. Rhodium, for chemical reactions. A current EPSRC-project, example, sells for around £100 a gram. of which she is a member, is applying novel All UK councils are required by law to bionano-catalysts for upgrading heavy oils. clean up and collect road waste, so this In 2006, a sister project to the sugar- part of Roads to Riches’ operation is free. related research, led by the Biotechnology Next, the company uses natural separation and Biological Sciences Research Council techniques, such as magnetism, to sort out Full metal jacket (BBSRC), evaluated the potential for sourcing the metals from the organic road waste, precious metals from wastes: together these which is processed into low grade building In 2006, an EPSRC-funded project led projects have demonstrated a ‘one stop aggregates, rather than sent to landfill. by Professor Lynne Macaskie at the shop’ method to bio-manufacture active What’s left is a metal concentrate, which University of Birmingham demonstrated the catalysts from waste. traditionally would be sent for energy- commercial potential arising from ‘feeding’ a The combined research projects spawned intensive smelting. The company has certain type of bacteria on high-sugar waste a life of their own through a pioneering developed a greener option – it sends in products, such as those produced by the commercial venture launched by Dr Angela the bacteria. confectionery industry. Murray (pictured), a bioscientist at The The bacteria used in the process are already The bacteria give off hydrogen as they University of Birmingham. on their second life, having been used in the consume the waste, and the team used In 2009, Dr Murray, whose doctorate was earlier process to create clean hydrogen this gas to generate clean electricity via a supervised by Professor Macaskie, used from fermented food waste. fuel cell – potentially a valuable source of a BBSRC Enterprise Fellowship Award After being added to the metal concentrate, non-polluting energy in the years ahead. The to develop a way to recover precious the bacteria emerge wearing what Angela waste was supplied by the team’s industrial metals from roadside waste, with the aim Murray has described as “tiny nanoparticle partner, Cadbury Schweppes plc, whose of producing new, cheap catalysts. This metal jackets”. factory is conveniently located just down the led to the creation of a spin out company, The bacteria are then either dried into a road. The waste would otherwise have been Roads to Riches. Macaskie and Murray fine powder to make a range of platform sent to landfill. are both directors of the company, which chemicals/catalysts or can be used in Since 2006, Professor Macaskie has headed works closely with the Birmingham hydrogen fuel cells to generate clean several EPSRC-supported projects to research teams. electricity. In essence, the bacteria producing evaluate the potential for using bacteria to The catalytic converters in most modern the hydrogen are the same ones recovering bio-manufacture precious metal catalysts. cars are coated with precious metals, the precious metals.

The and damage to roads and buildings company’s surrounding the pipes. award- In 2013, Syrinix’s TrunkMinder technology winning was short-listed for the Most Innovative portfolio has New Technology of the Year title at the developed Water Industry Achievement Awards. ‘listening’ Also in 2013, the company secured technology £2.1 million in funding from a number that can help reduce the of investors, including the EU-funded 3.3 billion Low Carbon Innovation Fund, and the litres of Angel CoFund, to accelerate national and treated water international growth. lost every day Today, the company’s TrunkMinder devices in the UK by are being commercially deployed in a making maintenance more cost effective. major rollout by Thames Water for the £15 Pipeline to success The technology uses vibro-acoustic signals billion Crossrail project, one of the largest from the water mains pipe and analyses engineering projects in Europe. In 2006, Syrinix, a company formed in 2004 these sounds to enable leaks to be To avoid catastrophic pipeline failures, by Professor Paul Linford to commercialise detected in their early stages and pinpoint Syrinix worked closely with Crossrail to his EPSRC-funded blue-skies research at their location. deploy the system on critical water mains, the University of East Anglia, was named Detection stops bigger, more devastating many of which have been in the ground Business Initiative of the Year in the Times leaks from springing up and helps water for decades and some for in excess of Higher Education Supplement 2006 awards. companies prevent massive loss of water 100 years.

EPSRC 1994-2014 April 23: YouTube, the popular video sharing website, is founded 71 2006 Helping humans help Potential applications for the technology, which has been licensed for use in tissue themselves banks in the UK and South America, include knee damage repair, heart valves In 2006, Tissue Regenix, a medical devices and advanced wound care for leg ulcers. company in the field of regenerative medicine specialising in human tissue In 2010, Tissue Regenix’s first product – a regeneration products, was founded by vascular patch derived from pig tissue Professors John Fisher and Eileen Ingham which repairs damaged human veins – to commercialise their EPSRC-funded gained its CE mark and was sold globally research at the University outside the USA. of Leeds. In 2012, the company, now listed on the The company’s London Stock Exchange’s international proprietary dCELL® market for smaller growing companies technology platform (AIM), opened an office in the USA works by removing all as a significant step forward in its cells from the animal commercialisation strategy. tissue, allowing it to be Today, the Tissue Regenix Group has used to replace worn out a market capitalisation of over £60 or diseased body parts – million. The basic research that led to the without the need for anti- company’s formation was funded by EPSRC rejection drugs. in 2000, and Tissue Regenix continues to Because a patient’s own receive EPSRC support. cells can populate the Professor Eileen Ingham says: “The new biological scaffolds, support from EPSRC and other funders, they are accepted by the including the Technology Strategy Board, immune system and can over many years has been crucial in be repaired like normal enabling us to pursue the basic technology tissue. The dCELL® and then drive forward its potential. We process can be used to were able to use these grants flexibly, make 20-30 enabling continuity of employment for different products. key researchers.”

Walking the walk In 2006, a laboratory designed to make By monitoring and measuring all aspects pedestrian environments safer and easier of pedestrian behaviour – from their gait to use was set up with EPSRC support and biomechanics to how they perceive at University College London (UCL). The the world around them – the project has investment stemmed from a three-year generated data leading to improvements EPSRC grant awarded to UCL’s Accessibility in the design of pavements, footways and Research Group to create a new lab for concourses, and will enable new ideas and investigating issues related to pedestrians products to be tried out. and the pedestrian environment. Today, among other EPSRC-supported The PAMELA (Pedestrian Accessibility projects, Professor Tyler, who has received and Movement Laboratory) project, over 20 EPSRC research grants, is a led by Professor Nick Tyler, led to the key member of the Transforming the development of a ‘lab-based’ fully- Engineering of Cities project (see pages configurable pedestrian walkway, enabling 62-63), and co-leads a team investigating real-world conditions to be replicated in a the feasibility of a wholly new concept in controlled setting. exoskeleton design.

EPSRC 1994-2014 May 1: The Human Genome Project publishes the last chromosome sequence 72 Getting in gear

In 2006, Magnomatics, a high technology company from the University of Sheffield, was set up to commercialise ground- breaking 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 EPSRC- supported 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 over 30 people, with a strong focus on wind and tidal energy production; ultra- £2.5 million to complete the development renewable energy and energy efficiency. compact and efficient marine propulsion of its magnetically-geared motors for the Together with its various strategic systems; and wheel hub motors and electric and hybrid vehicle market. partners, the company is developing a continuously variable transmissions to Today, Magnomatics has evolved into a range of technologies, including high be employed in commercial hybrid and clean technology company employing efficiency, ultra-compact generators for electric vehicles.

biometric passports – and so could be used to help combat crimes such as EPSRC & SIP identity theft, social security fraud, people In 2007, EPSRC set up a new advisory trafficking and terrorism. panel to advise Council, its senior In 2009, the system, which can identify decision-making body, about how best partial, distorted, scratched, smudged, or to take account of public opinion and otherwise warped fingerprints in just a few attitudes in policy development. seconds, scored top marks in the world’s The Societal Issues Panel (SIP) two toughest technical fingerprint tests. Making its mark complemented the Technical It was ranked best for overall accuracy by Opportunities Panel (TOP), which mainly In 2006, Warwick Warp, a spin out company the UK National Physical Laboratory and comprised academics, and the User from the University of Warwick, won the placed third overall out of 36 in tests by Panel (UP), whose main component Research Councils UK Business Plan the US National Institute of Standards and is industrialists. Competition for its unique software-based Technology (NIST). fingerprint identification system. In 2011, EPSRC’s panel system, which In 2013, the company’s fingerprint had remained largely unchanged for Warwick Warp’s technology, which was feature extractor was certified for use in nearly two decades, evolved into a substantially more reliable and faster India, where the Warwick Warp is being more flexible Strategic Advisory than those available at the time, can deployed in multiple government and Network (SAN). be incorporated into identity cards and civilian projects.

EPSRC 1994-2014 March 21: Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams found social networking service Twitter, officially launched later in 2006 73 2007 Making waves

In 2007, structural earthquake engineer, Professor Rossetto says: “The main gap in In 2011, EPSRC funded a five-year project Professor Tiziana Rossetto, received an our knowledge is about what happens when led by Newcastle University to enable EPSRC Challenging Engineering award the tsunami wave approaches the near UK scientists to visit an earthquake zone to establish the Earthquake and People shore region and then runs inland. together with the EEFIT team in order Interaction Centre (EPICentre), based at “These flow processes cannot be simplified to gather data immediately after an University College London (UCL). She is using mathematical models because of the earthquake has struck. also director of the centre. complex interaction that takes place with Researchers, including those from It was Professor Rossetto’s experience of beaches, sediment, coastal defences and EPICentre, used the funding to visit the surveying the sites of the 2004 earthquakes then in and around buildings.” site of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami and tsunami in Sri Lanka and Thailand with The tsunami generator has been made in Japan and the area devastated by the UK’s Earthquake Field Investigation available for use by researchers from all earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, Team (EEFIT) that led her to set up a over the world. both in 2011. multidisciplinary research group under An example of a project that will use the In 2012, Professor Rossetto led the first- EPSRC’s Challenging Engineering scheme. tsunami generator is CRUST, funded in 2014 ever earthquake return reconnaissance Launched in 2005, the scheme identified by EPSRC to develop a new assessment mission to investigate building repair, and supported individuals with the potential methodology to help risk management after strengthening and reconstruction after the to become future leaders of engineering earthquakes and tsunami. 2009 L’Aquila earthquake in Italy. Before research, with the ambition of building a the grant ends in 2016, the team will have team around them (see page 67). The CRUST team brings together expertise from the University of Bristol and UCL, conducted five investigations in total. The EPICentre team of earthquake and partners widely with industry and In 2013, EPICentre co-director Professor engineers, social scientists, psychologists, universities worldwide. Hélène Joffe won the prestigious Lloyds coastal engineers and statisticians Science of Risk award for her study of investigate and model risk from natural In 2010, with support from EPSRC, people living in highly seismic areas. hazards to buildings and infrastructure EPICentre launched the Virtual Disaster and study their impact on populations. The Viewer (VDV), an innovative web-based Professor Joffe is a co-investigator in a team study disasters in the field, and their portal that allows earthquake experts to major multi-university EPSRC-funded research covers earthquakes, tsunami, pool knowledge quickly and effectively to project led by Professor Chris Rogers volcanoes, floods, risk reduction and help relief operations. from the University of Birmingham into risk representation. The VDV captures before-and-after satellite sustainable future cities (see pages 62-63). In 2009, with EPSRC support, EPICentre images, videos, and real-time field data, In 2013, EPSRC invested in a £1.6 million unveiled a unique wave-generation facility enabling engineers and scientists to EPICentre project on earthquake and fire which can accurately model realistic provide detailed damage assessments to risk. The team are developing tools for tsunami waves. Developed by EPICentre help relief organisations target damage evaluation in fire engineering and and marine engineering specialists, emergency supplies, prioritise repairs are planning an innovative study in Seattle, HR Wallingford, the tsunami generator has and plan reconstruction. USA to get people to prepare and plan for a 70-metre long, four metre-wide flume, The viewer was used in post-earthquake the effects of earthquake and fire. and includes a coastal slope and model field investigations in China in 2008, Italy in This research builds on knowledge of risk beach to show how the coast, buildings and 2009 and after the 2010 Haiti earthquake representation gained in the course of structures are affected. which killed an estimated 100,000 people. Professor Joffe’s work.

EPSRC 1994-2014 January 9: Apple CEO, the late Steve Jobs, announces the launch of the first iPhone 74 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.

EPSRC 1994-2014 May 21: Cutty Sark, the last surviving tea clipper, is badly damaged by fire in Greenwich, England 75 2007

In 2007, XenSource, a company formed XenSource began as a consultancy service by four EPSRC-supported researchers at advising banks and other businesses on the University of Cambridge’s Computer deploying Xen. Laboratory, was sold to US company Citrix The company’s creators soon realised for $500 million. there were further business opportunities XenSource was set up in 2004 to help in building and supporting an ‘enterprise- commercialise the team’s ground-breaking ready’ version of Xen, and their work software, called Xen, which makes a single became instrumental in the development of computer appear to be many similar, but cloud computing through which companies smaller, computers. undertake large computing jobs. Amazon Among its key features, Xen enables was also an early adopter, and used several people to use the same computer Xen software in one of the largest cloud server without being able to affect each computing bases. other’s personal virtual machine – and Researchers around the world have without being aware of each other. Each used Xen to develop further research virtual machine can run any operating and generate new applications. Cloud system and any application. computing has become ubiquitous for The notion of getting the most out of the both the corporate world and for least number of servers initially attracted individual consumers. companies that handled large amounts Today, Citrix offers a suite of security of data, such as Wall Street banks, which software including mobile applications for traditionally had hundreds of thousands iOS, Android and Windows smartphones of servers. and tablets.

EPSRC 1994-2014 June 27: Gordon Brown becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 76 Innovation nation In 2007, EPSRC launched a major initiative Successful projects have developed and to enable business to access the for academics to develop the commercial new coatings and surfaces that can best research and technical expertise, potential of their research alongside be used to turn buildings into power infrastructure and equipment. commercial businesses in university-based stations; enhanced jet engine efficiency; Operating at an earlier stage than centres of excellence known as Innovation technologies to help the body heal itself, Catapult centres, IKCs are led by an expert and Knowledge Centres (IKCs). and systems to combat the threat of cyber entrepreneurial team and offer a shared Originally funded by EPSRC, and now co- attacks and terrorism. space and entrepreneurial environment in funded with Innovate UK, with additional Spin out and spin in activity is integral to which researchers can work side by side funding from the Biotechnology and the IKC concept. Successful companies with potential customers and professionals Biological Sciences Research Council include Microsense, formed to from academia and business. (BBSRC), IKCs were set up to accelerate commercialise research at the Centre for Since 2007, IKCs have created 801 jobs, and promote business exploitation of an Secure Information Technologies (CSIT) spawned 11 new spin out companies; filed emerging research and technology field. IKC at Queen’s University Belfast (see page 60 patent applications; initiated The seven centres funded to date have 81). The company’s award-winning wireless 12 licensing deals and brought 60 products developed ground-breaking work in areas microwave fence was designed for use and services to market. They have such as manufacturing technologies for in critical installations such as airports, also trained 273 doctoral students and photonics and electronics; regenerative power plants and country borders, creating 213 MSc students. medical therapies and devices; and secure an invisible but sensitive detection curtain The IKC concept has gone down well information technologies. They have quickly around a secure location. It is also able with industry, attracting £132 million established both a global profile and an to distinguish between real targets and in additional research income and international reputation. nuisance environmental disturbances. £43 million in business investment The brief is simple: to ensure great ideas IKCs have also developed successful through over 180 partner companies and are swiftly translated into industrial partnerships with the Innovate UK-funded 340 collaborating businesses. development, products and jobs. In turn, Catapult centres – a network of business- You can find more about Innovation and the techniques and technologies developed led technology innovation centres designed Knowledge Centres in Pioneer 13, available are fed back into the research ecosystem. to advance innovation in specific fields to download from epsrc.ac.uk.

EPSRC 1994-2014 July 1: Smoking in England is banned in all public indoor spaces 77 2007 Beetle drive In 2007, an EPSRC-funded team of “Nobody had studied the beetle from a researchers at the University of Leeds physics and engineering perspective as we showed that a species of beetle that squirts did – and we didn’t appreciate how much its predators with a high-pressure spray we would learn from it.” of boiling liquid could provide the key to In 2010, the Leeds team won the significant improvements in aircraft engine prestigious Times Higher Education design. Their research also inspired work to Outstanding Contribution to Innovation develop new types of nebuliser, needle-free and Technology Award, in recognition of injections, fire extinguishers and powerful their breakthrough in the discipline fuel injection systems. of biomimetics. The bombardier beetle squirts its fiery In 2013, Swedish Biomimetics 3000®, potion, which reaches 100 degrees Celsius, which has a worldwide exclusive licensing at 300 explosive pulses per second. agreement with the University of Leeds for The team, led by Professor Andy McIntosh, the µMist™ platform technology, formed believed the beetle’s jet-based defence a technical partnership with motorsport mechanism could help solve a problem that engineering specialists Cosworth to can occasionally occur to jet aircraft at high advance fuel injection systems altitude – re-igniting a gas turbine engine inspired by the bombardier beetle’s which has cut out, when the outside air defence mechanism. temperature is as low as minus 50 degrees Celsius. 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.

EPSRC 1994-2014 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 78 Knowing the score

In 2007, a consortium of five university with the charity Practical Action to research In 2012, an international conference was research teams, led by Dr Paul Riley, from and develop the technology.” held to disseminate the work of Score, and The University of Nottingham, received people from five continents attended. In 2010, the first Score Centre was set up in £1.6 million in EPSRC funding for a five- Malaysia and ramped up its research with In the same year, the Score stove project year project to develop a low cost, high-tech the aid of three doctoral students. received a second round of EPSRC funding generator that could transform the lives to install more devices in developing of some of the world’s poorest countries’ universities. Electricity people by turning sound energy generating stoves were sent to into electricity. The process, Kathmandu and Bangladesh known as thermo-acoustics, universities, and Kenya installed converts heat from biomass 75 clean wood burning stoves. fuels into sound – and then into Kathmandu University, with the electrical energy. support of Dr Riley and his team, The creation of a Stove for successfully used the stove to Cooking, Refrigeration and produce electricity and boil water. Electricity not only gave the The Practical Action charity’s project its name – the Score Teo Sanchez says: “Partnerships stove project – it also gave like this, which combine active hope to some of the three involvement of academics and billion people around the world non-academics from north and who still cook on an open south with effective exchange fire, resulting in at least four of knowledge and know-how, million premature deaths each contribute to real solutions to year from smoke inhalation, help the poor to use technology to according to the World challenge their poverty.” Health Organisation. Twelve clean burning stoves (not electrically In 2013, Paul Riley and his team won generating) were installed in Kenya and Dr Riley says EPSRC, which leads the Siemens’ Empowering People award for results published. Research Councils UK Energy Programme, the Score stove technology and secured set up to tackle global energy challenges, In 2011, Score Centres in Bangladesh, further funding to develop the technology had identified rural fuel use in poor areas at the University of Engineering and in the field. as a priority and had set up a workshop to Technology (BUET), and in Nepal, at Work has still to be done on developing a discuss solutions. He explains: “I knew that Kathmandu University, were set up. Field stove more adapted and appropriate to the thermo-acoustics has no moving parts, trials in Nepal and Kenya were reported, local conditions. so it could be made cheaply. Following the confirming the need for a technology that Dr Riley hopes that, by making it easier to workshop I assembled a multidisciplinary generated as little as 10 Watts of electricity. build and more reliable, the Score stove team of colleagues from several The main uses were seen as being for will be transformed from highly promising universities and brought them together lighting, radio and charging mobile phones. device to life-saving invention.

Above: Score team members test out the stove in Kenya.

EPSRC 1994-2014 May 3: British child Madeleine McCann disappears from an apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal 79 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. Using a low-energy process, Encos’s products are manufactured from recovered aggregates and a patented vegetable oil- The smarter ambulance based binder, encosol™. The result is net carbon neutral bricks and building slips with the looks, strength and performance of In 2007, EPSRC co-invested in a joint technologies including patient vital signs their traditional counterparts, without the initiative with the Helen Hamlyn Centre monitoring and hospital data transfer to environmental impacts. for Design and the Royal Academy of Art specialist stroke, cardiac or trauma units. to create a new ambulance interior fit for In 2011, Encos commissioned a £200,000 Possibly the design change with the 21st century healthcare. test plant at Yorkshire Water’s Knostrop biggest impact was the decision to move site in Leeds, where it began producing The project brought together frontline the stretcher from its traditional position carbon-negative masonry from incinerated paramedics, clinicians, patients, academic against the side of the ambulance and sewage. The bricks were subsequently used researchers, engineers, designers and place it in the centre. This gave emergency to build several test walls at Poundbury potential purchasers in a co-design teams 360 degree access to the patient. – the experimental urban development in process, specifically looking at ways to The new design proved a hit with staff. provide healthcare in the community, Dorset designed according to architectural In 2011, a full-size mobile demonstrator of reducing hospital admissions and principles advocated by the Prince of Wales. the new ambulance interior was formally patient journeys. In 2012, the award-winning company launched and went on the road. The new ambulance’s redesign focused on conducted successful full scale Modular equipment packs containing improving clinical efficiency and enhancing manufacturing trials working with specific treatment consumables were patient safety. independent construction materials incorporated to aid clinical performance, manufacturer S. Morris Ltd in Somerset. Among the changes were better located infection control and stock control. equipment storage spaces and an easily- In 2013, Encos began a partnership with cleaned interior, making infection control In 2012, the 21st century ambulance project Columbia Machine, a world-leading much simpler and more effective. The won the Industrial Designers Society of manufacturer of concrete products vehicles were also equipped with some America Silver Award for Research at the equipment, to bring its products to the of the latest mobile communications International Design Excellence Awards. mainstream market.

EPSRC 1994-2014 December 20: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II becomes the oldest ever monarch of the United Kingdom 80 Inventor of the year In 2007, an EPSRC- supported 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. 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 liquid waste for disposal, using a unique for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT), Cool water adsorption material called Nyex®. an EPSRC Innovation and Knowledge In 2007, spin out company Arvia Technology Since its formation, the company Centre (see page 77) at QUB, which has was formed to commercialise EPSRC- has received a host of awards and established strong links with global supported research into water treatment at commendations and in 2009 featured in The security organisations. The University of Manchester by Dr Nigel Guardian’s Global Cleantech 100 listing. In 2014, Professor O’Neill received the Brown and Dr Ted Roberts. In 2010, Arvia secured investments of Royal Academy of Engineering Silver Arvia’s formation followed proof of principle £3.8 million to develop its nuclear and Medal, one of only five engineers who have funding from EPSRC in 2001, which later water business. received the medal in national recognition awarded follow-on funding to the company. Today, Arvia is collaborating with the UK’s of their contribution to society. Arvia’s patented water treatment National Nuclear Laboratory on a project Today, Professor O’Neill’s invention is method removes and destroys organic using its technology to destroy oils and used in more than 100 million TV set-top contaminants and oils using a procedure solvents contaminated by high levels boxes, and she is widely regarded as one that is free of process chemicals, is energy of radiation currently located at the of Europe’s leading cryptography experts, efficient, and produces little solid or Sellafield site. helping enhance global data security.

in forensic evidence which will prove the In print presence or absence of illicit substances. In 2007, Professor David Russell from the In 2012, Intelligent Fingerprinting received University of East Anglia founded a spin an investment of £2 million from US out company, Intelligent Fingerprinting Ltd, backers, and over the next 15 months based on his EPSRC-supported research secured almost £700,000 in government- into the detection of drugs and drug funded grants. metabolites in fingerprints. In 2014, Intelligent Fingerprinting secured The company specialises in the £750,000 in funding from a consortium of development of non-invasive diagnostic private US-based investors to support the screening technology for fast and final stages of development of the world’s convenient point-of-care testing first handheld fingerprint-based drug using fingerprints. screening device, which is able to screen The company has attracted worldwide for multiple drugs and provides results in interest in its technology for a wide range less than 10 minutes. of drug-screening applications including Simple to operate and totally non- criminal justice, drug rehabilitation, prisons invasive, the device is ideal for a variety and the workplace. The technique has of drug screening applications including potential for many other uses including drug rehabilitation services, offender healthcare diagnostics and homeland management and criminal justice. The security applications. product is currently in development and will In 2009, Professor Russell received follow- be available in 2015. The global market for on funding from EPSRC to develop bio- drug screening was recently estimated to molecules that specifically bind to residues reach US$2.6 billion by 2015.

EPSRC 1994-2014 April 3: French TGV high speed passenger train breaks the speed record of the fastest conventional train, clocking 357.2mph 81 2008 Picture courtesy Surrey Satellite Technology Limited Technology courtesy Satellite Surrey Picture

EPSRC 1994-2014 September 15: Lehman Brothers files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, laying the catalyst for the global financial crisis 82 Space aces In 2008, Surrey Satellite Technology The company, whose Group Executive The satellite’s onboard computer checks Limited (SSTL),a company set up in 1985 Chairman is Professor Sir Martin Sweeting which components of the phone are to commercialise EPSRC-funded research FRS, continues to work closely with the working normally and relays images led by Professor Martin Sweeting at the University of Surrey, mainly through the and messages back to Earth via a radio University of Surrey, was sold to space Surrey Space Centre, a dedicated facility system. In phase two of the programme, technology giant EADS Astrium for borne out of research at the university. the STRaND-1 team hope to switch the £40 million. In 2013, in a world-first space mission satellite’s in-orbit operations to the phone, Today, SSTL is the world’s leading small destined to make space exploration more testing the capabilities of a number of satellite company, with over 500 staff accessible, a University of Surrey research standard smartphone components for a and export sales of over £150 million. team, led by Dr Chris Bridges, formerly space environment. The company designs, manufactures and an EPSRC-supported doctoral student, Among the pioneering technologies operates high performance satellites and in collaboration with SSTL, developed the developed for the mission is its WARP ground systems for a range of applications STRaND-1 nano-satellite – made from an DRiVE (Water Alcohol Resistojet including Earth observation, science and unmodified Google Nexus smartphone and Propulsion system), a novel new communications – at a fraction of the price built using advanced commercial off-the- propulsion system that will help the normally associated with space missions. shelf components. satellite to perform manoeuvres. Since 1981, SSTL has built and launched The satellite made its maiden voyage In 2014, SSTL supplied navigation payloads over 40 satellites, and has developed aboard the Indian Space Research for the first two Galileo Full Operational an innovative approach that is changing Organisation’s Polar Satellite Launch Capability spacecraft launched for a the economics of space. It also provides Vehicle, and is currently orbiting the Earth landmark European satellite navigation training and development programmes, at around 16,000 miles per hour. It will programme led by the European Space consultancy services, and mission studies be the first test of whether commercial Agency (ESA). Galileo is Europe’s own for the European Space Agency, NASA, elements and components found in global satellite navigation system. international governments and everyday devices can survive in the Ultimately, it will consist of 30 satellites commercial customers. extreme conditions experienced in space. and their ground infrastructure.

EPSRC 1994-2014 July 28: The historic Weston-Super-Mare Grand Pier burns down for a second time in 80 years 83 2008 Healthy relationships

In 2008, EPSRC co-invested in two major healthcare initiatives clinical cancer research. The total investment is now £116 million. with two new Strategic Partners, Cancer Research UK and the With the Wellcome Trust, £30 million was invested in a range Wellcome Trust. of leading-edge research projects including computer-guided With Cancer Research UK, EPSRC co-invested £45 million in ultrasound technologies, and ways to transform the safety and medical imaging research to support the development and efficacy of foetal surgery. The total co-investment is now £75 million. 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. The partnership principle Four large cancer imaging centres were established to serve as Since 2000, EPSRC has forged a network of Strategic focal points in techniques such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging Partnerships with blue-chip global industries and and Positron Emission Tomography. Five cancer imaging research other ‘research users’, such as major charities and UK programmes were also set up to concentrate on a specific area of Government departments. imaging research. Strategic Partnerships provide a key link between the needs In six years the multidisciplinary centres have established of research users, such as industry, and long-term academic themselves as world-leading facilities in cancer imaging, whose research. They also provide joint funding of UK universities breakthrough technologies include new techniques to enable non- to support research, training and other activities in gap invasive assessment of disease progression. areas of strategic importance to UK economic and social The £45 million co-investment with the Wellcome Trust led to the wellbeing; and enable clear routes to exploitation. creation of four UK Centres of Excellence in Medical Engineering Beyond the major Strategic Partnerships, such are the in June 2009. The centres, which are based at Imperial College benefits of working with collaborators from industry and London, the University of Leeds, the University of Oxford and other sectors that 45 per cent of EPSRC’s research King’s College London, focus on finding new solutions for arthritis; portfolio is collaborative. medical imaging; personalised healthcare; new medical devices EPSRC works with around 2,800 companies and partner and regenerative therapies. organisations. By ensuring the early engagement between In 2013, EPSRC strengthened its Strategic Partnerships with industry and the research base, the fruits of EPSRC’s CRUK and the Wellcome Trust with two new major investments. investments can be maximised, helping to keep the UK at With CRUK, £35 million was invested in four university-based the forefront of global research and innovation. centres to develop cutting-edge imaging technologies for basic and

EPSRC 1994-2014 August 16: Usain Bolt sets a new 100 metres dash world record of 9.69 seconds at the Beijing 2008 summer Olympics 84 Tag team between a cartridge fired during a crime In 2008, a multidisciplinary and whoever handled the cartridge. EPSRC-funded research The project was a joint collaboration team, led by Professor between Brighton, Brunel, Cranfield, Paul Sermon, a Surrey and York universities. nanomaterials engineer at Brunel In 2012, the team came up with a refined University, devised version of the technology. an ingenious After years of testing, they hit on a new bullet tagging technique that could also stash away skin technology that could make cells of any person touching the bullets, to it much harder for criminals who use increase the probability of obtaining useful firearms to evade justice in future. associative evidence. The tags primarily consisted of naturally- To label the hands of anyone who touches occurring pollen, a substance that evolution the bullet, they took the sticky pollen grains has provided with extraordinary from the Easter lily, and coated them in adhesive properties. titanium dioxide (TiO2) before dropping The tiny tags, which are invisible to the them in liquid plastic. naked eye, are designed to be coated This solution was used to coat the bottom Crop logic onto gun cartridges. They then attach of the bullet casing. While the pollen is not In 2008, EPSRC-supported engineers at the themselves to the hands or gloves of uncommon, and TiO2 is found in paints and University of Leeds co-developed a device anyone handling the cartridge and are very sun lotions, together they form a unique to help some of the most impoverished difficult to wash off completely. tag, says Professor Sermon. farmers in Africa maximise crop yields. Crucially, some of these ‘nanotags’ also When tested on coatings on bullets from a The device gathers data on air temperature, remain on the cartridge even after it has nine millimetre Browning pistol, the team humidity, air pressure, light, soil moisture been fired. found that 53 per cent more viable DNA and temperature – information crucial to This research helped paved the way for could be harvested from these bullets than making key agricultural decisions about ways to establish a robust forensic link from uncoated ones. planting, fertilisation, irrigation, pest and disease control and harvesting. The 1,000 mph super car The research team, led by Professor Jaafar Elmirghani, worked with two Kenyan villages In 2008, wheels were set in motion to build to develop the technology, funded under the fastest car in the world, Bloodhound the Research Councils UK Digital Economy SSC, capable of 1,000mph – 30 per cent Programme, led by EPSRC. faster than any car that has gone before. The devices fed back information via a In addition to setting a new World Land wireless network to a central hub, or server, Speed Record, the project has two other located at the village school, which was then goals: to inspire the next generation sent to agriculture experts to assist farmers’ about science, technology, engineering An EPSRC-funded aerodynamics team at decision-making. The data was also fed into and mathematics; and to share an iconic Swansea University have played a vital role agricultural teaching at Kenyan schools. research and development programme with in the project, which EPSRC has sponsored This project was led by the London a global audience. since launch. Swansea’s Dr Ben Evans says: Knowledge Lab, and involved UK Bloodhound SSC is a jet and rocket powered “Wind tunnels have massive limitations. researchers working with the University of car weighing over seven tonnes. Its engines Bloodhound is a car, so it’s rolling on the Nairobi, and with rural communities produce over 135,000 horsepower – six times ground. There are no wind tunnels where you in Kenya. the power of a combined starting grid of can simulate this with a car travelling faster Today, Professor Elmirghani leads the Formula 1 cars. than the speed of sound. Our job is to make £6 million INTelligent EneRgy aware The only other manned vehicles capable sure the vehicle stays on the ground, and NETworks (INTERNET) research project of exceeding 1,000 mph within Earth’s that the drag is as low as possible.” in collaboration with colleagues at the atmosphere are military fighter jets, In 2015, the Bloodhound team, led by University of Cambridge and a number although none can do this speed close to the Richard Noble OBE, will begin its attempt on of major industrial players. The five-year ground where the air is thicker. the World Land Speed Record. project is funded by EPSRC.

EPSRC 1994-2014 September 10: The Large Hadron Collider at CERN, described as the biggest scientific experiment in the history of mankind, is powered up in Geneva 85 2008

of an industry and academic partnership producing world-class research for the RCUK India benefit of the environment and the car buyer. In 2008, a major collaborative research “The most important part of the project partnership between Research Councils is that the technologies developed are UK and Indian agencies was launched. available and affordable and, as we have The initiative set up a dedicated Delhi- already shown, can be easily implemented based programme, RCUK India, into next-generation models to produce which was set up to address major lower emissions.” global challenges. Hotfire The affordable technology caught the EPSRC is heavily involved in the interest of the car industry, and also won initiative, which spans energy In 2008, a multidisciplinary collaboration the Automotive category at The Engineer security, food, arts, humanities, social between EPSRC-supported engineers and magazine’s Technology and Innovation sciences, water & climate change, industry partners resulted in a concept car Awards 2008. chronic disease and sustainable engine that reduces fuel consumption by crop production. In 2009, the work on the Hotfire project was 15 per cent. completed, and some of the technologies Projects co-funded by EPSRC include The award-winning system, which sprays developed were taken forward by research into advanced manufacturing; fuel directly into the cylinders of a petrol Lotus Engineering in subsequent smart energy grids and storage; and engine rather than using a fuel/air mix, engine development. sustainable energy. attracted interest from a number of major In just six years the joint research In 2015, Professor Ladomattos and car manufacturers. programme had gone from an almost colleagues at UCL begin a new EPSRC- zero base to close to £150 million in The project, led by Professor Nicos funded project, working with the University jointly-funded UK-India projects. Ladommatos, from University College of Brighton, investigating ultra efficient London (UCL), was a collaboration between engines and fuels. A project partner in the UCL, Loughborough University, Lotus research is UK car manufacturer Jaguar Early warning Engineering and Continental Powertrain. Land Rover (JLR) with which the university Interviewed in 2008, Mike Kimberley, has had a long-term collaboration, In 2008, at the age of 27, Chief Executive Officer of Group Lotus Plc, supporting its advanced engine Olga Kubassova, a former said: “The project is an excellent example research programmes. EPSRC-sponsored doctoral student at the University of Leeds, founded medical High performance HECToR software company Image Analysis to commercialise In 2008, EPSRC launched HECToR, the and encouraged industry and commerce to her research. largest and most advanced supercomputing make effective use of high-end computing. The company’s image analysis platform, facility in the UK. As one of the largest and most advanced Dynamika, allows clinicians a vital window Based at the University of Edinburgh’s supercomputers in Europe, HECToR played of opportunity to treat arthritis and other Advanced Computing Facility, the a key role in keeping researchers at the inflammatory diseases in its early stages. It £113 million service ran for six years and forefront of their fields. Its work included does this by turning the abstract concept of was managed by EPSRC on behalf of the forecasting the impact of climate change, algorithms into innovative software to enable UK Research Councils. modelling fluctuations in ocean currents, repeatable and reliable early diagnosis. The new supercomputer, which was projecting the spread of epidemics, The software is now used in hospitals and capable of making 63 million, million designing new materials and developing clinical departments across Europe, and calculations per second – 10,000 for every new medicinal drugs. Image Analysis has grown to employ 25 staff. person on the planet – provided a world- In 2014, HECToR was decommissioned and In 2012, Olga Kubassova (pictured) was class, internationally accessible service for replaced by the ARCHER supercomputer, named Entrepreneur of the Year at the UK-based academic research. one of the fastest on the planet. Everywoman in Technology Awards, and in HECToR also supported the development You can find out more about HECToR in 2014 Image Analysis was featured as Wired of innovative computational technologies Pioneer 12. magazine’s Start-up of the Week.

EPSRC 1994-2014 August 17: Michael Phelps surpasses Mark Spitz in Gold Medals won at a single Olympics, winning eight in total 86 synthetic copycat of a living cell, using steps towards creating ‘life’ from inorganic Cell mates long-chain molecules to mimic the chemicals, potentially defining the new area surfaces of the real thing. of ‘inorganic biology’. The year 2008 marked the highly significant The EPSRC-supported research could The inorganic cells, which can store fourth anniversary of an enduring research one day lead to new targeted drug delivery electrons similar to a battery, and also partnership between four scientists from systems, where the artificial cell capsules harvest solar energy, could potentially be different disciplines: Professors Lee Cronin, carry drug molecules to attack specific used in numerous medical applications in from the University of Glasgow, Natalio diseased cells in the body, while leaving medicine, as sensors or to confine chemical Krasnogor and Cameron Alexander, from healthy cells intact. It could thus offer a new reactions. By taking a ‘minimal’ approach to The University of Nottingham, and Ben weapon in the fight against superbugs. the assembly of inorganic CHELLS they Davis from the University of Oxford, who met In 2009, supported by an EPSRC Platform hope to understand how living systems during a 2004 EPSRC-sponsored ‘Sandpit’ Grant, chemical biologist Professor Ben can spontaneously emerge in the creative workshop aimed at promoting blue- Davis and Paul Gardner, from the Davis ‘inorganic’ world. sky, curiosity-led research. research group, constructed a lipid-bound The Cronin group’s aims are ambitious: The Sandpit, one of the first in a new ‘protometabolism’ that synthesises complex to engineer/discover routes to artificial generation of creative workshops, focused carbohydrates from simple raw materials. life. These routes may also be relevant to on the potential development of synthetic This encapsulated system may represent determining the origin of life on Earth and to chemical-cells, or CHELLS, a phrase coined the first step towards the realisation of a understanding how easy (or hard) it could be at the workshop and now adopted in many synthetic chemical cell that displays complex for the emergence of life elsewhere. scientific and popular articles on behaviours such as communication with In December 2014, Cronin’s team reported synthetic biology. natural cells. it had succeeded in creating an abiotic Following on from the Sandpit, Professors All four founding members of Chellnet evolving chemical system for the first time. Alexander, Krasnogor, Davis and provided input into this research; Davis has The process uses a robotic ‘aid’ and could be Cronin co-authored a discussion piece also worked with Cameron Alexander on the used in the future to ‘evolve’ new chemicals in Nature Biotechnology with fellow development of polymer CHELLS. capable of performing specific tasks. Sandpit participants proposing a ‘thought In 2011, Natalio Krasnogor, at the time All stemming from a creative thinking experiment’ to determine whether an working at The University of Nottingham’s workshop the like of which none of the four artificial cell is alive. This led to a thought- School of Computer Science, began an scientists had experienced before (see page provoking film with designer James King, ambitious EPSRC-funded project that takes 58), and which set them on a journey of The Imitation Game. And so the Chellnet a synthetic biology approach to developing discovery which could lead to new forms of network was born. a biological cell equivalent of a computer life – but not quite as we know them. The film was the first product of a operation system. If successful, the research remarkable multidisciplinary collaboration will lead to a ‘re-programmable cell’ within between the four scientists, which, through a living organism. Not only would this individual and joint research projects, took revolutionise synthetic biology, three approaches to the CHELL concept: it would pave the way for polymeric, chemical biological and inorganic. scientists to utilise biology These projects explored, in different as a next-generation platform and complementary directions, ways to from which to build a understand how cellular structures might ‘biological computer’. imitate a living system, and the profound Now at Newcastle University, impact this might have. All four scientists where he is professor of have since contributed important advances computer science and synthetic in synthetic, chemical and computational biology, Krasnogor’s expertise biology research. in synthetic biology has helped In 2008, chemist Cameron Alexander, who to unify the diverse projects has steered his research towards medical conducted by the Chellnet. uses for CHELL technology, working with In 2011, Lee Cronin and his doctoral student George Pasparakis, took team of EPSRC-supported some initial steps towards creating a scientists took their first tentative

EPSRC 1994-2014 November 11: The RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) set sail on her final voyage to Dubai 87 2009 Investing in future talent

In 2009, in a bold new approach to doctoral global megabrands such as P&G and Tata student training, EPSRC invested Steel to SMEs. £250 million in 44 all-new Centres for Combined governmental and partner Doctoral Training (CDTs). funding for CDTs is now £962 million, It was the biggest-ever single investment in including £31 million in capital investment. training scientists and engineers and led to It is the UK’s largest investment in comprehensive ‘cohort-based’ training for postgraduate training, in areas of key over 2,000 doctoral students, tackling some importance to the UK economy and of the biggest problems facing the UK and society, representing perhaps the biggest the planet, such as climate change, energy, industry-educational trans-sector training an ageing population and high-tech crime. investment in Europe. Such has been the success of the initiative, EPSRC Associate Director, Dr Alison EPSRC has continued to develop the Wall, says: “Cohort-based training such programme, particularly through a major as this brings people together to look new tranche of investment in 2014. at real-world problems. They don’t just There are now 115 new CDTs in focus on areas of concern to GSK or 33 universities, training over 7,000 Rolls-Royce, they will often have 10-20 postgraduates on specific research companies working on problems. They challenges, such as cybersecurity, renewable see commonalities of approach, which are energy, robotics and applied photonics. usually multidisciplinary, and they develop multiple solutions. Based on a series of successful pilot schemes in ‘cohort-based’ doctoral “More than 40 per cent of CDT studentships training, begun in 2002, the initiative are collaborative with a company from the created communities of researchers, very start. Students work with business and bringing together diverse areas of expertise other mentors and some may spend most to train engineers and scientists with the of their time in a company. skills, knowledge and confidence to tackle “We also help to provide students with today’s evolving issues. the skills that might lead them to become Centres for Doctoral Training create new entrepreneurs. This is training for the working cultures, build relationships business environment. between teams in universities and forge “Nearly half of all EPSRC-supported lasting links with industry, providing clear students go into business straight after pathways and opportunities for businesses their doctorate, and most will end up and universities to work together. Today working in business and government for there are 1,000 partner companies – from their longer-term career.”

EPSRC 1994-2014 January 3: Israeli ground forces invade Gaza 88 EPSRC 1994-2014 January 20: Barack Obama is inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States of America, becoming the first African-American president 89 2009 Green speed

EPSRC 1994-2014 June 1: Air France Flight 447 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean, en route from Rio de Janeiro, killing all 228 on board 90 In 2009, an EPSRC-supported team from Grand Prix and later demonstrated at the The car later broke the World Land Speed the University of Warwick, led by Dr Kerry European Grand Prix. Record for a lightweight electric car, hitting Kirwan, an EPSRC Challenging Engineering In 2009, WorldF3st was featured as one of a top speed of 204.2 mph at a racetrack at award holder, designed and built the world’s TIME Magazine’s Top 50 Global Inventions. RAF Elvington in Yorkshire. first fully sustainable Formula 3 racing car. In 2010, the research team were short-listed Also in 2013, a multidisciplinary, multi- The WorldF3st (pictured) is made from for Times Higher Education magazine’s university team led by Dr Kirwan began woven flax, recycled carbon fibre, recycled award for Outstanding Engineering a £3 million, three-year EPSRC-funded resin and carrot pulp for the steering wheel. Research Team of the Year. project aimed at using plants and bacteria to It runs on biofuel made from chocolate and recover useful materials, such as platinum, In 2013, EPSRC funded further research at animal fats and is lubricated with plant oils. nickel and arsenic, from contaminated land. Warwick to develop recycled composites and It is both environmentally friendly and fast, flax-reinforced composites for the Lola- Working with a University of Edinburgh and can achieve 0-60 in 2.5 seconds before Drayson all-electric prototype racing car, team, led by Dr Louise Horsfall, the team reaching a top speed of 175 mph. demonstrating the potential of sustainable use fungi and bacteria to degrade the plant The car was launched at the 2009 technologies in the biomass, a process which unlocks the Goodwood Festival of Speed, motorsport industry. metals the plants have accumulated. showcased at the British 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’ creative thinking workshop (see page 58) involving scientists from Newcastle, Birmingham, Cranfield, Edinburgh and Warwick universities. Today, 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.

PIONEEREPSRC 1994-2014 14 Winter 2014 June 25: The death of American entertainer Michael Jackson triggers an outpouring of worldwide grief 91 2009

Putting life back into stone In 2009, EPSRC-supported scientists and Through their research, the project team, Working on York Minster’s iconic preservation experts joined forces to help led by Dr Karen Wilson from Cardiff magnesian limestone cathedral, the team save historic York Minster Cathedral from University, were able to provide crucial developed a new treatment, utilising decay and erosion. advice to conservation experts on how best hydrophobic surface coatings, which Researchers co-funded by EPSRC and the to treat the stone to prevent further decay. protects limestone from erosion by acid Arts and Humanities Research Council They also advised on the most suitable rain and atmospheric pollutants, while (AHRC) at the Universities of York and materials to be used in the restoration of allowing the stone to ‘breathe’. Cardiff used advanced X-ray techniques York Minster’s East Front. Findings from the project, which was to investigate the composition of the In 2012, a team led by Dr Karen Wilson conducted under the auspices of the limestone and historic mortars used and her fellow Cardiff colleague, Professor Science and Heritage Programme co- to build York Minster, and the ways in Adam Lee, developed a new treatment funded by EPSRC and AHRC, could now which these have decayed as a result of that could help protect historic limestone be used to help conserve other historic weathering and pollution over time. buildings from erosion. limestone buildings around the world.

EPSRC 1994-2014 January 19: The UK Government confirms a £300-billion bailout package for the United Kingdom’s banking industry 92 Fisher and Eileen Ingham, is addressing 50 after 50 these challenges through seven major In 2009, EPSRC-funded researchers at centres and EPSRC Programme Grants. the University of Leeds embarked on The centres include the EPSRC the 50 Active Years after 50® healthcare Centre for Doctoral Training in Tissue technologies initiative, focused on Engineering and Regenerative Medicine; regenerative therapies such as joint and the EPSRC/Wellcome Trust-supported organ replacements. Its aim was to help WELMEC Centre of Excellence in Medical ensure people can live as actively Engineering; and the EPSRC-supported up to 100 years of age as they did up to Innovation and Knowledge Centre (IKC) in 50 years. Regenerative Therapies and Devices. The group’s work includes developing With his team, Professor Fisher, a longer-lasting joint replacements for the hip, member of EPSRC Council, its senior Successful IKC projects have included knee and spine; bio-regenerative scaffolds decision-making body, has pioneered work a portable heart scanner, new surgical for tissue regeneration in areas such as on longer-lasting joint replacements, technologies and an award-winning product heart valves, blood vessels, meniscus revolutionary spinal interventions and a new that can reverse early-stage tooth decay. The and ligaments; enhancing the quality and generation of biological scaffolds for tissue research that led to this product was funded reliability of devices such as implants repair that grow with the body. by EPSRC, beginning in the 1990s. and biomaterials and advancing stem The Medical Technologies IKC alone has In 2013, the EPSRC Centre for Innovative cell therapies. attracted over £90 million in research Manufacturing in Medical Devices was Based within the prestigious Institute of and innovation funding, as well as over inaugurated at the University of Leeds. The Medical and Biological Engineering at Leeds, £50 million in private sector investment in centre dovetails with the Medical Technologies the research team, led by Professors John product development (see page 77). 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. Among many successful projects, a team from Newcastle University used Trump card their Knowledge Transfer Account funding to develop an ultra low-cost In 2009, cutting-edge computer modelling early music, used Edinburgh’s designs to pre-natal scanner that uses pulses software brought an extinct, trumpet-like build two identical examples of the long- of high frequency sound to build up instrument back to life – allowing a work lost instrument. Both were later used in an a picture of the unborn child on a by Bach to be performed as the composer experimental Bach performance. computer screen. intended for the first time in nearly 300 years. The research opened up the potential for Conventional ultrasound scanners No one alive had heard, played or even seen tailor-made musical instruments to suit the can cost up to £100,000, but the a picture of the lituus – a two-metre long individual needs of musicians. device can be manufactured for as little as £40. horn made from beech. It was recreated The project also has potential applications thanks to software developed by Dr Alistair in structural engineering. For example, In 2012, Knowledge Transfer Braden, an EPSRC-supported doctoral acoustic signals could be sent through hard- Accounts were replaced by Impact student at the University of Edinburgh. to-reach pipework and ducting in buildings Acceleration Accounts, which build Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, a Swiss- such as power stations to reveal their on the KTA concept. based music conservatory specialising in condition accurately.

EPSRC 1994-2014 January 21: Toyota surpasses General Motors to become the world’s largest car maker 93 2009 Synthetic science

In 2009, following a successful blue-sky Still in its infancy, synthetic biology could In 2009, EPSRC and the Biotechnology thinking ‘Sandpit’ exercise (see pages 80- revolutionise how we make things – from and Biological Sciences Research Council 83), EPSRC and the United States National innovative biofuels to a new generation (BBSRC), held a year-long series of public Science Foundation (NSF) co-invested of antibodies and vaccines – and the workshops and stakeholder interviews £6 million in five new collaborative research projects launched under the on the science and issues surrounding research projects between UK and US initiative covered areas ranging from synthetic biology, and helped to articulate researchers in the emerging field of biological and chemical engineering to some important questions for those synthetic biology – a new approach to plant biology and sociology. developing the field. engineering biology. The Sandpit concept was subsequently In 2009, EPSRC co-invested in the Centre adopted by the NSF and by other UK for Synthetic Biology and Innovation at research councils – inspired by the Imperial College London under its Science creative thinking it unlocked. and Innovation Awards initiative (see page 68). 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 77), 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 start- up 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.

EPSRC 1994-2014 October 2: Rio de Janeiro is elected as host city of the 2016 Summer Olympics and Paralympics 94 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. The company focuses on a range of devices Sky science based on high-temperature piezoelectric materials which could transform industry’s In 2009, research by EPSRC-sponsored ability to electronically monitor and interact engineers at Queen’s University Belfast’s with extreme environments. Institute of Electronics, Communications The products’ potential market in industries and Information Technology (ECIT), led by such as aerospace, oil and gas and nuclear Cleared for take off Raymond Dickie, an Engineering Doctorate power is estimated at more than £500 million student funded by EPSRC, developed per annum. In 2009, one of the most sophisticated a high performance filter that will allow In 2014, Ionix received funding from Innovate aircraft simulators ever created – designed weather forecasters to make more UK to accelerate the commercialisation of to mimic the flight deck of supersonic accurate predictions. its products. aircraft Concorde – was officially re- The filters will be installed in European commissioned at Brooklands Museum in Space Agency satellites for launch between Surrey, four decades after the first British 2018 and 2020, and will enable more The thick of it Concorde made its maiden flight. accurate global weather forecasts to In 2009, an EPSRC- The simulator was brought back to life be compiled. funded team at thanks to an EPSRC-supported public The filters will also help to provide important Imperial College engagement project led by a team from new insights into climate change. London’s Department the University of Surrey and involving of Chemistry Cancer ECIT’s research on Frequency Selective experts from XPI Simulation and dozens of Cells, led by EPSRC Surface structures has led to major advances museum volunteers. Postdoctoral Fellow in the design and manufacture of the next Today, the simulator helps explain to Dr Marina Kuimova generation of Earth observation satellites. visitors the roles played by advanced (pictured), showed how cancer cells technologies, and especially airframe and become ‘gloopy’ or viscous as they die – engine aerodynamics, in making Concorde a discovery which could lead to a better the world’s only successful supersonic understanding of how to treat cancer. passenger transport. In 2009, Dr Kuimova won the Roscoe The simulator, one of only two in the world, Medal for Chemistry at the SET for cost £3 million in 1975 (equivalent to over Britain awards, a national competition £30 million today). aimed at raising the profile of early-stage researchers. In 2010, Dr Kuimova was awarded a five-year EPSRC Career Acceleration Well above average Fellowship to continue her viscosity- In 2009, a three-year study of over Zappy feet related research. 7,000 academic journal articles showed In 2009, a team of engineers at the University In 2012, she received the Royal Society of that EPSRC-supported researchers of Leeds, led by Professor Andrew Bell, Chemistry’s Harrison-Meldola Memorial achieve a higher than average citation developed a system to convert foot power into Prize for her pioneering studies in the rate of 1.6 compared to a UK average of battery power for use by foot soldiers. The spectroscopy and imaging of biological 1.4 and a world average of only 1.0. system could reduce the weight of troops’ materials. The higher rating reflected the impact packs by up to 10 kilogrammes. The devices In 2014, Dr Kuimova was awarded the that EPSRC-supported researchers use high-tech piezoelectric transducers to International Union of Pure and Applied have and also highlighted how convert mechanical stress into electricity. Physics C6 Young Scientist Prize in competitive EPSRC-funded research The project was part of a larger programme recognition of her exceptional achievement is internationally. of research called the ‘battery free soldier’, in the field of biological physics.

EPSRC 1994-2014 February 1: The wreck of the British warship HMS Victory is discovered in the English Channel 95 2010 Anti-heroes

In 2010, after years of The ALPHA project breakthrough came way for the later trapping experiments and research, Professor Mike after a period of more than 15 years, during now the detailed studies of their properties. Charlton (pictured) and which EPSRC supported teams from the The 2002 breakthrough had been made his team in the Physics physics departments of the universities of possible thanks to EPSRC support for the Department at Swansea Swansea, Liverpool and Manchester. Swansea team over the previous six years, University made the first- Mike Charlton says: “This was the particularly through the development of ever direct measurement culmination of many years of effort for a positron accumulator – a vital piece of of an atom of pure anti- the Swansea team and our colleagues. equipment that enabled the breakthrough. hydrogen – the simplest form of antimatter. EPSRC support helped us to put our Built in the UK before being shipped over This was no easy task. When matter and teams together and also paid for specialist and installed at CERN, the accumulator antimatter come into contact they instantly equipment. EPSRC has been by far the was able to collect around 100 million annihilate each other, making it very tricky largest source of support for this work positrons every three minutes, for use in to keep an atom of anti-hydrogen around in the UK.” anti-hydrogen experiments. long enough to look at it. In 1996, EPSRC was the first national In 2013, EPSRC announced further support But the team, part of the wider ALPHA research council anywhere in Europe to for Mike Charlton’s team, this time for experiment at CERN seeking to make commit to the ATHENA project at CERN, Dr Niels Madsen, a Reader in Physics at detailed observations of anti-hydrogen, which aimed to produce large amounts of Swansea University’s College of Science. developed a technique using magnetic anti-hydrogen atoms for the first time. A £1.66 million grant will fund experiments fields to trap anti-atoms for up to half an Mike Charlton says: “EPSRC took a chance to trap anti-hydrogen atoms for still longer hour (“an eternity for physicists” according in funding this highly speculative project in periods of time, and to carry out further to Mike Charlton), and easily long enough 1996. But its support acted as a catalyst, precision measurements of them. EPSRC for them to be studied. persuading other countries to contribute to support for the Swansea team’s research At stake in all this is nothing less than an the ATHENA consortium. EPSRC’s faith in will continue at least up to 2017. understanding of why the universe exists the project was key to the success of this Antimatter has long been a staple of at all. The picture that we have of how the international collaboration.” science fiction. We may not be about to universe began suggests that there should Given that CERN was the only place where see Star Trek-style warp engines any time have been equal amounts of matter and research in this area could be carried out, soon, but thanks to Mike Charlton’s team antimatter created in the Big Bang. The EPSRC’s support included a large number we may soon be able to understand some lack of antimatter that we can see in the of travel grants, in addition to capital and fundamental aspects of the universe. universe is a mystery. other investments. Mike Charlton says: “The epoch of By studying antimatter atoms, we may In 2002, the ATHENA consortium, within EPSRC support for this project, and its come to discover some of the tiny but which Mike Charlton’s team played a pivotal farsightedness in backing it when there fundamental asymmetries between role, achieved the world’s first controlled was no guarantee that anyone else would, particles of matter and antimatter, which production of anti-hydrogen atoms. Though is a remarkable story in itself.” may explain why they didn’t just cancel the atoms only lasted for a fraction of a themselves out after the Big Bang, leaving second before annihilation, this paved the a universe with nothing in it.

EPSRC 1994-2014 January 4: The US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention removes HIV infection from its list of 96 communicable diseases of public health significance EPSRC 1994-2014 February 24: News reports indicate that Europe risks a double-dip recession after bad results emerge from France, Germany and Italy, with the 97 Eurozone only growing by 0.1 per cent in the last quarter of 2009 2010

Graft masters

In 2010, ApaTech, an award-winning spin innovative technology from a UK university In 2009, by now an acknowledged leader in out company launched to commercialise can be developed and commercialised synthetic bone materials for orthopaedic EPSRC-supported research by medical on a global scale. Several successful and dental applications, with a major materials engineer Dr Karin Hing and venture capital investment rounds manufacturing plant in the UK and growing Professor William Bonfield at Queen underpinned significant expansion of the sales world-wide, ApaTech generated sales Mary, University of London, was acquired business including new manufacturing of around US$60 million. capacity. These enabled it to continue by global healthcare company Baxter In the same year, the company was ranked the development of its lead products, International for US$330 million. number two in The Sunday Times Tech particularly its bone graft substitute, The company was formed in 2001 with Track 100 Fastest Growing Private Medical Actifuse, which was successfully marketed an initial investment of £3 million to in Europe, the United States and other Technology Companies listing. commercialise pioneering research into select sectors around the world. In 2009, ApaTech was named fastest- synthetic bone substitutes. In 2007, ApaTech won the Business growing company in its category by The research, which led to a form of Initiative Award at the Times Higher Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 for Europe, bone graft with enhanced structure and Education Supplement awards. the Middle East and Asia. chemistry to boost healing, was developed In 2008, ApaTech received the Research In 2011, Dr Karin Hing, a senior lecturer at the EPSRC-supported Interdisciplinary and Development Award at the Tech Track at Queen Mary, University of London, Research Centre in Biomedical Materials at awards, in recognition of the innovative received a Royal Academy of Engineering Queen Mary, University of London. and ground-breaking research which has Silver Medal for her role as the ‘technical ApaTech became an object lesson in how underpinned the company’s growth. linchpin’ behind ApaTech.

EPSRC 1994-2014 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 98 Manufacturing the future

In 2010, the first three state-of-the- centres’ directors hail from industry, or art EPSRC Centres for Innovative have a strong industrial background. Manufacturing (CIMs) were launched under Some CIMs are focused on future a new £70 million EPSRC investment to products such as composites, food and help UK businesses develop the technology pharma that will be especially important products of the future and underpin to the UK, and some investigate manufacturing growth. production technologies and how they Specifically the centres were tasked with scale up, such as additive manufacturing enabling the commercial development of and automation. the key discoveries in university-based EPSRC works very closely with Innovate manufacturing research. UK (formerly the Technology Strategy Based at Southampton, Loughborough and Board). The CIMs and Innovate UK’s EPSRC currently invests £80 million Brunel universities, the EPSRC Centres Catapults – technology innovation centres every year in UK manufacturing research focused respectively on research into – have a particularly close symbiosis, – mainly through its Manufacturing the photonics, regenerative medicine and liquid often overlapping. The Catapults tackle Future initiative. This programme has a metals for reuse and recycling. the problems of today, EPSRC Centres for portfolio of 230 projects representing an The new EPSRC Centres built on the Innovative Manufacturing research the investment of over £350 million in cutting- success of the Innovative Manufacturing solutions of the future. edge work at the UK’s leading universities, Research Centre (IMRC) funding model, Between them, the CIMs and Catapults and through collaboration with over in place from 2001 until 2009, which saw cover more than 20 core fields of science, 600 companies, which have contributed a 18 university-based centres receive an engineering and business. Together they further £136 million. initial block grant for five years, with are tackling key challenges for modern Together, the manufacturing researchers potential for up to a further five years. industry, including automation, the supported by EPSRC and the business By 2014, the number of EPSRC Centres for digital economy, future cities, continuous partners they work with help decide which Innovative Manufacturing across the UK pharmaceutical manufacture, food, products and production methodologies had grown to 16, covering subject areas satellites, industrial sustainability, the UK should focus on, and work out how ranging from liquid metal manufacturing graphene engineering, sustainable to link the UK’s network of people and to additive manufacturing. Many of these feedstocks and much more. manufacturing processes.

38 billion litres of urine are produced by Pee power humans and farm animals worldwide – the In 2010, EPSRC awarded a four-year Career energy from which, they have shown, could Acceleration Fellowship to Dr Ioannis potentially be harnessed by scaling up Ieropoulos, from the Bristol Robotics MFCs into stacks. Laboratory (BRL), a University of Bristol/ Another aspect of the research is the use of University of the West England research waste from oxygen-producing organisms, facility, to develop his research into how such as algae, within a self-sustaining waste could be used by microbial fuel system through which the bacteria use cells (MFCs) to generate energy. Live their own waste to produce energy. investigating generating electricity from microorganisms inside the fuel cell process In 2013, claiming a world-first, Dr Ieropoulos urine and wastewater for countries of the the waste to produce electricity. and BRL colleagues used urine to produce developing world. The project is also funded By 2010, the BRL team had already electricity to charge a mobile phone, by EPSRC. launched the third generation of EcoBot, a generating enough power to enable the Dr Ieropoulos (pictured above) says: “Not robot which can power itself by digesting phone to be used to make a brief call, send only is the technology we are developing waste. The early stage work of this text messages and browse the internet. a means of electricity generation, it can research was funded by EPSRC. In 2014, the Bill & Melinda Gates also improve sanitation. The work carried A unique aspect of the team’s research Foundation awarded US$100,000 to BRL out under the EPSRC grant is primarily is the use of urine as a waste material under the Grand Challenges Explorations focused at developing this technology for to power the MFCs. Every day, around Scheme to fund the Urine-tricity project the developed world.”

EPSRC 1994-2014 May 15: Aged just 16, Australian teenager Jessica Watson becomes the youngest person to sail non-stop and unassisted around the world solo 99 2010

In 2014, the partnership between EPSRC Ashok Roy, Director of Collections at the State of the art and the National Gallery led to EPSRC National Gallery, says:“We expect we will be funding the purchase of a new state-of- able to acquire very high resolution images In 2010, the hidden secrets of some of the-art high-tech easel that makes it in various parts of the spectrum that the world’s most famous paintings were possible to examine great works of art in would be unobtainable without this revealed, thanks to a partnership between unprecedented detail. technology, so it is a real advance in our EPSRC and the National Gallery. The computer-controlled easel is capable imaging capabilities.” A state-of-the-art gas chromatography- of safely holding a very large painting and The easel helped inspire part of the 2014 mass spectrometer (GC-MS), funded by moving it in minute steps to make the most Making Colour exhibition, through which EPSRC, helped specialists in the National of the latest digital technology. National Gallery visitors were able to get Gallery’s science department study the Identifying the materials used as pigments involved in an interactive experiment that organic chemistry of old master paintings provides information on aspects such will feed into future research on human to understand how paintings were made as the age of a picture and the painting colour perception. and how they have changed over time. technique used. In painstaking investigations, the scientists Scientists and other researchers at the Nobel achievement used GC-MS to study the characterisation National Gallery are using digital imaging and composition of paint binding media, to build up a high resolution image of In 2010, Professor Andre Geim and additions to paint media such as resins, paintings to learn about their structure, the Dr Konstantin Novoselov, who were and the composition of old varnishes. way they are made and what needs to be the first to isolate wonder-material graphene, in 2004, were awarded the The ground-breaking project culminated done for their preservation. Nobel Prize in Physics for their work. in the first major exhibition of its kind in The easel will open up opportunities to try (see pages 50-53). summer 2010 and also featured in Pioneer. out new types of research.

EPSRC 1994-2014 January 4: Anti-government protests in Tunisia and later other Arab nations begin. These protests become known collectively as the Arab Spring 100 Calculating carbon They also used the process with In 2010, mayonnaise – creating a five per cent fat a carbon version which tastes as good as the full-fat calculator one – and with porridge. software tool The low-fat chocolate bar, which melts developed at 32-34 degrees Celsius, was created by by chemical bonding water particles with crystals of engineers led by Professor Adisa Azapagic cocoa butter. A similar technique was used at The University of Manchester won as a way to lower salt content in foods by major awards from the chemical industry, up to 80 per cent. including the Outstanding Achievement in Chocolate heaven Chemical and Process Engineering prize at While at Unilever, Professor Norton was the IChemE 2010 awards. an inventor on more than 60 granted In 2010, EPSRC-supported researchers at patents leading to many new and innovative The team’s CCaLC carbon calculator helps the University of Birmingham, overseen products, including Flora Light and companies measure and reduce their by Professor Ian Norton, previously Chief Chicken Tonight. carbon footprint at minimum cost and has been developed in collaboration with a Scientist at Unilever, created a low-fat Today, Professor Norton holds four EPSRC range of industry partners. chocolate which is 60 per cent water – food-related grants. He also co-leads the claiming it tastes as good as a normal bar. EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing Professor Azapagic, who leads the The team replaced fat in foods with calorie- in Food and the Centre for Sustainable Sustainable Industrial Systems research free substances such as water, air or gel. Energy use in Food Chains. group at The University of Manchester, is world-renowned for her work on life cycle sustainability analysis. In 2011, CCaLC won the GSK Innovation Icy attraction Award, from the prestigious Chemical Industries Association. In 2009, an EPSRC- The research dates back to 1997, when In 2013, Professor Azapagic became co- supported team at Steve Bramwell, working with Mark Harris, director of the newly-formed £7.5 million the London Centre from the Science and Technology Facilities Centre for Sustainable Energy Use in Food for Nanotechnology Council, discovered the unusual magnetic Chains, funded by the Research Councils material ‘spin ice’, drawing attention to at University College UK Energy Programme, led by EPSRC. In certain similarities found within water ice. London (UCL), led the same year she was elected a Fellow of by Professor Steve In 2010, Professor Bramwell was awarded the Royal Academy of Engineering. Bramwell (pictured), the Holweck Medal and Prize for pioneering discovered ‘magnetricity’ – the magnetic new concepts in the experimental equivalent of electricity. and theoretical study of spin systems. Critical chemistry By proving the existence of currents of Two years later he was a co-recipient atom-sized ‘magnetic charges’, that behave of the prestigious Europhysics Prize In 2010, a report by leading economic and interact just like electric charges, the for condensed matter physics, for the forecasting consultancy Oxford UCL team won the Research Project of prediction and measurement of magnetic Economics, commissioned by EPSRC the Year prize at the 2010 Times Higher monopoles in spin ice. and the Royal Society of Chemistry, revealed that one in every five pounds Education awards. In 2014, Professor Bramwell led an in the UK economy is dependent on In the same year, Professor Bramwell was EPSRC-supported team who demonstrated developments in chemistry research. named by The Times on its list of the the surprising properties of thin films of Industries reliant on chemistry 100 top UK scientists. spin ice. contributed £258 billion to the UK The pioneering research, which revealed an The team’s research opens up new economy in 2007 – equivalent to unexpected symmetry between electricity possibilities for the control and 21 per cent of UK GDP – and supported and magnetism, could lead to new and manipulation of magnetricity and magnetic six million jobs, accounting for at unusual magnetic material properties, with monopoles in spin ice. This could lead to least 15 per cent of the UK’s exported potential applications in technology, such a number of applications; for example, goods and attracting significant as in ‘magnetic memory’ storage devices or magnetic technology in computer hard inward investment. for use in future computer memory. disks is often based on thin magnetic films.

EPSRC 1994-2014 May 20: Scientists announce they have created a functional synthetic genome 101 2011

EPSRC 1994-2014 102 Bright lights

In 2011, UK semiconductor manufacturer, of gallium nitride. In 1997, that wasn’t LED light beam, opening up a new field Plessey, purchased University of Cambridge at all clear.” of complementary wireless networking spin out company, CamGaN, founded In 2000, Professor Humphreys was technology with numerous advantages, by Professor Sir Colin Humphreys to instrumental in setting up The Cambridge including energy efficiency and security. commercialise his ground-breaking Centre for Gallium Nitride, which EPSRC The term li-fi was coined by its inventor, research into gallium nitride (GaN), a has supported ever since, with grants Professor Harald Haas, an EPSRC- remarkable man-made material jointly to him and to Professor Phil Dawson supported scientist at the University of with enormous potential. at The University of Manchester. The centre Edinburgh and recipient of a 2014 EPSRC Plessey then set up a factory in Plymouth works with UK universities and a range of RISE leadership award in recognition of his to make millions of GaN LEDs every week, industrial partners to investigate GaN’s achievements. Professor Martin Dawson using a process developed at the EPSRC- unusual properties and develop its myriad at the University of Strathclyde has an supported Cambridge Centre for Gallium possible applications. EPSRC Programme Grant to develop li-fi, in collaboration with Professor Humphreys. Nitride to make a new generation of low- In specialist applications, GaN could cost, low carbon, long-life LED lighting have a transformative effect. New cancer Colin Humphreys says: “We had no idea of bulbs which could have a dramatic impact therapies are being developed which some of these applications even 12 months on carbon emissions, among will use GaN devices to show where the ago. Gallium nitride is a good example other applications and benefits. edges of tumours are, so that X-rays of a material where its possible uses Professor Humphreys says: “If everyone can be focused on them much more can mushroom, once you have a proper switched to GaN LEDs, we would halve the accurately. GaN could also be instrumental understanding of how it behaves. amount of electricity used in lighting. This in developing new therapies which use “For example, just by mimicking sunlight, would reduce the world’s total electricity protons, rather than X-rays, to zap cancer GaN LED lights have positive effects. We consumption by 10 per cent. GaN LEDs cells. This work has been initiated by know that patients on the sunnier side of a also have a longer lifetime and typically Professor Bruce Hamilton at The University ward get better quicker. And schools with only need replacing after 60 years of of Manchester in collaboration with higher quality lighting get better results.” household use.” Professor Humphreys. In 2014, the Nobel Prize in Physics was As is often the case, getting to the Deep ultra-violet GaN light could be used shared by Japanese scientists Isamu point where GaN LEDs can be made for water purification in the developing Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji commercially has largely been about world, as it has been shown to kill all Nakamura for their invention of blue LEDs. getting costs down. The Cambridge centre’s known viruses and bacteria. In hospitals, Colin Humphreys and his team are building breakthrough was in working out a way of it could be used to wipe out bacteria such on this important work. The deal with growing GaN-based semiconductors for as MRSA. Shining a GaN ultra-violet light Plessey is an integral part of the vision. LEDs on silicon wafers, which are much around a ward could be enough to kill any Commenting on GaN LEDs’ potential for less expensive than the sapphire that was bugs lurking there. affordable low-carbon lighting, Professor used before. Getting to that point depends In the world of computing, gallium nitride Humphreys says: “It’s very important to upon a profound understanding of how GaN could be deployed in the optical computers us that this research will be exploited in behaves, built up over years of research. of tomorrow, which would use photons the UK. If we had stopped at the research In 1997, an EPSRC grant helped rather than electrons, making much faster stage, our work would probably have been Professor Humphreys to identify the processing speeds possible. picked up and commercialised overseas. particular potential of gallium nitride, With the extraordinary growth of wi-fi, the “This way, we can create more jobs in a among a number of other promising current wavelengths it uses will soon be low-employment part of the country and semiconductors. He says: “EPSRC should saturated. But GaN could be used to create potentially turn Britain into a major centre be congratulated on seeing the importance a kind of ‘li-fi’ – wi-fi provided through an for better, greener lighting.”

EPSRC 1994-2014 January 15: Wikipedia, the free internet encyclopedia, turns 10 years old 103 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. The TINA project focused on the development of a next-generation advanced wireless network to In 2011, Autonomy while at Cambridge, served as CEO of meet the requirements of future Corporation plc was sold Autonomy for over 15 years and is widely ‘intelligent’ airports for both fixed for £7.1 billion to US regarded as Britain’s most successful and mobile appliances. computing giant Hewlett technology entrepreneur. Packard. It was the He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of largest takeover of a Engineering, and a scientific adviser to the FTSE 100 company since UK Prime Minister. He was elected a Fellow Brightest light Kraft bought out Cadbury for £13 billion of the Royal Society in April 2014. early in 2010. In 2011, the brightest gamma ray In 2012, Dr Lynch was inducted into Founded in 1996 by Dr Mike Lynch to beam ever created – over a thousand the Digital Hall of Fame, alongside Tim commercialise his EPSRC-funded PhD billion times more brilliant than Berners-Lee, Warren East and Stephen Fry. thesis in mathematical computing at the sun – was produced in EPSRC- the University of Cambridge, in 16 years In the same year he joined the advisory supported research led by Professor Autonomy became the UK’s biggest pure board of Tech City’s Investment Committee. Dino Jaroszynski at the University software company, with nearly 2,000 He is also an adviser to the Prince’s Trust of Strathclyde. employees in the UK, and a world leader Technology Group. The device, which can produce laser in allowing computers to harness the full In 2013, Dr Lynch co-founded Invoke pulses lasting a quadrillionth of a richness of human information. Capital, a technology fund vehicle second, is smaller and less costly Over 90 per cent of Fortune 1,000 dedicated to unlocking the potential of than more conventional sources of companies are Autonomy customers and European technology. gamma rays, a form of X-ray. more than two billion people rely on the In 2013, Invoke made its first investment, in Potential uses for the device include company’s software every day. Darktrace, a cyber-security company based applications in medical imaging, Dr Lynch (pictured), who held a research on ground-breaking mathematical research radiotherapy and PET scanning. fellowship in adaptive pattern recognition at the University of Cambridge.

EPSRC 1994-2014 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 104 EPSRC sponsorship of the project began has developed a new generation of strong, Life savers in 2006, but the windpipe for Andemariam flexible biocompatible polymers suitable for Beyene was ‘designed’ and grown in just use in human patients. two weeks. His materials have been used in a range Professor Seifalian’s team worked around of world-firsts, including transplants of the clock to build the polymer windpipe. It trachea, nose, ear and tear duct. They are was then taken by doctoral student Claire also poised to find application in artificial Crowley, a key member of the development blood vessels, opening up potentially team, to Karolinska University in Sweden vast markets. where it was ‘seeded’ with the patient’s In 2013, Claire Crowley visited Andemariam own cells by a team led by Professor Beyene in Iceland, where he was alive and Paolo Macchiarini. well and in his final year as a PhD geology In 2011, surgeons in Sweden carried out The full biological trachea was grown in student at the national university. a bioreactor specially designed for the the world’s first synthetic organ transplant In 2014, Professor Seifalian (pictured, with procedure by Harvard Bioscience. using a windpipe ‘grown’ from the patient’s Claire Crowley) began work on two three- stem cells. The artificial trachea was successfully year EPSRC-supported projects in the field Without the new windpipe, the patient, transplanted during a 15-hour operation of regenerative medicine, in partnership Andemariam Beyene, from Eritrea, whose by Professor Macchiarini, who holds an with Pharmidex Pharmaceutical Services. own windpipe had been blocked by an honorary appointment at University College One project in particular, in partnership inoperable tumour the size of a golf ball, London, and who worked with Professor with Biomer Technology Ltd, includes would have died. He had been given just Seifalian on the design and development building a custom-made 3D bio-printer two weeks to live – not long enough to find of the trachea scaffold using a material with multi-printing heads and an a donor. known as a novel nanocomposite polymer. environmental chamber which can print The artificial organ was designed and Over the past two decades, with funding ‘live’ tubular organs with trachea as an developed by a multidisciplinary team led from EPSRC and the Wellcome Trust, and exemplar. This project has paved the way to by Professor Alex Seifalian at University drawing inspiration from natural structures printing a range of artificial organs to meet College London. such as butterfly wings, Professor Seifalian individual patient needs.

another. By analysing the collection of light of making stainless steel surfaces become Whisky a scattered from the whisky, the researchers resistant to bacteria, and also stronger. no-go were able to diagnose the sample. By introducing silver or copper into the steel surface (rather than coating it on to In 2011, using a ray Using this sample, the team were able to the surface), the researchers developed of light the width of a investigate and discriminate single malt an innovative technique that not only kills human hair, a team Scotch whiskies based on brand, age and bacteria but also makes the surface very of researchers at the even which cask had been used. hard and resistant to wear and tear University of The chip used in the study was originally St Andrews during cleaning. employed to detect bio-analytes in developed a Bacteria resistant surfaces could be biomedical studies. new method for used in hospitals to prevent the spread testing whether of superbug infections on stainless a whisky is genuine. steel surfaces, as well as for medical The method can work out the brand, age equipment, for example, instruments and even which cask was used to create a and implants. single malt, from a sample no bigger than The technology developed by Professor a teardrop. Dong and his team could also be adapted The patented research, subsequently for use in the food industry and in presented to the drinks industry, which loses domestic and professional kitchens. millions annually to counterfeit producers, In 2013, Professor Dong was awarded was carried out by physicists Praveen Ashok, a £230,000 grant from the Commission Kishan Dholakia and Bavishna Praveen. of the European Communities to The project involved researchers placing develop innovative plasma surface a tiny amount of whisky on a transparent Steely resolve alloying technologies. plastic chip no bigger than a credit card. Today, Professor Dong is director of the Using optical fibres the width of a human In 2011, materials scientists at the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in hair, the whisky sample is illuminated University of Birmingham, led by Professor Innovative Metal Processing based at the by light using one fibre, and collected by Hanshan Dong, devised an innovative way University of Birmingham.

EPSRC 1994-2014 September 22: CERN scientists erroneously announce their discovery of neutrinos breaking the speed of light 105 2011

The car that drives itself

In 2011, EPSRC-sponsored researchers in this area. Paul Newman puts things the cars to find their way. The researchers from the University of Oxford equipped a succinctly: “If it moves, mobile autonomy explain that such systems cannot provide modified Bowler Wildcat off-road vehicle has a role to play.” the coverage, precision and reliability (pictured) with technology to help it ‘see’ the The team’s innovative navigation software autonomous cars need to safely navigate. world around it, and enable it to drive itself, can be applied to surveying, mining, Crucially, GPS also fails to tell a robotic car without any human intervention. One day warehousing and agriculture, and it has anything about its surroundings. this technology could help cut down on road already been licensed for use on the The technology is controlled from an iPad accidents and traffic congestion, which cost European Space Agency’s ExoMARS project. on the dashboard, and at any time a tap the UK economy more than £4.3 billion a on the brake pedal returns control to the year, or £491 per car-commuting household. MRG’s initial research into autonomous vehicles, co-sponsored by EPSRC Strategic human driver. The project is part of research at the Partner BAE Systems, used a Bowler university’s Mobile Robotics Group (MRG) co- In 2014, Professors Newman and Posner Wildcat, based on a Land Rover Defender. led by Professor Paul Newman, an EPSRC formed a spin out company, Oxbotica, Now, working with Japanese manufacturer Leadership Fellow, and Professor Ingmar to commercialise their research, and to Posner, who say the low-cost technology Nissan, the team have installed their latest exploit the Mobile Robotics Group’s suite enabling the vehicle to drive itself could one technology in a Nissan Leaf electric car, of intellectual property and know-how day be a feature on all cars. which gives a glimpse of what driving an developed over a decade of research. In ‘autonomous’ car of the future might be like. The research group use the mathematics the same year, Professor Newman was of probability and estimation to enable The car’s low-cost in-car navigation system awarded a Fellowship of the Royal Academy computers in cars and robots to interpret uses 3D laser mapping, and can recognise of Engineering. data from cameras, radars and lasers, aerial its surroundings using small cameras and In 2014, Innovate UK (formerly known photos and road plans. lasers discreetly built into the vehicle’s body as the Technology Strategy Board) The group have been at the cutting edge of and linked to a computer in the boot. invested £250,000 in Oxbotica to develop research into infrastructure-free navigation Unlike the automated technology that has a production-feasible prototype of a low (i.e. navigation without GPS) for over a already found its way into some production cost, infrastructure free (without GPS), decade, and are acknowledged leaders cars, the system does not rely on GPS for 3D imaging device.

EPSRC 1994-2014 October 31: The world population reaches seven billion inhabitants according to the United Nations 106 3D chocolate heaven

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. Slope sensors As well as the life-saving implications for An EPSRC-produced YouTube video of the countries prone to disastrous landslides, printer in action has since received In 2011, an early warning system to the technique can be used in monitoring 650,000 hits. warn of landslides, developed by an the condition of potentially unstable slopes Dr Hao and his team were the first to EPSRC-supported team at Loughborough built to support transport infrastructure, develop a way of applying 3D printing University led by Professor Neil Dixon, won such as rail and road embankments, in to chocolate, which is a challenging The Engineer magazine’s Civil Engineering developed countries such as the UK. material to work with because it Award at its annual awards. In 2012, Professor Neil Dixon received a requires accurate control of viscosity Thought to be the first of its kind in the follow-on EPSRC research grant to develop and temperature conditions. world, the Slope ALARMS detection system, a revised lower power design of the Slope Dr Hao says: “In future this kind of developed through a collaboration between ALARMS sensor. technology will allow people to produce Loughborough University, Geotechnical and design many other products such as In 2013, Professor Dixon began work on a Observations and the British Geological jewellery or household goods. Eventually multidisciplinary, multi-partner EPSRC- Survey, is a network of sensors buried we may see many mass-produced products funded project investigating the sustainable across the hillside or embankment that replaced by unique designs created by the presents a risk of collapse. The sensors, management of embankment slopes. customer. We also envisage consumers acting as microphones in the subsoil, The project is led by Professor Stephanie owning their own 3D printers.” Glendenning from Newcastle University, record the acoustic activity of the soil In 2012, Dr Liang Hao founded Choc Edge across the slope and each transmits a a key member of the Assessing the Ltd, to develop and sell its unique 3D signal to a central computer for analysis. Underworld project (see pages 62-63). chocolate printer developed under the research project. Interviewed in 2012, Dr Hao said: ”The initial Twitter tracks flu worldwide interest in creative and bespoke 3D chocolate products was enormous… By In 2011, a study by the microblogging service of Twitter to next Easter, consumers will be able to order researchers at the investigate two scenarios: levels of rainfall their own, personalised Easter eggs along University of Bristol in a given location and time using the with other chocolate gifts.” used social media, content of tweets; and regional flu-like In 2013, the company launched Choc such as Facebook illness rates from tweets to find out if an Creator V2, a more sophisticated and and microblogging epidemic was emerging. efficient design, and created a chocolate services like Twitter, Professor Nello Cristianini, who led the printer hub to develop a community of to track events or research, says: “Twitter, in particular, people engaged in 3D chocolate printing. phenomena such as encourages its 200 million users worldwide The technology featured on popular TV show flu outbreaks and to make their posts publicly available as The Gadget Man, hosted by Stephen Fry, who rainfall rates. well as tagged with the user’s location. held a high-tech dinner party for friends. The research “Our research has demonstrated a method, In 2014, Choc Creator V2 was highly rated in geo-tagged by using the content of Twitter, to track an a special Christmas party edition of Channel user posts on event when it occurs and its scale.” 5’s The Gadget Show.

EPSRC 1994-2014 April 29: An estimated two billion people watch the wedding of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine Middleton at Westminster Abbey 107 2012 The art of science

In 2012, Dr Simon Colton, an Dr Colton (pictured), an Artificial in print and on television, including BBC’s EPSRC Leadership Fellow Intelligence researcher specialising in Horizon and newspapers such as the based at Imperial College questions of computational creativity, Daily Mail, the Daily Mirror, El Pais and who today leads Goldsmith University’s London, was nominated El Mundo. Computational Creativity Group, has for a prestigious World The Observer carried a wide-ranging programmed the Painting Fool to Technology Arts Award feature on the Painting Fool, whose work recognise human emotions and create for his work with The Painting Fool, a original paintings, in a variety of styles. has been exhibited in five group exhibitions computer programme he developed that The hope is that one day it will be taken in London, Brussels, Paris and Lisbon. paints original artwork inspired by what seriously as an artist in its own right. In 2013, The Painting Fool turned his it sees. The pictures in this article are Dr Colton’s work has been covered widely creative talents to poetry, drawing his examples of the Painting Fool’s handiwork. by the UK and international media, both inspiration from news stories.

EPSRC 1994-2014 February 6: Queen Elizabeth II marks her 60th anniversary as British monarch 108 EPSRC 1994-2014 February 28: Discovery of the largest prehistoric penguin, Kairuku grebneffi, at nearly 5ft tall 109 2012 Meet the MASER

In 2012, pioneering technology that makes it possible for the from 2004-2009, to investigate microwave research by maser to function at room temperature, dielectric materials, and a six-year EPSRC-sponsored and without the need for an external Programme Grant in 2009 to develop scientists revived magnet. The breakthrough meant the cost nanostructured materials for energy the fortunes of the to manufacture and operate masers could efficient refrigeration, energy harvesting MASER (Microwave be dramatically reduced. This paves the and production of hydrogen from water. Amplification way for their widespread adoption. In 2005, among notable achievements Stimulated Emission Potential applications for the maser include related to his microwave-based research, of Radiation), more sensitive medical scanners; chemical Professor Alford led the development a cousin of the sensors for remotely detecting explosives; of technology that uses heat delivered ubiquitous laser, first developed nearly advanced quantum computer components; by microwaves to destroy liver tumours. 60 years ago. and better radio astronomy devices for The EPSRC-funded research team, from Despite predating the laser by five years, potentially detecting life on other planets. London South Bank University and the the maser has had little technological Professor Alford says: “When lasers were University of Bath, found that by heating impact – primarily because it was invented, no one knew exactly how they cancer cells to around 80 degrees Celsius inconvenient to use. would be used; yet they are now ubiquitous. (much higher than previous microwave Masers, which use concentrated beams of There’s a long way to go before the maser treatments) a large region of necrosis – microwaves rather than intense beams of reaches that level, but our breakthrough cell death – can be generated. light, require high magnetic fields and sub- does mean this technology can start In 2007, Professor Alford was awarded a zero conditions to work. Hence for so long becoming more useful.” Royal Academy of Engineering Fellowship; they were left out in the cold, only able to The research was funded by EPSRC in 2010, he was awarded Fellowship of the operate at temperatures close to absolute and, at NPL, through the UK’s National Royal Society of Chemistry; and in 2013 zero, minus 273 degrees Celsius – the Measurement Office, and builds on over received an MBE. same temperature as interstellar space. 20 years of consistently innovative EPSRC- In 2013, Professor Alford received a follow- Masers are used only in very specialised supported materials science research by on EPSRC grant to construct a maser applications such as atomic clocks and as Professor Alford. that can work at room temperature and in amplifiers in radiofrequency telescopes, Professor Alford says: “The work really the Earth’s magnetic field. The research but the results can be spectacular. For started with my first EPSRC grant, in 1995, team are exploring new materials that example, masers were responsible for the enabling me to carry out research into will miniaturise the maser, which will also stunning images of the solar system taken low microwave loss dielectrics. This was require very low power input to achieve the by the Voyager spacecraft. followed by a small feasibility study, also threshold required for masing. The researchers, from Imperial College funded by EPSRC, which ultimately led As director of materials at Imperial, London, led by Professor Neil Alford to the maser.” Professor Alford’s knowledge is sought (pictured), and Dr Mark Oxborrow, formerly Over 20 years Professor Alford has been after, and in 2013 he advised Apple on of the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) supported by more than 40 EPSRC grants, suitable screen materials for its and now at Imperial, demonstrated new including consecutive Platform Grants, iPhone 6 mobile phone.

EPSRC 1994-2014 April 10: Apple claims a value of US$600 billion, making it the largest company by market capitalisation in the world 110 EPSRC 1994-2014 July 27–August: The 2012 Summer Olympics are held in London 111 2012

Steel resolve

In 2012, The British Steel, which became Corus Group, formerly known as super-bainite, the Engineering Doctorate was later sold to Tata Steel, one of EPSRC’s brainchild of Professor Harry Bhadeshia (EngD), EPSRC’s Strategic Partners. at the University of Cambridge. Professor innovative doctoral Interviewed in 2002, Martin Brunnock Bhadeshia’s research has been supported training programme said: “The benefit of still being involved by EPSRC and its predecessor, the Science where students and Engineering Research Council (SERC) in the scheme is that I can help mentor spend the majority of for over 20 years. His work with British and encourage new research engineers their time working in Steel led to the unique alloys used to make with my previous experience. It’s also a industry, turned 20 years old. the rails for the Channel Tunnel, Europe’s fantastic opportunity to be involved with busiest rail link. The EngD is a doctoral level qualification new research projects which are generally that involves a taught component and a at the forefront of technology.” Pavise, developed by Tata Steel in large, four-year research project defined partnership with the University of In 2012, EPSRC co-funded the new COATED by industry. Cambridge and the MoD, is twice as strong EngD centre at Swansea University, as the current product on the market. In addition to developing a new generation providing funding to recruit 21 EngD of industry-savvy doctoral students, Martin Brunnock says: “The technical students between 2012 and 2014. the relationship between university and expertise behind this material is nothing industrial sponsor provides a level of The range of research projects at COATED short of brilliant.” access to industry not normally available includes boron steel processing, car Today, Martin Brunnock is Technical to academics; it also enables companies, chassis fatigue performance, solar cell Director of Tata Steel’s Strip Products UK sectors and policymakers to be guided by development, life cycle analysis and division based in Port Talbot and Llanwern, the results of the research. recycling. The initial investment was Wales, one of the largest in Europe, followed two years later by further EPSRC On receiving his Engineering Doctorate producing five million tonnes of liquid funding for the COATED 2 initiative, which at Swansea University in 1997, Dr Martin steel per annum, and with a turnover of Brunnock (pictured) joined British Steel, will create 40 research doctorate posts at over £2 billion. the company which sponsored his EngD. Swansea University, focusing on generating The powertrain picture illustrating this A year later he was supervising a new crop energy through new coatings for materials. story is an award-winning photograph by of five research engineers from the EngD In 2013/14, the Swansea Tata plant received former EngD Steel Technology Research scheme. He has since risen through the over 200 major international orders for Engineer Ed Carter, who designed, drew company’s ranks. its lightweight armour steel, Pavise, and rendered up the image himself.

EPSRC 1994-2014 July 30-31: In the worst power outage in world history, the 2012 India blackouts leave 620 million people without power 112 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. 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 Accelerating impact levels of ‘glycated proteins’ in blood and tissue samples. In 2012, EPSRC invested £60 million in bridge the gap between the lab and the The team’s method allows scientists to UK universities to help the country’s marketplace and help them become identify signature profiles of glycated most pioneering scientists and engineers better entrepreneurs. proteins linked to particular diabetic create successful businesses from their IAAs replaced EPSRC’s highly successful conditions. In the future the same method research, improve industrial collaboration Knowledge Transfer Account (KTA) and could be applied to new technologies to and foster greater entrepreneurship. Knowledge Transfer Secondment (KTS) screen for diseases like Alzheimer’s. The three-year initiative awarded ‘Impact schemes, which saw a step-change in In 2014, at the end of their first year there Acceleration Accounts’ (IAAs) ranging knowledge exchange and collaboration were 457 IAA projects, 152 secondments, from £600,000 to £6 million to over between universities, business and other 291 new company partners and 38 joint 30 universities across the UK. parties and generated significant material academic publications. The funding helps support the universities’ contributions from business. Contribution from business and other best scientists and engineers to build To exploit EPSRC’s research and training partners was £22 million, in addition to the even stronger collaborations with industry, portfolio, universities employ knowledge £20 million invested by EPSRC.

Clothing cleans High energy investment The additive contains microscopic pollution-eating particles, and clothes In 2012, EPSRC spearheaded a need to be washed in it just once, as the £40 million investment under the nanoparticles of titanium dioxide grip onto RCUK Energy Programme, which is led fabrics very tightly. by EPSRC. The investment included £20 million jointly with the National When the particles come into contact with Natural Science Foundation of China in nitrogen oxides in the air, they react with ‘smart’ power grids, which manage the these pollutants and oxidise them in supply and demand of power through the fabric. the national distribution network. The nitrogen oxides treated in this way EPSRC also led one of the biggest are odourless, colourless, and pose no Research Council low carbon energy pollution hazard. The method removes investments; contributing £26 million 5g of nitrogen oxides every day – equivalent in five new End Use Energy Demand to the daily amount produced by the research centres. The centres are average family car. investigating the complexities of energy In 2012, a collaboration between the Project co-leader, Professor Tony Ryan use across society and explore how University of Sheffield and London College OBE, of the University of Sheffield, says: energy can be both saved and used of Fashion, with initial support from EPSRC, “If thousands of people in a typical town more efficiently. The investment led to a revolutionary liquid laundry additive like Sheffield washed their clothes in included a further £13 million from to help make the clothes we wear purify the the additive, there would be no pollution industrial partners. air as we move around in them. problem caused by nitrogen oxides at all.”

EPSRC 1994-2014 May 5: Japan shuts down its nuclear reactors, leaving the country without nuclear power for the first time since 1970 113 2012 Birth of the cool The initial project, funded under the During discharge, the system can EPSRC-led RCUK Energy Programme, simultaneously convert low grade was an international academic/industry waste heat into power, further collaboration. The Leeds team joined increasing the overall efficiency by forces with commercial partner, Highview producing additional power. Power Storage, the UK-based developer of The system uses established technology, large-scale long duration liquid air energy can be built anywhere, and can easily storage (LAES) systems, and Chinese be scaled up. A pilot facility near Slough colleagues to co-design and lab test a (pictured) began providing electricity to the novel cryogenic energy storage system that National Grid in April 2010, and can meet stores off-peak energy, using liquefied air the power needs of several hundred houses In 2012, energy storage research as the storage medium. for up to eight hours. co-developed by EPSRC-supported Ambient air is drawn from the environment Using pioneering combined heat and power researchers at the University of Leeds, where it is cleaned, compressed and systems such as this, one day homes could led by Professor Yulong Ding, scientists liquefied at sub-zero temperatures; have their own domestic electrical energy at the Chinese Academy of Science, and 700 litres of ambient air become one litre storage system, providing heating, power, commercial partners led to the creation of liquid air. The liquid air can be stored in refrigeration and air conditioning. of a joint EPSRC-supported international an insulated storage tank at low pressure research institute with over 45 researchers for extended periods of time without In 2014, Professor Yulong Ding joined the working on more than 20 projects. significant losses. University of Birmingham as the newly appointed Highview Power Storage/Royal The formation of the institute, which When power is required, liquid air is drawn Academy of Engineering Research Chair focuses on next-generation energy storage from the tanks, pumped to high pressure in Energy Storage. systems, followed the project’s runaway and heated. This process produces a high- success at The Engineer magazine’s 2011 pressure gas, which is then used to spin To support Professor Ding in his work, Technology and Innovation Awards, winning a turbine which drives the generator to Highview is relocating its 350kW/2.5MWh both its category and the grand prize. produce electricity. LAES pilot plant to Birmingham.

Regeneration nation £16 million for robotics such as deep sea installations and nuclear power plants; and aerial vehicles that In 2012, EPSRC co-invested with other In 2012, EPSRC invested £16 million in can monitor national borders or research councils £25 million in the 22 university-based research projects to detect pollution. fast emerging discipline of regenerative develop smart robots and autonomous medicine. A key part of the investment, systems such as unmanned aircraft – which will produce a set of research considered vital to many areas of UK priorities for UK regenerative medicine industry, from oil and gas exploration to research and development, is a new advanced manufacturing. cross-research council UK Regenerative Led by EPSRC, the project involves an Medicine Platform, to work in close eight-strong group of partners, including partnership with the £50 million Innovate BAE Systems, Sellafield Ltd and the UK UK Cell Therapy Catapult Centre. Space Agency, investing over £4 million Co-investors are: the Medical Research in support. Council, Biotechnology and Biological The projects include ‘nursebots’ that Sciences Research Council, Economic and assist patients in hospitals; safe ways of Social Research Council and Innovate UK. monitoring in dangerous environments

EPSRC 1994-2014 August 6: Curiosity, the Mars Science Laboratory mission’s rover, successfully lands on Mars 114 Picture courtesy Agnese Sanvito Research Centre (IMCRC) at Loughborough Efficiency drive (see page 36). The team have since developed 3D concrete In 2012, EPSRC-supported scientists printers fitted to a gantry and a robotic arm. developed 3D computer software that can create and test automation systems The printer can make things which cannot before they’re even built, potentially saving be manufactured by conventional processes manufacturers millions of pounds while such as complex structural components, increasing their competitiveness. curved cladding panels and other architectural features. The software, which builds up a virtual representation of the automated system, Dr Buswell says: “Freeform gives architects 3D concrete printing allowing engineers to get their fingers dirty and builders the creative freedom to design in 3D, was developed by a team at the In 2012, a team of EPSRC-sponsored and build hitherto unfeasible concrete EPSRC Innovative Manufacturing and engineers at Loughborough University, ‘components’, such as curved panels, while Construction Research Centre (IMCRC) co-led by Dr Richard Buswell and Professor reducing the high cost penalties associated at Loughborough University. Simon Austin, developed an innovative 3D with traditional methods.” The tool is aimed at helping manufacturers printing technique to create customised With further funding from EPSRC, the team save money, increase efficiency, improve panels for large-scale buildings. An example are collaborating with industry partners to prototype safety and accelerate the process of their work is pictured above. commercialise the process, which could of getting their products to market. The process was developed at the EPSRC capture a significant share of the US$450 The research focused on applications Innovative Manufacturing and Construction billion global concrete and cement market. 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 feasibility project showed how the the University of Lincoln, led by Professor energy produced by a plane’s braking Paul Stewart, showed how the aircraft of system during landing – currently wasted tomorrow could self-contribute to their as heat produced by friction in the power needs by harnessing energy from aircraft’s disc brakes – would be captured the wheel rotation of their landing gear on and converted into electricity by motor- the tarmac. generators built into the landing gear.

10 times more sensitive than the current Early detection gold standard methods for measuring In 2012, a team of EPSRC-funded biomarkers, which are used to indicate the scientists at Imperial College London, led onset of diseases such as prostate cancer by Professor Molly Stevens, developed and infection by viruses including HIV. a prototype ultra-sensitive sensor that The sensor could benefit countries where would enable doctors to detect the early sophisticated detection equipment is stages of diseases and viruses with the scarce, enabling cheaper and simpler naked eye. The visual sensor technology is detection and treatments for patients.

EPSRC 1994-2014 September 12: Apple unveils its iPhone 5 and iOS 6 115 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 strengthen research in the areas of In 2013, EPSRC co-funded one of the In 2013, EPSRC invested £45 million to Robotics and Autonomous Systems, biggest Research Council investments develop innovative new manufacturing Advanced Materials and Grid-scale to support UK energy efficiency policy, technologies, techniques and systems. Energy Storage. reduce carbon use and cut greenhouse The investment includes: The research, involving 20 UK universities, gas emissions. • £21 million for four new Centres for will underpin key sectors of the Five new End Use Energy Demand Innovative Manufacturing UK economy, including automotive, research centres received a total of manufacturing, aerospace, energy • £12.2 million towards six flexible £39 million from EPSRC, which leads the and healthcare. manufacturing projects Research Councils UK Energy Programme, £39.4 million will be invested in robotics • Six information & communications the Economic and Social Research Council and autonomous systems (£25 million technology (ICT) research projects for (ESRC), and industrial partners, which from EPSRC; £8.4 million from higher UK manufacturing competitiveness contributed £13 million. education institutions; and £6 million from The funding enables the research centres The projects demonstrate the collaborative industrial partners) nature of manufacturing research and to look into the complexities of energy use £47.2 million will be invested in advanced bring together nine universities and over across society and explore how energy can materials (£30 million from EPSRC with 70 manufacturing partners. be both saved and used more efficiently. additional funding of £11.7 million from £32 MILLION FOR INTERDISCIPLINARY £47 MILLION FOR ENGINEERING higher education institutions and RESEARCH COLLABORATIONS In 2013, EPSRC invested £47 million in £5.5 million from industrial partners) In 2013, EPSRC invested £32 million in new engineering projects to tackle global £45.6 million will be invested in grid-scale three major Interdisciplinary Research challenges such as climate change; energy storage (£30 million from EPSRC Collaborations (IRCs) that could help improving healthcare; and meeting basic with additional funding of £9.8 million revolutionise healthcare. The research needs, including access to clean water. from higher education institutions and focuses on developing new information The investment included £25 million in £5.8 million from industrial partners) & communications technology (ICT) five frontier engineering projects in areas £10 MILLION WITH JLR applications and systems to tackle such as nature inspired engineering; In 2013, EPSRC and Jaguar Land Rover increasingly pressing problems, such synthetic biology applications to water; co-invested £10 million in the first phase as an ageing population and severely individualised multi-scale simulation; of a 20-year strategic project led by overstretched hospitals. and simulation of open engineered four leading UK universities to advance The investment, spanning 10 universities biological systems. the UK’s role in developing virtual and 18 industry and academic partners, EPSRC invested a further £20 million simulation technologies. brings together multidisciplinary in large Programme Grants to four UK researchers from areas including pathology The investment will give engineers a universities, focusing on resilience, health and electrical engineering to develop more realistic perception of what a design and technology and growth. technologies such as sensors in patients’ might achieve, as well as access to more clothing that monitor their condition, and ADDITIONAL INVESTMENTS powerful computers as part of a package smartphones that can diagnose and track In 2013, EPSRC invested £85 million that could put the UK at the leading edge the spread of infectious disease. in a range of projects to support and of virtual simulation globally.

EPSRC 1994-2014 January 17: Japan unveils plans to build the world’s largest wind farm near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant 116 funding from EPSRC and The software is controlled from a laptop, Sellafield Ltd. and attachments can be plugged in Tom Scott, project lead and according to the task in hand. Director of the Interface The drone’s rotor arms fold back so that Analysis Centre in the the system can be fitted into a standard University’s School of travel case, making it easy to take on a Physics, says: “By using plane and rapidly deploy. lightweight and low-cost In 2014, the drone was used to map unmanned aerial vehicles, radiation surrounding the Fukushima site we can immediately and to help the clean-up before people can remotely determine the return to their homes. spread and intensity of In April 2014, the AARM team, led by radiation following any Tom Scott, provided Sellafield’s first ever such event. drone survey of any type, demonstrating “The systems have the team’s radiation mapping technology In the zone sufficient inbuilt intelligence for combined with aerial photography. In 2013, an unmanned aerial drone which deployment following an incident and James Moore, who leads on UAV are effectively disposable if they monitors radiation levels after a nuclear technologies at Sellafield, says: “This become contaminated.” incident was developed by an EPSRC- system, to the best of our knowledge, supported University of Bristol team. The drone uses laser distancing to enable represents the current state of the art for safe flight in narrow spaces. It can map the radiation-mapping UAS systems.” The drone was inspired in response to the 3D environment with millimetre precision Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011 after In 2014, the Royal Academy of Engineering and also capture high resolution images. awarded James MacFarlane and Oliver helicopter pilots risked radiation exposure The team are also developing thermal Payton the ERA Foundation Entrepreneurs as they mapped the disaster area. imaging, gas and acoustic sensors for Award. The prize is helping them develop Oliver Payton, James MacFarlane and John the drone. the drone commercially for use in Fadoulis, from the University of Bristol’s The on-board microcomputer integrates disasters, routine radiation monitoring at Interface Analysis Centre, developed the multiple sensor streams to provide nuclear sites and mining operations. Spin remote controlled Advanced Airborne radiation mapping with excellent spatial out company Imitec has been set up to take Radiation Monitoring (AARM) system, with resolution and sensitivity. this forward.

walking to school with walking school bus coordinators, Trish one or two adults) during Kiernan (pictured). Head Teacher Sara the school run. Walker says: “Children are motivated to Salford psychologists see the arrival of the walking school bus Dr Sarah Norgate and on the screen, and to join other pupils on Nikki Jones teamed up the school run.” Mark Mountcastle, Head with researchers Chris Teacher at St Hugh of Lincoln RC Primary Winstanley, Mike Harding in Stretford, which also helped to trial the and Professor Nigel app, agrees. He says: “It’s a brilliant way to Davies from Lancaster encourage the children not only to walk to University to develop the school but to use technology in a creative app. Dr Norgate says: and practical way.” “Walking school buses The award-winning project is funded by the are an effective way RCUK Digital Economy programme, led Walk smart to promote children’s by EPSRC, and is part of the Sixth Sense independent mobility and road sense. With Transport initiative between the University In 2013, the universities of Salford and this new application, parents can track the of Salford, Lancaster University, the Lancaster won a Modeshift national safe arrival of the walking school bus at the University of Southampton, the University transport award for a smartphone app school gates.” of Edinburgh and Bournemouth University developed for parents to keep track of their Families at Westwood Park Primary School to develop apps that will encourage more child’s walking bus (a group of children in Eccles trialled the app with one of the sustainable travel options.

EPSRC 1994-2014 February 5: The House of Commons votes in favour of same-sex marriage 117 2013

acoustics to quickly locate blockages and Sweet success structural defects, and to determine the In 2013, a new technique that uses MRI scans to detect cancer by imaging pipe length and the tumours’ consumption of sugar was serviceability of the unveiled by EPSRC-supported scientists pipe, won a multitude led by Dr Simon Walker-Samuel at of awards. University College London. The technology The breakthrough could provide a builds on 15 years of safer and simpler alternative to EPSRC-supported standard radioactive techniques and work by Professors enable radiologists to image tumours Horoshenkov and in greater detail. Tait at the universities The new technique, called ‘glucose of Bradford and Sound affects: SewerBatt™ technology being demonstrated in Singapore for PUB, the chemical exchange saturation transfer’ Sheffield. national water company. (glucoCEST), is based on the fact that Since its launch in tumours consume much more glucose (a Pipeline to success 2013, SewerBatt™, the idea for which type of sugar) than normal, healthy tissues In 2013, Acoustic Sensing Technology Ltd, was conceived by water industry pioneer in order to sustain their growth. a spin out company from the University of Richard Long, has received glowing praise The researchers found that sensitising an Sheffield, was formed to commercialise from industry experts, leading Piers Clarke, MRI scanner to glucose uptake caused the EPSRC-supported research of Thames Water’s Commercial Director, to tumours to appear as bright images on Professors Kirill Horoshenkov and describe it as “a phenomenal technology”. MRI scans of mice. Simon Tait, who previously worked at In 2014, SewerBatts were adopted into In the future, patients could potentially the University of Bradford. Yorkshire Water’s five-year plan, and the be scanned in local hospitals, rather than In less than 12 months, the company’s company began installing them in areas having to be referred to specialist first product, the SewerBatt™, which uses vulnerable to sewer flooding. medical centres. Chicken coup protein and other feeds given to chickens bioethanol produced. bred for meat production. Dr Burton says: In 2013, an academic/industry partnership With project supervisor Dr Emily Burton, of “One concern with supported by EPSRC led to a biofuel Nottingham Trent University, Dr Williams bioethanol is the production process that also yields a viable secured funding for Dawn Scholey, a perception it will poultry feedstuff as a ‘by-product’. doctoral student at Nottingham, to join the compete with team under an EPSRC CASE studentship. With around 80 billion litres of bioethanol food crops fuel produced each year from fermented By examining the composition of the newly for limited cereals, the team’s findings are by no isolated and patented YPC, Dawn showed farmland. means chicken feed. it could be both separated from the cereal Our new matter and was a viable alternative nutrient The project was borne out of the vision of work biofuels pioneer, Dr Pete Williams of AB readily digested by chickens. shows how Agri, the agricultural division of Associated A project at a US bioethanol facility is the two can British Foods. Williams was convinced already demonstrating the performance of live side by side.” valuable material was being overlooked the process at factory scale. when cereals were fermented to The new process separates the dried Dr Pete Williams says: “We couldn’t have make bioethanol. distiller’s grains (DDGs) into three fractions: got this development started without the The team showed that Yeast Protein fibre, a watery syrup and YPC, allowing EPSRC CASE studentship that allowed us Concentrate (YPC) made during the annual global production of almost three to establish the proof of concept, and to fermentation process could be a cost- million tonnes of supplementary high- confirm the value-creation potential of our competitive alternative to soya-based quality protein alongside current levels of innovative separation process.”

EPSRC 1994-2014 March 13: Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina is elected the 266th Pope, whereupon he takes the name Francis 118 Unlike airport scanners, the device (pictured) does not produce an image of Knight the subject but only analyses radar signals reflected from the person. of the The machines work at a distance of up to 25 metres using low power millimetre- web wave radar signals that reflect off a weapon and back to the scanner, but without compromising people’s privacy or health. In 2013, Nigel Shadbolt, from the University of Southampton, Professor of Artificial The portable, battery-powered devices Intelligence and one of the world’s leading include a handheld system for mobile use experts in web science, was knighted in the in the street and a larger, extended range Queen’s Birthday Honours List for services static version suitable for checkpoints or Hide and seek to science and engineering. vehicle mounting. In 2013, a team of scientists at Manchester Professor Shadbolt’s research has taken The prototypes are currently being turned in a broad range of topics, from natural Metropolitan University unveiled a high- into commercial versions ready for security tech radar scanner which automatically language understanding and robotics services around the world with customers to computational neuroscience and detects hidden bombs and guns on people. already lined up to test the technology. memory through to the Semantic Web The scanner works in real time using radar Project Leader, Professor Nick Bowring, and linked data. waves and complex computer programs, started to develop the system in 2004 after and is destined to revolutionise security Professor Shadbolt, who has held over initial funding from EPSRC, followed by 20 EPSRC grants over more than 25 years, at airports, shopping centres, stadia and the Metropolitan Police and the Home is founding director of the Open Data transport hubs. Office. He says: “The technology is a Institute, with World Wide Web pioneer The technology is designed to rapidly scan combination of a radar system and an Professor Sir Tim Berners-Lee. individuals in a crowd as they pass through AI-based computer system. It would have From 2000-2007, Professor Shadbolt areas such as public spaces, gates or been unthinkable to make it just five years led and directed the widely influential entrances and instantly alert officials as ago because the computing power and EPSRC-funded Advanced Knowledge soon as a threat is detected. hardware were just not there.” Technologies Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration (IRC). The IRC produced some of the most thumb-type 34 per cent important Semantic Web research of the faster on tablets than when period, such as how diverse information using a QWERTY keyboard. could be harvested and integrated and how Dr Kristensson’s EPSRC- semantics could help computer systems supported research at recommend content. St Andrews includes the In 2009, the Prime Minister appointed development of technology Professors Shadbolt and Berners-Lee as that could lead to much Information Advisers to transform access faster and easier synthetic to Public Sector Information. The work voice systems, such as that arising from this project led to the highly Thumbs up for used by Stephen Hawking. acclaimed data.gov.uk site which now In 2013, Dr Kristensson, who holds an provides a portal to thousands of datasets. new keyboard EPSRC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, In 2012, Nigel Shadbolt was awarded a was recognised by the respected MIT £6.2 million, five-year EPSRC Programme In 2013, an international research team Technology Review as one of 35 top Grant to lead the SOCIAM (Social Machines) co-led by Dr Per Ola Kristensson, from the young innovators ‘most likely to change project, which is researching pioneering University of St Andrews, created a new the world’. Previous winners include methods of supporting purposeful human keyboard that enables faster thumb-typing the founders and designers of Google, interaction on the World Wide Web. on touchscreen devices. Facebook, Apple and Tumblr. The aim of the SOCIAM project is to enable The KALQ keyboard minimises thumb In 2014, Dr Kristensson joined the us to build social machines that solve travel distance and maximises alternation Department of Engineering at the the routine tasks of daily life as well as between thumbs, enabling people to University of Cambridge. its emergencies.

EPSRC 1994-2014 November 27: Frozen, the highest-grossing animated film of all time, starring Idina Menzel and Kristen Bell, is released 119 2014 Slide rules

In 2014, Lizzy Rachel Blackburn says: “The skills we supporting Amy, Lizzy and their fellow Yarnold sped learned from the Engineering Doctorate athletes in their respective successes. to gold medal programme at Southampton, coupled with “EPSRC funding was the catalyst that success in the ideas and knowledge of the British allowed Rachel and myself to pursue an the skeleton Skeleton and UK Sport support staff, gave academic and latterly engineering career in bobsleigh event us a good grounding for implementing such a unique and challenging field.” at the Sochi Winter Olympics. But her engineering solutions. Working with the achievement was not just a reward for her athletes themselves helped us put our Picture courtesy UK Sport dedication and athleticism, it was also a ideas into practice. triumph for UK engineering design. “The project also allowed us to develop new Yarnold’s achievement at the Sanki Sliding skills – from track testing, data analysis Centre came thanks, in part, to a sled and prototyping through to full roll-out designed by engineers Rachel Blackburn production of the sled.” and James Roche (pictured) who work with Since 2010, James and Rachel have been McLaren Applied Technologies, an offshoot working with McLaren in Woking, Surrey to of the Formula One company. bring further improvements to the design James and Rachel were EPSRC- of the sled, which they now call Mervyn sponsored students studying for Blackroc – after an early sponsor and a Engineering Doctorates at the University of fusion of their surnames. Southampton when they designed ‘Arthur’, James Roche says: “It was a fantastic the sled that carried Amy Williams to gold honour to be able to work with British medal victory in Vancouver in 2010. They Skeleton over the past eight years, 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.

EPSRC 1994-2014 June 12-July 13: The 2014 FIFA World Cup is held in Brazil, and is won by Germany 120 EPSRC 1994-2014 September 27: The West African death toll from the Ebola virus reaches 3,000 lives 121 2014

contaminated wastes involves the nuclear industry, the UK Government’s cement encapsulation, a process nuclear advisers and the country’s leading which typically increases the academic researchers. overall volume. More than 40 doctoral and postdoctoral The research project found that researchers will work over the next four mixing plutonium-contaminated years on issues including how best to handle waste with blast furnace slag and different types of spent fuel, packaging and turning it into glass reduces its storing waste, and dealing with nuclear volume by 85-95 per cent. It also sludges in ponds and silos at nuclear effectively locks in the radioactive power stations. plutonium, creating a stable Professor Simon Biggs, who leads the end product. initiative, says: “The project is primarily Lead researcher, Professor focused on developing new technologies and Neil Hyatt, a co-investigator at providing confidence in the safe storage and the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral disposal of legacy waste. Training in Nuclear Fission at the University of Sheffield, says: “The UK is a technology leader in this “The overall volume of plutonium- field and the core aim of this project is to contaminated wastes from maintain and further develop that skill base. Heart of glass operations and decommissioning is enough “This project will be a truly interdisciplinary In 2014, researchers from the University to fill the clock tower of Big Ben seven times effort. We have civil engineers, chemists, of Sheffield, sponsored by EPSRC over. Our process would reduce this waste chemical engineers, robotics experts, and Sellafield Ltd, developed a way to volume to fit neatly within just one tower.” radiochemists, mechanical engineers and significantly reduce the volume of some Also in 2014, EPSRC invested £4.9 million in material engineers all working together on higher activity nuclear wastes – reducing the a national research programme looking at 30 different projects.” cost of interim storage and final disposal. ways of dealing with Britain’s nuclear waste. In addition to the £4.9 million invested by The UK spends more than £80 million The £8 million project, funded under the EPSRC, funding and support for the project, every year storing plutonium-contaminated RCUK Energy Programme, led by EPSRC, which builds on an earlier EPSRC-funded nuclear waste safely. The current treatment involves 10 UK universities, led by the 2007 research programme, will come from method for non-compactable plutonium- University of Leeds, and brings together the universities and industry partners.

Antibodies exposed In 2014, an internet service which allows that the antibody they’re about to spend scientists to find antibodies for use in their hundreds of pounds on is going to work. research became the largest antibody They can waste time and money buying the search engine in a US$2 billion industry, wrong one, CiteAb solves this problem. and ranked number one by Google. “We rank antibodies by academic citations The CiteAb service was founded in 2013 as these are the best guide to whether an by Dr Andrew Chalmers at the University antibody is likely to work in the laboratory of Bath following funding from an EPSRC – citations are independent and easily Knowledge Transfer Account. verifiable, and no one can pay to be the Antibodies – proteins produced by the top hit.” immune system in response to the The CiteAb team work in collaboration introduction of a foreign body – have a with Bath-based Storm Consultancy and variety of uses in basic research, diagnostic are currently exploring ways to use the tests and therapeutics. data CiteAb generates to ensure the long- Dr Chalmers says: “One of the biggest term success of this research as problems for a researcher is being sure a commercial enterprise.

EPSRC 1994-2014 October 21: Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius is sentenced to five years in prison for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp 122 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. “Oceans help to make a planet’s climate Cosmic waves more stable so factoring them into climate models is vital for knowing whether the In 2014, EPSRC-funded researchers at Until now, computer simulations of planet could develop and sustain life. the University of East Anglia (UEA) made habitable climates on Earth-like planets “This new model will help us to understand an important step in the race to discover have focused on their atmospheres. But what the climates of other planets might be whether other planets could develop and the presence of oceans is vital for optimal like with more accurate detail than sustain life. climate stability and habitability. ever before.”

Power prosthetics In 2014, EPSRC-supported researchers When walking with a single prosthetic leg, The energy storage and return capabilities at the University of Salford moved a above-knee amputees typically use up to of prosthetic legs are crucial to improving step closer in developing technology 60 per cent more energy than people who an amputee’s gait and mobility, but to enhance the mobility of people with are able-bodied, causing fatigue and a most prostheses only store and return above-knee amputations. 40 per cent slower walking speed. significant energy below the knee and in an Their solution lies in improving the energy These difficulties can hinder an amputee’s uncontrolled way. efficiency of prosthetic legs. mobility and thus affect their quality of life. 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.”

EPSRC 1994-2014 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 object123 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. The team are working to design molecules that inhibit NMT’s function, and hope to start clinical trials of potential treatments Malaria demultiplied within four years. The discovery is the culmination of a five- In 2014, a consortium of UK scientists year project by a consortium of researchers made an important step towards new from Imperial College London, the National malaria treatments by identifying a way to Institute for Medical Research, The stop malaria parasites from multiplying. University of Nottingham, the University Light fantastic The research team showed that the activity of York, and Pfizer. It is funded by EPSRC, of an enzyme called NMT is essential the Medical Research Council and the In 2014, the EPSRC-supported for the survival and viability of the most Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC) at common malaria parasite. Research Council. the University of Southampton celebrated its 25th anniversary. Since 1989, EPSRC has invested over Supporting act £20 million in the ORC, building on research led by its founding director, Professor In 2014, EPSRC-supported researchers at the required amount of the material to meet Sir David Payne. Blue-sky research by the University of Cambridge, led by EPSRC safety standards it would save 1,027 tonnes Professor Payne’s team led to the invention Leadership Fellow Professor Julian Allwood, of steel. of the world’s first telecommunications revealed that the construction industry is When scaled up to apply to the 290 million optical amplifier, a key device for internet using almost double the amount of steel in tonnes of steel used worldwide to construct expansion, and 15 years ahead of its time. buildings than is required by safety codes, buildings each year this would save The ORC is now acknowledged as which is having a dramatic impact on 106 million tonnes of steel annually, averting a world leader in photonics, optical carbon emissions. 214 million tonnes of CO emissions. 2 telecommunication and high-power lasers, The team analysed 10,000 structural steel The research was conducted by the UK and has spawned a cluster of photonics beams in 23 buildings across the UK INdemand Centre, led by Professor Allwood companies to commercialise the research, and found that, on average, they were only and funded under the RCUK Energy generating revenues in excess of £100 carrying half the load they were originally Programme, led by EPSRC. million and creating more than 500 jobs. It designed for. The centre, comprising the University has also produced over 700 doctoral-level Buildings covered by the study were ‘typical’ of Cambridge, the University of Leeds, alumni holding senior positions in industry UK steel-framed buildings constructed Nottingham Trent University and the and academia worldwide. within the last University of Bath, focuses on ways to Ideas generated at the ORC help power the five years, mainly significantly reduce the use of both energy global internet, navigate airliners, cut steel, schools, offices and energy-intensive materials in industry. mark iPads, and manufacture life-saving and residential Professor Allwood is also a co-investigator medical devices. buildings. at the EPSRC-funded Innovation and Professor Sir David Payne, who in 2012 was The study Knowledge Centre for Smart Infrastructure knighted for his services to optoelectronics, estimates that and Construction, based at the University of says: “Thanks to long-term backing from if the design of Cambridge, and is a senior staff member at EPSRC, the University of Southampton has the 23 buildings the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in been a world leader in photonics research were optimised Future Infrastructure and Built Environment for 40 years, enabling the ORC to build to include only at Cambridge. ‘critical mass’ rare in academia.”

EPSRC 1994-2014 November 8: US President Obama authorises deployment of 1,500 additional troops to help train and advise Iraqi and Kurdish forces fighting IS militants 124 Fields medal Genius of invention These implants have restored hearing to more than 300,000 people since their In 2014, Professor Martin In 2014, Chris Toumazou, introduction in 1986, the year Professor Hairer, from the University Regius Professor of Toumazou received his first EPSRC of Warwick, became the Engineering at Imperial research grant – he has since been first UK-based mathematician to win the College London, was awarded over 20 more. prestigious Fields Medal since 1998. named Inventor of the Year At the age of just 33, Chris Toumazou Professor Hairer, who held an EPSRC in the Research category became the youngest professor ever to at the European Patent Advanced Research Fellowship from 2006- teach at Imperial College London – an Office’s awards for his work on a low- 2012, was recognised for his ‘outstanding achievement all the more remarkable power USB stick that decodes a patient’s contributions to the theory of stochastic for someone who left school at 16 with DNA within minutes. partial differential equations, and in no qualifications. particular for the creation of a theory of Thanks to his work, DNA can be analysed At Imperial, he focused on ways of regularity structures for such equations’. outside a lab environment – helping combining electrical engineering and The Fields Medal, internationally regarded medicine take a big step from healing microchip technology with biomedicine. illnesses to preventing them. as the world’s most prestigious award Today, Professor Toumazou, who has in mathematics, is awarded every four Invention for Professor Toumazou is in launched several highly successful years and recognises the outstanding his blood. In the 1980s he developed the companies to commercialise his work, achievements of mathematicians aged low-power processor vital to multi-channel co-leads the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral under 40. Previous winners include Sir cochlear implants invented by Erwin and Training in High Performance Embedded Michael Atiyah (see page 59), in 1966. Ingeborg Hochmair. and Distributed Systems at Imperial.

Fat friends Substituting eggs for proteins not only cuts Quantum network fat content, it could also reduce the cost of In 2014, an products and encourage consumers to eat In 2014, EPSRC invested in a new EPSRC-funded more healthily. £120 million national network of Quantum team from Technology Hubs to explore the properties Heriot-Watt The research is being taken forward by of quantum mechanics and how they can University and the project partner Nandi Proteins, which is be harnessed for use in technology. University of using the findings to extend its range of Edinburgh came a step proteins with a view to food manufacturers Quantum technologies offer potentially closer in developing a way to make low-fat incorporating them in new low-fat transformative impacts in key areas such cheeses and cakes as tempting as their products that could start reaching the as quantum metrology and sensors; full-fat equivalents. shops within two years. quantum simulators; quantum computers and quantum secure communications. The team, led by Dr Steve Euston of Lydia Campbell, Chief Technology Officer Heriot-Watt University, produced modified for Nandi Proteins, says: “EPSRC funding The new network will involve 17 universities and 132 companies and proteins that easily break down into allowed the scientific investigation of the will be funded by EPSRC from the £270 micro-particles and therefore closely underlying science of Nandi technology, million investment in the UK National mimic the behaviour of fats during and the outcomes will add significantly Quantum Technologies Programme food manufacture. to the confidence with which the announced by the Chancellor in 2013. The proteins will enable manufacturers technology can be deployed across the The network will consist of four hubs, to remove much of the fat used in their UK and internationally. selected after a competitive peer- products without compromising on “They will also serve to broaden the reviewed process, led by the universities product quality. innovation of our product range, and to of Birmingham, Glasgow, Oxford and York. Protein-for-fat substitution is not a compete with international companies.” Sponsors of the new national network completely new idea, but to date it As part of an Innovate UK-supported include Innovate UK, the Department for has been restricted to products such Knowledge Transfer Partnership, the Business, Innovation and Skills, National as yogurts. research team is now also developing Physical Laboratory, GCHQ, the Defence a computer model to help food The team has achieved particularly Science and Technology Laboratory and manufacturers pinpoint the optimum promising results in using proteins to the Knowledge Transfer Network. replace eggs, an ingredient commonly level of protein-for-fat replacement for used as a gelling agent in bakery items. particular products.

EPSRC 1994-2014 November 15: World leaders gather in Brisbane for the G20 Summit, focusing on economic growth 125 Picture courtesy Markus Unsold, Waldrappteam V-signs In 2014, the mystery of why birds fly in Dr Steve Portugal, lead researcher at the The custom-built technology, developed V-formations was finally solved with the help Royal Veterinary College, University of with funding from EPSRC, captured the of lightweight sensors, fitted to the back of London, says: “The intricate mechanisms movements of every bird within the flock, migrating birds. involved in V-formation flight indicate recording its position, speed, and wing-flap remarkable awareness and ability of birds during 43 minutes of migratory flight. The results from the project will prove to respond to the wingpath of nearby useful in a variety of fields, for example UK scientists worked together with flock-mates. aerodynamics and manufacturing. conservation group Waldrappteam, which “Birds in V-formation seem to have trained zoo-bred birds to follow a microlight A study of 14 Northern Bald Ibises showed developed complex phasing strategies to to teach juvenile birds migration routes. that each bird synchronises its flapping cope with the dynamic wakes produced by The research featured on the front cover of to maximise the aerodynamic benefit of flapping wings.” Nature and appeared in the international upwash from the wings of the bird in front. These aerodynamic accomplishments were print media. Dr Portugal was also The birds’ formation is so precise they are previously not thought possible for birds interviewed for national and local radio also able to avoid downwash from the because of the complex flight dynamics including the Chris Evans Show on birds ahead. and sensory feedback required. BBC Radio 2.

EPSRC 1994-2014 126

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 45% other partners:

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 About EPSRC 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. Forty- five 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: www.epsrc.ac.ukPioneer is made by: as well as keeping up to date byEPSRC following works alongsideus on Twitter: other Research www.twitter.com/ Councils which have responsibility in other research areas. Editor: Mark Mallett ([email protected]) epsrc The Research Councils work collectively on issues of Design: Rachael Brown ([email protected]) common concern via Research Councils UK.

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