Leading academics from 10 UK universities have been awarded a total of £13 million in Fellowship grants to maintain the UK's research leadership in three areas identified as Great British Technologies; Advanced Materials, Robotic and Autonomous Systems, and Synthetic Biology.
Announcing the investment today Universities and Science Minister, David Willetts said: "These Fellowships will keep the UK ahead in fields identified as part of the 8 Great Technologies with the potential to propel UK growth. We champion and support our leading academics in these areas to realise our ambition to make the UK the best place in the world to do and apply science."
The fellowship awards range between £804,000 and £1,250,000 and will fund work over a five year period. Advanced Materials projects include work to explore how semi-conducting materials can be used in electronic devices like mobile phones without the need to cool them to very low temperatures, and research that uses imaging techniques to understand how metals behave during solidification and casting.
In Robotics, researchers at the University of Glasgow will develop tactile synthetic skin that can be printed and used with robots to work in healthcare. Synthetic Biology projects include work investigating how to apply control engineering techniques - like those we use every day in thermostats, cars, planes - to biologically based parts such as cells. As well as other projects investigating: the creation of programmable functional biomaterials e.g. fabrics that are capable of self-cleaning, and developing methods for renewable energy.
Professor Philip Nelson EPSRC's Chief Executive said: "To provide opportunities for growth, both scientific and economic, it is vital that the UK has a steady supply of academic talent in the physical sciences and engineering. To do this we must support academics throughout their careers. These Fellowships will mean we are retaining the leaders we need to maintain our position in Synthetic Biology, Robotics and Autonomous Systems, and Advanced Materials."
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The EPSRC Press Office, Tel: 01793 444 404, e-mail: pressoffice@epsrc.ac.uk
Details of Fellowships for Growth
EP/M002411/1 Professor T. Ashley University of Warwick
Engineering Fellowships for Growth: Narrow Band-gap Semiconductors for Integrated Sensing and Communications £1,015,000
EP/M002462/1 Professor A.J. Bell University of Leeds
Engineering Fellowships for Growth: Polar Materials for Additive Manufacturing
£1,031,000
EP/M002209/1 Professor R. Williams University of Liverpool
Engineering Fellowships for Growth: Building Advanced Materials to Treat Vision Loss £1,213,000
EP/M002241/1 Dr C.M. Gourlay Imperial College London
Engineering Fellowships for Growth: Solidification Processing of Alloys for Sustainable Manufacturing £804,000
EP/M002500/1 Dr S.T. Pinho Imperial College London
Engineering Fellowships for Growth: Next Generation of Lightweight Composites - How Far Can We Go? £818,000
EP/M002438/1 Dr M.F. Craciun University of Exeter
Engineering Fellowships for Growth: Imperceptible smart coatings based on atomically thin materials £1,127,000
EP/M002322/1 Dr H.A. Kim University of Bath
Engineering Fellowships for Growth: Materials by Design for Impact in Aerospace Engineering £1,237,000
EP/M002489/1 Dr RS Trask University of Bristol
Engineering Fellowships for Growth - Morphogenesis Manufacturing: Smart Materials with Programmed Transformations £871,000
EP/M002527/1 R. Dahiya University of Glasgow Engineering Fellowships for Growth: Printable Tactile Skin £1,068,000
EP/M002187/1 Dr G.V. Stan Imperial College London
Engineering Fellowships for Growth: Systems and Control Engineering Framework for Robust and Efficient Synthetic Biology £1,016,000
EP/M002306/1 Dr T. Ellis Imperial College London
Engineering Fellowships for Growth: Advanced Synthetic Biology Measurement to Enable Programmable Functional Biomaterials £964,000
EP/M002454/1 Professor A. Papachristodoulou University of Oxford
Engineering Fellowships For Growth: Designing Feedback Control in Biology for Robustness and Scalability £1,068,000
EP/M002403/1 Dr W. Huang University of Sheffield
Engineering Fellowships for Growth: Development of SimCells as building blocks for synthetic biology £843,000.00
Notes to Editors:
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is the UK's main agency for funding research in engineering and the physical sciences. EPSRC invests around £800 million a year in research and postgraduate training, to help the nation handle the next generation of technological change. The areas covered range from information technology to structural engineering, and mathematics to materials science. This research forms the basis for future economic development in the UK and improvements for everyone's health, lifestyle and culture. EPSRC works alongside other Research Councils with responsibility for other areas of research. The Research Councils work collectively on issues of common concern via Research Councils UK. http://www.epsrc.ac.uk