University of Surrey

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-07

REVOLUPHON aims to transform the theory of phonology by explaining the field's most significant observations of the past sixty years. Decades of research has revealed that phonologies are particularly well described in terms of (i) certain abstract formal representations and (ii) an optimisation process. However, we do not yet understand why. My core hypothesis is that the dominant, descriptive discoveries of phonology since the 1960's will be explained by a new synthesis with (i) resource rationality; and (ii) cultural evolution. (i) Resource rationality is a new theory of cognition that explains the motivations and advantages of cognitive computational strategies, including for when and how to store information. I hypothesise that resource rationality can illuminate the cognitive motivations for classic, descriptively-successful phonological representations. REVOLUPHON tests this hypothesis by modelling the computational tasks demanded by phonology across three successive developmental stages, and evaluating the resource rationality of classic representations in the contexts of those tasks. (ii) Evolution leads to optimisation and phonologies undergo cultural evolution. However, an explanatory link from evolution to optimisation has yet to be made in phonological theory. I hypothesise that a formalised theory of phonological evolution will explain why phonologies (mostly) optimise, how they do, and when they do not. REVOLUPHON tests this hypothesis by: developing new modes of evolutionary analysis and devising computational models that couple cultural evolution to the resource-rational learning and use of phonology, to solve outstanding theoretical problems of (non-)optimisation and to answer entirely new questions about how phonologies evolve. REVOLUPHON charts a bold path that overturns our understanding of the central observations of the field; leads to a new and significantly deeper explanation of them; and founds a vibrant and productive new theory.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-07

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

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-06

Modern digital electronics has reached an important junction. The traditional way of delivering ever stronger computing power by simple miniaturisation is no longer possible. One potential avenue for future electronics lies in Quantum Computing which can potentially deliver enormous computational power for certain tasks. Over the last decade, improvements in the materials, design and new architectures for realising qubits have led to an impressive increase of their coherence time. Yet, further improving coherence is imperative to achieving a fault tolerant quantum processor. We propose an approach to enhance qubit coherence by orders of magnitude, based on storing quantum information in the lowest energy states of short qubit chains. This encoding is protected from major sources of decoherence due to a high degree of spatial symmetry supported by long range interactions. In this project we will apply these principles to both Rydberg atoms and superconducting circuits which are architectures that have the required properties to support this approach. The project will also develop protocols to couple, control, readout and benchmark the qubits. Finally, this project aims to reach a level of technological maturity such that this approach will have near term applications in today's quantum computing industry.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-06

The rapid rise of vegan meat in the UK and many other developed countries is often described as a "food revolution". As a disruptive food technology, vegan meat fuses food science and bold social change agendas: countering climate change, improving citizens' health, and avoiding animal cruelty. Since it mimics animal meat's textures and flavour, vegan meat facilitates non-vegan consumers' transition to a low-animal-meat diet, a critical goal for reaching net-zero target in our food systems. However, vegan meat's meteoric rise has been accompanied by hypes: inflated expectations, opportunistic entries, and ruthless competition, which in time may generate disappointments (when expectations are not met) and failures (when start-ups cannot scale up fast enough to compete). The present fragmented state of the vegan meat sector also suggests inconsistent communications, exactly at a time when the nascent market needs credible and compelling value propositions, which can convince more consumers to select vegan meat and to engage with the social change agendas represented by vegan meat. Our proposed research project aims to help address this problem by presenting an in-depth understanding of the sector's internal dynamics and external drivers and inhibitors. Since abundant studies have suggested that cultural-based connections with stakeholders are crucial to the success of moral markets (i.e., markets concerned with creating not only wealth but also social goods), we examine the roles of vegan meat entrepreneurs and other sector members in utilising cultural resources to navigate a hyped market, exploiting economic opportunities while expanding vegan meat's moral claims and entrepreneurs' value-based identities. Importantly, we want to understand how value-driven entrepreneurs, many of whom built their companies with a view of avoiding animal cruelty and/or environmental damage (i.e., two deeply rooted problems in our food systems), deploy narratives, stories, analogies, and metaphors to create value propositions and influence consumers, media/the public, investors, and policymakers. We explore the above dynamics across two markets: 1) UK: where the food policy is passive in addressing climate change and where significant research clusters have not yet formed; 2) the Netherlands: where the food policy proactively tackles climate change and where plant-based food science is booming, with ambitious goals of leading the world's food system transition. Our comparative approach will generate insights that can be applied in multiple ways: 1)Research papers will contribute to knowledge by presenting novel theories on how entrepreneurs use cultural strategies to navigate a hyped moral market that is rapidly mainstreaming. 2) By disseminating knowledge through our website and tailored events, we help vegan meat entrepreneurs to deeply understand the dynamics of their own sector (e.g., the motivations and strategies of other entrepreneurs and key stakeholders), stimulating collective learning, as well as creating motivations to network, associate, and participate in collective sector-building. 3)The comparative insights will create opportunities for entrepreneurs and stakeholders in the UK and Dutch markets to broaden their views and expand their strategic understanding of the sector; opportunities of cross-pollination of ideas and strategies, or even business alliances, may be possible. 4)By sharing our findings with food consultancies and media experts we dispel myths in the sector and provide credible, nuanced and in-depth understanding of entrepreneurs and stakeholders (strengths, challenges, motivations, strategies and long-term plans). This knowledge sharing will enable those food experts to more accurately report on a vitally important and rapidly expanding food sector.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-06

Connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) have the potential to provide efficient and sustainable transportation. However, road safety of autonomous driving remains a critical challenge, the lack of which hinders their widespread adoption and integration into the transportation system. It is thus pressing to evolve vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications to provide reliable and secure communications for CAVs to exchange critical information for cooperative decision-making, ensuring the road safety. This project sets an ambitious goal of designing smart and proactive traffic steering across multiple radio access technologies (multi-RAT) in the environment of CAVs. The technical approach is threefold. First, to ensure the reliability of communications, this project unleashes the full potential of massive sensing that involves the collection of vast amounts of data from sensors deployed on vehicles and roadside infrastructure, and then leverage the cooperation perception of environment for situational awareness and ahead-of-time decisionmaking in V2X. Second, it develops a security and privacy preservation mechanism to protect the integrity and privacy of the highly dynamic vehicular network as well as defending the widely used machine learning process. Finally, relying on the 5G testbed, Open RAN (O-RAN) solution, and other V2X facilities provided by some partners, the final step is to implement and evaluate the performance of developed solutions, which closes the gap between theory and practice. The planned secondments provide partners the opportunity to test their solutions on the infrastructure possessed by other partners.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-06

Precise and representative quantification of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is essential for evaluating the effectiveness of mitigation strategies aimed at achieving net-zero targets, and for providing rigour and integrity to the voluntary carbon credit market. This project focuses on the accurate and representative monitoring of of three powerful GHGs - methane, nitrous oxide, and carbon dioxide - in farmland, water, and forest environments. These environments are major producers/absorbers of these gases. However, their realistic monitoring is greatly undermined by the substantial spatial and temporal variability of emissions, which conventional methods, despite their precision, fail to capture comprehensively. Current monitoring techniques use expensive techniques for acquiring precise measurements only representative of a small footprint (e.g. closed chambers, optical sensors). Eddy covariance towers have a much larger sensing footprint (roughly 200m diameter), and provide continuous measurements in time. However, these are pieces of costly capital infrastructure, requiring complex operation and maintenance, and their representativeness is quite limited by their height and static position. We propose the deployment of a robotic flux tower system, comprising low-cost sensor arrays tethered to a ground robot by an aerodynamic balloon. The adaptable sensing altitude of the platform (via adjustable tether length) will allow spatially representative measures over complex natural environments. Being tethered to a robot, the flux tower can be easily transported to sites where GHG measurements are needed. Additionally, a balloon can stay in place for long durations, giving sufficient time resolution to fully capture the gas dynamics of the study location. The system will allow emissions data collection in a way that is scalable and transferable to any site where GHG emissions are a concern (e.g. agriculture, water treatment, landfill, oil and gas). Autonomous ground vehicles and tethered balloons are both well-established technologies, and the robotic component of the study can be implemented quickly by experienced engineers. The most significant challenge is instead the provision of accurate sensors that are sufficiently lightweight that they can be integrated with a small robot. This is challenging but feasible using the latest off-the-shelf miniature sensors, when enhanced with additional conditioning electronics and data postprocessing. By combining cutting edge sensing / robotics innovation with modern techniques in data science, the project's datasets and collection techniques will become a platform for further development of robotic environmental monitoring which can support sustainable development and will ultimately help to ensure emissions targets can be reached in the UK.