University of Liverpool

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2025 · 2025-01

In the central nervous system (CNS), glutamate and glycine are pivotal excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters, respectively. Optical sensors for tracking neurotransmitters in space and time can provide important information on neurotransmission and signal processing. As an example, the development of the indicator iGluSnFR for the neurotransmitter glutamate, has led to ground-breaking advances in excitatory neurotransmission, particularly on synaptic spillover and exocytic vesicle fusion. However, there is no equivalent biosensor to monitor glycine homeostasis and therefore information on inhibitory neurotransmission remains limited. Visualising glycine dynamics in vivo using fluorescent sensors would represent a significant new approach that will greatly contribute to understanding the processes mediated by this major neurotransmitter in health and disease. In order to achieve this long-term goal, new glycine biosensors are urgently required. Considering the high demand for such biosensors, we propose an innovative project intended to fill this major experimental gap by developing a "toolbox" of entirely new genetically-encoded indicators that will allow in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo studies of inhibitory glycine neurotransmission. Based on our track record in developing protein-based fluorescent sensors, we aim to create a unique palette of genetically-encoded glycine indicators optimised for in vivo imaging (iGly). iGly will subsequently allow direct, real-time, visualisation of glycine dynamics in tissues or living animals. A fluorescent indicator capable of real-time tracking of glycine concentration changes in vivo would be a breakthrough, since it could be tailored to reveal mechanisms of information processing, synaptic plasticity and neural circuits in the CNS. This glycine monitoring "toolbox" will be made freely available (through repositories such as Addgene) to the scientific community as a resource and will help provide important new information as to the role of inhibitory neurotransmission in the CNS.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-12

New materials with transformative properties will have new structures. This is because the structural arrangement of atoms generates their function. State-of-the-art structure determination is therefore critical for the UK, as exemplified by our EPSRC-funded materials discovery research in flagship programmes. These programmes are producing increasing numbers of samples, spanning inorganic, organic and hybrid materials, whose structures are difficult to determine because of intrinsic complexity or materials-specific challenges of growth and quality. The development of new digital and automated materials discovery workflows is driving the scale of this challenge, with the determination of crystal structure now being a serious bottleneck in the discovery process. This is because our ability to collect appropriate data does not match the number of samples or their scientific difficulty. Access to state-of-the-art structure determination facilities is essential to unlock the potential of the materials we can now access, and to enable the design of next-generation systems whose enhanced performance will arise from the structural understanding that the new instrumentation will allow. We request a Single Crystal X-ray Diffractometer (SXRD) and an Electron Diffractometer (ED) to form an Advanced Diffraction Infrastructure (ADI) for Materials Chemistry. State-of-the-art SXRD will allow us to collect high-quality data in minutes with new source and detector technology, solving larger and more complex structures in real time as they are generated by our discovery workflows. ED allows structure determination from crystals with sizes <1 µm, which will transform the discovery of functional materials by unlocking systems that cannot be grown at the scale needed for SXRD. ED will work alongside SXRD as the sample size and presentation requirements differ greatly, and ED presents additional data processing challenges. The two instruments together are needed to match the rate of materials discovery from the AI-driven workflows in the Materials Innovation Factory (MIF) at Liverpool, and to enable measurement of all forms of samples emerging from these workflows, with crystallites varying in size from nanometres to millimetres. Both instruments are required in the modern materials design process, combining rapid hit identification to inform future experiments with precise structural information for detailed understanding of function. The instruments will be located in the Open Access Area of the MIF, expanding the extensive range of automated analytical and synthesis instrumentation in a facility shared by over 100 industrial researchers (from over 15 companies) and 200 academic researchers. The instruments will be supported by the MIF technical team that has demonstrated its ability to run a successful academic and commercial user programme since 2017. Data management and security for this breadth of users are well-established. These established operational and access protocols remove risk. The ADI will operate as a complementary facility to existing service provision by focussing on enquiry-based problems prioritised in collaboration with users by the MIF team. The team will develop expertise in sample preparation and data collection to address materials chemistry problems spanning the growth of knowledge from understanding of structure and bonding to the identification of materials key to advance properties from energy materials (solar, batteries, fuel cells, electrolysers) and functional coatings (transparent conductors) to materials for separations and catalysis. The scale of demand from in-house and extensive collaborative programmes in Liverpool is such that we envisage 20% for external enquiry-based access, with the track-record of the MIF team in enabling commercial users ensuring cross-sector benefit.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-11

This project aims to develop a fully intelligent solutions to the challenges of prognostic health management of floating offshore wind turbines (FOWT). The research will develop a Physics Informed Deep Neural Network with Uncertainty Quantification (PIDNN-UQ) for real-time diagnosis and prognosis by combining smart and high precision dataset to address big data problem. Numerical simulations of FOWT in coupled multi-physical fields will be conducted to investigate fatigue behaviours and mechanisms. Smart (data-centric) databases of fatigue mechanisms for accurate modelling and analysis of FOWT will be devloped to facilitate realt-time diagnosis and prognosis. The study will design and implement multi-tasking PIDNN-UQ models with physics-informed capability to improved model's knowledge and uncertainty quantification. This will enable the model to diagnose, quantify and predict the remaining useful lifetime of FOWTs. Experimental and field data from Hywind 5 x 6MW FOWTs (Floating wind farm) and open source data from fixed bottom wind turbines (RAVE) would be used to validate and examine the performance of the ULTIMATE. Outcomes of the research will contribute to advances in predictive maintenance, understanding of operation and performance of FOWT in real time. This project will also contribute to knowledge in machine learning application to offshore engineering and renewable energy systems. This will enhance curriculum development in O&M, structural integrity, data science and applied mathematics. engineering, mathematical theories of intelligent operation and maintenance of mechanical systems. The project benefits the industry by developing intelligent maintenance methodologies based on PHM methods that delivers optimal FOWT operation with minimal human interface and improved safety and reliability.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-11

CONTEXT: In high-income countries like the UK, almost all of the common approaches to treating acute and chronic healthcare conditions are based on medicines that need to be taken every day or several times per day. Treatments for high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, asthma, and depression, are all based on daily doses of drug, delivered via tablets, liquid medicines, or inhalers. Unfortunately, many medicines fail to deliver their intended benefits due to missed doses and many prescribed medicines are thrown away. Missed doses create a range of additional complications, from a lack of efficacy, through to the development of pathogen resistance. These complications can negatively impact individual patients, in some cases leading to their death, and have the potential to negatively impact whole populations. There is a proven alternative approach, called Long-Acting Therapeutics (LAT), which deploys drugs in a different way. A single administered dose safely delivers the right amount of drug over very extended periods of time from weeks to months. These approaches have been highly successful in the management of HIV and mental health disorders, and recently this team have shown the potential to protect against malaria infection. The scope for LATs is considerable and many diseases have no LAT option, and global health efforts are targeting many opportunities. Market research has consistently shown a high degree of patient enthusiasm for LATs. For doctors, this approach can greatly simplify the way they administer drugs, improve clinical outcomes, reduce environmental exposure, and reduce the costs of healthcare provision. But LATs cannot be introduced trivially. To fully exploit their potential in the UK, a concerted investment in science, technology, regulatory pathways, clinical manufacture, and utilisation is required. Developing appropriate LAT medicines also requires a detailed understanding of public and patient perspectives and the acceptability of LAT approaches. VISION: Our vision is to create a UK National Hub for Advanced Long-acting Therapeutics (HALo), based at the University of Liverpool’s (UoL) Centre of Excellence for Long-acting Therapeutics (CELT) with initial satellite activities in 3 leading UK Universities (University of Nottingham, Queens University Belfast, and the University of Manchester). The Hub will advocate for new LAT development to maximise opportunities from a UK perspective, address key technology questions, establish LAT awareness across public, patient, and clinical groups and ensure patient involvement in future LAT development. AIMS & OBJECTIVES: HALo will conduct world-leading physical science research to advance LATs and will also advocate strongly for a national strategy on LATs. We will also create a national translational ecosystem to enable scale-up of industrial and academic LAT candidates from pre-clinical proof-of-concept through a UK-wide manufacturing base capable of production of GMP medicinal LA products and a regulatory environment to enable rapid clinical evaluation. PARTNERSHIP: HALo has established a partnership with numerous pharmaceutical companies (start-ups to multinationals), contract development & manufacturing organisations (CDMOs), formulation ingredient manufacturers and some of the largest hospitals in the UK. We will create patient, CDMO and industry forums with additional partners to advocate strongly for a national strategy and ensure the UK benefits from the economic and healthcare potential of LATs. Future national healthcare provision will require LATs to overcome unmet clinical needs not addressable using conventional medicines. HALo will address key technology questions, establish LAT awareness, and ensure patient involvement in future LAT development.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-11

"The landscape is connected but the community, data and management aren't" (CONVERSE Workshop Participant) The number of people at high risk from flooding in the UK is predicted to double by 2080, disproportionately impacting socially and economically marginalised populations. Typically flood interventions use hard engineering approaches that are rarely developed in consultation with communities. As such, communities feel their voices have not been heard and interventions are at odds with their needs and values. Adaptation to flooding therefore necessitates a radical reimagining. Nature Based Interventions (NBI) have the potential to deliver a wide range of physical and social benefits that are more integrated with community needs. However, there are both scientific and social challenges associated with quantifying the use of NBI. Scientifically, we currently lack large-scale empirical evidence to evaluate their efficacy with a major limitation being a disconnect between local & catchment-scale benefits. Questions also arise about what data and metrics are needed to define success. For these questions to be answered there needs to be routine and long-term monitoring. Socially, NBI cross geographical and organisational borders, and the expertise and problem-solving capabilities of multiple stakeholders. As such NBI are often highly contested, involve unclear problem definitions and have uncertain and unpredictable trajectories. Quantifying the social impacts of NBI schemes is therefore a significant challenge. Where attempts have been made to include the community in monitoring of NBI they are often delivered by 'experts' rather than community-led leading to uneven power balances whereby communities feel that schemes are being 'done' to them rather than being the ones who are 'doing the doing'. Therefore, NBI scheme implementation often meets resistance and evidence to underpin how to best co-design and co-deliver schemes with communities to maximise community needs remains woefully inadequate. Placing the community at the heart of the project, CONVERSE (COmmuNity Vision for REsilient RiverScapEs) will address these challenges, seeking to empower socially and marginalised communities to take ownership of their local environment. Specifically, the CONVERSE project will bring together communities working in equitable partnership with scientists to co-develop NBI design and monitoring programmes to establish sustainable management strategies and challenge historic approaches to NBI. Building on aspects raised during the partnership building phase CONVERSE will: (i) understand relationships to place and NBI and identify how these differ amongst stakeholders; (ii) co-design engaged monitoring strategies that evaluate NBI efficacy at different scales; (iii) collaboratively undertake community defined monitoring strategies and compare these to conventional monitoring strategies; (iv) compare the efficacy of data captured in quantifying the physical and social benefits of NBI; and (v) evaluate partnership building mechanisms, community interaction, and the legacy and sustainability of the partnerships. Leveraging upon a significant body of partner funded work we have built a team that crosses typical disciplinary boundaries; it is unique in that it is led by an engagement specialist in conjunction with physical and social scientists together with community partners who span across community, charity and health groups, practitioners responsible for both physical and data infrastructure of NBI and those in policy and regulation. By the end of the project we will have empowered and up-skilled communities and produced a blueprint for the co-design and co-evaluation of effective monitoring strategies for Nature Based Interventions. Further we will have used a unique transdisciplinary approach to deliver exemplar engaged community science.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-11

Emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) from our society are rapidly warming our climate to currently 1.1 degrees C warmer than in preindustrial times. Global governments have pledged to reduce emissions to stabilise our warming climate at 1.5 degrees requiring us to reduce emissions of CO2 to a point where they no longer accumulate in the atmosphere: Net Zero. A crucial consideration in this effort are natural reservoirs of carbon on the Earth's surface such as permafrost and soils that store large amounts of carbon away from the atmosphere, but which are vulnerable to environmental change. The destabilisation of these reservoirs over time, releasing more CO2 into the atmosphere, presents a challenge to stabilising climate upon reaching Net Zero. Therefore, predicting how these natural carbon reservoirs will change in the future is a crucially important task. The Biological Carbon Pump is one of these natural reservoirs of carbon in our Earth System. It stores carbon in the ocean by plankton (microscopic plants) taking up CO2 as they grow in the surface ocean. The sinking remains of these plankton carry the carbon into the deep ocean locking it away for hundreds to thousands of years. This carbon pool is equivalent in size to the anthropogenically-driven increase in atmospheric CO2 over the 20th century. The Biological Carbon Pump is widely expected to be sensitive to environmental change and could therefore release CO2 in the future. However, we have limited knowledge of what those changes might be and why because we don't have the necessary outputs from the state-of-the-art future projections by Earth System Models that underpin the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports that inform social, economic and political decisions about Climate Change. PREdicting biological Carbon in the Ocean Globally (PRECOG) will build a team of experts at the University of Liverpool to comprehensively explore the future of the Biological Carbon Pump using state-of-the-art Earth System Model projections. PRECOG will strategically align with an international network of researchers and industry partners to build a new knowledge framework that will inform future IPCC reports and mitigation strategies. PRECOG will: 1) Derive new standard quantitative measures of the Biological Carbon Pump in a future changing ocean. 2) Quantify how and why the Biological Carbon Pump changes in state-of-the-art future projections that underpin the IPCC reports. 3) Determine the long-term impact of the Biological Carbon Pump beyond the year 2100 using new Earth System Model simulations. 4) Predict which future projections of the Biological Carbon Pump are most likely and how this might impact schemes to artificially enhance carbon storage by combining future projections with new compilations of observations. PRECOG has a strong focus on connecting scientific outcomes to societally relevant outcomes. The research team will maintain a strong and active link with IPCC activities through its international network with the aim of raising the profile of Biological Carbon Pump research. PRECOG will also work with industry partners interested in techniques that will enhance the carbon storage of the Biological Carbon Pump to help mitigate rising CO2 such as kelp farming and seeding the ocean with iron. PRECOG will provide the state-of-the-art estimates for the best locations to undertake these activities and disseminate these findings through its industrial partners. In summary, the Biological Carbon Pump is a vulnerable natural carbon pool in the ocean that can influence atmospheric CO2 in response to environmental change. The future of this carbon pool is however poorly known. This Future Leaders Fellowship, PRECOG, will establish a team of experts to explore the Biological Carbon Pump in state-of-the-art IPCC projections to find out what the likely future changes are and translate this is into a societally relevant agenda.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-11

The metabolic activities of living cells and organisms lead to the production of many thousands of different molecules. To analyse and quantify them, scientists use methods that separate them in special tubes (known as chromatography columns) and then determine their nature by giving them an electric charge and fragmenting them in the gas phase, then measuring the masses (strictly the mass-to-charge ratios) of the fragments. These 'fragment fingerprints', known as mass spectra, may be compared with those of known molecules stored in databases, and thereby used to identify the molecules. The big problem here is that most of the mass spectra generated bear little or no relation to the comparatively few molecules (relative to all plausible molecules) that ARE in the databases. What is therefore needed is a method that allows one to propose a structure from the mass spectra 'de novo', i.e. without recourse to databases of experimental mass spectra. Although the number of experimental mass spectra is small, given a molecular structure it is possible to fragment it inside a computer to produce all (or a sensible subset) of the fragments that it COULD create. The ZINC database contains more than 10 billion molecular structure that obey chemical rules. Modern methods of 'deep learning' or 'generative artificial intelligence (AI)' allow one to relate paired 'in silico' (computer-generated) mass spectra with the structures that 'caused' them, and in an earlier study we used just such a method, known as a 'transformer', trained with some 21 million computer-generated mass spectra, to learn the mass-spectrum-to-structure mapping. This transformer consisted of a neural network with some 400 million nodes, and could indeed generalize to predict the structures of molecules on which it had been trained. Although this was for 2020 (when the work was performed) a very large network - three years earlier it would have been the largest ever published by anyone, including the likes of Google, Facebook and Amazon - it was nowhere near the kinds of network size that were even then being published (e.g. Google Switch > 1 trillion nodes - Hutson, M. (2021) The language machines. Nature. 591, 22-25). Since it is well known (as 'scaling laws') that bigger networks can in effect learn more, the first requirement of this project is to increase the size of both the dataset used to train the network and the network itself, and to see how much this improves generalisation. A variety of other strategies will also be tried to improve the ability of our new network to generalise to most of the biologically relevant chemical space. These include changing the representation of the structure of the small molecules given to the computer, removing nodes that do little or nothing, changing the architecture of the transformer, and 'fine tuning' the transformer by training it additionally not only with computer-generated mass spectra by composite mass spectra obtained experimentally using a variety of instruments that we already possess. The result will potentially be a solution to the biggest problem besetting those who study metabolism in any organism - the fact that they cannot even identify the molecules that they can observe, and which can be seen to be intimately involved in the processes of interest.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-11

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 · 2024-10

Plankton in the ocean, microscopic plants (phytoplankton) and tiny animals (zooplankton) that eat the plants, are vital to marine life and to Earth's climate. They form the base of food chains that support ocean ecosystems, and remove carbon from the atmosphere and bury it in (or export it to) the ocean depths. It is currently thought that plankton are responsible for removing 6 billion tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere each year; fossil fuel burning releases about 10 billion tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere annually. Without this export of carbon in the ocean, atmospheric CO2 would be twice the current concentration. The importance of plankton to food chains and carbon export depends on the species of plankton. Larger phytoplankton are better at supporting food chains and at exporting carbon because (1) larger phytoplankton sink quicker, removing carbon away from the sea surface and contact with the atmosphere, and (2) larger phytoplankton support larger zooplankton, which are eaten by fish and which also excrete large, fast-sinking faecal pellets which quickly transfer carbon away from the atmosphere. We have discovered a new link between which types of plankton can grow and the tides flowing over a mid-ocean ridge. The ocean is layered, with warmer, less dense layers at the surface and colder, denser layers deeper in the ocean. When tidal currents flow up and down the flanks of a mid-ocean ridge, these layers are pushed up and down, causing waves on the layers called "internal tidal waves". These internal tidal waves reach up to the sun-lit upper ocean, where photosynthesis by the phytoplankton takes place. We think these waves have two important effects. (1) The waves cause mixing between the layers of ocean, bringing nutrients from deep in the ocean up to the phytoplankton; this will help extra phytoplankton growth, but crucially it is also known that extra nutrient supplies allow larger species of phytoplankton to grow. (2) The waves move the phytoplankton up and down; this provides more light to the phytoplankton, because as they are moved upward they get closer to the light at the sea surface and are able to grow more. Thus, we think that the internal tidal waves create more growth of larger plankton over a mid-ocean ridge, which means better food for marine food chains and more carbon exported away from the atmosphere. This new link may explain why ridges support such diverse ecosystems, and it also means that the ocean over ridges is far better at exporting carbon than we previously thought. We have calculated that, for the whole Atlantic Ocean, including the tidal effect of the mid-Atlantic ridge adds about 50% to current estimates of how much carbon the plankton export. This means that current understanding of the ocean's role in Earth's climate, which ignores the ridge-tide effect, significantly underestimates how much CO2 plankton remove from the atmosphere. We need to fix this because our predictions of our future climate depend on having correct descriptions of the processes that govern atmospheric CO2. We will conduct an expedition to the mid-ocean ridge in the S. Atlantic. We will measure the internal tidal waves and the upward mixing of nutrients, and the effect the waves have on light received by phytoplankton. We will measure how fast the phytoplankton and zooplankton grow in response to these waves, how the species of plankton change over the ridge, and how much carbon is exported downward over the ridge compared to the adjacent ocean basin. This will be the first time that internal tidal waves are linked to patterns of carbon export in the ocean: internal tidal waves occur wherever there are ridges or seamounts in the ocean and our results will have important global implications for our understanding of ocean food webs and Earth's climate.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-10

The transportation sector represents a significant and rapidly expanding energy consumer, and it stands out as one of the most difficult sectors in decarbonization. Although promising projections suggest a rapid proliferation of low-power electric vehicles, the decarbonization of heavy-duty vehicles (ships, long-haul trucks, and aviation) remains challenging. A promising solution is to produce infrastructure-compatible advanced liquid biofuels (such as drop-in hydrocarbons with high energy density) through bio- and/or (electro)-chemical conversion technologies. Nonetheless, existing technologies present notable challenges: (1) biological conversion is susceptible to environmental variables, leading to a diverse array of by-products and low carbon utilization; (2) (electro)-chemical efficiency is compromised by inactive surface-catalyzed reactions; (3) sustainability of the integrated process can be uncertain due to the intricate nature of biowastes and the resulting products. The proposed two-year fellowship BioBOOST hosted in University of Liverpool aims to develop an innovative integrated system that produces advanced biofuels (liquid alkanes and green hydrogen) by combining the strength of bio- and (electro)-chemical conversion. BioBOOST will explore the conversion of biowastes to medium-chain carboxylic acids as the key biofuel/chemical. precursors by an intensified microbial fermentation process. Subsequently, the platform carboxylic acids will be valorized to liquid bio-alkanes via the sustainable Kolbe electrolysis. By harnessing the synergistic potential of bio- and (electro)-chemical conversion, BioBOOST enables the concurrent separation and valorization of platform intermediates. This, in turn, paves the way to produce advanced biofuels in a circular bioeconomy. The completion of research and training activities in BioBOOST will enhance the career prospects of the fellow and prepare the fellow as a prominent researcher in bioenergy field.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-09

Doctoral Training Partnerships: a range of postgraduate training is funded by the Research Councils. For information on current funding routes, see the common terminology at https://www.ukri.org/apply-for-funding/how-we-fund-studentships/. Training grants may be to one organisation or to a consortia of research organisations. This portal will show the lead organisation only.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-09

Background: The UK experiences some of the largest differences in health between places in Europe with people in poorer areas dying on average 9 years younger and living for 19 more years in poor health than those in more affluent areas. These health differences are largely due to economic differences between places leading to higher risks of poverty and its health consequences in places such as Liverpool City Region. These risks have increased following multiple recent crises, exacerbating inequalities. The Challenge: Across city regions multiple organisations invest in Household Socio-economic Support (HSS) services, for example welfare advice, cash benefits and employment support to try and address these risks. Increasing devolution of these welfare services provides an opportunity to experiment and learn. There is, however, limited evidence of the health impacts of these programmes and the combined benefits of integrating employment, welfare, education and health support across a city region. Aims and Objectives: CHESS addresses this major problem. By applying quasi-experimental methods, using whole population linked data across LCR (1.6 million people) we will evaluate the health impact of 5 HSS interventions, supporting around 110,000 people per year, investigating differential effectiveness across population subgroups, and synergies across intervention components (e.g. combined effect of action on household income, education and employment). Our aim is to understand whether, how and for whom current HSS works in LCR, and how it can be adapted, integrated and targeted to maximise benefits for health and health equity. Our objectives are: To quantify the health impacts of different components of HSS in LCR whether these differ by combination and integration of components and by different population groups. To estimate the costs and benefits of HSS. To understand the experience of participants and providers of HSS and the implications of this for service redesign/adaption. To develop a real-time household vulnerability tool for all 800,000 households in LCR enabling the pro-active identification and targeting of households with socioeconomic support. To use research findings to adapt system design with stakeholders, to maximise health and health inequalities benefits, refining actionable insights for other city regions. Anticipated impact: The research will indicate the critical components needed for developing adaptable local social protection systems to meet new challenges (e.g. pandemics, energy crises), that promote health and wellbeing, and prevent a downward spiral following crises. This will lead to major benefits for disadvantaged communities, who are most at risk of economic shocks, in LCR and similar city regions.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-09

Doctoral Training Partnerships: a range of postgraduate training is funded by the Research Councils. For information on current funding routes, see the common terminology at https://www.ukri.org/apply-for-funding/how-we-fund-studentships/. Training grants may be to one organisation or to a consortia of research organisations. This portal will show the lead organisation only.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-09

Despite its many successes, the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics is known to be incomplete. The search for physics from beyond the SM (BSM) is increasingly urgent, with many SM extensions ruled out by collider experiments. Precision tests of the SM can complement direct searches for BSM phenomena. By comparing ultra-precise experimental measurements with theoretical predictions, we can look for gaps in the SM. A quantity of particular interest is the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon, aµ, which parameterises the strength of the interaction between the muon's spin and a magnetic field. It can be measured and predicted with equal precision, and is sensitive to all SM interactions. Calculations involving every particle and interaction in the SM are used to predict aµ, so a difference between measurement and prediction could indicate BSM physics. Recently, the Fermilab g-2 experiment published a measurement of aµ with a precision of 0.20 ppm. This is the most precise measurement ever made at a particle accelerator, and is in excellent agreement with the previous result in 2021 from the same experiment. The measurement has attracted huge interest worldwide, since it appears to deviate from the currently-accepted SM prediction, aµth, at the 5s level. However, recent advances in the methods used to perform this challenging calculation appear consistent with the experiment and could signify a problem with the theory. It is crucial to verify aµth in order to confirm the existence of a SM-breaking discrepancy. This project has two aims that will address this challenging problem: confirm the experimental value with the full dataset from the muon g-2 experiment, and confirm the theoretical value by performing an independent measurement of the part of the SM prediction with the highest uncertainty, using the MUonE experiment. The target precision for the full g-2 dataset is 0.14 ppm, with approximately equal statistical and systematic uncertainties. One part of this project will focus on performing the final measurement of the muon-weighted magnetic field and reducing the associated uncertainties to ensure this ambitious target is met. The final publication from g-2 is expected by 2026. As well as reducing the experimental uncertainty, it is crucial to confirm the theoretical value and improve the precision on the SM prediction. The second aim of this fellowship is to perform a direct measurement of the leading-order hadronic contribution to aµth with the new MUonE experiment at CERN. The hadronic contribution dominates the uncertainty on aµth, and different treatments of this term lead to the current disagreement between SM predictions. MUonE will measure this term in a novel and entirely independent way, with competitive uncertainty, in order to resolve the theoretical tension. The experiment is highly challenging, requiring excellent control of systematic uncertainties as well as developments in simulation techniques from the theory community. This project will shed light on one of the most famous puzzles in particle physics today. Confirming the discrepancy as a sign of BSM physics would be one of the most important discoveries in decades. Alternatively, the confirmation of a problem with the previously well-understood theoretical treatment would also be a major result, with consequences for other areas of the SM, and may expose conflicts with other experimental data. In either case, both the g-2 and MUonE measurements are among the most highly-anticipated results in the next 5 years.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-09

Doctoral Training Partnerships: a range of postgraduate training is funded by the Research Councils. For information on current funding routes, see the common terminology at https://www.ukri.org/apply-for-funding/how-we-fund-studentships/. Training grants may be to one organisation or to a consortia of research organisations. This portal will show the lead organisation only.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-09

Doctoral Training Partnerships: a range of postgraduate training is funded by the Research Councils. For information on current funding routes, see the common terminology at https://www.ukri.org/apply-for-funding/how-we-fund-studentships/. Training grants may be to one organisation or to a consortia of research organisations. This portal will show the lead organisation only.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-09

Understanding and overcoming the challenges of implementing the Prevent Duty Guidance in the education sector : advancing knowledge, enhancing academic, practitioner and policy interchanges. Since its introduction in 2004 Prevent has been the most controversial strand of Britain's Counter Terrorism strategy (HMGt, 2018; Thomas, 2017). Criticisms of the policy centre on its stigmatisation of the Muslim population by regarding them as an especially 'risky' suspect community because of Islam's erroneous association with terrorism in political discourse and in the public consciousness (Coppock and McGovern, 2014; Hillyard, 1993; Mythen, Walklate and Khan, 2013). Other critics have examined the 'chilling effect' of Prevent on free speech which has a particular resonance in the education system (Busher et al, 2017; O'Donnell, 2016). The problem of whether Prevent is and should be considered as a form of safeguarding has been questioned; critics suggest it is a form of 'securitisation' which has harmful effects on children, not a practice which protects them from harm (Heath-Kelly, 2017). In 2015, as part of extensions to the UK's counter-radicalisation strategy, teachers, lecturers and frontline workers in other public sectors - such as healthcare and welfare - were given the statutory responsibility to monitor survey and refer individuals vulnerable to and/or at risk of radicalisation. This duty involves making decisions that are highly consequential for individuals and communities as well as the frontline worker making the referral. Findings from my research show that teachers' freedom to resist the policy is restricted by its insertion in their professional standards (which influences appraisal and progression) and by Ofsted's monitoring of safeguarding. Teachers have no option but to 'accept' the duty, and demonstrate compliance with it, however, my research elucidates that teachers engage in many practices which adapt and modify Prevent on the ground. The primary aim of the fellowship will be to enhance knowledge and understanding in this critical and sensitive area by disseminating my findings and establishing the implications of these findings for policy and practice with a range of vital stakeholders operating in power bound spaces. As the focus of the research is the enactment of policy on the frontline, the project will bring together individuals at different points on the Prevent delivery chain; practitioners, policy actors, community organisations and academics to discuss issues around the delivery of the duty and practitioner understandings and insights. It will create opportunities for engagement and provide spaces for constructive dialogue. Looking forward, opportunities will be given to practitioners including safeguarding leads and trainee teachers to examine the recent changes to Prevent policy and to share concerns they may have around the implications of the policy revisions for the education sector. The project will therefore provide professionals who work with Prevent, with opportunities for mutually beneficial dialogue which moves debate beyond divisive stances and supports the development of bonds of trust and understanding both for the policy and for the practitioners who have a legal duty to deliver it.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-09

The majority of the visible mass of the universe is made up of atomic nuclei that lie at the centre of atoms. Nuclear physics seeks to answer fundamental questions such as: "How do the laws of physics work when driven to the extremes? What are the fundamental constituents and fabric of the universe and how do they interact? How did the universe begin and how is it evolving? What is the nature of nuclear and hadronic matter?" The aim of our research is to study and measure the properties of atomic nuclei and hot nuclear matter as a route to answering these fundamental questions. Our research is built around our expertise in instrumentation and exploits the large investments previously made into detectors, data acquisition and experimental methods. Such instruments include the ALICE inner tracker detector aimed at the study of the most exotic state of matter known, the quark-gluon plasma; the advanced gamma-ray tracking array AGATA exploring nuclei at the extremes of spin and isospin; and the solenoidal spectrometer ISS studying the role of individual nucleons in complex exotic nuclei. We will study the evolution of nuclear shapes and structure following changes in proton and neutron numbers and their influence on the formation of atoms, right up to the heaviest man-made elements. We will study exotic nuclei that determine the composition of elements found on earth and in the universe, and what ultimately determines the limits of proton and neutron number that can be bound into an atomic nucleus. We will also study the collisions of heavy ions at nearly the speed of light where conditions close to the big bang can be replicated. Throughout this ambitious experimental programme we will continue to share our technical expertise to support all groups in the UK via our core of specialist cross-community engineers in the pursuit of their own research priorities, and play active roles in large international experimental facilities, such as CERN in Switzerland & France or FAIR in Germany.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-09

Doctoral Training Partnerships: a range of postgraduate training is funded by the Research Councils. For information on current funding routes, see the common terminology at https://www.ukri.org/apply-for-funding/how-we-fund-studentships/. Training grants may be to one organisation or to a consortia of research organisations. This portal will show the lead organisation only.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-09

Current 3D imaging devices with conventional X-ray tube based DT and CT systems suffer from high input power requirements, high dose and large size. The necessary source movement makes them fundamentally non-portable and expensive, limiting their availability in smaller clinics. OptiX will overcome these issues through compact, low-cost a unique electronically controlled X-ray source array Flat-Panel Source (FPS)technology. This eliminates the need for physical movement, enabling faster scans and 3D image reconstruction in seconds. The QUASAR Group at the University of Liverpool and Adaptix Ltd have been collaborating on developing 3D X-ray image technology since 2015. Adaptix has already demonstrated the effectiveness of the FPS in various applications, including hand, foot, dental, and veterinary imaging. Additionally, simulations and joint research demonstrated that lower energy levels (e.g., 90 kV) can produce equally good 3D chest images while reducing radiation exposure. OptiX aims to optimize, build and commercialize a novel 3D chest X-ray system based on the FPS technology. This will involve: Significantly upgrading the FPS for higher voltage, current, and a larger coverage area suitable for chest imaging; Optimizing system components such as the detector panel and array configuration; Conducting simulations and experimental research to identify optimum parameters for a compact, low-dose, and affordable FPS array. OptiX has the potential to transform chest X-ray imaging by offering faster, safer, and more accessible scans.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-09

Marine organisms such as algae are remarkably versatile. Over a period of 1.5 billion years of evolution they have adapted themselves to virtually every ocean and freshwater ecosystem on the planet. Part of this adaptivity arises because they can deal with rapid and extreme changes in water salinity and hydrostatic pressure. This is made possible by their cell walls - soft materials with a fine and flexible polymeric microstructure. While much is known of how land plant cell walls adapt to their environments, little is known of the adaptability of marine cell walls. Yet this knowledge is essential for predicting how marine organisms will adapt to impending variations from climate change. It will also aid in the development of novel adaptive biomaterials that are derived from natural feedstocks. Achieving this demands answers to some fundamental scientific questions. How do marine cell walls structure themselves? How does this structure determine their material properties? How do these structures adapt to constantly changing environments? These questions remain essentially unanswered. A prominent reason for this knowledge gap is that most investigations on marine cell walls have been carried out withinthe individual disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics. Bioscientists often characterise cell walls in terms of their evolution and composition, chemical scientists have focussed on optimal approaches to extract and refine cell walls and physicists have typically treated cell walls as ideal, unchanging materials with fixed mechanical properties. While such research has been insightful for understanding numerous individual aspects of cell walls, it has not led to a holistic and fundamental understanding of the dynamic complexity of the marine cell wall. The LILACS consortium will address this through a unique approach that combines soft matter physics, molecular engineering, and cell biology. We will build on recent advances in rheology, imaging, and molecular design to constructmodel cell walls and mechanically probe them, while changing their environments. We will design molecular rotors, small fluorescent molecules that directly bind to marine cell walls and probe their local viscosity. Finally, we will develop novel approaches for in situ environmental control of both living and model cell walls in real time. We will recruit three cross-disciplinary researchers and place them at the core of the project decision-making, ensuring that LILACS is defined by its cross-disciplinary goals rather than the priorities of its individual research disciplines. This is a speculative, early stage and high potential proposal because we aim to engineer novel molecular, rheological and microscopy tools to study the full material diversity of marine cell walls in response to ecologically relevant stresses. It will develop new experimental capabilities for interrogating living tissues. LILACS will have important impacts in material science and synthetic biology where there is a growing need to create environmentally adaptive synthetic materials. These outcomes demand the interdisciplinary collaborations such as ours and would be impossible without making significant experimental advances in each of our respective fields. Now is the time to join forces and enable these advances by working towards cross-disciplinary vision.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-09

The proposed research aims to build upon my PhD research in order to investigate further the forms of worker organisation taking place within the industries I researched during my PhD. A particular focus of the research would be to further develop ideas around the two different forms of worker organisation identified within my thesis - that of large, established trade unions affiliated to the Trades Union Congress (TUC), compared to small, independent, grassroots unions. The research would build upon my PhD work to assess the potential for a synthesis of the two approaches, combining the experience, professionalism and resources of large unions with the innovative and radical tactics of grassroots unions, as well as their ability to organise the most precarious workforces and demographics that large unions typically struggle to reach into. The research that would be conducted through the fellowship, would aim to further develop the ideas outlined in my thesis, providing both a theoretical and practical contribution to a strategy to enable major trade unions to adapt to the reality of 21st century capitalism and to incorporate the effective tactics and organisational methods of grassroots trade unions. The primary method in which the research would be communicated would be through the development of two papers to be published in leading academic journals. The first of these papers would aim to further develop one of the key findings of my PhD research, providing a more detailed theorisation of what has been termed '21st century new unionism' - the organisational methods and organising tactics of grassroots unions. It would then aim to outline ways in which this could be incorporated into the strategy of large (social-democratic) TUC affiliated unions, in order to maximise the effectiveness and reach of these methods. The second paper would explore the differences between unionised and non-unionised workplaces in terms of the level of control that management is able to exert, assessing the relationship between unionisation and managerial control. Taken together, the two papers would provide an empirical justification for the need to improve worker organisation within areas of precarious employment and low-density for trade unions and provide a viable strategy for how this could be achieved. The fellowship would also allow me to further develop my networks within the trade union movement, in order to build important connections. This would enable me to build trust with key figures within trade unions in order to convince them of the benefits of engaging with the proposals outlined within my research. This would provide me with the means to disseminate my research findings and to be able to effectively contribute to and influence strategy within the trade union movement. It would also allow me, through site visits, to better understand the internal workings of the TUC and the trade union movement, in order for this to be better reflected in my research and publications. The fellowship would also allow me to build and develop my academic profile, through achieving high-level publications and conference presentations. This would enable me to develop important networks that could lead to impactful collaborative research with academics from other institutions in the future. This would also have the benefit of helping to influence future research and researchers, enabling for the development of wider-reaching research that could influence the strategy of trade unions even

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-09

In this renewal I will build on the progress made in the first phase of the fellowship to deliver the next generation of magma-filled fracture models, by building on my track record of developing novel methodologies and applying a multidisciplinary approach to instigate a step change in eruption forecasting and volcanic hazard assessment. The communication revolution requires rapid and reliable decision making in the lead up to and during volcanic crises, however existing models of magma sub-surface flow remain insufficient to allow this, as evidenced by recent eruptions in La Palma, New Zealand and currently in Iceland. We need to identify the conditions under which different magma flow regimes and host-rock deformation modes dominate, because these directly affect the eruption potential of underground magma. We need to recognise how magma ascent pathways and eruption potential are influenced by petrological characteristics, 3D geometry and heat transfer. We need to ground-truth our theoretical, physical and chemical understanding in exposed ancient volcanic plumbing systems. Finally, we need to synthesise insight from analogue, mathematical and field experiments and enable these combined models to be deployed to improve the accuracy and reliability of volcanic eruption forecasts. I will continue to use my multidisciplinary expertise in volcanic plumbing systems and work closely with my existing and new Project Partners from academia and government organisations to integrate analogue modelling, mathematical modelling, geophysical observations and geological analyses of volcanic systems to build the next generation of dyke and sill models. I will use the state-of-the-art Medusa Laboratory I have built in Part One of the fellowship to couple the dynamics of magma intrusion and host-rock deformation with the associated surface distortions by creating novel 3D imaging techniques combined with analogue modelling. I will further develop my cutting-edge mathematical models to explore the thermal, petrological and geometric behaviour of magma intrusions, considering magma flow dynamics and host-rock deformation, from propagation to solidification. I will use laboratory techniques on rock samples already collected in my field experiments to understand how the magma flow and host rock deformation occurred. I will compare field, analogue and mathematical model insights and collaborate with volcano observatories to test and develop them so they can be integrated into geohazard assessment systems. These models will form part of the international infrastructure of volcanic hazard assessment used to significantly minimise the human and economic cost of volcanic eruptions.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-09

Doctoral Training Partnerships: a range of postgraduate training is funded by the Research Councils. For information on current funding routes, see the common terminology at https://www.ukri.org/apply-for-funding/how-we-fund-studentships/. Training grants may be to one organisation or to a consortia of research organisations. This portal will show the lead organisation only.

UKRI Gateway to Research · FY 2024 · 2024-09

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.