Queen's University Belfast Core Equipment Call 2019

1da5f207-fff8-4c3c-a675-917d78b45dcc

Closed

EPSRC
EPSRC
EPSRC
EPSRC
EPSRC

£749,995

Feb. 13, 2020

Dec. 31, 2021

Our EPS Research Strategy at Queen's University Belfast is to support the best global talent and this requires state-of-the-art research environment and equipment. Our mission is for our Researchers to gain global recognition in line with our academic strengths and high impact research. Our Strategy, and ongoing Technical Review, outlines plans to enhance facilities and identify gaps in research equipment, with the aim of improving the physical environment and ensuring appropriate resourcing of the elements of our reshaped research portfolio and capital investment. This equipment meets both the underpinning multi-user equipment and Invest to Save categories as follows: a new CCD x-ray cluster will under-pin research activities across a broad range of plasma research and support the research of several potential users within the Centre for Plasma Physics (CPP). This will support current EPSRC funded activities in laboratory astrophysics and Warm Dense Matter and future research activities in other areas employing laser-driven plasmas. A new motion capture cameras and associated auxiliary technology will benefit anyone using technology to improve performance in different skill-based domains, ranging from the low end, e.g. regaining basic functions in a rehabilitation context related to our ageing population, to the high end e.g. skill optimisation in expert athletes or workers. Our SiMLab has recently been widened as a multidisciplinary/cross-faculty facility for all forms of behavioural measurement, including support to our EPSRC 'Inclusion really does matter' award. The Photovoltaic system and wind power plant emulator underpin EPSRC's growing research area of Energy Storage and the Energy Theme sub-themes of Renewable Energy and Power Networks and Storage. Both items are particularly relevant to a current EPSRC DTP in "Energy storage in the
distribution system to reduce constraint and curtailment of renewables" and align with our Pioneering Research Programme in Energy. The Subsurface Image Capture System (SICS), will be multi-use equipment. Within the School of Natural and Built Environment, Civil Engineering leads research into geotechnical and geohydrological processes and this research is supplemented by cross disciplinary input from School colleagues within Physical Geography. The "Water and Energy Resources Group" continues to expand its work on saline intrusion in aquifers, and the EPSRC funded consortium and others it leads with Imperial College London, University College Dublin and Brunel University is establishing projects with the universities in the USA and with universities in the ODA countries of Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Vietnam for GCRF calls. This equipment will be open access on our PURE system and can be accessed through the lead academics.

Potential Impact:
Who might benefit:
Queen's has supported and attracted highly skilled and motivated academics from across global. It is essential that we retain and grow our talent pool by investing in state-of-the-art equipment. Queens has strategic international and UK-based partnerships with industry which is stornlgy aligned to our nie Belfast Region City Deal of £350M including; Rolls Royce, Bombardier, Thales, Seagate, Kyocera [AVX Ltd), Almac, Arup and FP McCann. The multi-disciplinary research of our researchers in; optimisation systems, failure analysis, future manufacturing, advanced composites, intelligent infrastructure, chemical production, clean energy, big data and machine learning will contribute to the sustainable growth of the UK economy. Queen's has a strong record of provided access of equipment and infrastructure to our industrial partners, the industrial use of our equipment will be in these main strands: this is evidenced but is being the UK number one for KTP and awared the Best of the Best for KT in 2019.

We will seek to continue to foster our successful relationships with industry that will be future ready by making best use of the shared research environment, equipment capability and the skill set and experience of the QUB researchers and technical staff. We will seek to develop new links aligned to the expertise of our researchers. Specifically:
(i) the new capability will be advertised directly to our current contacts and more widely through KT networks e.g.via a press-releases
(ii) we will engage our University exploitation office to increase awareness of the facilties beyond our current contacts, and explore opportunities to augment industrial impact using institutional impact acceleration funds for the early career staff
(iii) engagement of "industry champions", who are also expert-user academics and KT facilitators, who will mentor our ECRs to build new industrial partners and to forge new routes to impact
(iv) access to QUB spin-out companies by ECRs in which there are trained personnel e.g. Green Lizard and Causeway Sensors, Causeway Sensors.

Our researchers are strongly supported by Queen's Commercialisation office, "QUBIS" (http://www.qubis.co.uk/) to facilitate the creation of spin-out companies with a current portfolio of 17 entities in the spheres of e.g., IT technologies and services, porous liquid technologies, environmental due-diligence and power-system performance monitoring and ingenuity in sensing for intelligent infastructure. To-date 47 spin-out companies are actively supporting over 1,700 jobs with a collective turnover of around £190 million: the potential impact of our researchers, due to investment in our research environment and enhanced by this block grant, is significant to the UK economy and in the green agenda under climate concerns.