April 2008 Issue 60
Keeping you in touch with opportunities from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
www.epsrc.ac.uk
International Review of Materials
Town meeting on 18 April SINCE 1999, International Reviews across EPSRC’s remit have been an important part of our strategy formulation. Reviews provide input on the quality and impact of the UK research base. They are based on a common framework of questions so that Council can look at the issues and recommendations raised across disciplines. The International Review of Materials took place during the week beginning 13 January 2008. Fourteen international panel members, chaired by Professor Jim Williams of Ohio State University, visited nine sites and met with representatives of 24 academic establishments. The panel’s task was to meet as many people as possible, including PhD students, postdocs and representatives from industry, in order to: • assess and compare the quality of the UK research base in materials against the rest of the world • assess the impact of the research base activities in materials internationally, on other disciplines nationally, on wealth creation and on quality of life.
HECToR launched! Research Councils’ next generation supercomputer
CHANCELLOR of the Exchequer the Rt Honourable Alistair Darling officially launched the HECToR service on 14 January. HECToR represents a major £113m investment by the Research
The review was organised with active involvement from Learned Societies through a Steering Committee which advised on panel membership, development of an evaluation framework specific to materials and the evidence to be given to the panel. Professor Williams will present his Panel’s findings and recommendations at an open meeting on 18 April. Invitations to the meeting, to be held at the RSA in London, have been sent out but you can also register to attend through our website. This meeting will be the start of the dialogue with the community on the report. EPSRC and all the partners in the review would like to thank all those who were involved in the review and look forward to working with the community and other stakeholders in taking forward its recommendations. There will be further articles on the progress of this review in future issues of Connect. Contact: Anne Farrow, anne.farrow@epsrc.ac.uk Further information: www.epsrc.ac.uk
Councils in the provision of infrastructure and support for UK computational scientists. Based at the University of Edinburgh’s Advanced Computing Facility (ACF), HECToR will run in parallel with the current HPCx service until it closes, giving UK researchers the unique opportunity to exploit the complementary nature of these two machines. The launch event was very well attended with invited guests including numerous members of the UK computational science community, and stakeholders from industry, higher education and government. Contact: Dai Jenkins, dai.jenkins@epsrc.ac.uk Further information: www.hector.ac.uk
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Inside and UP 2 New Structure for EPSRC 3 TOP membership Meeting new challenges
Key appointments
in High 4 Flexibility Performance Computing Two services, one approach
5 Calls
Forthcoming EPSRC funding opportunities
6 Doctoral Training Centres Major funding initiative
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
New structure for EPSRC Focus on the future EPSRC will introduce a new programme structure in April to help meet future challenges, as set out in its Delivery Plan. This new structure has been created to ensure the organisation meets high-level priorities and continues to build a strong and competitive UK research base. The Delivery Plan, published last December, outlines a number of priority research themes and emphasises EPSRC’s two main objectives: to create a healthy UK science and engineering base and to increase the exploitation of research [Box 1]. As part of April’s programme changes, two new directorates – Research Base and Business Innovation – will be established.
Box 1: EPSRC Delivery Plan The Delivery Plan was published in December. It sets out our high-level priorities until 2010/11. Responding to the challenges facing society and the economy, as outlined by Government, seven priority themes have been identified across the two new EPSRC Directorates: Directorate
Delivery Plan Themes
Three-year commitment
Business Innovation
– – – – –
Research Base
– Essential Platform for a healthy science and engineering base – Securing the future supply of people
Energy Digital Economy Nanoscience through Engineering to Application Towards Next Generation Healthcare Towards Better Exploitation
£220m £103m £39m £36m £482m £866m £592m
The plan reiterates our commitment to building and maintaining a healthy science and engineering base and supporting future world-class researchers. EPSRC Chief Executive Professor David Delpy said the changes would create a more effective organisation that was focused on the needs of the academic community, business and society. But he added that EPSRC’s core remit and responsibilities remain unchanged: “The aim of our Delivery Plan is to achieve a step change in the economic and social impact of research and to further strengthen the international reputation of UK science and engineering. As an organisation, and as a community, we must address the major challenges facing society and these challenges are reflected in our priority themes. Changes to our organisational structure will allow us, in partnership with the research and business communities, to focus significant resources on tackling those challenges.” The new structure will encourage and support greater working across the Research Councils, and across disciplines, to foster innovative, ambitious and ground-breaking research [Box 2].
Box 2: New EPSRC Programme Structure Programmes
Programmes
Energy
Mathematical Sciences
Digital Economy Nanoscience through Engineering to Application Towards NextGeneration Healthcare
Mission Programmes
Essential platform for a healthy research base
BUSINESS INNOVATION DIRECTORATE
RESEARCH BASE DIRECTORATE
Process, Environment and Sustainability Materials, Mechanical and Medical Engineering Cross-Disciplinary Interfaces Public Engagement Physical Sciences
User-led Knowledge and Skills User-led Research
Towards better exploitation
Securing the future supply of people
Research Infrastructure and International Information and Communications Technology
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The Research Base directorate, led by Lesley Thompson, will focus on investigator led research and training. It will be made up of eight programmes which will provide the core support for research and postgraduate training. It will support the most talented people at all stages of their careers, sustaining and cementing the UK’s reputation as a world leader in engineering and physical science research. Commenting on the new structure, Lesley said: “Our aspiration is to strengthen and focus support on the best researchers and encourage them to engage in ambitious research and training. EPSRC remains committed to investigator-led research across the whole of its remit and the current responsive mode panel structure [Box 3] will continue after April 1.” Catherine Coates will head the Business Innovation directorate responsible for the priority research themes outlined in the Delivery Plan and for maximising the economic and social impact arising from EPSRC’s research and training portfolio. Business Innovation will work closely with business to enhance the portfolio of need-driven research and training. The directorate will build a better understanding of where effort should be focussed to benefit UK society and economy and increase the UK’s global competitiveness. It will also help ensure UK research is best placed to realise its full economic and social impact. Lesley and Catherine said a close working relationship between the two directorates would be vital in order to achieve long-term ambitions. Catherine added: “The directorates have complementary external outlooks and by working together they can help build a strong portfolio of creative, world-class research that meets the challenges we face, the needs of society and ultimately changes lives for the better.”
Box 3: Responsive Mode Panels The current responsive mode panels will remain in place after 1 April: Chemistry Engineering: Flow; Components; Systems; Socio-technical systems; Programme Grants Healthcare Information and Communication Technology Materials Mathematical Sciences
EPSRC programme contacts will remain the same until April 1.
Physics
Further information: www.epsrc.ac.uk
TOP and UP membership Expert advice for EPSRC FOLLOWING an extensive nominations exercise, nine new members
Our User Panel now includes:
have been awarded two-year terms on our Technical Opportunities and User Panels, with effect from 1 April 2008. Nominations to the membership exercise closed in November 2007 with a combined total of 150 received across both panels. EPSRC would like to thank all those who contributed to the nominations exercise and is pleased to announce the appointment of the following people to its principal advisory teams.
•
Neville Jackson (Ricardo plc)
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Jane Milne (The British Retail Consortium)
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Liam O’Toole (UK Clinical Research Collaboration)
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Ian Risk (Airbus UK Ltd)
•
David York (Procter & Gamble UK Ltd)
The four new members of the Technical Opportunities Panel are:
TOP and UP provide an informed and representative view on requirements for research, training, knowledge transfer and public engagement across the breadth of the EPSRC remit, thus enabling us to meet the goals set out in the Science and Innovation Investment Framework (2004-2014).
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Brian Collins (University of Cranfield and Chief Scientific Adviser at the Department for Transport)
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David Hand (Imperial College London)
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Sally Price (University College London)
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Alison Starr (GE Aviation)
Contact: Christopher Jones, christopher.jones@epsrc.ac.uk (UP) Claire Wagstaffe, claire.wagstaffe@epsrc.ac.uk (TOP) Further information: www.epsrc.ac.uk
e-Science resources on tap Global computer network THE Enabling Grids for E-sciencE (EGEE) project provides a seamless Grid infrastructure for e-Science. By becoming a member of a Virtual Organisation (VO), a group of users or projects with similar interests, you can harness resources across the globe as and when you need them without being constrained by the capacity or availability of your own hardware. Each VO integrates some of its own computational resources into the EGEE infrastructure and in return receives a share of other EGEE resources. EGEE is funded by the European Community and brings together scientists and engineers from more than 240 institutions in 48 countries. It is available to researchers 24 hours-a-day, seven days a week and can process over 100,000 jobs a day on its 50,000 processors. In addition it has about five petabytes of disc and tape storage. Hardware like this can change the way scientific research takes place, especially when time and resources are critical. And with so many institutions involved across the world, EGEE is the ideal platform for international collaborations.
To date, the EGEE project has established a broad portfolio of applications across a wide range of industrial and academic sectors from high energy physics to bioinformatics and computational chemistry. Recently, a collaboration of Asian and European laboratories analysed 300,000 possible drug components against the avian flu virus H5N1 using the EGEE Grid infrastructure. They found over 120 candidates and sped up the development process by a staggering 6000%. EGEE welcomes new users requiring compute resources. To use EGEE you need a digital certificate to identify yourself (available in the UK from NGS, www.ngs.ac.uk). Details of existing VOs can be found at http://cic.gridops.org/index.php?section=home& page=volist. Contact: Claire Devereux, c.l.devereux@rl.ac.uk Further information: www.eu-egee.org
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Connect April 2008 Issue 60
Flexibility in High Performance Computing Transfer of resources between services AT A workshop in June 2007, the research community agreed that HPCx and HECToR should operate in a complementary way. As a result, since January grant holders with resource to use HPCx or HECToR have been able to transfer resource between the HPCx and HECToR high performance computing national services.
• • • •
If you have a current grant, you can: • make a maximum of four transfers (per grant) between the services in a 12 month period • transfer up to 25% of your remaining resource on a service in any single virement • transfer resource to a service you have not used before after receiving a positive technical assessment.
Once you have received a positive technical assessment from the service, please send it on to your research council contact. They will arrange for a new account to be set up and you will receive your account details from the service. If you already have an account with both HECToR and HPCx please get in touch with your research council contact quoting:
your grant reference number the account and service you want to transfer resource from how much resource you want to transfer any other technical requirements.
• •
your grant reference number which accounts and services you want to transfer resource from and to • how much resource you want to transfer. Your research council contact will arrange for the transfers to take place, and the service you wish to use will get in touch with you.
Transfers work on a 1:1 exchange rate between services, so that 1 AU HPCx = 1 AU HECToR. The Cray X2 Vector system (BlackWidow) is not included in this scheme. Requests should come from the principal investigator or named consortium lead. If you are requesting time on a service that is new to you, you will need to complete a technical assessment for the service you wish to use and quote:
Contact: EPSRC – Dai Jenkins, dai.jenkins@epsrc.ac.uk BBSRC – Jef Grainger, jef.grainger@bbsrc.ac.uk NERC – Andy Parsons, apar@nerc.ac.uk
Changes to HECToR access
Images from HECToR launch
‘Class 2’ expanded CLASS 2 (pre peer-review) access is intended to provide researchers with compute resource to investigate the potential for running their codes on a high performance computing resource. It has been a feature of the national services for some time and EPSRC has decided to re-open and expand this mechanism on HECToR. Pump-priming activity (Class 2a) was previously available on HPCx, and is now an option for HECToR users. The upper limit for compute resource will rise from 20,000 allocation units (AU) to 100,000 AU. Class 2a awards will allow existing HPC users access to HECToR in order to support a full grant application via Responsive Mode, for instance by generating preliminary results. It will also introduce to the national service new users whose previous experience has been on university based mid-range systems. Applications should be made by submitting a technical assessment for the proposed work to the HECToR service (support@hector.ac.uk). Forms and guidance can be found at www.hector.ac.uk/admin/apply. Class 2b access is for compute time in support of Distributed Computational Science and Engineering (DCSE). Applicants who do not have HECToR resources at the time of application for DCSE will be able to request a maximum of 200,000 AU in support of their proposal. HECToR time will be released on confirmation of DCSE support from NAG. Due to the limited resource it is envisioned that this route will be used to support short-term activities such as code development for migration from a mid-range to national service and support for development work prior to submitting a full proposal to peer review. The application process for DCSE is explained more fully on the HECToR website at www.hector.ac.uk.
Above (left to right): Professor Sir Tim O’Shea, Principal and Vice Chancellor, The University of Edinburgh; The Rt. Hon. Alistair Darling MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer; John Armitt CBE, Chairman, EPSRC; Peter Ungaro, President and CEO, Cray Inc.
Contact: Dai Jenkins, dai.jenkins@epsrc.ac.uk
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Connect April 2008 Issue 60
Final report changes
EngD student wins European prize Electronics industry recognition
Narrative not required from April
AN EngD student from the Institute for Systems Level Integration (iSLI) in Livingston, West Lothian, was named ‘Student Engineer of the Year’ at December’s Elektra European Electronics Industry Awards. Carol Marsh was presented with the prize at a gala dinner in London, having triumphed over competition from undergraduate and postgraduate students on courses across Europe. The EngD is EPSRC’s flagship doctoral qualification. It places a significant emphasis on research within an industrial context. Students, known as Research Engineers, combine a research project within a UK sponsoring company with accredited technical and business training. Carol is currently in her third year of research sponsored by Algotronix Ltd, a UK based supplier of technical diligence on semiconductor companies. Tony Harker, Director and Chief Executive of iSLI said that “Carol’s work… has demonstrated that there is a significant role for trained engineers in leading edge commercial research. Most importantly she is a role model for others considering EngD as an alternative option to further tertiary level education and research.” Having recently returned to full time education after 20 years of employment and as an active member of the Women’s Engineering Society (WES), Carol said: “I hope that in winning this award it will encourage other people and especially women that it’s never too late to return to education.”
ALONG with the other Research Councils, EPSRC is developing a new
Contact: Helen Bailey, helen.bailey@epsrc.ac.uk Further information: www.sli-institute.ac.uk
(Left to right): Sir Trevor McDonald, winner Carol Marsh, Paul Baker (Director of Rapid Electronics) and Richard Wilson (Editor of Electronics Weekly).
Calls
final reporting process. This process will be more efficient and effective in capturing both the short- and longer-term outcomes from the grants we fund. While it is being developed, we are modifying our current final report process in preparation for the change. As a result, from 1 April 2008 onwards we will not require a narrative report when final reports are submitted. Grant holders will still be required to complete a final report form to provide information on the outcomes of a grant. They will also be required to submit a short statement explaining any significant differences between the planned and actual expenditure on the grant. Neither of these will be sent out for peer review though. We hope these changes will reduce the reporting burden for researchers, enabling them to spend a greater portion of their time and effort carrying out research. Motivation for this change comes from the recent RCUK Peer Review Efficiency Project, which found that more than 80% of the full economic cost of the final reporting process went into the preparation of the report by the investigators and host organisation. Between them, the Research Councils are expected to make £30m of peer review efficiency gains over the Comprehensive Spending Review period (2008-2011) and the changes being planned for final reporting will make the single largest contribution to this target. Some final reports are currently in the middle of their assessment. Unless otherwise communicated, these will be peer reviewed and graded to provide the feedback the investigators and research organisations were expecting when they submitted them. Despite not requiring the final report narrative, we are still keen to hear of successes and the impact of our grant funding. The information provided on the report form is evidence essential in analysing the performance of the engineering and physical sciences research community. Contact: Douglas Niven, douglas.niven@epsrc.ac.uk
Partnerships for Public Engagement 12th Call for Proposals Closing date: 8 May 2008 The scheme is designed to enable active researchers to engage with the public, including young people. It aims to communicate the excitement of fundamental and applied research in science and engineering. Awards are aimed at active researchers, in partnership with their research teams and outside specialists or partner organisations that can provide communication expertise. The objectives of the scheme are to: • stimulate the public’s interest in contemporary research, including work funded by us • inspire future generations of researchers in engineering and the physical sciences • encourage public debate about the role of research in society and establish a dialogue between researchers and the public • build and sustain a community of researchers active in public engagement, including through partnerships, with the necessary expertise. We are particularly interested in projects that not only increase the public’s awareness of science and engineering, but also include some level of dialogue between members of the public and scientists or engineers, where this is appropriate. Contact: Katherine Miller, katherine.miller@epsrc.ac.uk Gill Stephens, gill.stephens@epsrc.ac.uk
Science and Innovation Awards 2008 Closing date: 22 April 2008 We are inviting outline proposals from Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) for the fifth round of Science and Innovation Awards. Science and Innovation Awards aim to build new activity in areas of national strategic importance, with a particular focus on supporting new research leaders. The Awards are high value, longer-term grants supporting staff in a research group, requiring a commitment from the host HEIs to continue support after the end of the grant. This fifth call will have a different approach to previous Science and Innovation Awards. Proposals are being sought in emerging research areas where strategic investment at this time, has significant potential for added value in terms of the UK’s future research capacity and international impact. The number of outline proposals that each organisation can submit is limited to three so please contact your university’s research support office if you are interested in applying. EPSRC is partnered in this call by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, Scottish Funding Council, Department for Employment and Learning, and the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales. Contact: Philippa Hemmings, philippa.hemmings@epsrc.ac.uk Samantha Madden, samantha.madden@epsrc.ac.uk
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Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
EPSRC Contacts Head of Engineering Programme Annette Bramley 01793 444398 annette.bramley@epsrc.ac.uk Head of Economy, Environment and Crime Programme Peter Hedges 01793 444217 peter.hedges@epsrc.ac.uk
Doctoral Training Centres
Head of Economic Impact Alasdair Rose 01793 444225 alasdair.rose@epsrc.ac.uk
Opportunity across EPSRC’s remit
Joint Head of Energy and Climate Change Programme Alison Wall 01793 444176 alison.wall@epsrc.ac.uk
EPSRC’S support for postgraduate training will be enhanced later this year when we fund a substantial portfolio of new Doctoral Training Centres (DTCs) in research areas where there is strong evidence of a national need to encourage capacity. DTCs have already been used to great effect by our Life Sciences Interface and Complexity Science programmes, and we now intend to make this innovative support mechanism available across our remit. In addition to general funding, our Digital Economy, Energy, Complexity Science and Nanoscience through Engineering to Application programmes will support a series of DTCs in their research themes. A DTC builds a training environment which supplies skilled people able to address research problems for the benefit of the UK economy. They offer exciting opportunities for post-graduate training across and between traditional research disciplines. Led by a Director, each of the centres will recruit a cohort equivalent to ten doctoral students per year, with four or five annual intakes depending on the precise model. Students should receive a formal programme of taught coursework and undertake a challenging and original research project at PhD level. Provision for a number of centres based on the Engineering Doctorate (EngD) model will be included in the call. These user-oriented centres are a radical alternative to the traditional PhD, intended for exceptional researchers who ultimately intend to have a managerial career in industry. Students spend around 75% of their time working in industry on a research project that is both genuinely challenging and relevant to the participating company. They gain a PhD-level qualification alongside the skills needed to succeed in a business environment. Applications will be assessed in a two-stage process. Initial outline proposals will be required by early May 2008. Following assessment, successful outline applications should be developed into full proposals for submission in August 2008. These proposals will be sent out for expert peer review. Investigators on those proposals which receive sufficiently supportive reviews will finally be asked to attend an interview panel, in mid-to-late November 2008. We are aiming to announce funding decisions in November so that successful centres can begin their preparations for student recruitment in 2009. More detailed information will be available in the call document, which will be available from our website shortly.
Joint Head of Energy and Climate Change Programme Clive Hayter 01793 444440 clive.hayter@epsrc.ac.uk Head of Industrial Interaction Susan Morrell 01793 444462 susan.morrell@epsrc.ac.uk Head of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) Programme Alan Thomas 01793 442806 alan.thomas@epsrc.ac.uk Head of Digital Economy Programme John Hand 01793 444394 john.hand@epsrc.ac.uk Head of Materials Programme John Wand MBE 01793 444335 john.wand@epsrc.ac.uk Head of Technology Vince Osgood MBE 01793 444084 vince.osgood@epsrc.ac.uk Head of Chemistry Programme Neil Viner 01793 444310 neil.viner@epsrc.ac.uk Head of Mathematical Sciences Programme David Harman 01793 444304 david.harman@epsrc.ac.uk Head of Physics Programme Jason Green 01793 444208 jason.green@epsrc.ac.uk Head of Science and Innovation Philippa Hemmings 01793 444378 philippa.hemmings@epsrc.ac.uk Head of Life Sciences Interface Programme Kedar Pandya 01793 444317 kedar.pandya@epsrc.ac.uk Head of Basic Technology Programme Kedar Pandya 01793 444317 kedar.pandya@epsrc.ac.uk International Affairs Edward Clarke 01793 444438 edward.clarke@epsrc.ac.uk Public Engagement Joanna Coleman 01793 444209 joanna.coleman@epsrc.ac.uk Head of High End Computing and Core e-Science Programmes Jane Nicholson 01793 444065 jane.nicholson@epsrc.ac.uk College Coordinator John Baird 01793 444047 john.baird@epsrc.ac.uk IDEAS Factory Contact Susan Morrell 01793 444462 susan.morrell@epsrc.ac.uk
For current grant maintenance and grant assessment enquiries Engineering Chris Elson 01793 444504 chris.elson@epsrc.ac.uk Technology Sarah Cooper 01793 444422 sarah.cooper@epsrc.ac.uk Science Jo Garrad 01793 444348 jo.garrad@epsrc.ac.uk EPSRC, Polaris House, North Star Avenue, Swindon SN2 1ET Telephone: 01793 444000 www.epsrc.ac.uk
Contact: General DTC and EngD enquiries: Vicky Jones, vicky.jones@epsrc.ac.uk Helen Bailey, helen.bailey@epsrc.ac.uk Nanoscience through Engineering to Application: Liam Blackwell, liam.blackwell@epsrc.ac.uk Digital Economy: Pamela Mason, pamela.mason@epsrc.ac.uk Complexity Science: Gavin Salisbury, gavin.salisbury@epsrc.ac.uk Energy: David Holtum, david.holtum@epsrc.ac.uk
Email alerts Register to receive latest funding opportunities. YOU CAN now register on our website to receive a weekly alert containing details of our latest calls for proposals. Visit our website and register under the quick links section on the right hand side of the home page: www.epsrc.ac.uk
Editor: Alex Hulkes, alex.hulkes@epsrc.ac.uk Circulation amendments: connect@epsrc.ac.uk © Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council 2008. ISSN 1476-6485 Material may be reproduced providing the source is acknowledged.
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