Pioneer 5

Summer 2010 www.epsrc.ac.uk

05

MANUFACTURING THE FUTURE

Creating new industries and new jobs in the UK

FUTURE PLASTICS / LOW CARBON CEMENT / PERFECT SURFACES

EPSRC: funding the future The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is the main UK government agency for funding research and training in engineering and the physical sciences – from mathematics to materials science and from information technology to structural engineering.

Working with UK universities, it invests around £850m a year in world class research and training to promote future economic development and improved quality of life.

Get involved: EPSRC’s portfolio of research projects includes more than 2,000 partnerships with organisations from the industrial, business and charitable sectors.

More than 35 per cent of our research funding includes collaborative partners.

EPSRC’s knowledge transfer goals include: •

•

PIONEER is EPSRC’s quarterly magazine.

•

It highlights how EPSRC-funded research and training is helping to tackle global challenges and the major issues facing individuals, business and the UK economy.

Enhancing opportunities for business/ university research collaborations to accelerate knowledge transfer.

Ensuring postgraduate skills meet the needs of business through increased demand-led and collaborative training.

Strengthening partnerships with business to improve knowledge transfer – including the development of strategic partnerships with research-intensive companies.

You can find out more about EPSRC and how you can work with us by visiting our website: www.epsrc.ac.uk

Contact us: We have dedicated sector teams working to understand the research and skills needs of their sectors and to help connect businesses with university expertise.

Aerospace, Defence and Marine Contact: Simon Crook, Tel: 01793 444425 Creative Industries Contact: Carol McAnally, Tel: 01793 444121 Electronics, Communications and IT Contact: Matthew Ball, Tel: 01793 444351 Energy Contact: Stephen Elsby, Tel: 01793 444458 Infrastructure and Environment Contact: Caroline Batchelor, Tel: 01793 444237 Manufacturing Contact: Anne Farrow, Tel: 01793 444052 Medicines and Healthcare Contact: Nicolas Guernion (Medicines) Tel: 01793 444343 Contact: Claire Wagstaffe (Healthcare) Tel: 01793 444586 Transport Systems and Vehicles Contact: Richard Bailey, Tel: 01793 444423 If you can’t find a sector relevant to you, please email: sectors@epsrc.ac.uk EPSRC Polaris House North Star Avenue Swindon SN2 1ET E-mail: pioneer@epsrc.ac.uk Switchboard: 01793 444000 Helpline: 01793 444100

The views and statements expressed in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily those of EPSRC unless explicitly stated. Some of the research highlighted may not yet have been peer-reviewed. © Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. Reproduction permitted only if source is acknowledged.

ISSN 1758-7727

Website: www.epsrc.ac.uk PIONEER Editor: Rachel Blackford E-mail: rachel.blackford@epsrc.ac.uk Tel: 01793 444459 Mailing changes: pioneer@epsrc.ac.uk Contributors Chris Buratta, Barry Hague, Sally Wilkes

CONTENTS

PIONEER 05

Summer 2010

FEATURES

12

11 Special feature EPSRC has a crucial role to play in ensuring we have the skills and research in place to build a prosperous future for the UK – creating new industries and new jobs. Across these pages we highlight how EPSRC-funded research has and will impact on innovative manufacturing and business

22 Impact!

22

24

14

EPSRC’s exhibition explores the potential impact of developing technologies

24 Examining art How leading science is telling the untold story of European art

REGULARS 4 Leader 5 Briefings Easing holiday traffic, greener heat, detecting landmines, sniffing out criminals

28 Viewpoint Annabel Cooper of the ISSUES Project on building a sustainable urban environment

30 Profile Digital music expert Professor Mark Plumbley talks about his achievements and JeanDominique Bauby

20 “For a business it is all about successful commercialisation, which can take another five years after market launch”

W

elcome to the summer edition of PIONEER which comes at a significant time for the research we support.

EPSRC has recently published its strategic plan which describes how we will deliver world-leading science and engineering over the next three to five years.

The plan is a shared vision for the future of UK research developed by EPSRC in partnership with the research community.

Given the current economic situation and the imperative to tackle global challenges such as climate change, it is more important than ever that UK science and engineering research is placed to have the maximum impact for the health, prosperity and sustainability of the UK for both the immediate future and over the longer term. That is why I believe our strategic plan represents one of the most important tactical commitments for Britain’s future in recent times.

We are committed not only to maintain and improve the excellence of our research, but to help shape our research portfolio to align it with the strategic needs of our nation, and develop leaders who will deliver the highest quality research to meet both UK and global priorities.

We will also increase the visibility of the research we fund so that business and government can easily find the partners and results they need to accelerate the take-up and development of research into new products, policies and solutions to meet the challenges we face.

The plan will provide us with clear direction in achieving our mission – to

PIONEER 05 Summer 2010

Sharing a vision for the future maintain and develop the UK’s excellent research base, improve quality of life for all, and contribute to the economic competitiveness of the UK. You can read more on how EPSRC is pioneering research and skills for our future on our website.

With Britain being the sixth largest manufacturing economy in the world, innovation in manufacturing is particularly crucial to our economic recovery and accounts for 14 per cent of GDP. The investments we make today will have a direct relationship with our future prosperity. In this edition, you will see how we are investing £1.2 billion in manufacturing-related research and training – supporting over 2,500 research projects and more than 2,700 PhD students, and collaborating with more than 2,000 companies.

Behind the numbers we are nurturing growth by creating new pathways to creativity and innovation, easier integration with business and industry and helping to create a more diversified and balanced economy.

Through new Centres of Excellence in Manufacturing Research and Industrial Doctorate Centres we are forming creative, multidisciplinary environments that accelerate innovation from basic research through to the stage where applications can

be developed by companies or agencies such as the Technology Strategy Board and the Energy Technology Institute.

An EPSRC-supported Doctoral Training Centre led by the University of Sheffield will help the UK’s aerospace, automotive and power industries lead the world.

In partnership with the University of Manchester, and more than 30 companies, it will supply globally-competitive metals specialists to high-value UK manufacturing sectors. The work could help tackle energy challenges by providing new materials for the nuclear power industry, next generation gas turbines and ultra-efficient engines and corrosion protection for off-shore wind farms.

I hope you enjoy reading about the real innovation in areas like plastic electronics, designer polymers and other new technologies that will make Britain competitive in industries such as aerospace, pharmaceuticals and healthcare engineering.

These case studies provide just a snapshot of the huge range of strategically coordinated activity that will help our manufacturing industry contribute to a more balanced and resilient economy.

David Delpy EPSRC chief executive

05

Easing holiday traffic pain MOST MOTORISTS will have experienced the familiar frustration of being stuck on a motorway in a stop-start traffic jam that eventually disperses with no apparent cause.

Researchers, supported by EPSRC, have found that although most changes in vehicle speed and road position get absorbed by traffic flow, they sometimes combine in a ‘perfect storm’ to create ‘phantom’ traffic jams. Understanding why this happens is being studied by researchers at the University of Bristol and will lead to better traffic flow forecasting to help prevent congestion.

The project, led by Dr Eddie Wilson, uses data taken from a particularly busy ten-mile stretch of the M42 near

Birmingham that has one of the highest concentrations of traffic monitoring equipment in the world. This means individual vehicles can be tracked through a specially-instrumented one-mile section of this stretch in most traffic conditions to reconstruct their travel paths.

Dr Wilson said: “The stop-and-go waves are generated by very small events at the level of individual vehicles. There’s something about traffic that magnifies small effects to create large changes in certain situations.”

The work is being carried out in collaboration with project partners the Highways Agency, Knowledge Transfer Network for Industrial Mathematics, and TRL (Transport Research Laboratory).

briefings TOUCH TEACHING GREEN HEAT NOSE JOBS MEMORY PAPER LANDMINES LANDMARK WEB WIDENED FORWARD FUSION CANCER ILLUMINATED

Follow EPSRC on Twitter: www.twitter.com/epsrc

briefings

Multi-touch software for classrooms LONG GONE are the days of ‘chalk and talk’, but an EPSRC-funded project at Durham University may herald the next big change in the way our children learn in the classroom.

The interactive whiteboard allows for a certain amount of pupil involvement, but research into new multi-touch screen technologies could put an interactive screen on every child’s desktop. Research shows that increased opportunities for students’ involvement in the classroom and collaborative activities are likely to improve attendance, attention and engagement in learning.

Most people will be familiar with the touchscreens used in everything from mobile phones to ticket kiosks. But whether that’s just for push button responses or more advanced ‘gesture’ recognition, current devices only recognise one touch at a time.

New multi-touch technologies which can sense simultaneous input by several fingers or pens is now being harnessed for use in the classroom. That’s because several fingers means that two or more pupils can work on a single screen at the same time.

Now an EPSRC-funded collaborative project (SynergyNet) between three departments at Durham University – Computer Science, Education and Psychology – is harnessing that fact to develop a new generation of classroombased activities which can be supported by this technology to move between class, group and individual learning activities.

The idea is that a single large multi-touch desk can serve either as a set of individual digital work spaces or a single combined workspace in which pupils can co-operate on a task.

But moving from the traditional single user keyboard and mouse to multi-user simultaneous input requires a radical re-design not only of the user interface, but of the classroom environment and the way in which lessons are conducted.

PIONEER 05 Summer 2010

As an example, researchers think that multi-touch on embedded desks will help the engagement of older or more reserved pupils who are less likely to leave their desks to move to the front of the class, and for maintaining engagement of the whole class at times when the demands of an individual pupil threaten to slow the lesson pace.

It’s early days for this new technology, but the researchers’ vision is that all students will have direct access to this technology at all times, on screens embedded within learners’ desks. But they also make it clear that development of new software that uses multi-touch will be driven by what actually works for both pupils and teachers.

Greener ways to heat and chill INNOVATIVE designs for domestic heating and air-conditioning systems show improved energy efficiency and reduced carbon emissions, according to Warwick University engineers.

The team’s breakthrough was to miniaturise a known technology to make it commercially viable. Their designs are up to 20 times smaller than were previously possible.

The researchers expect that their technology can create domestic heat pumps that could cut fuel bills by 30 per cent compared to the best condensing boiler.

In car air-conditioning systems, the team says its systems can convert waste heat from the engine into cooling, and should reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by nearly five per cent.

Adsorption technology is an energy efficient way to drive heat pumps or

air-conditioners. It involves a closed system containing active carbon and refrigerant.

Alternately heating and cooling the carbon extracts heat from the outside air, which can then be put into radiators or hot watertanks. In the case of air-conditioning, heat is extracted from the car’s interior. The major problem has been the size of the adsorption unit. For example, a vehicle air-conditioning unit would need to be roughly 300 litres in volume, which is not going to fit into a car.

The EPSRC-supported Warwick team’s solution was to distribute thin sheets of metal – typically 0.7mm thick – throughout the active carbon in the heat exchanger.

Each of these sheets contains more than a hundred tiny water channels – each 0.3mm in diameter – designed to make the heat transfer much more efficient. The result is that adsorption systems can be made much smaller and lighter.

07

Sniffing out criminals SCANNING NOSES could be a quicker and easier way to verify a person’s identity than iris and fingerprint scans, according to scientists at the University of Bath.

“Noses are prominent facial features, and yet their use as a biometric has been largely unexplored,” comments Dr Adrian Evans. “Noses are much easier to photograph and harder to conceal (than irises), so a system that recognises noses would work better with uncooperative subjects or for covert surveillance.”

Shedding new light on cancer A NEW tool that may pave the way for early detection of cancer has been developed by EPSRC-supported researchers at St Andrews University.

The team has improved Raman spectroscopy techniques so that they can be used in clinical settings to detect disease within cells more accurately. In Raman spectroscopy, monochromatic light is used to analyse a molecular species. Every type of molecule provides a unique Raman

signal. But, in many biological samples, the molecular signals are buried behind background fluorescence from the cell’s environment.

The team’s novel technology eliminates many of these problems. “By quickly changing the laser wavelength, we can extract the Raman information from the strong ‘interfering’ fluorescence background,” explains team member Michael Mazilu.

The Bath team used PhotoFace, an innovative 3D face data capture system developed with EPSRC funding by a team including the University of the West of England and Imperial College London. After scanning the 3D shape of volunteers’ noses, the researchers analysed them according to six main nose shapes using computer software.

In this small sample, nose scanning produced a good recognition rate and a faster rate of image-processing than with conventional biometric techniques, such as whole face recognition.

Three new RCUK websites launched RESEARCH Councils UK (RCUK) have recently launched three new websites.

These explore the areas of energy, digital economy and nanoscience research, three major multidisciplinary programme areas led by EPSRC. The websites give details of research currently being funded in these areas and include case studies on how this research is making an impact on society and the economy.

For more information visit the energy website: www.rcuk.ac.uk/energy Digital economy website: www.rcuk.ac.uk/ digitaleconomy Nanoscience website: www.rcuk.ac.uk/nano

09

Future cities With around 90 per cent of the UK population already living in urban areas and an ever increasing number of people choosing to live in towns and cities, the planning of our future cities has never been more important. Research teams, supported by EPSRC, are now helping to inform city planners and decision-makers.

Urban regeneration Birmingham Eastside is an exciting redevelopment project, creating a learning and technology quarter for Birmingham. Researchers are helping make this project – and others like it – more sustainable.

Using Eastside as a case study, Professor Chris Rogers and his team from the University of Birmingham, have been investigating how the push towards sustainability might be accommodated in redevelopment plans.

Working on four themed packages (utilities, wildlife, socio-economics and built environment), the team explored the ways in which Eastside could maximise sustainability and the processes that hindered or prevented sustainable practices being adopted.

As a result of the findings the city centre development team have been careful to sustain Eastside’s unique socio-economic heritage. Professor Rogers and his team are now applying the knowledge they have gained to other regeneration projects.

Avoiding traffic pollution In built-up urban areas, pedestrians could reduce the amount of traffic pollution they breathe in simply by crossing the street.

A research team, led by Professor Alison Tomlin based at the University of Leeds, have found that urban air pollution levels change dramatically within small areas. Wind patterns, surrounding buildings and the location of traffic queues all influence how pollution accumulates. “Pollution can be trapped within the street where it is emitted by recirculating winds,” reports Professor Tomlin.

Now new models that account for these influences provide more accurate pictures of pollution dispersion when rethinking regular travel routes or the placing of cycle routes in urban areas.

briefings

Combating disease People are not the only things to hop on and off buses and trains. Viruses and bacteria also take advantage of man-made infrastructure to travel and spread.

Researchers at University College London (UCL) are tackling the spread of infectious diseases head on by looking at the relationship between infrastructure and disease transmission.

Within the next ten years Dr Ka-man Lai and her team at the UCL Healthy Infrastructure Research Centre (HIRC) aim to revolutionise the way that infrastructure is designed and constructed, and the way that it functions, to create a new environment that resists 21st century infections. Dr Lai says: “In London it is not uncommon to encounter infrastructure that is over 100 years old. These pipes, vents and drains were built for a specific application, with the knowledge and needs we had at that time.”

From tuberculosis to hospital superbugs, HIRC researchers will use our infrastructure to help stop infection before it starts.

Accessible public transport A well-run public transport system is an integral part of city life. Making it easy and convenient to use is perhaps one of its highest priorities.

The Accessibility and User Needs in Transport for Sustainable Urban Environments (AUNT-SUE) consortium brings together researchers from London Metropolitan University, Loughborough University and University College London.

Working together with project partners including the London Borough of Camden, Hertfordshire County Council and local, regional and transport authorities, the team have developed a ‘toolkit’ that can be used at different scales from city centres down to the streets, vehicles and facilities such as bus stops, signage and ticket machines.

Central to the approach is the integration of policy, design and operations throughout the whole journey environment.

PIONEER 05 Summer 2010

Mapping the underworld It is only when we come across workmen digging in a hole that we are reminded of the amount of cabling and pipes that are under our streets.

Now, thanks to a multi-sensor device being developed by researchers at the University of Sheffield, in partnership with Yorkshire Water, Northumbrian Water, the National Grid and Ordnance Survey amongst others, the prospect of having to dig a hole in order to find the exact location of underground utilities could become a thing of the past.

Researchers are aiming to achieve a 100 per cent location success rate by developing a multi-sensor device that is intelligently attuned to different ground conditions. The device could also help to create UK-wide geophysical property maps and could lead to more efficient services and repairs.

briefings

Simple test for detecting landmines RESEARCHERS from the University of Edinburgh have developed a simple, cheap, accurate test to find undetected landmines – a custommade bacteria that glows green when it comes into contact with chemicals leaked by buried explosives.

The bacteria can be mixed into a colourless solution that, when sprayed on to the ground, forms green patches to indicate the presence of landmines.

Researchers say that the organism, which is cheap to produce, could be delivered from the air onto areas thought to contain landmines, with results available within a few hours. The bacteria is not dangerous to people or animals.

The research team were able to create their bespoke bacteria with an emerging

technique known as BioBricking. The tool enables bacteria molecules to be assumed from a range of tiny parts called BioBricks, like a very small-scale machine.

Between 15,000 and 20,000 casualties are caused each year by landmines and unexploded ordnance, according to the charity Handicap International. Some 87 countries contain minefields including Somalia, Mozambique, Cambodia, Iraq and Afghanistan.

EPSRC advanced research fellow Dr Alistair Elfick, who co-supervised the project, said: “This anti-mine sensor is a great example of how innovation in science can be of benefit to wider society. It also demonstrates how new scientific techniques can allow molecules to be designed for a specific purpose.”

Paper with a memory MEDICINE BOTTLES that alert you when a prescription needs updating and computer screens that roll up to fit in a briefcase are just two of the potential applications of EPSRCfunded research at De Montfort University Leicester.

The Leicester team is exploring the potential of gold nanoparticles to create flexible memory chips. They can store information in the form of charged and uncharged particles.

“The use of gold nanoparticles could be an essential step towards the mainstream

PIONEER 05 Summer 2010

adoption of ‘organic’ electronics, as they are commercially readily available and do not oxidise or rust, unlike other nanoparticles which have been tested, such as iron,” comments team leader Dr Shashi Paul.

Using organic materials in electronics offers several advantages over conventional silicon-based electronics. They can be processed more cheaply at room temperature; and they can be used with cheap and flexible substrates like plastic and paper, allowing them to be used in foldable or rollable devices, or integrated into clothing.

Forging ahead with fusion research THE UK has taken a vital step to realising commercial fusion power with EPSRC’s £30 million upgrade of an innovative device based at the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy (CFE).

The CFE is leading worldwide studies into spherical tokamaks, which promise to deliver more efficient energy production in fusion reactors. “The MAST (Mega Amp Spherical Tokamak) upgrade is going to be a key device in fusion research, both for the world and for the UK,” explains Professor Steve Cowley, head of the CFE. “We will get near-fusion conditions in a very compact device, and provide the basis of important experiments in physics and technology – important for fusion, but also for basic understanding of plasmas and their interactions with materials.”

MAST is a facility with an international reputation.

Professor Howard Wilson

The upgrade, which should be ready by 2015, is good news for fusion researchers around the world. “MAST is a facility with an international reputation,” said Professor Howard Wilson of the University of York.

“It is also a very flexible facility that is very accessible for universities, which means it is ideal for students to get involved.”

Professor Fritz Wagner of IPP Greifswald in Germany agrees: “MAST is particularly attractive to international collaborators because of the openness of the team, the accessibility to the programme, and the flair and the quality of the science.”

11

MANUFACTURING THE FUTURE Manufacturing is important to the UK economy, adding £150b per annum and employing over three million people. It accounts for 14 per cent of our GDP, 50 per cent of our exports and 75 per cent of our industrial R&D. But globalisation has meant low-cost manufacturing and some design and R&D capabilities are moving overseas. This has contributed to the UK’s negative trade gap in goods and brought the danger of a loss of key skills and highvalue capabilities.

To compete globally and to achieve lasting prosperity the UK needs long-term resilience and this can only be met through a more diversified and balanced economy. A continued investment in the UK’s research and skills base that encourages creativity and innovation is vital. Without it the UK will not have the technologies and skilled people essential for the formation of future, knowledgebased economies.

EPSRC has a crucial role to play as we recover from the current economic downturn by ensuring that we have the skills and research in place to face future challenges and change. We are investing £1.2m in manufacturing related research and training – supporting over 2,500 research projects and more than 2,700 PhD students, and collaborating with more than 2,000 companies.

Our research covers underpinning science, simulation, design, production, fabrication, systems and services. It is helping drive the innovation in high-value manufacturing necessary for competitive aerospace, pharmaceuticals and healthcare engineering sectors.

EPSRC is unique in supporting basic manufacturing research through to the stage where applications can be developed by companies or agencies such as the Technology Strategy Board and the Energy Technology Institute.

Through the research and training that we fund, EPSRC is pioneering a prosperous future for the UK – creating new industries and new jobs through innovative manufacturing businesses.

Mark Claydon-Smith Head of materials, mechanical and medical engineering Manufacturing co-ordinator mark.claydon-smith@epsrc.ac.uk

Manufacturing centres New generation of EPSRC manufacturing centres will open up new industries and markets

12-13 Set in cement How a spin-out company is revolutionising cement manufacturing and boosting the battle against climate change

14-15 Is plastic ‘cool’?

A collaboration between academia and industry has paved the way for a new Age of Plastic

16-17 Perfect surfaces The UK centre holding the key to a diverse range of high value products

18-19 Opinion Renishaw’s Geoff McFarland on taking the long-term view of commercial success

20

special feature

Manufacturing a new approach A new generation of manufacturing centres – EPSRC Centres for Innovative Manufacturing – will open up new industries and markets in growth areas for the UK. Words: Sally Wilkes In January this year the first group of a new generation of manufacturing centres was launched as part of a £70 million government commitment to UK manufacturing.

The three new EPSRC Centres for Innovative Manufacturing, based at Brunel, Loughborough and Southampton universities, will focus on research in liquid metals, regenerative medicine and photonics respectively.

Representing a new approach to funding in this area, the centres are part of a long-term strategy that plans to maximise the impact of innovative research for the UK, support existing industries and, crucially, open up new industries and markets in growth areas.

Each centre will receive up to five years of funding to retain key members of staff, develop new user collaborations, carry out feasibility studies, and support long-term manufacturing research.

They all have a clear business need for their area of research, so EPSRC support is, in effect, a platform from which the centres can secure further investment from industry and other funders and become self-supporting. The previous Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre (IMRC) funding model, in place from 2001 until 2009, saw 18 centres receive an initial block grant for five years, with potential for up to a further five years. So why the change in policy?

Anne Farrow, senior portfolio manager for innovative manufacturing, explains: “IMRCs have been very effective, but things have changed significantly in the last ten years. Funding across the innovation landscape has changed with the formation of bodies such as the Technology Strategy Board. The economic landscape is also different, leading to a new set of manufacturing drivers. The new centres are a response to this changed environment, and they will help develop

THE NEW CENTRES WILL HELP DEVELOP LEADING TECHNOLOGICAL RESEARCH THAT WILL BE THE BASIS FOR COMMERCIALLY VIABLE SOLUTIONS. Anne Farrow

leading technological research that will be the basis for commercially viable solutions.”

The new approach allows EPSRC the flexibility to support research in new areas through annual calls, responding to changes in technical development and needs. Research at the centres will be driven by the long-term research needs of users such as industry, government and charities.

Good vibrations for industry In many industrial systems, vibration is an unwanted by-product of useful work. Now, however, turning vibrations into commercial potential for industrial plants has resulted from a concept originated at the University of Southampton from EPSRC-funded research.

University spin-out company, Perpetuum Ltd, has developed sensors which ‘harvest’ the energy generated by the vibrations of machinery and use it to monitor performance. The beauty of the innovative sensing technique is that it can be used in dirty, dangerous

PIONEER 05 Summer 2010

or inaccessible locations where more conventional battery operated or wired sensors are impractical.

Having already proved their worth at Yorkshire Water, other potential applications for the sensors could be found in transportation, medical and aerospace industries.

new IMRCs 13

EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Liquid Metal Engineering

EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Regenerative Medicine

EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Photonics

Brunel University (London)

Loughborough University

University of Southampton

Brunel is developing innovative technologies for the reuse and recycling of metal that will lead to substantial conservation of natural resources, reduction in energy consumption and CO2 emissions.

EPSRC funding will total £4.5m over a five year period starting in February 2010; 15 industrial partners will contribute a further £4.6m.

Partner universities are Oxford and Birmingham.

Loughborough is testing and implementing ideas in clinical and industrial settings, creating next generation platforms for manufacturing regenerative medicines and informing business models, policy and public debate. EPSRC funding will total £5.3m over five years starting in September 2010; 28 industrial and government partners will contribute a further £3m.

Partner universities are Nottingham and Keele.

Southampton is developing the next generation of optical fibre materials and technology platforms, training a new generation of engineers and fuelling growth in photonics-related manufacturing. EPSRC grants total £4.7m over a five-year period starting in March; 13 industrial partners will contribute a further £4.6m.

The centres were launched by the then Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Business Secretary Lord Mandelson with EPSRC chief executive Professor Dave Delpy.

Lord Mandelson said that the funding “will see universities and businesses working together to commercialise academic research”.

He highlighted work being done at the University of Southampton that has “turned academic research into products that are used to navigate airliners, power the internet and manufacture your iPhone”.

The centres will work together with other UK centres to create a national network of expertise in manufacturing knowledge and reach out to other centres and relevant research groups internationally. It is hoped that they will move in new directions and areas and depart from traditional thinking.

Professor Zhongyun Fan, who leads the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Liquid Metal Engineering explains: “Our task isn’t simply to develop advanced manufacturing technologies – it’s also to stimulate new attitudes to metals within industry, at government level and throughout society.”

The new centres embody EPSRC’s central mission of supporting research that impacts positively on the wellbeing of the UK’s people and economy.

Regenerative medicine is an emerging discipline that aims to create a healthier, happier, more active and productive population that places less pressure on health and social care budgets, while generating profitable new markets at home and abroad.

There are, however, significant manufacturing challenges in this area.

Building on pioneering work already being carried out at Loughborough University, the new EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Regenerative Medicine will allow the research to be taken to the next level. “It’s about translating ideas into safe, affordable, cost-effective treatments that combine life-changing impact for patients with maximum commercial value,” says the centre director, Professor David Williams. “Our EPSRC centre will provide the capacity and the specialised expertise necessary to make this possible – and to enable the industry to build on its successes to date and fulfil its significant potential.”

For more information contact: anne.farrow@epsrc.ac.uk or www.epsrc.ac.uk/research/centres

Diamond micro tooling breakthrough A new research project at the EPSRC-supported Nottingham University Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre has significant potential benefits for UK industry.

The project which uses laser micro-milling/ablation techniques to machine superalloys has produced breakthrough technology resulting in a patent.

The production of high performance micro diamond tooling which can be used to produce highly accurate forms and achieve superior surface finishes, has the potential for a wide range of applications across UK industry including the aerospace, automotive and medical industries.

special feature

Cement is set for a low-carbon future Building on EPSRC-supported research, spin-out company Novacem aims to revolutionise cement manufacturing and boost the battle against climate change.

Words: Barry Hague

Cement may not be the world’s most glamorous material, but it’s certainly one of the most crucial. In fact, it’s hard to think of another manmade material that impacts on so many lives in so many ways. A key constituent of buildings, bridges, roads and much more besides, cement really does hold the modern world together.

Little wonder, then, that global cement production is set to double to over five billion tonnes a year by 2050. In developing countries, particularly, prosperity will depend

on the ready availability of huge volumes of cement for critical infrastructure projects.

But this comes at an enormous environmental price. Manufacturing Portland cement (the most common type used today) accounts for five per cent of all manmade CO2 emissions. So it’s not difficult to imagine the benefits if a new type of cement could be developed that doesn’t just have a much smaller carbon footprint but, in net terms, actually absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere during manufacture.

That is exactly what a team of engineers and scientists based at Imperial College London have done. And now their potentially game-changing breakthrough is heading towards manufacturing reality thanks to Novacem, a spin-out business set up by Imperial Innovations (which aims to maximise commercial opportunities arising from research at the college).

Novacem plans to have an industrial-scale pilot plant up and running in 2011, with the first volume production facilities operational from 2014/15.

“Our cement uses magnesium oxide, rather than calcium carbonate in the form of limestone, as its feedstock,” says Stuart Evans, Novacem’s chairman. “We blend it with additives to make a material which, like Portland cement, is strong, economic to produce and absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere as it hardens. But unlike Portland cement, it’s carbon-negative because it isn’t limestone based, it requires low process temperatures and it contains carbon-negative additives in its cement composition.”

The origins of this potential step-change in the way we meet our need for cement lie in an EPSRC-funded project at Imperial College London back in 2004. Dr Nikolaos Vlasopoulos, Novacem’s chief scientist,

Pioneering new methods of drug manufacture

New welding discovery

Engineers at the University of Leeds, funded by EPSRC, have developed a simple technology to ensure ‘right first time’ drug crystal formation.

Ensuring drug crystals are formed correctly is crucial to the efficiency of pharmaceutical manufacturers’ operations.

The team, working with Croatian pharmaceutical company PLIVA, have been able to show that crystals form into their desired product form without the usual problems of polymorphism which results in huge losses to the pharmaceutical sector each year.

Researchers at the EPSRC-supported Cranfield University Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre have discovered a new welding technique for manufacturing horizontal and inclined structures which could radically improve weld-based manufacturing practices.

As part of the university’s revolutionary research on Ready-to-Use Additive

PIONEER 05 Summer 2010

low carbon 15

Above: Novacem’s chairman Stuart Evans (left) with chief scientist Dr Nikolaos Vlasopoulos.

explains: “Together with the University of Cambridge, we examined a novel alternative cement consisting of magnesium oxide blended with Portland cement to see if it offered any sustainability benefits.

Unfortunately it didn’t, but it occurred to me that it might be possible to take Portland cement out of the equation altogether.

“Magnesium oxide cements have been around for decades. Generally, they’re expensive to make and have deficiencies such as water solubility, which is obviously unacceptable in a construction material. But I was convinced we could develop something with the right physical properties that would also be environmentally benign and economic to produce. Follow-on EPSRC support and proof-of-concept funding from the London Development Agency enabled us to develop our ideas and identify a viable approach.”

One priority was to pinpoint a way of producing the quantities of magnesium oxide

that will be needed if the new cement is to have a substantial global impact. Current magnesium oxide producers around the world harness one of two raw materials: magnesite (magnesium carbonate) and seawater. However, extracting magnesium oxide from these is highly carbon-intensive.

So the Imperial College team looked for an alternative – and found it in magnesium silicates, the key component in talcum powder. With global reserves estimated at around 10,000 billion tonnes, it was simply a question of finding the best way of converting this mineral into magnesium oxide.

“In our process, which effectively scales up existing technology, powdered magnesium silicates are mixed with water and special additives,” says Dr Vlasopoulos. “The resulting slurry is transformed into magnesium oxide via two intermediate stages. Crucially, the process temperature is relatively low, so low or no-carbon fuels like biomass can provide an adequate energy source. The next stage then involves turning the magnesium oxide into construction-quality cement by blending it with hydrated magnesium carbonates.”

This produces an end-product with extraordinary environmental credentials.

Whereas manufacturing a tonne of Portland cement emits 0.8 tonnes of CO2, the equivalent figure for a typical Novacem cement is minus 0.11 tonnes. Even if conventional fossil fuels are used, the figure is just 0.10 tonnes – which would be almost entirely offset by the CO2 absorbed from the atmosphere as the cement hardens.

Statistics like these, plus the technical and commercial pedigree of the Novacem team, explain why the company has successfully raised over £1 million in equity from a syndicate comprising Imperial Innovations,

THE BOTTOM LINE IS WE’RE A UK COMPANY AIMING TO HAVE A REAL IMPACT IN THE MANUFACTURING SECTOR AND ON CLIMATE CHANGE. Stuart Evans

the London Technology Fund and the Royal Society Enterprise Fund. Novacem is also leading a £1.5 million Technology Strategy Board project to prove technical and commercial viability, in collaboration with Rio Tinto, Laing O’Rourke and WSP Group.

Everything looks set for an exciting future.

“We may build our own production plants, license our technology to other organisations, establish joint ventures, or adopt a ‘horses for courses’ approach around the world,” says Stuart Evans. “The bottom line is we’re a UK company aiming to have a real impact in the manufacturing sector and on climate change.

It could be that, within 20 years, 25 per cent of the cement the world relies on is based on Novacem technology.”

For more information contact: Stuart Evans, stuart.evans@novacem.com or www.novacem.com

Skills to consolidate UK strengths Manufacturing (RUAM), this new technology could improve industry’s ability to manufacture high precision ready-to-use functional parts for a range of applications from small turbine blade repairs to making large aerospace structures.

The RUAM is currently supported by 21 industry partners.

An EPSRC-supported doctoral training centre led by the University of Sheffield will help the UK’s aerospace, automotive and power industries lead the world.

In partnership with the University of Manchester and more than 30 companies it will supply globally competitive metals specialists to high-value UK manufacturing sectors.

The work could help tackle energy challenges by providing new materials for the nuclear power industry, next generation gas turbines and ultra-efficient engines and corrosion protection for off-shore wind farms.

special feature

Turning to plastic Backed by EPSRC, a ten-year collaboration between academia and industry has paved the way for plastics to make a bigger impact on our lives than ever before.

Words: Barry Hague

Is plastic ‘cool’? If not, it certainly should be. Often synonymous in people’s minds with concepts like ‘cheap’, ‘imitation’ and ‘environmentally damaging’, these polymers are in fact miraculous materials with extraordinary properties – and are actually the most inherently recyclable materials of all.

Moreover, if the 20th century was undeniably the Age of Plastic, the 21st looks set to be an era when yet more of its vast potential is realised.

Already established as a staple of the manufacturing industry at both low-tech level (e.g. bottle-making) and for hightech applications (e.g. medical implant manufacture), the scope for us to turn to plastic to meet even more of our needs is almost endless. The future could see, for instance, the development of improved chemical-resistant films and coatings, revolutionary nanocomposites whose lightness makes them ideal for use in aircraft engines, and harder-wearing solar panels. Furthermore, it may well be possible to find ways of manufacturing plastics from biological materials, avoiding the need to use oil as a feedstock.

I’M CONVINCED THE PROJECT HAS ENABLED THE UK POLYMER INDUSTRY TO TAKE A VITAL STEP FORWARD. Professor Tom McLeish

But making all this happen demands a clear understanding of the basic rules connecting plastics’ molecular shape and structure with the way they behave when they are being processed into products – expanding, contracting and being relentlessly squeezed, stretched and deformed while in a molten state. Above all, such an understanding opens up the possibility of

Sandcastles hold key to low-carbon building The secret of a successful sandcastle could aid the revival of an ancient eco-friendly building technique and help to reduce reliance on cement in building materials.

Funded by EPSRC, researchers at Durham University’s School of Engineering have carried out a study into the strength of rammed earth, a manufactured material made up of sand, gravel and clay which is moistened and compacted between forms to build walls. Just as a sandcastle needs a little water to stand up, the Durham engineers found that the strength of rammed earth was heavily dependent on its water content.

PIONEER 05 Summer 2010

molecules being manipulated and arranged in ways that allow the creation of ‘designer’ polymers with characteristics tailored to specific uses. “Traditionally, plastics have been invented and then applications have been found for them,” says Professor Tom McLeish of Durham University’s Department of Physics. “But to unlock their full potential, we need to adopt the opposite approach – first pinpointing a market need and then producing a plastic whose molecules are deliberately designed or altered to deliver the right properties and required performance.”

Generating this understanding was the key aim of the Microscale Polymer Processing Project (MuPP), which ran from 1999 to 2009 and secured £7m of EPSRC funding plus around £2m in industrial support. The initiative didn’t just bring together leadingedge chemistry, physics, engineering, mathematics and computer science expertise across eight UK universities and one in the Netherlands. It also involved research groups at a host of leading polymer manufacturing and processing companies, including BP Chemicals (now Ineos), BASF, Dow Chemical and Lucite International (now part of Mitsubishi Rayon).

The project involved genuine twoway collaboration between the academic community and sharp-end industry.

Indeed, the whole thrust was to ensure that upstream breakthroughs were translated directly into downstream, ‘real-world’ molecular design tools that industry could use to improve existing plastics and develop new ones. “Academia and industry inevitably

Flexible solutions for car manufacturing Research at the EPSRC-funded Loughborough University Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre has helped replace copper wiring in cars with printed flexible circuits.

The techniques have been used by

designer polymers 17

have different outlooks and priorities”, says Professor McLeish, who led the project. “But the initiative’s success didn’t just depend on everyone talking to each other and sharing knowledge. It was also essential to ensure it produced practical tools that embodied the new understanding of molecular structures and configurations which our experiments were generating.”

New light was shed on polymer molecules using X-rays and neutron scattering – techniques that were themselves developed further under the project to capture entire flow-fields for the first time – as well as better established optically-based investigation methods. These insights were then harnessed to produce a suite of unique mathematical and computational modelling software tools, including: • ‘flowSolve’, predicting how a polymer will flow through complex paths in its melted state, based on its molecular structure.

• ‘REPTATE’, enabling data on the flow of molten polymers to be analysed in detail and compared to molecular models.

• ‘REACT’, predicting the shape of a polymer’s molecules based on its reaction chemistry.

• ‘BoB’, predicting the flow characteristics of polymers consisting of complex, branched molecules.

As well as delivering invaluable technical insights, these tools can make a vital contribution to cutting costs and drastically shortening design and development timescales. For instance, making a polymer more chemical-resistant (e.g. for use as

Mercedes, Vauxhall and BMW and have resulted in the weight of a car being reduced by between 40 and 70 kg.

The reduced weight leads to reduced fuel consumption and the technique uses fewer materials than previous methods, so is more resource efficient.

Initial production cost savings are estimated at between £130 and £240 per car.

a shower screen coating) may have the unwelcome side-effect of making it more difficult to process. The beauty of the new tools is that they enable such problems to be identified and resolved at the ‘drawing-board’ stage, avoiding the danger of delays and downtime later on.

Little wonder, then, that industrial partners involved in the project are reaping the benefits, using the tools and knowledge produced to aid the development of novel polymers, some of which have already secured patents. Indeed, a whole catalogue of ‘magic moments’ during the initiative really served to underline the project’s value.

“On one occasion, we were using flowSolve to predict stress patterns in one of our industrial partner’s polymers as it flowed into a mould,” Professor McLeish recalls.

“Stresses can lead to cracking in the final product so this is a key area to understand.

The visualisation produced by flowSolve showed a strange fang-like shape which we simply hadn’t expected to see. We thought it must be a mistake, but when we analysed the actual polymer we found exactly the same pattern. Our partner had never suspected that such stresses were present.”

So now this remarkably successful initiative has drawn to a close, what will its legacy be? “I’m convinced the project has enabled the UK polymer industry to take a vital step forward,” says Professor McLeish.

“It’s already led to the development of new plastics and it’s also brought the prospect closer of major advances in areas such as polymer electronics. The project may have

Above: The ‘fang’: flow of a polyethylene melt through a constriction, as predicted by flowSolve (right) and as measured by experiment (left).

finished but we’ll all keep talking, and we’re now looking for ways to bring more SMEs into the circle so that the whole industry really benefits from the breakthroughs we’ve made.”

Professor McLeish thinks for a moment before concluding: “You know, polymers really are nature’s chosen technology. All biomolecules consist of long chains. Our work will help mankind match that approach even more effectively in future and develop new plastics for almost every conceivable manufacturing application.”

For more information contact: Professor Tom McLeish, t.c.b.mcleish@durham.ac.uk

Synthetic bone closer to market Pioneering research is moving man-made bone a step closer to reality.

A team funded by EPSRC at the University of Aberdeen is developing synthetic materials that mimic bone and could help in treating spinal injuries, osteoporosis, or repairing bone damage caused by accidents.

The university has struck a multiple licensing deal with ApaTech Ltd – a world leading orthobiologics company focused on the development of synthetic bone graft technologies.

special feature

Manufacturing’s perfect future Creating the ‘perfect’ surface is key to a diverse range of high value products, from medical devices to space exploration. A UK centre, funded by EPSRC, is helping industry make the most of this new opportunity.

Words: Chris Buratta

Technology truck takes to the road A manufacturing roadshow is helping companies to innovate and inspiring young people to take up careers in engineering.

MANTRA (the Manufacturing Technology Transporter) is a specially modified HGV packed with the latest machinery and simulators. It was established by the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, with Boeing, with funding from EPSRC and industry sponsors.

PIONEER 05 Summer 2010

high value manufacturing 19

On the surface, Professor Paul Shore and his colleagues at Cranfield University are keen on precision. They have spent the last six years establishing an internationally respected Ultra Precision and Structured Surfaces centre.

“Ultra precision surfaces, those considered ‘perfect’ at near atomic level, are pivotal to a wide range of next generation products,” says Professor Shore.

“In less than six years the Research Councils, after ‘seed funding’ from the DTI, have helped us move from a £30,000 six-month manufacturing study to a national laboratory which now has multimillion pound international contracts.”

The importance of ultra precision surfaces covers industries from medicine, three-dimensional displays, and fusion energy to earth observation and astronomy.

And the centre’s expertise is opening doors for the UK to capiltise on these major manufacturing opportunities.

The surfaces can be produced by various methods and using everything from glass to ceramics. Highly precise machining methods, for instance, can produce micrometre accurate surfaces while reactive atomic plasmas can be used to deposit onto ultra smooth surfaces.

In recognition of their potential, the Cranfield team, together with partners at University College London (UCL), secured a £3.6m Research Councils UK Basic Technology grant in 2004 to establish a UK large ultra precision surfaces capability.

Through this RCUK research project, three world leading ultra precision machine systems were produced. “The success in developing these machines led to significant industrial interest,” Professor Shore adds. It also led to the team establishing an EPSRC Integrated Knowledge Centre (IKC), opened in January 2007.

The Ultra Precision and Structured Surfaces IKC – known as UPS2 – is a collaborative activity of Cranfield, UCL and Cambridge universities and located in North Wales.

“My experience, after working within industry for most of my career, is that the Research Councils UK have provided excellent support to allow an internationally credible UK ultra precision laboratory to be established and in a relatively short time,” Professor Shore says.

By the end of 2007, the team had secured its first major international contract; to make seven mirror segments for the proposed European Southern Observatory (ESO) extra large telescope.

This ESO contract, which is led by the operating company of the Optic Technium, Optropreneurs Ltd, is worth £4.5m. However, the major contract for 1,000 mirror segments sits behind it and is valued

Right: Producing ultra precision surfaces.

THE SUCCESS IN DEVELOPING THESE MACHINES LED TO SIGNIFICANT INDUSTRIAL INTEREST. Professor Paul Shore

at approximately £100m. “UK optics companies are now carefully reviewing this major business opportunity,” Professor Shore adds.

By October of 2008, UPS2 had opened its 300 square metre Surface Structuring laboratory and was working on contracts for UK and US organisations.

The centre is now involved in a wide range of sectors; for example, making ultra precise micro-textured rolls for producing optical film for next generation displays. This is a significant growth sector as displays are now widely used and new 3D technologies are starting to emerge.

It is also supporting UK companies in the aerospace and space sectors as well as in medical device fabrication and is training new people in ultra precision technologies. In 2008, all of its students were funded by British manufacturing organisations.

For more information contact: Professor Paul Shore, paul.shore@cranfield.ac.uk or www.ups2.co.uk

Ink-jet research Industry could soon be producing complex electronics and hi-tech gadgetry simply by pressing the print button.

Ink-jet technology involves the generation, manipulation and deposition of microscopic drops of liquid under digital control.

The same technology used for printing pictures and text could also be used to manufacture high-value products such as flatpanel displays or photovoltaic cells for power generation.

Research into these techniques is being carried out by a consortium led by the EPSRC-supported Cambridge Institute of Manufacturing including collaborators from the Universities of Durham and Leeds and a group of nine companies.

OPINION

In for the long haul Geoff McFarland, group engineering director of Renishaw plc, explains how commercial success requires a long-term view.

If a week is a long time in politics, then its hardly surprising that many politicians struggle to understand the nature of engineering and scientific research, where commercial success is often measured after ten years, during which time we may have seen two or three governments come and go.

As a company that throughout its history has invested heavily in R&D and engineering (around 18 per cent of sales each year), we are used to taking a long-term view of projects. However, it requires a passionate belief in the ultimate commercial viability of the technology, and the ability to hold your nerve, because the length of time from fledging technology to commercial launch is regularly underestimated.

A good example of this is our Raman Spectroscopy technology, which was originally developed together with Leeds University in the 1980s. We struggled for a long time to take it from a laboratory setting to a product that could be successfully manufactured in volume, and then onto real commercial success. However, that faith has now been repaid and when the downturn hit global manufacturing last year, it was only our product line that continued to grow.

The Raman Spectroscopy technology is also now helping to underpin our diversification into the healthcare sector, where we are developing trace level detection technologies, based on the exploitation of Surface-Enhanced Resonance Raman Scattering (SERRS). However, this has only been possible by successfully combining two different technologies that arose from research council funded projects at Strathclyde University (SERRS) and at Southampton University (Klarite substrate).

PIONEER 05 Summer 2010

ONE AREA THAT I BELIEVE IS ALSO HELPING IMPROVE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN INDUSTRY AND EDUCATION IS THE ESPRCFUNDED EngD COURSE. Geoff McFarland

As a business with a significant breadth of disciplines, we have been able to take these individual components, which are not significant in their own right, and then by combining them with our Raman instrumentation and commercial awareness, functionalise an exciting new method of human disease detection.

Another current commercial success is our REVO five-axis measuring head for co-ordinate measuring machines.

Over ten years in development, a significant component are the optical encoders, where we benefitted enormously from the ability of Heriot-Watt University to micro-fabricate the optics. However, like Raman Spectroscopy, the REVO product is another example of how it is often wrong to think about research project timescales in terms of initial concept to commercialisation – for a business it is all about successful commercialisation, which can take another five years after market launch, especially where it is a truly breakthrough product.

So what drives our relationships with universities? In our main metrology product lines, we have significant expertise in mechatronics, in which we like to do our own research, and then approach other organisations for support outside this specialism. Therefore, as an example,

in recent years we’ve worked with Bath University on materials research and Brunel University on coatings.

Working with universities is of course not without its challenges. As a business we are very much ‘in it’ for the long-term, but with universities often facing difficulties with staff turnover and short-term funding, plus less commercial pressures, it is important that trust exists between both parties, and this is why we currently work with just 12 UK universities, with whom we have built up relationships over many years.

We focus on the UK because face-to-face contact is I believe key to maintaining focus and driving forward the research to ultimate commercial gain.

One area that I believe is also helping improve relationships between industry and education is the ESPRC-funded EngD course, which is an excellent four-year combination of short taught modules and real industry related projects, giving students an early awareness of the commercial imperative. What I’d now like to see is a Masters equivalent!

However, in ending this article I would just like to raise the concern that at a time that UK technology companies are seeing positive growth in many sectors, universities are planning to cut their engineering and science teaching and research capabilities.

I would urge them not to treat all courses as equal and think long and hard about the longer-term value to the nation of engineers and scientists.

Renishaw profile Renishaw is one of the world’s leading engineering technology companies, supplying sectors as diverse as metalworking, metrology, electronics, dentistry and neurosurgery. It has been honoured with 13 Queen’s Awards to date, recognising Technological Achievement, Export Achievement and, most recently in April 2009, for Enterprise in the Innovations category.

In the year to 30 June 2009, Renishaw generated turnover of £171m, with overseas sales representing 93 per cent of turnover. The Renishaw Group currently has over 50 locations in 31 countries, with some 1,800 employees, of which 1,100 are employed at the Group’s head office and manufacturing sites in Gloucestershire.

MANUFACTURING THE FUTURE Creating new industries and new jobs

EPSRC is investing £1.2b in manufacturing related research and training.

2,000

COMPANIES COLLABORATING ON EPSRC RESEARCH

2,500 RESEARCH PROJECTS

2,700

CURRENT PHD STUDENTS

IMPACT!

Exhibition

L

eading researchers and designers came together at a pioneering exhibition in March 2010 to explore the potential impact of developing technologies on society. EPSRC-funded research groups collaborated with British design talent to explore and visualise the implications and possibilities of scientific developments and examine the effect they might have on how we live in future Britain.

Attended by over 1,200 people, the event was a unique collaboration between EPSRC, the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts and the Royal College of Art. The 16 original design installations offered an alternative view of how science and engineering could influence our future. They aimed not to offer prediction, but ask questions and inspire debate into how today’s research might transform our world. The research included in the exhibition ranged from renewable energy devices and security technologies to emerging fields of synthetic biology and quantum computing.

Find out more about the exhibition at: www.impactexhibition.org.uk

PIONEER 05 Summer 2010

1

2

IMPACT! exhibition 23

Through the eyes of design, this project offers a fresh and creative insight into how the ideas that scientists and engineers are working on today might transform our quality of life and tackle the challenges we face in the 21st century in areas like engineering, healthcare, transport, digital communications and the creative industries.

Lord Robert Winston, professor of science and society, Imperial College London

5

6

3

7

4

8

1. Nuclear Dialogues: Exploring the public’s interpretation of nuclear power and potential uses for its by-products.

2. Happylife: Investigating the potential of technology that can detect physiological changes in us, linked to our emotions.

3. The 5th Dimensional Camera: A fictional device that captures glimpses of the parallel universes suggested by quantum physics.

4. Phantom Recorder: When a limb is lost, the mind often develops a phantom sensation. What if we could record and keep one’s phantom sensation?

5. Synthetic Immune System: Exploring the potential of synthetic biology to make healthcare more personal and participatory, which could allow us to become our own doctors.

6. Shocking: If you could safely experience high-impact shock, would you? Development of new nano-composites opens up new realms of experimental possibilities.

7. Policing Genes: Exploring the use of police bees to combat a possibly dangerous and illegal black market of GM plants.

8. Fabulous Fabbers: A revolution is coming – in the way products are designed and made, transcending the limitations of current manufacturing techniques.

The National Gallery’s director of science Dr Ashok Roy

PIONEER 05 Summer 2010

art science 25

Every picture tells a story A new partnership between EPSRC and the National Gallery is revealing how leading science is telling the untold story of European art.

Words: Chris Buratta

D

eep in the corridors of the National Gallery, away from the bustle of the public exhibitions, lies a little known collection. But it is one that reveals the secrets of seven centuries of art.

Sitting in a small laboratory, Dr Ashok Roy the National Gallery’s director of science, opens a computer file and scrolls through. It reads like a who’s who of European masters.

Caravaggio, Cezanne, Duccio, Leonardo da Vinci, Monet and Van Gogh.

Roy finds what he is looking for and opens it up. Holbein.

“Pictures have a physical reality,” he says. “They were made in studios and workshops using physical materials and one should be aware of all these facts when looking at these pictures.”

The National Gallery’s science department began life in the late 1930s. But science at the gallery dates back even further.

In the 19th century, the Gallery’s Trustees took advice from Michael Faraday on the effects of air pollution on pictures.

Back in the present, Roy is examining the image on screen.

“We can understand a painting better through analysis,” says Roy. “Pictures are very multilayered structures and the best way of getting analysis of that is through paint cross sections.”

Each computer file contains digital images of small flakes of paint, taken in cross section using a microscope. Like geological strata, the individual layers reveal a painting’s hidden history – complete with intriguing twists.

When cleaning Holbein’s The Ambassadors, conservators had asked Roy’s team to take a closer look at dark paint used to depict the tiled floor. They wanted to know if it was original or if it could be removed.

Examining the cross section taken from paint in this part of the picture, Roy points at clearly visible cracks.

“Oil paint cracks through age,” Roy says. “But we can see these cracks stop before the surface layer. You can also see a layer of varnish under the surface layer.”

The centuries old picture is becoming clearer. Roy continues: “And through analysis of the surface layer of paint we can see that it contains the element barium, which is characteristic of 19th century paint.”

The Ambassadors was painted in 1533. It is a dead give away and, along with the cracks that don’t reach the surface and the varnish that has been painted over, it tells Roy the dark paint on the tiles has been added many years later.

Below: Hans Holbein, The Ambassadors ©The National Gallery, London.

PIONEER 05 Summer 2010

art science 27

Armed with this knowledge, conservators safely removed the additions and returned the masterpiece to its original state.

In Roy’s words, the department is trying to ‘complete the story of the making of European painting’.

And the work has recently been enhanced by a partnership with EPSRC. This will culminate in a major exhibition at the gallery – Close Examination: Fakes, Mistakes and Discoveries – that opens in June. It will explore how science has told the story of famous art works, revealed hidden truths and unmasked imposters.

One story that will feature in the exhibition is that of Raphael’s Madonna of the Pinks.

In 1990 Nicholas Penny, now National Gallery director, was taken by a known copy of the picture hanging in Alnwick Castle, home of the Duke of Northumberland. Penny was struck by the valuable frame it was in.

“It was very unusual to put a copy in a valuable frame,” says Roy. Taking it into the light, Penny noticed a small alteration, or pentimento, in the upper right hand corner of the painting.

“There was also a small painted chip in the window sill, not present in other copies,” says Roy. The chip is typical of Raphael’s use of symbolism.

Interest raised, the picture was taken to the National Gallery for closer examination using infrared imaging techniques.

“The infrared images show very well all of the detailed underdrawings and they are characteristic of Raphael,” says Roy. “Underdrawings are often much more characteristic than the paintings on top. So it was realised this must be the original, the lost Raphael.”

Based on the unmistakable quality of the picture and confirmation by technical study, the painting was revealed as the genuine article – pushing its value to over £20m. When the Duke of Northumberland decided to sell the Raphael, the National Gallery mounted a campaign and raised the funds to buy it.

“That was wonderful for the public, for the public to be able to come and see it. It is a really great example of early Raphael.”

The exhibition will also tell the turbulent story of Francia’s Virgin and Child.

In the 1950s, National Gallery Trustees concluded that one of its paintings – Francia’s Virgin and Child – was a fake. The painting had been acquired by the Gallery in 1924 as part of a bequest by German industrialist Ludwig Mond (it remains the single largest bequest to the National Gallery).

Above: Dr Ashok Roy Opposite left: Raphael, Madonna of the Pinks ©The National Gallery, London.

But in 1954, another version of the painting appeared on the London art market – prompting an inquiry by the Gallery into the legitimacy of its asset. So it was discovered that ‘cracks’ on the painting’s surface had been painted on to give the appearance of age, leading the Trustees to conclude their ‘Francia’ was a fake.

And for forty years, a fake it remained. Then, in 1998, two Italian scholars put forward an alternative theory. They suggested that both paintings were original, and the National Gallery picture was an early version that had been badly damaged and later ‘hyper restored’. “We looked at it again at that time and thought the theory could be correct,” says Roy. But using new equipment, acquired as part of the EPSRC partnership, the department has recently revealed its Francia is actually a forgery.

Analysis showed the painting contained two types of binding medium – both walnut oil and linseed oil and a distinctive resin.

These proved important details in concluding the Francia was not a late 15th century picture. These are just some of the hidden stories that will be revealed at the exhibition.

“There are those that have fallen and those that have been upgraded and then there are others that remain puzzles and we would like to know more,” says Roy. “The central aim of the exhibition is to explain to the public how science can inform our understanding of paintings, what they are, who made them, and how they were made.”

Close Examination: Fakes, Mistakes and Discoveries is at the National Gallery, 30 June to 12 September 2010. Admission is free.

For information on the cross-council Science and Heritage Programme: www.heritagescience.ac.uk

viewpoint Researchers and policymakers must overcome temporal differences to build a sustainable urban environment, says Annabel Cooper, in-house reporter for the ISSUES Project.

Any time for action?

T

he first decade of the 21st century will always be remembered as a tipping point. It marks the first point in history where the majority of the human population live in urban areas. The scales will never rebalance and as more and more people flock to towns and cities, many predict that by as soon as 2050 two thirds of the world’s population will live in urban centres. Already in the United Kingdom about 90 per cent of the population is urbanised and when coupled with the threat of migration which is likely to result from climate change, it is no wonder that urban sustainability is one of the most important policy issues for the UK and the rest of the world.

If we can agree that urban communities must become more sustainable, what knowledge, technologies and processes are needed to achieve this end? Which of these are currently available and where can they be found? And where are the gaps in knowledge that need to be addressed?

The Sustainable Urban Environment Programme (SUE) is one place to start. This £38m EPSRC-funded portfolio of research seeks to build the knowledge, technologies and processes needed to overcome the challenges of urban sustainability. The programme is impressive in its breadth, spanning 30 different UK universities and consisting of 18 multidisciplinary consortia and over 400 researchers investigating different areas of the sustainable urban environment.

This multidisciplinary approach covers everything from waste, water management, transport planning and strategy; to spatial planning, regeneration and stakeholder engagement.

Yet research on its own is not enough. The knowledge, facts, tools and expertise created by (SUE) research are at their most useful if they are shared. Yet researchers in the field of urban sustainability have found that not all evidence that originates from research is reflected in policy and practice1. It is also the case that new

PIONEER 05 Summer 2010

knowledge does not have to be created through research, but can be developed directly. This begs the question: how is knowledge transferred between sustainability research and its potential endusers? And is enough being done to ensure that sustainable urban environment research makes a difference to those tasked with making our cities more sustainable?

The Implementation Strategies for Sustainable Urban Environment Systems (ISSUES) project was set up alongside SUE to address this question. The knowledge transfer arm of the SUE programme, ISSUES works to ensure that the findings from research work carried out by the SUE consortia are understood and used by policymakers, practitioners and other end-users.

But what does knowledge transfer (KT) actually mean and how does ISSUES go about it?

KT is often described in simple terms as bridging ‘the gap’ between research and its end users. The gap has been broadly described as resulting from two main differences – first, an inherent difference in the way knowledge is created or used; and second, the difference in the ‘types’ of knowledge fostered on each side. In order to find out what these theories actually mean in practice and to gain a better picture of the extent of the gap the project is attempting to bridge, ISSUES has undertaken a series of interviews and meetings with SUE researchers, stakeholders and policymakers.

The interviews highlighted several common issues: timescale differences among academic, policymaking and industry projects; lack of understanding and communication on both sides; lack of incentives for KT and collaboration; and considerable costs (both in terms of time and money) associated with engagement.

In terms of iterating ‘the temporal gap’, both academics and industry respondents drew attention to project timescale differences.

The academics noted industry’s apparent need for ‘quick win’

viewpoint 29

The knowledge, facts, tools and expertise created by (SUE) research are at their most useful if they are shared.

Annabel Cooper

results over long-term academic projects; and the industry respondents drew attention to the reluctance of some researchers to share research results mid-project. Indeed temporal differences are obvious. Most research council funded academic projects typically last between three and five years, whereas project timescales within industry tend to vary from anywhere between a few days to a few months.

In terms of the public sector ‘temporal gap’, although the policy writing process appears on the surface to be compatible in length with research projects, ISSUES’ meetings with policymakers in UK and Scottish government departments highlighted the short timescales with which policymakers have to make decisions based on research. And also, the even shorter timescales with which they are expected to answer policy questions or make recommendations to ministers for policy development. One policymaker had only three minutes to dedicate to any individual body of research and another even asked not to be given any more evidence, already having too much research input and not enough time to work through it.

These interviews suggest that in order to make any impact on policy, researchers must present their work in a way that accommodates these time pressures.

Similarly, at a recent ISSUES event (Brave New City), which was a brokering exercise to connect SUE research with its stakeholders, one of the panellists Paul Morrell highlighted the difficulty for researchers to make an impact on government. The government’s first chief construction advisor wryly observed: ‘If you want anything to stick in government it must be quick, simple, cheap and funny.’

Although Mr Morrell was speaking somewhat tongue in cheek, the sentiment rings true with the views and experiences of the policymakers ISSUES interviewed.

Furthermore, the Scottish government’s chief scientist Anne

Glover noted that personal communication was key to influencing policy, saying that: “Scientists should challenge policymakers, and in order to do this they must understand how”. Yet the SUE researchers ISSUES interviewed said that the time required to develop these connections and relationships was not available.

As one SUE respondent said: “Time taken for staff is the biggest drawback to KT – KT takes time away from other research activities”.

So how do researchers and policymakers overcome their temporal differences? A recent change in science communication to include ‘knowledge translation’ and ‘knowledge brokering’ processes could go some way to bridging the temporal divide. These concepts mean in literal terms: translating research results for various audiences; and third party development of links and engagement between practitioners and research. The ISSUES’ KT strategy, based on reviewing and understanding the best practice within SUE and the wider KT field, exploits both these methodologies.

Effective KT practice within SUE include: running workshops with stakeholders early in the project; defining the overall research question through a scoping study with practitioners; creating an ‘elevator pitch’ to maximise impact on time-scarce policymakers; using knowledge brokers that bridge the temporal and knowledge gap; and using a ‘translation’ group to translate and disseminate outputs.

ISSUES’ knowledge brokering activity has included briefing meetings with chief scientific advisors and industry leaders, using events to bring researchers and end-users together to interact against the context of a specific project (such as the Ebbsfleet development), high profile evening events to raise the profile of the research programme (Brave New City), and a series of capacity building workshops with researchers to develop awareness of KT best practice. ISSUES has also embedded a journalist within the team to act as knowledge translator, redrafting and publishing the outputs from individual SUE projects in trade magazines, professional institution newsletters, e-bulletins and the media.

ISSUES has found that in order for policymaking and practice to be based on evidence produced by academic research, the gap between end-users and researchers must be bridged. A transition to better understanding, collaboration and exchange of knowledge and experience between sustainability research producers and users can be achieved. But each group must find the time to do it.

For information on SUE: www.suegateway.org For information on the ISSUES project: www.urbansustainabilityexchange.org.uk 1Nutley, S.M., Walter, I. and Davies, H.T.W., 2007. ‘Using evidence – how

research can inform public services’. Policy Press, UK.

profile 30

EPSRC Pioneer

Mark Plumbley What’s digital music research all about?

My own angle on it is the processing of music and audio generally. What can you discover about it, what is the rhythm, the beat, what are the notes or the instruments and can you separate out the different signals.

Professor Mark Plumbley is a leading figure in the automatic analysis of music and sound.

He recently swapped the lab for the gallery when his research featured in an innovative design exhibition as part of EPSRC’s Impact! campaign.

He moved to Queen Mary, University of London in 2002, helping to establish the Centre for Digital Music, where he is now Professor of Machine Learning and Signal Processing and an EPSRC Leadership Fellow.

His research focuses on the automatic analysis of music and other audio sounds, including automatic music transcription, beat tracking and audio source separation.

Plumbley chairs the ICA Steering Committee and is an Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks.

How did you get into digital music research?

I started my career in neural networks and was looking for new directions to take that. I got into separating sound sources particularly in music. As I was doing this stuff it became clear lots of people were working in music across lots of different departments, but there wasn’t a forum for everyone to talk to each other.

PIONEER 05 Summer 2010

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

I am very proud of the Digital Music research network. It has really helped me, and hopefully others, to get together and work in this area. It has helped create a community who want to work with each other. I started it up, but it now has a life of its own.

So much of what we do is about communication.

If we did research and never told anyone it would be pointless.

Professor Mark Plumbley

What frustrates you?

Not having enough hours in the day. I am interested in too many things and I cannot do them all.

Who do you most admire?

Jean-Dominique Bauby. I read his memoir The Diving Bell and the Butterfly years ago.

This was the former Elle editor who suffered a massive stroke and could only communicate through blinking an eye.

It is a story of a man who really wanted to communicate and who didn’t give up.

It has really stuck with me. So much of what we do is about communication.

If we did research and never told anyone it would be pointless.

Who has been your greatest influence?

My own PhD supervisor, the late Frank Fallside at Cambridge. Somehow, he was able to create a research group where interesting things could happen. He always had a sunny way of looking at things and I would like to think I would work to create an atmosphere with that positivity.

What are your main interests outside of science/research?

I do a bit of choral singing, the last one we did was Poulenc’s Gloria, which I’m pretty sure I’d sung before a long time ago, but you can still look at something and think it ought to be easier! I enjoy being part of something creative, although sometimes you wonder if it really will all come together in time for the concert...

In another life what would you be?

Well I rather like the one I’ve got so I’m not really looking to change anything! But if I had to be something different, I think I like looking for connections between things, so I might end up as a historian or forensic accountant or something like that?

www.impactworld.org.uk

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

For back issues or to subscribe to PIONEER for free, email: pioneer@epsrc.ac.uk

Download now...

To hear more about EPSRC-funded research, download the PIONEER podcast: www.epsrc.ac.uk/ videoaudio

www.epsrc.ac.uk