EPSRC Institutional Sponsorship 2011 - the 2013 Update Report

EPSRC Institutional Sponsorship 2011- the 2013 Update Report
The University of Edinburgh
PI: Professor Lesley Yellowlees

Updates on the Institutional Sponsorship 2011 awards are as follows:

A. Shaping Capability: Bridging the Gaps

1. Maximizing the Impact of Mathematics, Maximaths (Prof Jacques Vanneste, School of Mathematics) - two papers have been accepted: (i) S.F.B. Tett, M.J. Mineter, C. Cartis, D.J. Rowlands and P. Liu entitled ‘Can top of atmosphere radiation measurements constrain climate predictions? Part 1: Tuning’ in the Journal of Climate (in press); and (ii) S.F.B. Tett, D.J. Rowlands, M.J. Mineter and C. Cartis entitled ‘Can top of atmosphere radiation measurements constrain climate predictions? Part 2: Climate Sensitivity’ in the Journal of Climate (in press).

2. Funding to support the ‘Initiating Knowledge Transfer Fund’ (IKTF) (Tom Higgison, Edinburgh Research and Innovation) - projects selected, with their updates, are as follows: (i) PET Scan Quality Improvement - the funding allowed the concept to be established sufficiently to ask for more significant funds from the STFC Follow-on-Fund Scheme; (ii) Radiology Skills Platform for Screening Mammography - there are no updates to report; and (iii) Materials to Enhance/Prevent Crypto Binding - the funding allowed the research group to collaborate with industry. The company provided material for the group to work with and the company will now conduct trials to determine the performance of the research group’s system. Publications are awaiting any licensing agreement which might result from the collaboration. The lead PI was also invited to give a talk at an international polymer conference in India and has since established collaborations with a group there, which has subsequently led to a UKIERI application.
3. Seeing Inside Model Granular Materials (Dr Jin Sun, School of Physics and Astronomy) - the project has led to sustained collaboration between the Physics and Engineering Groups. A planned joint proposal on granulation was inspired through the EPSRC CASE studentship projects. This strengthened Dr Sun's proposal to EPSRC’s First Grant Scheme, which was submitted to EPSRC in July 2013.

4. Cross College Video Summaries (Prof Bob Fisher, School of Informatics) - additional funding was received which allowed the project to expand its videos from c. 200 to c. 500. Over 100,000 viewings have been downloaded so far.

5. Empowering Postdocs: Collaboration Building Colloquia across the Colleges (Prof Judi Allen, School of Biological Sciences) - there are no updates to report.
6. Signal Processing in the Kidney: An Integrated Modelling/Experimental Approach (Dr Guido Sanguinetti, School of Informatics) - a paper was recently accepted entitled ‘An anatomically-unbiased approach for analysis of renal BOLD magnetic resonance images’ by Robert Menzies, Andrew Zammit-Mangion, Lyam Hollis, Ross Lennen, Maurits Jansen, David Webb, John Mullins, James Dear, Guido Sanguinetti, and Matthew Bailey in the American Journal of Physiology (in press). Also as a result of this pump-priming, additional MRI scan time was granted, which is now producing new data for future publications.

B. Delivering Impact: Pathways to Impact

7. A Dedicated Resource to Shape Future Capabilities in Delivering Impact; Resources for Establishing Sustainable Pathways to Impact through Client Relationship Management; Manpower for Establishing Sustainable Pathways to Impact through Client Relationship Management (Ian Sharp, Edinburgh Research and Innovation) - the project has been sustained and grown, as industry engagement at a strategic level is now a priority area for the College of Science and Engineering. There is now a team in place developing relationships with industry. Key accounts from the initial funding have included Dstl (£4M UDRC award), NPL (various interactions) and Selex (various interactions).


8. CSE Marketing and Promotion Activity for the University’s All - Waters Combined Current and Wave Test Facility and other Marine Energy Themes (Dr John Jeffrey, School of Engineering) - there are no updates to report.

9. Edinburgh Visit to Brazil for BG Institute for Carbon Management and Gas Utilisation (Prof Stefano Brandani, School of Engineering) - during 2012 Prof Brandani visited several Brazilian universities as a result of this funding. In addition two PhD students are now spending time at the Universidade Federal do Ceará (UFC), and one UFC student is coming to spend time at the University of Edinburgh, to build on further research collaborations.

10. Formal Approaches to Modelling Biomolecular Networks (Prof Andrew Millar, Centre for Systems Biology Edinburgh) - there are no updates to report.

C. Developing Leaders: Widening the Pool of Research Experience

11. Edinburgh Complex Fluids Partnership (Prof Wilson Poon, School of Physics and Astronomy) - since September 2012 the member of staff who was supported by the EPSRC money initially has generated nearly £30k of one-off consultancy income, and jointly obtained a $108k grant over 3 years from the International Fine Particles Research Institute.

12. Internships created in Collaboration with Industry (Ian Sharp, Edinburgh Research and Innovation) - we are continuing to work with the clients that were involved in the original scheme, through a mixture of consultancy, joint bids, and collaboration. One of the companies (MacPhies) is considering employing the intern.


D. Efficiency and Effectiveness: Promoting Increased Equipment Sharing

13. Sharing High Performance Computing, Data Intensive Computing and Novel Computing Resources across Scottish Higher Education Institutions (Alison Kennedy, Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre) - there are no updates to report.

14. Adsorption Equipment for Industrial Secondments and Equipment Sharing Activities (Prof Stefano Brandani, School of Engineering) - the facility participated at the University of Edinburgh’s ‘Get Your Kit Out’ events, which were organised in 2012 and 2013. Due to the use of these facilities, several grant proposals have now been submitted to the RCUK (both from Prof Brandani’s group and from other colleagues within the University of Edinburgh).

15. Equipment Sharing Information System Development (Andy Davis, College of Science and Engineering) - there are no updates to report.

16. Materials Characterisation Facility (Dr Andrea Hamilton, School of Engineering) - there are no updates to report.

17. Promoting Equipment and Facilities Sharing (Ian Sharp, Edinburgh Research and Innovation) - we have continued to use the information gathered from this award, and the event format we developed, to continue to promote our facilities both internally and externally. We have increased the awareness and usage of the facilities held in the College of Science and Engineering.

18. Edinburgh Compute and Data Facility, ECDF, Training and Consultancy Project (Tony Weir, Computing Services) - the purpose of this funding was to expand the use of the University’s HPC resource in subject areas outside its traditional use. Since the project concluded, comparison of yearly usage figures shows on average an increase of 66% in usage in subject areas outside its traditional use.