Over the past two decades sustainability has developed from a peripheral concern to a pressing mainstream issue, affecting domestic and industrial domains. The creative industry's diverse outputs, ranging from physical artworks and hard luxury goods to publications and films, all entail multiple entanglements with material sustainability. The project team will scope current and immanent sustainable practice around the sourcing, use, disposal, recycling and reuse of materials, to help understand the creative sector's ongoing responses. Recognising that different creative disciplines have different prerogatives and operate under specific pressures, the research will take a discipline-led approach, whilst also acknowledging where cross-discipline activity is evident. The project will cover: Architectural Design (including architectural model making); Applied Arts (Ceramics; Furniture making; Glass; Goldsmithing and silversmithing; Instrument Making; Jewellery); Design (Industrial design; Packaging design; Product design; Design for medical applications), Fashion (menswear, womenswear; accessories, including leather working), Filmmaking; Fine Arts (Installation; Painting; Printmaking; Sculpture), Museums, Galleries and Heritage (Collection conservation and restoration; Curating contemporary art; Museum display and storage; Heritage building maintenance); Photography, Textiles, Theatre and performing arts (including Scenography, Costume, and Lighting). The result will be a comprehensive record of the current positions on materials sustainability and related issues held by the spectrum of creative industries active across the UK. This will be supplemented by a series of case studies of individual initiatives from other countries, predominantly in the developing world, where improving sustainability is an evident element of the activities under examination. In both cases, reference will be made to how the identified activities relate to the United Nations' Sustainability Development Goals. The project activities will include a comprehensive literature review, remote surveys and informal scoping interviews with practitioners and associated professionals working in one of more creative disciplines, as well as (conditions allowing) engaging with members of the creative industries through small, discipline-focused workshops and project roadshow events held at the project team members' institutions in Brighton, Edinburgh, London and Plymouth. These events will be opportunities to engage in dialogue, present the interim findings to the attendees and to gather further information. Should travel and social distancing restrictions make some elements of this approach unviable, the team will focus on a more digitally orientated data collection, review and result broadcasting strategy. The case studies will draw on the team members' previous overseas research experience and professional networks, supplemented (where possible) by field visits to enable them to understand how sustainability ideals are informing individuals' practice and perceptions in the context of the case study initiative. The key result will be a composite report, authored by all the research team. The report will act as a benchmark of state-of-the-art practice and perceptions around material sustainability in the creative industries, identifying existing trends and showcasing cutting-edge developments, as well as flagging sector-wide and discipline specific barriers that will have to be negotiated or addressed to achieve widespread sustainably orientated practice. The report will also provide insights into the creative industries from an international perspective and contribute to an understanding of how the Global Challenges Research Fund and Newton Fund might be utilised to instigate or support sustainability initiatives relating to the creative industries across the developing world.

Why do consumers continue to purchase plastic packaging products, even when they have real concerns for the environment and tend to feel positively about more sustainable solutions? How do supply chain actors respond to consumer attitudes & behaviours in relation to the use of plastic packaging? How can we implement enhanced waste management strategies which go beyond conventional plastic packaging solutions? Focusing on the food sector, we aim to answer such questions by developing a better understanding of plastic packaging throughout the whole supply chain, from production to consumption to post-consumption. If industry and policy are to have any realistic chance of significantly reducing plastic wastage in the UK and abroad, a thorough understanding of the functions of plastic packaging in consumers' lives is needed. However, this understanding needs to be connected to business and waste management practices, to tackle key pinch points inhibiting the drive toward cleaner, greener growth. The interdisciplinary research will be a collaborative effort between researchers at Lancaster University (from the Management School, the Department of Chemistry, the Materials Science Institute) and an extensive network of industry partners, including: supermarkets (Waitrose - UK Plastic Pact consortium member & Booths); food suppliers (Bells of Lazonby & Butlers Larder); next generation packaging producers (BioTech Services Ltd); professional industry networks (Chartered Institute of Waste Management & Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining); waste management companies (Preston Plastics & Precious plastic); and local councils (Lancaster City Council). We take a mixed-method approach, drawing on archival data, ethnographic techniques, multi-case study analysis, action-based research, mixed-desk and field-based research, to explore multiple perspectives on plastic packaging in the food sector. This research speaks directly to the UK's Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging (SSPP) Challenge objectives and UK Plastic PACT 2025 targets. Working with stakeholders along the supply chain, this research will provide valuable insights to increase collaboration and shared understanding along the UK food plastic packaging supply chain in order to create a sense of shared responsibility and improved packaging options. The novelty of this project is that it gathers insights from consumers and their plastic packaging consumption and disposal, but also brings those insights to supply chain stakeholders (producers, retailers, re-users and waste management organisations) and in so doing, develops a detailed and rich understanding of how the attitude-behaviour gap can be addressed. This would allow the team to develop practical guidance on ways to influence people's packaging behaviour. Specifically, we will provide guidance on ways that producers can influence consumers in this domain, to provide consumers with more sustainable and attractive packaging alternatives, or redesign products/operational processes that promote resource productivity and avoid plastic waste. We will also develop guidance for post-consumer packaging organisations on consumer attitudes and discarded plastic packaging indicating drivers, barriers and opportunities for alternative plastic packaging (reusable, recyclable or compostable), effective recycling, and further investment in material recapture. For a more circular, sustainable model of manufacturing, consumption and disposal centred on next generation packaging to be developed, we need this detailed analysis of consumer behaviour around packaging, alongside a deep understanding of business and waste management practices. This holistic view of plastic packaging in people's lives will drive cleaner, greener growth.

The DigitalMetal CDT is born out to meet a national, strategic need for training a new generation of technical leaders able to lead digital transformation of metals industry & its supply chain with the objective of increasing agility, productivity & international competitiveness of the metals industry in the UK. The metals industry is a vital component of the UK's manufacturing economy and makes a significant contribution to key strategic sectors such as construction, aerospace, automotive, energy, defence and medical, directly contributing £20bn to UK GDP, and underpins over £190bn manufacturing GDP. Without a new cadre of leaders in digital technologies, equipped to transform discoveries and breakthroughs in metals and manufacturing (M&M) technologies into products, the UK risks entering another cycle of world-leading innovation but losing the benefits arising from exploitation to more capable and better prepared global competitors. The evolution to Industry 4.0 and Materials 4.0 coupled with unprecedented opportunities of "big data" enable the uptake of artificial intelligence/deep learning (AI/DL) based solutions, making it feasible to implement zero-defects, right first-time manufacturing/zero-waste (ZDM/ZW) concepts and meet the environmental-, sustainable- and societal- challenges. However, to fully take advantage of these opportunities, two critical challenges must be addressed. First, as user-identified problems in the metals industry that spans domains (from discoveries in M&M to their up-scaling and deployment in high volume/value production), urgently needed a new breed of engineers with skills to traverse these domains by going beyond the classical PhD training, i.e., T-model signifying transferable skills and in-depth knowledge in a single domain, to a new Pi-model raining that is underpinned by transferable skills and in-depth knowledge that transverse across domains i.e.,: AI/DL and engineering (M&M) to enable rapid exploitation of discoveries in M&M. Second, while AI/DL domain provides data-driven correlation analysis critical for product performance and defect identification, it is insufficient for root cause analysis (causality). This necessitates training on integrating data-driven with physics-based models of product & production, which is currently lacking in the metals industry. The Midlands region, as the top contributor to UK Gross Value Added through metals and metal products, with world-leading companies, such as Rolls-Royce and Constellium, LEAR and their customers, underpinned through collaborations with the five Midlands universities: Birmingham, Leicester, Loughborough, Nottingham & Warwick, is uniquely positioned to integrate research and industry resources and train a new cadre of engineers & researchers on the Pi-model to address user-needs. Our vision is to train future leaders able to accelerate the exploitation of M&M discoveries using digital technology to enable defect-free, right first-time manufacturing at reduced costs, digitise to decarbonise, and implement fuel switching in metals manufacturing industry.

The 20th Century was characterised by a massive global increase in all modes of transport, on land and water and in the air, for moving both passengers and freight. Whilst easy mobility has become a way of life for many, the machines (planes, automobiles, trains, ships) that enable this are both highly resource consuming and environmentally damaging in production, in use and at the end of their working lives (EoL). Over the years, great attention has been paid to increasing their energy efficiencies, but the same effort has not been put into optimising their resource efficiency. Although they may share a common origin in the raw materials used, the supply chains of transport sectors operate in isolation. However, there are numerous potential benefits that could be realised if Circular Economy (CE) principles were applied across these supply chains. These include recovery of energy intensive and/or technology metals, reuse/remanufacture of components, lower carbon materials substitutions, improved energy and material efficiency. While CE can change the transport system, the transport system can also enable or disable CE. By considering different transport systems in a single outward-looking network, it is more likely that a cascading chain of materials supply could be realised- something that is historically very difficult within just a single sector. CENTS will focus on transport platforms where CE principles have not been well embedded in order to identify synergies between different supply chains and to optimise certain practices, such as EoL recovery and recycling rates and energy and material efficiency. It will also be 'forward looking' in terms of developing future designs, business models and manufacturing approaches so that emergent transport systems are inherently circular. More specifically, our Network will carry out Feasiblity and Creativity@Home generated research that will develop the ground work for future funding from elsewhere; provide travel grants to/from the UK for both established and Early Career Researcgers to increase the UK network of expertise and experience in this critical area; hold conferences and workshops where academics and industrialists can learn from each other; build demonstrators of relevant technology so that industry can see what is possible within a Circular Economy approach. These activities will all be supported by a full communication strategy focusing on outreach with school children and policy influence though agencies such as Catapults and WRAP.

Forming components from light alloys (aluminium, titanium and magnesium) is extremely important to sustainable transport because they can save over 40% weight, compared to steel, and are far cheaper and more recyclable than composites. This has led to rapid market growth, where light alloys are set to dominate the automotive sector. Remaining globally competitive in light metals technologies is also critical to the UK's, aerospace and defence industries, which are major exporters. For example, Jaguar Land Rover already produces fully aluminium car bodies and titanium is extensively used in aerospace products by Airbus and Rolls Royce. 85% of the market in light alloys is in wrought products, formed by pressing, or forging, to make components. Traditional manufacturing creates a conflict between increasing a material's properties, (to increase performance), and manufacturability; i.e. the stronger a material is, the more difficult and costly it is to form into a part. This is because the development of new materials by suppliers occurs largely independently of manufacturers, and ever more alloy compositions are developed to achieve higher performance, which creates problems with scrap separation preventing closed loop recycling. Thus, often manufacturability restricts performance. For example, in car bodies only medium strength aluminium grades are currently used because it is no good having a very strong alloy that can't be made into the required shape. In cases when high strength levels are needed, such as in aerospace, specialised forming processes are used which add huge cost. To solve this conundrum, LightForm will develop the science and modelling capability needed for a new holistic approach, whereby performance AND manufacturability can both be increased, through developing a step change in our ability to intelligently and precisely engineer the properties of a material during the forming of advanced components. This will be achieved by understanding how the manufacturing process itself can be used to manipulate the material structure at the microscopic scale, so we can start with a soft, formable, material and simultaneously improve and tailor its properties while we shape it into the final product. For example, alloys are already designed to 'bake harden' after being formed when the paint on a car is cured in an oven. However, we want to push this idea much further, both in terms of performance and property prediction. For example, we already have evidence we can double the strength of aluminium alloys currently used in car bodies by new synergistic hybrid deformation and heat treatment processing methods. To do this, we need to better understand how materials act as dynamic systems and design them to feed back to different forming conditions. We also aim to exploit exciting developments in powerful new techniques that will allow us to see how materials behave in industrial processes in real time, using facilities like the Diamond x-ray synchrotron, and modern modelling methods. By capturing these effects in physical models, and integrating them into engineering codes, we will be able to embed microstructure engineering in new flexible forming technologies, that don't use fixed tooling, and enable accurate prediction of properties at the design stage - thus accelerating time to market and the customisation of products. Our approach also offers the possibility to tailor a wide range of properties with one alloy - allowing us to make products that can be more easily closed-loop recycled. We will also use embedded microstructure engineering to extend the formability of high-performance aerospace materials to increase precision and decrease energy requirements in forming, reducing the current high cost to industry.