Large-Area Electronics is a branch of electronics in which functionality is distributed over large-areas, much bigger than the dimensions of a typical circuit board. Recently, it has become possible to manufacture electronic devices and circuits using a solution-based approach in which a "palette" of functional "inks" is printed on flexible webs to create the multi-layered patterns required to build up devices. This approach is very different from the fabrication and assembly of conventional silicon-based electronics and offers the benefits of lower-cost manufacturing plants that can operate with reduced waste and power consumption, producing electronic systems in high volume with new form factors and features. Examples of "printed devices" include new kinds of photovoltaics, lighting, displays, sensing systems and intelligent objects. We use the term "large-area electronics" (LAE) rather than "printable electronics" because many electronic systems require both conventional and printed electronics, benefitting from the high performance of the conventional and the ability of the printable to create functionality over large-areas cost-effectively. Great progress has been made over the last 20 years in producing new printable functional materials with suitable performance and stability in operation but despite this promise, the emerging industry has been slow to take-off, due in part to (i) manufacturing scale-up being significantly more challenging than expected and (ii) the current inability to produce complete multifunctional electronic systems as required in several early markets, such as brand enhancement and intelligent packaging. Our proposed Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Large-Area Electronics will tackle these challenges to support the emergence of a vibrant UK manufacturing industry in the sector. Our vision has four key elements: - to address the technical challenges of low-cost manufacturing of multi-functional LAE systems - to develop a long-term research programme in advanced manufacturing processes aimed at ongoing reduction in manufacturing cost and improvement in system performance. - to support the scale-up of technologies and processes developed in and with the Centre by UK manufacturing industry - to promote the adoption of LAE technologies by the wider UK electronics manufacturing industry Our Centre for Innovative Manufacturing brings together 4 UK academic Centres of Excellence in LAE at the University of Cambridge (Cambridge Integrated Knowledge Centre, CIKC), Imperial College London (Centre for Plastic Electronics, CPE), Swansea University (Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating, WCPC) and the University of Manchester (Organic Materials Innovation Centre, OMIC) to create a truly representative national centre with world-class expertise in design, development, fabrication and characterisation of a wide range of devices, materials and processes.

Selection for improved characteristics of crops and animals over the millennia of modern human history has benefited from the ability to breed. Artificial selection for such improvement through selective breeding feeds the world as well as gives us the wide variety of dog breeds, faster race horses, etc. Without the ability to breed there is limited variation on which to base improvements. Many plants, including various crops of great importance such as wheat, originated from the hybridization of two or more closely related species. These initially were sterile and dead ends in terms of evolution but overcame their sterility by duplicating their genomes. Variation could still be limited in these as the fertile derivatives may have occurred only once in history resulting in variation being fixed at that point and accumulated over time via mutations. A lot of effort goes into crop improvement by introgressing chromosomes from parental species of the hybrids to bring in new variation. In animals it is more difficult to overcome sterility and so working animals such as mules can only really be improved by breeding in the horse and donkey parents and hoping for improved characteristics in each new mules created by mating the two parents. This is a hit or miss approach and not very efficient. In fermentation uses with yeast there are hybrids that are used, the most famous being the lager yeast Saccharomyces carlsbergensis. There are also some used in the wine industry and others are found in nature. These are sterile hybrids which preclude improvement by breeding. In this project we overcome the sterility barrier by duplicating the genomes of several new and existing hybrids, first to determine the genetics of particular characteristics, like why does lager yeast ferment better at cold temperatures, and then to create new diverse hybrids with improved or even new characteristics. We will generate a large number of new hybrids and explore their characteristics, isolating useful strains for use in brewing and wine making as well as industrial production strains. We will also learn about the biology of hybrids and how their two genomes interact. Finally we will answer the question 'Can mules evolve?'

This project will investigate the role of the N-end rule pathway of targeted proteolysis in the plant response against pathogens. Through advanced proteomics and transcriptomics approaches we aim to identify protein substrates regulated by a specific branch of the N-end rule pathway and investigate their role in the defense response. We will analyse new N-end rule associated genetic resources in barley that should increase resistance to pathogens. This work will provide evidence for a novel post-translational mechanism within the plant immune response, and resources to develop crops with increased resistance to pathogens.

This project will define the function of key candidate genes in barley germination and malting quality by transferring information from genetic studies in Arabidopsis. Using the multidisciplinary team assembled here, for the first time we will be able to answer specific questions about the comparative biology of germination, the function of key regulatory pathways, and the influence of these components on malting characteristics and brewing functionality. The project will provide new genetic resources for germination studies and present a framework for the successful transfer of information from Arabidopsis to cereals.

The Centre for Doctoral Training in "Molecular Modelling and Materials Science" (M3S CDT) at University College London (UCL) will deliver to its students a comprehensive and integrated training programme in computational and experimental materials science to produce skilled researchers with experience and appreciation of industrially important applications. As structural and physico-chemical processes at the molecular level largely determine the macroscopic properties of any material, quantitative research into this nano-scale behaviour is crucially important to the design and engineering of complex functional materials. The M3S CDT offers a highly multi-disciplinary 4-year doctoral programme, which works in partnership with a large base of industrial and external sponsors on a variety of projects. The four main research themes within the Centre are 1) Energy Materials; 2) Catalysis; 3) Healthcare Materials; and 4) 'Smart' Nano-Materials, which will be underpinned by an extensive training and research programme in (i) Software Development together with the Hartree Centre, Daresbury, and (ii) Materials Characterisation techniques, employing Central Facilities in partnership with ISIS and Diamond. Students at the M3S CDT follow a tailor-made taught programme of specialist technical courses, professionally accredited project management courses and generic skills training, which ensures that whatever their first degree, on completion all students will have obtained thorough technical schooling, training in innovation and entrepreneurship and managerial and transferable skills, as well as a challenging doctoral research degree. Spending >50% of their time on site with external sponsors, the students gain first-hand experience of the demanding research environment of a competitive industry or (inter)national lab. The global and national importance of an integrated computational and experimental approach to the Materials Sciences, as promoted by our Centre, has been highlighted in a number of policy documents, including the US Materials Genome Initiative and European Science Foundation's Materials Science and Engineering Expert Committee position paper on Computational Techniques, Methods and Materials Design. Materials Science research in the UK plays a key role within all of the 8 Future Technologies, identified by Science Minister David Willetts to help the UK acquire long-term sustainable economic growth. Materials research in UCL is particularly well developed, with a thriving Centre for Materials Research, a Materials Chemistry Centre and a new Centre for Materials Discovery (2013) with a remit to build close research links with the Catalysis Technology Hub at the Harwell Research Complex and the prestigious Francis Crick Institute for biomedical research (opening in 2015). The M3S will work closely with these centres and its academic and industrial supervisors are already heavily involved with and/or located at the Harwell Research Complex, whereas a number of recent joint appointments with the Francis Crick Institute will boost the M3S's already strong link with biomedicine. Moreover, UCL has perhaps the largest concentration of computational materials scientists in the UK, if not the world, who interact through the London-wide Thomas Young Centre for the Theory and Simulation of Materials. As such, UCL has a large team of well over 100 research-active academic staff available to supervise research projects, ensuring that all external partners can team up with an academic in a relevant research field to form a supervisory team to work with the Centre students. The success of the existing M3S CDT and the obvious potential to widen its research remit and industrial partnerships into topical new materials science areas, which lie at the heart of EPSRC's strategic funding priorities and address national skills gaps, has led to this proposal for the funding of 5 annual student cohorts in the new phase of the Centre.