Masonry arch bridges still form the backbone of the UK's transport infrastructure; approaching 50% of bridge spans on the UK rail and regional highway networks are masonry. However, a number of prominent failures suggest we may be at a tipping point - brought about by a perfect storm of the increasing age of the structures, new traffic loading demands, climate change effects pushing structures to new limits and severely restricted maintenance budgets. To respond to the challenging times ahead there is a need to develop a much greater understanding of how real bridges behave, moving beyond traditional 2D idealisations and identifying the extent to which bridges are capable of 'autogenously healing' under cycling loading. This is important as, currently, bridge engineers faced with a damaged bridge simply do not have the tools needed to make informed assessment decisions, and may needlessly strengthen or demolish a structure even if it could, in reality, be repaired at comparatively modest cost. The goal is to provide those responsible for the management of bridges with a powerful suite of analysis modelling tools and a robust overarching multi-level framework capable of being applied to the diverse population of masonry arch bridges in-service today (i.e. undamaged, damaged and repaired). To achieve this a team of experienced researchers with complementary expertise has been assembled. Medium and large-scale experimental tests will be used to develop and validate analysis tools of different levels of sophistication, with high-level, high-fidelity models, capable of simulating the actual masonry bond and material response, used to calibrate novel intermediate-level and lower-level tools suitable for rapid practical assessment.

Poor air quality is widely recognised to affect human health and wellbeing. Cumulative exposure to pollutants throughout the life course is a determinant for numerous long term health conditions including dementia, heart disease and diabetes, Short term high exposures are shown to exacerbate conditions such as asthma and COPD, increase risks of heart attacks and stroke and influence respiratory infections. The very young, very old and those with pre-existing conditions are most at risk and inequality further increases this; the poorest in society often live in the lowest quality housing in the most polluted areas. Human exposure to air pollutants occurs in both indoor and outdoor environments. Urban air pollution results from a combination of local outdoor sources (e.g. transport, combustion, industry) and regional and large scale atmospheric transport of pollutants. We spend up to 90% of our time indoors and indoor air quality is therefore a significant part of human exposure. Indoor air quality is influenced by the climate, weather and air quality in the external environment in addition to local indoor sources (e.g. microorganisms, chemicals cleaning and personal care, cooking, industry processes, emissions from building materials, heating and mechanical systems) and the building design and operation. In all cases it is the airflows within and between indoor and outdoor locations that enables the transport of pollutants and ultimately determines human exposures. Understanding airflows is therefore at the heart developing effective mitigating actions, particularly in cases where there is limited ability to remove a pollutant source. Being able to predict the influence of airflows enables understanding of how pollutants are likely to move within and between buildings in a city, both under normal day-to-day conditions and in response to emergencies such as heatwaves or wildfires. With the right computational and measurement tools it is then possible to change the design or management of city neighbourhoods enabling better urban flows to reduce exposure to pollutants and also to innovate new ventilation solutions to control the indoor environment in buildings. While there are a number of approaches that already enable assessment of urban flows and indoor flows, these aspects are not currently considered together in an integrated way or focused on optimising environments for health. The Future Urban Ventilation Network (FUVN) aims to address this by defining a new holistic methodology - the Breathing City. This will define a new integrated assessment approach that considers coupled indoor-outdoor flows together to minimise exposure for people within a neighbourhood who are most at risk from the effects of poor air quality. The network will bring together people from a range of disciplines and areas of application with a common interest in improving urban and indoor airflows to improve health. Through small scale research and workshop activities we will advance the understanding of the fluid dynamics that determines the physics of this indoor-outdoor exchange. The network will develop a research programme to address technical gaps in modelling and measuring pollutant transport and how we can use this to determine long and short term exposures to a range of pollutants. We will work collaboratively with industry, policy makers and the public to understand how this approach could change city planning, building design guidance and community actions to enable health based future urban ventilation design and to "design out" health risks for people who are most vulnerable.

The proposed multidisciplinary network for Decarbonizing Transport through Electrification (DTE) will bring together research expertise to address the challenges of interactions between energy networks, future electric vehicle charging infrastructure ( including roadside wireless charging, the shift to autonomous vehicles), electric and hybrid aircraft and electrification of the rail network. The DTE network will bring together industry, academia and the public sector to identify the challenges limiting current implementation of an electrified, integrated transport system across the automotive, aerospace and rail sectors. The network will develop and sustain an interdisciplinary team to solve these challenges, leveraging external funding from both public and private sectors, aiming to be become self sustainable in future and growing to establish an International Conference. The network will be inclusive, with a focus EDI and mechanisms to support colleagues such as early career researchers. The DTE network will address low-carbon transport modes (road, rail and airborne) alongside associated electricity infrastructures to support existing and deliver future mobility needs, treating these as an integrated system embedded within the electricity energy vector with the goal of decarbonising the transport sector. It will explore drivers for change within the transport system including technology innovation, individual mobility needs and economic requirements for change alongside environmental and social concerns for sustainability and consider the role, social acceptance and impact of policies and regulations to result in emissions reduction. The network has three key "Work Streams" focusing on: (i) vehicular technologies; (ii) charging infrastructure; (iii) energy systems. These will be underpinned by cross-cutting themes around large scale data analysis and human factors. The network also has a dedicated Work Stream on people-based activities to enable us to widen our dissemination and impact across other communities. The outcome of the DTE network is expected to transform current practices and research in the decarbonization of transport (considering a number of different perspectives).

Overview In dense urban areas, the underground is exploited for a variety of purposes, including transport, additional residential/commercial spaces, storage, and industrial processes. With the rise in urban populations and significant improvements in construction technologies, the number of subsurface structures is expected to grow in the next decade, leading to subsurface congestion. Recently emerging data indicate a significant impact of underground construction on subsurface temperature and there is extensive evidence of underground temperature rise at the local scale. Although it is well known that urbanization coupled with climate change is amplifying the urban heat island effect above ground, the extent of the underground climate change at the city scale is unknown because of (i) limited work on modeling the historical and future underground climate change at large scale and (ii) very limited long-term underground temperature monitoring. The hypothesis of this research is that (a) the high ground temperature around tunnels and underground basements, b) the observed temperature increase within the aquifer, and (c) inefficiency in ventilation of the underground railway networks, necessitate more detailed and reliable knowledge of urban underground thermal status. The project will develop a framework for monitoring and predicting temperature and groundwater distributions at high resolutions in the presence of underground heat sources and sinks. This can be achieved via a combination of numerical modelling, continuous temperature and groundwater monitoring and statistical analyses. The ultimate goal is for every city to generate reliable maps of underground climate, with the ability to understand the influence of future urbanization scenarios. Merit The objective of this joint NSF-EPSRC research is to advance understanding of the impacts of the urban underground on subsurface temperature increase at the city-scale. A low cost and reliable underground weather station using the fiber optic sensing technologies will be developed and installed at sites in London and San Francisco. A high-performance computing based thermo-hydro coupled underground climate change code will be developed to simulate the temperature and groundwater variation with time at the whole city scale. The main scientific deliverable from the district- and city-scale numerical simulations and the experimental temperature monitoring is a series of archetype emulators, which are defined based on the geological characteristics, above ground built environment, such as surface and buildings types, and the density and type of the underground structures. These archetype emulators will allow efficient city-scale modelling and enable application of the methodology to any other city or region with similar characteristics of above and underground built environment. This new knowledge will make possible to consider precise thermal conditions around underground structures in urban areas as well as facilitate efficient utilization of geothermal resources for both heating and cooling purposes.

Energy networks are vitally important enablers for the UK energy sector and therefore UK industry and society. The energy trilemma (energy security, environmental impact and social cost) presents many complex interconnected challenges which reach beyond the UK and have huge relevance internationally. These challenges vary considerably from region to region, and change as a result of technology and society changes. Therefore, the planning, design and operation of energy networks needs to be revisited and optimised. Current energy networks research does not fully embrace a whole systems approach and is therefore not developing a deep enough understanding of the interconnected and interdependent nature of energy network infrastructure. The Supergen Energy Networks Hub will provide leadership, a core research programme and mechanisms/funding for the energy networks community to grow and come together to develop this deeper understanding and explore opportunities to shape energy networks which are fit for the future. The research component of the Hub's activities comprises an interconnected and complementary series of work packages. The work packages are: WP1: Understanding, Shaping and Challenging; WP2: Energy Network Infrastructure; WP3: ICT and Data; WP4: Policy and Society; WP5: Markets and Regulation; WP6: Risk and Uncertainty. WP1 incorporates a co-evolutionary approach and brings the other work packages together in a structured way. WP2 is the backbone of the research, dealing with the physical infrastructure in a multi vector manner from the outset. WP3 to WP6 deal with aspects of energy networks that cut across, and are equally valid, for all vectors and have the ability to integrate and modernise network infrastructures. All work packages will consider both planning and design as well as operational aspects. Experimental work and demonstrators will be essential to progress in energy networks research and the Hub will bring these facilities to bear through WP1. The Hub will engage with the energy networks communities throughout the research programme, to ensure that the work is informed by best practice and that the findings are widely visible and understood. The main objectives of the communication and engagement activities will be to ensure the energy networks academic community are connected and coherent, and that their work has a high profile and deep level of understanding in the relevant Industrial, Governmental and Societal communities both nationally and internationally. This will maximise the chances of high impact outcomes in the energy networks space as well as promoting energy networks as an exciting and dynamic area to carry out research, thus attracting the brightest minds to get involved. Communication and engagement activities will be a constant feature of the Hub and will be particularly energetic during the first twelve months in order to rapidly establish a brand, and an open and supportive culture within the relevant communities. Engagement activities will as far as possible be carried out in conjunction with other key organisations in the energy space, to maximise the value of the engagement activities. The Hub aims to become a beacon for equality, diversity and inclusion. Our mission is to enhance equality of opportunity and create a positive, flourishing, safe and inclusive environment for everyone associated with the Hub, from staff, students, Advisory Board members and general Hub representation (at conferences, workshops and reviews). We recognise the need and the challenges to support early career researchers, and improve the balance of protected characteristics across the entire Hub community, such as race or ethnicity, gender reassignment, disability, sex, sexual orientation, age, religion or belief, pregnancy or maternity status, marital status or socio-economic background.