This proposal seeks to provide a platform for strategic research and impact activities within the embedded integrated intelligent systems (EIIS) domain. This research area covers all aspects of designing and developing products and processes that can demonstrate adaptation and learning (i.e. in terms of self - organising, adapting, configuring, optimising, protecting and healing), at the system or service level based upon intelligent sensing and actuation at the granularity of the individual components. The multidisciplinary nature of the domain is challenging since successful deployment and adoption within the harsh industrial environment requires advancements in several areas (e.g. (1) materials, antennae design, embedded power sources, energy harvesting, real-time software architectures, embedded processing and robust wireless communications protocols at the device level and (2) optimisation, visualisation, analytics, machine learning and digital manufacturing at the systems science and services level). The EIIS group at Loughborough University was founded in 2007 and currently comprises 35 staff (academics (A), post doctoral research associates (PDRA) and postgraduate research students (PhD)). This proposal will enable the team to develop the EIIS strategic research agenda in line with industrial collaborators' (e.g. automotive, electronics, aerospace, sport, healthcare and end of life processing), EPSRC and Government strategies via "ideas factory" colloquia, short-term feasibility studies into "hot topics" and multi-disciplinary responsive-mode submissions to funding bodies (e.g. EPSRC, innovateUK, EU, APC/BIS, Wellcome). The funding will also support the development of a pipeline of expertise in EIIS for UK industry and academia. Undergraduates will be supported via internships in industry or academia to expose the next generation of talent to the EIIS opportunities and challenges and also provide research resource for junior members of the EIIS group. Current EIIS members will also be funded to attend technical, business and innovation courses provided by academia and / or industry and encouraged to take long term (i.e. 3 month) sabbaticals within industry and alternative world leading academic or technology transfer institutions to enable the group to identify best global practices and determine relevant benchmarks for success of the research.

One Bin to Rule Them All is an innovative, interdisciplinary research project focused on developing a streamlined standard for plastics recycling which can be rolled out across UK homes, businesses and urban infrastructures. Working with stakeholders from across the plastics supply chain, including manufacturers, retailers and consumers, the project prioritises the value in plastic waste materials to ensure more effective and efficient pathways for recycling. Thus, reducing overall plastic waste and ensuring that future plastics are produced from higher recycled content. David Attenborough's Blue Planet II has highlighted the urgent global need to address plastic waste, pushing the issue into the forefront of the public mind. Whilst retailers and manufacturers are focused on improving the recycled content of their packaging, there is simply a lack of quality recyclable material available in the UK. Inadequate recycling infrastructure causes 60% of single use packaging to be exported, much of which is then incinerated. Not only is this a waste of valuable recyclable materials but there are significant environmental impacts involved in moving such waste across the globe and then burning it. One Bin will develop and integrate modern recycling technologies and processes in order to eliminate plastic release into the environment. This will be achieved through three interdisciplinary and interrelated work packages: Work package 1, led by material science, will create a hierarchy of plastic packaging to determine the optimal route for capturing and retaining value in plastic waste through re-use, mechanical recycling or chemical recycling. Work package 2, led by management science and economics, will design and then trial innovations for One Bin business models along the plastic packaging supply chain, identifying new business opportunities and pathways to design out waste. Work package 3, led by social science, will examine consumer engagement with One Bin and potential barriers to adoption through a consumer trial of the One Bin system, pre and post trial consumer interviews and a focus group with key stakeholders. By recognising and releasing the value in plastic waste, and standardising the current UK plastic waste management system, One Bin will overcome the current complexities surrounding plastic recycling and contribute to the UK Plastic Pact goals. The potential benefits from the project are significant, including: a) Reducing plastic release into the environment through enabling the creation of a truly circular plastics economy and a long-term elimination of plastic release. b) Creating an easy-to-use, standardised waste system for consumers that can be rolled out across the UK and incorporated into households, work places and leisure settings. c) Releasing and achieving economic value by identifying the most efficient recycling pathways and business models for different types of plastic.

The UK chemical sector has an annual turnover of over £32 billion with 99,000 direct jobs in 2016. The Centre's vision is to transform the UK's chemical industry into a fossil-independent, climate-positive and environmentally-friendly circular chemical economy. The overall novelty of our programme is the development of a sector-wide solution with deep circularity interventions, by creating a circular resources flow of olefin-the raw material for 70% of all organic chemical production. Our whole system approach will include key sectors of production, transportation/distribution, refinery/downstream, use and waste recycling, to reduce fossil reliance and improve productivity and sustainability of the whole process industry. The Centre will generate a cross-disciplinary platform combining synergistic innovations in science/engineering with social scientists to comprehend the whole system industrial symbiosis and market/policy/incentive design. The Core Research Programme is organised around three interconnected themes: (1) Key technologies to enable olefin production from alternative/recycling wastes streams and design more reusable chemicals via advanced catalytic processes; (2) Process integration, whole system analysis and value chain evaluation, and (3) Policy, society and finance. Through detailed process modelling, economic analysis and environmental assessment of technology solutions along the supply chain, accelerated understanding, opportunities and optimum solutions to achieve circularity of olefin-derived resources flow will be attained. These activities are embedded with stakeholders involving all affected groups, including local SMEs and downstream users, and will provide evidence and data for policymakers. The Centre will engage with users through social studies and organised events, and exploit consumer/business behavioural change related to chemical systems enabling a sustainable community and society with innovative technologies.

The UK chemical sector has an annual turnover of over £32 billion with 99,000 direct jobs in 2016. The Centre's vision is to transform the UK's chemical industry into a fossil-independent, climate-positive and environmentally-friendly circular chemical economy. The overall novelty of our programme is the development of a sector-wide solution with deep circularity interventions, by creating a circular resources flow of olefin-the raw material for 70% of all organic chemical production. Our whole system approach will include key sectors of production, transportation/distribution, refinery/downstream, use and waste recycling, to reduce fossil reliance and improve productivity and sustainability of the whole process industry. The Centre will generate a cross-disciplinary platform combining synergistic innovations in science/engineering with social scientists to comprehend the whole system industrial symbiosis and market/policy/incentive design. The Core Research Programme is organised around three interconnected themes: (1) Key technologies to enable olefin production from alternative/recycling wastes streams and design more reusable chemicals via advanced catalytic processes; (2) Process integration, whole system analysis and value chain evaluation, and (3) Policy, society and finance. Through detailed process modelling, economic analysis and environmental assessment of technology solutions along the supply chain, accelerated understanding, opportunities and optimum solutions to achieve circularity of olefin-derived resources flow will be attained. These activities are embedded with stakeholders involving all affected groups, including local SMEs and downstream users, and will provide evidence and data for policymakers. The Centre will engage with users through social studies and organised events, and exploit consumer/business behavioural change related to chemical systems enabling a sustainable community and society with innovative technologies.

Topic of Centre: This i4Nano CDT will accelerate the discovery cycle of functional nanotechnologies and materials, effectively bridging from ground-breaking fundamental science toward industrial device integration, and to drive technological innovation via an interdisciplinary approach. A key overarching theme is understanding and control of the nano-interfaces connecting complex architectures, which is essential for going beyond simple model systems and key to major advances in emerging scientific grand challenges across vital areas of Energy, Health, Manufacturing (particularly considering sustainability), ICT/Internet of things, and Quantum. We focus on the science of nano-interfaces across multiple time scales and material systems (organic-inorganic, bio-nonbio interfaces, gas-liquid-solid, crystalline-amorphous), to control nano-interfaces in a scalable manner across different size scales, and to integrate them into functional systems using engineering approaches, combining interfaces, integration, innovation, and interdisciplinarity (hence 'i4Nano'). The vast range of knowledge, tools and techniques necessary for this underpins the requirement for high-quality broad-based PhD training that effectively links scientific depth and application breadth. National Need: Most breakthrough nanoscience as well as successful translation to innovative technology relies on scientists bridging boundaries between disciplines, but this is hindered by the constrained subject focus of undergraduate courses across the UK. Our recent industry-academia nano-roadmapping event attended by numerous industrial partners strongly emphasised the need for broadly-trained interdisciplinary nanoscience acolytes who are highly valuable across their businesses, acting as transformers and integrators of new knowledge, crucial for the UK. They consistently emphasise there is a clear national need to produce this cadre of interdisciplinary nanoscientists to maintain the UK's international academic leadership, to feed entrepreneurial activity, and to capitalise industrially in the UK by driving innovations in health, energy, ICT and Quantum Technologies. Training Approach: The vision of this i4Nano CDT is to deliver bespoke training in key areas of nano to translate exploratory nanoscience into impactful technologies, and stimulate new interactions that support this vision. We have already demonstrated an ability to attract world-class postgraduates and build high-calibre cohorts of independent young Nano scientists through a distinctive PhD nursery in our current CDT, with cohorts co-housed and jointly mentored in the initial year of intense interdisciplinary training through formal courses, practicals and project work. This programme encourages young researchers to move outside their core disciplines, and is crucial for them to go beyond fragmented graduate training normally experienced. Interactions between cohorts from different years and different CDTs, as well as interactions with >200 other PhD researchers across Cambridge, widens their horizons, making them suited to breaking disciplinary barriers and building an integrated approach to research. The 1st year of this CDT course provides high-quality advanced-level training prior to final selection of preferred PhD research projects. Student progression will depend on passing examinable components assessed both by exams and coursework, providing a formal MRes qualification. Components of the first year training include lectures and practicals on key scientific topics, mini/midi projects, science communication and innovation/scale-up training, and also training for understanding societal and ethical dimensions of Nanoscience. Activities in the later years include conferences, pilot projects, further innovation and scale up training, leadership and team-building weekends, and ED&I and Responsible Innovation workshops