This project examines the effects of US immigration policies on asylum-seekers and transit migrants who have been forcibly returned to Mexico and Guatemala as a result of new third country asylum processing agreements. It explores how they and their families experience risk and insecurity during this process, and also how they may develop coping mechanisms to mitigate these stressful situations. Crucially, it investigates the evolving asylum processing and receiving context in Mexico and Guatemala and interrogates claims that these states are 'safe third countries' for asylum-seekers who wish to come to the USA. It draws upon our previous work on the ways in which asylum governance and the infrastructure for humanitarian protection have been sub-contracted to neighbouring states and uses the insights gained from those studies to inform an investigation into the risks faced by asylum-seeking families and deported migrants in Guatemala and Mexico. Our ambition is for this first stage project to feed into and provide a secure basis for a major follow on research programme in Mexico, Guatemala and the neighbouring states. This first-phase study , carried out by the international team, will involve a multi-method approach including (i) desk-based research (combining policy analysis with key informant expert interviews); (ii) a series of rapid assessments involving analysis of crime statistics; observations of living conditions in Mexico and Guatemala; interviews with families sent to 'safe' third countries; and a gender impact study. These research activities will investigate the risks for asylum-seeking and migrant families; how families navigate these asylum and immigration systems and structures; and the impact of return on individuals and families; (iii) participatory arts-based research activities with children and young people living in a migrant shelter to better understand the impact of displacement and separation on them; and (iv) a policy synthesis of what has been learned from 'safe country and off-shore processing asylum systems in other global settings. Outputs from the study will include an advocacy tool-kit developed from the testimonies of asylum-seeking and migrant adults and children; a series of public engagement and policy events to share knowledge and learning from the work; and a proposal for a larger international collaborative body of research on migration and asylum governance across the region.

The TundraTime project will address climate change impacts in tundra ecosystems including how warming is shifting tundra plant phenology - the timing of life events such as bud burst or flowering - and productivity - the increase in plant growth and biomass over time. We will answer the fundamental research question of whether climate warming is leading to longer tundra growing seasons and thus increasing plant productivity in the Arctic, with important implications for carbon cycling and wildlife. Critical knowledge gaps in the field of global change ecology are what role the high latitudes will play in the global carbon cycle and how Arctic food webs will be restructured in the future with accelerated warming. A critical unknown is whether shifting plant phenology is altering tundra carbon cycling and wildlife habitats. Projections of climate feedbacks from high-latitude ecosystems remain uncertain as we do not yet know if carbon losses from warming soils will be offset by increases in tundra productivity. Tundra plant responses to warming could be key for understanding the fate of wildlife populations in a rapidly changing Arctic. Forty years of satellite and field observations have revealed widespread changes in the tundra's surface that protects large stocks of frozen carbon below. Field studies indicate that plants are coming into leaf earlier in spring, bare ground is becoming vegetated, and plants are now growing taller. While there is scientific consensus that climate change is reshaping Arctic ecosystems, great uncertainty persists about what the greening observed from space means in terms of change on-the-ground. The TundraTime project will answer the fundamental research questions of whether climate warming is leading to longer periods of plant growth and increases in plant productivity in the Arctic. We will test specific hypotheses of whether tundra ecosystems are experiencing: A) increases in productivity, B) shifts in phenology and C) asynchrony of above- and below-ground plant growth. To explore these questions, we will integrate high-resolution drone and time-lapse camera imagery with satellite and in-situ data from 12 focal Arctic research sites. Our findings will inform biome-wide projections of tundra vegetation change and global-scale predictions of climate feedbacks to unprecedented rates of warming. If tundra plant productivity is responding directly to the warmer and longer Arctic growing seasons then tundra productivity will trap more carbon in tundra ecosystems and restructure wildlife habitats. However, if instead tundra plant growing seasons are shifting earlier, then projections of increases in tundra vegetation with warming may be overestimates and earlier timing of key forage could alter migratory behaviour and ultimately wildlife populations. And, if the above- and below-ground responses of tundra plants are asynchronous, plant growth in the now extended snow-free autumns could instead be occurring below ground, which would overturn how satellite data and Earth-system models estimate plant productivity and carbon storage in warming tundra ecosystems. The TundraTime project will test the drivers of Arctic greening by resolving the uncertainty around what role shifting plant phenology plays in the increased tundra productivity with warming. This research will bridge critical scale gaps to resolve the uncertainty between satellite and in-situ observations of changes in the timing of plant growth with accelerating climate warming.

Fullerenes are cage-like molecules. The fullerene cages consisting of n carbon atoms are written Cn; when n = 60 the carbon atoms are arranged in a way similar to the vertices on a football. They are about 1 nm across which translates to the fullerenes being as many times smaller than a real football, as this football is smaller than the planet Earth! An atom of another element X can be incarcerated in this cage to produce a so-called endohedral (from Greek words literally meaning within the facets) fullerene, written X@Cn. Endohedral molecules have surface manoeuvrability and physical and electronic properties which are greatly enhanced as compared to free-standing atoms of X. They can be manipulated, arranged in 1D chains, 2D lattices or even 3D crystals. Endohedral fullerenes provide one with the ability to effectively manipulate a single atom or a small cluster of atoms that would be otherwise unattainable. Molecules such as N@C60 have exceptionally long electron spin lifetimes. Endohedral fullerenes containing metal atoms in their interior (metallofullerenes) can have remarkable magnetic and optical properties. Endohedral fullerenes were discovered about 20 years ago. However the main limiting factor affecting their use in applications still remains. It is their rarity. They are currently available only in milligram quantities. It is this challenge that the proposed research aims to overcome. During the course of the research, manufacturing methods will be developed for increasing the production of endohedral fullerenes to the gram scale. Such quantities are not only unprecedented, but they will also allow fundamental studies of the physical and chemical properties of endohedral fullerenes to be undertaken. Once this challenges are met, then the molecules can be controlled or even designed to have specific functionality for use in real-world applications. The proposed programme of research will result in designer molecules for use in the electronics industry, the energy harvesting sector (photovoltaics) and medicine (free radical probes). In the longer term hybrid materials will be developed in conjunction with other carbon allotropes (carbon nanotubes and graphene) for electronic devices that will be outperforming current classical technology. Endohedral fullerenes and their derivatives will be brought to the market place. The aim is that in the not-too-distant future, they will be found in devices used daily.