The IPS Fellow will coordinate the knowledge exchange strategy for Nuclear Physics, Particle Physics and Accelerator Science within the Department of Physics. Healthcare: The University of Liverpool, Department of Physics is one of only three national training providers for the new Modernising Scientific Careers (MSC) Medical Physics MSc, funded by the NHS. This was a highly successful bid, with Liverpool being ranked first against stiff competition. This MSc is delivered in collaboration with the Royal Liverpool University Hospital NHS Trust, the Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology (CCO) and Clinical Engineering with the University of Liverpool. The trainees come from throughout the UK. This provides a unique opportunity to build collaborative research and Continuing Professional Development (CPD) partnerships within the Healthcare sector. The fellow will coordinate these efforts and will help establish a new Medical Physics research institute within the University of Liverpool, which is a strategic goal of the University in its current planning. Security: The Fellow will help coordinate the exploitation of the sensor technology and associated instrumentation and techniques that exists within the research groups. The fellow will help consolidate existing relationships with partner organisations by showcasing the full breadth of STFC science activity. New opportunities for funding R+D will be identified together with establishing relationships with new companies. Energy: Liverpool scientists and engineers are working together as part of a new University Institute focused on research into energy. The Stephenson Institute is developing clean and sustainable energy technologies including hydrogen generation and storage, solar harvesting, wind and marine energy and fusion technology. The institute is in the process of developing expert networks, including policy-makers and management, to highlight global energy and sustainability issues. Making links with far eastern energy providers and attempting to attract a large investment from the University of Liverpool Energy campus we believe will be an important role of the fellow. The IPS Fellow will be fully engaged in this process, ensuring the opportunities for STFC science are fully exploited. The University of Liverpool Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Physics Departments are in the process of forming a Nuclear Engineering alliance which will maximise the exploitation of institutional expertise in autonomous systems, sensors and virtual engineering. The IPS Fellow will help coordinate the relationship between the alliance and external stakeholder organisations such as the National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) and Sellafield Ltd. IT Developments: The Department was an early developer of large scale computing building the first large scale COTS cluster in n Europe in 2000 (MAP) and innovated specialized middleware . Subsequently the group invested in Grid computing and, at the same time founded the AiMeS Institute for commercial applications with NWDA and EW funding. This led to commercial spin-offs (AiMeS Grid Services) totally independent of the University currently delivering these Grid Services to the wider community. The Departments IT cluster activities, through also led to the introduction /choice of Force10 (now DELL) switches as the core switch technology at CERN; an example of beneficial relationship between industry and research. The group is now (separately from this request) bidding (with computer science partners) to develop a new generation of computers, based on a next generation of GPU chip and switch technology that aims to deliver a factor 1000:1 improvement in performance price of useable CPU cycles within the next decade. The IPS fellow will play a pivotal role in attracting commercial partners and carefully managing the IP issues that will arise.

This proposal will develop novel silicone oil tamponades providing controlled drug delivery to the back of the eye to prevent proliferative vitreoretinopathy, a blinding condition with no gold standard for treatment. Proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) is a disease that can develop following retinal detachment. It is the primary cause of failure following surgery to re-attach the retina and often results in poor visual outcome. Despite many strategies, there has been no improvement in outcome over the last 20 years and these patients can lose their sight. Complicated retinal detachments require silicone oil to re-attach the retina. Effective pharmacological treatment of PVR requires controlled, sustained release of a drug. A key challenge is that certain drugs that could be used to control PVR cannot dissolve in the oil. If injected into the eye they accumulate around the oil and cause toxicity to the retina. Furthermore, repeat injections increase the risk of complications. Thus, an entirely new approach is required. This proposal uniquely aims to develop a silicone oil tamponade with a dual role, firstly to act as a tamponade agent and secondly to be a novel drug-delivery system. It will use non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS), which have the potential to address the inflammatory as well as the proliferative stages of PVR. The project will use novel chemical techniques to bind drugs to the silicone oil so that they will be released in a sustained, controlled manner. Preliminary data has demonstrated that drugs can be bound to silicone oil, and that the release profile of the drug can be changed by varying the blend of the oil. An in vitro model of the oil-filled eye, incorporating the flow of aqueous out of the eye, has also been developed. This will allow studies of drug clearance from the eye. This programme proposes the combined development and in vitro biological evaluation of a new drug delivery system, focussed on NSAIDS, with additional drug candidates for risk mitigation. Furthermore, it will develop a new approach to biological evaluation that will make future animal trials more efficient. Drugs will be bound to silicone oil using several strategies and release studies undertaken. The conditions required to release the drug under clinically relevant conditions, at a concentration identified as being non-toxic but effective at controlling cell behaviour, will be identified. Drug-oil products will also be assessed in a variety of laboratory models to assess how effective they are at controlling PVR-like behaviour, using techniques that are well-established in the host laboratories. The testing will be iterative, with results being fed back to inform the development of the prototype oils. The physical and optical properties of the drug-oil products, as well as suitable methods for sterilisation, will also be assessed. Development of new methods for drug delivery could have significant benefits for industry and the healthcare system. Furthermore, the repurposing of existing drugs for treatment of PVR would speed the translation of treatments to the clinic and represent a new stream of revenue for these drugs. The potential to protect any intellectual property from this project will be kept under review, with a view to future commercial exploitation. Results will also be shared with patient groups in St Paul's Eye Hospital, ensuring end-user engagement. Output from this project will stimulate research into novel routes of ocular drug delivery and further development of in vitro modelling of the eye. Both aspects of the research will be of great interest to academic and industrial researchers. This project will deliver a novel, drug-containing oil that can release drugs at therapeutic levels over several weeks and that will be ready to be tested in animals prior to human trials. This is designed to be an effective therapy for a sight-threatening condition that at the moment has no reliable treatment.

Radiotherapy plays an essential role in cancer treatment. There are various types of therapy that are used to target differing organs and cancers. One such type is Molecular radiotherapy (MRT). In this treatment, patients are administered with a radioactive solution, which has been specifically chosen to travel to the cancerous tissue. The radioactive solution emits radiation, which damages the cancerous cells in the tissue, with little damage to the surrounding healthy tissue. The most common use of MRT is for treatment of thyroid cancer and radioimmunotherapy, however it is not possible to provide personalised treatment plans to the level of traditional radiotherapy techniques. It is also not possible to measure the radiation dose delivered to the patient during the treatment, which means that knowledge of the impact of the treatment is limited. This research aims to develop an imaging system that can be used to assess the radiation dose delivered to the patient. It is based on traditional radiation imaging techniques used in hospitals but is tailored specifically for molecular radiotherapy of the thyroid. The research will lead to personalised treatment planning, which will reduce treatment costs and potentially increase rates of successful cancer treatment. Experts from the University of Liverpool and leading clinicians at the Royal Marsden and Royal Liverpool University Hospitals will conduct the research.

Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) is a widely used imaging modality in medicine which uses radio-pharmaceuticals labelled with gamma emitting radioisotopes. Existing SPECT systems have a limiting position resolution of about 10 mm for body imaging and 7 mm for the head. The proposed system will offer an image resolution of 2-3 mm with a sensitivity a factor of ~100 larger than existing systems, while simultaneously enabling SPECT/MRI multimodality imaging. The ProSPECTus imager will open existing markets worth in excess of £300M pa to UK companies, covering medical, pharmaceutical, homeland security, science and defence. The consortium brings an internationally leading reputation and many years experience with semiconductor radiation detectors, electronics and software design. Key clinical input and trials are provided through Clinicians at the Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology , the University of Liverpool Magnetic Resonance Imaging Analysis Research Centre [MARIARC] and the Interventional Radiology and Medical Imaging Group at the Royal Liverpool University NHS Trust.

This study will assess the impact on mental health of restricted access to arts and culture in a specific city region, and track, enable and enhance the value of innovation in arts provision in mitigating associated harms. Liverpool has one of the richest concentrations of culture in the UK, boasting the largest clustering of museums and galleries outside London. Cultural capital is critical to the city region's economy, contributing c10% (Culture Liverpool,2019). The city also has a pioneering history of harnessing arts for mental health care through partnerships between culture and health providers. Building on the University of Liverpool's strong alliance with organisations across these sectors, this project brings together an interdisciplinary team of arts and mental health researchers to devise and conduct, in consultation with cultural and health bodies, two surveys. Survey 1 (online interviews) will target 20 arts organisations (10 civic institutions, 10 community arts programmes, representing 'elite' and 'popular' arts) to capture (i)the impact of COVID-19 on public access to arts provision (including those who usually access the arts through formal healthcare routes) and on audience/beneficiary change over time (legacy losses and potential gains) (ii)the success of alternative (e.g. online/digital) modes of provision by arts organisations in reaching and communicating with established and/or new audiences. Survey 2 (online questionnaire and supplementary online/telephone interviews) will target c300 arts' audiences/beneficiaries to capture (i)the impact on mental health of restricted/non-existent access to usual provision (ii)the perceived value and accessibility of alternative arts provision and the latter's impact on mental health/wellbeing.