The proposed EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Sensor Technologies in an Uncertain World (Sensor CDT) will educate leaders who can effectively address the challenges of an increasingly uncertain, complex, and interconnected world. In recent years, society has faced a global pandemic, an energy crisis, and the consequences of war and the climate crisis. Sensor technologies play a vital role in addressing these challenges. They are essential tools for detecting changes in the world, protecting livelihoods, and improving well-being. Accurate sensory data are crucial for informing the public and enabling governments and policymakers to make evidence-based decisions. The new Sensor CDT is designed to train and inspire future sensor leaders with interdisciplinary and agile thinking skills to meet these challenges. Our students will learn to collaborate within and across cohorts, and co-create solutions with key stakeholders, including other scientists, industry partners, the third sector, and the public. The fully integrated 4-year Master + PhD program will be co-delivered by over 80 leading academics, over 25 industrial partners, and national research and policy agencies, and will cover the entire sensor value chain, from development over deployment and maintenance to end-of-life including middleware, and big data. Within the broader theme of uncertainty, we have identified three Focus Areas: I) Uncertainty in Sensory Data. According to the environmental sensor report published by UKRI in 2022, "data quality remains a major concern that hinders the widespread adoption of low-cost sensor technology". Through bespoke training in measurement science, statistical methods and AI, our students will learn to determine data quality and interpret imperfect, uncertain and constantly changing data. By acquiring hands-on design and prototyping skills and familiarising themselves with ubiquitous open technology platforms, they will learn how to construct more accurate and reliable sensors. II) Sensors in an Uncertain World. Environmental, economic and social uncertainties disproportionately impact low- and mid-income countries. Through collaboration with academic partners and policy agencies, the students will explore the impact of these interconnected uncertainties and pathways through which they can be mitigated by deploying low-cost sensor technologies. III) Uncertainty in Industry. UK industries deal with uncertainties in supply chains, variable process conditions and feedstocks, and they are subject to changing regulatory guidelines. Sensor data are critical to minimise the effect of such uncertainties on the quality of products and services. Through the provision of training in technical skills, systems thinking, leadership, and project management, our students will learn to innovate on rapidly changing timelines, and to work increasingly in collaboration and synergy with stakeholders in commerce and the public. Whilst prevention of future disasters is important, we recognise an increasing need to create resilience in a world facing rapid, often irreversible, change. Solutions must be co-created with society. The CDT will equip students with the confidence to collaborate across a range of fields, including arts and social sciences, skills that cannot be acquired in traditional, single student / single discipline PhD programmes. Finally, our programme will address a skills gap identified by UK industry and academia, who report a growing problem in recruiting suitably qualified candidates with the skills, disciplinary breadth and leadership qualities needed to drive innovation in the sensor field. In the UK alone, the sensor market contributes to ~£6bn in exports, underpins ~70,000 jobs, and connects to a global market estimated to reach £500bn in 2032 (Sensors KTN). Providing the skilled talent for the UK to succeed in this rapidly growing and competitive sector is a crucial goal of our programme.

Doctoral Training Partnerships: a range of postgraduate training is funded by the Research Councils. For information on current funding routes, see the common terminology at https://www.ukri.org/apply-for-funding/how-we-fund-studentships/. Training grants may be to one organisation or to a consortia of research organisations. This portal will show the lead organisation only.

Digital twins are a fusion of digital technologies considered by many leading advocates to be revolutionary in nature. Digital twins offer exciting new possibilities across a wide range of sectors from health, environment, transport, manufacturing, defence, and infrastructure. By connecting the virtual and physical worlds (e.g. cyber-physcial), digital twins are able to better support decisions, extend operational lives, and introduce multiple other efficiencies and benefits. As a result, digital twins have been identified by government, professional bodies and industry, as a key technology to help address many of the societal challenges we face. To date, digital twin (DT) innovation has been strongly driven by industry practitioners and commercial innovators. As would be expected with any early-adoption approach, projects have been bespoke & often isolated, and so there is a need for research to increase access, lower entry costs and develop interconnectivity. Furthermore, there are several major gaps in underpinning academic research relating to DT. The academic push has been significantly lagging behind the industry pull. As a result, there is an urgent need for a network that will fill gaps in the underpinning research for topics such as; uncertainty, interoperability, scaling, governance & societal effects. In terms of existing networking activities, there are several industry-led user groups and domain-specific consortia. However, there has never been a dedicated academic-led DT network that brings together academic research teams across the entire remit of UKRI with user-led groups. DTNet+ will address this gap with a consortium which has both sufficient breadth and depth to deliver transformative change.

Doctoral Training Partnerships: a range of postgraduate training is funded by the Research Councils. For information on current funding routes, see the common terminology at https://www.ukri.org/apply-for-funding/how-we-fund-studentships/. Training grants may be to one organisation or to a consortia of research organisations. This portal will show the lead organisation only.

Synthesis, the science of making molecules, is central to human wellbeing through its ability to produce new molecules for use as medicines and materials. Every new drug, whether an antibiotic or a cancer treatment, is based on a molecular structure designed and built using the techniques of synthesis. Synthesis is a complex activity, in which bonds between atoms are formed in a carefully choreographed way, and training to a doctoral level is needed to produce scientists with this expertise. Our proposed CDT is tailored towards training the highly creative, technologically skilled scientists essential to the pharmaceutical, biotech, agrochemical and materials sectors, and to many related areas of science which depend on novel molecules. Irrespective of the ingenuity of the synthetic chemist, synthesis is often the limiting step in the development of a new product or the advance of new molecular science. This hurdle has been overcome in some areas by automation (e.g. peptides and DNA), but the operational complexity of a typical synthetic route in, say, medicinal chemistry has hampered the wider use of the technology. Recent developments in the fields of automation, machine learning (ML), virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI) now make possible a fundamental change in the way molecules are designed and made, and we propose in this CDT to engineer a revolution in the way that newly trained researchers approach synthetic chemistry, creating a new generation of pioneering innovators. Making use of Bristol's extensive array of automated synthetic equipment, flow reactors, peptide synthesisers, and ML Retrosynthesis Tool, students will learn and appreciate this cutting-edge technology-driven program, its potential and its limitations. Bristol has outstanding facilities, equipment and expertise to deliver this training. At its core will be a state-of-the-art research experience in our world-leading research groups, which will form the majority of the 4-year CDT training period. For the 8 months prior to choosing their project, students with complete a unique, multifaceted Technology & Automation Training Experience (TATE). They will gain hands-on experience in advanced techniques in synthesis, automation, modelling and virtual reality. In conjunction with our Dynamic Laboratory Manual (DLM), the students will also expand their experience and confidence with interactive, virtual versions of essential experimental techniques, using simulations, videos, tutorials and quizzes to allow them to learn from mistakes quickly, effectively and safely before entering the lab. In parallel, they will develop their teamworking, leadership and thinking skills through brainstorming and problemsolving sessions, some of them led by our industrial partners. Brainstorming involves the students generating ideas on outline proposals which they then present to the project leaders in a lively and engaging interactive feedback session, which invariably sees new and student-driven ideas emerge. By allowing students to become fully engaged with the projects and staff, brainstorming ensures that students take ownership of a PhD proposal from the start and develop early on a creative and collaborative atmosphere towards problem solving. TATE also provides a formal assessment mechanism, allow the students to make a fully informed choice of PhD project, and engages them in the use of the key innovative techniques of automation, machine learning and virtual reality that they will build on during their projects. We will integrate into our CDT direct interaction and training from entrepreneurs who themselves have taken scientific ideas from the lab into the market. By combining our expertise in synthesis training with new training platforms in automation, ML/AI/VR and entrepreneurship this new CDT will produce graduates better able to navigate the fast-changing chemical landscape.