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In Europe, the total value of sewer assets amounts to 2 trillion Euros. The US Environmental Protection Agency estimates that water collection systems in the USA have a total replacement value between $1 and $2 trillion. Similar figures can be assigned to other types of buried pipe assets which supply clean water and gas. In China alone 40,000 km of new sewer pipes are laid every year. However, little is known about the condition of these pipes despite the pressure on water and gas supply utility companies to ensure that they operate continuously, safely and efficiently. In order to do this properly, the utility operator must identify the initial signs of failure and then respond to the onset of failure rapidly enough to avoid loss of potable water supply, wastewater flooding or gas escape. This is attempted through targeted inspection which is typically carried out through man-entry or with CCTV approaches, although more sophisticated (e.g. tethered) devices have been developed and are used selectively. Nevertheless, and in spite of the fact that the UK is a world leader in this research area, these approaches are slow and labour intensive, analysis is subjective, and their deployment disrupts traffic. Moreover, because these inspections are necessarily infrequent and only cover a small proportion of the pipe network, serious degradation is often missed and pipe failures occur unexpectedly, requiring emergency repairs that greatly disrupt life of the road and adjacent buried utility infrastructure. This Programme Grant proposes a radical change in terms of buried pipe sensing in order to address the issues of pipe inspection and rehabilitation. It builds upon recent advances in sensors, nano- and micro-electronics research, communication and robotic autonomous systems and aims to develop a completely new pervasive robotics sensing technology platform which is autonomous and covers the entire pipe network. These robots will be able to travel, cooperate and interrogate the pipes from the inside, detect the onset of any defects continuously, navigate to and zoom on sub-millimetre scale defects to examine them in detail, communicate and guide any maintenance equipment to repair the infrastructure at an early sign of deterioration. By being tiny, they do not present a danger of being stuck, blocking the pipe if damaged or run out of power. By being abundant, they introduce a high level of redundancy in the inspection system, so that routine inspection can continue after a loss of a proportion of the sensors in the swarm. By making use of the propagation of sonic waves and other types of sensing these robots can monitor any changes in the condition of the pipe walls, joints, valves and lateral connections; they can detect the early development and growth of sub-millimetre scale operational or structural faults and pipe corrosion. An important benefit of this sensing philosophy is that it mimics nature, i.e. the individual sensors are small, cheap and unsophisticated, but a swarm of them is highly capable and precise. This innovation will be the first of its kind to deploy swarms of miniaturised robots in buried pipes together with other emerging in-pipe sensor, navigation and communication solutions with long-term autonomy. Linked to the related previous work, iBUILD (EP/K012398), ICIF (EP/K012347) and ATU's Decision Support System (EP/K021699), this Programme Grant will create the technology that has flexibility to adapt to different systems of governance globally. This work will be done in collaboration with a number of industry partners who will help to develop a new set of requirements for the new pervasive robotic sensing platform to work in clean water, wastewater and gas pipes. They will support the formation and operation of the new research Centre of Autonomous Sensing for Buried Infrastructure in the UK and ensure that the results of this research have strong practical outcomes.

I will establish the underpinning scientific and technical knowledge to enable the UK cement industry and UK producers of alumina-containing waste to create new supply chains for the manufacture of high-performance low-CO2 cements. I will also develop a user-friendly process model that can optimise cement clinker manufacture from waste. Moreover, I will support the academic and industrial community by creating a much-needed centre for experimental thermodynamics in the UK and will become established and recognised as a leader in low-carbon cement production. Cement is the most manufactured product on the planet and is essential to the development of infrastructure and economy. Cement manufacture is responsible for 2% of the UK's carbon emissions where more than 8 Mt p.a. of, the generally employed, Portland cement (PC) clinker are produced. Globally, the manufacture of 4 Gt of cement p.a. is responsible for 8% of man-made CO2 emissions. Calcium sulfoaluminate (CSA) cements can achieve more than 30% reduction in CO2 emissions compared to PC, on a mass basis, when produced from virgin raw materials. The properties of CSA cements are often superior to those of PC and are therefore used in special applications such as fast-track rehabilitation of highways and airfields. Considering their savings in work-time and their higher performance, CO2 savings from CSA cement, compared to PC, are in fact greater. Moreover, CSA cement can be produced in existing PC plant configurations without major modifications; thus, low industrial capex. CSA cements are normally produced from bauxite, limestone, and clay. However, the use of CSA cements has been limited in the UK due to the lack of a raw alumina source (i.e., bauxite), which is required for CSA manufacture; any CSA cement currently used in the UK is imported. On the other hand, the UK industry produces significant volumes of waste material containing alumina which this Fellowship research aims to valorise. Two major waste streams are potable aluminium water treatment sludge (aWTS), and aluminium oxide residue (AOR) from secondary aluminium production and recycling. The UK produces ~90 kt of aWTS (dry) and ~70 kt of ALS per year which can be used as alumina sources, replacing bauxite, to produce ~1M tonnes of CSA cement p.a., and replacing up to 50% of virgin raw materials with waste. This translational research will create a new subindustry in the UK, by enabling CSA cement manufacture through an innovative process, valorising UK industrial residues, and creating new UK products. However, to develop and establish the manufacturing process for targeted cement clinkers, the presence and fluctuation of impurities in the wastes must be addressed. Industrially, the proportions of cement clinker phases produced through thermal processing of the raw materials are designed using empirical equations. This approach is not suitable to produce CSA clinker, especially when alternative raw materials (containing foreign elements) are used. A more flexible approach is required. Therefore, this Fellowship research will also derive necessary fundamental material data for the phases involved in CSA clinkering from waste and use the data to build a user-friendly pyro-processing simulator that will allow for rapid raw material mix and process design, optimisation, and troubleshooting. This simulator will also enable identification of other potentially useful feed sources for clinker manufacture; thus, a reduction in future experimental clinkering tests. As part of this Fellowship, I will also establish the first centre for experimental thermodynamics in the UK. I will leverage the successful completion of the Fellowship to lead research in low-carbon cement production and specialising in thermochemistry. I also aim to become an ambassador for CSA cement and concrete in the UK and to be involved in influencing policy and writing standards for CSA cement and concrete.

Water companies need enhanced information in two key areas to manage the current and strategic maintenance of sewers efficiently, which relates strongly to the operational and structural conditions and the rate of deterioration. As flooding caused by hydraulic overload can be tackled through capital investment, flooding other causes becomes increasingly significant as a failure of a service with heavy environmental, economical and social impacts. In many situations, it is more efficient to maintain the operational condition of a sewer regularly, rather then replace it in the case of structural collapse. Companies are now looking for new ways of reducing these incidents, however, the existing methods of sewer analysis and CCTV survey remain largely time-consuming and subjective.Recently, a series of acoustic experiments has been carried out by the investigators in a drained sewer pipe to identify the evolution of a small blockage. These initial results suggest that the acoustic signature of the sewer can be used to detect the location and extent of a minor change in the cross-section of a large-diameter pipe. Although, acoustic instruments have already been developed to determine variations of the cross-section of narrow pipes (e.g. musical instruments), there have been no systematic studies into the reconstruction of the cross-section profile of a realistic sewer pipe. The purpose of this project is to develop a novel practical and efficient acoustic technique to monitor the evolution of operation and structural conditions in live sewer networks.

Climate change impacts, such as droughts, wildfires and floods, are increasing, particularly affecting vulnerable groups living near river and coastal areas. Global climate action narratives are problematic with top-down doom and gloom narratives, which often fail to meet targets; green growth and de-growth narratives, criticised for unequal access to green innovation and slow change; and transformative 'win-win' narratives, involving bottom-up activities like increasing blue-green infrastructure. These narratives create barriers to social learning when trade-offs in implementation are ignored. Climate action opportunities (e.g. after the extreme Summer 2007 floods) are also fleeting, often overlooked by politicians and media. However, no global plan has emerged to consider future climate impacts or transfer these lessons elsewhere. Urgent action is needed to find new ways of communities co-creating their own local place-based climate action narratives. Researchers argue that local people, being the most informed about climate impacts, need to be central in decision-making. Despite this need for local voices, community-engaged methods for climate action are lacking. Existing infrastructure approaches have failed to adequately restore and conserve resources for vulnerable groups facing climate stress. Consequently, local people need emotional, financial, and inclusive support to implement immediate and effective climate actions aligned with their local knowledge. The new interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary theatre-based approach in Climate Collaboratorium offers novelty, high risk, and high reward. The project focuses on water security issues affecting vulnerable communities, particularly youth and seniors living near rivers. In the UK, river-side towns of Tewkesbury and Shrewsbury are working on flood resilience and water security plans amidst worsening climate extremes. However, intergenerational perspectives and involvement in these conversations are limited. The proposed approach centres on knowledge-exchange rather than monitoring, involving vulnerable voices in creation of artistic products that reflect their experiences of climate change. This approach aims to blend scientific and local narratives, promoting bottom-up climate action and shifting responsibilities and agency from environmental managers and scientists to local communities. As nations strive to tackle water challenges, four teams (Canada, Germany, UK and US) are joining forces to create a skilled cohort of academics/professionals, ready to explore how climate action can enhance infrastructure, water, and livelihood security within specific river catchments at local scale, and how local teams can share insights to grow global lessons and action. The team includes social, climate, natural, and policy scientists; global climate change data networks; theatre designers/actors, directors/scriptwriters; Indigenous scholars; bias/inclusion experts; and environmental professionals in four river/estuaries. The UK team combines drama, geography and hydroclimate expertise to address water security and climate change adaptation. The team, with extensive experience in environmental management and community-based interdisciplinary research, is planning to co-create a performance piece using stories from flood-affected communities. Their approach focuses on community engagement and inclusive participatory research. They are partnering with climate network managers to plan climate change materials as workshop prompts, co-produce adaptation/mitigation strategies based on scientific evidence, and plan sharing of these co-produced intergenerational options with international partners. Their interdisciplinary background in community theatre, hydrological sciences and community water management allows them to work with communities to create place-based action that addresses risks to living standards through resilient water security and climate resilience.