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The global semiconductor market has a value of around $1trillion, over 90% of which is silicon based. In many senses silicon has driven the growth in the world economy for the last 40 years and has had an unparalleled cultural impact. Given the current level of commitment to silicon fabrication and its integration with other systems in terms of intellectual investment and foundry cost this is unlikely to change for the foreseeable future. Silicon is used in almost all electronic circuitry. However, there is one area of electronics that, at the moment, silicon cannnot be used to fill; that is in the emission of light. Silicon cannot normally emit light, but nearly all telecommunications and internet data transfer is currently done using light transmitted down fibre optics. So in everyones home signals are encoded by silicon and transmitted down wires to a station where other (expensive) components combine these signals and send light down fibres. If cheap silicon light emitters were available, the fibre optics could be brought into everyones homes and the data rate into and out of our homes would increase enormously. Also the connection between chips on circuit boards and even within chips could be performed using light instead of electricity. The applicants intend to form a consortium in the UK and to collaborate with international research groups to make silicon emit light using tiny clumps of silicon, called nanocrystals;. These nanocrystals can emit light in the visible and can be made to emit in the infrared by adding erbium atoms to them. A number of techniques available in Manchester, London and Guildford will be applied to such silicon chips to understand the light emission and to try to make silicon chips that emit light when electricity is passed through them. This will create a versatile silicon optical platform with applications in telecommunications, solar energy and secure communications. This technology would be commercialised by the applicants using a high tech start-up commpany.

Relative sea level (RSL) change reflects the interplay between a large number of variables operating at scales from global to local. Changes in RSL around the British Isles (BI) since the height of the last glaciation (ca. 24 000 years ago), are dominated by two key variables (i) the rise of ocean levels caused by climate warming and the melting of land-based ice; and (ii) the vertical adjustment of the Earth's surface due to the redistribution of this mass (unloading of formerly glaciated regions and loading of the ocean basins and margins). As a consequence RSL histories vary considerably across the region once covered by the British-Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS). The variable RSL history means that the BI is a globally important location for studying the interactions between land, ice and the ocean during the profound and rapid changes that followed the last glacial maximum. The BI RSL record is an important yardstick for testing global models of land-ice-ocean interactions and this in turn is important for understanding future climate and sea level scenarios. At present, the observational record of RSL change in the British Isles is limited to shallow water areas because of accessibility and only the later part of the RSL curve is well studied. In Northern Britain, where the land has been rising most, RSL indicators are close to or above present sea level and the RSL record is most complete. In southern locations, where uplift has been less, sea level was below the present for long periods of time but there is very little data on RSL position. There are varying levels of agreement between models and existing field data and we cannot be certain of model projections of former low sea levels. Getting the models right is important for understanding the whole global pattern of land-ice-ocean interactions in the past and into the future. To gather the missing data and thus improve the utility of the British RSL curves for testing earth-ice-ocean models, we will employ a specialised, interdisciplinary approach that brings together a unique team of experts in a multidisciplinary team. We have carefully selected sites where there is evidence of former sea levels is definitely preserved and we will use existing seabed geological data in British and Irish archives to plan our investigations. The first step is marine geophysical profiling of submerged seabed sediments and mapping of surface geomorphological features on the seabed. These features include the (usually) erosional surface (unconformity) produced by the rise in sea level, and surface geomorphological features that indicate former shorelines (submerged beaches, barriers and deltas). These allow us to identify the position (but not the age) of lower than present sea levels. The second step is to use this stratigraphic and geomorphological information to identify sites where we will take cores to acquire sediments and organic material from low sea-level deposits. We will analyse the sediments and fossil content of the cores to find material that can be closely related to former sea levels and radiocarbon dated. The third step in our approach is to extend the observed RSL curves using our new data and compare this to model predictions of RSL. We can then modify the parameters in the model to obtain better agreement with observations and thus better understand the earth-ice-ocean interactions. These data are also important for understanding the palaeogeography of the British Isles. Our data will allow a first order reconstruction of former coastlines, based upon the modern bathymetry, for different time periods during the deglaciation. This is of particular importance to the presence or absence of potential landbridges that might have enabled immigration to Ireland of humans and animals. They will also allow us to identify former land surfaces on the seabed. The palaeogeography is crucial to understanding the evolving oceanographic circulation of the Irish Sea.

Selenium (Se) and Tellurium (Te) are scarce (semi)metallic elements usually recovered as by-products of the chemical extraction of other metals. The proposal will exploit close relationships between these elements and organic materials to target additional resources, and extract resources in a more sustainable, environmentally sensitive manner. Se/Te are most concentrated in rocks containing organic matter (e.g. coals, carbon-rich shales, sandstones containing oil residues or coaly matter). We also know that microbial (bacterial) activity can concentrate Se/Te. We seek to use that knowledge to predict previously unrecognized concentrations of Se/Te by study of metal sulfide ores which are known to have been formed by microbial sulfate reduction, on the basis that these microbes could have also engendered Se/Te concentration. More significantly, we will try to advance our knowledge of how microbes interact with Se/Te in rocks and soil, to develop a strategy for the microbial concentration of Se/Te on a valuable scale. To achieve this the project combines interdisciplinary expertise on Se/Te from geology, soil science, chemistry and microbiology. The catalyst stage involves data gathering, and pilot sampling from two field sites, one in SW Ireland where some of the most Se-rich soils in the world occur, and in Scotland where a gold mine and its environs have elevated levels of Te, and the Te needs to be exploited to ensure financial viability. We have the support of Scotgold Resources, who own the gold mine, and Stantec, an international company whose portfolio includes management of metal resources.

The global semiconductor market has a value of around $1trillion, over 90% of which is silicon based. In many senses silicon has driven the growth in the world economy for the last 40 years and has had an unparalleled cultural impact. Given the current level of commitment to silicon fabrication and its integration with other systems in terms of intellectual investment and foundry cost this is unlikely to change for the foreseeable future. Silicon is used in almost all electronic circuitry. However, there is one area of electronics that, at the moment, silicon cannnot be used to fill; that is in the emission of light. Silicon cannot normally emit light, but nearly all telecommunications and internet data transfer is currently done using light transmitted down fibre optics. So in everyones home signals are encoded by silicon and transmitted down wires to a station where other (expensive) components combine these signals and send light down fibres. If cheap silicon light emitters were available, the fibre optics could be brought into everyones homes and the data rate into and out of our homes would increase enormously. Also the connection between chips on circuit boards and even within chips could be performed using light instead of electricity. The applicants intend to form a consortium in the UK and to collaborate with international research groups to make silicon emit light using tiny clumps of silicon, called nanocrystals;. These nanocrystals can emit light in the visible and can be made to emit in the infrared by adding erbium atoms to them. A number of techniques available in Manchester, London and Guildford will be applied to such silicon chips to understand the light emission and to try to make silicon chips that emit light when electricity is passed through them. This will create a versatile silicon optical platform with applications in telecommunications, solar energy and secure communications. This technology would be commercialised by the applicants using a high tech start-up commpany.

The Naked Craft Network, hereafter NCN, is an international collective of research academics, writers, curators and industry partners whose aim is to develop strategies for craft theory and policy, future craft practice and dissemination of craft based work rooted in local places and spaces. The Crafts Council's (UK) recent report entitled "Craft in an Age of Change" (February 2012) highlights a UK perspective on current craft practices across the 4 regions (Scotland, Wales, England and NI), and provides a wealth of data about the economic importance of the craft sector. This significant policy document also highlights pressures in the years to come for the sector. Themes developed from this research report, of particular interest for the NCN, lead to 3 particular questions: - local vs. global: 70% of makers in UK do not export: how can we support an increase in moving the local globally? - understanding practice: how can we support the interpretation for "what" is going out into the global space (the vernacular of the locals; understanding practice) - demographics: average age of makers in UK surveyed is 49 - how do we support the emerging makers and their vision of future practice in the global/local context? NCN intends to develop a better understanding of the relationships between the identification inherently attributed to geopolitical regions outlined in this Craft Council report, and the reciprocal role that the material production of craft plays in building, maintaining and disseminating identities in a global arena of commerce and culture in the future. The approach that NCN adopts is to bring together relevant stakeholders involved with craft practice into discussions to engage and exchange how the understanding of craft practice, rooted in local communities and traditions evolves and is challenged, promoted and communicated on the post-colonial global stage. "The craft sector finds itself pulled in different directions. There is a strong 'localist' strain in craft. Many makers seek to build small businesses strongly rooted in particular places, emphasizing authenticity and building on local traditions in, for example, their choice of material. On the other hand, many makers want to take advantage of the business opportunities globalisation offers." (Craft in an Age of Change, Crafts Council UK, February 2012). This context presents NCN with some significant questions: what do we mean by traditional craft practice in the post-colonial age? What role does our local heritage play in a global context? How do the objects and artefacts of localised production, that are part of the fabric of our tradition and heritage, become understood in a larger, globalized context? Which locality can lay claim to authenticity of tradition? Our initial partnership involves a case-study approach of two independent communities with a common heritage; Scotland and Nova Scotia, Canada (New Scotland). Within both Canada and Scotland, craft practice is informed by many similarities arising from similar geophysical, political, social and historical elements. For both countries, craft plays an essential role in the cultural and creative industries, providing communities with important financial frameworks as well as being a catalyst for strengthening the connections between creativity, place, landscape and identity. In light of the common heritage and affiliation that Canadians and Scots already share, how will the work of contemporary Scottish makers challenge or reinforce the current conception of Scotland abroad? In what way will Canadian makers move beyond tradition and production of stereotyped histories derived from a post-colonial reminiscence? In understanding the trajectories of these two divergent communities which share a historically common point of connection, NCN intends to establish a space for reflecting upon and re-evaluating the traditional roles of craft practice in the future.

By modifying the amount of solar radiation absorbed at the land surface, bright snow and dark forests have strong influences on weather and climate; either a decrease in snow cover or an increase in forest cover, which shades underlying snow, increases the absorption of radiation and warms the overlying air. Computer models for weather forecasting and climate prediction thus have to take these effects into account by calculating the changing mass of snow on the ground and interactions of radiation with forest canopies. Such models generally have coarse resolutions ranging from kilometres to hundreds of kilometres. Forest cover cannot be expected to be continuous over such large distances; instead, northern landscapes are mosaics of evergreen and deciduous forests, clearings, bogs and lakes. Snow can be removed from open areas by wind, shaded by surrounding vegetation or sublimated from forest canopies without ever reaching the ground, and these processes which influence patterns of snow cover depend on the size of the openings, the structure of the vegetation and weather conditions. Snow itself influences patterns of vegetation cover by supplying water, insulating plants and soil from cold winter temperatures and storing nutrients. The aim of this project is to develop better methods for representing interactions between snow, vegetation and the atmosphere in models that, for practical applications, cannot resolve important scales in the patterns of these interactions. We will gather information on distributions of snow, vegetation and radiation during two field experiments at sites in the arctic: one in Sweden and the other in Finland. These sites have been chosen because they have long records of weather and snow conditions, easy access, good maps of vegetation cover from satellites and aircraft and landscapes ranging from sparse deciduous forests to dense coniferous forests that are typical of much larger areas. Using 28 radiometers, and moving them several times during the course of each experiment, will allow us to measure the highly variable patterns of radiation at the snow surface in forests. Information from the field experiments will be used in developing and testing a range of models. To reach the scales of interest, we will begin with a model that explicitly resolves individual trees and work up through models with progressively coarser resolutions, testing the models at each stage against each other and in comparison with observations. The ultimate objective is a model that will be better able to make use of landscape information in predicting the absorption of radiation at the surface and the accumulation and melt of snow. We will work in close consultation with project partners at climate modelling and forecasting centres to ensure that our activities are directed towards outcomes that will meet their requirements.

Mathematics is a profound intellectual achievement with impact on all aspects of business and society. For centuries, the highest level of mathematics has been seen as an isolated creative activity, to produce a proof for review and acceptance by research peers. Mathematics is now at a remarkable inflexion point, with new technology radically extending the power and limits of individuals. "Crowdsourcing" pulls together diverse experts to solve problems; symbolic computation tackles huge routine calculations; and computers check proofs that are just too long and complicated for any human to comprehend, using programs designed to verify hardware. Yet these techniques are currently used in stand-alone fashion, lacking integration with each other or with human creativity or fallibility. Social machines are new paradigm, identified by Berners-Lee, for viewing a combination of people and computers as a single problem-solving entity. Our long-term vision is to change mathematics, transforming the reach, pace, and impact of mathematics research, through creating a mathematics social machine: a combination of people, computers, and archives to create and apply mathematics. Thus, for example, an industry researcher wanting to design a network with specific properties could quickly access diverse research skills and research; explore hypotheses; discuss possible solutions; obtain surety of correctness to a desired level; and create new mathematics that individual effort might never imagine or verify. Seamlessly integrated "under the hood" might be a mixture of diverse people and machines, formal and informal approaches, old and new mathematics, experiment and proof. The obstacles to realising the vision are that (i) We do not have a high level understanding of the production of mathematics by people and machines, integrating the current diverse research approaches (ii) There is no shared view among the diverse re- search and user communities of what is and might be possible or desirable The outcome of the fellowship will be a new vision of a mathematics social machine, transforming the reach, pace and impact of mathematics. It will deliver: analysis and experiment to understand current and future production of mathematics as a social machine; designs and prototypes; ownership among academic and industry stakeholders; a roadmap for delivery of the next generation of social machines; and an international team ready to make it a reality.

North temperate regions hold much of the planet's freshwater, an essential ingredient for all life. But anthropogenic activities, such as land-use change, are dramatically altering these landscapes and threatening the delivery of key services provided by aquatic ecosystems, such as productive fish populations. Contemporary paradigms of aquatic conservation have emphasized inputs of pollutants and water resource development as causes of declining water security and biodiversity, but are failing when these two factors alone are improved. Increasingly, local watersheds are seen as critical controls of aquatic ecosystems. This is spurred by the recent discovery that pathways of energy mobilization upwards through aquatic food webs from microbes to fish rely on organic matter originating from terrestrial vegetation. In other words, new research is proving the adage that fish are in fact a "forest product". Any factor that changes the quality and quantity of organic matter exported from land into water will influence the delivery of aquatic ecosystem services. For example, human land use practices and emerging disturbances, such as fire and forest pathogens, will change the cycling of nutrients from terrestrial vegetation into aquatic ecosystems. But which of these factors are most important and consistently operating across different geographic regions is unknown. Identifying these drivers is critical for developing new watershed-level approaches for conserving freshwater that link actions on land to processes in water. Our research will test how different watershed characteristics control the use of terrestrial resources in aquatic food webs across lake-rich regions of the world. We will use our findings to forecast future changes in lake food webs associated with global change and recommend better practices for conserving freshwater resources. Our approach will be to bring together the leading international researchers studying terrestrial-aquatic linkages and synthesize available food web measurements from over 175 lakes. Using bioclimatic, vegetation, biogeochemistry, and land-use data extracted for each study lake, alongside cutting-edge statistical modelling techniques, we will predict the terrestrial drivers of lake food webs and link them to biomass accumulation by aquatic organisms. Outcomes of this research will be highly relevant to the UK and international policy around managing freshwater supplies by demonstrating strong linkages between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. A particular focus of our research is improving the Water Framework Directive (WFD), a piece of pan-European legislation designed to protect freshwater. We hope to use our research to impact policy associated with the WFD by engaging with the European Commission in a knowledge exchange symposium that we are organizing at the conclusion of our project. This project will also have many applications for improving regional land use planning and management, as well as restoring environmentally damaged landscapes. We are working closely with partners in the mining industry and government in associated NERC-funded projects and will use the results of this project to better inform these partners of the best practices for re-vegetating degraded watersheds.

The global semiconductor market has a value of around $1trillion, over 90% of which is silicon based. In many senses silicon has driven the growth in the world economy for the last 40 years and has had an unparalleled cultural impact. Given the current level of commitment to silicon fabrication and its integration with other systems in terms of intellectual investment and foundry cost this is unlikely to change for the foreseeable future. Silicon is used in almost all electronic circuitry. However, there is one area of electronics that, at the moment, silicon cannnot be used to fill; that is in the emission of light. Silicon cannot normally emit light, but nearly all telecommunications and internet data transfer is currently done using light transmitted down fibre optics. So in everyones home signals are encoded by silicon and transmitted down wires to a station where other (expensive) components combine these signals and send light down fibres. If cheap silicon light emitters were available, the fibre optics could be brought into everyones homes and the data rate into and out of our homes would increase enormously. Also the connection between chips on circuit boards and even within chips could be performed using light instead of electricity. The applicants intend to form a consortium in the UK and to collaborate with international research groups to make silicon emit light using tiny clumps of silicon, called nanocrystals;. These nanocrystals can emit light in the visible and can be made to emit in the infrared by adding erbium atoms to them. A number of techniques available in Manchester, London and Guildford will be applied to such silicon chips to understand the light emission and to try to make silicon chips that emit light when electricity is passed through them. This will create a versatile silicon optical platform with applications in telecommunications, solar energy and secure communications. This technology would be commercialised by the applicants using a high tech start-up commpany.

My research programme is the study of how relativistic effects can be exploited to improve quantum information tasks, a key topic of immense technological importance already today and more so for the next decades. The vantage point of these investigations is that the world is fundamentally both quantum and relativistic, and that these facts are immensely useful for the design of communication devices that are absolutely safe from eavesdropping, and of quantum computers that can quickly perform difficult computational tasks which overwhelm any classically imaginable computer. Indeed, impressive technological achievements and promises have already been derived from taking seriously solely the quantum aspects of matter: quantum cryptography and communication have become a technical reality in recent years, but the practical construction of a quantum computer still requires to understand better how to efficiently store, manipulate and read information, without prohibitively large disturbances from the environment. Throwing relativity into the equation fundamentally changes the entire game, as I could show in a series of research papers, one of which was featured in a generally accessible Science article highlighting my work (Cho, Science 2005). I propose to push this exciting line of theoretical research to the point where relativistic effects in quantum information theory can be exploited technologically.Far from yielding only quantitative corrections, relativity plays a dominant role in the qualitative behaviour of many physical systems used to implement quantum information tasks in the laboratory. The prototypical example is provided by any system involving light, be it for the transmission or manipulation of quantum information. There is no such thing as a non-relativistic approximation to light quanta, so-called photons, since these always travel at the speed of light. While relativistic quantum theory, commonly known as quantum field theory, is a very well studied subject in foundational particle physics, research in quantum information theory selectively focused almost exclusively on those aspects one can study without relativity. Thus both unexpected obstacles (such as a relativistic degradation of quantum entanglement) and unimagined possibilities for quantum information theory (such as improved quantum cryptography and hypersensitive quantum measurement devices) have gone unnoticed. The relevance of these insights, which together with co-workers, I afforded over the past few years, are evidenced by the amount of work by other researchers recognizing and building on my work. Indeed, the impact of my research extends beyond pure quantum information theory, and applications to foundational questions in cosmology and black hole physics have been found.The research I propose to complete during my Fellowship aims at providing comprehensive answers to foundational, theoretical and technological aspects of relativistic quantum information theory, exploiting and building on the intriguing results obtained so far. My overall aspiration and vision is to ultimately provide concrete solutions to key problems in the field of quantum information theory.