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Given the unprecedented demand for mobile capacity beyond that available from the RF spectrum, it is natural to consider the infrared and visible light spectrum for future terrestrial wireless systems. Wireless systems using these parts of the electromagnetic spectrum could be classified as nmWave wireless communications system in relation to mmWave radio systems and both are being standardised in current 5G systems. TOWS, therefore, will provide a technically logical pathway to ensure that wireless systems are future-proof and that they can deliver the capacities that future data intensive services such as high definition (HD) video streaming, augmented reality, virtual reality and mixed reality will demand. Light based wireless communication systems will not be in competition with RF communications, but instead these systems follow a trend that has been witnessed in cellular communications over the last 30 years. Light based wireless communications simply adds new capacity - the available spectrum is 2600 times the RF spectrum. 6G and beyond promise increased wireless capacity to accommodate this growth in traffic in an increasingly congested spectrum, however action is required now to ensure UK leadership of the fast moving 6G field. Optical wireless (OW) opens new spectral bands with a bandwidth exceeding 540 THz using simple sources and detectors and can be simpler than cellular and WiFi with a significantly larger spectrum. It is the best choice of spectrum beyond millimetre waves, where unlike the THz spectrum (the other possible choice), OW avoids complex sources and detectors and has good indoor channel conditions. Optical signals, when used indoors, are confined to the environment in which they originate, which offers added security at the physical layer and the ability to re-use wavelengths in adjacent rooms, thus radically increasing capacity. Our vision is to develop and experimentally demonstrate multiuser Terabit/s optical wireless systems that offer capacities at least two orders of magnitude higher than the current planned 5G optical and radio wireless systems, with a roadmap to wireless systems that can offer up to four orders of magnitude higher capacity. There are four features of the proposed system which make possible such unprecedented capacities to enable this disruptive advance. Firstly, unlike visible light communications (VLC), we will exploit the infrared spectrum, this providing a solution to the light dimming problem associated with VLC, eliminating uplink VLC glare and thus supporting bidirectional communications. Secondly, to make possible much greater transmission capacities and multi-user, multi-cell operation, we will introduce a new type of LED-like steerable laser diode array, which does not suffer from the speckle impairments of conventional laser diodes while ensuring ultrahigh speed performance. Thirdly, with the added capacity, we will develop native OW multi-user systems to share the resources, these being adaptively directional to allow full coverage with reduced user and inter-cell interference and finally incorporate RF systems to allow seamless transition and facilitate overall network control, in essence to introduce software defined radio to optical wireless. This means that OW multi-user systems can readily be designed to allow very high aggregate capacities as beams can be controlled in a compact manner. We will develop advanced inter-cell coding and handover for our optical multi-user systems, this also allowing seamless handover with radio systems when required such as for resilience. We believe that this work, though challenging, is feasible as it will leverage existing skills and research within the consortium, which includes excellence in OW link design, advanced coding and modulation, optimised algorithms for front-haul and back-haul networking, expertise in surface emitting laser design and single photon avalanche detectors for ultra-sensitive detection.

The EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Renewable Energy Northeast Universities (ReNU) is driven by industry and market needs, which indicate unprecedented growth in renewable and distributed energy to 2050. This growth is underpinned by global demand for electricity which will outstrip growth in demand for other sources by more than two to one (The drivers of global energy demand growth to 2050, 2016, McKinsey). A significant part of this demand will arise from vast numbers of distributed, but interconnected devices (estimated to reach 40 billion by 2024) serving sectors such as healthcare (for ageing populations) and personal transport (for reduced carbon dioxide emission). The distinctive remit of ReNU therefore is to focus on materials innovations for small-to-medium scale energy conversion and storage technologies that are sustainable and highly scalable. ReNU will be delivered by Northumbria, Newcastle and Durham Universities, whose world-leading expertise and excellent links with industry in this area have been recognised by the recent award of the North East Centre for Energy Materials (NECEM, award number: EP/R021503/1). This research-focused programme will be highly complementary to ReNU which is a training-focused programme. A key strength of the ReNU consortium is the breadth of expertise across the energy sector, including: thin film and new materials; direct solar energy conversion; turbines for wind, wave and tidal energy; piezoelectric and thermoelectric devices; water splitting; CO2 valorisation; batteries and fuel cells. Working closely with a balanced portfolio of 36 partners that includes multinational companies, small and medium size enterprises and local Government organisations, the ReNU team has designed a compelling doctoral training programme which aims to engender entrepreneurial skills which will drive UK regional and national productivity in the area of Clean Growth, one of four Grand Challenges identified in the UK Government's recent Industrial Strategy. The same group of partners will also provide significant input to the ReNU in the form of industrial supervision, training for doctoral candidates and supervisors, and access to facilities and equipment. Success in renewable energy and sustainable distributed energy fundamentally requires a whole systems approach as well as understanding of political, social and technical contexts. ReNU's doctoral training is thus naturally suited to a cohort approach in which cross-fertilisation of knowledge and ideas is necessary and embedded. The training programme also aims to address broader challenges facing wider society including unconscious bias training and outreach to address diversity issues in science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects and industries. Furthermore, external professional accreditation will be sought for ReNU from the Institute of Physics, Royal Society of Chemistry and Institute of Engineering Technology, thus providing a starting point from which doctoral graduates will work towards "Chartered" status. The combination of an industry-driven doctoral training programme to meet identifiable market needs, strong industrial commitment through the provision of training, facilities and supervision, an established platform of research excellence in energy materials between the institutions and unique training opportunities that include internationalisation and professional accreditation, creates a transformative programme to drive forward UK innovation in renewable and sustainable distributed energy.

PREMIERE will integrate challenges identified by the EPSRC Prosperity Outcomes and the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) in healthcare (Healthy Nation), energy (Resilient Nation), manufacturing and digital technologies (Resilient Nation, Productive Nation) as areas to drive economic growth. The programme will bring together a multi-disciplinary team of researchers to create unprecedented impact in these sectors through the creation of a next-generation predictive framework for complex multiphase systems. Importantly, the framework methodology will span purely physics-driven, CFD-mediated solutions at one extreme, and data-centric solutions at the other where the complexity of the phenomena masks the underlying physics. The framework will advance the current state-of-the-art in uncertainty quantification, adjoint sensitivity, data-assimilation, ensemble methods, CFD, and design of experiments to 'blend' the two extremes in order to create ultra-fast multi-fidelity, predictive models, supported by cutting-edge experimental investigations. This transformative technology will be sufficiently generic so as to address a wide spectrum of challenges across the ISCF areas, and will empower the user with optimal compromises between off-line (modelling) and on-line (simulation) efforts so as to meet an a priori 'error bar' on the model outputs. The investigators' synergy, and their long-standing industrial collaborations, will ensure that PREMIERE will result in a paradigm-shift in multiphase flow research worldwide. We will demonstrate our capabilities using exemplar challenges, of central importance to their respective sectors in close collaboration with our industrial and healthcare partners. Our PREMIERE framework will provide novel and more efficient manufacturing processes, reliable design tools for the oil-and-gas industry, which remove conservatism in design, improve safety management, and reduce emissions and carbon footprint. This framework will also provide enabling technology for the design, operation, and optimisation of the next-generation nuclear reactors, and associated reprocessing, as well as patient-specific therapies for diseases such as acute compartment syndrome.

We will launch a new CDT, focused on composite materials and manufacturing, to deliver the next generation of composites research and technology leaders equipped with the skills to make an impact on society. In recent times, composites have been replacing traditional materials, e.g. metals, at an unprecedented rate. Global growth in their use is expected to be rapid (5-10% annually). This growth is being driven by the need to lightweight structures for which 'lighter is better', e.g. aircraft, automotive car bodywork and wind blades; and by the benefits that composites offer to functionalise both materials and structures. The drivers for lightweighting are mainly material cost, fuel efficiency, reducing emissions contributing to climate change, but also for more purely engineering reasons such as improved operational performance and functionality. For example, the UK composites sector has contributed significantly to the Airbus A400M and A350 airframes, which exhibit markedly better performance over their metallic counterparts. Similarly, in the wind energy field, typically, over 90% of a wind turbine blade comprises composites. However, given the trend towards larger rotors, weight and stiffness have become limiting factors, necessitating a greater use of carbon fibre. Advanced composites, and the possibility that they offer to add extra functionality such as shape adaptation, are enablers for lighter, smarter blades, and cheaper more abundant energy. In the automotive sector, given the push for greener cars, the need for high speed, production line-scale, manufacturing approaches will necessitate more understanding of how different materials perform. Given these developments, the UK has invested heavily in supporting the science and technology of composite materials, for instance, through the establishment of the National Composites Centre at the University of Bristol. Further investments are now required to support the skills element of the UK provision towards the composites industry and the challenges it presents. Currently, there is a recognised skills shortage in the UK's technical workforce for composites; the shortage being particularly acute for doctoral skills (30-150/year are needed). New developments within industry, such as robotic manufacture, additive manufacture, sustainability and recycling, and digital manufacturing require training that encompasses engineering as well as the physical sciences. Our CDT will supply a highly skilled workforce and technical leadership to support the industry; specifically, the leadership to bring forth new radical thinking and the innovative mind-set required to future-proof the UK's global competitiveness. The development of future composites, competing with the present resins, fibres and functional properties, as well as alternative materials, will require doctoral students to acquire underpinning knowledge of advanced materials science and engineering, and practical experience of the ensuing composites and structures. These highly skilled doctoral students will not only need to understand technical subjects but should also be able to place acquired knowledge within the context of the modern world. Our CDT will deliver this training, providing core engineering competencies, including the experimental and theoretical elements of composites engineering and science. Core engineering modules will seek to develop the students' understanding of the performance of composite materials, and how that performance might be improved. Alongside core materials, manufacturing and computational analysis training, the CDT will deliver a transferable skills training programme, e.g. communication, leadership, and translational research skills. Collaborating with industrial partners (e.g. Rolls Royce) and world-leading international expertise (e.g. University of Limerick), we will produce an exciting integrated programme enabling our students to become future leaders.

The question of whether Mars could have supported life has driven intensive exploration of the planet's surface through satellite and robotic missions. Complementary research has focused on identifying and understanding meteorites from Mars, which offer the only direct samples of the crust available to science. Together, these studies have not only sought signs of extraterrestrial life and habitable environments, but tried to understand how the planet has changed through time: from an ancient world of oceans and landforms remarkably familiar to Earth, to the cold, dry, barren planet that we see today. Why Mars has followed a dramatically different path to Earth is a major issue in our understanding of terrestrial planet evolution. How has Mars lost heat? Has volcanism and volcanic outgassing changed through time? Is volcanism and seismic activity ongoing? How has impact cratering shaped the planet through time? It has become clear that much of the surface of Mars is very ancient, and that its rocks retain direct evidence of the planet's separation into a crust and mantle. As a result, volcanism is thought to be driven by mantle plumes, rather by tectonic forces at plate boundaries as on Earth, and to have reduced rapidly in intensity to a minimum as the planet has cooled. This relatively simple geological model compared to the Earth suggests declining rates of exchange between the surface, atmosphere and interior through time, including the cycling of potential nutrients, heat loss and volcanism. This view has been challenged by recent evidence for considerable diversity in volcanic and sedimentary rocks and processes on Mars. However, new understanding of the planet is hindered by a mismatch between Martian meteorites and rock types seen on the surface, as well as a lack of reliable age information that can be used to test how the crust, mantle and atmosphere have evolved and interacted through time. Addressing these issues is a primary aim of ongoing and new Mars exploration missions, including NASA InSight and Mars 2020 and the ESA ExoMars Rover, and also requires resolution of conundrums in the Martian meteorite collection. The UoP2 Mars Consortium brings together internationally leading expertise in Martian meteorites, radiometric dating and planetary geology to address these challenges. Two related projects will capitalize on conceptual and analytical advances in the laboratory analysis of planetary materials led by the applicants, as well as the rapidly growing inventory of Martian meteorites in collections around the world, to generate new datasets and knowledge. Project 1, entitled "Secular evolution of Martian magmatism" focuses on placing robust new age constraints on Martian volcanic processes. Previously, this has been very difficult because the samples have experience extreme compression and heating during impact events, which disturb the isotopic systems used for dating. We will overcome this using advances led by Darling in identifying nanoscale deformation features in dateable crystals that can be avoided or targeted for radiometric dating using the latest techniques in mass spectrometry. Project 2, entitled 'Martian Breccias; the missing link in the search for Meteorite Source Regions on Mars?' focuses on linking the meteoritic and remote sensing records to build a more complete picture of the Martian crust. This will be achieved by resolving the origin and spectral signature of newly discovered brecciated rocks that offer uniquely broad sampling of Martian crustal rocks through clasts of different origin, in combination with new and compiled data on the mineralogy and geochemistry for other Martian meteorite groupings. The results will lead to new holistic models for Martian geological evolution. This new knowledge will help to address one of the four Science Challenges of the STFC Science Roadmap1: How do stars and planetary systems develop and is life unique to our planet?

Predicting future climate change is one of the biggest scientific and societal challenges facing humankind. Whist carbon emissions from human activities are the main determinant of future climate change, the response of the earth system is also extremely important. Earth system processes provide 'feedbacks' to climate change, either reinforcing upward trends in greenhouse gas concentrations and temperature (positive feedbacks) or sometimes dampening them (negative feedbacks). A crucial feedback loop is formed by the terrestrial global carbon cycle and the climate. As carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere and temperature rise, carbon fixation by plants increases due to the CO2 fertilisation effect and the lengthening of the growing season at high latitudes (this is a negative feedback). But at the same time, increasing temperatures lead to increased decomposition of the carbon stored in soils and this results in more carbon dioxide being released back to the atmosphere (this is a positive feedback). The balance of these competing processes is especially important for peatlands because they are very large carbon stores. Northern Hemisphere peatlands hold about the same amount of carbon that is stored in all the world's living vegetation including forests, so determining the response of this large carbon store to future climate change is especially critical. One hypothesis is that warming will increase decomposition rates in peatland soils to such an extent that large amounts of carbon will be released in the future. However, the vast majority of peatlands are in relatively cold and wet areas and evidence from past changes in accumulation rates suggest that for these regions, warming may lead to increased productivity that more than compensates for any increase in decay rates, leading to increased carbon sequestration overall. Furthermore, in the northernmost areas of the Arctic, there is potential for further lateral expansion of peatlands, increasing the total area over which peat accumulates. We intend to answer the question of whether changes in accumulation in Arctic peatlands plus the increased spread of peatlands in cold regions will lead to an overall increase in their carbon storage capacity. Our approach will be to use a novel combination of data from the fossil record stored in peatlands together with satellite data to test a global model that simulates changes in both carbon accumulation rates and the extent of peatland vegetation over Arctic regions. If we can demonstrate that the model performs well in simulations of past changes, we can then confidently use it to make projections of future changes in response to warming for several hundred years into the future. We know that fluctuations in Arctic climate over the past 1000 years should have been sufficient to drive changes in peat accumulation rates and lateral spread, so we are focusing our analyses on this period. In particular, we know there were increases in temperature over the last 150-200 years and especially over the last 30-40 years. If our hypothesis that increased temperature leads to increasing accumulation and spread of Arctic peatlands is correct, we expect to see the evidence for this in the fossil record of peat accumulation and spread, and also in satellite data of vegetation change. Our previous work and our new pilot studies show that we can reconstruct accumulation rate changes and also that our proposed remote sensing techniques can detect peatland vegetation increases since the mid-1980s, so we are confident in our methodology. The model will provide estimates of northern peatland carbon storage change for different climate change scenarios over the next century and longer term to the year 2300. If we can show that there is a potential increase or even no change in carbon storage in Arctic peatlands, it will radically change our perception of the role of the Arctic terrestrial carbon store in mediating climate change.

Colour Imaging is part of every day life. Whether we watch TV, browse content on our tablets or phones or use apps and software in our work the content we see on our screens is the result of decades of colour & imaging research. In the future, the challenge is to understand more about the content images. As an example, in autonomous driving we wish to build a platform that sees the road independent of the atmospheric conditions, we don't want to crash when we are driving in fog. It is well known that an image that records the near-infrared signal is much sharper (compared to RGB) in foggy conditions. What is near infrared? The visible spectrum has a natural rainbow order: Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow Orange and Red. Infrared is the 'next colour' after red that we can't quite see. Image fusion can be used to map the RGB+NIR signal to a fused RGB counterpart, that we can see. Through image fusion the same detail will be present in foggy or non-foggy conditions. Advantageously, Image Fusion is a tool that will allow non visible information to be incorporated and deployed in existing RGB-based AI scene interpretation systems with minimal retraining. Our project begins with the Spectral Edge Image fusion method, the current leading technique. This method - and most image fusion algorithms - works by combining edges from the 4 images (RGB+NIR) to make a fused RGB-only 3-channel edge map. The edges are then transformed (the technical term is reintegrated) back to form a colour image. Unfortunately, and necessarily, the reintegrated images often have defects such as bright halos round edges or smearing. We argue that the defects are a direct consequence of how 'edges' are defined. In our research we will - based on a surprising mathematical insight - develop a new definition of edge, quite a bold thing to do after 50 years of image processing research! By construction the reintegrated new edges will have much less halo and smearing artefacts. We will then use our improved edge representation and improved image fusion algorithm to make better looking images. These might be the fused images themselves: wouldn't it be great to have smart binoculars that allow us to see more detail in images when it is rainy or a landscape that is blurred by distance. However, we also believe the future of photography, in general, is content-based and that image fusion will help us determine the content in an image. As an example, when we take a picture at sunset, the shadows in the scene are very blue. But, outside of the shadow the light is very warm (orangish). The best image reproductions for these scenes involves manually and differentially processing shadow and non shadow regions. Here, we seek to find the illumination content in image automatically. Then in a second step we will develop a new content-based framework for manipulating images so that, for this sunset example, we don't need to edit the photos ourselves. In complementary work, we are also interested in helping people see better. Indeed, there is a lot of research that demonstrates that coloured filters can help mitigate visual stress. Coloured filters are used in Dyslexia (sometimes leading to dramatic improvements in reading speed) and there is now blue absorbing glass which will reduces the blue light coming from a tablet display (since blue light at night tends to keep you awake). Much of the prior art in this area is 'direct'. We find a filter to directly impact on how we see (simply, if we put a yellow filter in front of the eye then everything looks more yellow). Our idea is to deign filters that are related to the tasks we need to solve. For the problem of matching colours we will design filters so that if you suffer from colour-blindness you will be able to colour match as if you had normal colour vision. We will also develop indirect solutions for the 'blue light' problem and visual stress.