• Canada
• 2020 close

ESRC : Hester Hockin-Boyers : ES/P000762/1 The Mitacs Globalink UK-Canada doctoral exchange scheme would enable PhD student Hester Hockin-Boyers (Durham University) to spend 12-weeks working with Dr Norman and Professor Vertinsky in the School of Kinesiology at the University of British Columbia (UBC), from September-December 2020. The proposed research will explore how Canadian women's interactions with health and fitness content on Instagram impacts upon physical activity participation. This research is sorely needed because, while social media is increasingly pertinent to the formation of everyday health practices, this dimension is seldom explored. In addition, this project will pilot a novel method, developed by Hockin-Boyers, called 'screenshot elicitation', which seeks to capture the fast, dynamic, mobile and everyday nature of interactions with digital content. Whilst Hockin-Boyers has already begun to develop this technique as part of her PhD research, the Mitacs Globalink project will provide the space and resources to pilot and advance this methodology. The findings resulting from this project have the potential to enhance Canadian women's quality of life, health and wellbeing, by informing digital platform design, social media pedagogies, and public policy in Canada. Furthermore, by providing Hockin-Boyers access to the variety of expertise in Digital Health at UBC, new knowledge and methodological techniques will be brought back to the UK, thus enhancing capacity for further research and innovation

Coronaviruses are transmitted from an infectious individual through large respiratory droplets generated by coughing, sneezing or speaking. These infectious droplets are then transmitted to the mucosal surfaces of a recipient through inhalation of the aerosol or by contact with contaminated fomites such as surfaces or other objects. In healthcare settings, personal protective equipment (PPE) plays a crucial role in interrupting the transmission of highly communicable diseases such as COVID19 from patients to healthcare workers (HCWs). However, research has shown that PPE can also act as a fomite during the donning and doffing process as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) can survive on these surfaces for up to three days. This creates a need for more effective PPE materials that can provide antiviral protection. In this proposal we aim to develop a dual action antiviral/antifouling coating to lower the risk of transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 to HCWs from COVID19 patients. This project will deliver antiviral/antifouling coatings that can be readily applied to PPE surfaces such as faceshields that are likely to encounter a high level of viral load and would be of great benefit to the health of clinical staff. Furthermore, this project has embedded into its planning a rapid pathway for optimisation, translation, and upscaling of manufacture to deliver a low-cost technology within a short timescale.

The ECC-SMART is oriented towards assessing the feasibility and identification of safety features of an intrinsically and passively safe small modular reactor cooled by supercritical water (SCW-SMR), taking into account specific knowledge gaps related to the future licensing process and implementation of this technology. The main objectives of the project are to define the design requirements for the future SCW-SMR technology, to develop the pre-licensing study and guidelines for the demonstration of the safety in the further development stages of the SCW-SMR concept including the methodologies and tools to be used and to identify the key obstacles for the future SMR licencing and propose strategy for this process. To reach these objectives, specific technical knowledge gaps were defined and will be assessed to achieve the future smooth licensing and implementation of the SCW-SMR technology (especially behaviour of materials in the SCW environment and irradiation, validation of the codes and design of the reactor core will be developed, evaluated by simulations and experimentally validated). The ECC-SMART project consortium is consisted of EU, Canadian and Chinese partners to use the trans-continental synergy and knowledge developed separately by each partner. The project consortium and project scope were created according the joint research activities under the International Atomic Energy Agency, Generation-IV International Forum umbrella and as many data as possible will be taken from the already performed projects. This project brings together the best scientific teams working in the field of SCWR using the best facilities and methods worldwide, to fulfil the common vision of building a SCW-SMR in the near future.

NERC: Jennifer Watts: NE/S007504/1

AHRC : Jessica Robins : AH/R504671/1 "Breaking Eggs" is an exciting project sharing knowledge between the UK and Canada. The project invites residents of Guelph, Wellington to take part in a series of hands-on workshops responding to the beginning of Our Food Future project, a city wide, 5-year project that aims to use technological innovation to make the region a sustainable food hub for Canada. Our Food Future is a multi-million-dollar project that will use technology to radically change the way food is grown, distributed and consumed. The project will make Guelph the world's first circular food city, using technology to make sure everyone has enough to eat and waste is eliminated, while restoring natural systems. The workshops will use creative methods to help local community members explore the wider project and examine avenues for their engagement. It will look at what opportunities' residents could take advantage of, and what challenges communities could face during this transition. Breaking Eggs will take place in the first year of the Our Food Future project so will give residents of different local communities a chance to be involved in shaping the project. The workshops will invite people from all parts of Guelph and Wellington County to take part in sharing ideas and creating a new future for the region. The lessons learned through the project will be brought back to the UK and the knowledge gathered will be shared so that other communities can look at ways they can engage in more sustainable food systems for their region.

Throughout Earth's geological history, hydrothermal systems have provided habitats for the most ancient forms of life known on Earth. The warm water in these systems reacts with the local rocks and accelerates chemical reactions. As a result, different chemical compounds are released and can be exploited by microorganisms that utilize chemicals from the bedrock for metabolic energy to form a viable habitat. The geological record of Mars suggests that sulphur-rich hydrothermal systems were widespread during the Hesperian Period, around 3.8 billion years ago and possibly could have supported life as we know it on Earth. This happened shortly after the Late Heavy Bombardment (LHB), when Mars was exposed to extensive impact events. The study of the habitability of these environments is done by researching Mars analogues on Earth. The predominant heat supply of these environments on Earth comes from a magmatic source, either from a volcanic eruption or through a magmatic intrusion into the local rock. On extraterrestrial bodies such as Mars, impacts are the main heat source. The chemical difference between these hydrothermal systems are dependent on the original bedrock and the newly introduced magmatic material. The chemical potential to support microbial life and form a viable habitat between the two different environments will be studied. This will be done by studying relic hydrothermal environments, through analysing rock samples from the sulphur-rich Haughton impact crater in the high Arctic, Canada, and comparing them to magmatic intrusions from the San Raphael Swell, USA. The samples will be collected along a reaction path of unaltered rock to altered rock and analysed for their different mineralogy and chemistry. This will then be used to make a thermodynamic chemical model to understand the reaction path forming the altered rock and the past fluid composition. From the modelled data, the free energy released from the reduction-oxidation reactions will be used to evaluate the different potential of each environment to support microbial life through time and space.

Mountain glaciers are melting at an increased rate due to climate change; this is leading to decreasing water resources for the surrounding communities, which is becoming of increasing importance in western Canada as glacier volume is expected to reduce by 70% by 2100. As a glacier melts, a lake can be formed in front of the glacier. This lake is formed due to a depression (herein called 'overdeepenings') in the landscape which has been scraped out by glacial erosion, this then fills with the generated melt water once the glacier retreats out of it and can then become dammed by deposited moraines. As these lakes continue to develop and grow, while the glacier continues to shrink, they have the potential to become hazardous, if a sudden release of water occurs, while they can become opportunities for economic benefits - such as hydroelectric dams and tourism - when the glacier disappears. Research on the formation and development of these glacial lakes has been discussed at length within the literature and is well understood. The vast majority of the research at present has focused on these glacial lakes as hazards, focusing on negative impacts such as; decreasing water resources, and the effects on downstream communities. A question which has received very little attention in the literature - and that shall be answered by this study - is that of where these glacial lakes will develop in the future as global warming causes glaciers to disappear and what these locations will look like as these, now relic, lakes dominate the environment? A limited number of studies have been trying to answer this question in to where these glacial lakes will be in the future, with a primary focus on locations of relatively important consequence, for example the Himalaya-Karakoram region. Another study, taking a more global perspective, looked into the possibility of these lakes for hydroelectric dams, which would be important contributions to national energy supplies in many countries. Both studies used estimated glacial ice thicknesses to predict where these overdeepenings have been located. Although these studies provide an understanding on the formation of future lakes, and how they will evolve, no study has tried to describe or understand what these locations will look like once these glaciers disappear and the lakes are all that remain. This study shall be working in British Columbia and Alberta in western Canada, where we shall predict where these glacial overdeepenings are under the present-day glacial ice. This shall be done by using already created estimations on global glacial ice thicknesses, and digital elevation models. These shall be used to estimate the depth and volume of lakes which maybe created in the future. We shall then compare what these future landscapes shall look like using modern day locations which are either transitioning from a glaciated to deglaciated environment with glacial lakes dominating the landscape (Cordillera Blanca, Peru), and locations that are entirely deglaciated and that the once glacial lakes, now remain (e.g. The Lake District, UK). In these localities, mapping of the moraine dams will aid in providing an understanding of where future lakes may develop. The output of this research will aid in giving an understanding on the location of future lakes within western Canada, which will assist in future decision making of the local government into water availability in an unpredictable climate.