91福利

EOI: The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council invites proposals for its manufacturing investigator-led highlight notice – NetworkPlus call. This supports the development of manufacturing research and communities within key emerging areas of national importance for manufacturing research. The aims are to:

鈥�bring together experts from across all relevant research disciplines and stakeholders, building new communities or creating new links between different existing communities;

鈥�bring focus to the relevant research area, identifying research challenges, opportunities and priorities;

鈥�support initial exploration of new ideas and kick-start new collaborations;

鈥�build pathways to impact.

The priority areas are circular economy and resilient manufacturing, however proposals in other areas related to manufacturing research are welcomed if they demonstrate a need for networks in that area.

Network activities must be UK-wide and open to all relevant researchers. Depending on the topic, networks must be highly multidisciplinary, including disciplines such as social sciences, economics, arts and humanities, and other relevant non-academic stakeholders to provide the expertise required to co-create and implement manufacturing solutions. Proposals must complement current research activities and existing networks.

A total of 拢5 million is available for five proposals for between three and four years duration. Funding supports new proposals or extensions to the connected everything NetworkPlus. Funding may be used for salaries of the PI and up to four co-investigators, travel and subsistence, administrative support, organisation of activities, and research.

EOI

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council invites expressions of interest for its regional workshops in manufacturing. These aim to engage with a cross-section of the manufacturing community and those working in related areas. The workshops will cover the outputs of the 2018 manufacturing retreat and areas of EPSRC's and manufacturing the future's strategy and activities. The following workshops will be organised:

鈥�Bristol, 5 December 2018;

鈥�Glasgow, 22 January 2019;

鈥�Sheffield, 19 February 2019;

鈥�London, 12 March 2019.

The objectives are to: engage the manufacturing research community with ESRC corporate strategy and manufacturing the future theme strategy; launch the outputs and action plan from the 2018 Manufacturing Retreat and undertake some initial scoping for future activities; inform the community about future funding opportunities and peer review policy; discuss the topics of interest to EPSRC, which are Impact and translation and equality, and diversity and inclusion.

All academic researchers with an interest in understanding and communicating EPSRC's manufacturing the future theme strategy and industrialists who wish to engage with academics and the EPSRC's manufacturing the future theme may apply.

Places are limited and the number of participants from a given organisation may have to be restricted in the event of multiple applications.

EOI deadline 24th October

The Manufacturing the Future Theme would like to support up to five NetworkPlus grants to stimulate development of manufacturing research and communities within key emerging areas of national importance for manufacturing research. These networks will bring together relevant parts of the interdisciplinary manufacturing communities and a variety of stakeholders, to identify the key research opportunities, build collaborations and grow the area of research for the benefit of the UK. Networks are intended to be UK-wide, and should involve a broad range of disciplines as well as non-academic stakeholders. The NetworkPlus could undertake a variety of activities including workshops, events, feasibility studies, secondments or horizon scanning. Applicants are encouraged to tailor their activities to the needs of the area and to be innovative in their approach.

There is up to 拢5 million available for this call.

The Manufacturing the Future theme has identified some priority areas which would benefit from having a NetworkPlus. However Manufacturing the Future also welcomes proposals for a NetworkPlus in other areas related to manufacturing research. All proposals will have to make a case for why a NetworkPlus is required in the area.

The priority areas identified are:
飦擟ircular Economy
飦擱esilient Manufacturing.

EOI deadline The Manufacturing the Future Theme will also be considering an extension to the Connected Everything NetworkPlus. This will be assessed on a separate list but tensioned against new proposals. The 拢5 million will be used for both new proposals and the extension. The renewal of the network will have different assessment criteria, which are described in the full call document (available from the "Resources" section of this call page).

[Title]

Physics Nobel Prize 2018: Intense laser beams

[Speaker]

Dr James Lloyd-Hughes and Dr Gavin Morley (91福利)

Detail:

[Abstract]

The 2018 Nobel prize for Physics recognised two groundbreaking inventions in laser physics: optical tweezers and a method of generating intense laser pulses.

Intense pulses of laser light are now routinely used in laser eye surgery, micromachining and ultrafast science. The breakthrough by Strickland and Mourou was to create a clever way to amplify laser pulses to peak intensities above the gigawatts per square centimetre level, circumventing processes that damage the laser gain medium. Their method, known as chirped pulse amplification, is now widely used in commercial laser systems and at major international laser facilities, which offer up to petawatt powers. We will describe the basics of this method and how it is used today.

Ashkin鈥檚 optical tweezers also use intense laser light, but in this case instead of being pulsed it is a continuous beam with lower peak power that is tightly focused with a lens. Objects such as atoms, nanoparticles and living cells can be trapped with these tweezers in a liquid, in air or in vacuum. In particular, the ability to hold living bacteria without harming them has made optical tweezers a valuable tool in biology. The work that won the 1997 Nobel Prize (for the development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light) came right after and took advantage of the development of tweezers.