Small items of research equipment at the University of Glasgow

The University of Glasgow proposes to utilise the requested funds to create a high value scheme fostering new collaborations and the sharing of equipment and expertise between Early Career Researchers (ECRs). The investment will be directed to the purchase of small (<£10K) pieces of equipment that will further ECR's own research, expand their collaboration base, support the publication of work not otherwise possible and/or support the work of EPSRC funded students within an EPSRC 'Growth' or 'Maintain' area. To ensure the scheme will also facilitate the sharing of existing equipment a website will also be established to list new and existing equipment alongside a lay description of each ECR's expertise, interests and collaborative opportunities.
The scheme will be run from the office of the Dean of Research of College of Science and Engineering covering both the College of Science and Engineering and appropriate sectors of the College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences. We propose to run three cycles of the equipment call, with the first starting in November 2012 (items already identified and costed) and the second in January 2013. The University of Glasgow will commit in excess of £170k of additional equipment funding and associated staff time to extend the scheme beyond the March window to run for the third cycle. Cycle three will be fully funded by Glasgow University, will open in April 2013 and in all aspects will run in an identical way to cycles one and two.

The proposal will deliver substantial impacts to beneficiaries within and outside academia. It spans the breadth of EPSRC funded themes, is highly multidisciplinary and will be conducted by our best Early Career Researchers (ECRs). We have explicitly designed this funding application to increase the level of cross-fertilisation between ECRs working in different disciplines; to provide an opportunity to foster new collaborations; and to lever more effective use of our existing infrastructure and expertise. The new equipment will expand the areas of collaborative research currently funded by the EPSRC and will provide further opportunities to deliver excellent science of interest to the wider academic and industrial communities.
Due to the diversity and breadth of the activities enabled by this funding intervention - and our planned three-phase distribution of funds - an exhaustive list of potential impact and beneficiaries is unwarranted. Instead, some exemplars of projects to be targeted in the first phase are provided below:

> Dr MacLaren's equipment request targets two explicit beneficiary groups: he will broaden the academic user-group of his existing equipment; and he will advance a fruitful industrial collaboration. A thin film deposition system installed as part of his Career Acceleration Fellowship could benefit a wider community of ECRs interested in preparing advanced oxide films that are otherwise beyond our capabilities.

> Dr Kamenos' research will have overarching societal and economic impacts on environmental policy and on the utilisation of coastal areas. This will be realised through extensive engagement with Environmental Protection (UK) and Parliamentary Science Offices such as POST (London) and SPICe (Edinburgh).

> Dr Forgan's research addresses scientific problems with major economic and societal impact: energy, carbon capture and storage. His track record in successfully realising the commercial potential of his research through the formation of new ventures is an indication of his entrepreneurial approach. This is complemented by his public engagement through the Royal Society of Edinburgh Young Academy, which gives access to influential policy makers and leading thinkers across many disciplines.

> The small equipment requested by Dr Tassieri will enable a new magnetic tweezers tool to be developed, enabling study and manipulation of complex fluids including biological samples. His interests are at the interface of biological and medical sciences and his current collaborations with industry and the NHS have promising potential for impacts in health and diagnostics. Similarly, Dr Neale's research interests in rheology at the micro-scale are also well-placed at the interface with biological sciences and have the potential to deliver novel analytical techniques of interest to a wide variety of scientists in academia and industry.

> Young researchers and PhD students will be trained in the use of the equipment providing a pool of talent for both academia and industry. For example students will be trained on vibration measurements in nanosystems using equipment requested in this project by Dr Choubey and the deposition and microscopy equipment proposed by MacLaren. Such skills are highly desirable in the micro/nano systems industry.

> All our ECRs are enthusiastic about public engagement and the dissemination of their research outside academia, as is clear from Dr Symes' and Dr Kamenos' roles in the Glasgow Science Festival and the Glasgow Cafe Scientifique.