Phase III of The Directed Assembly EPRSC Grand Challenge Network: From Discovery to Translation
Lead Research Organisation:
CRANFIELD UNIVERSITY
Department Name: Sch of Aerospace, Transport & Manufact
Abstract
The vision of the Network is to be able to control the assembly of matter with sufficient certainty and precision to allow preparation of materials and molecular assemblies with far more sophisticated and tuneable properties and functions than are accessible in materials synthesised using current methods.
In this Grand Challenge we aim to gain unprecedented control of the assembly of molecules that are the building blocks of many functional materials, consumer and industrial products. We start by understanding the assembly of the very small, but methods we explore will allow production of new types of useful materials at a whole range of length scales from the nanoscale to the everyday. Such materials will have outstanding impact in areas of societal importance such as personalised healthcare and food production, transport systems and fuel production, housing construction and consumer electronics.
Through this intelligent approach to design we will compete effectively with the USA, Japan and mainland Europe to place the UK firmly at the forefront of developments in the areas of manufacturing, healthcare and energy.
The added value that the Network provides is in gathering the widest group of internationally-leading expert scientists from across a range of disciplines in the UK, and providing them with a challenge, a focus and a vision that they help shape.
On-going economic prosperity in the UK is critically dependent on having a competitive, high-tech manufacturing industry.
Some areas of the Directed Assembly Network's activities address barriers to progress in existing industries; others will create the transformative industries of the future. Society is challenged by a growing and aging population, and through declining natural resources. The goals we reach for will drive great breakthroughs in healthcare and offer alternatives to harvesting our limited reserves.
The UK has already been identified as being world-class or world-leading in many of the individual disciplines needed to tackle these targets, but real breakthroughs will only be made by harnessing interdisciplinary excellence from across the UK - the Directed Assembly Network is key to the formation and maintenance of this interdisciplinary community. Other countries are already investing heavily in programmes to progress materials science; by adopting the recommendations above, the UK can enhance its scientific capability and keep pace at international levels, develop absorptive capacity and retain the competitive advantage needed to be a world player in the field of future manufacturing.
Since its launch in 2010, the DAGCN has become embedded into the culture of those working in Directed Assembly and is known as a place to go to for mentoring, advice and support. The Network has awarded 23 pump-priming grants over the last four years. These, together with meetings have been instrumental in leveraging approximately £50M of major grant funding. A community of 970 multi-disciplinary members from across the UK, including 112 industry members and 260 early career researchers has been engaged, nurtured and brought together with a common aim: the Directed Assembly Grand Challenge. Over 45 meetings have been held directly that have led to 80 new collaborations. A culture change has been widely noted since the inception of the Network in both the way rival companies now commonly work together at pre-competitive stages, and, different types of scientists now see each-other as invaluable towards achieving strong relationships and results. Researcher mobility through travel grants and pump-priming projects has contributed to data and equipment sharing, notwithstanding the skills development of the UK research base. The vast 970 community has been engaged consistently and led to a Roadmap setting out the vision for the next 5-50 years.
In this Grand Challenge we aim to gain unprecedented control of the assembly of molecules that are the building blocks of many functional materials, consumer and industrial products. We start by understanding the assembly of the very small, but methods we explore will allow production of new types of useful materials at a whole range of length scales from the nanoscale to the everyday. Such materials will have outstanding impact in areas of societal importance such as personalised healthcare and food production, transport systems and fuel production, housing construction and consumer electronics.
Through this intelligent approach to design we will compete effectively with the USA, Japan and mainland Europe to place the UK firmly at the forefront of developments in the areas of manufacturing, healthcare and energy.
The added value that the Network provides is in gathering the widest group of internationally-leading expert scientists from across a range of disciplines in the UK, and providing them with a challenge, a focus and a vision that they help shape.
On-going economic prosperity in the UK is critically dependent on having a competitive, high-tech manufacturing industry.
Some areas of the Directed Assembly Network's activities address barriers to progress in existing industries; others will create the transformative industries of the future. Society is challenged by a growing and aging population, and through declining natural resources. The goals we reach for will drive great breakthroughs in healthcare and offer alternatives to harvesting our limited reserves.
The UK has already been identified as being world-class or world-leading in many of the individual disciplines needed to tackle these targets, but real breakthroughs will only be made by harnessing interdisciplinary excellence from across the UK - the Directed Assembly Network is key to the formation and maintenance of this interdisciplinary community. Other countries are already investing heavily in programmes to progress materials science; by adopting the recommendations above, the UK can enhance its scientific capability and keep pace at international levels, develop absorptive capacity and retain the competitive advantage needed to be a world player in the field of future manufacturing.
Since its launch in 2010, the DAGCN has become embedded into the culture of those working in Directed Assembly and is known as a place to go to for mentoring, advice and support. The Network has awarded 23 pump-priming grants over the last four years. These, together with meetings have been instrumental in leveraging approximately £50M of major grant funding. A community of 970 multi-disciplinary members from across the UK, including 112 industry members and 260 early career researchers has been engaged, nurtured and brought together with a common aim: the Directed Assembly Grand Challenge. Over 45 meetings have been held directly that have led to 80 new collaborations. A culture change has been widely noted since the inception of the Network in both the way rival companies now commonly work together at pre-competitive stages, and, different types of scientists now see each-other as invaluable towards achieving strong relationships and results. Researcher mobility through travel grants and pump-priming projects has contributed to data and equipment sharing, notwithstanding the skills development of the UK research base. The vast 970 community has been engaged consistently and led to a Roadmap setting out the vision for the next 5-50 years.
Planned Impact
Developing an understanding of and learning to control molecular assembly and disassembly to engineer functional materials, and to be able to scale-up the processes at scales meaningful for industry will have a huge impact in many areas. The activities of the Directed Assembly Grand Challenge Network (DAGCN) are geared to build communities to focus and accelerate the delivery of these outcomes, and accelerate the journey from discovery to translation and scale-up.
Moving into the next phase of the DAGCN, the activities of the Network have been designed to achieve these impact targets:
(1) Provide a multi-disciplinary supportive environment to tackle the grand challenge: through Network expansion in our designated streams:
(i) directed assembly,
(ii) directed disassembly, and
(iii) translation and up-scaling.
(2) Establish a future self-sustainable network: industrial sponsorship and membership models will be considered through community engagements, ensuring 'buy-in' and putting the Network in good stead for a strong and continuous presence up to and beyond the 50 year Grand Challenge goals.
(3) Enable bidirectional interactions between end users and science base: from discovery to translation.
(4) Provide a forum to exchange ideas via meetings and electronic platforms including LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and training through MOOCs.
(5) Nurture and support ideas that will lead to the development of large projects.
(6) Form new multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary collaborations encompassing not only chemists and chemical engineers, but including life scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and industrialists.
(7) Build capability, through our Early Career Researcher mentoring, support, advice and our overall engagement, training activities and other public engagement activities.
This field of research has great relevance in many areas affecting the society of the future, including healthcare and transport. With an ageing population, improved healthcare becomes more important - understanding directed assembly allows improvements in drug delivery and opens up the use of new therapeutic molecules as well as the development of biocompatible, implantable materials, devices and organs. With current concerns around long-term fuel supplies and polluting end-products, the applications of controlled molecular assembly are highly relevant. Transport systems can be made more environmentally-friendly and energy efficient through the use of improved fuel cells, better catalysts and, in the longer term, the possibility of using high-temperature superconductors.
Our work and leisure activities will be enhanced by new consumer electronics based around improved batteries, printable and organic electronics and new display devices. Whilst the most obvious uses of a better understanding of molecular assembly are around creating faster, more efficient chemical synthesis methods and reclamation techniques, a whole range of new technologies are opened up through its application. For example: smart, functionalised, structural materials which can incorporate energy-generation will transform the construction industry; anti-corrosion and anti-fouling treatments for surfaces will improve pipeline flows and the lifetimes of exposed metal; foodstuffs and drug production and delivery will be enhanced by better insight into nucleation, dissolution and the formation of gel structures.
Moving into the next phase of the DAGCN, the activities of the Network have been designed to achieve these impact targets:
(1) Provide a multi-disciplinary supportive environment to tackle the grand challenge: through Network expansion in our designated streams:
(i) directed assembly,
(ii) directed disassembly, and
(iii) translation and up-scaling.
(2) Establish a future self-sustainable network: industrial sponsorship and membership models will be considered through community engagements, ensuring 'buy-in' and putting the Network in good stead for a strong and continuous presence up to and beyond the 50 year Grand Challenge goals.
(3) Enable bidirectional interactions between end users and science base: from discovery to translation.
(4) Provide a forum to exchange ideas via meetings and electronic platforms including LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and training through MOOCs.
(5) Nurture and support ideas that will lead to the development of large projects.
(6) Form new multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary collaborations encompassing not only chemists and chemical engineers, but including life scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and industrialists.
(7) Build capability, through our Early Career Researcher mentoring, support, advice and our overall engagement, training activities and other public engagement activities.
This field of research has great relevance in many areas affecting the society of the future, including healthcare and transport. With an ageing population, improved healthcare becomes more important - understanding directed assembly allows improvements in drug delivery and opens up the use of new therapeutic molecules as well as the development of biocompatible, implantable materials, devices and organs. With current concerns around long-term fuel supplies and polluting end-products, the applications of controlled molecular assembly are highly relevant. Transport systems can be made more environmentally-friendly and energy efficient through the use of improved fuel cells, better catalysts and, in the longer term, the possibility of using high-temperature superconductors.
Our work and leisure activities will be enhanced by new consumer electronics based around improved batteries, printable and organic electronics and new display devices. Whilst the most obvious uses of a better understanding of molecular assembly are around creating faster, more efficient chemical synthesis methods and reclamation techniques, a whole range of new technologies are opened up through its application. For example: smart, functionalised, structural materials which can incorporate energy-generation will transform the construction industry; anti-corrosion and anti-fouling treatments for surfaces will improve pipeline flows and the lifetimes of exposed metal; foodstuffs and drug production and delivery will be enhanced by better insight into nucleation, dissolution and the formation of gel structures.
Organisations
- CRANFIELD UNIVERSITY (Lead Research Organisation)
- UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM (Collaboration)
- Lancaster University (Collaboration)
- SHEFFIELD HALLAM UNIVERSITY (Collaboration)
- University of York (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF STRATHCLYDE (Collaboration)
- London South Bank University (Collaboration)
- IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON (Collaboration)
- University of East Anglia (Collaboration)
- University of Lincoln (Collaboration)
- Princeton University (Collaboration)
- University of Sheffield (Collaboration)
- Lincoln University (Collaboration)
- The Open University (Collaboration)
- University of Bath (Collaboration)
- Cardiff University (Collaboration)
- Heriot-Watt University (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF KENT (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL (Collaboration)
- University of Bristol (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON (Collaboration)
Publications
Ly DQ
(2019)
Effects of the homopolymer molecular weight on a diblock copolymer in a 3D spherical confinement.
in BMC chemistry
Rose JAR
(2017)
The directed assembly grand challenge network.
in Chemistry Central journal
Rose JAR
(2017)
Directed Assembly Network phase three launch: a round-up of success to date and strategy for the future.
in Chemistry Central journal
| Description | Advances in molecular science enable the potential for starting from scratch in the creation of new materials and in improving existing ones. This can be possible with the control and direction of the assembly of molecules so precisely that we can develop and prepare materials with highly sophisticated and 'tuneable' properties. A re-think of the building blocks of materials humanity requires will allow for the development of, for example: new energy sources; sustainable alternatives to many scarce materials (like the rare and precious metals used in electronics devices); personalised healthcare (bespoke medicines and implants); smart, energy efficient materials for the construction industry; better means of capturing pollutants; more efficient, lighter materials that allow for more low energy and solar-powered vehicles; extend the lifetimes of foodstuffs; low-cost superconductors, and in general, the optimisation of the efficiency of any existing natural materials. An key related area is disassembly - how the new used materials can be re-used, biodegrade and not have an impact on the environment. The Directed Assembly Grand Challenge Network, in 2010 and its 3rd continuation ending in the latter half of 2020 has a 20-50 year vision for how the science and applications for these will be developed and delivered. The Network has grown to include more than 1,000 chemists, biologists, physicists, chemical engineers, mathematicians, and computer scientists from academia and industry. Currently extends to the translation and scale-up of newly assembled or disassembled materials in order for them to be of direct use to industry. |
| Exploitation Route | Over £345,000 of Directed Assembly Network pump-priming, travel and seedcorn grants were awarded by the Network to date, along with over 45 meetings during this period have led to over 80 new collaborations translating to more than £50 million in funding of major grants and fellowships. In this 3rd round o the Directed Assembly Network, the entire budget for proof of concept projects and travel grants were awarded, totalling £40,210.60. The awardees for these grants will be submitting their final reports and findings to be submitted in the next round on research fish. These findings will be used to update the Network's roadmap. |
| Sectors | Aerospace Defence and Marine Agriculture Food and Drink Chemicals Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Education Electronics Energy Environment Healthcare Manufacturing including Industrial Biotechology Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology Retail Transport |
| URL | http://directedassembly.org |
| Description | A Collaborative Computation Project for Molecular Quantum Chemistry in Explicit Solvent (QMoIES) |
| Organisation | Heriot-Watt University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The Directed Assembly Network provided a letter of support for this project, and a promise to provide a pathway to impact for your research. This was partially financial towards meetings or events to make the community aware of the research, obtain feedback and to accelerate the impact of the work. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The research is innovative and original and of relevance to the Directed Assembly Network, as QM/MM underpins all the Network's Activities supporting both experimental and computational research. For this reason the network has provided support to this application. Your proposal underpins all our themes as QM/MM modelling |
| Impact | Too early to obtain. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Accelerating Atomic Scale Structure Determination of Materials |
| Organisation | University of Liverpool |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The Directed Assembly Network provided a letter of support for this project, and a promise to provide a pathway to impact for your research. This was partially financial towards meetings or events to make the community aware of the research, obtain feedback and to accelerate the impact of the work. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The proposed characterization platform is highly relevant to the EPSRC Directed Assembly Network community, as it can underpin some of the Themes described in the new Roadmap. Establishing an understanding of structure-property relationships is of great importance to the research undertaken by members of these themes and the overall research of the Network. Such innovative techniques would extend the characterisation toolkit that is currently available to researchers today and strengthen the overall programme on characterisation substantially. |
| Impact | As the project was not carried forward there is no impact. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Accessing new catenanes and Rotaxanes using succesive ring expansion (SuRE) (SF) |
| Organisation | Lancaster University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | This is a travel grant for a study funded by the Directed Assembly network. The value of the grant is £1000.00 |
| Collaborator Contribution | Research contributing towards the Network's goals and roadmap |
| Impact | The project outcome will be reported at the next reporting period |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Artificial Intelligence for Reconstruction and Super-Resolution of Chemical Tomography' |
| Organisation | University of Southampton |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | This is a proof of concept study funded by the Directed Assembly network as part of the network's objectives and workplan, the value of the PoC is £20,571.60. This grant is also in partnership with the AI 4 Scientific Discovery EPSRC network. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Research contributing towards the Network's goals and roadmap |
| Impact | The project outcome will be reported at the next reporting period |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Automated high-throughput platform suite for accelerated molecular systems discovery |
| Organisation | Imperial College London |
| Department | Faculty of Engineering |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The network supported the applicant to obtain research funding. The application was successful. The network provided exposure, brokering of collaborations between the PI of the supported grant and network members and the overall community. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Promotion of the network and its activities |
| Impact | n/a |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Centre for Rapid Online Analysis of Reactions (ROAR) |
| Organisation | Imperial College London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | DAN provides a pathway to engage members with the Centre and conduct joint activities such as events, facilitating research collaborations, obtain feedback and accelerate the impact of the Centre to the community we represent |
| Collaborator Contribution | The establishment of the Centre for the Rapid Analysis of Reactions represents a step change in the UK research capability in Molecular Sciences. The proposed integrated provision of infrastructure in automated equipment and provision of specialist training to UK researchers will accelerate the efforts by the research community. Such capability is not only unique but an enabler for the UK to lead research in the domain. |
| Impact | Roar provides scientists with not only the state-of-the-art instruments, but also provide the training necessary to help synthetic chemists adopt to the new tools and technology to acquire high-quality data for their research. This enables them to solve challenging problems and facilitate collaboration with developers and end-users of technology. The knowledge acquire will also transform the Undergraduate education of chemical sciences. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | Continuous Hydrothermal Flow synthesis of Functional 2D Mxene hybrids (SF) |
| Organisation | London South Bank University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | This is a travel grant for a study funded by the Directed Assembly network as part of the network's objectives and workplan. The contribution is £1,000 |
| Collaborator Contribution | Research contributing towards the Network's goals and roadmap. |
| Impact | The project outcome will be reported at the next reporting period. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Continuous Hydrothermal Flow synthesis of Functional 2D Mxene hybrids (T) |
| Organisation | London South Bank University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | This is a travel grant for a study funded by the Directed Assembly network. The value of the grant is £1000.00 |
| Collaborator Contribution | Research contributing towards the Network's goals and roadmap |
| Impact | The project outcome will be reported at the next reporting period. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Crystal structure prediction for organic electronics (T) |
| Organisation | Imperial College London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | This is a proof of concept study funded by the Directed Assembly network as part of the network's objectives and workplan. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Research contributing towards the Network's goals and roadmap. |
| Impact | The project outcome will be reported at the next reporting period. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Crystallisation in the Real World: Delivering Control through Theory and Experiment |
| Organisation | University of Leeds |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The Directed Assembly Network provided a letter of support for the project providing a pathway to impact for your research. We would provide support of up to the value of £x towards any meetings or events that they would hold to make the community aware of there search, obtain feedback and accelerate the impact of the work. |
| Collaborator Contribution | This project is led by university of Leeds. The experimental programme brings to the fore such frontier analytical techniques as liquid-phase TEM and functional scanning probe microscopies that will allow us to study the changes in solid and solution during crystallisation as never before. With recent advances in modelling we shall be able to perform simulations of nucleation and growth processes on comparable time- and length-scales, providing a unique opportunity to fully understand crystal nucleation and growth at the nanoscale. These studies will be linked to simpler bulk experiments to provide a holistic view of crystallisation in the real world. |
| Impact | as it is early in the project life, the impact can not yet be shown. But going on this project will deliver major new capability in understanding and controlling inorganic crystallisation under conditions relevant to real world applications. This will be achieved through a combined experimental and theory approach, led by innovations in experimental methods and theory. The impact will therefore be extremely broad, encompassing all who research, manufacture or use crystalline materials in sectors ranging from the Chemical Industry, to Environment, Healthcare, Formulated Products, Oil and Gas, Water, Mining and Advanced Materials. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | Designing Novel Oleogelators for Reduction of Saturated and trans Fat in Foods |
| Organisation | University of East Anglia |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The Directed Assembly Network provided a letter of support for this project, and a promise to provide a pathway to impact for your research. This was partially financial towards meetings or events to make the community aware of the research, obtain feedback and to accelerate the impact of the work. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The grant tackles head on one of the roadmaps key aims, "With respect to food science, we are lacking an understanding in areas such as 1) the molecular basis of the impact of dietary fibre on the glycaemic index of our food, 2) the impact of food matrix structure and composition on availability of nutrients, 3) the pre- and pro-biotic effects of dietary polysaccharides.". The team assembled in this grant fits significantly well with our roadmap set out in phase III of the network, "To create any of the transformational materials, developments in bio-renewables and foods described above, the interdisciplinary collaboration of chemists, understanding molecular assembly processes, with biologists, looking at functionality on a larger scale, engineers, developing devices, food technologists, etc. will be vital for progress - for example in understanding how the chemical structure of biological membranes, such as the cristae of the mitochondria, gives rise to their functionality. Similarly, matching this understanding with that of engineers will enable creation of devices and process scale-up. " |
| Impact | Proposal supported is still under review |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Directed Assembly of Earth Abundant Catalysts for Solar Reduction of CO2 into fuels (PP) |
| Organisation | University of Sheffield |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | This is a proof of concept study funded by the Directed Assembly network as part of the network's objectives and workplan. The value of the grant is £11796 |
| Collaborator Contribution | Research contributing towards the Network's goals and roadmap |
| Impact | The project outcome will be reported at the next reporting period |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | EPSRC research proposal 'Phototropic Smart Materials for Actuation and Responsive Technologies' (PhotoSMART) |
| Organisation | University of Kent |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We sent a letter of support for this First Grant, EPSRC research proposal, provide some funding, together with support to help organise meetings proposed in the proposal to enhance the interaction. An ECR workshop (ca 20 participants) to be organised by the PI with financial/logistical support from the Directed Assembly Network . This will provide an opportunity to build impact not only for PhotoSMART, but also for others in the area, helping to build a critical mass of expertise in this fledgling field within the UK. |
| Collaborator Contribution | This is a project run by the University of Kent, School of Physical Sciences. The PhotoSMART project aims to produce an entirely new class of smart materials that move in response to light, whose properties can be tuned through changing the chemistry of the system. Crucially these smart materials will work using visible light rather than damaging UV light - something that is vital to applications in biomedical environments. |
| Impact | As this is in the early stages, these can not be listed at the moment. It is expected that in the life of the project the following will occur: Beneficiaries during PhotoSMART: - Early career researchers (ECR) in the field of smart materials will be informed via a ECR workshop, helping to build a critical mass of expertise in this fledgling field within the UK. - School-age students via outreach events in schools presenting the science of PhotoSMART in an accessible manner - PDRA, MRes and PhD students will be trained by the PI in advanced physical analysis of composite materials and will benefit from working with an established researcher as well as from interaction with collaborators. - The project will be "supporting emergent science fields... to ensure scientific discoveries have the potential to lead to innovative, disruptive products and technologies." And soft robotics represents a truly innovative field Beneficiaries beyond PhotoSMART will be End-users of soft robotics and the UK Economy. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | EPSRC strategic equipment panel for a Fast Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope (faSTEM) for soft matter analysis |
| Organisation | University of Leeds |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Assisted in completing a requirements survey for instrumentation funding application and provided support for the funding application |
| Collaborator Contribution | Providing support to members, if successful, to access the instrument. |
| Impact | n/a |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Electroactive assemblies of pi systems (SF) |
| Organisation | Lincoln University |
| Country | New Zealand |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | This is a travel grant for a study funded by the Directed Assembly network. The value of the grant is £1000.00 |
| Collaborator Contribution | Research contributing towards the Network's goals and roadmap |
| Impact | The project outcome will be reported at the next reporting period |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Pump prime funding - Directed Assembly of Earth Abundant Catalysts for Solar Reduction of CO2 into fuels |
| Organisation | Sheffield Hallam University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The DA provided the funding to scale up the synthesis of the photosensitiser, as well as to perform costly isotopic 13-C experiments which we wouldn't have been able to perform otherwise; thus it allowed us to develop the first red-light activated system for CO2 reduction, which works in water, and does not use expensive components. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The work aligned with several aims of DA Network, namely "Controlling surface-based molecular self-assembly" (Theme 4) and "Controlling the assembly of designed molecular frameworks and hybrid materials with targeted properties" (Theme 1) by co-assembling the photosensitiser and the catalyst and finding the conditions leading to best parameters for the interfacial CO2 reduction; whilst also building the basis for applications in Challenge Stream of "C. Translation and Scale-up". |
| Impact | a. The paper "Photocatalytic reduction of CO2 in aqueous solution under red light irradiation by a Noble-metal free system based on Mn(I)" is currently under revision at the ACS journal Inorganic Chemistry, ic-2022-00091u. b. The work has formed part of the PhD thesis of the co-applicant, James Shipp (successful PhD viva in November 2021). c. The project provided underpinned the next step that we are currently seeking funding for, to scale up and identify a better photosensitiser. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Pump prime funding - Directed Assembly of Earth Abundant Catalysts for Solar Reduction of CO2 into fuels |
| Organisation | University of Sheffield |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The DA provided the funding to scale up the synthesis of the photosensitiser, as well as to perform costly isotopic 13-C experiments which we wouldn't have been able to perform otherwise; thus it allowed us to develop the first red-light activated system for CO2 reduction, which works in water, and does not use expensive components. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The work aligned with several aims of DA Network, namely "Controlling surface-based molecular self-assembly" (Theme 4) and "Controlling the assembly of designed molecular frameworks and hybrid materials with targeted properties" (Theme 1) by co-assembling the photosensitiser and the catalyst and finding the conditions leading to best parameters for the interfacial CO2 reduction; whilst also building the basis for applications in Challenge Stream of "C. Translation and Scale-up". |
| Impact | a. The paper "Photocatalytic reduction of CO2 in aqueous solution under red light irradiation by a Noble-metal free system based on Mn(I)" is currently under revision at the ACS journal Inorganic Chemistry, ic-2022-00091u. b. The work has formed part of the PhD thesis of the co-applicant, James Shipp (successful PhD viva in November 2021). c. The project provided underpinned the next step that we are currently seeking funding for, to scale up and identify a better photosensitiser. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Scalable fabrication of defective materials with hierarchical porous structures for enhanced mass transport in catalysis (SF) |
| Organisation | University of Bristol |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | This is a travel grant for a study funded by the Directed Assembly network. The value of the grant is £950.00 |
| Collaborator Contribution | Research contributing towards the Network's goals and roadmap |
| Impact | The project outcome will be reported at the next reporting period |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Scaled Up production of metastable solid forms using the KRAIC (T) |
| Organisation | University of Strathclyde |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | This is a travel grant for a study funded by the Directed Assembly network. The value of the grant is £893.00 |
| Collaborator Contribution | Research contributing towards the Network's goals. |
| Impact | This is a proof of concept study funded by the Directed Assembly network. The project outcome will be reported at the next reporting period. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Seed fund - Accessing new catenanes and Rotaxanes using succesive ring expansion (SuRE) |
| Organisation | Lancaster University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The DA network offered seed funding to Dr Evans and Dr Unsworth. For Evans, this project allowed for key test reactions to be undertaken that are informing related project ideas for both his PhD student and PDRA. For Unsworth, this has been an opportunity to develop understanding of challenges associated with the synthesis of interlocked molecules. |
| Collaborator Contribution | This project contributes to Theme 1 of the Grand Challenge by: (a) Expanding ring(s) resulting in changes in supramolecular architectures (relevance to: accessing and controlling the dynamics of new 3D self-assembled structures) (b) Creation of highly precise functionalisation of interlocked architectures (relevance to: designer 3D cavities) |
| Impact | Building on results of this work, the applicants aim to submit an EPSRC responsive mode grant application to develop the SuRE methodology to allow for creation of a range of architecturally exotic but functionally useful interlocked molecules (2021/2022). |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Seed fund - Accessing new catenanes and Rotaxanes using succesive ring expansion (SuRE) |
| Organisation | University of York |
| Department | Department of Chemistry |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The DA network offered seed funding to Dr Evans and Dr Unsworth. For Evans, this project allowed for key test reactions to be undertaken that are informing related project ideas for both his PhD student and PDRA. For Unsworth, this has been an opportunity to develop understanding of challenges associated with the synthesis of interlocked molecules. |
| Collaborator Contribution | This project contributes to Theme 1 of the Grand Challenge by: (a) Expanding ring(s) resulting in changes in supramolecular architectures (relevance to: accessing and controlling the dynamics of new 3D self-assembled structures) (b) Creation of highly precise functionalisation of interlocked architectures (relevance to: designer 3D cavities) |
| Impact | Building on results of this work, the applicants aim to submit an EPSRC responsive mode grant application to develop the SuRE methodology to allow for creation of a range of architecturally exotic but functionally useful interlocked molecules (2021/2022). |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Seed fund - Electroactive assemblies of pi systems |
| Organisation | University of Lincoln |
| Department | School of Chemistry |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The support from the Directed Assembly (DA) allowed the collaboration between York and Lincoln to be established. Specifically, the DA network offered seed funding to enable the establishment of a collaboration between Dr Alyssa-Jennifer Alvestro, Dr Louis Andriaenssens and Dr Gareth O. Lloyd. Dr Andriaenssens was able to use the support to leverage further support internally in the form of a DTP PhD scholarship. Tom Doughty joined the team as a result. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Contributing to the network's road map, the researchers were able to synthetically obtain derivatives of the planned compounds. For the ferrocene (Fc) materials we obtained the reversed amide from the ferrocenediamine, for example. Several polymorphs and solvates of the Fc compounds were found meaning a systematic conductivity/material structure relationship study is now in progress. In terms of the dioxazaboroles, we have synthesised the mixed donor-acceptor systems. |
| Impact | The support from the DA is unmeasurable in helping establish the early careers of academics like ourselves. That support certainly aided Tom Doughty being funded and the recent promotion of Dr Lloyd to Associate Professor would not have been likely without the DA's support that has been provided over many years. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Seed fund - Electroactive assemblies of pi systems |
| Organisation | University of York |
| Department | Department of Chemistry |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The support from the Directed Assembly (DA) allowed the collaboration between York and Lincoln to be established. Specifically, the DA network offered seed funding to enable the establishment of a collaboration between Dr Alyssa-Jennifer Alvestro, Dr Louis Andriaenssens and Dr Gareth O. Lloyd. Dr Andriaenssens was able to use the support to leverage further support internally in the form of a DTP PhD scholarship. Tom Doughty joined the team as a result. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Contributing to the network's road map, the researchers were able to synthetically obtain derivatives of the planned compounds. For the ferrocene (Fc) materials we obtained the reversed amide from the ferrocenediamine, for example. Several polymorphs and solvates of the Fc compounds were found meaning a systematic conductivity/material structure relationship study is now in progress. In terms of the dioxazaboroles, we have synthesised the mixed donor-acceptor systems. |
| Impact | The support from the DA is unmeasurable in helping establish the early careers of academics like ourselves. That support certainly aided Tom Doughty being funded and the recent promotion of Dr Lloyd to Associate Professor would not have been likely without the DA's support that has been provided over many years. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Seed fund - Synthesis of Porous materials for the uptake and controlled release of biomolecules |
| Organisation | University of Bath |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The receipt of funding from the Direct Assembly Network has been crucial to obtaining the materials needed for the synthesis of ligands and subsequent MOFs. From this work it has been demonstrated the potential for these MFM-300(M) materials as hosts for semiochemicals which release over a long period of time. This could be beneficial in the development of more sustainable crop protection strategies. We thus have completed work that directly relates to Theme 1 of the Direct Assembly Network, by facilitating the development of new functional hybrid materials, with the control over linker substituents giving targeted properties. |
| Collaborator Contribution | A few highlights of the work was demonstrated with a series of MOFs based on a tetracarboxylic acid ligand, MFM-300(M). Three analogues of this system were synthesised, using the same ligand but with different metal centres. After complete characterisation of these materials, using PXRD, FTIR and NMR, the MOFs were loaded with semiochemicals. A loading method was developed and optimised that resulted in the highest possible initial loading of the semiochemical without requiring the use of excess solvent for washing surface-bound material. |
| Impact | This work will feed into a complementary project supported by the Leverhulme Trust, which will focus on preparing different MOF materials for similar purposes. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Seed grant - Continuous Hydrothermal Flow synthesis of Functional 2D Mxene hybrids |
| Organisation | London South Bank University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The network offered seed funding to the collaborators to establish a working research relationship between them. This followed an initial travel grant of £1,000. The above mentioned outcomes indicate the benefits of receiving seed and travel funding and further enhancing the aims and objectives of the DA network. The timely research undertaken delivered controllable synthesis of target materials with tuneable properties resulting in high performance anode material, a significant step forward for energy storage applications. The collaborators are Dr Suela Kellici of LSBU and Dr Nicholas Power of Open University. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The project involved the synthesis and characterisation of the MXene precursor. CHFS processing of MXene and formation of hybrids Characterisation of CHFS prepared materials Application of as synthesised hybrid as anode materials for Li-ion energy storage |
| Impact | • Alli, U., McCarthy, K., Baragau, I. A., Power, N. P., Morgan, D. J., Dunn, S., ... & Kellici, S. (2022). In-situ continuous hydrothermal synthesis of TiO2 nanoparticles on conductive N-doped MXene nanosheets for binder-free Li-ion battery anodes. Chemical Engineering Journal, 430, 132976. (IF 13.27) • International collaboration (University of Limerick, Ireland) • EPSRC -SFI funding application |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Seed grant - Continuous Hydrothermal Flow synthesis of Functional 2D Mxene hybrids |
| Organisation | Open University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The network offered seed funding to the collaborators to establish a working research relationship between them. This followed an initial travel grant of £1,000. The above mentioned outcomes indicate the benefits of receiving seed and travel funding and further enhancing the aims and objectives of the DA network. The timely research undertaken delivered controllable synthesis of target materials with tuneable properties resulting in high performance anode material, a significant step forward for energy storage applications. The collaborators are Dr Suela Kellici of LSBU and Dr Nicholas Power of Open University. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The project involved the synthesis and characterisation of the MXene precursor. CHFS processing of MXene and formation of hybrids Characterisation of CHFS prepared materials Application of as synthesised hybrid as anode materials for Li-ion energy storage |
| Impact | • Alli, U., McCarthy, K., Baragau, I. A., Power, N. P., Morgan, D. J., Dunn, S., ... & Kellici, S. (2022). In-situ continuous hydrothermal synthesis of TiO2 nanoparticles on conductive N-doped MXene nanosheets for binder-free Li-ion battery anodes. Chemical Engineering Journal, 430, 132976. (IF 13.27) • International collaboration (University of Limerick, Ireland) • EPSRC -SFI funding application |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Seed grant - Scalable fabrication of defective materials with hierarchical porous structures for enhanced mass transport in catalysis |
| Organisation | Cardiff University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The DA network offered a seed funding to enable collaboration in the area. In this project, Dr Doan aimed to demonstrate a general scalable synthetic method for defective metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) which was successfully applied in the water-unstable HKUST-1 (Doan et al. Sci. Rep. 2019, 9, 10887). The collabroators are: Applicant: Dr Huan Doan (University of Bristol) Collaborator: Dr Samuel Pattisson (Cardiff University) Supervisor: Prof Valeska Ting (University of Bristol) |
| Collaborator Contribution | Thanks to the Directed Assembly Network Seed Funding, the main applicant had an opportunity to demonstrate the potential of a new engineering method to obtain multiple pore structures, establishing track record allowing initiation of collaborations and apply for further funding. This has resulted in successful application for the EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellowship (Aug 2020 until now) and the EPSRC Impact Acceleration Account Funding (since Dec 2021). |
| Impact | EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellowship EPSRC Impact Acceleration Account Funding |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Seed grant - Scalable fabrication of defective materials with hierarchical porous structures for enhanced mass transport in catalysis |
| Organisation | University of Bristol |
| Department | Department Mechanical Engineering |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The DA network offered a seed funding to enable collaboration in the area. In this project, Dr Doan aimed to demonstrate a general scalable synthetic method for defective metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) which was successfully applied in the water-unstable HKUST-1 (Doan et al. Sci. Rep. 2019, 9, 10887). The collabroators are: Applicant: Dr Huan Doan (University of Bristol) Collaborator: Dr Samuel Pattisson (Cardiff University) Supervisor: Prof Valeska Ting (University of Bristol) |
| Collaborator Contribution | Thanks to the Directed Assembly Network Seed Funding, the main applicant had an opportunity to demonstrate the potential of a new engineering method to obtain multiple pore structures, establishing track record allowing initiation of collaborations and apply for further funding. This has resulted in successful application for the EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellowship (Aug 2020 until now) and the EPSRC Impact Acceleration Account Funding (since Dec 2021). |
| Impact | EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellowship EPSRC Impact Acceleration Account Funding |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Synthesis of Porous materials for the uptake and controlled release of biomolecules (SF) |
| Organisation | University of Bath |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | This is a travel grant for a study funded by the Directed Assembly network. The value of the grant is £1000.00 |
| Collaborator Contribution | Research contributing towards the Network's goals and roadmap |
| Impact | The project outcome will be reported at the next reporting period |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | The assembly of machines built from biocomponents |
| Organisation | University of Birmingham |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The Directed Assembly Network provided a letter of support for this project, and a promise to provide a pathway to impact for your research. This was partially financial towards meetings or events to make the community aware of the research, obtain feedback and to accelerate the impact of the work. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The concept put forward was innovative and topical. It fell within our certain Themes within the DAN network of bio-mimetic materials and mapped very well on to the new Roadmap for the Network that has self-assembly as one of its main areas for development. The use of DNA as the key material in the study would have complemented other activities within the Network and strengthened the overall programme substantially. |
| Impact | As the project was not taken forward by the EPSRC there is currently no impact to report |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Transmembrane coiled coil peptides for directional electron transfer in nanoreactors |
| Organisation | University of Birmingham |
| Department | School of Chemistry |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The Directed Assembly Network provided a letter of support for this project, and a promise to provide a pathway to impact for your research. This was partially financial towards meetings or events to make the community aware of the research, obtain feedback and to accelerate the impact of the work. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The concept put forward was innovative and topical. It fell within our certain Themes within the DAN network of bio-mimetic materials and mapped very well on to the new Roadmap for the Network that has self-assembly as one of its main areas for development. The use of DNA as the key material in the study would have complemented other activities within the Network and strengthened the overall programme substantially. |
| Impact | This project proposal is still under review |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Travel Grant - Scaled Up production of metastable solid forms using the KRAIC |
| Organisation | University of Nottingham |
| Department | School of Chemistry Nottingham |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The network has offered a £1000 travel grant to Dr Martin Ward to initiate collaboration with Dr Robertson on production scale up of metastable solid forms using a flow reactor |
| Collaborator Contribution | This award has provided an opportunity for MRW to collaborate with KR and as a result has allowed MRW to learn about the capability of the KRAIC system and therefor to identify other potential projects using the system. In particular the extensive capability of the system and how it can be adapted to beamline studies (i11, i19 @ Diamond light source). |
| Impact | No publications have arisen from the project to date. Completion of the study will hopefully provide with suitable data from which to base a beamtime application to perform in-situ x-ray diffraction to monitor the evolution of the system during crystallization. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Travel Grant - Scaled Up production of metastable solid forms using the KRAIC |
| Organisation | University of Strathclyde |
| Department | Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy & Biomedical Sciences |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The network has offered a £1000 travel grant to Dr Martin Ward to initiate collaboration with Dr Robertson on production scale up of metastable solid forms using a flow reactor |
| Collaborator Contribution | This award has provided an opportunity for MRW to collaborate with KR and as a result has allowed MRW to learn about the capability of the KRAIC system and therefor to identify other potential projects using the system. In particular the extensive capability of the system and how it can be adapted to beamline studies (i11, i19 @ Diamond light source). |
| Impact | No publications have arisen from the project to date. Completion of the study will hopefully provide with suitable data from which to base a beamtime application to perform in-situ x-ray diffraction to monitor the evolution of the system during crystallization. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Travel grant - Continuous Hydrothermal Flow synthesis of Functional 2D Mxene hybrids |
| Organisation | London South Bank University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The network offered initial travel grant of £1,000 followed by a continuation seed funding to the collaborators to establish a working research relationship between them. The above mentioned outcomes indicate the benefits of receiving seed and travel funding and further enhancing the aims and objectives of the DA network. The timely research undertaken delivered controllable synthesis of target materials with tuneable properties resulting in high performance anode material, a significant step forward for energy storage applications. The collaborators are Dr Suela Kellici of LSBU and Dr Nicholas Power of Open University. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Follow on seed funding proposal contributing towards the DA Network's roadmap. |
| Impact | Proposal for seed funding. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Travel grant - Crystal structure prediction for organic electronics |
| Organisation | Imperial College London |
| Department | Department of Chemistry |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The research visit of Ms Julia Schmidt took place from 01.02.2020-09.03.2020 at the Loo group at the Andlinger Center for Energy and Environment and the Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering at Princeton University, New Jersey, USA. The DA network awarded a travel grant Ms Schimdt to support her visit from her base Institution, Imperial College London to the Loo group. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The goal of this visit was to develop an interdisciplinary research project, which bridges the gap between experimental and computational small-molecule organic semiconductor technology and the effect of polymorphism. |
| Impact | Travel grant to initiate collaboration between ECR Julia Schmidt of Imperial College Chemistry and Prof Loo of Princeton University. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Travel grant - Crystal structure prediction for organic electronics |
| Organisation | Princeton University |
| Department | Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The research visit of Ms Julia Schmidt took place from 01.02.2020-09.03.2020 at the Loo group at the Andlinger Center for Energy and Environment and the Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering at Princeton University, New Jersey, USA. The DA network awarded a travel grant Ms Schimdt to support her visit from her base Institution, Imperial College London to the Loo group. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The goal of this visit was to develop an interdisciplinary research project, which bridges the gap between experimental and computational small-molecule organic semiconductor technology and the effect of polymorphism. |
| Impact | Travel grant to initiate collaboration between ECR Julia Schmidt of Imperial College Chemistry and Prof Loo of Princeton University. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | UK Network in Molecular Engineering |
| Organisation | Imperial College London |
| Department | Department of Chemical Engineering |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The Directed Assembly Network provided a letter of support for this project, and a promise to provide a pathway to impact for your research. This was partially financial towards meetings or events to make the community aware of the research, obtain feedback and to accelerate the impact of the work. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The proposed network will be of benefit to the members of the EPSRC Directed Assembly Network and therefore this is a facility the Network would welcome. |
| Impact | This is an early collaboration and still ongoing |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Company Name | Centillion Technology |
| Description | Centillion Technology manufactures flow chemistry technology that enables manufacturers to improve productivity and reduce costs. |
| Year Established | 2017 |
| Impact | Organisation established in part as a result of C. Makatsoris' research. Commercialisation of continuous manufacturing technology |
| Website | http://centillion.eu |
| Description | (Enabling) Reactivity in the Single-Crystalline State |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The meeting took place at the University of Oxford on Thursday 17th to Friday 18th January 2019 at the Magdalen College, Oxford. Several contemporary topics were discussed including, Synthesis and reactivity of "Impossible" complexes using SC-SC transformation (Andrew Weller), Mechanistic investigation and kinetics methodology development at Edinburgh (Guy Lloyd-Jones ), Electrocatalysis in single crystals of hydrogenase studied by infrared microspectroscopy (Kylie Vincent), - Exciting crystals(!): Designing crystalline systems capable of 100% photoswitching (Lauren Hatcher) and others. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | 3rd Joint Dial-a-Molecule and Directed Assembly Network ECR event - Supporting Synthesis and Self Assembly 2018 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The event featured a mixture of scientific presentations (including both plenary lectures and flash presentations from ECRs), networking opportunities, a poster session and career development breakout sessions.It took place on 18th-19th June 2018 in the University of Strathclyde |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | http://directedassembly.org/2018/04/18/3rd-joint-dial-a-molecule-and-directed-assembly-network-ecr-e... |
| Description | AI for Reaction Outcome and Synthetic route prediction |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Joint Directed Assembly, Dial-a-Molecule, and AI3SD Networks event This is a joint meeting between the Dial-a-Molecule, Directed Assembly and AI3SD (Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Intelligence for Automated Investigations for Scientific Discovery) Networks. The meeting will examine the state of the art and future opportunities in the use of Artificial Intelligence to predict the outcome of unknown chemical reactions, and consequently design optimum synthetic routes to desired molecules. A wide variety of AI approaches will be illustrated including expert systems, statistical methods, mechanism based and Machine Learning. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | http://generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk/dial-a-molecule/ai-rxn-outcome-synth/ |
| Description | AI for Reaction Outcome and synthetic route prediction. Conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Joint scientific event organised by the Directed Assembly Network, the A!3SD Network and the Dial a Molecule network Conference Report: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/441628 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk/dial-a-molecule/ai-rxn-outcome-synth/ |
| Description | AI/ Machine Learning for Chemical Discovery and Development |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This is a workshop organised as part of our work programme. Dial-A-Molecule, Directed Assembly Network and AI3 Science Discovery Network+ are hosting an event on to bring together people from different backgrounds (academia/industry/researchers/data owners/chemistry/engineers/computer scientists) to discuss applications of AI and machine learning in chemical discovery and development. This residential event aimed to bring together stakeholders with different backgrounds, e.g. academic/industry, researchers/data owners, and chemists/engineers/computer scientists, to discuss applications of AI and Machine Learning in Chemical Discovery and Development. A series of structured discussion sessions over the two days will be carried out to form a general consensus on some key objectives and milestones to deliver the promised impacts of these important tools within the remit of the three networks. The discussions are also expected to lead to new and unusual collaborative project proposals which may address the more immediate objectives. This event is free to attend and registration will include all refreshments, lunches on both days, a networking dinner on the 18th and, if required, one nights' accommodation at Weetwood Hall. Numbers are strictly limited. We expect demand to be high and we want to make sure we have a good balance of interests amongst our attendees. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | http://generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk/dial-a-molecule/ai_ml_chem_disc/ |
| Description | An overview of the 2021 Virtual Summer School |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | An overview of the 2021 Virtual Summer School was given at the AI4SD Conference 2022 on 3rd March 2022 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.ai3sd.org/ai4sd-conference-2022/ |
| Description | Bridging the gap between bio-inspired nanomaterial chemistry and sustainable manufacture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | As part of our workprogramme, we provided sponsorship to this event. Bringing together stakeholders to drive the development of nanomaterials through discovery and scale-up. Giving emphasis to the full scope of experimental and modelling interests, and to both translational and fundamental research. Attendance and contributions from across academia, industry, government and the third sector are welcome. Bioinspired chemistry enables lab-scale preparation of commercially relevant (established and novel) nanomaterials. These methods offer superior control over nanomaterials properties and yet are far more sustainable and less wasteful than existing commercial routes. However, cost-effective, reproducible commercial-scale manufacturing remain elusive. One reason is that, in common with other nanomaterials, the correlation between the materials properties and production scale are not well understood, making scale-up unpredictable, risky and at times impossible. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | http://www.synbim.co.uk/symposium.html |
| Description | Directed Assembly Network phase III launch Meeting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The objectives of this meeting were; to showcase the Network's success to date; to outline and shape the strategy for the next three years; to discuss a framework for the Network's sustainability beyond that; and to launch the Network's 2017 Roadmap to Innovation. Seventy Network members from both industry and academia attended the event. The meeting, which was used as a springboard to launch and distribute the Networks' 2017 Roadmap to Innovation, comprised of invited talks, an advisory committee meeting, a panel Q&A session and networking. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Directed Assembly Network: Molecular Assembly, Disassembly and Scale-Up Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The event brought together both senior and established academics, with early career researchers and industry-based Network members, to discuss; assembly, disassembly and scale-up. The meeting comprised of three talks and several breakout sessions, designed to facilitate and focus the meeting towards building new, inter-disciplinary links through informal networking. Almost forty delegates met for the 1-day workshop |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Directed Assembly Summer School 2020 July 14th to September 1st 2020 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | This was the Network's 3rd summer school, a very successful and sought after activity by network members. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | http://directedassembly.org/2019/04/08/early-career-researcher-meeting-2019/ |
| Description | ECR DREAMS - Dial-a-Molecule and Directed Assembly Networks ECR Event: Supporting Synthesis and Self-Assembly |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This was a joint event run between the Directed Assembly network and Dial-A-Molecule. It gave the opportunity for ECRs to present their work and also get an industrial perspective on their areas of interest. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Early Careers Researchers meeting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | We organised this workshop which is part of our work programme, jointly with the Dial A Molecule network. The Joint Early Career Researchers meeting 2019 will bring together members from the Directed Assembly (DA) and Dial a Molecule (DaM) Networks, covering topics of interest to both communities. It will include flash presentations, academic talks, industrial presentations, career development sessions, and time to discuss collaborations and future grant proposals, with a strong emphasis on cross-network activity. Plenary presentations will be delivered by Adam Nelson (Leeds) and Sarah Staniland (Sheffield) and other confirmed speakers include Anna Slater (Liverpool), Dave Smith (York), Alyssa Avestro (York) and Allan Watson (St. Andrews) with industry contributions from Rob Davidson (Dr Reddy's) and Mei Lee (GSK). The agenda for this event can be found here. Registration for this event will be £50 to include lunch on both days and an event dinner at the National Railway Museum on the evening of 4th July. Accommodation will be provided on campus for the night of 4th July for those who need it, however travel costs will not be covered. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Intelligent reactors for bio-inspired and bio-mimetic assembly and disassembly |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The Scale-up in bio-mimetic and bio-inspired assembly has been an unmet challenge for some time. The aim of this one-day workshop was to identify the requirements and challenges in scale-up, and to explore the potential of artificial intelligence and intelligent chemical reactors, bringing together the biological, chemical and computing communities with excellent synergistic potential. The day consisted of five talks focusing on bioreactor scale-up, artificial intelligence, biomimetics and the interplay between biology and self-assembly. The event was co-organised by the Directed Assembly Network with Dr Niklaas Buurma, University of Cardiff, and Dr Anna Peacock, University of Birmingham, and was held on 16 May 2018. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | http://directedassembly.org/2018/04/18/workshop-intelligent-reactors-for-bio-inspired-and-bio-mimeti... |
| Description | Lecture: Salt-Cocrystal interface studies and the use of cocrystallisation to overcome deficient physical properties |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | One of our mainstream workshops delivered but eh directed assembly network |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | MOFs and Membranes: Beyond scale up and stability Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The workshop aims were to identify the challenges for the scaling up (I) and stability -assembling/disassembling- (II) of MOF/Membranes materials. Followed by networking round-tables (I and II) discussion to address the recognised challenges for production of materials with the potential to tackle worldwide issues such as climate change, increasing demands for energy, antibiotic and drug resistance, supplying clean water, pesticide resistance and global food security. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Machine Learning 4 Materials & Chemicals |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Virtual summer school organised jointly with the EPSRC AI3SD network. Aim was to provide a forum to expose students to the work of both networks and then work together in project groups. An overview of the 2021 Virtual Summer School was given at the AI4SD Conference 2022 on 3rd March 2022 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.ai3sd.org/ai3sd-online-seminar-series/ml4mc-seminar-series-2021/ |
| Description | Pure and Applied Macromolecular Chemistry meeting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The Directed Assembly Network are delighted to support the Macro Group UK Young Researchers meeting that will be held at the University of Kent in Canterbury on Monday July 1st and Tuesday 2nd this year. The Macro Group UK Young Researchers Meeting gives PhD students and post-doctoral fellows the chance to present their work in oral and poster sessions, be inspired by plenary speakers from academia and industry, and network with their peers from across the UK. Registration and abstract submission forms will be available from 1st April at https://blogs.kent.ac.uk/spskent/ The Pure and Applied Macromolecular Chemistry Group (Macro Group UK) is a joint interest group of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Society of Chemical Industry. It is committed to holding meetings to support and develop the polymer science community |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | RAMS 2019 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | RAMS 2019 covered a wide range of topics in Materials Science organised by a very diverse ECR materials community. As a network we attended and facilitated attendance by our memebers. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Solid State Structure from Static to Dynamic |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A workshop delivered as part of the mainstream activities of the Directed Assembly network |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Sponsored - BCA IG-CCG Autumn Meeting - Design of Crystalline Products |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The Directed Assembly Network sponsored this event. The event included Session on • Crystal Engineering • Property Control & Prediction • Crystallisation & Crystallisability • Pharmaceutical Product Design •Early career session with short talks + networking |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |