Towards consensus on a unifying treatment of emergence and systems far from equilibrium.

Most natural systems around us are not in equilibrium. Indeed, closed equilibrium systems with no interaction with their surrounding are a true exception. Currents run through real-world systems, for example: traffic systems, biological transport or charge carriers in electronics. The Earth is constantly exposed to cosmic radiation. Plants, animals and ecosystems grow, individuals die or are born. Man-made structures tend to degrade and decay. The financial infrastructure of the western world is far from being inert to external and intrinsic shocks. In industrial applications there is often a need to control the flow of materials and to change their states, forming stable structures tailored for specific purposes. Understanding hydrodynamic phenomena off-equilibrium is important for e.g ink-jet printing, knowledge of non-equilibrium processes in quantum systems can enhance the performance of modern-day technology such as computer memory elements. Progress in controlling plasmas finally may be an important contribution to energy challenges facing our society.

Closely related, such systems often show emergent behaviour, a traffic jam `emerges' from relatively rational behaviour of individual drivers. Large-scale correlation and self-organisation is seen in physical systems, again `emerging' seemingly at random from small-scale interaction of microscopic constituents (electrons, molecules). It is often impossible to predict these macroscopic structures from studying the elements at the micro-scale alone, instead subtle collective mechanisms are at work, and these processes are only poorly understood as yet to say the least. Making progress in this area is a truly challenging enterprise, likely to require up to a decade or so of concerted action by researchers across a variety of disciplines. The network we propose here aims to prepare the UK community to meet this challenge. No discipline alone can address, let alone answer the open questions in non-equilibrium systems or emergence. To a large extent it is not even clear what the right questions are. Our proposal is to use the existing, but scattered expertise in the UK to collectively define what avenues are the most promising, what type of research UK researchers should be focusing on in the next 5-10 years.

Non-equilibrium systems considered in this proposal represent diverse fields of science which are often separated by their unique terminology, methodology as well as by different practical applications they may lead to. This is a barrier towards making progress, our network will help to overcome this blockage. At the same time the diversity of the theme and the broad expertise in the UK community are a strength. The breadth of researchers and disciplines in the network will ensure that analogies between very different phenomena will be identified if they are present and that they will be synthesized to aid a more focused approach. This will help to address specific problems, but also to extract general principles that can be exploited in theory and experiment. At the core of our proposal are unifying aspects of the dynamics for systems far from equilibrium such as spontaneous development of structure and patterns, dynamics of large-scale failures and responses to strong driving forces and shocks

We propose a portfolio of different networking events: mutual exchanges to initiate collaborations, focused and general meetings and we will run an extensive public outreach programme. Key to our approach are a number of `Synergy Acceleration Sessions', modelled on the EPSRC concept of so-called `Ideas Factories'. These sessions will take participants out of their comfort zones, will guide them to think outside the box and to generate novel ideas, using the full breadth of expertise available. A carefully iterated process will channel and focus these ideas, ultimately leading to a process by which the key challenges and most promising approaches can be found.

Non-academic impact will be realized in two different contexts:
Industrial applications: several aspects of emergence and non-equilibrium systems are relevant for applications outside academia. This includes (i) quantum systems off-equilibrium with relevance to computer elements or other electronic devices, (ii) soft matter systems and fluid dynamics, relevant for materials science or flow processes in industry, (iii) plasma physics with implications for development fusion energy in the near future (ITER project), (iv) structure formation in biology and the life sciences, with potential relevance for medical research, (v) granular media, important for packing problems, sedimentation, (vi) the off-equilibrium dynamics of systems in economics and the social sciences, with relevance for example for the resilience of social networks, infrastructure systems or national and global finance. Many of the outcomes of our research in these areas have the potential to lead to a direct or indirect economic or societal advantage, provided the outcomes are disseminated effectively. In order to maximize the potential impact of the network on these applications we will involve non-academic partners in the management structure of the network, for example via Advise Board membership and an industrial forum, see the case of support and letters of support for further details. We stress that the letters of support provided are not representative of the full spectrum of industries where we anticipate an impact to be achieved. Instead, they represent a sample of possible application areas. The pool of network members has a large number of non-academic contacts in place, too many to list them all or to provide evidence in terms of letters of support. We expect new routes towards impact to become relevant as the project proceeds and new contacts to be established, which cannot been foreseen until the network is underway. Knowledge transfer is anticipated in both directions: non-academic partners will benefit directly from the application of techniques identified here, while the academic side will benefit from exposure to a clear "user requirement" in the context of mission-led research. This will help to shape the research agenda, ultimately resulting from this Network Plus.

The second main group of non-academic beneficiaries are members of the general public. They will benefit in two different ways:
(i) in the long-run the network will help to enhance UK competitiveness and to address industrial, societal or medical challenges. For example one long-term outcome of the grant might be the increased stability of infrastructure networks, another might consist of novel procedures in manufacturing. These cannot be expected to be realized in the short-term, but ultimately the UK economy, as a whole, will benefit. Steps towards realizing these impacts are described above, the first step in this direction is to interact with non-academic partners early on, which is exactly what we propose to do.
(ii) A short-term impact on interested members of the public will be realized through the extensive outreach programme we will run as part of the network. We will educate the public about the importance of non-equilibrium physics and the concepts underlying emerging phenomena. This will enhance the awareness of these challenges among the public and constitute an immediate intellectual benefit. If carried out successful it might also draw future generations of students into the field, hence strengthening the UK research base on a time scale of about 10 years.