Small items of research equipment at University of York. Equipping Newly appointed-Early career Researchers and the next Generation in York (ENERGY)

Our vision is to conduct cutting-edge research with the greatest chance of impact and adventure through supporting our most promising Early Career Researchers (ECRs*), working on major global challenges, specifically EPSRC challenge themes of Energy, Healthcare Technologies and Manufacturing the Future. Investing in this research programme will support the best research being carried out within the Physical Science Departments at the UoY. The University of York (UoY) seriously recognises the need to invest in the next generation of research stars and leaders. UoY has an excellent track record in identifying talented young scientists from across the Physical Sciences, whilst nurturing their careers and growing their adventurous research ideas and ambitious plans. Their futures are underpinned by significant investment in state-of-the-art equipment, buildings infrastructure, mentoring schemes and training, and exposure to both established and emerging interactions with academic and industrial groups from across the world. The proposed new small equipment will enable significantly more effective use of existing large equipment and facilities inspired by ECR. The latter is supported by dedicated groups, headed by world-leading researchers, and Centres of Excellence in several areas of strategic importance. As a clear deliverable we propose to bring together all of our Physical Science ECRs on a regular basis (i.e. in the form of workshops) to disseminate research findings, share experience, identify collaborative possibilities and future research projects (of strategic importance to EPSRC). We will also showcase our research plans at career researcher development events, within the Yorkshire area and on a national level (e.g. SET-for-Britain), whilst also engage in outreach activities (e.g. seeding the next generation of students entering into the Physical Sciences). Investment in the UoY will enable ECRs to develop and connect their research programmes, whilst exploiting current large-scale equipment infrastructures. Investment in these activities will greatly influence and facilitate inter- and intra-disciplinary research, in bridging physics, chemistry, electronics, biology and medicine, and forge intra-departmental synergies with translation from fundamentals to real-end user applications.

* We define ECRs as academics within 5 years of becoming independent, post-doctoral researchers (PDRs) and PhD students.

This research will directly and indirectly contribute to society, people, the economy and global development.
The direct beneficiaries of this investment and research would be the early career researchers (ECRs) at the University of York across the Departments of Chemistry, Computer Science, Electronics, and Physics. This research investment would facilitate the development of the next-generation leaders. The research opportunities it would enable go beyond the examples outlined in this proposal and will seed future grant applications, networking and collaborative activities. Indirectly researchers in other UoY Departments will benefit, we particularly highlight Biology and The Hull York Medical School (HYMS). This proposal will also advance the career paths of our PhDs and PDRs, by equipping them with an excellent skill-set and knowledge, giving them a competitive edge on entering the employment market.

The findings will have economic impact on our strong collaborations with industry, which include many major UK and global companies. A few specific examples include Unilever, Croda, Drax, Intel, Seagate, BP, Boots, Johnson and Johnson, Smith and Nephew, Element Six, Andor Technologies, Linpac, BayerCropScience, Astra Zeneca, BayerCropScience, ChemSpeed Technologies (UK outpost based at UoY), GlaxoSmithKline, Bruker, BP, Pfizer, Zeiss, Johnson Matthey, SASOL, JEOL and Lucite. We additionally anticipate the research this will facilitate will result in start-ups and the UoY has both a good track record and excellent facilities and support structure to enable this.

Societal impact will come from the array of new technologies, products and materials this research will either directly or indirectly create. These will improve the quality of everyday life, and we expect significant influence in advancing healthcare technologies, energy and sustainability and manufacturing the future (e.g. development of the next-generation of surgical tools, agrochemicals and pharmaceuticals (therapeutics), clean energy production and new materials development).