Grant in aid of supporting the seventh UK Technolpgical Plasma Workshop 2009

The interdisciplinary field of plasma physics and engineering has over many decades enabled some of the most exciting science and contributed to major industrial innovations. Its continued growth can only be sustained when more and more young researchers choose plasma science as the field of their future career. In the UK, this has in part been fostered through the successful series of Technological Plasma workshops (TPW). To further this strategic effort of the UK technological plasma community, we request aid in funding the next TPW at the Glasgow Science Centre, Glasgow, UK.The TPW 2009 will be anchored with four plenary talks given by leading international plasma scientists, supplemented with several contributed talks so as to engage young scientists in the most exciting and current challenges facing the technological plasma science and their industrial and medical applications. The workshop will aim specifically at promoting young researcher's participation and contribution in the form of oral and poster presentations. It will also be used to showcase the UK technological plasma science to attract overseas attendees. Furthermore, key industrial needs will be raised and discussed, together with discussions on current plasma research programmes, UK networks and sources of funding which can be used to address these needs.

Technological plasmas are a valuable tool in much of modern industry. Their use underpins the manufacture of products worth many billions of dollars annually. Application areas include microelectronics, aerospace, automotive, packaging and textiles. Further exploitation will come in the fields of biomaterials, biological decontamination, and environment management. Many industrial plasma processes have been developed empirically without a complete and proper understanding of the chemical and physical properties of the plasmas involved. This shortcoming has resulted in many plasma applications not being exploited to their full potential. It is now recognised internationally that a better understanding of the fundamentals of plasma discharges that TPW 2009 aims to achieve is key to meeting the technological challenges in a wide range of industrial sectors.