The British Liquid Crystal Society Annual Training Workshops (2019-21)

Liquid crystals are an important class of soft materials, because they not only have been key to our fundamental understanding of soft materials, but also have a variety of technological applications critical to the economy. Liquid crystal display (LCD) technology provides the backbone of the global market of flat-panel displays, which is currently worth over £100 bn. Their attractive opto-electrical and stimuli-responsive properties also make them suitable for non-display applications. The development of the LCD technology, in particular, is a triumph of combined basic and applied research at the crossroads of traditional disciplines of physics, chemistry, mathematics and engineering, initiated by pioneering work in the UK.

The development of new liquid-crystal technologies to meet the need of the 21st century requires innovation underpinned by a strong knowledge-base in the interdisciplinary field of liquid-crystal research. It is undoubtedly a matter of national importance to continue the supply of highly trained and skilled researchers with expertise in core liquid-crystal research as well as in its interfaces in the broader context of soft and biological matter for fully harnessing the potential of this exciting field of research and for the UK liquid-crystal community to continue to hold an edge over its competitors.

In this proposal, we propose to organise an Annual Training Workshop on behalf of the British Liquid Crystal Society at the University of Birmingham for three consecutive years (2019-21). The proposed workshop, a three-day event held annually, is intended to provide novices in the field of liquid-crystal research with the necessary interdisciplinary background and an exposure to the field of soft and biological matter relevant to the widening scope of liquid-crystal research. Such an exposure is critical to securing the breadth of knowledge, which, in particular, is necessary to work in the areas of emerging applications and foster collaboration across disciplines. The workshop will bring early-stage and experienced researchers, drawn from academia, industry and beyond, together on a cross-disciplinary platform for exchange of knowledge, development of practical skills and fostering of new ideas. We envisage the early-stage researchers to be primarily PhD students, but they could also be post-doctoral research associates and researchers in industry relatively new to the field of liquid-crystal research, irrespective of their academic backgrounds.

While the lectures and practical training sessions in the first two days will be predominantly focused on aspects of core liquid-crystal research, the third day's programme will build on this foundation and highlight recent developments at the interfaces of liquid-crystal research within the broader field of soft and biological matter. There will be a mini-symposium in the afternoon, called "Liquid-Crystal Research in the 2020s", which will discuss emerging questions and open problems in liquid-crystal research and at its interfaces.

The proposed British Liquid Crystal Society (BLCS) Annual Training Workshops will serve to meet the education and training needs for researchers new to the field of liquid crystals in both academia and industry. This area of research is multi-disciplinary at the crossroads of traditional disciplines of physics, chemistry, mathematics, and engineering. The cross-fertilisation across the disciplines has played a critical role in the commercial success of liquid crystal display (LCD) technology, which provides the backbone of the global market of flat-panel displays, currently worth well over £100 bn. The proposed annual training workshops will offer a unique opportunity for the next generation of researchers in this field to benefit from highly interdisciplinary research training provided by the experts from both academia and industry. The proposed workshops will thus have an immediate impact on people.

Liquid-crystal research has largely underpinned the technological development of flat-panel displays found in a wide range of consumer products, from tiny watches to giant television screens, touching our everyday life in very many respects. Liquid crystals are also suitable for a variety of non-display applications -- we encounter lyotropic liquid crystals in everyday life in household products, cosmetics and foods. Liquid-crystal research has become increasingly important in the context of the health and well-being. For example, liquid-crystal contact lenses are enabling the restoration of youthful vision. The impacts of liquid-crystal research have thus been strongly felt in the context of wealth creation and improving the quality of life.

The workshops, largely focused on training aspects, are not expected, unlike a research programme, to create new knowledge as such. However, the workshops will provide a platform for exchanging knowledge and fostering new ideas, especially with the introduction of the mini-symposium, and are expected to open up opportunities for collaboration, and thus will drive research and innovation. The platform will involve delegates from industry, facilitating academia-industry partnerships, which will generate positive impacts on our society and the economy. In the longer term, significant impacts will be most certainly be generated through the efforts of the delegates in their subsequent research endeavour in both academia and industry. The benefits of the workshops thus also promise to deliver a strong impact on society as well as the economy in the longer term.