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Cross-disciplinary research for Discovery Science

Lead Research Organisation: Northumbria University
Department Name: Research and Innovation Services

Abstract

The funding will be used to facilitate and enhance interdisciplinary working in Discovery Science. In line with the ambition of the Pushing the Frontiers of environmental science call we will seek to pump prime collaborations that will enable researchers to be truly adventurous and ambitious in the pursuit of curiosity-driven, high-risk and high-reward projects that address environmental challenges. Given the nature of this fund, and the fact that we cannot predict in advance of running our internal call which specific research areas will be supported, we have selected proposal classifications based on the most prominent areas of NERC-remit research currently carried out at Northumbria. However, other areas may be funded as long as they meet the call criteria.
 
Description Northumbria awarded 10 grants spanning all 4 faculties, 12 departments and over 13 collaborators across a range of sectors, disciplines and countries. All projects reported new interdisciplinary links (internal, external or both) directly as a result of this award. Project activities and outcomes are detailed below.

"Biological fabrication of eco-friendly bacterial cellulose aerogel for building super insulation". The project sought to foster knowledge sharing between the microbiology and civil engineering communities. Activities: Meetings, visits to industry facilities and workshops with an award-winning aerogel company. Outcomes: Bacterial cellulose aerogel was successfully produced through a sodium bicarbonate method and a new proposal has been developed between Northumbria (UNN) and the Industrial partner, as well as a new link and collaborative paper under development between Cardiff and Bath Universitities and UNN.

"Time, Temporality and Climate Change". The project aimed to stimulate and provoke environmental and natural scientists, from UNN and the Natural History Museum, to think afresh about the nature of time, temporality and change through time, particularly climate change. Activities: A two day workshop at the Natural History Museum, bringing together a group of ~20 natural scientists. Outcomes: the deliberately non-rational, serendipitous and non-linear format of the workshop, mixed with the sheer quality of speakers. worked incredibly well and led to a series of strengthened relationships in the science Directorate and a follow-on workshop planned in the Autumn. Currently the team is considering a proposal to the UKRI cross-council call.

"Ice SHelf FRacture And Calving". The project sought to connect experts from different disciplines to explore state-of-the-art modelling of ice-shelf fracture and share innovative ideas, methods and new possibilities for addressing challenges. Activities: a two-day workshop on the topic of ice-shelf fracture with 11 researchers from engineering, applied mathematics, fluid mechanics and environmental sciences. Outcomes: successful links established with Imperial College London, Oxford University and Leeds University, and deepened links with UK and international research institutes such as the British Antarctic Survey and Ben-Guirion University of the Negev.

"Innovative and Sustainable Novel Functional Active Packaging". Activities: collaboration and network with external partners to work across microbiology, chemical engineering and polymer chemistry disciplines to develop a novel biopolymer based active packaging material using bacterial cellulose with cross-linking (Chitosan) and natural compounds (Green tea extraction). Outcomes: Two literature review papers, one manuscript in preparation, new collaboration with Smart fabric ink Ltd and University of Southampton, an IUK small grant and a standard proposal to The Royal Society.

"A Climatic Framework for Cretan Civilisations". The set out to obtain preliminary dates for the Cretan stalagmites to determine which grew during periods of societal unrest. Activities: Cut all stalagmites collected in Crete, obtained top and bottom ages for 8 stalagmites from 3 different regions in Crete and hosted online meetings with UK and Greek collaborators. Outcomes: Initial U-Th dates demonstrate that Cretan stalagmites can be used to generate a composite Holocene stratigraphy and that this will overlap with the existing tree-ring chronology for the island. Now well placed to develop, with subsequent U-Th dating and geochemical analyses, a robust and integrated approach to investigate the effect of climate changes on Cretan civilisations.

"Ecosystem engineering strategy for enhanced carbon dioxide utilization by electricity eating-microbes". Activities: new collaborations developed with Prof. Abu-Dieyeh (Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Qatar University) and Prof. Gibson (Newcastle University). Outcomes: interdisciplinary research approach (biology, chemistry, and physics) to enhance the microbial electrosynthesis process by employing microbial division of labour. Bid submitted to the Wolfson Foundation and BBSRC as part of pioneer awards, inspired from the findings.

"Bio-Inspired Wind Turbine Blade Design: What can we learn from humpback whale flippers?". Activities: Through meetings/seminars between the Marine Engineering Group (Newcastle University), Mechanical & Construction Engineering and Applied Science departments in UNN, explored the potential of bio-inspired wind turbine blade design by studying the aerodynamic properties of humpback whale flippers by integrating aerodynamic design and marine vertebrate biology, to develop a novel blade prototype. Collaboration with Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult and wind farm developers for knowledge exchange. Outcomes: successful interdisciplinary collaboration particularly in the disciplines of aerodynamic design and marine biology; development of a bio-inspired blade prototype; wind tunnel workshop; engagement with industry partners, unlocking new knowledge within environmental sciences and opening up new avenues for further investigation.

"Exploring alkaline extracts from food biowaste as building-blocks for Layer-by-Layer assembly". Activities: cross-disciplinary collaboration seminar, manuscript finalised titled "Testing cocoa pod shell pectin as a potential bioink for bioprinting and the effect of the extraction process on its characteristics." which is in submission to the Carbohydrate Polymers journal and an invited talk at the University of Amazon (Colombia) within the "International workshop on food science and biotechnology". Outcomes: new collaborative links between UNN and Newcastle universities across the Bioengineering and Chemical Engineering disciplines. Cross-disciplinary proposal in development looking to create pure, applied and technology-led research.

"Assessment of phage infectivity as a potential mitigation strategy for methane emissions". The project aimed to define a method for screening infective phages that target methanogens that could be used to mitigate methane emissions environmentally. Activities: successfully transported Antarctic penguin stomach regurgitates, guano and rookery soil samples that were previously collected and stored in the British Antarctic Survey (BAS)'s -20 °C freezer. Developed a system for screening phage infectivity from environmental isolates targeting methanogens and demonstrated the limitations of current genomic databases in this area providing a novel area of research for future research applications. Outcomes: established an interdisciplinary research team of ecologists, microbiologists, phage biologists and computational biologists at multiple research centres (UNN, BAS and NARC) to characterise phage communities in Antarctic samples. Significant sequencing data that builds on currently low level repository global databases has been generated.

"People Place Involvement: The Key to Cross-Disciplinary Solutions for Equitable Peatland Restoration". Activities: fieldwork to collect peat samples from Whitelee Moor peat restoration project, supported by Northumberland Wildlife Trust; peat lab analyses and eDNA analyses completed; peatland restoration workshop (in-person) with c.20 attendees from Northumberland Wildlife Trust, Environment Agency and others and guest speakers Honourable Chief Justice Brian Preston; Nick Johnston (Northumberland County Council - Head of Climate Change); Dr Emma Hinchcliffe (IUCN) and Kat Hopwood-Lewis (Natural England). Outcomes: established a network of local voices and stakeholders in the Northumberland national park and will continue this work beyond the lifespan of this project and a paper in preparation for submission to Ambio/Land use change journal.

"Urban Natures in the Anthropocene". Activities: Action-focused workshops with partners in policy and practice who are delivering nature-based solutions to the global crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and/or mental health. 'Cross-fertilisation' of public health/mental health into the Ecology, Conservation and Society research group in the Department of Geography & Environmental Sciences (GES) and a growing network of interdisciplinary practice and policy partners looking to obtain evidence to influence their decision-makers and be part of a large bid to evaluate their strategically aligned efforts. Outcomes: Strong network of 19 internal colleagues spanning 3 faculties and a map of new organisations to collaborate e.g. schools, colleges,the police, parish councils.
Exploitation Route This initiative provided the framework and financial means to encourage and facilitate innovative thinking, cross-disciplinary working and engagement with internal researchers and external partners, allowing space and time to enhance interdisciplinary working. All PI's reported plans to take forward the outcomes of this initiative, with many research proposals already in development.
The opportunity to take a curiosity-driven approach, across discipline boundaries and with industrial partners and end users, generated a lot of interest within the academic community and has resulted in enthusiasm to develop those outcomes detailed above further.
Sectors Agriculture

Food and Drink

Chemicals

Construction

Energy

Environment

Healthcare

Manufacturing

including Industrial Biotechology

Culture

Heritage

Museums and Collections
 
Description This grant facilitated exciting new collaborations across our community, enabling adventurous and ambitious curiosity-driven, high-risk and high-reward projects that aimed to address environmental challenges. Through this grant and its activities, researchers were able to develop an understanding of different cross-disciplinary research perspectives and methodologies that could be used to enable discoveries that unlock new knowledge within the environmental sciences. Researchers awarded under this grant reported: "This NERC initiative has allowed us to test a speculative idea which is not usually funded by UKRI. We do believe that this kind of initiative will lead to breakthrough discoveries that will boost UK fundamental science." "As a result of the activities undertaken, our perceptions of interdisciplinary working have evolved. We now recognise the value of combining expertise from different disciplines to address complex challenges and develop innovative solutions. This experience has reinforced the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in driving scientific discovery and technological advancements." "The development of the bio-inspired blade section prototypes was a significant achievement of this initiative. By studying the aerodynamic properties of humpback whale flippers and their tubercle structures, we were able to incorporate these design elements into a wind turbine blade prototype. Based on findings, we designed a blade prototype featuring tubercle structures along its leading edge."
First Year Of Impact 2023
Sector Agriculture, Food and Drink,Chemicals,Construction,Energy,Environment,Healthcare,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections
Impact Types Cultural
 
Description Time, Temporality and Climate Change Workshop 
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 aim of this two day workshop was to stimulate and provoke natural scientists, from Northumbria University and the Natural History Museum, to think afresh about the nature of time, temporality and change through time, particularly climate change. To better understand the similar and different natural science expertise available in Northumbria University and the Natural History Museum; to draw upon different perspectives on time, temporality and change from different disciplines with the natural sciences and from arts and humanities (incl. academics from the International Society for the Study of Time) as catalysts to re-think assumptions, analytical methods, and ultimately theories around climate change. The participants (~20) reported new relationships and ideas for future work, around research, dissemination of research more impactfully, and teaching.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023