Microrheology of microscopically phase separated hydrogels

This is an applied physics project which addresses an important problem within food science, and also provides an opportunity to apply, develop and model novel scattering/imaging techniques for making high-resolution rheological measurements, that could become widely used in soft matter science in general.

Ice-cream is a thermodynamically unstable, multiscale composite. Its continuous phase is an emulsion which remains unfrozen due to the colligative effect of its solutes: sugars, polysaccharides and proteins. This continuous, aqueous phase contributes to the texture and the stability of the ice-cream but is not always sufficiently characterized by bulk methods. So, this project will apply and develop micro-rheology (e.g. particle tracking, correlation spectroscopy and scattering techniques) to resolve local rheological properties of these types of systems.

The student will learn to model stochastic (i.e. random) thermal processes and to use sophisticated lab equipment, both at Leeds University and at Unliever.

SOFI CDT impact is driven by:

1. PEOPLE. The SOFI CDT will have a significant economic and (responsible) societal impact, the greatest of which, will be the students themselves, who will graduate having benefited from a broad and deep scientific education as well as an innovative and enterprise-focussed training program. The training programme is built directly on the UK-wide industrial gap analysis and co-developed by industrial partners. As such it inherently captures the training elements required by the industrial SOFI sector. The network of partnerships will facilitate impact through their engagement in the extensive training programme and through the co-supervision of PhD projects. Cohort training in Responsible Innovation will be embedded from the outset, ensuring students carry a responsible and forward-thinking attitude to research and innovation throughout their careers. The students trained in this programme will learn the skill sets required of the next generation of enterprise leaders in UK plc and pass this to future employers.

2. PROJECTS. The PhD research projects themselves are impact pathways. Whether at the "Industrial Doctorate" end of the spectrum or focussed on fundamental science, all projects have an industrial co-supervisor. Industrial support for every project maximises the possibility of economic impact and the production of IP. Additional opportunities for impact arises from the connectivity and critical mass of the CDT - typically a company may be involved in chains of projects ("serial PhDs" in the main proposal) building from fundamental to applied, overlapping and running throughout the lifetime of the CDT. A key aspect of societal impact is public understanding of science and in addition to reporting project results via the SOFI website, newsletter, partnership meetings and annual CDT conference, students will have be trained in audience-targeted communication and will take part in extensive public communication and outreach activities to publicise their research. The CDT will also drive research impact by carrying our research into the barriers to impact. A research theme with PhD projects jointly supervised by Durham Business School and industrial partners will explore barriers to innovation and commercialisation of SOFI sector research.

3. PARTNERSHIPS. Pathways to impact involve collaborative research with industrial beneficaries large (multinational) and small (SMEs) alike. Managing and nuturing partnerships to maximise impact is a key function of CDT management and our Industrial Advisory Board will advise on potential research impact. Engagement with (in some cases competing) multinationals builds on long expertise and requires sensitive management of IP and confidentiality. Engagement with SMEs often presents different challenges and a detailed strategy to maximise CDT engagement with the SME community has been described in the case for support. SME representation (Ryan, Epigem) on our International Advisory Board will ensure SME engagement and impact remains a core CDT objective.

4. PLATFORMS. The CDT itself constitutes a platform greater than the sum of its parts. The industrial consortium has requested that in addition to other roles they form an "industrial club" along the lines of that run by the UK Polymer IRC. The impact potential of a CDT based industrial club arises from: (i) the opportunity to connect to academics whose expertise fits urgent as well as long-term research needs, (ii) the opportunity to exchange generic best practice in research and innovation and (iii) a forum to catalyse new industry-industry partnerships.

5. PRODUCTS. It is patently true that fundamental areas of science are identified by partner companies, driven by the knowledge that markets emerge once technological challenges have been overcome. It is an expectation that discoveries in fundamental science made within the CDT will drive new product markets and SOFI-sector spin outs.