POLYmer-COntrolled Mesocrystal Production (POLYCOMP) aims to develop an intimate understanding of the underlying mechanisms of mesocrystal formation. This in turn will lead to the development of new mesocrystals with controlled morphologies and thus optimised properties. Mesocrystals have only very recently been described and are best viewed as an entirely new class of material. As such these unique substances have the potential to revolutionise materials/devices containing inorganic components. Applications are myriad and include building materials, such as concrete, with vastly greater compression strengths (in theory at least, the heights of concrete buildings could be increased from 500m to 15km!), solar cells with far higher solar harvesting efficiencies, new biomimetic materials, e.g. for use in joint replacement procedures, and electronic devices where size-dependent nanoparticle-like properties, e.g. superparamagnetism, are retained in macroscopic-sized materials enabling easier manufacture of components such as computer memory, quantum dot-based LEDs, etc. Currently approaches to mesocrystal formation are somewhat ad hoc and these kinds of application remain largely unachievable. The principle underlying reason for this is that mesocrystal formation processes are often still too poorly understood. POLYCOMP will remove this bottleneck to mesocrystal exploitation by focusing directly on developing a generic understanding of mesocrystal formation processes. Such an approach is thus clearly directly relevant to the EU’s mission to advance knowledge and technology in areas such as construction, electronics and energy.

There is a long-standing critical bottleneck in astronomy, which limits the possibility of observations of the early Universe and starlight from distant galaxies. The main restrictions are imposed by bright infrared night sky formed by a large number of very narrow hydroxyl emission lights. One of the solutions for filtering of unwanted atmospheric lines is to use multichannel fibre Bragg gratings (FBGs) with suppression factors of 20-30 dB over the spectral window of hundreds nm. The main goal of the proposed PhD research is to develop novel approaches to fabrication of such FBGs based on a combination of original and new modelling methods and the advanced fast feedback fibre grating writing technique, recently proposed at Aston University. The PhD student will be involved in design and fabrication of advanced FBGs with application in astrophysics and other relevant areas. The second goal of the project is to study a new complimentary approach - writing gratings in multi-core fibres for use in photonics lanterns in astrophysics instrumentation. This technology has high independent value for sensing and medical and healthcare applications.

Extracting information from data is a ubiquitous problem in the information age. Compressed sensing is an information theoretical paradigm that deals with scenarios where the data provided (measurements) is poor in information; this fact is used for inferring the underlying information from fewer measurements. A recent example is COVID-19 testing, where low-prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in the population means that individual tests almost always return negative and convey little information. Mixing samples judiciously, testing the mixed samples and inferring the original viral-load values, allows for a significant reduction in the number of tests needed to obtain the same information. Similarly, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Computerised Tomography (CT) scans are based on many measurements, not all of them needed for accurate image reconstruction since they are not particularly information rich (having a non-random structure). In both examples, compressed sensing methodology can help reduce the number of measurements needed for obtaining the information sought. However, the mixing of samples and the inference methods used are nontrivial and require new ideas and approaches. Moreover, various practical and operational constraints hinder the use of compressed sensing in many applications. This proposal aims at addressing some of the key challenges in the specific applications of imaging and testing. Key challenges in employing compressed sensing for testing are the variability in viral loads, estimating the underlying information sparsity and the unknown sample noise level; both impact on the efficiency and accuracy of the results (e.g., false positive/false negative rates). In imaging applications, the main stumbling block is the time it takes to carry out compressed sensing on large images given the operational constraints of radiologists (make correction to positions, evaluate the need for additional scans). At the heart of the expectation-propagation-based approach we aim on studying, is an inversion of a large matrix that is linked to the size of the images. In this project we will employ statistical physics-based and Bayesian inference methods to overcome these challenges. Specifically, for imaging application we will develop approximate methods for fast matrix inversion based on probabilistic message passing approaches, variational approximations using patterned matrix structures with reduced dimensionality, block matrix inversion and by employing inter- and intra-frame priors. Using compressed sensing in mass testing will require the use of advanced Bayesian estimation techniques and improved message passing methods; these will rely on iterative variable decimation, such that high load values will be removed to facilitate lower load values. We will use real scans and simulated test results, which are widely available, for evaluating the performance of our methods against state-of-the-art approaches. We will also liaise with radiologists and test-centre practitioners to make sure the new methods comply with practical constrains and priorities. If successful, the new methodologies could be deployed in a variety of applications.

Using micro/nanotechnology it is possible to create systems containing millions of interacting, non-linear and potentially variable components in areas of less than one square centimetre. Furthermore, since these systems are 'sensors' they must be designed to predictably respond to an input despite the fact that each component is so small and sensitive that it can be significantly perturbed by unavoidable random fluctuations in its local environment. These characteristics suggest that some of the most complex systems we currently need to understand, model and control are these physically very small, super-massive arrays of miniature electronic and mechanical devices. Conventionally the design of a system containing miniature devices is dramatically simplified by isolating the components of the system. However, this simplification is bought at the expense of suppressing potential beneficial system properties and behaviours. It is both essential and timely to break away from the constraints arising from this conventional design process. Researchers from the Universities of Aston, Birmingham and Oxford therefore propose to work together to develop a very novel approach to system design that exploits rather than minimises the complexity of supermassive arrays of miniature devices. This new design strategy will be developed by combining expertise in mathematics, physics, mechanics and microelectronics to investigate collective and non-linear effects in arrays of micromechanical sensors. The information that these investigations generate will then be included in new models of this type of sensor that will then be used to predict and exploit system level properties of arrays of these sensors. The result will lead to revolutionary new types of systems.

The project will produce innovative digital and virtual forms of commemorating the First World War in South Africa, expanding audiences and shaping socially inclusive remembrance patterns. Commemoration has been contested throughout the twentieth century and beyond, reflecting socio-political divisions and ongoing inequalities in South African society. The entry into the war itself was contested. Only twelve years after the South African War (1899-1902), nationalist Afrikaners were reluctant to be drawn into a conflict against an 'enemy' who had stood by their side in the struggle against British hegemony. Alongside the split between white Afrikaners and Britons, further divisions existed between dominant whites and subordinate blacks who were denied common citizenship rights. Participation in the war was 'colour coded': Those infantrists fighting in the Battle of Delville Wood were all white. They constitute the most remembered group through highly visible monuments. Less visible remembrance has existed for the Coloured Cape Corps infantry troops who fought alongside British troops in Egypt and Palestine. Black South Africans, on the other hand, were prevented by racial legislation from bearing arms during the war. As a consequence they were restricted to labour service on the front, undertaking heavy manual work and being little remembered. Only in 2016 were those blacks who had fallen in Europe honoured and remembered for the first time in an official ceremony. In order to do justice to these complex memory layers, a diverse team of curators, creative designers, digital specialists, educationalists, heritage stakeholders and academics will construct balanced and joint commemoration. Project partners include the UK-based creative digital company, Metro-Boulot-Dodo, the national KwaZulu-Natal Museum in Pietermaritzburg, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and British and South African academics. The team will produce three outputs covering social and military aspects of South Africa's war involvement: (i) An immersive Virtual Reality Experience will take viewers through various stages and aspects of the war experience. The narrative will focus on three fictional but archetypal individuals of different ethnic backgrounds. It will follow their path from conscription to different frontlines in Africa and Europe. Social aspects will be tackled by looking at the homefront, in particular the complex relationship between nation-building and social cleavages. (ii) A digital heritage trail app will guide users to WW1-sites in KwaZulu-Natal province. It will integrate these sites into 'battlefield tourism', attracting new visitors and supporting heritage preservation. (iii) An education pack for South African primary schools will combine general textbook information with original sources and imaginative tasks for pupils. These tasks will be integrated with the other project outputs, offering a comprehensive learner experience in a multimedial context. The outputs will be launched during the Night at the Museum in KwaZulu-Natal Museum, an annual event that attracts more than 1000 visitors. The outputs will be disseminated widely beyond the lifetime of the project to regional, national and global audiences. Despite its centrality, the First World War has recently tended to fade in school curricula and official commemoration in South Africa. The project will employ new creative technologies in order to draw in new audiences. In fact, no national museum in South Africa has used Virtual Reality for any topic. Heritage institutions around the world currently experience fundamental transformations through the opportunities - but also problems - of digital methodologies. Going beyond the theme of WW1, the project will thus address more fundamental issues of knowledge exchange and capacity building in a country that receives official development assistance (ODA) from the UK.