There are major challenges inherent in meeting the goals of the UK national energy policy, including, climate change mitigation and adaption, security of supply, asset renewal, supply infrastructure etc. Additionally, there is a recognized shortage of high quality scientists and engineers with energy-related training to tackle these challenges, and to support the UK's future research and development and innovation performance as evidenced by several recent reports;Doosan Babcock (Energy Brief, Issue 3, June 2007, Doosan Babcock); UK Energy Institute (conducted by Deloitte/Norman Broadbent, 'Skills Needs in the Energy Industry' 2008); The Institution of Engineering and Technology, (evidence to the House of Commons, Select Committee on Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Fifth Report (19th June 2008); The Energy Research Partnership (Investigation into High-level Skills Shortages in the Energy Sector, March 2007). Here we present a proposal to host a Doctoral Training Centre (DTC) focusing on the development of technologies for a low carbon future, providing a challenging, exciting and inspiring research environment for the development of tomorrow's research leaders. This DTC will bring together a cohort of postgraduate research students and their supervisors to develop innovative technologies for a low carbon future based around the key interlinking themes: [1] Low Carbon Enabling Technologies; [2] Transport & Energy; [3] Carbon Storage, underpinned by [4] Climate Change & Energy Systems Research. Thereby each student will develop high level expertise in a particular topic but with excitement of working in a multidisciplinary environment. The DTC will be integrated within a campus wide Interdisciplinary Institute which coordinates energy research to tackle the 'Grand Challenge' of developing technologies for a low carbon future, our DTC students therefore working in a transformational research environment. The DTC will be housed in a NEW 14.8M Energy Research Building and administered by the established (2005) cross campus Earth, Energy & Environment (EEE) University Interdisciplinary Institute

Definition: A rapidly developing area at the interfaces of engineering/physical sciences, life sciences and medicine. Includes:- cell therapies (including stem cells), three dimensional cell/ matrix constructs, bioactive scaffolds, regenerative devices, in vitro tissue models for drug discovery and pre-clinical research.Social and economic needs include:Increased longevity of the ageing population with expectations of an active lifestyle and government requirements for a longer working life.Need to reduce healthcare costs, shorten hospital stays and achieve more rapid rehabilitationAn emergent disruptive industrial sector at the interface between pharmaceutical and medical devicesRequirement for relevant laboratory biological systems for screening and selection of drugs at theearly development stage, coupled with Reduction, Refinement, Replacement of in vivo testing. Translational barriers and industry needs: The tissue engineering/ regenerative medicine industry needs an increase in the number of trained multidisciplinary personnel to translate basic research, deliver new product developments, enhance manufacturing and processing capacity, to develop preclinical test methodologies and to develop standards and work within a dynamic regulatory environment. Evidence from N8 industry workshop on regenerative medicine.Academic needs: A rapidly emerging internationally competitive interdisciplinary area requiring new blood ---------------------

The Innovation and Knowledge Centre in Regenerative Therapies and Devices will provide a sustainable regional and international platform to address the creation of new technologies in Regenerative Therapies and Devices and their accelerated adoption within a complex global market place with increasing cost constraints. Therapies and devices which facilitate the regeneration of body tissues offer the potential to revolutionise healthcare and be a catalyst for economic growth, creating a new business sector within healthcare technology (Foresight Healthcare 2020). This centre is focused on emerging novel technologies in biological scaffolds, nano-biomaterials and self assembling peptides. These hybrid technologies utilise novel physical and biological functionality to enhance and accelerate the regeneration of tissues by harnessing the potential of endogenous stem cells in vivo. These novel technologies will also provide a vehicle for the delivery of exogenous stem cells to patients in the future and can be used to generate neo-tissues in vitro. The delivery of these emerging technologies to patients will be accelerated by improved diagnostics and imaging for enhanced patient targeting and by new complex simulation methodologies (patient in the lab) for improved short term predictions of the long term clinical outcomes. The life expectancy and average age of the population continues to increase as a result of advances in biomedicine and healthcare and this is generating additional social and economic burden. The Regenerative Technologies and Devices IKC will address the needs and quality of life of the ageing population, and address their expectations of an active lifestyle for fifty more years after fifty . It will specifically, but not exclusively, focus on areas of clinical need in musculoskeletal disease, dentistry, cardiovascular disease and cancer, which have been strategically prioritised by the University and the Leeds Hospitals Trust. The centre will build upon and develop substantial clinical, academic and industry partnerships. Additional new collaborative funding of over 58 million has already been confirmed to match the IKC award, and the centre has plans which have identified research and innovation funding in this area of over 100 million during the initial five year period of its activities.This rapidly growing multidisciplinary area will require innovative scientists and engineers who can cross disciplinary boundaries, work in broader systems based projects and work flexibly and collaboratively with industry and clinicians at different stages of the innovation pipeline. The centre and its partners will develop new and different approaches to innovation at an early stage of the innovation cycle, to substantially accelerate innovation, shorten the time period to clinical trials and market, and mitigate technology risks associated with this emergent sector. Collaborators in the Leeds University Business School will develop and evaluate open innovation methodologies. The University of Leeds is ideally placed to take advantage of this EPSRC call for four important reasons. First it has considerable competency in technology and science, as well as capabilities in managing collaborative innovation and entrepreneurship. Second it has the capability to both manage facilitate and create accelerated innovation in emerging healthcare technologies. Third the University already has excellent facilities and a track record (WRHIP) for innovation and is working with Yorkshire Forward to establish an Innovation Hub in Healthcare Technologies. Fourth the strategic partnership with the Clinical Trials Research Unit and the Unit of Health Economics will enable transition into NHS practice.

Urban river corridors are experiencing rapid changes in land use and perceptions and offer opportunities to create sustainable, high quality, communities. The hypothesis of the URSULA project (Urban River Corridors and Sustainable Living Agendas) is that there are significant social, economic and environmental gains to be made by integrated and innovative interventions in urban river corridors. We will test this by providing a portfolio of new ideas, new tools and new data to support redevelopment of urban river corridors as places where people want to live and work, now and in the future. We will do this in cooperation with national and local stakeholders, including government, commercial, community and 'non-organised' groups of stakeholders. The key themes of our analysis and way of working are 'people' (living, working), 'river' (ecological goods and services), 'design' (possibilities for intervention and innovation) and 'values' (agents of change, measures of success). We will draw on case studies in Sheffield, the UK and beyond, and test our Outcomes with local stakeholders in Sheffield on the corridor of the River Don and its tributaries. In the design theme we will, with stakeholders, choose a set of new and current ideas which may benefit redevelopment of urban river corridors, for example use of rivers for building climate control, better storm water management, or new urban forms. New field data and design analyses will enable us to understand their potential benefits and impacts. From the field and modelling work in the river theme, a deeper understanding of how urban rivers deliver ecological goods and services to the river corridor will show how the design possibilities can be assessed. The values theme will provide new analyses of the financial and other benefits of urban redevelopment, as well novel tools (e.g. visualisation) to work with stakeholders and understand their preferences. All of these activities will take place within a close cooperation through the people theme with the stakeholder groups, who are central to the project's motivation and measures of success.