Materials that can dissipate, reflect or absorb heat, are electrically insulating, have high-tensile strength, and are stable at high temperatures are crucial for many high-performance applications. Such materials find use in transport (heat resistance, friction, extreme loads); aerospace and space systems (robust wave transparent materials); electronics (non-conductive, heat dissipating materials); and functional woven textiles (thermal management). One example, of many, in the use of these so-called "next generation materials" comes from their potential for deployment in aeronautics or space technologies (hypersonic aircraft), where electrically insulating materials are required for high-voltage applications that can withstand atmospheric re-entry conditions and extreme levels of radiation. Such materials must also be easily processable, of relatively low cost, and amenable to efficient and scalable manufacture, especially of continuous fibres that allow for the shaping of the complex forms necessary for specific applications. Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is one such material. A close cousin of graphite/graphene (having a very similar structure where "BN" replaces "CC"), h-BN has excellent heat conductivities, is an electrical insulator, is chemically very stable (to over 1000 C in air), and is considered non-hazardous. However, current routes to continuous h-BN fibres are very expensive, use difficult to obtain precursors and have not been demonstrated on a commercial scale. This is in contrast to societally and technologically ubiquitous carbon fibres, that are produced on a huge scale (120kton/pa) from polymer precursors such as polyacrylonitrile. Equivalent h-BN fibres would possess all the benefits of carbon fibre (low weight/thermal expansion and high tensile-strength/shock resistance) but also have desirable thermal management, electronic (insulating) and chemical stability benefits that carbon fibre does not. In many respects, h-BN is the perfect next generation material. What is needed to overcome current roadblocks in h-BN fibre production is a relatively simple, cost-effective, and scalable source of polymer pre-ceramic, that can then be processed in a continuous and efficient manner to form h-BN fibres. We propose that a relatively new type of BN-containing polymer, polyaminoboranes (PAB), could be such ideal precursors. While PABs are made by atom-efficient catalytic coupling of smaller, accessible, precursor amine-borane units, e.g. H3B.NMeH2, they have not been used as fibre precursors due to the historical lack of reliable, scalable and controlled routes for their synthesis. This proposal directly addresses this technological gap by bringing together expertise in two complementary fields: organometallic catalysis and mechanism for the controlled and efficient synthesis of PAB on scale (Weller), and the manufacture of high-performance nanomaterials using continuous fabrication methods (Grobert). Recent breakthroughs by Weller (scalable PAB synthesis) and Grobert (proof of principle PAB-fibre production) now show that PAB are perfectly poised to be processable preceramics to h-BN fibres. Encouraged by these exciting joint preliminary results we will develop scalable routes to high-quality h-BN fibres. This will be done through developing straightforward, controlled and efficient routes to the precursor polyaminoboranes, for which mechanism-led design strategies will be used to optimise catalytic control over the polymer characteristics. The production of bespoke B-N main chain polyaminoborane systems on scale will fully unlock their use as precursors for the fabrication of ultra-light-weight, mechanically strong, continuous h-BN ceramic fibres. The translation of our scientific breakthroughs into a broader industrial context will be enabled through close engagement with our industry project partners Boron Specialties, Strathclyde Light Weight Manufacturing Centre & Williams Advanced Engineering.

Can AI ethics frameworks be embedded in Industry 4.0? Industry 4.0 (I4) refers to the digitization of manufacturing. Smart and autonomous systems that connect multiple machines make use of data to enhance manufacturing processes across the entire lifecycle of products-from concept and design through to use, maintenance and end-of-life. AI is critical to this. It enables computer systems to act autonomously to, for example, diagnose problems and to solve them. The role of humans in shifting. On the one hand, AI displaces the need for human input in decision-making. On the other hand, humans will work in ever closer connection with the AI-led data collecting tools, such as wristbands, data glasses, or other sensor related devices. Given widespread ethical concern regarding AI and human machine interactions, the numbers of ethical frameworks in existence have proliferated in recent years. However, these tend to focus on abstract principles with little detail on how to practically apply them when designing AI or when implementing AI systems at different stages of the innovation lifecycle. Ethical frameworks targeted specifically at I4 tend to focus on employee health and safety, with little consideration of employee voice. The project involves scoping work that will lay the foundation for future in-depth investigations into the impact of AI ethics frameworks on workplace cultures in I4. Our guiding questions for the scoping study are: How do different stakeholders and drivers within I4 networks perceive ethical issues related to AI? To what extent do these perceptions reflect dominant cultures within the I4 innovation lifecycle which impact the implementation of responsible AI? How are stakeholders' perceptions of AI ethics shaped by their own workplace culture and to what extent do they reflect underlying professional, occupational, or broader societal values and norms? Our stakeholders are variously positioned in relation to the innovation lifecycle in I4. This includes teams tasked with taking such innovations through the lifecycle, such as those involved in design, testing and use. It also includes the teams developing the 'stack' of technologies, from hardware, compilers, libraries, services and application development, needed for AI innovations in I4. Aligning our focus with the full range of actors and actions taken in I4 will enable us to better capture the broad-spectrum workplace culture issues involved, including those arising from the interconnection between these actors. The project will identify and form a Community of Interest (CoI) that brings together the range of stakeholders involved in I4. The CoI will center around our project partners, the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland, a government-funded hub that acts as a nexus of these stakeholders, and a data science company, providing the world's most widely used Python distribution, cloud services for industrial AI and data science and professional services for the development of AI/data science applications. In our scoping study report, we will present a set of topics and themes to inform a future programme of research relating to workplace cultures and the challenges for embedding AI ethics in I4 innovation throughout the lifecycle. This report will emerge as part of a dialogue between our project partners, members of the Community of Interest, and the research team.

Surgery is a critical treatment delivered by NHS. Pre-COVID19 data (2004-2014) suggest a 27% increase in surgeries in England (>10 million operations performed). Despite >1.5 million cancelled or postponed surgeries in 2020 due to COVID19 (~33.6% reduction in England and Wales) and rocketed waiting lists for cancer surgery likely resulting in more deaths, tumour resection surgeries have recently resumed and remain high (e.g. ~51% of diagnoses received a kidney tumour resection in 2021). The total UK economic burden of surgery was ~£54.6 billion between 2009-2014 (£10.9 bn pa), amounting to 9.4% of the total NHS budget (£117 billion, 2013-2014). There is a clear clinical need for minimising surgical operations, healthcare costs, patient waiting lists, and associated patient complications. To address this need, we aim to digitally transform future surgery, particularly for cancer, by creating a ground-breaking real-time digital twin assisted surgery (DTAS) technology. The patient is at the core of this technology, with significant and measurable benefits for their quality of life and healthcare. DTAS can be applied to several types of surgery (open, minimally invasive, or robotic surgery), for high precision tumour removal even in a partial organ resection. A parallel goal is to revolutionise surgical training, offering a new paradigm of patient-centred personalised surgical rehearsal. This project is timely and will be delivered by an internationally competitive, highly experienced multidisciplinary team, capable of delivering our vision. Our team covers several disciplines, including the lived experience from patients; health technologies; bioengineering; digital twin (DT) technology; artificial intelligence (AI); mathematical science; numerical simulation.

The Made Smarter Network+ (MSN+) has two primary roles. To: 1. Develop and support the creation of an effective digital innovation ecosystem to accelerate the innovation and diffusion of Industrial Digital Technologies. 2. Ensure that the full range and depth of social and economic science insights are accessed across the Made Smarter challenge and wider UK manufacturing sector This is an exciting £3.83m, 38 month programme of work that will commence on 1st November 2021 and end on 31st December 2024. The programme is led by the MSN+ co-directors Prof. Jan Godsell (Loughborough University) and Prof. Jill MacBryde (Strathclyde Business School) with support from a dedicated Network Management Team (network, communications and impact managers) and a core research team (from Loughborough, Strathclyde and Sheffield Universities). There are 5 key elements to the programme: - Commissioned research programme - will provide the opportunity to curate, augment and amplify insights from the ESS to support the diffusion and adoption of IDTs. 5 different funding mechanisms have been adopted to broaden the appeal of the programme and increase participation. These include systematic reviews, small projects, a sandpit, Early Career Researcher (ECR) Fellowship programme, and an impact acceleration fund resulting in18 interdisciplinary projects. - Knowledge exchange programme - is critical to the diffusion of ideas from the ESS to the policy makers, manufacturers and IDT providers who could benefit from the adoption of IDTs. The comprehensive programme includes a range of activities that amplify the core research programme (international webinars, discovery days, annual conference), provide education and insights (impact workshops, insight days, summer school), support academic publication (special tracks, journal special issue) and enable and amplify the diffusion of ideas (website and curation platform, mentoring programme, access to Emerald impact services). - Core research programme - compliments the commissioned research programme base by addressing more systemic problems that require a longer term and more in-depth research. It has the additional benefit of providing a common purpose to galvanise the team. Future focused it considers the future of manufacturing ecosystems (Prof. Jan Godsell and Dr Alok Choudray, Lougborough), future of work (Prof. Jill MacBryde and Prof. Colin Lindsay, Strathclyde) and the future of the economy (Prof. Vania Sena and Prof. Philip McCann, Sheffield). - Impact acceleration programme - there are lots of ESS insights currently in existence, that are not in a form that is easily accessible to policy makers, manufacturers and IDT providers. Researchers often lack the time and skills to turn their work into more accessible outputs. An impact acceleration programme has the dual benefit of building impact capacity within the ESS community whilst making the insights more accessible to end users. - Storytelling fellowship programme - the ability to use storytelling as a methodology and form of dissemination is a key research skill for economic and social scientists. The storytelling fellowship programme has the dual benefits of building storytelling capacity within the ESS whilst using stories to make insights more accessible to the end users, the network and society at large. Outputs from the programme are aligned to the Made Smarter business case. Conservatively through the core and commissioned research programmes alone, we deliver 19 new inter-disciplinary collaborations, 30 journal papers and 11 case studies.

To ensure UK industry's global leadership in advanced manufacturing and the need to access to the multi-billion pounds nanoscale products market, building on Strathclyde's world-leading research in hybrid machine design and rolling nanoelectrode lithography (RNEL) technology, this proposal attempts to establish a new flexible and reconfigurable hybrid precision manufacturing platform (HPMP) for low-cost and high-throughput production of nanoscale products possessing various structures from ground-breaking sub-nanometre to micrometre scales, with nanoscale precision over large areas (cm^2 in this project, but scalable to m^2) of various materials. This low-cost nanoscale precision 'lab-to-fab' low-to-medium volume production platform will significantly enhance the producibility and productivity of nanoscale products for information communication technology (ICT), photonic, semiconductor, microelectronic and emerging quantum technology industry sectors to address the grand challenges of an AI & data-driven economy (Internet of Things (IoTs), data storage, quantum computing & communication devices), clean growth (plasmonic solar cells), future mobility (light detection and ranging) and an aging society (medical detection & diagnostic devices) in accordance with the UK Industrial Strategy. The project will transform the research outcome to industry and our society through knowledge exchange, training, industrial demonstration and deployment.