Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Learning from Incidents (LFI) is a seminar series advancing research that informs policy and practice in health and safety. Effective learning from incidents is critical for people working in hazardous environments, to ensure they are safe at work and to protect the environment from catastrophic accidents. This research is interested in improving our understanding of the theories, methods, practices and policies related to learning from incidents. The seminar series is the first of its kind in the world. Learning from incidents is important across a range of industries and is relevant for professional and government bodies and third-sector organisations concerned about Health and Safety. The series brings together practitioners and policymakers with researchers from a range of academic disciplines to provide new theories, methodologies and organisational change methods that can be applied by organisations to improve health and safety across a range of industries. Running for two years, the seminar series comprises six interdisciplinary seminars, including presentations from researchers, practitioners and policy makers from a range of industry, health and commercial contexts, allowing sufficient time for debate and discussion and stimulating co-production of knowledge. Participants are established scholars and early-career researchers from the UK, Finland, Italy, and Spain who have expertise in Adult and Organisational Learning; Sociology (Sociology of Risk and of Work); Industrial Psychology; Human Factors Engineering; and Ethnomethodology. Series' participants include practitioners from a range of industries (BP, Phillips66, Land Securities, Sir Robert McAlpine, FirstGroup plc, McNicholas Construction, Barhale, Balcas Timber, E.ON) and professional and government bodies as well as third-sector organisations (Energy Institute, British Safety Council, Health and Safety Executive for GB). Outputs from the seminar series include an interdisciplinary research agenda in learning from incidents and an edited volume, synthesising scientific contributions from research and relevant case studies from industry.

The Committee on Climate Change's most recent assessment of the UK's progress towards meeting its carbon budgets shows that UK emissions are 41% below 1990 levels. The UK Government's Industrial Strategy white paper states that this has been achieved while the economy has grown by two thirds. In our journey to meeting a reduction of at least 80% compared to 1990 levels, the Committee states that we must reduce emissions by at least 3% a year. They also say that despite the above progress we are not currently on track to meet the 2023-27 carbon budget. Clearly, significant further effort and innovation is required to meet our statutory obligations in this area. In line with this, the Government's Industrial Strategy identifies Clean Growth as a grand challenge stating "We will develop smart systems for cheap and clean energy across power, heating and transport ... We will launch a new Industrial Strategy 'Prospering from the energy revolution' programme to develop world-leading local smart energy systems that deliver cheaper and cleaner energy across power, heating and transport". The Industrial Strategy also points out that Innovation in clean growth is critical for low cost, low carbon infrastructure systems, and for realising the industrial opportunities needed to deliver economic benefits. In response to this the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) has launched the Prospering from the Energy Revolution (PFER) programme. It is focused on delivering (by 2022) investable and scalable local business models which use integrated approaches to deliver cleaner, cheaper, energy services for more prosperous and resilient communities. The resulting smart local energy systems should also benefit the national energy system as a whole. It also targets a ten times larger future-investment in local integrated energy systems versus business as usual in the 2020s while creating real world proving grounds to accelerate new products and services to full commercialisation. A major element of the activities is building UK leadership in integrated energy provision. To support the PFER programme, UKRI launched a call to establish the Energy Research Research Consortium (EnergyREV) to support this journey. A workshop was held in Birmingham to form and shape the consortium and to initiate the development of this proposal. The resulting EnergyREV consortium is diverse and highly multidisciplinary, incorporating 88% of the researchers who were selected for the workshop. EnergyREV will work with the Energy Systems Catapult to enable and inform demonstrators and demonstrator design projects (funded by the PFER programme) through their lifetime; undertaking analysis and evaluation, building and driving best practice and, leading knowledge exchange through national and international engagement with policy, academic and industrial communities. Further to this, EnergyREV has shaped and defined a strategic programme of applied interdisciplinary research which aims to achieve significant outputs in the areas of whole energy systems and smart local energy systems. This will inform future energy investment by companies and Government. It will coordinate and integrate existing UK world-class knowledge, research teams and facilities, and through this provide advice, research and innovation support to help ensure the success of the PFER programme.

The Ocean-REFuel project brings together a multidisciplinary, world-leading team of researchers to consider at a fundamental level a whole-energy system to maximise ocean renewable energy (Offshore wind and Marine Renewable Energy) potential for conversion to zero carbon fuels. The project has transformative ambition addressing a number of big questions concerning our Energy future: How to maximise ocean energy potential in a safe, affordable, sustainable and environmentally sensitive manner? How to alleviate the intermittency of the ocean renewable energy resource? How ocean renewable energy can support renewable heat, industrial and transport demands through vectors other than electricity? How ocean renewable energy can support local, national and international whole energy systems? Ocean-REFuel is a large project integrating upstream, transportation and storage to end use cases which will over an extended period of time address these questions in an innovative manner developing an understanding of the multiple criteria involved and their interactions.

The ability to store and release energy on demand is essential to an energy future that is based on clean, non-polluting and sustainable renewable energy. This includes both electrical and thermal energy and a large number of technologies are being developed to fulfil this need. Energy storage will become a major industry in our century and will employ hundreds of thousands of people globally. Energy storage will be everywhere - in large scale batteries connected to electrical networks, in homes to store energy generated from solar panels and in cars, replacing petrol engines. In order to meet this challenge and to ensure that UK plays an important role in this industry we will form a Centre of Doctoral Training in to train researchers at the highest level to help form and influence the direction of Energy Storage technologies. Our students will receive training in all aspects of energy but concentrating on the core technologies of electrochemical storage (batteries and supercapacitors), mechanical storage, thermal storage and superconducting magnetic energy storage. They will have the opportunity to interact with industrialists and gain experience in running a grid connected Lithium-ion battery. They will also undertake a major three-year research project allowing them to specialise in the topic of their choice.