The EPSRC CDT in Net Zero Aviation in partnership with Industry will collaboratively train the innovators and researchers needed to find the novel, disruptive solutions to decarbonise aviation and deliver the UK's Jet Zero and ATI's Destination Zero strategies. The CDT will also establish the UK as an international hub for technology, innovation and education for Net Zero Aviation, attracting foreign and domestic investment as well as strengthening the position of existing UK companies. The CDT in Net Zero Aviation is fully aligned with and will directly contribute to EPSRC's "Frontiers in Engineering and Technology" and "Engineering Net Zero" priority areas. The resulting skills, knowledge, methods and tools will be decisive in selecting, integrating, evaluating, maturing and de-risking the technologies required to decarbonise aviation. A systems engineering approach will be developed and delivered in close collaboration with industry to successfully integrate theoretical, computational and experimental methods while forging cross theme collaborations that combine science, technology and engineering solutions with environmental and socio-economic aspects. Decarbonising aviation can bring major opportunities for new business models and services that also requires a new policy and legislative frameworks. A tailored, aviation focused training programme addressing commercialisation and route to market for the Net Zero technologies, operations and infrastructure will be delivered increasing transport and employment sustainability and accessibility while improving transport connectivity and resilience. Over the next decade innovative solutions are needed to tackle the decarbonisation challenges. This can be only achieved by training doctoral Innovation and Research Leaders in Net Zero Aviation, able to grasp the technology from scientific fundamentals through to applied engineering while understanding the associated science, economics and social factors as well as aviation's unique operational realities, business practices and needs. Capturing the interdependencies and interactions of these disciplines a transdisciplinary programme is offered. These ambitious targets can only be realised through a cohort-based approach and a consortium involving the most suitable partners. Under the guidance of the consortium's leadership team, students will develop the required ethos and skills to bridge traditional disciplinary boundaries and provide innovative and collaborative solutions. Peer to peer learning and exposure to an appropriate mix of disciplines and specialities will provide the opportunity for individuals and interdisciplinary teams to collaborate with each other and ensure that the graduates of the CDT will be able to continually explore and further develop opportunities within, as well as outside, their selected area of research. Societal aspects that include public engagement, awareness, acceptance and influencing consumer behaviour will be at the heart of the training, research and outreach activities of the CDT. Integration of such multidisciplinary topics requires long term thinking and awareness of "global" issues that go beyond discipline and application specific solutions. As such the following transdisciplinary Training and Research Themes will be covered: 1. Aviation Zero emission technologies: sustainable aviation fuels, hydrogen and electrification 2. Ultra-efficient future aircraft, propulsion systems, aerodynamic and structural synergies 3. Aerospace materials & manufacturing, circular economy and sustainable life cycle 4. Green Aviation Operations and Infrastructure 5. Cross cutting disciplines: Commercialisation, Social, Economic and Environmental aspects 75 students across the UK, from diverse backgrounds and communities will be recruited.

The UK composites industry faces an imperative to prioritise sustainability. The urgent need to reduce impact on the environment and ensure the availability of resources for future generations is critical to securing a prosperous and resilient future. Composite materials are crucial for delivering a Net-Zero future but pose several unique technical challenges. Sustainable Composites Engineering defines a holistic means of achieving environmental neutrality for composite products through production, service, and reuse. It incorporates the pursuit of more sustainable composite materials, with a mission of creating inherently sustainable composite solutions, able to perform in diverse environments, and made using new scientific advances, and new energy efficient, waste-free manufacturing procedures. Our proposed CDT in Innovation for Sustainable Composites Engineering will address the challenges by developing a workforce equipped with the skills to become leaders in the future sustainable economy and support UK industry competitiveness. Our CDT is jointly created by the Bristol Composites Institute, the University of Nottingham and the National Composites Centre (NCC). In addition to the EPSRC funding our CDT is also supported by industry and we have received 27 letters of support from companies in the UK Composites sector: Aerospace (Airbus, Rolls-Royce, Dowty, Leonardo, GKN), Defence (QinetiQ, AWE, BAE Systems), Automotive (Gordan Murray, JLR), Wind Energy (Vestas, EDF-Renewables), Marine (Tods), Rail (Network Rail), Oil and Gas (Magma Global), Hydrogen (Luxfer) alongside material suppliers (Hexcel, Solvay, iCOMAT, SHD), and specialist design and manufacturing companies (Pentaxia, Actuation Lab, LMAT, Molydyn), as well as RTOs (NPL, NCC). The total industrial commitment to our CDT is >£10M, with>£4M from NCC. From this it is clear that our CDT fits the Focus Area of Meeting a User Need. The CDT will provide a science-based framework for innovative, curiosity driven research and skills development to facilitate composites as the underpinning technology for a sustainable future. Critically, the CDT will offer an agile doctoral educational environment focused on advanced competencies and skills, tailored to industrial and commercial needs, providing academic excellence and encourage innovation. The ambitious goal of spanning Technology Readiness Levels (TRL 1-4) will be achieved by having a mix of university-based PhDs and industrially-based EngDs . Fundamental industrial sponsored research will be carried out by PhD students based at the Universities. The EngD students will spend 75% of their time in industry conducting a research project that is defined industry. Students will complete their doctoral studies in four years, the doctoral research will run concurrently with the taught component, so students are immersed in the research environment from the outset. The bespoke training programme demands the critical mass of a cohort. A specific role on our Management Board focuses on maximising cohort benefits to students. The cohort continuity across years will be ensured by a peer-to-peer mentoring programme, with all new students assigned a student mentor to support their studies, thereby creating an inclusive environment to provide students with a sense of place and ownership. Methods for developing and maintaining a cohort across multiple sites will be supported by our previous experience with the IDCs strategy and by: -A first year based in Bristol with students co-located to encourage interaction. -In-person workshops in year 2 credit bearing units and professional activities. -Peer-to-peer individual mentoring, as well as in DBT and credit-bearing workshops. -Annual welcome cohort integration event. -Annual conference and student-led networking. -Internal themed research seminars and group meetings -Student-led training and outreach activities.

Over the next few decades, quantum computing (QC) will transform the way we design new materials, plan complex logistics and solve a wide range of problems that conventional computers cannot address. The Hub for Quantum Computing via Integrated and Interconnected Implementations (QCI3) brings together >50 investigators across 20 universities to address key challenges, and deliver applications across diverse areas of engineering and science. We will work with 27 industrial partners, the National Quantum Computing Centre, the National Physical Laboratory, academia, regulators, Government and the wider community to achieve our goals. The Hub will focus on where collaborative academic research can make transformative progress across three interconnected themes: (T1) developing integrated quantum computers, (T2) connecting quantum computers, and (T3) developing applications for them. Objectives for each are outlined below. (T1) Developing integrated quantum computing systems, with a goal of creating quantum processors that will show real utility for specific problem examples. Objectives: OB1.1: Demonstrate quantum advantage in analogue platforms with neutral atoms and photons OB1.2: Make neutral atom quantum simulation platforms available in the cloud OB1.3: Develop new applications for these and other near-term systems (T2) A key challenge of building the million qubit machines of the future is that of 'wiring' together the quantum processors that will create such a machine. The Hub will develop technologies that help achieve this and develop models to understand how such machines will scale. Objectives : OB2.1: Develop interconnect technologies for quantum processors OB2.2: Demonstrate blind computing and multi-component networks with trapped ion quantum computers OB2.3: Demonstrate transduction and networking of superconducting processors (T3) Developing applications in science and engineering, including materials design, chemistry and fluid dynamics. Objectives: OB3.1: Develop new methods for materials and chemical system modelling and design, fluid dynamics, and quantum machine learning OB3.2: Identify the nearest routes to quantum advantage for these application areas OB3.3: Develop implementations of these algorithms on T1 and T2 Hardware These will be supported by work in overarching tools (T4) that can be used across the themes of the Hub, including error correction, digital twins, verification and software stack optimisation. Skills and training Hub partners will work with end-users, our students and researchers, and partners across the UK National Quantum Technologies Programme (UKNQTP) to ensure members of the Hub have the skills they need. Specific objectives include: Provide training in innovation, commercialisation and IP, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) to Hub partners Provide reports and training to end-users, working in partnership with the NQCC and others Continue to provide advocacy and advice to policy makers, through work in such areas as RRI Exploitation and Engagement: The Hub will build on the strong engagement activities of the UK programme, further developing the technology pipeline. We will play a key role in strengthening and expanding the UK ecosystem through events, networking and education. Specific goals are to: Broaden the partnership of the Hub, bringing new academic, government and industrial partners into the Hub network Contribute to regulation and governance through programmes of work in standards and RRI, and close collaboration with UKNQTP partners Support the generation and protection of intellectual property within the Hub, and its exploitation Develop Hub and cross-Hub outreach initiatives, working with the RRI team, to help ensure the potential of quantum computing for societal benefit can be realised

Aerosol science, the study of airborne particles from the nanometre to the millimetre scale, has been increasingly in the public consciousness in recent years, particularly due to the role played by aerosols in the transmission of COVID-19. Vaccines and medications for treating lung and systemic diseases can be delivered by aerosol inhalation, and aerosols are widely used in agricultural and consumer products. Aerosols are a key mediator of poor air quality and respiratory and cardiac health outcomes. Improving human health depends on insights from aerosol science on emission sources and transport, supported by standardised metrology. Similar challenges exist for understanding climate, with aerosol radiative forcing remaining uncertain. Furthermore, aerosol routes to the engineering and manufacture of new materials can provide greener, more sustainable alternatives to conventional approaches and offer routes to new high-performance materials that can sequester carbon dioxide. The physical science underpinning the diverse areas in which aerosols play a role is rarely taught at undergraduate level and the training of postgraduate research students (PGRs) has been fragmentary. This is a consequence of the challenges of fostering the intellectual agility demanded of a multidisciplinary subject in the context of any single academic discipline. To begin to address these challenges, we established the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Aerosol Science in 2019 (CDT2019). CDT2019 has trained 92 PGRs with 40% undertaking industry co-funded research projects, leveraged £7.9M from partners and universities based on an EPSRC investment of £6.9M, and broadened access to our unique training environment to over 400 partner employees and aligned students. CDT2019 revealed strong industrial and governmental demand for researchers in aerosol science. Our vision for CDT2024 is to deliver a CDT that 'meets user needs' and expands the reach and impact of our training and research in the cross-cutting EPSRC theme of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, specifically in areas where aerosol science is key. The Centre brings together an academic team from the Universities of Bristol (the hub), Bath, Birmingham, Cambridge, Hertfordshire, Manchester, Surrey and Imperial College London spanning science, engineering, medical, and health faculties. We will assemble a multidisciplinary team of supervisors with expertise in chemistry, physics, chemical and mechanical engineering, life and medical sciences, and environmental sciences, providing the broad perspective necessary to equip PGRs to address the challenges in aerosol science that fall at the boundaries between these disciplines. To meet user needs, we will devise and adopt an innovative Open CDT model. We will build on our collaboration of institutions and 80 industrial, public and third sector partners, working with affiliated academics and learned societies to widen global access to our training and catalyse transformative research, establishing the CDT as the leading global centre for excellence in aerosol science. Broadly, we will: (1) Train over 90 PGRs in the physical science of aerosols equipping 5 cohorts of graduates with the professional agility to tackle the technical challenges our partners are addressing; (2) Provide opportunities for Continuing Professional Development for partner employees, including a PhD by work-based, part-time study; (3) Deliver research for end-users through partner-funded PhDs with collaborating academics, accelerating knowledge exchange through PGR placements in partner workplaces; (4) Support the growth of an international network of partners working in aerosol science through focus meetings, conferences and training. Partners and academics will work together to deliver training to our cohorts, including in the areas of responsible innovation, entrepreneurship, policy, regulation, environmental sustainability and equality, diversity and inclusion.

Our vision for the TransiT Hub is to harness the transformative power of Digital Twinning, and associated digital technologies, to solve the most pressing problems of our age - the rapid and radical decarbonisation of transport , holistically, across all modes - Road, Rail, Air and Maritime, and at a national scale. The TransiT Hub will create a new interdisciplinary challenge-led national digital twinning capability to deliver scalable solutions of the integration and decarbonisation of transport, providing the thought leadership and coordination it requires. This is an urgent response to the climate emergency that will advance understanding of a complex and adaptive system, reducing uncertainty and risk for time-critical investments into sustainable, ethical and affordable decarbonisation. It will be centred on expert problem articulation of the challenges, ensuring planners, operators, and policy makers, will use this new capability to deliver national transformation and realise good climate, economic and social outcomes across the stakeholder community, as well as providing a blueprint for other sectors. While past approaches utilised small-scale, real-world trials and progressive scale-up, the need for rapid transition to a low-carbon economy, combined with the increasingly complex interaction between transport modes precludes this approach. This situation is currently holding back private and public investment and risking the UK's leadership in tackling climate change. Scalable digital twinning offers a way of quickly assessing and narrowing the decarbonisation options for the complex whole transport system. To? realise our vision we will co-create 9 Federated Transport Digital Twins across modes and passenger/freight types, culminating in a Federated Transport System of Systems (FTSoS). These FTDTs will use novel capabilities to support the design, development, delivery and operation of a reliable, secure, resilient, inclusive, decarbonised transport system at lowest cost and delivering best value. We will use an active and agile learning-by-doing approach, that can adjust to stakeholders, withstand scrutiny, and feedback new knowledge to the next iteration. The creation of the FTSoS will address a new paradigm of Whole System Digital Twinning - bringing together, coordinating and extending existing DTs in the sector, delivering capabilities currently unachievable within siloed mode specific DTs. Our approach addresses the challenges in interoperability, security and resilience, human-centred design, data management, policy delivery, and new business models, whilst leveraging existing DTs, and Cyber Physical Infrastructure, and growing national digital twinning expertise and capability. This will be shared with, and benefit from, wider national DT programmes, including NDTP and Energy System DT (ENSIGN), and other strategic investments such as DARE and the EPSRC Transport DT Network+, as well as linking with representative bodies and collaborations such as DfT's TRIB and the DT Hub. The Hub will bring together seven distinguished higher education institutions, UofG, HW, UoL, UoB, CU, UoC and UCL that reflect a careful balance across modelling transport modes and the cross cutting themes essential for federated digital twinning including human factors, cyber security,? connectivity, policy, economics, and digital twinning tools. Furthermore, significant in kind support has been committed by external partners across government and industry partners, including the Department for Transport and over 40 organisations across the transport sector. Our foundational work will be explored through application focused use cases developed with our industrial and academic partners providing practical anchoring of the research; knowledge transfer through bi-directional secondments and the generation of evidence to support robust policy