Red soils cover 20% of each of China and India, the most populated countries on earth, as well as large areas of developing countries in southeast Asia, Africa and South America. They form in sub-tropical climates where excessive leaching from rainwater has produced an infertile, unstable soil that is very vulnerable to mismanagement, climate change and pollution such as acid rain. In China, red soils support about 40% of the population, made possible through the intensive use of fertilisers to boost crop yields. This farming system is unsustainable; fertilisers reaching groundwater, freshwater and the atmosphere pose a significant environmental threat, and soil degradation through intensive cultivation can result in tens of tonnes of soil being eroded each year from a hectare of land into water courses during the intensive monsoonal, spring rains. Red soil management for agriculture affects local farmers who depend on them for their livelihood, the surrounding population who need them for food, China because of dependence for national food production and globally because of the area red soils covers, their importance for food production and the large environmental footprint. Although extensive research has studied red soils, particularly related to management for agricultural sustainability, the integrated effects of various affected aspects of the critical zone, as well as the wider environmental impacts are poorly understood. In this proposal we adopt a critical zone approach, to reach beyond soil processes to encompass the atmosphere above, geology and groundwater below, surrounding freshwater and vegetation. By definition, the critical zone is the constantly evolving boundary layer at the surface of the earth where rock, soil, water, air and living organisms interact. Two essential components are essential for delivery. First, we have the major advantage of the Sunjia Critical Zone Observatory (CZO), the only international CZO in China where soil and water data have been collected since 2002. Second, we have assembled a team of Chinese and UK scientists who integrate a range of specialisations in soil science, with atmospheric, geological, hydrological and agronomical sciences. A skill gap identified amongst the Chinese partners in terrestrial environmental modelling is filled by the UK team, with training and joint positions proposed that will develop this capability in China. We build on existing Sunjia CZO monitoring by incorporating subsurface and atmospheric processes not included in the past. Further experiments in the lab and the field will allow us to explore impacts of environmental threats such as climate change, water scarcity and acid rain. We span from processes involved in weathering minerals, how these minerals interact with life to form soils, and how we can optimise these processes in soil evolution for the benefit of the environment and food security. These processes then enhance our understanding of hydrological and erosion impacts in red soils induced by different management practices. Detailed monitoring of these processes in the Sunjia CZO and other red soil areas provides data that inform our modelling of ecosystem processes. This process benefits immensely from a critical zone monitoring data-set for red soils that will span almost 20 years by the end of the project. The new science generated in this project, particularly the modelling outputs, provides valuable data for policy decisions in China about the management of red soils. We provide training to project partners in interdisciplinary science that is essential to CZO research and will benefit the research capabilities of the Chinese team. Moreover, we bring new skills to the Chinese team in terrestrial modelling. Coupled with our intended outcome of more sustainable food production from red soils, our training and government agency engagement ensures delivery of OECD Official Development Assistance from this project.

The last fifty years have seen spectacular progress in the ability to assemble materials with a precision of nanometers (a few atoms across). This nanofabrication ability is built upon the twin pillars of lithography and pattern transfer. A whole range of tools are used for pattern transfer. Lithography is a photographic process for the production of small structures in which structures are "drawn" in a thin radiation sensitive film. Then comes the pattern transfer step in which the shapes are transferred into a useful material, such as that of an active semiconductor device or a metal wire. Lithography is the key process used to make silicon integrated circuits, such as a microprocessor with eight billion working transistors, or a camera chip which is over two inches across. The manufacture of microprocessors is accomplished in large, dedicated factories which are limited to making one type of device. Also, normal lithography tools require the production of large, perfect and extremely expensive "negatives" so that it is only economical to use this technology to make huge numbers of identical devices. The applications of lithography are far broader than just making silicon chips, however. For example, large areas of small dots of material can be used to make cells grow in particular directions or to become certain cell types for use in regenerative medicine; The definition of an exquisitely precise diffraction grating on a laser allows it to produce the perfectly controlled wavelengths of light needed to make portable atomic clocks or to measure the tiny magnetic fields associated with the functioning of the brain; Lithography enables the direct manipulation of quantum states needed to refine the international standards of time and electrical current and may one day revolutionise computation; By controlling the size and shape of a material we can give it new properties, enabling the replacement of scarce strategic materials such as tellurium in the harvesting of waste thermal energy. This grant will enable the installation of an "electron-beam lithography" system in an advanced general-purpose fabrication laboratory. Electron beam lithography uses an electron beam rather than light to expose the resist and has the same advantages of resolution that an electron microscope has over a light microscope. This system will allow the production of the tiniest structures over large samples but does not need an expensive "negative" to be made. Instead, like a laser printer, the pattern to be written is defined in software, so that there is no cost associated with changing the shape if only one object of a particular shape is to be made. The electron beam lithography system is therefore perfect for making small things for scientific research or for making small numbers of a specialized device for a small company. The tool will be housed in a laboratory which allows the processing of the widest possible range of materials, from precious gem diamonds a few millimetres across to disks of exotic semiconductor the size of dinner plates. The tool will be used by about 200 people from all over the UK and the world. By running continuously the tool will be very inexpensive to use, allowing the power of leading-edge lithography to be used by anyone, from students to small businesses. The tool will be supported and operated by a large dedicated team of extremely experienced staff, so that the learning curve to applying the most advanced incarnation of the most powerful technology of the age will be reduced to a matter of a few weeks.