A series of collaborations between the Institute for Policy Research at the University of Bath and the Institute of Welfare State Research at Yonsei University, South Korea. The two universities have previously enjoyed a fruitful partnership, and the proposed research and knowledge exchange collaborations are intended to build on this relationship. The collaborations consist of several conferences and workshops as well as a series of fellowships. As well as an academic partnership, the collaboration will include knowledge exchange with various government departments and think-tanks, and will enable the development of the capabilities and networks of Early Career Researchers. The proposed collaboration seeks to develop research into seven key strands of research: 1. Lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic for Welfare State Reform. Under the measures to protect jobs and livelihoods in both countries, such as the UK's 'furlough' scheme and the Republic of Korea's short-term job retention scheme, how well did did these schemes perform? How well did they provide social security and maintaining employment? 2. Automation, Technology, Employment and the Labour Share: Tackling Inequality and Providing Inclusive Economic Growth Each country has seen a decline in the labour share, and a rise in non-standard employment. Income inequality is relatively high in both countries. What is contributing to this decline? What is the role of in-work benefits and social security in this context? 3. Universal Basic Income: Pilots and Political Developments in the UK and Republic of Korea. Interest in Universal Basic Income has risen during the Covid-19 pandemic, with several pilots planned or have taken place recently, such as in the Gyeonggi Province in South Korea, and two proposed by the Scottish and Welsh governments. What lessons can be learnt from the evaluations in South Korea? What has been proposed for the pilots in Scotland and Wales? 4. The Social Investment State in the UK and Korea, pre-and-post-pandemic: prospects and public policy options. The UK and the Republic of Korea have seen extensive development of 'social investment' welfare state strategies in recent decades. However, investment has also been cut in many places in the UK and in Korea, employment rates are low and the gender-pay gap is high. Do social investment strategies ensure minimum levels of social protection? What are the political-economic institutions favouring social investment? 5. Young people, post-compulsory education and the future of the labour market. Korea and the UK have amongst the highest rates of populations educated to tertiary level in the world. However, the pandemic has had a greater impact on vulnerable groups such as the low-paid and young people. What happened to the youth labour market during Covid-19? What reforms have occurred to vocational training? What issues are there amongst graduate unemployment? 6. Pensions and Social Care reform: A New Gerontocracy or Poverty in Retirement? Korea is a rapidly ageing society, and the UK has a relatively low rate of Basic State Pension. What proposals for reforms into the funding and provisional of social care is there? What is the political economy of old age? 7. Employment, social security and public health: strengthening resilience to pandemics Korea has no sickness benefits, but allowances were made during the pandemic for sick and hospitalised individuals. The UK has a low, flat rate statutory sick pay and made one-off payments to those required to self-isolate as a result of Covid-19 exposure. What inequalities were there in pandemic resilience? What effect did Covid-19 have on urban planning, employment and public health policy? These research questions will be explored and answered by the proposed collaborations, with the intention of informing and shaping public policy, as well as producing high quality collaborative research intended for publication.

This proposal is focused at the main unresolved technological safety issues for hydrogen-powered vehicles, i.e. the fire resistance of onboard hydrogen storage. There are about 15,500 accidental car fires in Great Britain annually (Fire statistics. Great Britain, 2010-2011). The most widespread for car use Type 4 tanks are made of carbon-fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) and can stand in fire up to 6.5 minutes before catastrophic failure. To "prevent" catastrophic failure of tank in a fire it is equipped by temperature-activated pressure relief device (TPRD) with currently typical orifice diameter of about 5 mm. A release from 70 MPa storage tank from such TPRD produces a flame of up to 15 m long and separation distance to "no harm" criteria of 70 C of about 50 m. Moreover, due to so-called pressure-peaking effect a typical garage will be destroyed by such a release (about 300-400 g/s) in 1-2 seconds. Use of such onboard storage excludes evacuation of people from the car or safeguarding of people from the car by first responders. To reduce mass flow rate through TPRD and reduce flame jet length would require increased level of fire resistance of Type 4 tanks from today's 1-7 minutes to about or more than 30 minutes. The project aims to develop novel safety strategies and engineering solutions for onboard storage of hydrogen. This aim will be achieved through realisation of the following objectives (work packages, leading partner is indicated): - Hazard identification study and risk assessment (Kingston University (KU)) - Critical analysis of current safety strategies and engineering solutions (University of Ulster (UU)) - Numerical parametric study of potential fire attacks from adjacent vehicles (including gasoline vehicles) on road or in car parks (KU). - Numerical parametric study of conjugate heat transfer from fire to storage tanks of different design and extent of fire protection by CFD technique, including IP of the University of Ulster in the field (UU) - Parametric finite element analysis to simulate response of tanks of different design to external fire (KU) - Experimental study of prototype designs to increase fire resistance of onboard storage without and with PRD (UU) - Numerical simulations to evaluate the reduction in mass flow rate achievable with the proposed increase of cylinder fire resistance (KU). - Novel storage and safety solutions, including materials for a liner (University of Bath) - Development of engineering criteria of tank failure to formulate requirements to testing protocol (UU) - Effect of safety strategies and novel engineering solutions on socio-economical aspects of hydrogen economy (UU). The research will start with hazard identification study to assess the potential risks involved. Numerical simulations (fire dynamics CFD and structural analysis FEM) will be conducted on the basis of the proposed enhancement of cylinder fire resistance to evaluate the achievable reduction in mass flow rate. Experimental testing will be undertaken for validation of numerical simulations. Based on numerical and experimental studies the testing protocol for fire resistance of onboard storage tanks will be developed. The research will also include the use of materials efficient for hydrogen storage as a tank liner. Socio-economical study will crown the project outputs, translating the engineering safety strategies and solutions, such as higher fire resistance, lower mass flow rate through TPRD, shorter separation distance, provisions of life safety and property protection, into economical equivalents, e.g. cost of land use, insurance cost, etc. The output of this multi-disciplinary project will aim to inform wider public to underpin acceptance of HFC technologies. The project is complimentary to the EPSRC SUPERGEN Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Hub. Collaborators on this project include leading in the field experts and organisations from all over the globe: UK, USA, France, China, Korea.

Sustainability is defined as "the ability to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". Achieving sustainable development is the key global challenge of the 21st Century. It can only be met with the adoption of a range of new sustainable technologies. Sustainable chemical technologies are those involving chemistry as the central science. They span a wide range of areas, many of which make major impacts on society. Key sustainable chemical technologies include: use of renewable resources and biotechnology (e.g., making fuels, chemicals and products from biomass rather than petrochemicals); clean energy conversion and storage (e.g., solar energy, the hydrogen economy and advanced battery technologies); sustainable use of water (e.g., membrane technologies for water purification and upcycling of nutrients in waste water); developing sustainable processes and manufacturing (e.g., making production of chemicals, pharmaceuticals and plastics more energy-efficient and less wasteful through developing sustainable supply chains as well as through technological advances); and developing advanced healthcare technologies (e.g., developing new drugs, medical treatments and devices). To address these needs, we propose a Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Sustainable Chemical Technologies. The £5.08m requested from the EPSRC will be supplemented by £2.0m from the University and a £4.13m industrial contribution. The CDT will place fundamental concepts of sustainability at the core of a broad spectrum of research and training at the interfaces of chemistry, chemical engineering, biotechnology and manufacturing. This will respond to a national and global need for highly skilled and talented scientists and engineers in the area as well as training tomorrow's leaders as advocates for sustainable innovation. All students will receive foundation training to supplement their undergraduate knowledge, in addition to training in Sustainable Chemical Technologies. Broader training and practice in public engagement and creativity will encourage responsible innovation and attention to ethical, societal, and business aspects of research. They will all conduct high quality and challenging research directed by supervisory teams comprising joint supervisors from at least two of the disciplines of chemistry, chemical engineering, biotechnology and management as well as an industrial and/or international advisor. The broad research themes encompass the areas of: Renewable Resources and Biotechnology, Energy and Water, Processes and Manufacturing and Healthcare Technologies. Participation from key industry partners will address stakeholder needs, and partner institutions in the USA, Germany, Australia, and South Korea will provide world-leading international input, along with exciting opportunities for student placements and internships. The CDT will utilize dedicated physical and virtual space for the students as well as a supervisory base of more than fifty academics. Building on the success of the current Doctoral Training Centre and evolving to keep pace with the growing importance of biotechnology and manufacturing to UK industry, the centre will provide a dynamic and truly multidisciplinary environment for innovative PhD research and training.