Climate change is the most pressing environmental challenge of our time. The transport sector was the largest contributor to UK greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in 2020, with an overall contribution of 24% [1]. While decarbonisation of on-road transportation, such as cars, buses and trucks, is well underway by employing electric alternatives, the important sector of off-road vehicles is technologically far behind and represents a major contributor to GHG emissions. In 2018, the total GHGs emission of UK off-road vehicles was 11,043 kilotonnes [2], which is equivalent to the GHGs emission from 12.2 Giga pounds of coal burned, or the annual energy use of 1.4m homes' [3]. Hydraulic fluid power transmission is widely used in off-road vehicles, such as construction and agricultural machinery. Current state-of-the-art hydraulic fluid power components and control technologies continue to be highly energy- and cost-inefficient and generate significant CO2 emissions, as speed and force are controlled by using metering valves to throttle the flow and control the hydraulic pressure. This is a simple but extremely inefficient method because the energy is dissipated through an orifice and consequently lost as heat; it is common for more than 50% of the input power to be wasted in this way. A recent study showed that the average energy power efficiency of fluid power systems is only 21%, and a 5% improvement in efficiency can save 0.51 quadrillion Btu of energy, which relates to a saving of US$10.1 billion and a reduction in CO2 emissions of over 33.95 million tonnes. Therefore, there is an urgent need to create new technologies to significantly improve hydraulic energy efficiency to enable efficient decarbonisation and electrification of off-road vehicles and achieve Net Zero. To significantly improve hydraulic fluid power efficiency to over 90%, I will provide a transformative change in next-generation digital hydraulic components and control technologies by developing new additively manufactured high-performance digital hydraulic valves (WP1) and novel digital hydraulic converters (WP2) to reduce hydraulic pressure and energy losses. I will create high-fidelity analytical modelling tools to understand the underlying science of complex fluid power components and systems and establish new additive manufacturing-based designs and methodologies for energy-efficient digital valves and converters. An intelligent control platform (WP3) which will integrate model- and machine-learning-based control algorithms, will be developed to control the digital valves and converters to achieve their optimum performance and maximum efficiencies. These transformative and emerging technologies will be implemented on off-road vehicles (e.g. excavators, elevating platforms) as technology demonstrations and case studies (WP4) in order to produce future digital hydraulic fluid power products and solutions for Net Zero (WP5). I will conduct scoping studies in Phases 1 and 2 to define new research directions, deliver high-impact publications and conduct the pathways to impact activities. The research outcomes will generate significant academic, economic and societal impact. They will ensure the UK has a unique world-leading research activity in digital fluid power and its future applications. UK-based companies will receive a competitive advantage in exploiting the deliverables from the Fellowship and in significantly influencing the application potential of digital hydraulic fluid power in the market, which can have an immense range of customers. The research outcomes will provide long-term zero-carbon machines for people living and improving their quality of life. [1]. 2020 UK Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Final Figures. National Statistics. Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy. 2022. [2]. National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory UK Data. 2022. [3]. Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator, the US Environmental Protection Agency. 2022.

The major global challenges the world is facing today need to be addressed in the multifaceted context of economy, society and the environment. Manufacturing industries account for a significant part of the world's consumption of resources and generation of waste. Worldwide, the energy consumption of manufacturing industries grew by 61% from 1971 to 2004 and account for nearly a third of global energy usage. Manufacturing industries are also responsible for 36% of global dioxide (CO2) emission. This is in stark contrast to its image, during the last two centuries, as a particularly valuable sector of the economy. Manufacturing remains a very important component of wealth creation, but concerns over pollution, scarcity of resources and climate change may soon lead to manufacturing being seen as a 'necessary evil' rather than a desirable capability. Manufacturing must move away from simply addressing the transformation of raw materials into value-added products at the right time with the right cost and quality and instead consider the demands of society as a whole, addressing environmental and social concerns as well as economic ones. This requires that manufactured goods consume less energy, demand fewer scarce materials, and exhibit less toxicity at every stage of their life cycle - a life cycle that should itself be extended, such that products are more useful, for longer. Nowadays, manufacture is global, so is environment impact. To be effective, the improvement of the environmental impact and sustainability of manufacturing operations requires a broadly based multi-disciplinary and global approach that is unlikely to arise locally. Global complexities result from inherently different local legislation, technologies and capabilities - a situation that is costly in economic and environmental terms. An international network addressing sustainable global manufacturing is particularly important at this time. The current economic downturn has provided a short 'breathing space' where manufacturing companies are able to focus upon profitability through efficiency improvements rather than concentrating purely on output. In addition to examining pollution and wastes, Chinese industries were troubled by resource shortages during the recent economic boom, while Europe faced difficulties with landfill cost and availability, and in compliance with legislation such as the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive, and the End of Life Vehicles Directive. Aiming at contributing to sustainable manufacturing and low carbon economy, a multi-disciplinary research and educational network would enable a collaborative interaction between academics in two important regions of the world, pooling knowledge on emerging trends, forthcoming legislation, technologies and best practices that support low carbon economy in the UK and in the world as a whole, achieved through the more efficient use of available resources, the deployment of more effective products and services, the salvage of components and systems at the end of life, and the adoption of timely, innovative sustainable manufacturing methodologies.