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 equipment requested will provide new capability and internationally leading facilities that will enable cutting-edge research and internationally leading science, beyond that which is possible with current instrumentation. The equipment will also facilitate greater collaborative opportunities with other Universities and industry nationally and internationally. The "Advanced Electronic Materials and Devices" bundle provides equipment for research into new materials and devices for future electronic applications, ranging from superconductors for applications in power transmission and MRI to spintronic devices for sensors and computer memory applications. It will also improve thermal imaging capability for the study of semiconductor and hybrid diamond based devices which have the potential to transform future power electronic devices. Electrical power conversion technologies have a vital role to play in managing energy demand and improving energy conversion efficiency, affording 'game-changes' in, for example, low carbon transport systems and energy supply networks. As these 'more electric' systems become more commonplace, for example through their adoption in aircraft and electric vehicles, new understanding of operation life and failure modes is needed. The enhanced capabilities offered by the equipment updates in the "Enabling robust design and analysis of electrical power conversion systems" will allow internationally leading research to be pursued in the areas of design for life, virtual certification and reliability. Transmission electron microscopes (TEM) allow the imaging of both the external and internal structure of materials and are available in numerous configurations dependent on the specific nature of the materials under investigation. A post column energy filter dramatically improves the analytical and imaging capabilities of a TEM by allowing structural and chemical information carried by the electrons to be interrogated after interaction with the sample material. The requested Gatan Imaging Filter (GIF) upgrade in the "Supporting Analysis of Advanced Energy Materials and Soft Matter" will provide significant new capability to determine the structure and composition of materials at the nanoscale and provide new insights into how to enhance material functionality. The instrument upgrade forms part of a strategic investment in advanced microscopy provision at Bristol, and reflects ambitions for an internationally competitive materials characterization facility befitting the world-leading research it underpins. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and mass spectrometry (MS) are the pre-eminent techniques for studying chemical structure and reactions. They underpin nearly every program of research in catalysis (accelerating chemical reactions), synthesis (creation of new chemical entities) and materials (chemicals with defined properties and applications e.g. nanotechnology). The replacement of aging NMR and MS instruments as described in the "Underpinning Catalysis, Synthesis and Materials Chemistry" bundle will ensure continued cutting-edge investigations in these fields, and will provide new hardware capabilities that allow the study of molecular/chemical systems in previously impossible fashions, e.g., at low temperature for days at a time (NMR), or under unreactive atmospheres (MS). The new "Wideband Multi-channel Real-time Wireless Channel Emulator" facility will offer wideband (160MHz) multi-dimensional channel (8 x 8) wireless channel emulation for sub 6GHz wireless transceivers allowing repeatable experimentation with real-world channel models (3GPP and 802.11, plus user defined scenarios). The hardware can also be reconfigured to offer channel emulation with cascaded bandwidths synonymous with millimetre wave operation, thus driving forward the "5G and beyond" research agenda.

Power electronic conversion is a central element of energy conversion systems, acting as the interface between different forms of electrical energy and is an enabling technology for low-carbon economy. By 2030, it is expected that as much as 80% of all electric power will use Power Electronics somewhere within the energy supply chain between generation and consumption. Multilevel converter is one type of power electronics converter and can offer substantial benefits over the established two-level converter counterparts. These include reduced harmonic distortion, less voltage/current stress (dv/dt, di/dt), and mitigated electro-magnetic interference (EMI). Multilevel converters can be classified into multilevel voltage source converters (MVSCs) and multilevel current source converters (MCSCs). The MCSC exhibits several unique advantageous characteristics that may favour its adoption in the low voltage converters used in aircraft, hybrid/electric vehicles and micro renewable power generation. For example, inductors are used as the main energy storage elements in MCSCs, which are more reliable than capacitors in MVSCs. The MCSC has intrinsic current limiting capability, which can be used to constrain fault currents as well as leaving more time for device over-current protection. It may prevent further damage or failure of other components and avoid fire due to over-current. The research into MCSCs is at its infancy. The project therefore will explore the MCSCs through converter topology derivation, modulation techniques, inductor current balancing, loss and efficiency evaluation, etc. The successful investigations of these challenges will reveal the benefits of the MCSCs and facilitate the wide application of the converter. The research will be carried out through modelling, control, simulation and experimental verification. The study of power converter topologies is valued as enabling research in power electronic systems. A breakthrough in MCSCs will benefit the UK world-leading aerospace industry and renewable energy OEMs. Successful development of MCSCs will also feed into the component or sub-system supply chain, in exploiting new power semiconductor technologies (reverse blocking IGBT, wide-bandgap devices) and in requiring new power module configurations and new wound components.

Step changes in electrical machine (e-machine) performance are central to the success of future More-Electric and All-Electric transport initiatives and play a vital role in meeting the UK's Net Zero Emission target by 2050. E-machine technology roadmaps from the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) and Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) seek continuous power-density of between 9 and 25 kW/kg by 2035, in stark contrast to the 2-5 kW/kg available today. E-machine power-density is ultimately limited by the ability to dissipate internally generated losses, which manifest as heat, and the temperature rating of the electrical insulation system. The electrical conductors, referred to as windings, are often the dominant loss source and are conventionally formed from electrically insulated copper or aluminium conductors. Such conductors are manufactured using a drawing and insulation technique, which aside from improvements in materials, has seen little change in the past century. Exploring alternative manufacturing methods could allow reduction in losses, enhanced heat extraction and facilitate increased temperature ratings, ushering the necessary step changes in power-density and e-machine performance. Metal Additive Manufacturing (AM) is a process in which material is selectively bonded layer by layer to ultimately form a 3D part, enabling complex parts to be produced which may not be feasible using conventional methods. The design freedom offered by AM provides much sought-after opportunities to simultaneously reduce winding losses and packaging volume, improve thermal management and enable the use of high-temperature electrical insulation coatings. The design of such windings requires the development of new multi-physics design tools accounting for electromagnetic, thermo- and fluid- dynamics, mechanical and Design for AM (DfAM) aspects. It is important to have an understanding of the AM process, including the resulting material properties of parts and limitations on feature sizes and geometry in order to fully exploit the design freedoms whilst ensuring manufacturing feasibility. Establishing how to use build-supports and post-processes to improve component surface quality and facilitate application of electrical insulation coatings is another important aspect. To this end, I conducted initial studies in collaboration with academic and industrial partners focusing on shaped profile windings which have demonstrated the potential benefits of metal AM in e-machines and the drastic expansion of design possibilities to be explored. I intend to expand on this initial work through this fellowship which will provide me with flexible funding over a 4 + 3 year term to support The Electrical Machine Works, an ambitious and comprehensive research programme reminiscent of a Skunk Works project which draws together UK industry and academic expertise in AM, material science and multi-physics e-machine design to establish an internationally leading platform in this important emerging field. It is envisaged that the fellowship and associated platform, The Electrical Machine Works, will facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration with both industry and academia, catalysing high quality academic outputs disseminated through appropriate conference and journal publications, and the generation of Intellectual Property (IP), helping to keep the UK competitive in Power Electronics Machines and Drives (PEMD) and at the forefront of this area. If successful, in time The Electrical Machine Works will become a centre of excellence for AM in e-machines, contributing to a future skills and people pipeline and aiding in the raising of Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) in line with national priorities as expressed by the UK's Industrial Strategy, Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC), Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) and Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) Driving the Electric Revolution (DER) and Future Flight (FF) initiatives.

The proposed multidisciplinary network for Decarbonizing Transport through Electrification (DTE) will bring together research expertise to address the challenges of interactions between energy networks, future electric vehicle charging infrastructure ( including roadside wireless charging, the shift to autonomous vehicles), electric and hybrid aircraft and electrification of the rail network. The DTE network will bring together industry, academia and the public sector to identify the challenges limiting current implementation of an electrified, integrated transport system across the automotive, aerospace and rail sectors. The network will develop and sustain an interdisciplinary team to solve these challenges, leveraging external funding from both public and private sectors, aiming to be become self sustainable in future and growing to establish an International Conference. The network will be inclusive, with a focus EDI and mechanisms to support colleagues such as early career researchers. The DTE network will address low-carbon transport modes (road, rail and airborne) alongside associated electricity infrastructures to support existing and deliver future mobility needs, treating these as an integrated system embedded within the electricity energy vector with the goal of decarbonising the transport sector. It will explore drivers for change within the transport system including technology innovation, individual mobility needs and economic requirements for change alongside environmental and social concerns for sustainability and consider the role, social acceptance and impact of policies and regulations to result in emissions reduction. The network has three key "Work Streams" focusing on: (i) vehicular technologies; (ii) charging infrastructure; (iii) energy systems. These will be underpinned by cross-cutting themes around large scale data analysis and human factors. The network also has a dedicated Work Stream on people-based activities to enable us to widen our dissemination and impact across other communities. The outcome of the DTE network is expected to transform current practices and research in the decarbonization of transport (considering a number of different perspectives).