There is a growing body of scientific literature that suggests women are actively and passively discriminated against in academia, and that the problem is particularly persistent across Engineering and Sciences. For example, in 2012, a study was published where applications that had been randomly assigned a male or female name, were rated for a Physics Laboratory Manager position. Recruitment panels rated the male applicant as significantly more competent and hireable than the (identical) female applicant. They also offered a higher starting salary and more career mentoring to the male. The experiences of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) academics in Science and Engineering are considerably less well-studied than those of women. This may be as result of the extremely low numbers of LGBT staff that are out at work in Science and Engineering Faculties (as compared to the Arts and Humanities). One published study interviewed LGB Engineering students and found that engineering departments were viewed as hostile by the majority of LGB-identifying students and that most navigated this heteronormative engineering climate by 'passing' as heterosexual. The low numbers of openly LGBT staff would suggest that this is a common experience. The STEM Equals project aims to develop initiatives that will improve equality and diversity for female and LGBT staff across the Science and Engineering Faculty at the University of Strathclyde. We will then expand our initiatives to encompass other Faculties, reach out to collaborative research partners in industry and share best practice with other Universities throughout the UK.We will build on existing initiatives, supporting women within the Faculty of Engineering, to develop a comprehensive programme of gender- and LGBT-related equality and diversity activities. We aim to: encompass a broader equality and diversity agenda; fully include the Faculty of Science; develop a joint equality learning experience with key industry-university research partners; undertake research to understand specific challenges and develop new initiatives; reach out to other local Universities and strategic industry partners to share best practice.

The IGNITE Network+ aims to support sustainable, abundant, clean and equitable energy for all, by harnessing the talents of energy researchers from all backgrounds. The current lack of diversity in energy researchers stems not from a lack of interest, talent or ambition in underrepresented individuals, but from systemic inequalities in UK systems and institutions. The IGNITE Network+ will address diversity issues by: collecting data that can expose systemic inequality; designing, testing and implementing disruptive initiatives; monitoring the success of interventions and activities; identifying, disseminating and encouraging good practice. In parallel, we will work to support individuals from disadvantaged and underrepresented backgrounds through a mixture of organisational interventions, mentorship, advice and advocacy. To achieve the changes to energy systems needed to meet net-zero carbon by 2050 requires innovation, and its translation into industry, at pace. Increased diversity in energy researchers will significantly improve our chances of success. Research has shown that diversity in the workforce, if managed effectively, increases innovation, brings greater scientific impact and improves economic growth. Despite an increasing societal awareness of the value of equality and diversity, a decade of diversity initiatives has had little effect. UK engineering, in particular, has some of the poorest diversity statistics in Europe: 8% of professional engineers are female and 6% are black and minority ethnic (BAME), this compares to UK population statistics of 51% and 14% respectively. Reliable data on other forms of diversity such as disability and sexual orientation in engineering are unavailable. Diversity initiatives generally focus on two areas: diversifying the pipeline of applicants from schools and higher education, and, once within the profession, training/mentoring the underrepresented workforce to reach leadership positions. These initiatives are based on the assumption that young people from diverse backgrounds are not attracted to degrees in engineering and physical science subjects, and that once they enter the profession, they require support in order to 'stick at it' and succeed. In other words, implying that the problem lies with the individuals themselves. Evidence shows that this is not the case. In many other countries women make up 40% of engineering graduates and research shows that underrepresented workers perform very well, without the need to additional support, if the workplace is inclusive. The IGNITE Network+ aims to increase diversity in the energy sector by critically evaluating the systemic inequalities in policy and practice that prevent researchers from underrepresented backgrounds progressing through stages in their career pathway. We will: identify and challenge inequities in the standard research metrics used to assess researcher performance, disseminate our findings widely to universities, funding bodies, professional institutions and the energy industry; survey information on, and exchange best practice in, equality, diversity and inclusion with all partners; and pilot and encourage uptake of mechanisms to support diverse individuals within energy research through a mixture of mentorship, advice and advocacy, as well as training of senior managers and leaders. The reports and recommendations made by the IGNITE Network+ are expected to provide a compelling, scientifically-robust case for change, which will therefore have to be resourced accordingly by funding councils, individual institutions and UK/devolved Governments. If we can provoke that change through this project, then all talent can flourish in UK energy research, which will have a major impact on the UK's ability to meet net zero carbon targets by 2050.

Nuclear engineering has returned to the forefront of UK industrial attention with an unprecedented government economic infrastructure spend programme not seen for over 50 years. The combined life extension and new build programmes in Civil Nuclear, running in parallel with life extension and new build in submarine nuclear programmes places a significant demand on an area of engineering already dealing with a National and International skills shortage. Existing and new assets in both civil and naval sectors are important as civil nuclear power accounts for 21% of the UK's electrical generation and nuclear submarines provide the UK's independent continuous at-sea nuclear deterrent. A strategic partnership comprising Babcock International Group, BAM Nutall, Bruce Power, EDF-Energy, Kinectrics, The Weir Group and the University of Strathclyde will establish a nationally significant research programme to increase capability and multidisciplinary expertise focussed on enhanced through-life nuclear asset management. The overall aim of the partnership is two-fold. First, the drive is to create new knowledge and understanding to underpin the operational management/maintenance of existing infrastructure and to improve understanding and knowledge of lifetime and degradation processes. This will significantly increase the life of existing assets, minimise operational risk and reduce through life costs. Second, this novel knowledge can then be fed into the development of the next generation of nuclear plants and equipment, and hence translate these breakthroughs into the design and build of future nuclear assets. In doing this, the partnership will provide game changing knowledge, understanding and technology to deliver significant impact for the partners, the UK economy and global nuclear industry. Additionally it will ensure UK scientific and engineering companies remain at the forefront of global markets. The research in this programme targets low technology readiness level (TRL) advances that are required to support the ambitions of the industry partners and will deliver specific research outcomes which: - Deliver improved understanding and knowledge of lifetime and degradation processes; - Deliver a novel method or system for diagnosing or predicting degradation in plant; - Deliver novel predictive models that allow the lifetime of plant items to be extended; or - Deliver novel solutions to repairing critical plant to allow plant lifetime to be extended. The research programme and the pathway to impact will result in the whole life cycle of nuclear assets being more effectively implemented at a value higher than the sum of the individual parts. Operators will see increases in generation and reductions in costs, resulting in lower cost energy for consumers. As nuclear energy is a carbon neutral energy, investment in nuclear will help decrease CO2 emissions and global warming. The programme targets Energy Security and Efficiency, aiming to meet National Strategic Needs in the Nuclear Sector by investing in nuclear plant life extensions and efficiencies which will help increase electrical generation capacity and reduce the burden on existing electrical assets at a time when the UK faces a shortage in energy and electricity supplies in the coming years. In addition, some of the industry partners' interests span a number of sectors and the research themes in this programme are also highly relevant to other sectors including aerospace, energy and marine. Finally, an additional aim of the programme, relates to development of supply chains to deliver the next generation of technologies and components for nuclear assets. Moreover, as a number of the industrial members of the research centres are non-UK based, outputs from this research programme and subsequent products and services can be exported into international markets. This will lead to UK companies being part of foreign supply chains.

Reducing the demand for new materials and reducing embodied carbon will be one of the most significant challenges that the construction sector faces in the coming decades. The 20th century oversaw a 23-fold increase in accumulated resources extracted, including materials currently locked in buildings and infrastructure. This rate of consumption far exceeds the planet's capacity to regenerate, and has serious implications for global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Addressing this interlinked material demand and emissions problem requires a step-change in practice, and implementation of circular economic (CE) reduce-reuse-recycle strategies, where materials are highly valued and remain in use for as long as possible. However, detailed knowledge of material types and quantities that are locked in the building stock is lacking, making estimation of CE potential unfeasible. This project will develop a spatially multi-scale framework to assess CE potential in individual buildings, cities and countries. Application of this new framework to non-residential construction in the UK will enable estimation of CE potential in the existing stock - at building, city and national level. The framework will utilise bottom-up material flow analysis to assess building level material intensity, embodied carbon and CE potential. This will be combined with remote sensing and satellite data to assess city level building stocks, with demand modelling applied to explore future material demand scenarios - considering different construction mixes and optimised CE potential. The embodied carbon implications of this material demand will also be forecast so it can be considered as part of UK decarbonisation pathways. This will be essential as the proportion of embodied carbon in the whole life carbon of the built environment is only increasing, and will continue to do so as the electricity grid is decarbonised and thus operational GHG emissions are minimised. This research will build the evidence base to demonstrate the role the circular economy can have in tackling these challenges in construction, and provide the knowledge required to facilitate shifts in policy and practice.

This proposal concerns the creation of an internationally leading Centre for doctoral training in sustainable civil engineering. The widest possible definition of sustainability is adopted, with the Centre covering the effective whole life design and performance of major civil engineering infrastructure. This includes the re-appraisal and re-use of existing infrastructure and the opportunities afforded by multiple-use. This sector is widely reported to face major problems recruiting the type, quality and number of people required. The Centre will address the key challenges of fit for purpose, economic viability, environmental impact, resilience, infrastructure inter-dependence, durability as well as the impacts of changes in population, urbanisation, available natural resources, technology and societal expectations. This requires a broad-based approach to research training, effectively integrated across the wide range of disciplines presently encompassed within the civil engineering profession. Very few academic institutions are capable of providing in-depth training across this range of subjects. However, the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at Imperial College, recently (QS 2013) ranked number one in the world against its competitor departments, is uniquely placed within the UK to achieve exactly this. The Centre will recruit high quality, ambitious engineers. The doctoral training will combine intellectual challenge, technical content and rigor, with focused involvement in the practically important problems presently faced by the civil engineering profession. Advice and guidance from a high-level and broadly-based industrial advisory panel will be important in achieving the latter. Most importantly, the CDT will equip students with an appreciation of the wider context in which their research work is undertaken. The proposed programme is clearly designed to be PhD-PLUS; where the PLUS relates to a clear understanding of the breath of the problem within which their specific research sits, with a strong emphasis on sustainability. This latter component will include the industrial perspective, the societal need, the long term sustainability of the work and its immediate impact. The proposed CDT will make a difference by producing high quality civil engineers who understand global sustainability issues, in the widest possible context, and who have the skills and vision to eventually lead major infrastructure development projects or research programmes. Training will combine intensive taught training modules, group working around Grand Challenge projects in collaboration with industry and high quality research training. Project-based multi-disciplinary collaborative working will be at the core of the CDT training experience, modelling the way leading companies explore design options involving mixed disciplinary teams working together on ambitious projects. Working on a real-world problem, the students will have to interact extensively with others to understand the problem in detail, to develop holistic potential solutions, to assess these solutions and to identify the uncertainties and questions that can only be answered through further research. They will develop skills associated with coping with complexity, being able to make value-based decisions and being confident with interdisciplinary working. They will also be heavily involved in identifying and defining the research problem within the wider multi-faceted project and so will gain a much broader perspective of how specific research developing responsible innovation fits within a large civil engineering project. Overall, this approach is much more likely to develop the additional skills required by industry compared to conventional doctoral civil engineering training.