Abhishek will explore the potential of recently developed, UV-guiding hollow core fibres (HCFs) for application in Raman-based gas sensing. HCFs are a specialty optical fibre where light is guided with low loss in a gas-filled core surrounded by a carefully designed microstructured cladding. Confining a gas sample within the core of a HCF enables an unprecedented gas-light interaction length. By exploiting this, we can overcome the conventional sensitivity barrier to using Raman-based gas sensing. This project builds on our previous work but also moves in a new direction to determine the potential of this approach at UV wavelengths; this should lead to enhanced sensitivity plus the opportunity to investigate Resonant Raman effects. Abhishek's role will be primarily experimental but he will also collaborate with colleagues working in HCF design and fabrication. Plus, he will spend ~3 months over the project duration with IS-Instruments (ISI), a UK-based SME who are keen to further develop this technology and to explore new approaches in this area. Key tasks will include: Design UV-based HCF-based Raman gas sensing set-up. Consider portability and robust design, which could include novel integration of the HCF to improve repeatability and reduce device footprint; Instrument build and testing [at ORC]; specifically limit of detection with non-resonant and resonant Raman schemes; instrument response time; investigation of possible interaction of confined gases with silica glass surfaces inside the HCF; extension to novel chemical reaction monitoring in-situ; Working with ISI to explore and overcome challenges of instrument development based on this scheme.

Though the processes of policy engagement have recently rapidly and significantly developed, decision tables are still dominated by those who rarely live the problems people in the UK face. This decreases political engagement, increases mistrust in leaders, and can potentially lead to ineffective and unsustainable policy solutions. Fiction and poetry is currently under-utilised within the policy engagement world, and merely used as a tool of political propaganda, when it can also be used to bring people together, understand lived experiences, and be itself a powerful evidence base for policy makers to gain further insight in order to implement more effective solutions. This research will explore and provide practical recommendations to answering: 1) How can fiction and poetry be utilized by activists (Extinction Rebellion, The Intersectional Environmentalist) and policy makers to critically assess and improve policy processes and outcomes? 2) How can fiction and poetry be used to connect policy and activist agents for better public policy engagement? 2) What impact can/does fiction and poetry have on shaping individual and collective attitudes to key social and environmental issues, and how does this influence political behaviour in policy agents and activists? In critically evaluating the standpoints and perspectives of both activist(s) organisations and policy agents, we can utilise fiction and poetry in a way that allows for the facilitation of a critical space to challenge individual and collective attitudes, further extending fiction and poetry's function in politics to generate more effective, implementable and sustainable policy solutions.

TBC by supervisor

Transition to turbulence in high speed boundary layers

Whilst marine structures vary in scale from metres to hundreds of metres, they're all subject to complex fluid structure interactions. As the materials from which they're built become more scrutinised at the earliest of design stages for their environmental impact, the lack of understanding of sustainable materials' performance in dynamically loaded structures becomes an obstruction to their uptake. This research will explore the new opportunities of active control of morphing structures made possible by composite components working in conjunction with active control elements created using additive manufacturing techniques. More subtle tailoring of shape to local flow conditions has many maritime applications: notably tidal turbine blades, propellers, hydrofoils and rudders. It will form part of the Prosperity Partnership Intelligent structures for low noise environments between UoS and Baesystems, University of Nottingham and Lloyds Register