WBS partner in £3.8 million EPSRC Science and Innovation Award

From the Warwick Business School Press centre

The recipients of the second round of Science and Innovation Awards have been announced by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) today, Friday 17 March.

Warwick Business School working with Warwick University departments Computer Science and Mathematics has been awarded £3.8 million to set up the Centre for Discrete Mathematics and its Applications led by Professor Mike Paterson of Warwick with Professor Bo Chen as a member of the Executive Team leading WBS's input. It will focus on both the interface between mathematics and computer science and the fundamentals of operational research. The Centre will generate three new lectureships, an ongoing stream of postdoctoral research assistants and a doctoral training school offering 4-year PhDs. The University will also offer a new professorship in Computer Science. An Industrial Affiliates Programme will transfer knowledge and solutions to industry and other users. Contact: Professor Mike Paterson, University of Warwick, Tel: 024 7652 3194, E-mail: Mike.Paterson@dcs.warwick.ac.uk.

"As the only UK recipient of a Science & Innovation Award with fundamentals of operational research (OR) at its core, we are extremely pleased to have this strategic support in recognition of the lack of UK capacity in developing new theories and methodologies in OR. The establishment of the Centre for Discrete Mathematics and Its Applications (CDMA) will provide a solid platform for interdisciplinary research with contributions from mathematics, computer science and OR. . We are confident that our OR team at Warwick Business School will make unique contributions to CDMA." said Professor Chen.

Funding has been awarded to build the UK's research base in the areas of nanometrology, statistics, plasma physics and the Mathematics-Computer Science interface.

Science and Innovation Awards were introduced by EPSRC in 2005 to address the issue of giving support to strategic areas of research that are particularly at risk. In a changing research landscape, as undergraduates choose new options, more traditional core subjects are encountering declining numbers of entrants. This in turn affects the base of academic staff in our universities, which impacts on the nation's capacity to produce the well-trained people and research leaders of tomorrow.

EPSRC, together with the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) and the Department for Employment and Learning Northern Ireland (DELNI), will fund 7 new programmes with a value of over £27 million.

Professor John O'Reilly, Chief Executive of EPSRC, said: "A strong research base in engineering and the physical sciences is vital to the UK's success as a knowledge economy. These latest awards underscore EPSRC's commitment, working in partnership with the Funding Councils and the Department for Employment and Learning Northern Ireland, to address shortages of academics to lead research teams in some crucially important areas."

The projects will create new centres of research activity in their respective fields in existing research environments that are encouraging and supportive of innovative approaches.

£8.8 Million EPSRC Research award for Warwick ....of which £5 Million Fuses UK Astrophysics and Fusion Energy Research

From The University of Warwick Media Centre

The University of Warwick has just been awarded £8.8 million in the Science and Innovation Awards announced by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council This is the largest award to any university in this round of EPSRC's Science and Innovation Awards.

The first award is for a £5 million initiative that will fuse the talents of two of the UK's leading teams researching plasma physics. The new "Centre for Fusion, Space and Astrophysics" (CFSA) will see astrophysicists researching the high energy plasmas in the solar corona working alongside researchers who are exploring how to confine plasma in order to produce useful fusion power here on earth. The new centre will open up significant new opportunities in astrophysics, fusion and plasma physics in the UK and draw many more physics students to take up research in this crucial field.

This EPSRC Science and Innovation award supports research into the fundamental physics of the exotic fourth state of matter known as plasma. Plasmas are the hottest things in the universe. Scientists study plasmas to understand our universe, and to harness fusion energy for electricity generation- fusion power is one possible replacement for fossil fuels in our energy supply. One example of this collaborative research is the results coming from astrophysicists' study of plasma turbulence in the solar wind through data gathered by space missions which has obvious parallels with the problems fusion power researchers face dealing with the difficulties of plasma confinement of nuclear fusion.

The new Centre builds on the successful record of collaboration between the University of Warwick astroplasma physicists, who have a strong track record in the physics of the sun and solar system, and fusion plasma physicists at UKAEA Culham Science Centre. The CFSA will be directed by Professor Sandra Chapman (who leads Plasma Astrophysics at Warwick) and Professor Richard Dendy (who leads the Theoretical Physics Group at UKAEA Culham). It will specialize in interdisciplinary research linking academic astrophysics to practical energy research.

This initiative follows a government Science Panel report which noted that the Euratom-supported JET facilities, at Culham, are a "flagship for physics" that is under-utilized by UK universities. It further noted Culham's world leadership in developing the spherical tokamak concept. The group thought that more engagement by Culham with university departments was essential and pointed out that university space and astrophysics research has the greatest overlap with fusion plasma physics, and "records with pleasure the steady flow of articles applying fusion plasma techniques in space and astrophysics". The Science Panel stated that "the Culham group and its Warwick collaborators are among the world leaders".

As well as producing cutting edge science, the CFSA will play a key role in addressing the shortage of UK researchers working in this field. In particular UK universities possess only a handful of researchers whose primary interest is in magnetic confinement fusion plasmas and there is a real concern about where the next generation of UK fusion physicists will come from.

The University of Warwick and Culham have already been active in addressing this problem. They initiated a programme of joint PhD student supervision that has attracted some of the brightest students to take up research in these fields. The Centre will also encourage many more undergraduate students to study plasma physics and perhaps take it forward as a research career. This partnership will enable a far more extensive programme of final year undergraduate projects to be undertaken, in collaboration with "big science" fusion facilities at Culham which will generate even more interest among physics students and help supply future generations of UK plasma and fusion scientists.

The second award is £3.8 million to set up a Centre for Discrete Mathematics and its Applications led by Professor Mike Paterson. The Warwick project will be rooted in three internationally recognised departments at the University of Warwick: Computer Science, Mathematics and the Business School. It will focus on both the interface between mathematics and computer science and the fundamentals of operational research. The Centre will generate three new lectureships/associate professorships, an ongoing stream of postdoctoral research assistants and a doctoral training school. The University will also offer a new professorship in Computer Science. An Industrial Affiliates Programme will transfer knowledge and solutions to industry and other users.

Professor Bo Chen as a member of the Executive Team leading WBS's input.on this award said:

"As the only UK recipient of a Science & Innovation Award with fundamentals of operational research (OR) at its core, we are extremely pleased to have this strategic support in recognition of the lack of UK capacity in developing new theories and methodologies in OR. The establishment of the Centre for Discrete Mathematics and Its Applications (CDMA) will provide a solid platform for interdisciplinary research with contributions from mathematics, computer science and OR. . We are confident that our OR team at Warwick Business School will make unique contributions to CDMA."

For further details on this Centre for Discrete Mathematics and its Applications contact: Professor Mike Paterson, University of Warwick, Tel: 024 7652 3194, E-mail: Mike.Paterson@dcs.warwick.ac.uk

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