Doctoral Training Partnerships: a range of postgraduate training is funded by the Research Councils. For information on current funding routes, see the common terminology at https://www.ukri.org/apply-for-funding/how-we-fund-studentships/. Training grants may be to one organisation or to a consortia of research organisations. This portal will show the lead organisation only.

We request travel and subsistence support in the form of a PATT-linked grant to enable observers in the Astronomy group at the University of St Andrews to take up telescope time awarded by peer review panels such as PATT, on major international facilities. In total, we ask for a budget of 23300 GBP to support our research programs on exoplanets, star formation, and galaxy evolution. In particular, we ask for funding for the following projects: - to conduct guaranteed time observations with the Harps-North spectrograph at the TNG in La Palma, to confirm new exoplanets - to study the initial stages of star and planet formation using optical, infrared and submm/mm cameras at international facilities - to secure data on large optical telescopes to investigate the detailed properties of galaxies

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

Marine animal entanglement in fishing gear is a serious concern, considered by the International Whaling Commission to be the most significant marine mammal welfare issue of our time. In Scottish waters entanglement in fishing gear (static creel gear in particular) is the largest identified cause of non-natural mortality in baleen whales, and based on data collected by the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS) over the past 20 years, the incidence, rate and range of species impacted are increasing. Entanglements have conservation, welfare, economic, political and human safety implications, but a thorough scientific understanding of impact is data deficient due to underreporting of events by fishermen and the low likelihood of carcases making landfall or being retrievable for post-mortem examination. The Scottish inshore creel fishery makes an important economic, social and cultural contribution to many fragile Scottish coastal communities, employing ~2,400 fishers (~3,300 across the value chain) and generating a total value to the Scottish economy of ~£102m per year. Creels are widely considered to be a very selective and environmentally benign method of fishing, conducted by small (<10m) vessels with minimal bycatch or impact on the seabed. However currently there is no limit on the number of creels deployed in Scottish waters and scant data on the number in use, but industry consensus is that creel numbers have increased dramatically over the last decade. Therefore with thousands of miles of associated rope deployed in the water at any given time, entanglements can, and do, occur. There are still many important knowledge gaps in entanglement research in Scotland. For example, the association between creel fishing effort and the incidence, seasonality, severity or outcome of marine animal entanglements is unknown. Little information is available on the amount of active or derelict fishing gear or the amount of associated rope, gear redundancy or rates of gear loss. Current legislation regarding monitoring is considered by key stakeholders to be lacking (e.g. Regulation 812/2004) and with the development of the Scottish-led UK Dolphin and Porpoise Conservation Strategy and four proposed Marine Protected Areas for mobile species currently under consultation, further research to better understand and mitigate marine animal entanglements is timely. This project will build on work completed through the Scottish Inshore Fisheries Integrated Data System (SIFIDS) project and the Scottish Entanglement Alliance (SEA) project. It will take a transdisciplinary approach, combining emerging technological capacity in data collection from Scotland's inshore fisheries, with behavioural science methodologies into fisher's attitudes and motivations, in order to understand and mitigate the incidence of marine animal entanglements in Scotland. Preliminary work modelling fisher's decision making with respect to the choice "not to fish" (SIFIDS) showed that understanding behavioural and attitudinal factors was informative for understanding effort, and key to future decision support tools for policy makers, regulators and industry. Therefore quantitative evidence to underpin our understanding of the impacts of, and risk factors for, marine animal entanglement in static fishing gears, and behaviourally-informed, evidence-based intervention to promote fishers' reporting of entanglement events will be gathered and combined to offer novel and potentially very effective approach to fisheries co-management to minimise the negative consequences of marine entanglement in Scottish waters. Key to this is meaningful engagement with fishers, whose expertise and understanding of the environment in which they work is essential to shape workable mitigation measures.

This research proposal has its origin in the special properties of the selectively fluorinated molecule, all-cis-1,2,3,4,5,6-hexafluorocyclohexane, which we prepared and reported in 2015. This is cyclohexane ring system which emerges as the most polar aliphatic compound recorded and it has interesting properties such as the ability to associate with both cations and anions. The cyclohexane ring is highly unusual in that it has polarised faces. The fluorine face is negatively polarised and the hydrogen face is positively polarised. In 2015 this ring system was challenging to make, and particularly to make derivatives, however in 2017 a direct hydrogenation method was developed by Glorius's lab in Munster, which allows access to derivatived forms of the ring system directly from aromatic precursors. Relevant to this proposal will be the synthesis of a series of substituted pentafluorocyclohexanes, where all substituents are on the same side of the cyclohexane ring. With this development, this research programme aims to explore applications of these pentafluorocyclohexane ring systems, exploring properties relevant to medicinal and biological chemistry (interactions with amino acids and proteins) as well as in organic materials and we have selected a particular focus in the areas of liquid crystals. In the context of medicinal and biological chmeistry we want to explore how these ring systems will be expected to interact and bind with proteins. The negatively and positively polarised faces have the potential to make interactions with amino acid side chains with a complementary electrostatic profile. This will be explored by tagged 'pull-down' assays and proteins of high affinity will be identified by proteomics techniques. Candidate proteins will be progressed to co-crytsalisation structural (X-ray) studies for close structural analysis. In a complementary approach we will prepare tripeptides, from amino acid combinations that are known to be predisposed towards crystallinity. We will prepare a range of these with an amino acid with an all cis-2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorocyclohexyl side chain to explore how it interacts with other amino acid side chains. This study will extend to exploring the binding of this ring system to viral proteases, by making appropriate changes to drug molecules by replacing cyclohexyl or fluoroaromatic rings with the all cis-2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorocyclohexyl side chain. Structural biology(X-ray) analysis will allow us to determine how these ring systems interact with the protein, and this will inform medicinal chemists as to the potential of this motif. The programme will extend to CF3 containing cyclohexanes, but particulary rings with more than one CF3 and with a defined stereochemistry. We have recently demonstrated that cyclohexanes with multiple CF3 groups attached to the aliphatic ring can also be accessed efficiently by the direct hydrogenation of arylCF3 precursors. The programme will extend to exploring the preparation, properties and chemistry of cyclohexanes with two and three CF3 groups with defined stereochemistries. These are also highly polarised aliphatics and these novel motifs will be introduced into liquid crystal architectures to exemplify properties and potential. The liquid crystal aspect is supported by Merck Liquid Crystal Division in Darmstadt who will carry out detailed analysis of prpared materials. In overview the programme will explore an exciting class of organic chemistry motif which have potential to contribute new properties in a range of discovery chemistry arenas.