Soft materials include colloids, polymers, emulsions, foams, surfactant solutions, powders, and liquid crystals. Domestic examples are (respectively) paint, engine oil, mayonnaise, shaving cream, shampoo, talcum powder and the slimy mess that appears when a bar of soap is left in contact with a water. High tech examples of each type are used in drug delivery, health foods, environmental cleanup, electronic displays, and in many other sectors of the economy. Soft materials also include the lubricant that stops our joints scraping together; blood; mucus, and the internal skeleton that controls the mechanics of individual cells. The intention of this Programme is to use a combination of theoretical and experimental work, alongside large scale computer simulation, to establish scientific design principles that will allow the creation of a new generation of soft materials demanded by 21st Century technologies. This will require significant advances in our scientific understanding of the generic, as well as the specific, connections between how a material is made and what its final properties are. As soft materials become more complex and sophisticated, they will increasingly involve microstructured and composite architectures created from components that may be living, synthetic, or a combination of the two. The design principles we seek will ultimately allow scientists to start from a specification of the interactions between these components, and then create new materials by intentional design, rather than simply trying out various ideas and hoping that one of them works. There could be great rewards from being able to do this. Even in long-established industries (such as the food industry, home cleaning, personal care products, paints etc.) products made of soft materials are continually being updated or replaced. This is often in order to make them healthier, safer, or more environmentally friendly to produce. Currently, however, the process of developing new soft materials, or improving existing ones, usually involves a large element of trial and error. A set of design principles, based on secure fundamental science, could speed up that process. This would reduce costs, increase competitiveness, and improve the well-being of consumers. The benefits would be even greater in new and emerging industries such as renewable energy. Soft composite materials have many potential applications for use in high-energy low-weight batteries; low cost solar cells; hydrogen fuel cells; and possibly biofuels. However the design requirements for these applications are demanding, and often involve quite complex microstructures with specific functionality. The same applies in other emerging areas, such as industrial biotechnology and tissue engineering, where soft materials are used to create specific environments in which enzymes, cells or other live components can be used to perform particular tasks. As well as shortening lead-times and costs, by establishing the general principles needed to put new design ideas into practice, we hope to allow innovative soft-matter products to be created that otherwise might never come to market at all.

Soft matter and functional interfaces are ubiquitous! Be it manufactured plastic products (polymers), food (colloids), paint and other decorative coatings (thin films and coatings), contact lenses (hydrogels), shampoo and washing powder (complex mixtures of the above) or biomaterials such as proteins and membranes, soft matter and soft matter surfaces and interfaces touch almost every aspect of human activity and underpin processes and products across all industrial sectors - sectors which account for 17.2% of UK GDP and over 1.1M UK employees (BIS R&D scoreboard 2010 providing statistics for the top 1000 UK R&D spending companies). The importance of the underlying science to UK plc prompted discussions in 2010 with key manufacturing industries in personal care, plastics manufacturing, food manufacturing, functional and performance polymers, coatings and additives sectors which revealed common concerns for the provision of soft matter focussed doctoral training in the UK and drove this community to carry out a detailed "gap analysis" of training provision. The results evidenced a national need for researchers trained with a broad, multidisciplinary experience across all areas of soft matter and functional interfaces (SOFI) science, industry-focussed transferable skills and business awareness alongside a challenging PhD research project. Our 18 industrial partners, who have a combined global work force of 920,000, annual revenues of nearly £200 billion, and span the full SOFI sector, emphasized the importance of a workforce trained to think across the whole range of SOFI science, and not narrowly in, for example, just polymers or colloids. A multidisciplinary knowledge base is vital to address industrial SOFI R&D challenges which invariably address complex, multicomponent formulations. We therefore propose the establishment of a CDT in Soft Matter and Functional Interfaces to fill this gap. The CDT will deliver multidisciplinary core science and enterprise-facing training alongside PhD projects from fundamental blue-skies science to industrially-embedded applied research across the full spectrum of SOFI science. Further evidence of national need comes from a survey of our industrial partners which indicates that these companies have collectively recruited >100 PhD qualified staff over the last 3 years (in a recession) in SOFI-related expertise, and plan to recruit (in the UK) approximately 150 PhD qualified staff members over the next three years. These recruits will enter research, innovation and commercial roles. The annual SOFI CDT cohort of 16 postgraduates could be therefore be recruited 3 times over by our industrial partners alone and this demand is likely to be the tip of a national-need iceberg.

Our Hub research is driven by the societal need to produce medicines and materials for modern living through novel manufacturing processes. The enormous value of the industries manufacturing these high value products is estimated to generate £50 billion p.a. in the UK economy. To ensure international competitiveness for this huge UK industry we must urgently create new approaches for the rapid design of these systems, controlling how molecules self-assemble into small crystals, in order to best formulate and deliver these for patient and customer. We must also develop the engineering tools, process operations and control methods to manufacture these products in a resource-efficient way, while delivering the highest quality materials. Changing the way in which these materials are made, from what is called "batch" crystallisation (using large volume tanks) to "continuous" crystallisation (a more dynamic, "flowing" process), gives many advantages, including smaller facilities, more efficient use of expensive ingredients such as solvents, reducing energy requirements, capital investment, working capital, minimising risk and variation and, crucially, improving control over the quality and performance of the particles making them more suitable for formulation into final products. The vision is to quickly and reliably design a process to manufacture a given material into the ideal particle using an efficient continuous process, and ensure its effective delivery to the consumer. This will bring precision medicines and other highly customisable projects to market more quickly. An exemplar is the hubs exciting innovation partnership with Cancer Research UK. Our research will develop robust design procedures for rapid development of new particulate products and innovative processes, integrate crystallisation and formulation to eliminate processing steps and develop reconfiguration strategies for flexible production. This will accelerate innovation towards redistributed manufacturing, more personalisation of products, and manufacturing closer to the patient/customer. We will develop a modular MicroFactory for integrated particle engineering, coupled with a fully integrated, computer-modelling approach to guide the design of processes and materials at molecule, particle and formulation levels. This will help optimise what we call the patient-centric supply chain and provide customisable products. We will make greater use of targeted experimental design, prediction and advanced computer simulation of new formulated materials, to control and optimise the processes to manufacture them. Our talented team of scientists will use the outstanding capabilities in the award winning £34m CMAC National Facility at Strathclyde and across our 6 leading university spokes (Bath, Cambridge, Imperial, Leeds, Loughborough, Sheffield). This builds on existing foundations independently recognised by global industry as 'exemplary collaboration between industry, academia and government which represents the future of pharmaceutical manufacturing and supply chain R&D framework'. Our vision will be translated from research into industry through partnership and co-investment of £31m. This includes 10 of world's largest pharmaceutical companies (eg AstraZeneca, GSK), chemicals and food companies (Syngenta, Croda, Mars) and 19 key technology companies (Siemens, 15 SMEs) Together, with innovation spokes eg Catapult (CPI) we aim to provide the UK with the most advanced, integrated capabilities to deliver continuous manufacture, leading to better materials, better value, more sustainable and flexible processes and better health and well-being for the people of the UK and worldwide. CMAC will create future competitive advantage for the UK in medicines manufacturing and chemicals sector and is strongly supported by industry / government bodies, positioning the UK as the investment location choice for future investments in research and manufacturing.

Indonesia is the world's 3rd largest cocoa producer, producing around 400,000 tonnes pa of cocoa, primarily in small family farms, and this industry contributes ~14% to GDP. Cocoa farming is the main source of income for more than one million smallholder farmers and their families, therefore the economic and environmental sustainability of cocoa production is key for the long-term social and economic stability of farming communities. The sector though is facing significant technical and business challenges which lead to low farming productivities and consequently to low profitability for farmers. Despite a number of public-private initiatives over the last 8 years, significant changes are still needed to improve the sustainability of cocoa production and have an impact on farmers' welfare and economic stability. These include implementing best-known farming practices (e.g. efficient use of fertilisers and pesticides), developing approaches for the exploitation of by-products, improving post-harvesting techniques for cocoa beans, improving infrastructure and transportation, developing education and training programmes for farmers and promoting the development of farmers' co-operatives. The commercial exploitation of cocoa pod husks through their conversion to added-value products, such as biomaterials for food and non-food uses, is a promising strategy and a timely opportunity to address effectively and efficiently some of the sustainability issues of cocoa production. This is high up on the R&D agenda of our industrial partner (Mars Chocolate Ltd) and Indonesian government agencies. Currently, most farmers, after extracting the beans, leave the pod husks on cocoa plantations. This can return some nutrients to the soil (in the absence of any other fertiliser being used), but untreated pod husks can lead to increased pest and disease pressure from cocoa pod borer moth and black pod disease, thus decreasing the productivity of the farms. The aim of the project is to develop a novel value chain for cocoa pod husks which upon implementation will have an impact on the economic stability and welfare of cocoa farmers. The specific objectives are to: (i) elicit the willingness of farmers in Indonesia to adopt the proposed practice changes and assess how these might be aligned with farmers' preferences; (ii) develop scalable process designs for the efficient fractionation of cocoa pod husks into non-soluble fibre, soluble fibre and lignin fractions; (iii) identify and evaluate value-adding applications for such fractions with market potential within the food and non-food sectors; (iv) understand the potential impacts on soil properties and soil nutrient cycling of off-farm removal of husks; and (v) propose a supply chain based on scale and mode of operations (e.g. centralised or decentralised) and evaluate the economic viability from a farmer's and private sector perspective. Developing a new value chain based on the use of cocoa pod husks husks will minimise potentially negative environmental effects associated with their disposal and diversify the activities of farmers through the collection, primary processing and transportation of the husks. All these changes will considerably improve the sustainability of cocoa production. This can potentially have significant impact on the farmers' economic stability and welfare through increased household income, incorporation of modern and sustainable farming practices, public-private investments in infrastructure, manufacturing operations and transportation, introduction to new technologies, development of new skill sets, creation of jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities. The project's outcomes will make a strong case for use of the novel value chain and identify the socio-economic and technological challenges (e.g. adoption of new farming practices by farmers, process efficiency and scalability) and opportunities as well as the risks for its successful implementation.

To secure a continued supply of safe, tasty, affordable and functional/healthy proteins while supporting Net Zero goals and future-proofing UK food security, a phased-transition towards low-emission alternative proteins (APs) with a reduced reliance on animal agriculture is imperative. However, population-level access to and acceptance of APs is hindered by a highly complex marketplace challenged by taste, cost, health and safety concerns for consumers, and the fear of diminished livelihoods by farmers. Furthermore, complex regulatory pathways and limited access to affordable and accessible scale-up infrastructure impose challenges for industry and SMEs in particular. Synergistic bridging of the UK's trailblazing science and innovation strengths in AP with manufacturing power is key to realising the UK's ambitious growth potential in AP of £6.8B annually and could create 25,000 jobs across multiple sectors. The National Alternative Protein Innovation Centre (NAPIC), a cohesive pan-UK centre, will revolutionise the UK's agri-food sector by harnessing our world-leading science base through a co-created AP strategy across the Discovery?Innovation?Commercialisation pipeline to support the transition to a sustainable, high growth, blended protein bioeconomy using a consumer-driven approach, thereby changing the economics for farmers and other stakeholders throughout the supply chain. Built on four interdisciplinary knowledge pillars, PRODUCE, PROCESS, PERFORM and PEOPLE covering the entire value chain of AP, we will enable an efficacious and safe translation of new transformative technologies unlocking the benefits of APs. Partnering with global industry, regulators, investors, academic partners and policymakers, and engaging in an open dialogue with UK citizens, NAPIC will produce a clear roadmap for the development of a National Protein Strategy for the UK. NAPIC will enable us to PRODUCE tasty, nutritious, safe, and affordable AP foods and feedstocks necessary to safeguard present and future generations, while reducing concerns about ultra-processed foods and assisting a just-transition for producers. Our PROCESS Pillar will catalyse bioprocessing at scale, mainstreaming cultivated meat and precision fermentation, and diversify AP sources across the terrestrial and aquatic kingdoms of life, delivering economies of scale. Delivering a just-transition to an AP-rich future, we will ensure AP PERFORM, both pre-consumption, and post-consumption, safeguarding public health. Finally, NAPIC is all about PEOPLE, guiding a consumers' dietary transition, and identifying new business opportunities for farmers, future-proofing the UK's protein supply against reliance on imports. Working with UK industry, the third sector and academia, NAPIC will create a National Knowledge base for AP addressing the unmet scientific, commercial, technical and regulatory needs of the sector, develop new tools and standards for product quality and safety and simplify knowledge transfer by catalysing collaboration. NAPIC will ease access to existing innovation facilities and hubs, accelerating industrial adoption underpinned by informed regulatory pathways. We will develop the future leaders of this rapidly evolving sector with bespoke technical, entrepreneurial, regulatory and policy training, and promote knowledge exchange through our unrivalled international network of partners across multiple continents including Protein Industries Canada and the UK-Irish Co-Centre, SUREFOOD. NAPIC will provide a robust and sustainable platform of open innovation and responsible data exchange that mitigates risks associated with this emerging sector and addresses concerns of consumers and producers. Our vision is to make "alternative proteins mainstream for a sustainable planet" and our ambition is to deliver a world-leading innovation and knowledge centre to put the UK at the forefront of the fights for population health equity and against climate change.