In this research programme, planetary scientists and engineers from the University of Glasgow and the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre have joined forces to answer important questions concerning the origin and evolution of asteroids, the Moon and Mars. The emphasis of our work is on understanding the thermal histories of these planetary bodies over a range of time and distance scales, and how water and carbon-rich molecules have been transported within and between them. One part of the consortium will explore the formation and subsequent history of asteroids. Our focus is on primitive asteroids, which have changed little since they formed 4500 million years ago within a cloud of dust and gas called the solar nebula. These bodies are far smaller than the planets, but are scientifically very important because they contain water and carbon-rich molecules, both of which are essential to life. We want to understand the full range of materials that went to form these asteroids, and where in the solar nebular they came from. Although they are very primitive, most of these asteroids have been changed by chemical reactions that were driven by liquid water, itself generated by the melting of ice. We will ask whether the heat needed to melt this ice was produced by the decay of radioactive elements, or by collisions with other asteroids. The answer to this question has important implications for understanding how asteroids of all types evolved, and what we may find when samples of primitive asteroids are collected and returned to Earth. Pieces of primitive asteroids also fall to Earth as meteorites, and bring with them some of their primordial water, along with molecules that are rich in carbon. Many scientists think that much of the water on Earth today was obtained from outer space, and consortium researchers would like to test this idea. In order to understand the nature and volume of water and carbon that would have been delivered by meteorites, we first need to develop reliable ways to distinguish extraterrestrial carbon and water from the carbon and water that has been added to the meteorite after it fell to Earth. We plan to do this by identifying 'fingerprints' of terrestrial water and carbon so that they can be subtracted from the extraterrestrial components. One of the main ways in which this carbon was delivered to Earth during its earliest times was by large meteorites colliding with the surface of our planet at high velocities. Thus we also wish to understand the extent to which the extraterrestrial carbon was preserved or transformed during these energetic impact events. The formation and early thermal history of the moon is another area of interest for the consortium. In particular, we will ask when its rocky crust was formed, and use its impact history to determine meteorite flux throughout the inner solar system. To answer these questions we will analyse meteorites and samples collected by the Apollo and Luna missions to determine the amounts of chemical elements including argon and lead that these rocks contain. Information on the temperature of surface and sub-surface regions of Mars can help us to understand processes including the interaction of the planet's crust with liquid water. In order to be able to explore these processes using information on the thermal properties of martian rocks that will soon to be obtained by the NASA InSight lander, we will undertake a laboratory study of the effects of heating and cooling on a simulated martian surface. Hot water reaching the surface of Mars from its interior may once have created environments that were suitable for life to develop, and minerals formed by this water could have preserved the traces of any microorganisms that were present. We will assess the possibility that such springs could have preserved traces of past martian life by examining a unique high-altitude hot spring system on Earth.

Knowledge Exchange Hub Design In Action (KEH DIA) is a national network of organisations (academia and industry,) committed to working in effective collaborations, through the ethos of knowledge exchange to deliver a working model of multi-sector participation that meets the requirements for products, processes and services designed for the demands of tomorrows users. It will build economic capability through design-led innovation to ensure that Scotland can maximise its capacity to operate effectively and meet the imperatives of building new economies for future world markets. The aims of KEH DIA are to: Engage design and mobilise entrepreneurial capacity in five key sectors of food, sport, ICT, rural economies and wellbeing Develop a knowledge exchange model for innovation Develop a collaborative partnership model for Scotland that builds upon existing public support mechanisms Understand opportunities for growth in international markets Develop hard and soft metrics for the creative economy KEH DIA offers a genuine alternative to the existing approach to knowledge exchange, which is project-based and demand-led. It currently occurs in isolation and when the need for it has been identified. The KEH DIA is a unique proactive model of knowledge exchange, harnessing the strategic thinking capabilities of design and designers to work on problem identification through dialogue with multiple stakeholders, in order to envision multiple perspectives / scenarios for emerging issues and single complex problems. The core KE activities undertaken by the strategic partners include 15 'Sandpit' events (which is an extreme model for facilitating innovation) resulting in a minimum of 20 Small Grant Scheme awards to develop prototypes, 10-40 support grants for micro-enterprises to fully engage in the process, an interactive Design Portal, Virtual Incubator and a series of 40 Change Audit Grants. The four Scottish art colleges - Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, Edinburgh College of Art, Glasgow School of Art, Gray's School of Art, University of Abertay Dundee, University of St Andrews, Creative Scotland, Cultural Enterprise, Scottish Enterprise, DC Thomson, and the V&A at Dundee are the key partners, working in conjunction with an additional 30 companies. These companies, range widely from independents to SMEs to multi-nationals and collectively our partners have pledged £1, 470, 563 in-kind support. They are drawn to the project by the KEH DIA's approach to participatory knowledge exchange with many more keen to engage with the truly collaborative approach that the Hub will take. Developing strong networks between academic institutions and various companies to disseminate the research and working practices that arise as a result of the KEH DIA will be key to strengthening the creative economy and to embedding the innovative approach of design throughout these networks. KEH DIA will adopt a wide-ranging dissemination strategy working in partnership with all of its strategic partners to build understanding of design across Scotland for all audiences. It will also use a variety of visual means to articulate design as strategy for innovation; these will be distributed and exhibited across Scotland in a variety of traditional and non-traditional spaces to build momentum, visibility and an appetite to engage with the people and process that are design. Design is the strategy for effective innovation through partnership and provides a model that places design excellence at the heart of its delivery, building an inclusive culture with design values, which will generate a perceptual change in the image of Scotland as a design driven culture. The legacy is to embed in each region in Scotland an innovation strategy, that demonstrates the transformational effect of design to a range of audiences, enabling insights gained to become an established framework for companies to use strategically as a tool for growth.