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.

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.

2.1 Unmet Clinical Need Bronchiectasis (BE) is a progressive respiratory (lung) disease characterised by cough, mucus and severe, recurrent bacterial chest infections with high rates of ill health, time off work and marked reductions in health-related quality-of-life. In almost half of cases, the cause of bronchiectasis is unknown (idiopathic) and treatment in these patients remains "best guess" or symptom driven. Bronchiectasis presents a huge challenge to patients and doctors because no effective treatment is available. Both the world's first national guidelines (authored by coapplicants of this proposal) and Cochrane "best evidence" review of Bronchiectasis confirms this situation, reporting that small single-centre studies with ill-defined patient groups have hampered the few attempts to study clinical interventions /drug trials, rendering them of unproven use. Previously the MRC sponsored UK trials in Bronchiectasis in the 1950s: Since then major developments have been sorely lacking. This partly reflects a feeling that BE is rare. However recent evidence is against this: In the UK and the US healthcare demands due to BE and mortality rates are increasing with 70,000+ hospital admissions in the UK 2011. Based on projections from US health insurance claims there are 100,000 US patients. We have limited UK data on how common this bronchiectasis is: Experts have however estimated 30-60,000 patients are affected in the UK but recent research suggests over 100,000 are affected. Whilst the small case series reported so far demonstrate that "unknown cause" (idiopathic) and post-infectious bronchiectasis are the leading causes, bronchiectasis can also complicate common lung diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or immune problems e.g. Rheumatoid arthritis. Cystic Fibrosis is an inherited (genetic) form of bronchiectasis which like COPD associated bronchiectasis has different outcomes, microbiology and management needs from Bronchiectasis. Cystic fibrosis is rare (10,000 cases in the UK) yet has made significant gains through multicentre working and coordinating research. To date no large studies of the genetic causes of idiopathic bronchiectasis have been conducted as this requires large numbers of patients beyond that a single centre can provide. There is currently no registry of well characterised patients with Bronchiectasis anywhere outside the US. The US national registry was commenced recently and has 1200 patients that differ to UK patients. There is an urgent need to build a large cohort of UK patients with Bronchiectasis in which large enough studies can be undertaken; adding in a biobank is a key additional strength. Brief description of the Cohort and Partnership The cohort will comprise 3500 symptomatic adult patients with a High Resolution CT scans demonstrating bronchiectasis. Patients will be characterised on the basis of clinical history, clinical examination and detailed investigations that are already part of routine clinical care with yearly reviews. A DNA biobank (from a blood sample) will be collected and will form a world's first in bronchiectasis providing a unique resource allowing future genetic studies to identify underlying genetic causes & new targets for treatment. The partnership links 9 recruiting centres with established clinics & track records in Bronchiectasis research spread across the UK that have never had funding to work together. Additionally ground-breaking scientific partners with expertise in relevant areas will for the first time allow comprehensive mapping of the knowledge gaps. Future research will be able to use the strength of the assembled cohort; we can deliver a programme of clinical trials that address fundamental issues. We will therefore tackle three major unmet needs 1) Lack of expertise in the area, 2) Lack of a clinical evidence base 3) Basic science- attracting skilled scientists to work in the area.

The future sustainable production of bulk and fine chemicals is an ever-increasing global challenge that requires a transformative scientific approach. We must develop new ways of efficiently exploiting valuable fossil-fuel resources and tools to exploit renewable resources such as CO2 and lignin. Catalytic methods, the heart of this CDT, are key to these transformations, offering the single most powerful and broadly applied technology for the reduction of energy demand, cost, environmental impact and toxicity. This CDT will drive forward a sustainable and resource-rich culture. This CDT in Critical Resource Catalysis (CRITICAT) combines the catalysis research collective of St. Andrews, Edinburgh, and Heriot-Watt Universities to create a new and unique opportunity in PhD training and research. CRITICAT will allow 80+ bright minds to be challenged in a comprehensive and state-of-the-art PhD training regime in the broad remit of catalytic science, transforming them into future scientific researchers, business leaders, entrepreneurs, and policy makers. These will be people who make a difference in a technologically-led society. Our critical mass in critical resource catalysis will accelerate training, discovery, understanding, and exploitation within catalytic chemistry. We will focus our efforts on the future of catalysis, driving new advances for environmentally sustainable economic growth and underpinning current growth in the UK chemicals sector. The economic impact in this area is huge: in 2010, an EPSRC/RSC jointly commissioned independent report showed that the UK's "upstream" chemicals industry and "downstream" chemistry-using sector contributed a combined total of £258 billion in added value to the economy in 2007, equivalent to 21% of UK GDP, and supported over 6 million UK jobs. Sustained investment in PhD training within this area will provide the highest quality employees for this sector. The CRITICAT PhD students will be exposed to a unique training and research environment. Extensive taught courses (delivered by CRITICAT PIs and industrial collaborators) will offer fundamental insight into homogeneous, heterogeneous, industrial and biocatalysis coupled with engineering concepts and essential techniques to showcase cutting-edge catalysis. The CRITICAT partners will develop these core courses into a foundational textbook for graduate training across catalysis using critical resources as its cornerstone that will serve as a legacy for this programme. We will expand our pedagogical innovation to all PhD graduate students at our three partner universities, providing region-wide enhanced academic provision. Continuous growth and peer-to-peer learning throughout their research efforts will create graduates who are keen to continue learning. They will be equipped with business, management, entrepreneurial and communication skills synergistic with core science knowledge and research undertakings. In this way, we will ensure that our CRITICAT students will be able to innovate, think critically, and adapt to change in any technological career. We will prepare the next generation of scientists, managers and innovators for key roles in our future society. To support this broad developmental approach, industry and business leaders will contribute widely to CRITICAT. Industries will (i) provide scientific ideas and objectives, (ii) deliver new competencies through targeted courses ranging from entrepreneurship to intellectual property rights and (iii) provide laboratory placements to consolidate learning and exploit any scientific advances. Furthermore, our extensive collaboration with leading international academic institutions will engender PhD student mobility, expand impact and allow experiential learning. We will build on our existing public engagement frameworks to enable our students to deliver their research, impact and scientific understanding to a wide audience, exciting others and driving new scientific policy.

Synthesis, the science of making molecules, is central to human wellbeing through its ability to produce new molecules for use as medicines and materials. Every new drug, whether an antibiotic or a cancer treatment, is based on a molecular structure designed and built using the techniques of synthesis. Synthesis is a complex activity, in which bonds between atoms are formed in a carefully choreographed way, and training to a doctoral level is needed to produce scientists with this expertise. Irrespective of the ingenuity of the synthetic chemist, the complexity of synthetic endeavours means that they are often the pinch point in the development of a new product or the advance of new molecular science. In addition, synthesis can no longer rely on intensive use of human, material, and time resources, and creative solutions to ways of making molecules faster, more efficiently, using less energy, and avoiding rare to toxic metals are urgently needed. Recent developments in digital chemistry (eg reaction technology and automation, data collection & analysis, machine learning & artificial intelligence, computation & molecular design, and the use of virtual reality) now make possible a fundamental change in the way molecular targets are identified and synthesis is carried out. The chemical and pharmaceutical discoveries which underpin a major sector of the UK's economy are almost entirely dependent on synthesis, and our industrial partners see an urgent need for a new generation of employees who combine cutting-edge chemical synthesis expertise with the state-of-the-art digital skills that are set to revolutionise the field. We therefore propose a CDT that will train students to carry out world-leading chemical synthesis at the University of Bristol, the UK's top institution for chemistry research (REF2021), with their creativity and productivity being enhanced by an initial 8-month Digital Chemistry (DC) training focus that un-derpins a subsequent 3 1/4 year PhD project. The training will be delivered in the form of a set of modules that embody key aspects of DC such automation, algorithm-driven optimisation, photochemistry, electrochemistry and flow chemistry supported by training in the techniques of machine learning and data analysis. These activities will be applied to current synthetic challenges in two short immersive 'mini-projects' in research labs and will feed into a PhD research project in an area of synthetic chemistry that is underpinned by the application of digital chemistry methods. The focus of the CDT aligns with Bristol's global reputation in chemical synthesis and computation, and in its current investment in digital chemistry as a strategic research direction. Bristol Chemistry has enviable success in spinout companies, and alongside ongoing training in professional development skills we aim to cultivate an entrepreneurial ethos by partnering with local start-up partners to provide immersive workshops, placements, network links and mentorship to nurture future spin-outs by CDT students. We will build on lessons learnt from delivering previous successful CDTs in Chemical Synthesis, and we will continue to develop our recruitment, training & research opportunities in line with best practice for Equity, Diversity & Inclusion, applying more widely lessons from the evolution that has allowed the diversity of our applicant team to be reflected in the ~50/50 M:F and ~25% minority ethnic composition of our management committee. Our evolved CDT will build on our unrivalled depth of experience to train diverse cohorts of creative and entrepreneurial experts in chemical synthesis, skilled in modern aspects of technology & data science. Our graduates will be uniquely prepared as research pioneers in the ever-changing scientific and industrial landscape of the chemical sciences that continue to underpin this country's prosperity.