Chemical Synthesis (CS) is an area upon which much of modern society relies as it enables the customized fabrication of products that are the ubiquitous materials of life and society. These include new drugs and medicines, new materials and polymers, nanomaterials, and a vast range of fine and effect chemicals on which the texture and quality of our lives depend. Without future core developments in the chemical sciences, UK plc and societal progress will stall and be left behind in a ferociously competitive modern world. We now plan to train a new generation of world-class PhD students so that the UK chemical industry can maintain its competitive position in the world as a place for highly innovative and creative research. One of the hardest aspects of CS is mastery of the vast 'synthetic tool box' of techniques required to become a professional chemist. The perfect chemist would be akin to highly skilled F1 mechanic with a state of the art toolbox and the ability to design and engineer from scratch - a molecular mechanic if you like. However in reality a student is often focussed too narrowly towards a particular area of synthesis and as a result can end up with a budget toolkit and a limited range of experience. We wish to explore CS by adopting a new 'Holistic' research approach that will be integrated with a revolutionary e-learning framework in a way that has not been previously articulated in the field of Chemistry. Instead of a traditional 'one PI - one-student - one idea' programme, we wish to bring together a group of internationally renowned chemists from organic, inorganic, physical and theoretical backgrounds to pool their skills in order to design from the ground up new and useful solutions for chemical synthesis. Our Research Opportunities Group (ROG) at Bristol does exactly this by bringing together staff from across and outside the chemistry discipline to discuss potential research areas in a Brainstorming format customized to our needs. We have found that this has been highly effective and has led to new research that simply would not have blossomed in a traditional approach. We now wish to instill our ROG philosophy and modus operandi into our students. Our aim is to get these students to think about their research as a collective rather than as isolated individuals working in separate research groups. The benefits of this will be enormous, not least in that they will all play an active role in the design of each-others projects as well as being exposed to a pool of supervisory experience of great breadth and experience. Key to the training experience will be the design and implementation of a revolutionary e-learning resource called the postgraduate Dynamic Laboratory Manual (pgDLM). The pgDLM will allow students to carry out a virtual version of an essential, often complex, experimental technique before experiencing it in the laboratory thus gaining a much deeper understanding of an experiment before they carry it out for real . By creating a pgDLM with an evolving library of online techniques we will not only enable students to embrace new techniques confidently but also simultaneously establish a valuable resource which will be made available to all practitioners of CS in both academe and industry. Industry will play a key role in defining the focus and contemporary relevance of the csDTC and will be broadly represented on a Steering Group. These external advisors will play an active role in project selection, assessment and will participate in the training programme. By producing the right product and working closely with industrial partners from the outset, the csDTC will be well positioned to leverage external support to sustain the Centre beyond the EPSRC funding period. Through this vision we aim to produce a new generation of industrial and academic leaders and, by delivering this goal, secure Bristol as a premier centre for Chemical Synthesis.

The traditional PhD programme begins with a student seeking out a PhD position early on in their final year of undergraduate study. The time elapsed between a student choosing their project and actually starting is generally between 6-8 months - can a student really be sure that the right choice has been made under these circumstances? This choice is probably the most important decision an aspiring professional researcher can make, yet students can make ill informed, naive or simply unsuitable PhD choices based on their perceived interests and limited research experience. Bristol Chemical Synthesis (BCS) is a Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) that offers a different and much enhanced PhD training experience to the traditional path. Crucially, students join the Centre in October but do not choose their PhD research project until 7-months later. Students spend these 7-months completing a unique, multifaceted training period called Postgraduate Advanced Chemical Techniques (PACT). The over-arching goal of PACT is to equip the students with the tools required to make the best-informed PhD project choice, to develop a creative attitude towards problem solving and to build self-confidence with presentations and by speaking publicly. PACT also provides a formal assessment mechanism before students progress to their PhD projects. Brainstorming involves the students generating ideas on outline research proposals which they then present to the staff members in a lively and engaging feedback session, which invariably sees new and student-driven ideas emerge. By encouraging teamwork and presentation skills, as well as allowing students to become fully engaged with the projects and staff, brainstorming ensures that students take control of a PhD proposal before they start - 'Partners not Slaves' is our vision. Research Broadening Sabbaticals comprise three successive 7-week lab rotations designed to include a period of "known" work, enabling the student to practice new skills required for further research. Rotations are important in giving students the opportunity to learn new techniques beyond their undergraduate experience, providing them with time to consider and reflect on their choice of PhD by offering "tasters" in different areas of synthetic chemistry. Dynamic Laboratory Manual (DLM) enabled experiments allow students to experience an interactive, virtual version of an essential experimental technique. Pioneered at the undergraduate level at Bristol, DLMs consist of a mixture of simulations, videos, tutorials and quizzes to allow the student to gain a full understanding of a technique and learn from mistakes quickly, effectively and safely before entering the lab. Chemical Synthesis is an area upon which much of modern society relies as it enables the customised fabrication of products that are the essential materials of our daily lives. Examples are wide and diverse from vital life saving drugs to the chromic materials that make your iPad screen change in an instant. There are 15 key UK industry sectors in which chemistry is an essential component, employing over 5 million people and contributing £258bn (21%) to the UK's GDP. Pharma, agrochem, petrochem, fine & bulk chemical manufacturing and CRO industries are major players in these industries and UK competitiveness here is unsustainable without the continued supply of highly trained & skilled chemical synthesis PhD graduates. Our Centre will train the next generation of synthetic chemistry architects equipped to solve the diverse molecular problems of the future.