This proposal is to establish a research Network in Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and its applications and diffusion in the supply chains. The network brings together a number of expertise and interest from Universities and industry to explore the research challenges and opportunities in RFID technology and applications. The network will explore a number of key challenges: (1) application of RFID to reduce incidents of empty running to reduce congestion on the roads (2) better and enhanced data storage (and management) capability to deal with huge data deluge that will result from RFID deployment in the supply chains (3) food traceability and integrity as it relates to the need to secure our food from deliberate tampering, contamination and bioterrorism post September 11, 2001 attack (4) RFID-enabled supply chain visibility and capacity allocation or re-allocation on agile and dynamic bases (5) eliminating forecast demand variability and stock outs in pharmaceutical products especially during the lunch of a blockbuster product (6) key business sector applications such as fleet management in road transport industry, baggage handling and asset tracking in ports operations, and asset management and enabling of fast efficient Activity Based Costing (ABC) systems in the healthcare industry. These challenges will be explored by members of the Network with the view to define and take forward new research in RFID-enabled supply chain management.

This proposal is to establish a research Network in Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and its applications and diffusion in the supply chains. The network brings together a number of expertise and interest from Universities and industry to explore the research challenges and opportunities in RFID technology and applications. The network will explore a number of key challenges: (1) application of RFID to reduce incidents of empty running to reduce congestion on the roads (2) better and enhanced data storage (and management) capability to deal with huge data deluge that will result from RFID deployment in the supply chains (3) food traceability and integrity as it relates to the need to secure our food from deliberate tampering, contamination and bioterrorism post September 11, 2001 attack (4) RFID-enabled supply chain visibility and capacity allocation or re-allocation on agile and dynamic bases (5) eliminating forecast demand variability and stock outs in pharmaceutical products especially during the lunch of a blockbuster product (6) key business sector applications such as fleet management in road transport industry, baggage handling and asset tracking in ports operations, and asset management and enabling of fast efficient Activity Based Costing (ABC) systems in the healthcare industry. These challenges will be explored by members of the Network with the view to define and take forward new research in RFID-enabled supply chain management.

New methods for the preparation of extended structures are rightly highlighted as being of great importance to the UK. The EPSRC Grand Challenge 'Directed Assembly of Extended Structures with Targeted Properties' (referred to as the DA Grand Challenge) is championed by some of the UK's leading academic scientists. Interest from pharmaceutical companies in this initiative has been excellent, particularly based on the nucleation and crystallisation targets outlined in the Grand Challenge Documentation. Impact of the Grand Challenge Network on other areas is much less evident, although it is clear that the basic premise of the Challenge fits many other sectors. In this Established Career Proposal my vision is to demonstrate, through both transformative science and personal leadership, how the central tenets of the DA Grand Challenge Idea can be translated across disciplines. In particular I will focus on two areas, increasing the impact of the network in the chemicals sector, with a special emphasis on transformative new routes to heterogeneous zeolite catalysts (which strongly fits another EPSRC priority area), and novel multifunctionality in medical delivery agents. The proposed programme is firmly rooted in the EPSRC remit but is designed to be outward looking to maximise transdisciplinary impact cutting across to other important areas of science. The specific science proposed here focuses on nanoporous materials. Zeolites are one of the most important class of industrially applied catalysts we have. Manipulation of zeolites into hierarchical porous structures and ultra-thin layers has also risen to great prominence as a method of introducing new and beneficial features into zeolite catalysts. The journal Science rated this type of research as one of the ten most important current areas of current science, and so its importance is recognised internationally. Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) are some of the most exciting and fast-developing materials that have been prepared in the last decade or so. The great versatility of the chemistry of these solids leads to ultra-high porosity, extreme flexibility, post synthetic modification potential and many other interesting and conceivably useful attributes. Because of this wide ranging chemistry and function, potential applications of these solids range from gas storage, separation and delivery, catalysis, and sensing all the way to biology and medicine.

In developed countries such as the UK, we spend 90% of our time indoors with approximately two thirds of this in our homes. Despite this fact, most air pollutant regulation focuses on the outdoor environment. There is increasing evidence that exposure to air pollution causes a range of health effects, but uncertainties on the causal effects of individual pollutants on specific health outcomes still exist partly due to crude exposure metrics. Nearly all studies of health effects to date have used measurements from fixed outdoor air pollution monitoring networks, a procedure that ignores the modification effects of indoor microenvironments where people spend most of their time. There are consequently large uncertainties surrounding human exposure to indoor air pollution, which means we are currently unable to identify the most effective solutions to design, operate and use our homes to minimise our exposure to air pollution within them. In the UK, there are virtually no data to quantify indoor air pollutant emissions, building-to-building variability of these, chemical speciation of indoor pollutants, ingress of outdoor pollution indoors or of indoor generated pollutants outdoors, or the social, economic or lifestyle factors that can lead to elevated pollutant exposures. Without a fundamental understanding of how indoor air pollution is caused, transformed and distributed in UK homes, research aiming to develop behavioural, technical or policy interventions may have little impact, or at worst be counterproductive. For example, energy efficiency measures are broadly designed to make buildings more airtight. However, given that the concentrations of many air pollutants are often higher indoors than outdoors, reducing ventilation rates may increase our exposure to air pollution indoors and to any potentially harmful effects of the resulting pollutant mixture. Further, if interventions are introduced without sufficient consideration of how occupants actually use and behave in a building, they may fail to achieve the desired effect. To understand and improve indoor air quality (IAQ), we must adopt a systems approach that considers both the home and the human. There is a particular paucity of data for the most deprived households in the UK. There is a facile assumption that poorer homes are likely to experience worse IAQ than better off households, although the reality may be considerably more nuanced. Lower quality housing may be leakier than more expensive homes allowing indoor emissions to escape more easily, whilst large, expensive town-houses converted to flats can be badly ventilated following poor retrofitting practices. Differences in cooking practices, smoking rates, internal building materials and the usage of solvent containing products indoors will also be subject to wide variations across populations and hence have differential effects on IAQ and pollutant exposure. In fact, differences in individual behaviour lead to large variations in indoor concentrations of air pollutants even for identical houses, typically driven by the frequency and diversity of personal care product use. The INGENIOUS project will provide a comprehensive understanding of indoor pollution in UK homes, including i) the key sources relevant to the UK ii) the variability between homes in an ethnically diverse urban city, with a focus on deprived areas (using the ongoing Born in Bradford cohort study) iii) the effects of pollutant transformation indoors to generate by-products that may adversely affect health iv) the drivers of behaviours that impact on indoor air pollution (v) recommendations for interventions to improve IAQ that we have co-designed and tested with community members.

The future 'Net Zero Economy' will be based on new forms of energy (e.g., renewable electricity and hydrogen), new feedstocks (sustainably sourced biological and waste materials), and a new depth of data. These changes present particular problems for the process industries (bulk and fine chemicals, food and beverages, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, and utilities etc). To 'Engineer Net Zero' in these industries, they must undergo the most profound transformation since the industrial revolution. To accommodate these new energy types, novel feedstocks and new data, entirely new processes, process technologies and green chemical routes will have to be developed. The scale of the challenge is enormous; manufacturing alone accounts for ~10% of the total economic output of the UK (£203bn Gross Value Added) and ~7% of UK jobs (HMG, 2022). Research Challenges: The PINZ CDT will help to 'Engineer Net Zero' by developing new processes, green chemistries, and process technologies, via Research for Technology Transfer (O2) at the interfaces of process and chemical engineering, and the biological, chemical and data sciences. Our Research Themes (T) have been informed by and co-created with industry: (T1) Energy: The use of renewable electricity and hydrogen demands new ways to perform process steps (reactions, separations, heat transfer) and whole process design. (T2) Feedstocks: Sustainable feedstocks/raw materials and solvents (bio-based, carbon-neutral, waste-derived), will force the development of new process chemistry and technology. (T3) Data: The increasing quantity and quality of data (in-process, LCA, TEA) will dramatically change how we design, operate, and monitor processes. Training Challenges: Build Back Better: Our Plan for Growth (HMT, 2021), and The UK Innovation Strategy: Leading the Future by Creating It (BEIS, 2021) highlight a strategic focus on skills development, innovation, and Net Zero to transform the UK into a global science and engineering superpower. To meet these substantial challenges and maintain the UK as a technology hub and global leader in innovation in the process industries, the UK requires pioneering, innovative, and knowledgeable chemical engineers/chemists. These world-class, doctoral-level graduates will not only be required to navigate these challenges: they will need to lead the change. The PINZ CDT will create these 'Net Zero-enabled' future leaders via a nurturing, supportive and collaborative training environment, which will equip the researchers with the tools to develop, analyse, evaluate, and implement new technologies and processes during their projects and future careers. Student-Centred Training (O1) will underpin everything we do, tailoring research training both at the individual and CDT level, alongside the provision of the management, entrepreneurship, and business skills that industry demands. Throughout their training, we will facilitate peer-to-peer interactions within and across cohorts to build a community and engender a broad exchange of ideas. This is especially important when working with students from diverse academic and personal backgrounds and recognises the contribution diversity makes to a challenge on the scale of Net Zero. Delivery: PINZ will be led by the world's largest Process Intensification Group (PIG, Newcastle University), and the world-leading Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence (GCCE, University of York), leveraging >40 years of combined experience in technology transfer and >40 ongoing industrial partnerships. Only through this combination of the 'biggest and best' can the internationally leading education, training, and research needed to produce the next generation of leaders and innovators for Net Zero be realised.