The EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in "Diversity-led, mission-driven research" proposes a radical inverted model for CDT delivery. By inverted model, we mean that, rather than coalescing around a scientific topic, we will create an inclusive, supportive and inspiring environment to foster diverse teams (postgraduate researchers, supervisors, management teams, external partners) that together lead innovative and interdisciplinary projects. In doing so we foster truly disruptive and excellent research. The prevalence of genuinely disruptive, novel scientific research is dropping as fields become condensed and researchers are siloed. There is a large body of evidence that describes the significant impact of diversity on innovation. Researchers from marginalised and minority backgrounds, however, face significant hurdles throughout their careers, notably at the transition points before and after postgraduate research. There is therefore a compelling scientific and economic case that focussing on diversity will lead to more significant impact in research and contribute to address the shortfall in skilled STEM workers. The resources, peer-learning, training, mentoring, championship and support provided by the cohort-model and the CDT framework will allow to demonstrate that when the appropriate environments are in place, diversity and excellence will flourish. The University of Glasgow is ideally placed to support and host this CDT; its world-leading academic expertise and infrastructures and internationally leading track record in positive research culture offer unique opportunities for collaborative research. It also has accumulated significant experience in inclusive research through various initiatives to support underrepresented communities, including our highly successful James McCune Smith PhD Scholarships for Black British students. Our CDT will build upon these to offer radical new pathways for the training of scientists and the generation of innovative interdisciplinary science around key institutional thematic areas. We will apply evidence-led best practice alongside our longstanding institutional experience to ensure diversity permeates across our recruitment, project selection, training, supervision, mentoring, retention, governance and self-reflection processes. Through tailored, structured support of our researchers and academics, both individually and collectively as annual cohorts, we will foster an inclusive community where our members will be united by a sense of common purpose to effectively tackle mission-driven challenges. Three pillars underpin CDT delivery: CONNECT, community engagement and long-term pipeline building activities attract those who have been discouraged from PhDs or faced insurmountable structural barriers to entry; BELONG, intensive training activities and PhD-spanning cohort building activities, ensure all students are fully prepared for PhD study and integrated into the CDT; and THRIVE, comprehensive training, mentoring, networking and external engagement complements interdisciplinary research activities to foster a pipeline of diverse, talented graduates, with enhanced career prospects across a range of sectors. Through innovative CDT management: our online Catalogue of Possibilities to capture the imagination of applicants; the use of sandpits to generate discipline-crossing projects; enhanced bespoke mentoring from industry and academia; and an inverted crucible exercise to allow students to select projects and supervisors, we will demonstrate the clear pathway from diversity to excellence. We will offer opportunities for diverse talent to thrive, and in doing so generate genuine scientific excellence while building a critical mass of role models and research leaders, as well as novel initiatives in fostering inclusive research culture. The CDT will therefore be a catalyst for genuine, positive change, and act as a beacon for UK Higher Education.

Quantum Technology is based on quantum phenomena that govern physics on an atomic scale, enabling key breakthroughs that enhance the performance of classical devices and allow for entirely new applications in communications technology, imaging and sensing, and computation. Quantum networks will provide secure communication on a global scale, quantum sensors will revolutionise measurements in fields such as geology and biomedical imaging, and quantum computers will efficiently solve problems that are intractable even on the best future supercomputers. The economic and societal benefit will be decisive, impacting a wide range of industries and markets, including engineering, medicine, finance, defence, aerospace, energy and transport. Consequently, Quantum Technologies are being prioritised worldwide through large-scale national or trans-national initiatives, and a healthy national industrial Quantum Technology ecosystem has emerged including supply chain, business start-ups, and commercial end users. Our Centre for Doctoral Training in Applied Quantum Technologies (CDT-AQT) will address the national need to train cohorts of future quantum scientists and engineers for this emerging industry. The training program is a partnership between the Universities of Strathclyde, Glasgow and Heriot-Watt. In collaboration with more than 30 UK industry partners, CDT-AQT will offer advanced training in broad aspects of Quantum Technology, from technical underpinnings to applications in the three key areas of Quantum Measurement and Sensing, Quantum Computing and Simulation, and Quantum Communications. Our programme is designed to create a diverse community of responsible future leaders who will tackle scientific and engineering challenges in the emerging industrial landscape, bring innovative ideas to market, and work towards securing the UK's competitiveness in one of the most advanced and promising areas of the high-tech industry. The quality of our training provision is ensured by our supervisors' world-class research backgrounds, well-resourced research environments at the host institutions, and access to national strategic facilities. Industry engagement in co-creation and co-supervision is seen as crucial in equipping our students with the transferable skills needed to translate fundamental quantum physics into practical quantum technologies for research, industry, and society. To benefit the wider community immediately, we will make Quantum Technologies accessible to the general public through dedicated outreach activities, in which our students will showcase their research and exhibit at University Open Days, schools, science centres and science festivals.

. We propose to create new capability and capacity for collaborative high power laser-plasma research to underpin the development and application of laser-driven radiation sources, using three new beamlines and experiment stations at the Scottish Centre for the Application of Plasma-based Accelerators, SCAPA. Each of the beamlines will be configured in a unique way and with a focus on a specific category of laser-plasma interactions and secondary sources, to create a complementary suite of dedicated beamlines. This approach is required to enable the development and optimisation of laser-plasma sources from the realms of scientific investigation to real-world applications. It enables long-term investment in the optimisation and stabilisation of the beams and largely eliminates downtime for rebuilding experiments, thus enabling efficient and effective use of high power laser beam time. The equipment will support an extensive research portfolio in laser-plasma physics and multidisciplinary applications, with an emphasis on radiation sources and healthcare applications. The unique properties of laser-driven radiation sources make them attractive both as tools for science (e.g. femtosecond X-ray sources for probing the structure of matter) and for applications in a variety of sectors including: healthcare (e.g. imaging and radiotherapy); industry (e.g. penetrative probing and assay) and energy (e.g. testing the integrity of stored nuclear waste). The strategic development of this field requires a balanced programme of dedicated university-scale and leading-edge national laser facilities. The proposed beamlines will complement existing and planned expansion of national facilities at the Central Laser Facility, providing new capability and capacity to enable UK research groups to remain at the forefront of this research area and help promote international collaboration. The research will be performed collaboratively with groups from across the UK and sustained mainly through collaborative research grants. The new suite of beamlines will promote exchanges between academia and industry, and enable engagement of the UK research community with large international projects, such as the Extreme Light Infrastructure, ELI. It will also provide a unique interdisciplinary training platform for researchers. .

In a consortium led by Heriot-Watt with St Andrews, Glasgow, Strathclyde, Edinburgh and Dundee, this proposal for an "EPSRC CDT in Industry-Inspired Photonic Imaging, Sensing and Analysis" responds to the priority area in Imaging, Sensing and Analysis. It recognises the foundational role of photonics in many imaging and sensing technologies, while also noting the exciting opportunities to enhance their performance using emerging computational techniques like machine learning. Photonics' role in sensing and imaging is hard to overstate. Smart and autonomous systems are driving growth in lasers for automotive lidar and smartphone gesture recognition; photonic structural-health monitoring protects our road, rail, air and energy infrastructure; and spectroscopy continues to find new applications from identifying forgeries to detecting chemical-warfare agents. UK photonics companies addressing the sensing and imaging market are vital to our economy (see CfS) but their success is threatened by a lack of doctoral-level researchers with a breadth of knowledge and understanding of photonic imaging, sensing and analysis, coupled with high-level business, management and communication skills. By ensuring a supply of these individuals, our CDT will consolidate the UK industrial knowledge base, driving the high-growth export-led sectors of the economy whose photonics-enabled products and services have far-reaching impacts on society, from consumer technology and mobile computing devices to healthcare and security. Building on the success of our CDT in Applied Photonics, the proposed CDT will be configured with most (40) students pursuing an EngD degree, characterised by a research project originated by a company and hosted on their site. Recognizing that companies' interests span all technology readiness levels, we are introducing a PhD stream where some (15) students will pursue industrially relevant research in university labs, with more flexibility and technical risk than would be possible in an EngD project. Overwhelming industry commitment for over 100 projects represents a nearly 100% industrial oversubscription, with £4.38M cash and £5.56M in-kind support offered by major stakeholders including Fraunhofer UK, NPL, Renishaw, Thales, Gooch and Housego and Leonardo, as well as a number of SMEs. Our request to EPSRC for £4.86M will support 35 students, from a total of 40 EngD and 15 PhD researchers. The remaining students will be funded by industrial (£2.3M) and university (£0.93M) contributions, giving an exceptional 2:3 cash gearing of EPSRC funding, with more students trained and at a lower cost / head to the taxpayer than in our current CDT. For our centre to be reactive to industry's needs a diverse pool of supervisors is required. Across the consortium we have identified 72 core supervisors and a further 58 available for project supervision, whose 1679 papers since 2013 include 154 in Science / Nature / PRL, and whose active RCUK PI funding is £97M. All academics are experienced supervisors, with many current or former CDT supervisors. An 8-month frontloaded residential phase in St Andrews and Edinburgh will ensure the cohort gels strongly, and will equip students with the knowledge and skills they need before beginning their research projects. Business modules (x3) will bring each cohort back to Heriot-Watt for 1-week periods, and weekend skills workshops will be used to regularly reunite the cohort, further consolidating the peer-to-peer network. Core taught courses augmented with specialist options will total 120 credits, and will be supplemented by professional skills and responsible innovation training delivered by our industry partners and external providers. Governance will follow our current model, with a mixed academic-industry Management Committee and an independent International Advisory Board of world-leading experts.

The role of the SUPA PIPSS Fellow will be to generate new collaborative research and exploitation projects which involve SUPA members, where there is a strong emphasis on knowledge transfer through collaboration with other partners. Although this will be a freestanding role that will prioritise Business Development within targeted market sectors, it will fit within the desired model for future expansion of KT, Project and Venture Support for SUPA activity. To retain focus, a few ambitious but achievable targets will be set for the Fellow. The balance between collaborative working and new venture creation recognises that appropriate KT routes must be created / in some instances this will be through new start up or spin-out companies, while in other circumstances it will be through working with existing businesses. The SUPA PIPSS Fellow will spearhead a new multi-institutional initiative focusing on Knowledge Transfer (KT) for university research that will benefit STFC, the participating organisations and the UK economy as a whole. The Fellow will take advantage of the synergies in research across SUPA, the breadth of commercial connections and the existing support networks to markedly increase KT outcomes.