A central task for theoretical physics is explaining how the strange choreography of the microscopic world - the quantum-mechanical dance of electrons - produces the multifarious characteristics of macroscopic stuff: metallicity, magnetism, superconductivity, and so on. Equally crucially, theory should reveal new macroscopic phenomena that have not yet been seen because we did not know to look for them. These are hard tasks, since an atom and a magnet (say) are separated by a staggering jump in scale and complexity. Fortunately, our understanding of quantum mechanics, as applied to assemblages of many interacting particles, is currently exploding. New types of quantum materials are emerging into the light which - unlike a simple magnet - have no analogue in classical physics. (They rely on the "spooky action at a distance" unique to quantum mechanics and ideas from topology - the mathematics of knots, etc.) Separate work has shown that the central assumptions of statistical mechanics fail radically in some strongly disordered (dirty) quantum systems. Simultaneously, we are discovering that phase transitions between different quantum states are far subtler than we thought. The unifying theme for this proposal is a very general picture of physical systems in terms of fluctuating extended objects - for example vortex lines, or flux lines, or 'worldlines' in space- time. Such geometric descriptions are often more useful than descriptions in terms of electrons. For example, certain exotic states (quantum 'spin liquids' and related 'topological paramagnets') are best viewed as as Schrodinger's-cat-like mixtures of different configurations of loops, representing flux lines in a field which emerges miraculously from the dance of the electrons. Using pictures like this, I will tackle such questions as: how do we describe the new types of quantum phase transition theoretically? What do they teach us about quantum field theory? How do we realise the theoretically predicted topological states? How robust are they to perturbations and disorder? These are crucial questions for theoretical physics, which we must answer in order to explain the diversity of material behaviours that emerge from the (deceptively simple) laws of quantum mechanics.

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EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Resilient Decarbonised Fuel Energy Systems Led by the University of Nottingham, with Sheffield and Cardiff SUMMARY This Centre is designed to support the UK energy sector at a time of fundamental change. The UK needs a knowledgeable but flexible workforce to deliver against this uncertain future. Our vision is to develop a world-leading CDT, delivering research leaders with broad economic, societal and contextual awareness, having excellent technical skills and capable of operating in multi-disciplinary teams covering a range of roles. The Centre builds on a heritage of two successful predecessor CDTs but adds significant new capabilities to meet research needs which are now fundamentally different. Over 80% of our graduates to date have entered high-quality jobs in energy-related industry or academe, showing a demand for the highly trained yet flexible graduates we produce. National Need for a Centre The need for a Centre is demonstrated by both industry pull and by government strategic thinking. More than forty industrial and government organisations have been consulted in the shaping and preparation of this proposal. The bid is strongly aligned with EPSRC's Priority Area 5 (Energy Resilience through Security, Integration, Demand Management and Decarbonisation) and government policy. Working with our partners, we have identified the following priority research themes. They have a unifying vision of re-purposing and re-using existing energy infrastructure to deliver rapid and cost-effective decarbonisation. 1. Allowing the re-use and development of existing processes to generate energy and co-products from low-carbon biomass and waste fuels, and to maximise the social, environmental and economic benefits for the UK from this transition 2. Decreasing CO2 emissions from industrial processes by implementation of CCUS, integrating with heat networks where appropriate. 3. Assessing options for the decarbonisation of natural gas users (as fuel or feedstock) in the power generation, industry and domestic heating system through a combination of hydrogen enhancement and/or CO2 capture. Also critical in this theme is the development of technologies that enable the sustainable supply of carbon-lean H2 and the adoption of H2 or H2 enriched fuel/feedstock in various applications. 4. Automating existing electricity, gas and other vector infrastructure (including existing and new methods of energy storage) based on advanced control technologies, data-mining and development of novel instrumentation, ensuring a smarter, more flexible energy system at lower cost. Training Our current Centre operates a training programme branded 'exemplary' by our external examiner and our intention is to use this as solid basis for further improvements which will include a new technical core module, a module on risk management and enhanced training in inclusivity and responsible research. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Our current statistics on gender balance and disability are better than the EPSRC mean. We will seek to further improve this record. We are also keen to demonstrate ED&I within the Centre staff and our team also reflects a diversity in gender, ethnicity and experience. Management and Governance Our PI has joined us after a career conducting and managing energy research for a major energy company and led development of technologies from benchtop to full-scale implementation. He sharpens our industrial focus and enhances an already excellent team with a track record of research delivery. One Co-I chairs the UoN Ethics Committee, ensuring that Responsible Innovation remains a priority. Value for Money Because most of the Centre infrastructure and organisation is already in place, start-up costs for the new centre will be minimal giving the benefit of giving a new, highly refreshed technical capability but with a very low organisational on-cost.

Nanomaterials (NM) are very small particles much less than the width of a human hair. They are synthesised to provide different properties from larger forms of the same material and they are now used in a wide range of products. The properties that NMs provide include enhanced strength, an ability to reflect light or to react with other chemicals, and efficient electrical conductance. The value of NM is now very widely recognised and many companies are starting to use them in common consumer products, such as sunscreens and cosmetics, plus industry products, such as fabrics and building materials. This means that small quantities of NMs will reach the wider environment from everyday product use. A great deal of recent research has gone into assessing the safety of NMs for humans and the environment. Most of these studies have looked at NMs in their newly-manufactured forms. It is increasingly apparent, however, that once NMs are released into the wider environment, they do not stay in their manufactured state - they change or 'transform'. Transformations can affect NM size, charge, their surface coatings and their ability to bind to other things such as soil particles or other chemicals. Transformations occur both during transfer to the environment (e.g. via sewage works) and once NMs reach the wider environment itself (rivers, sediments and soils). It is of huge importance that we understand the transformation processes and environmental fate(s) of NMs as they can affect their toxicity to humans and the environment. The aim of this project is to study these NM transformations in more detail. We want to better understand whether different types of NMs are transformed in the same or different ways. We will conduct our work with different types of NMs, including those made from silver, titanium dioxide, polystyrene (a type of plastic) and graphene (a type of carbon). We will first use laboratory methods that mimic the ways that NMs are changed during sewage treatment and in natural waters and soils to create the transformed materials that we will then study. We will test how these new and changed NMs affect a range of common aquatic and soil organisms and contrasting their toxicity in their "pristine" state with that after they have been transformed in the environment for different times. During our tests, we will measure how much of each material is taken up by the organisms into different tissues and whether this affects how they grow and reproduce. We will also measure the activity of different genes that are likely to be affected as organisms take up different NMs. We predict that each NM will be transformed in a way that changes its likelihood to cause harmful effects. Each test will be repeated using different soils and waters typically found across the UK, to determine how transformations vary under different conditions. Finally, we will build custom-made, large exposure systems ('mesocosms') designed to mimic the rivers into which sewage works discharged and soils upon which sludge is spread, and populate them with a wide range of common UK native plants, invertebrates and fish (in the waters). By following these mesocosms for several months, we can simulate what may actually be happening in real UK environments in terms of the fate and effects of our transformed NMs. We will use the results to improve models able to predict how our transformed NMs will behave and the effects they will have. Taken together, our results should help us to predict the toxicity of NMs to help assure their safety, supporting the growth of the nanotechnology industry into the future. To this latter end we will run and coordinate a UK Nano-Academics & Regulators Platform, and will also present our results through major European Union (NanoSafety Cluster) and worldwide (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Discussion) policy working groups, as well as to the public, so reaching as wide an audience as possible.

Insects are the most abundant and diverse terrestrial animals on the planet, yet few are capable of surviving in Antarctica's inhospitable climate. Genetic evidence indicates that Antarctic insects, as well as other terrestrial arthropods, have persisted throughout the repeated glaciation events of the Pleistocene and earlier. Thus, these species are ideal test cases for modeling the biogeography of terrestrial Antarctica and evolutionary responses to changing environments. The midge Belgica antarctica is perhaps the best studied Antarctic terrestrial arthropod in terms of physiology and genetics. This species is the southernmost free-living insect, and we recently participated in sequencing the genome and transcriptome of this species. However, a lack of information from closely related species has hindered our ability to pinpoint the precise evolutionary mechanisms that permit survival in Antarctica. In this proposal, we establish an international collaboration with scientists from the US, UK, France, and Chile to expand physiological and genomic research of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic midges. In addition to B. antarctica, our project focuses on Eretmoptera murphyi, a sub-Antarctic endemic that has invaded the maritime Antarctic, Halirytus magellanicus, a strictly Magellanic sub-Antarctic species endemic to Tierra del Fuego, and B. albipes, a sub-Antarctic species found on Crozet Island in the Indian Ocean. These four species are closely related and span an environmental gradient from sub-Antarctic to Antarctic habitats. Our central hypothesis is that shared mechanisms drive both population-level adaptation to local environmental conditions and macroevolutionary changes that permit a select few insects to tolerate Antarctic climates. Our Specific Aims are 1) Characterize conserved and species-specific adaptations to extreme environments through comparative physiology and transcriptomics, 2) Comparative genomics of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic midges to identify macroevolutionary signatures of Antarctic adaptation, and 3) Investigate patterns of diversification and location adaptation using population genomics. Our Broader Impacts include deploying an education professional with our research team to coordinate outreach and continuing our partnership with a Kentucky non-profit focused on K-12 STEM programming.