When Darwin was developing his theories of evolution he read avidly in popular natural history magazines and sought out information from an army of almost 2000 correspondents. Such engagement with a wide public in the construction of science became increasingly difficult with the development of professional, and highly specialised science, but the emergence of 'citizen science' projects has suggested a new way forward. With the creation of vast data sets in contemporary science, there is a need for a new army of volunteers to help classify and analyse the information. The Zooniverse platform, started in 2007 with 'Galaxy Zoo', now has over 800,000 participants who contribute to projects from astrophysics to climate science. Significant discoveries have already been made by these volunteers in the field of astronomy. Yet, the structures by which these volunteers might engage with professional science, and through which scientists themselves might draw upon their findings, are not clear, and researchers on the project have been turning to nineteenth-century models of communication to find ways of harnessing this huge popular interest in order to increase the rate of scientific progress. The information revolution in our own age has parallels in the nineteenth century which saw an explosion of print, and journal publishing; in 1800 there were only around 100 science periodicals, but by 1900 this had jumped to 10,000 worldwide. The project brings together historical and literary research in the nineteenth century with contemporary scientific practice, looking at the ways in which patterns of popular communication and engagement in nineteenth-century science can offer models for current practice. The research is timely since the digital revolution, and open-access publishing, are about to change forever the processes and forms of scientific communication and exchange. The project will be based at the Universities of Oxford and Leicester, in partnership with three of our most significant institutions: the Natural History Museum; the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons, and the Royal Society. Researchers will draw on their historic collections, uncovering the extraordinary range of largely forgotten science journals of the nineteenth century, from the Magazine of Natural History (one of Darwin's favourites), to Recreative Science, or Hardwicke's Science Gossip: an Illustrated Medium of Interchange and Gossip for Students and Lovers of Nature. They will also work with these institutions' science communities, addressing questions about the creation and circulation of knowledge in the digital age, and looking at innovative ways of breaking through the public/professional divide. The Zooniverse will extend the range of its work, creating four new citizen science projects which will both accelerate the rate of scientific growth in these areas, and add an estimated 100,000 to 300,000 to the dedicated ranks of citizen scientists. Drawing on the historical research, it will also develop new tools to enable better systems of exchange between professional science, and this growing army of volunteers. As part of the project there will be public symposia in the Natural History Museum, the Royal Society and the Royal College of Surgeons, as well as an exhibition in the Hunterian Museum, and a performance lecture by Professor Marcus du Sautoy. Science has suffered in the public mind from its seeming aloofness and impenetrability. This partnership between humanities and science researchers aims to break down some of those barriers, and to create a truly productive public engagement with science which will enhance the ongoing development of scientific practice.

The Royal Society is the publisher of the oldest surviving scientific journal in the world: the Philosophical Transactions. The Royal Society wishes to organise a number of high-profile events for 2015, to celebrate the 350th anniversary and to stimulate public debate about the future of scholarly publishing. As part of these celebrations, funding is being sought for two linked projects on the history of the Philosophical Transactions, both based at the University of St Andrews. The current application is for two postdoctoral researchers and the appropriate support to create an anniversary history, associated articles and a set of quantitative data series derived from the Philosophical Transactions archives which can be used to investigate long-term patterns and trends in the British book trade. (A separate application for funding for two doctoral students is pending.) As well as underpinning the anniversary events, the resulting scholarship will speak to academic communities in the history of science, the history of publishing and economic history. The significance of the Philosophical Transactions is well-known to scholars working on the history of science and on the history of scholarly publishing. Its origins and function in the newly-founded Royal Society in Restoration England have been repeatedly discussed by historians of early modern science. The literary qualities of its articles have been extensively analysed by literary and communications scholars, interested in the rhetoric of science; and its citation patterns have been studied by sociologists of science as evidence of the functioning of past communities of scientists. The key strength of our proposed project is our emphasis upon the archival materials, to investigate the commercial, economic and editorial practices which lie behind the published pages. In this, we will build upon the existing scholarship on the early years of the Philosophical Transactions, but will pursue the story into the era of industrial printing, the professionalization of science, and ultimately, electronic publishing. Our emphasis will not be on pioneering innovations, but on the gradual development, adaptation and decline of editorial practices, commercial strategies and technological processes over the long durée. This project will use the Royal Society's publishing division to investigate the challenges and opportunities of scholarly publishing over the past 350 years. In its earliest days, Philosophical Transactions was a private venture of the Royal Society's secretary; in the eighteenth century, it became an official Society publication; in the nineteenth century, it faced new competition from commercial science journals and from the journals launched by newer, more specialised, learned societies; in the twentieth century, scholarly publishing became increasingly commercialised, and questions were asked about the ownership and reliability of research results. Neither the continuing vigour of learned society journals in general, nor of the Royal Society's journals in particular, can be taken for granted: the Royal Society itself, for instance, came under vigorous criticism in the early nineteenth century for failing to support professional scientific experts, while its journal was simultaneously under pressure from a range of new competitors. Both the Society and the Philosophical Transactions survived, but such episodes will enable us to look critically at the contingent development of the processes and practices that are now taken to be essential to the operation of modern scientific research. By the end of the project, we should better understand the origins of the processes we now use, and we may find contemporary options in some of the paths-not-taken. This project is firmly historical, but, by touching on issues at the heart of the knowledge-based economy, it has substantial contemporary relevance to a wide audience of policy makers, educators and campaigners.

Shapes fill space all around us, from bathroom tilings to brick walls. The puzzling problem of how to fit shapes together so that they fill space to form what we call tilings has been considered throughout much of the history of humanity. The problem probably emerged first in the arts, where tiles were used to produce interesting patterns, like those of Islamic art. It has also been studied as part of mathematics since the ancient Greeks. For example, our understanding of symmetries and their mathematical description in terms of group theory originated from the investigation of tilings, and underlies the classification of crystal structures.The modern era for tilings began in the 1960s when Berger proved that the problem of whether a given set of shapes could tile the plane was undecidable, a result extended to the hyperbolic plane by Margenstern in 2007. This led directly to the discovery of new worlds of tiling theory and fascinating examples such as the Penrose tiling. The discovery of quasicrystals (crystals with 'forbidden' symmetry) gave additional impetus as the Penrose and related tilings provide models for non-periodic ordered structures. From a scattering of strange examples, our understanding is now evolving to coalesce into a coherent theory. In particular, the theory of substitution rules is giving a natural setting for the Penrose tiling.Tilings therefore offer a combination of deep mathematics with beautiful imagery, which makes them an ideal topic for public engagement activities. The visual appeal, the link to arts and architecture and the interactive character of related puzzle-type activities, as well as the link to current research on mysterious materials such as quasicrystals, fascinates audiences across all age groups. Because tilings are familiar objects, this topic avoids the barrier often caused by the mathematical language of symbols and equations, and enables us to communicate non-trivial mathematical concepts to a public audience.This project will create material for an exhibit at the Royal Society Summer Exhibition 2009, which is expected to attract in excess of 5000 visitors. After the exhibition in June/July 2009, the materials are adapted for continued use in UK-wide mathematics masterclasses (1 to 2.5 hour interactive sessions for 10-18 year olds) supported by the Royal Institution (Ri) and for use in Family Fun Days hosted at the Ri.

There is a recognised gap in the communication of information generated by climate scientists and evidence needed by policy makers, in part because influencing policy through research is complex and requires skills that might not be valued or common in research systems. The current situation of our Earth's system, together with the social movements for climate justice, urge a step change in how policy and scientists approach Climate Change. Through this fellowship, I will develop new routes for impact in palaeoclimatology and will lead a vital step change in my field of research. Annual to decadal climate predictions may offer important information to Climate Services and Environmental Agencies, which would help guide short- and medium-term climate change strategies. For example, a better knowledge of the frequency and magnitude of floods in the UK. Decadal climate predictions are skilful for surface temperature, but confidence in projections of atmospheric pattern and the associated ecosystem response are less robust. This is, in part, because the amplitude of the decadal climate response is difficult to verify by the available instrumental data (reanalyses), which only goes back a century or two, and the impact of superimposed low-frequency variability might not be well represented. One way to provide more information on the decadal climate response is to include high-temporal resolution palaeoclimate timeseries in reanalyses. So far, the availability of proxy data suitable for this purpose is limited by the nature of the data (qualitative vs quantitative), chronological constrains (dating uncertainty and time-resolution of the proxy records) and geographical location of the proxy records (i.e limited to specific climate regions as ice-cores and corals), hence the study of decadal climate variability in the past is still in its infancy. In order to make developments in this field, I will lead an international research team that integrates palaeoclimatologists and climate modellers. We will combine emerging methodological approaches in proxy developments, chronological constraints, statistical tools and data-model comparison to provide advanced information of past decadal climate variability in the North Atlantic-European region such as shifting atmospheric circulation and occurrence of extreme weather events; and we will develop emergent constraints based on past climate scenarios to be applied to decadal prediction systems. Beyond the scientific goals, the fellowship aims at a better integration of palaeo evidence into climate policy to create a step change in how long-term climate data are viewed and used by policy and stakeholders. We will create a network of policy advisers, policy makers and other end users willing to engage. A co-development model of research will be adopted to develop shared understanding to design the research outputs, and ensure the research contributes to the specific and current needs of the decision makers across various sectors. The ultimate challenge is to create a leading centre for Palaeo Evidence for Policy at Royal Holloway University of London to: (1) build a palaeo-climate service feeding policy makers with evidence to assist decision-making; (2) support palaeoclimatologists in the UK and overseas to make impact cases studies; (3) train the next generation of early career researchers in policy skills. The fellowship will also explore art-based methods for impact. In particular, creative writing to promote climate science literacy for young children.

STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) is central to the UK's position as a science powerhouse. It contributes to innovation and economic growth and provides critical skills for society. Ensuring a continuous flow of diverse talent from schools to post-18 STEM education and into careers is paramount. Instead, most STEM graduates never work in high-skill STEM jobs. This project spearheads the pursuit of inclusive pathways to high-skill STEM careers via university through a rigorous examination of the LEO database. Despite significant investment in various initiatives, progress in widening access to STEM education and professions to underrepresented groups, including women, some ethnic minorities, and low-income backgrounds, remains mixed. Inclusion gaps in STEM careers accumulate through 'leaks' at each transition phase (school, university, career). At its core, this undertaking is about understanding who ends up in STEM jobs in their early career. This requires assessing inclusive pathways towards STEM careers and reviewing the economic returns different groups can expect when pursuing STEM degrees. To meet these objectives, the project will ask and answer: Who is 'ready' for STEM university studies? Who chooses and completes STEM degrees? Who ends up in STEM industries upon graduation? What are the economic returns related to an undergraduate STEM degree in early career? In doing so, the project seeks to identify how the propensity to leave STEM pathways varies between individuals from diverse backgrounds at each juncture from school to university to work and how the economic incentives hold up to remain in STEM. The potential benefits are substantial. Findings can inform targeted policy interventions to bolster inclusive STEM education and careers. They can empower education institutions to develop strategies for successful STEM engagement and retention. Finally, they broaden our understanding of career pathways and provide guidance for those considering alternative routes. Deliverables encompass policy briefs, academic discussion papers, engagement events with stakeholders and the funder promising impactful insights for shaping inclusive STEM pathways. In essence, this project aims to support inclusive and equitable opportunities to pursue STEM. By uncovering the nuances of STEM trajectories, it seeks to unlock talent that can contribute to innovation and the UK's long-term economic prosperity.