This research concerns the use of 'Supplementary Electric Heating' as a means to reduce carbon dioxide emissions caused by the consumption of fossil fuels for domestic heating. This will be achieved by using advanced storage heating appliances, for space heating and water heating, that will consume electricity when there is an abundance of low carbon generation such as wind power. This augments the conventional central heating system in the household, and reduces the amount of fossil fuels (oil and gas) consumed. To achieve widespread uptake of supplementary electric heating it is necessary to be mindful electricity grid operation. The supplementary electric heaters must respect capacity constraints on the distribution networks they are installed on, and not adversely affect power quality. Additionally, there are challenges operating electricity grids with high capacities of non-synchronous renewable generation, specifically grid stability and inertia. By equipping the supplementary electric heaters with advanced monitoring equipment, it is possible to utilise a large population of these appliances to assist grid stability and simulate system inertia. In order to achieve this level of control, an advanced communications network is required. Electrical utilities have traditionally had little motivation to have widespread, real-time communications with customers. Thus, the main thrust of this project is concerned with identifying the information communication technology needs of the supplementary electric heating control systems under both normal operation and in times when they must respond to system faults, and constructing a framework for the successful operation of the whole system. The ICT framework that will be developed in this work will consider the unique challenges of Machine-to-Machine communication in the utility sector, where cyber-security threats remain a persistent concern. The framework will form the basis for future technologies in the active network management, or 'Smart Grid', sector.

Synthesis of proteins is absolutely essential for any known form of life. It is carried out by cellular organelles named ribosomes, one of the most incredible cellular machines, frequently referred to as protein factories. The ribosomal RNA (rRNA) is the key building block of the ribosomes and rRNA is essential to both their structure and function. The synthesis of rRNA (also known as transcription) is the key regulator of ribosome production and fundamental to life. The transcription of ribosomal RNA is tightly linked to cell growth and division and when deregulated could have a dramatic effect on the cell s fate, leading to cell death or defects which might result in oncogenic transformation. An elevated level of rRNA synthesis supports the unrestrained proliferation of cancer cells and rRNA transcription therefore represents a valid target for anticancer therapy. In the proposed research, we will use various biochemical approaches to study the mechanism of rRNA transcription and will focus on the role of topoisomerase-II, one of the most amazing enzymes, in the regulation of rRNA transcription in human cells. Topoisomerases, these magicians of DNA world are targets for a number of highly successful anticancer drugs and a key target for development of better therapeutics. The proposed research would therefore bring together two areas of high interest and importance and will contribute to the development of a new generation of drugs, targeting diseases associated with hyperproliferation and abnormal cell size including cancer and heart diseases. Moreover, drugs selectively targeting rRNA synthesis in cells could be used for stimulation of cell growth and proliferation in cell-replacement therapy strategies to the benefit of those with degenerative cell diseases.

This project lies within homotopy theory: the study of topological spaces up to continuous deformations. Here a topological space is a mathematical notion of shape, one that includes familiar objects such as circles, spheres and Klein bottles; their higher dimensional analogues and many more abstract objects. The idea of orthogonal calculus is that some of these topological spaces can be filtered by linear subspaces of Euclidean spaces. One should think of having a shape for each line in the plane, that can be combined into a shape corresponding to said plane. Then we repeat the process for each plane in three-dimensional space and so on. In this project will be including symmetries into this filtration, in order to better study spaces with symmetries, specifically those with a bilateral symmetry (a single line or plane of reflection). This project fits into EPSRCs strategy of "supporting strong leadership within the community of researchers working in geometry and topology, to ensure that existing excellence is preserved in the longer term and that the UK continues to have specialist capabilities to lead the global research landscape" The methodology will be based around extending current results on linear subspaces of Euclidean spaces to include these symmetries, relating the approach to recent work on a related notion of equivariant functor calculus and the supervisor's expertise in equivariance and model structures.

Fever in humans is generally unwelcome and we try to alleviate it by taking drugs and shedding clothes. Our study centres on measles virus (MV) which induces a high fever. Viruses evolve alongside their hosts; so whenever the host tweaks its immune system to fight the virus the virus responds by collecting additional genes or mutating existing ones to circumvent this assault. Understanding this race is vitally important. MV has two proteins which are essential for growth and when the virus replicates at 37°C the proteins are produced. However, when MV grows at 39°C, a similar temperature experienced during fever, these proteins are not made. This potentially gives the virus an advantage during fever, since when these proteins are not made the virus can hide within cells and evade detection by the immune system. The work will be led by Bert Rima, who has worked for over 30 years on MV, and Paul Duprex who has genetically modified viruses to study links between their genes and proteins. We are in an ideal position to address this problem because we can both manipulate the virus and have established animal models which allow us to differentiate between disease-causing and non-disease-causing viruses.

Research infrastructure is critical to the delivery of internationally leading, high impact research. The funding will enable significant development of the equipment base within QUB in the areas of energy, ICT, the digital economy and healthcare and provide an opportunity to increase to upskill the early career researchers as well as develop the research profiles of early career academics in areas of significant technological importance to the UK. All the equipment has been identified and will be used to benefit the entire university by incorporating the instrumentation into the shared equipment database developed within QUB.