NoAW : No Agro-Waste. Innovative approaches to turn agricultural waste into ecological and economic assets. Driven by a “near zero-waste” society requirement, the goal of NoAW project is to generate innovative efficient approaches to convert growing agricultural waste issues into eco-efficient bio-based products opportunities with direct benefits for both environment, economy and EU consumer. To achieve this goal, the NoAW concept relies on developing holistic life cycle thinking able to support environmentally responsible R&D innovations on agro-waste conversion at different TRLs, in the light of regional and seasonal specificities, not forgetting risks emerging from circular management of agro-wastes (e.g. contaminants accumulation). By involving all agriculture chain stakeholders in a territorial perspective, the project will: (1) develop innovative eco-design and hybrid assessment tools of circular agro-waste management strategies and address related gap of knowledge and data via extensive exchange through the Knowledge exchange Stakeholders Platform, (2) develop breakthrough knowledge on agro-waste molecular complexity and heterogeneity in order to upgrade the most widespread mature conversion technology (anaerobic digestion) and to synergistically eco-design robust cascading processes to fully convert agro-waste into a set of high added value bio-energy, bio-fertilizers and bio-chemicals and building blocks, able to substitute a significant range of non-renewable equivalents, with favourable air, water and soil impacts and (3) get insights of the complexity of potentially new, cross-sectors, business clusters in order to fast track NoAW strategies toward the field and develop new business concepts and stakeholders platform for cross-chain valorisation of agro-waste on a territorial and seasonal basis.

On 30th January 2020 WHO declared a global health emergency for the outbreak of the 2019 novel Coronavirus (COVID-19, or 2019-nCoV) that originated in Wuhan, China. COVID-19 has spread to 27 countries and with 45204 confirmed cases and 1118 deaths (12th Feb 2020), this outbreak exceeds the SARS epidemic in 2002-2003 both in terms of infected and death toll. Diagnostic tests are essential to control the outbreak. The Chinese authorities issued Emergency Use Authorizations (EUA) for 4 new COVID-19 detection products by the end of January 2020 and in the US the FDA issued the first EUA on February 4th. These tests are, however, all based on methods suited only for well-equipped centralized laboratories. CORONADX will provide one “front line” and two “second line” diagnostic tools for COVID-19. The “front line” diagnostics can be performed as a fast, simple, point of care test (POC) in the field by a minimally trained person (e.g. at hospitals or clinics, at point of entry, in a plane, on a cruise ship, in an ambulance, on a parking lot, in a home quarantine setting etc.). The “second line” diagnostics require minimum (portable) equipment and can be performed by briefly trained personnel in hospitals, primary health care units or in mobile laboratories. These solutions will be available in month 4 and EUA applications will be submitted by month 7. These POCs with lab and field evaluations will allow for fast detection and surveillance of the epeidemic and greatly improve the diagnosis and clinical management of patients infected with COVID-19. The development of rapid POC diagnostics will be supported by clinical and molecular epidemiological studies on the characterization and spatio-temporal evolution of the COVID-19 virus and identify infection sources as e.g. the animal reservoir.The social sciences research in CORONADX will provide information on societal resilience in the era of social media, and the related public health preparedness.

The Asian monsoon system is a major feature of the Earths climate and impacts on almost half of the population of the world. The monsoon also has a profound effect on the regions flora, fauna and ecosystems. Moreover large parts of China are also noted for their exceptionally high biodiversity. We also know that the monsoon system has changed over geological time and this is intimately linked to the growth of Tibet and the Himalayas which occurred during the Paleogene (66 to 23 million years ago) and early Neogene (23 million years ago to 3 million years ago). And finally we know that this time interval also witnessed the birth of this modern vegetation patterns. So how are all of these aspects linked together. Why is biodiversity so high in parts of China? When did these ecosystems develop? And how is this all connected to Tibetan uplift and the evolution of the monsoon? Our project aims to bring together a unique group of world leading researchers in palaecology, geology and climate modelling to identify the nature of ecological change during the Paleogene and early Neogene and establish the underlying mechanism of changes and thresholds. We will do this with a series of three field trips to span the latitudinal and elevation gradients within China, from Tibet, Yunnan and S. China. These field trips will enable us to collect new information on the changes in ecosystem and biodiversity. We will be able to assess the amount of change, and in a few key sites identify whether the changes have been smooth or relatively abrupt, the latter indicating possible threshold behaviours of the system. We will also use this data to reconstruct estimates of the climate and palaeoelevation of the sites. This information can then be used to help develop and test climate, ecosystem, and biodiversity models. These models will allow us to identify the key mechanisms that have driven change in this region over geological time, and the interactions between the ecosystem and climate change. The outcomes will be a fuller understanding of the evolution of life on the planet, and will also enable a unique evaluation of the models used for future climate change projections.

The first viable large scale fuel cell systems were the liquid electrolyte alkaline fuel cells developed by Francis Bacon. Until recently the entire space shuttle fleet was powered by such fuel cells. The main difficulties with these fuel cells surrounded the liquid electrolyte, which was difficult to immobilise and suffers from problems due to the formation of low solubility carbonate species. Subsequent material developments led to the introduction of proton-exchange membranes (PEMs e.g. Nafion(r)) and the development of the well-known PEMFC. Cost is a major inhibitor to commercial uptake of PEMFCs and is localised on 3 critical components: (1) Pt catalysts (loadings still high despite considerable R&D); (2) the PEMs; and (3) bipolar plate materials (there are few cheap materials which survive contact with Nafion, a superacid). Water balance within PEMFCs is difficult to optimise due to electro-osmotic drag. Finally, PEM-based direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) exhibit reduced performances due to migration of methanol to the cathode (voltage losses and wasted fuel).Recent advances in materials science and chemistry has allowed the production of membrane materials and ionomers which would allow the development of the alkaline-equivalent to PEMs. The application of these alkaline anion-exchange membranes (AAEMs) promises a quantum leap in fuel cell viability. The applicant team contains the world-leaders in the development of this innovative technology. Such fuel cells (conduction of OH- anions rather than protons) offer a number of significant advantages:(1) Catalysis of fuel cell reactions is faster under alkaline conditions than acidic conditions - indeed non-platinum catalysts perform very favourably in this environment e.g. Ag for oxygen reduction.(2) Many more materials show corrosion resistance in alkaline than in acid environments. This increases the number and chemistry of materials which can be used (including cheap, easy stamped and thin metal bipolar plate materials).(3) Non-fluorinated ionomers are feasible and promise significant membrane cost reductions.(4) Water and ionic transport within the OH-anion conducting electrolytes is favourable electroosmotic drag transports water away from the cathode (preventing flooding on the cathode, a major issue with PEMFCs and DMFCs). This process also mitigates the 'crossover' problem in DMFCs.This research programme involves the development of a suite of materials and technology necessary to implement the alkaline polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (APEMFC). This research will be performed by a consortium of world leading materials scientists, chemists and engineers, based at Imperial College London, Cranfield university, University of Newcastle and the University of Surrey. This team, which represents one of the best that can be assembled to undertake such research, embodies a multiscale understanding on experimental and theoretical levels of all aspects of fuel cell systems, from fundamental electrocatalysis to the stack level, including diagnostic approaches to assess those systems. The research groups have already explored some aspects of APEMFCs and this project will undertake the development of each aspect of the new technology in an integrated, multi-pronged approach whilst communicating their ongoing results to the members of a club of relevant industrial partners. The extensive opportunities for discipline hopping and international-level collaborations will be fully embraced. The overall aim is to develop membrane materials, catalysts and ionomers for APEMFCs and to construct and operate such fuel cells utilising platinum-free electrocatalysts. The proposed programme of work is adventurous: however, risks have been carefully assessed alongside suitable mitigation strategies (the high risk components promise high returns but have few dependencies). Success will lead to the U.K. pioneering a new class of clean energy conversion technology.