Over the past two decades, seal populations around Britain have undergone substantial changes in distribution and abundance. Most of the UK's grey and harbour seals live in Scottish waters, but significant parts of both populations also occur fragmented throughout the Irish Sea (including Wales), the southwest (Cornwall, Scilly Isles, Brittany), Norfolk, Lincolnshire and Northumberland. Ireland also has significant seal populations around its south and west coasts. Tracking studies have shown that seals are quite capable of moving great distances in a matter of days; conversely breeding colonies are characterised by seals that remain faithful to previous breeding sites and even to where they were born. Recent changes in UK seal population trends have focussed attention on the fact that the 'degree of connectedness' between seals in different areas remains unclear. A large amount of data from different areas has been collected on seal populations, using the technique of photo-identification (photo-ID), as seals have unique patterns allowing individuals to be identified. In addition to SMRU photo-ID research, locally based studies of these seal populations have created their own photo-ID catalogues, ranging greatly in number of images, geographic extent and duration of survey. Because of the large number of seals in the population and the large quantity of data collected, computer-aided matching is needed to make useful comparisons. Existing software for matching images doesn't deal with a large number of existing images and new software is required. This project aims to form a network of partners involved in seal photo-ID and update their knowledge and skills in photo-ID through training workshops and web-based resources. New image processing software will be developed to allow inclusion of many old images previously unavailable. Partners will benefit from the increased efficiency of their photo-ID programmes and databases which will in turn inform the science community. There is also the potential for benefits to extend to local economies through ecotourism.

Silicon Photonics is a field that has seen rapid growth and dramatic changes in the past 5 years. According to the MIT Communications Technology Roadmap, which aims to establish a common architecture platform across market sectors with a potential $20B in annual revenue, silicon photonics is among the top ten emerging technologies. This has in part been a consequence of the recent involvement of large semiconductor companies in the USA such as Intel and IBM, who have realised the enormous potential of the technology, as well as large investment in the field by DARPA in the USA under the Electronic and Photonic Integrated Circuit (EPIC) initiative. Significant investment in the technology has also followed in Japan, Korea, and to a lesser extent in the European Union (IMEC and LETI). The technology offers an opportunity to revolutionise a range of application areas by providing excellent performance at moderate cost due primarily to the fact that silicon is a thoroughly studied material, and unsurpassed in quality of fabrication with very high yield due to decades of investment from the microelectronics industry. The proposed work is a collaboration between 5 UK Universities (Surrey, St. Andrews, Leeds, Warwick and Southampton) with input from the industrial sector both in the UK and the USA. We will target primarily the interconnect applications, as they are receiving the most attention worldwide and have the largest potential for wealth creation, based on the scalability of silicon-based processes. However, we will ensure that our approach is more broadly applicable to other applications. This can be achieved by targeting device functions that are generic, and introducing specificity only when a particular application is targeted. The generic device functions we envisage are as follows: Optical modulation; coupling from fibre to sub-micron silicon waveguides; interfacing of optical signals within sub micron waveguides; optical filtering; optical/electronic integration; optical detection; optical amplification. In each of these areas we propose to design, fabricate, and test devices that will improve the current state of the art. Subsequently we will integrate these optical devices with electronics to further improve the state of the art in optical/electronic integration in silicon.We have included in our list of objectives, benchmark targets for each of our proposed devices to give a clear and unequivocal statement of ambition and intent.We believe we have assembled an excellent consortium to deliver the proposed work, and to enable the UK to compete on an international level. The combination of skills and expertise is unique in the UK and entirely complementary within the consortium. Further, each member of the consortium is recognised as a leading international researcher in their field.The results of this work have the potential to have very significant impact to wealth creation opportunities within the UK and around the world. For example emerging applications such as optical interconnect, both intra-chip, and inter-chip, as well as board to board and rack to rack, and Fibre To The Home for internet and other large bandwidth applications, will require highly cost effective and mass production solutions. Silicon Photonics is a seen as a leading candidate technology in these application areas if suitable performance can be achieved

Doctoral Training Partnerships: a range of postgraduate training is funded by the Research Councils. For information on current funding routes, see the common terminology at https://www.ukri.org/apply-for-funding/how-we-fund-studentships/. Training grants may be to one organisation or to a consortia of research organisations. This portal will show the lead organisation only.

Rhythmic movements such as walking, swimming or chewing are not made from scratch by the brain each time, rather they are produced by dedicated "central pattern generators" which are activated by the brain. I study these networks in Drosophila using genetically-encoded calcium indicators to image neural activity across the whole ventral nerve cord (spinal cord) in real time. More specifically, I am currently investigating the role played by biogenic amines (such as dopamine and octopamine) in the biasing of the ventral nerve cord towards the selection of certain motor programs. Our lab has an integrative approach, making use of calcium imaging, genetic manipulations, electrophysiology, pharmacology and behavioural experiments to study the system from many different angles.

The advances in electronic technology that have been achieved over the last few decades have been enabled by perfecting control over non-interacting electrons in materials. This control can now be reliably obtained, e.g., in simple metals and semiconductors, by tuning the Fermi energy and the effective electron mass. However, this technology has reached the limit of its potential due to the fundamentally limited range of electronic properties exhibited by such materials. A dramatic breakthrough can be achieved if one establishes reliable control over collective electronic behaviour in systems where strong interactions between electrons give rise to intriguing macroscopic quantum phenomena. Multiferroics, giant magnetoresistance in spintronic materials, electron correlations in polymeric systems, and high-temperature superconductivity are just are a few examples with vast potential for novel applications. A quantum computer, expected to revolutionise the modern world, and well-envisaged in principle, can still not be realised due to the lack of reliably controlled material base. The reason, largely, is that a priori accurate theoretical underpinning of electron correlation physics, which would allow to design desired electronic properties at will, has remained a challenge and is currently missing. To describe effects of interacting electrons in solids, Fermi liquid (FL) theory has been a powerful starting point. Notable successes of its application include the microscopic theory of conventional superconductivity and the physics of liquid Helium-3. Even in cases where FL theory has proven inadequate, its failure paved the way for new discoveries, and in many cases the results dictated the new directions. A central concept, naturally emerging in the FL context but relevant far beyond the cases described by the basic FL theory, is the notion of the Fermi Surface (FS) and the density of states (DOS) at different parts of the FS. In places with high DOS the interaction effects may become more pronounced and the properties of the system can be governed through them. High, or even singular values of DOS are accompanied by topological changes of the FSs of different types. In this project, we will build on seed work and we will continue the classification, using advanced mathematical tools, of the singularities in DOS and to build a comprehensive understanding of the effects of interactions. This theoretical work will be accompanied by a wide search, through first principles calculations, of new quantum materials that can serve as examples of the different classes of singularities. Our experimental partners are keen to fabricate and characterise the new materials that will be identified. In parallel, existing materials, such as strontium ruthenates and the two-dimensional metallic chalcogenides with unexplained and unexplored properties which are of enormous scientific interest with potential technological applications, will provide the immediate playground to test the power of our theories. Although the ideas are very focused, the scope and the impact of the proposed work is very wide, therefore a concerted effort of several world leaders in condensed matter theory and experiments is necessary to achieve all the objectives. As a result, this collaborative project involves researchers, academic visitors and project partners from eight institutions in three different countries.