The range of surgical tools for interventional procedures that dissect or fragment tissue has not changed significantly for millennia. There is huge potential for ultrasonic devices to enable new minimal access surgeries, offering higher precision, much lower force, better preservation of delicate structures, low thermal damage and, importantly, enabling more procedures to be carried out on an out-patient or day surgery basis. To realise this potential, and deliver our vision of ultrasonics being the technology of choice for minimal access interventional surgery, a completely new approach to device design is required, to achieve miniaturisation and to incorporate both a cutting and healing capability in the devices. By integrating with innovative flexible, tentacle-like surgical robots, we will bring ultrasonic devices deep into the human body, along tortuous pathways to the surgical site, to deliver unparalleled precision. Unsurpassed precision in challenging neurological, skull-base and spinal procedures as well as in general surgery is attainable through tailoring the robotic-ultrasonic devices to deliver the exact ultrasonic energy to the exact locations required to optimise the surgery. We will achieve this by quantifying the effects of the ultrasonic excitations typical of surgical devices in tissues, at and surrounding the site of surgery, in terms of precision cutting, tissue damage (mechanical damage, thermal necrosis, cavitation) but also the potential to aid regeneration. We will make world-leading advances in ultra-high speed imaging measurements and biophysical analysis, complementing advances in histology and clinical assessment, to develop a combined approach to the characterisation of both damage and regeneration of tissue. Through this holistic approach to device design, we will create integrated robotic-ultrasonic surgical devices tailored for optimised surgery.

Ultrasonics, the science and technology of sound at frequencies above the audible range, has a huge range of applications in sensing and remote delivery of energy. In sensing, 20% of medical scans rely on ultrasonics for increasingly diverse procedures. Ultrasonics is pervasive in underwater sensing and communication and a key technology for non-destructive evaluation. Ultrasonic devices are essential components in every mobile phone and are being developed for enhanced biometric security. Ultrasound is also important in remote delivery of energy. In medical therapy, it is used to treat neural dysfunction and cancer. Many surgical tools are actuated with ultrasound. As the best way to clean surfaces and bond interconnects, ultrasound is pervasive in semiconductor and electronics fabrication; it is also being explored for power delivery to implants and to give a contactless sense of touch. Such a broad range of applications predicts an exciting future: new materials will emerge into applications; semiconductor circuits will deliver smaller, more convenient instrumentation systems; autonomy and robotics will call for better sensors; and data analysis will benefit from machine learning. To maintain competitive advantage in this dynamic and multidisciplinary topic, companies worldwide rely on ambitious, innovative engineers to provide their unique knowledge of ultrasonics. As a significant contribution to address this need, Medical & Industrial Ultrasonics at the University of Glasgow and the Centre for Ultrasonic Engineering at the University of Strathclyde will combine to form the Centre for Doctoral Training in Future Ultrasonic Engineering (FUSE), the largest academic ultrasonic engineering unit in the world. Working with more than 30 external organisations, from microcompanies to multinationals, this will, for the first time, enable systematic training of a new generation of leaders in ultrasonics research, engineering and product development. This training will take place in the world-class research environment provided by two of the UK's pre-eminent universities with its partners, creating a training and research powerhouse in ultrasonics that will attract the best students and put them at the global forefront of the field.