The discovery and design of new materials is critical for advancing the state-of-the-art in batteries, which in turn are required for advancing a range of carbon-emission reducing technologies such as renewable energy and electric vehicles. Experimental discovery of new materials is typically slow and costly, quantum mechanics (QM) calculations have brought computational materials design within reach. However, QM calculations are often limited to relatively small sets of materials, as their computational costs are too great for large-scale screening, this is the case for calculating properties required for new battery materials. New methods in machine learning (ML) have emerged as a powerful complementary tool to QM calculations - learning rules from data calculated from QM and applying cheap, efficient models to explore large chemical spaces. However, these ML models have hitherto been restricted to instances where relatively large datasets of QM properties (tens of thousands or more instances) are available for training the ML, thus limiting their utility. In this project we will combine the expertise of our two groups (ML for materials design and computational modelling of battery materials) to tackle this important issue by using the approach of transfer learning (TL). In TL a prior model trained on a large dataset but on an apparently different problem, is used as a foundation to learn on a new, smaller dataset of direct relevance to the battery problem. TL has been transformative in many other fields and with this project we aim to bring this potential to materials design in general and battery materials in particular.

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

Water is essential to life. Access to safe drinking water may be norm in developed countries, but two billion people in developing countries, like India have limited access to clean water and according to the WHO, mortality of water associated diseases exceeds 5 million people per year. Waste water from geological sources contains pollutants like arsenic and fluorides or discharge from industries, agricultural farms, and household wastes contain pharmaceutical, heavy metals, pesticides, fertilisers, organic waste, and faeces discharged to rivers and lakes. Waterborne diseases are caused by pathogenic microorganisms that mostly are transmitted in contaminated fresh water and results from bathing, washing, drinking and in the preparation of food. Bacterial pathogens, cause major diarrhoea, resulting in millions of avoidable deaths, with more suffering of children. Industrial wastes such as heavy metals are toxic to marine life and subsequently to humans who eat those causing birth defects and cancers. Effect of many industrial wastes can be very slow, often identified very late. Waste organic matter, fertilisers, and nutrients deplete oxygen from water and cause suffocation to fish and other aquatic organisms and ultimately human consuming these infected fish. CITY has excellent facilities for fabricating FBG and LPG, complements IISc expertise. Several concatenated gratings can be fabricated on the same optical fibres to detect several species simultaneously and each grating can be prepared for different selectivity with different Bragg wavelengths for multiplexing. Advanced micro-fibres, micro-knots and micro-spheres can also be functionalised for more compact optical sensors. On the other hand, silicon nanophotonics is an exciting emerging area of research and innovation, which exploits the well developed CMOS technology developed by highly matured semiconductor industries. Exotic slot waveguide, where light is confined in a low-index region, can easily be functionalised for much more compact optical sensors, often just several micron long. Highly sensitive silicon ring resonator less than 5 micron in radius which can detect 10E-5 refractive index change and 2 micron diameter micro-resonators supporting whispering gallery modes are capable of detecting a single molecule. Such tiny sensors can be mass manufactured at vastly reduced cost, hundreds of them in a mm-square wafer, and then multiplexed and excited by a single 500 nm nanowire optical bus for rapid multi-parameters sensing. IISc has expertise in functionalisation and bio-sensing complements CITY expertise in physical and chemical sensing. The present water quality monitoring systems over the whole India, from large metropolis to small towns and remote villages are of diverse quality. There is a lack of standardised criteria for defining the safe limits of various key pollutants. Effect of some pollutants can be very slow, such as that of heavy metals, and this can be even more difficult to identify at a low level of contaminations until prolonged suffering by people. A solution to this problem is to improve the surveillance systems, both for fast acting bio-pathogens and slow-acting chemical pollutants and one way to achieve this is to develop methods to rapidly, in-situ, accurate and continuous monitoring of water quality and identify any potential breakdown in quality control well before it can be identified from the outbreak of any major diseases with many avoidable sufferings. The objective of this research proposal is to develop frugal, compact multi-channel optical sensors for innovative and cost-effective development of multi species rapidly, reliably and selectively to detect protein, peptides, cytokine, from bacterial and viral pathogens and chemical residues for in-situ and real-time drinking, general use and waste water monitoring, which can be deployable to large metropolis to small rural community.

This research will create a truly innovative, international research network that will stretch far and wide in the area of "Cultures of Creativity and Innovation in Design". The international research network coordinating body comprises Professors Paul Rodgers and Paul Jones from Northumbria University, Professor Amaresh Chakrabarti, a world-leading researcher in Design Creativity, from the Centre for Product Design and Manufacturing at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and Professor Lorenzo Imbesi, an internationally-acclaimed researcher in Design Culture, from the School of Industrial Design at Carleton University, Canada. The importance of creativity in the cultural, creative and other industries and the significant contributions that creativity adds to a nation's overall GDP and the subsequent health and wellbeing of its people cannot be overstated. In Europe, the value of the cultural and creative industries is estimated at well over 700 billion Euros each year, twice that of Europe's car manufacturing industry. The value of creativity and innovation, to any nation, is therefore huge. Creativity and innovation adds real value, which enables a number of benefits such as economic growth and social wellbeing. In many societies creativity epitomises success, excitement and value. Whether driven by individuals, companies, enterprises or regions creativity and innovation establishes immediate empathy, and conveys an image of dynamism. Creativity is thus a positive word in societies constantly aspiring to innovation and progress. In short, creativity in all of its manifestations enriches society. This network seeks to gain an understanding of this dynamic ecology that creativity and innovation bring to society. Creativity is a vital ingredient in the production of products, services and systems, both in the cultural industries and across the economy as a whole. Yet despite its importance and the ubiquitous use of creativity as a term there are issues regarding its definitional clarity. A better understanding and articulation of creativity as a concept and a process would support enhanced future innovation. Socio-cultural approaches to creativity explain that creative ideas or products do not happen inside people's heads, but in the interaction between a person's thoughts and a socio-cultural context. It is acknowledged that creativity cannot be taught, but that it can be cultivated and this has significant implications for a nation's design and innovation culture. It is known that creativity flourishes in congenial environments and in creative climates. This research will examine how creativity is valued, exploited, and facilitated across different national and cultural settings as all can have a major impact on a nation's creative potential. The key aim of this network is to investigate attitudes about creativity and how it is best cultivated and exploited across three different geographical locations (UK, India, and Canada), different environments, and cultures from both an individual designer's perspective and design groups' perspectives. The network seeks to investigate cultures of creativity and innovation in design and question its nature. For instance, can creativity be adequately conceptualised in a design context? What role do cultural organisations and national bodies play in harnessing creativity? Where do the "edges" lie between creativity and innovation? Do richer environments and approaches for facilitating creativity exist? What design skills, knowledge, and expertise are required for creativity? Moreover, what are the key drivers that motivate the creativity and innovation of designers and other stakeholders? Are they economical, cultural, social, or political? This research network will host 3 workshops, each one facilitating inquiry amongst invited design practitioners, researchers, educators and other stakeholders involved in design practice.

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.