Today we use many objects not normally associated with computers or the internet. These include gas meters and lights in our homes, healthcare devices, water distribution systems and cars. Increasingly, such objects are digitally connected and some are transitioning from cellular network connections (M2M) to using the internet: e.g. smart meters and cars - ultimately self-driving cars may revolutionise transport. This trend is driven by numerous forces. The connection of objects and use of their data can cut costs (e.g. allowing remote control of processes) creates new business opportunities (e.g. tailored consumer offerings), and can lead to new services (e.g. keeping older people safe in their homes). This vision of interconnected physical objects is commonly referred to as the Internet of Things. The examples above not only illustrate the vast potential of such technology for economic and societal benefit, they also hint that such a vision comes with serious challenges and threats. For example, information from a smart meter can be used to infer when people are at home, and an autonomous car must make quick decisions of moral dimensions when faced with a child running across on a busy road. This means the Internet of Things needs to evolve in a trustworthy manner that individuals can understand and be comfortable with. It also suggests that the Internet of Things needs to be resilient against active attacks from organised crime, terror organisations or state-sponsored aggressors. Therefore, this project creates a Hub for research, development, and translation for the Internet of Things, focussing on privacy, ethics, trust, reliability, acceptability, and security/safety: PETRAS, (also suggesting rock-solid foundations) for the Internet of Things. The Hub will be designed and run as a 'social and technological platform'. It will bring together UK academic institutions that are recognised international research leaders in this area, with users and partners from various industrial sectors, government agencies, and NGOs such as charities, to get a thorough understanding of these issues in terms of the potentially conflicting interests of private individuals, companies, and political institutions; and to become a world-leading centre for research, development, and innovation in this problem space. Central to the Hub approach is the flexibility during the research programme to create projects that explore issues through impactful co-design with technical and social science experts and stakeholders, and to engage more widely with centres of excellence in the UK and overseas. Research themes will cut across all projects: Privacy and Trust; Safety and Security; Adoption and Acceptability; Standards, Governance, and Policy; and Harnessing Economic Value. Properly understanding the interaction of these themes is vital, and a great social, moral, and economic responsibility of the Hub in influencing tomorrow's Internet of Things. For example, a secure system that does not adequately respect privacy, or where there is the mere hint of such inadequacy, is unlikely to prove acceptable. Demonstrators, like wearable sensors in health care, will be used to explore and evaluate these research themes and their tension. New solutions are expected to come out of the majority of projects and demonstrators, many solutions will be generalisable to problems in other sectors, and all projects will produce valuable insights. A robust governance and management structure will ensure good management of the research portfolio, excellent user engagement and focussed coordination of impact from deliverables. The Hub will further draw on the expertise, networks, and on-going projects of its members to create a cross-disciplinary language for sharing problems and solutions across research domains, industrial sectors, and government departments. This common language will enhance the outreach, development, and training activities of the Hub.

This century is set to be the century of the city. Ever-increasing urbanisation is proceeding against a backdrop of advances in digital technologies and data availability and analysis, which are having profound effects on the ways that the future of cities is unfolding. Emerging from this intersection of urban growth and 'big data' is the discipline of urban science which can assist governments, industry and citizens to move beyond imperfect understanding and use data to undertake tasks such as optimising operations (e.g. service delivery, traffic flow), monitoring the condition of infrastructure (e.g. bridge conditions, water leaks), planning new, more efficient, infrastructure (e.g. public transport, utilities provision), responding to abnormal conditions (e.g. hazard detection, emergency management), developing new and effective policies (e.g. road pricing, energy efficient buildings), enhancing economic performance and, informing and communicating with citizens to improve quality of life. This Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) is designed to play a leading role in the emergence and development of urban science. It will establish urban science as a field of study and focus of scientific inquiry. This new field needs trained cross-disciplinary researchers, who have the skills to integrate diverse branches of knowledge to address a range of important current and future policy drivers. It will build capacity within the UK HE sector to deliver novel solutions in the urban science domain, both nationally and internationally. Importantly, it will do so in an interdisciplinary environment, e.g. by exploiting synergies between computer science, engineering, mathematics and social science. Solutions to urban issues require a tri-partied relationship between academia, public bodies and the private sector. This CDT will work alongside government agencies and industry partners in the UK and abroad. The importance of urban science and appropriate cross-disciplinary research is central to our CDT approach. The potential benefits and impact are listed by the leader of Birmingham City Council as including "mak[ing] a real difference to tens of thousands of Birmingham residents", "saving £Ms in operating costs", and "deliver[ing] a legacy of change through the training of individuals who have real expertise in their area". The deputy mayor of New York states that the centre can "develop scientific solutions that will have direct impact on billions of the world's population." This CDT provides a UK training environment that is part of a wider international programme, which offers training alongside international city experts, and benefits from the support of leading industry practitioners. No one in the world is tackling urban challenges at this scale. By leading the research agenda on the science of cities, educating the next generation of experts in how to apply that research, bringing innovative ideas to a world market, and creating new, fast-growing industry solutions and the many jobs that go with them, this UK-led CDT will be at the centre of the global stage in this field. The CDT will adopt a 1+3 (MSc+PhD) training model that is high-quality and rigourous, to produce multiple cohorts of successful, highly-employable graduates. It promotes an international student experience; students will work alongside a larger student cohort from NYU, CUNY, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Toronto and IIT Mumbai; it allows our students unprecedented access, in the UK and overseas, to existing city operations, to utilize existing and newly emerging data streams, and to explore and deploy novel urban sensors; it enables students to work alongside industry luminaries, leaders in public service and citizens, to understand, measure and improve urban systems; and it provides value for money to the UK through 50+ PhDs who will receive discipline-defining training from world-class institutions.