Academy supports engineering excellence through nine research fellowships

The Royal Academy of Engineering has announced support for nine new engineering research fellowships, with each awardee receiving five years’ worth of funding to advance their academic research.

The proposed research topics cover a wide range of engineering disciplines, including the use of next-generation AI in automated game design, novel satellite to ground receivers for encrypted quantum communication and the development of decentralised, networked and resilient energy systems in developing countries.

The Academy’s Research Fellowships are designed to advance excellence in engineering by enabling early-career academics to concentrate on basic research in any field of engineering. Awardees also receive mentoring from an experienced Academy Fellow, providing valuable advice and industry links that will enable the researchers to establish themselves as future leaders in their fields.

Two of the awards have been made as part of the Academy’s new Engineering for Development Research Fellowships. Funded through the government’s Global Challenges Research Fund, these fellowships are awarded to research projects that directly tackle the challenges faced by developing countries and highlight the vital role of engineering in achieving sustainable global development.

A further eight research fellowships selected through the same process will be funded from the recently announced extra investment in research talent. Recipients will be announced at a later date.

The full list of Research Fellows and their projects is as follows:

Research Fellowships

• Dr Nasrin Al Nasiri, Imperial College London
  Novel Coatings for Ceramic Gas Turbines
• Dr Michael Cook, Queen Mary University of London
  Automated Game Design: Next-Generation Creative AI for Games
• Dr Ross James Donaldson, Heriot-Watt University
  Practical Optical Ground Station Receivers for Satellite-Based Quantum Communication
• Dr Melanie Jimenez, University of Glasgow
  Tackling Antimicrobial Resistance: Engineering New Microsystems for Rapid Bacteria Purification
• Dr Leila Miriam Moura, Queen’s University Belfast
  Liquid Engineering for Gas Separation
• Dr Fernando Perez-Cota, University of Nottingham
  Phonon Microscopy; a New Way to See Inside Living Cells
• Dr Catarina Veiga, University College London
  A Framework to Study Radiotherapy-Induced Late Effects on Paediatric Patients

Engineering for Development Research Fellowships

• Dr Long Seng To, Loughborough University
  Enhancing Community Energy Resilience Using Renewable Energy in Developing Countries
• Dr Junjie Shen, University of Bath
  Safe Drinking Water using Capacitive Deionisation for East Africa

1. The Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellowships and Engineering for Development Research Fellowships support early-career academics to establish successful research careers and become future research leaders in their fields. The scheme provides funding for five years to allow awardees the freedom to concentrate on basic research in any field of engineering and establish a track record in the field. Funding for the Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellowships is provided by the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Engineering for Development Research Fellowships through the government’s Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF).

   The scheme is currently open for applications until Monday 24 September 2018. For more information, please visit: https://www.raeng.org.uk/grants-and-prizes/support-for-research/raeng-research-fellowship

2. Royal Academy of Engineering

As the UK’s national academy for engineering and technology, we bring together the most successful and talented engineers from academia and business – our Fellows – to advance and promote excellence in engineering for the benefit of society.

We harness their experience and expertise to provide independent advice to government, to deliver programmes that help exceptional engineering researchers and innovators realise their potential, to engage the public with engineering and to provide leadership for the profession.

We have three strategic priorities:

• Make the UK the leading nation for engineering innovation and businesses
• Address the engineering skills and diversity challenge
• Position engineering at the heart of society

We bring together engineers, policy makers, entrepreneurs, business leaders, academics, educators and the public in pursuit of these goals.

Engineering is a global profession, so we work with partners across the world to advance engineering’s contribution to society on an international, as well as a national scale.