Clusters, starbursts and feedback into the environments of galaxies

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Each new generation of stars in our own and other galaxies contributes to the enrichment of the interstellar medium (ISM) in heavy elements. Over time, these heavy elements, which may be injected as gas or dust particles, and the outflows that carry them, progressively modify the way that new stars and planets form, as well as the overall properties of the galaxies themselves. Gaining a greater understanding of star formation and the ISM evolution of galaxies, and their interplay, has provided the motivation for the construction of a large number international facilities, including ALMA and the planned JCMT surveys, the VLT and Gemini 8-m telescopes, the Spitzer Space Telescope, the Herschel Space Observatory and the James Webb Space Telescope. The co-applicants on the current proposal are heavily involved in research in this area and plan to use these facilities to tackle a number of outstanding problems. These include the role of young star clusters in driving outflows from starburst galaxies; the relative contributions of supernovae and evolved stars to the dust enrichment of galaxies; determining the structures of hot cores in star formation regions via chemical evolution models; investigating the cycling of gas and dust between diffuse clouds and dark clouds; investigating how star-forming regions at high redshifts can be studied via their molecular emission; developing a 3D radiative transfer code to self-consistently treat clumped photodissociation regions located around ionized nebulae, in order to interpret forthcoming observations by ESA's Herschel Space Observatory; and investigating molecular processes in a number of extreme astrophysical environments.