Advanced Composites Centre for Innovation & Science (ACCIS) Doctoral Training Centre

我们将建立ACCIS作为国际领先的博士培训中心（DTC），作为指定DTC领域的一部分：材料科学与工程。该DTC将提高高素质材料科学家/工程师的数量，并解决两个主要问题。首先，目前英国工业在复合材料技术方面的技术人员数量不足（EPSRC材料公司）。回顾2008年)，其次，培养能够在工程与科学之间架起桥梁的人才。进一步的目标是开发和生产下一代复合材料，注意到在ACCIS中，复合材料被定义为可能表现出多功能属性的材料的协同组合。复合材料在许多工程领域为商业成功和环境可持续性提供了新颖、基本的解决方案，具有巨大的未来潜力。英国复合材料公司正处于关键时刻。例如，用于建造大型客机的材料正在从金属转变为复合材料，如果设计和制造要留在英国，并且要达到ACARE2020目标（例如减少50%的二氧化碳和感知噪音），就需要进行技术改造。工业需求的另一个例子是，为确保英国能源供应的安全，预计风力发电场将增加10倍。在这种情况下，对复合材料的需求甚至可能超过航空航天工业的需求。总的来说，复合材料的工业应用呈指数级增长。同时，大学目前没有培养出实施技术和推进基础科学所需的毕业生，英国材料科学系的收缩加剧了这种情况。如果没有必要的技能基础和专业知识来推动令人兴奋的项目并产生知识产权，现有的和新兴的行业及其供应链都有可能失败或转移到海外。该提案为解决这一挑战提供了机会，创建了一个涵盖复合材料科学与工程的国际领先的DTC。该中心将为提高这一战略重要领域的产能做出重大贡献，并牢固地确立英国先进复合材料在全球地图上的地位。我们的工业支持函强调了迫切需要满足当前和预计未来跨部门复合材料技术高技能人才的短缺，包括航空航天，生物材料，民用基础设施和能源发电。为了满足这一需求并提供新一代复合材料创新，我们的战略是寻求同等份额的工业支持博士项目，以满足短期的工业需求，同时在多功能复合材料开发方面进行令人兴奋的长期蓝天研究。将这种方法与综合教学计划相结合，我们将提供高技能的复合材料从业人员，以确保这一关键英国行业的繁荣未来。这个DTC的技术抱负是：通过在这些学科的前沿和界面上放置博士学位，刺激冒险研究，跨越长度尺度和在已建立的复合材料研究与化学、物理、生物和医学之间尚未探索的界面；-开发新一代复合材料的设计方法和创新应用。DTC将提供创建和交付研究生学位组合的手段。建议开办四年制课程，包括一年的授课课程。该课程适合各种学生背景，利用第一年作为博士学位前的熟悉期。模块化方案也将适用于非全日制学生，特别是来自工业界的学生，以满足他们的培训需要。新颖的方面包括拟议的研究人员交流计划，年度会议，以及全面的个人和可转移技能发展

We will establish ACCIS as an internationally leading Doctoral Training Centre (DTC) as part of the specified DTC area: Materials Science & Engineering. This DTC will raise the number of highly qualified materials scientists/engineers and address two major issues. Firstly, insufficient numbers of skilled personnel in Composites technology currently available to UK industry (EPSRC Materials Intl. Review 2008) and secondly, training of people capable of bridging the interface between engineering & science. A further objective is to develop and produce the next generation of Composites, noting that within ACCIS Composites are defined as synergistic combinations of materials which may exhibit multifunctional attributes. Composites offer novel, fundamental solutions for commercial success and environmental sustainability in many engineering endeavours, with enormous future potential.UK Composites is at a critical juncture. For example, materials used in building large passenger aircraft are changing from metallic to Composite, requiring a technological transformation if design and manufacturing are to remain in the UK and ACARE2020 targets (e.g. 50% reduction in CO2 & perceived noise) are to be met. A further example of industrial need is the expected ten-fold increase in wind farms to ensure security of the UK's energy supply. In this case, demand for Composites may even exceed that from the aerospace industry. Overall, industrial use of Composites is rising exponentially. Simultaneously, universities are not currently producing the graduates required to implement technology and advance underlying science, a situation exacerbated by contraction of UK Materials Science departments. Without the necessary skill base and expertise to drive exciting projects and generate intellectual property, there is an overwhelming risk that both existing and nascent industries, and their supply chains, could fail or move offshore. This proposal provides the opportunity to address this challenge, creating an internationally leading DTC encompassing the materials science & engineering of Composites. The centre will contribute significantly to increasing capacity in this strategically important area and firmly establish UK Advanced Composites on the global map.Our industrial letters of support highlight the urgent need to meet current and anticipated future shortages of highly skilled people for cross-sectorial Composites technologies, spanning aerospace, biomaterials, civil infrastructure and energy generation. To meet this need and provide a new generation of Composites innovation, we have a strategy to seek an equal share of industrially supported PhD projects to meet shorter-term industrial needs, coupled with exciting longer-term, blue-skies studies in multifunctional Composites development. Combining this approach with a comprehensive taught progamme, we will deliver highly-skilled Composites practitioners to ensure a flourishing future for this crucial UK sector.The technical aspirations of this DTC are:-to stimulate adventurous research, across length scales and at unexplored interfaces between established Composites research and chemistry, physics, biology and medicine by placing PhDs at the frontiers of and interfaces between these disciplines;-to develop the design methodology and innovative application of Next Generation Composite Materials.The DTC will provide the means to create and deliver a portfolio of PG degrees. A 4-yr programme, including 1-yr taught course, is proposed. This programme is suitable for a range of student backgrounds, exploiting the 1st year as a familiarisation period before their PhD. The modular Programme will also be adapted for part-time students, particularly from industry, to fulfil their training needs. Novel aspects include the proposed researcher exchange programme, annual conference, and comprehensive personal and transferable skills development