A PhD partnership between the Durham Centre for Soft Matter and a South African Universities Soft Matter Community

软物质和聚合物在现代生活中无处不在！无论是塑料制品(聚合物)、食品(胶体)、油漆和其他装饰涂层(薄膜和涂层)、隐形眼镜(水凝胶)、洗发水和洗衣粉(上述产品的复杂混合物)，还是生物材料，如蛋白质和膜，聚合物和软物质几乎触及人类活动的方方面面，并支撑所有工业部门的工艺和产品。例如，在英国，软物质和聚合物支撑着工业部门，这些部门占英国GDP的近20%，拥有超过110万名英国员工。软物质和聚合物具有基本的社会和经济价值！2014年，作为牵头组织的达勒姆软物质中心(与利兹大学和爱丁堡大学)获得了EPSRC软物质和功能界面博士培训中心(SOFI CDT)，该中心将在五个队列中培训总共80名博士生。SOFI CDT的目标是在软物质科学的所有领域提供广泛的、多学科的博士培训经验，以行业为重点的可移植技能和商业意识，以及具有挑战性的博士研究项目，使毕业的博士生能够在行业内拥有高影响力的职业生涯。更广泛的SOFI社区包括一个由15-20个行业合作伙伴组成的网络，从中小企业到数十亿家跨国公司，以及包括斯泰伦博施大学(SU)在内的海外学术合作伙伴网络。对于所有SOFI CDT博士生来说，一项关键的活动是有机会参加从2016年开始的为期三个月的博士生与海外合作伙伴的交流。目前的提议将在达勒姆软物质中心/SOFI CDT和南非新兴聚合物/软物质社区之间建立伙伴关系，主要目的是为能力建设、加强合作和发展长期、可持续的伙伴关系提供一个协调中心。斯泰伦博斯大学的聚合物科学小组是非洲公认的卓越中心和卓越的聚合物科学小组。因此，鉴于它与达勒姆大学已建立的联系，它最适合协调南非大学联盟的活动。这一新伙伴关系的核心将是学生。来自英国和南非的10名博士生将进行为期3个月的研究和培训交流访问，由一个具有互补和相关专业知识的研究小组主办。作为交流计划的一部分，学生将参加一个短期研究项目；i)在两国每年举办的达勒姆-南澳研究研讨会，教职员工和学生将在会上展示他们的研究。ii)学生主导的外展活动，特别是学生对南非贫困学校的访问。iii)社会和文化活动计划更有限的短期教职员工交流访问计划将促进长期的合作伙伴关系，并将在牛顿基金会期间保持下去。我们相信，增强的博士经验将极大地使相关学生受益，并为他们提供在日益全球化的研究环境中取得成功所需的技能和人脉。

Soft matter and polymers are ubiquitous in modern life! Be it manufactured plastic products (polymers), food (colloids), paint and other decorative coatings (thin films and coatings), contact lenses (hydrogels), shampoo and washing powder (complex mixtures of the above) or biomaterials such as proteins and membranes, polymers and soft matter touch almost every aspect of human activity and underpin processes and products across all industrial sectors. In the UK for example - soft matter and polymers underpin industrial sectors which account for nearly 20% of UK GDP and over 1.1M UK employees. Soft matter and polymers are of fundamental social and economic value!In 2014 the Durham Centre for Soft Matter, as lead organization was awarded (with Leeds and Edinburgh Universities) an EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Soft Matter and Functional Interfaces (SOFI CDT) which will train, in total 80 PhD, students in five cohorts. The ambition of SOFI CDT is to provide a broad, multidisciplinary PhD training experience across all areas of soft matter science, with industry-focussed transferable skills and business awareness alongside a challenging PhD research project to enable graduating PhD students to have high impact careers in industry. The wider SOFI community comprises of a network of 15-20 industrial partners, from SMEs to multi-billion multinationals and a network of overseas academic partners, including Stellenbosch University (SU). A key activity for all SOFI CDT PhD students is the opportunity to participate in three-month PhD student exchanges with the overseas partners - starting in 2016. The current proposal will build a partnership between the Durham Centre for Soft Matter/SOFI CDT and the emerging polymer/soft matter community in South Africa with a key aim to offer a focal point for capacity building, enhanced collaboration and the development of a long-term, sustainable partnership. The Polymer Science group at Stellenbosch University is a recognized Centre of Excellence and pre-eminent Polymer Science group in Africa. As such, and given the established links to Durham University, it is best placed to coordinate the activities of the consortium of South African universities. At the heart of this new partnership will be students. 10 PhD students each from the UK and South Africa will undertake a 3-month research and training exchange visit hosted by a research group with complementary and relevant expertise. As part of the exchange program and alongside a short term research project the students will participate in; i) Annual Durham-SA research symposia in both countries at which staff and students will present their research.ii) Student-led outreach activities, in particular involving student visits to underprivileged schools in South Africa.iii) A program of social and cultural activitiesA more limited program of short staff exchange visits will promote a longer term partnership which will be sustained beyond the period of Newton Funding.We believe that the enhanced PhD experience will significantly benefit the students in question and offer them the skills and contacts required to be successful in an increasingly global research environment.