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Funding Calls and Awards
Calls
TSB Grants for Research and Development (for Companies)
A new Technology Strategy Board scheme is offering funding to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to engage in R&D projects in the strategically important areas of science, engineering and technology, from which successful new products, processes and services could emerge.
Open from 4 April 2011, the Grant for Research and Development (Grant for R&D) scheme will support R&D projects which offer potentially significant rewards and could stimulate UK economic growth. In contrast to the Collaborative R&D programme, Grant for R&D funding is available to single companies.
Three types of grant are available:
Awards
Dr. Angus Creech and Dr. Wolf-Gerrit Fruh, of the Wind and Marine Energy Group at Heriot-Watt University have been awarded £25,000 by Swedish energy company Vattenfall AB to model their offshore wind farm at Lillgrund, off the coast of Denmark.
Using state-of-the-art computational fluid dynamics techniques, they will assess the effects of deep-array wakes on energy production in offshore wind farms.
Dr. Gillian Menzies of the School of the Built Environment has received a £5,000 CICStart Award to carry out a feasibility study on behalf of Home Log Books Solutions Ltd., titled "Identifying Effective Communication Strategies to Minimize Water Consumption in Social Housing through Interaction with Tenants"
Research Council of Norway
Professor Tooraj Jamasb, "Sustainable Grid Development – SusGrid – a revised design: Addressing the need to integrate economic, social and environmental concerns" (Research Council of Norway, £154,000)
SISTech Commissioned by Chop-cloc To Evaluate Energy & Carbon Savings Efficacy of Energy Saving Device
Consultants at the Scottish Institute of Sustainable Technology, SISTech, have received a commission from Chop-cloc to conduct a trial of a household energy saving device and to provide a quantitative evaluation of energy and carbon savings. The device fits on to existing gas heating systems and reduces the gas used to heat the home. SISTech will develop a statistical evaluation of the energy savings and the carbon emissions avoided from using the device. Furthermore, SISTech will work closely with Swift, a market research company, to interpret the qualitative feedback from the trial participants to develop in depth case studies.
Chop-cloc is a small affordable device, designed to chop home energy bills. It's estimated that by using this device homeowners could chop their space-heating bills by a minimum of 10%, an average of 16%, and sometimes more.
Energy Technology Partnership PhD Studentships
Heriot-Watt was awarded three Energy Technology Partnership PhD studentships in September 2011. The studentships are worth £75,000 each over three and a half years, funded equally by the ETP, the Energy Academy and the company partner. Heriot-Watt have been extremely successful in attracting these awards, and now have ten in progress! The ten funded projects are listed below.
| Mathematics of Balancing Energy Networks under Uncertainty |
| Supervisor: Dr. Stan Zachary (School of Mathematical & Computer Sciences) with National Grid . |
| Academic co-supervisor: University of Edinburgh |
| Modeling of Pyrolysis of Wastes |  |
| Supervisor: Prof. Raffaella Ocone (School of Engineering & Physical Sciences) with NexTek. | |
| Academic co-supervisor: University of Edinburgh |
| Design and Manufacture of a Prognostic Sensor System for Power Distribution & Transmission Assets |  |
| Supervisor: Dr. David Flynn (School of Engineering & Physical Sciences) with Scottish and Southern Energy Group. | |
| Academic co-supervisor: Strathclyde University |
| Application of Renewable Microgeneration Technologies for Sustainable Autonomous Operation of Small Scottish Water Treatment Systems in Remote Locations |  |
| Supervisor: Prof. Bryce Richards (School of Engineering & Physical Sciences) with Drinking Water Quality Regulator Scotland. | |
| Academic co-supervisor: University of Edinburgh |
| Sub-Mesoscale Flow Regime Modelling and the Influence of Energy Extraction at a Tidal Energy Site: SUNTANS-MEM |  |
| Supervisor: Dr. Rob Harris (International Centre for Island Technology) with Marine Science Scotland | |
| Academic co-supervisor: Strathclyde University |
| Luminescent Solar Concentrators - a Viable Solution for Building Integrated Photovoltaics | |
| Supervisor: Prof. Bryce Richards (School of Engineering & Physical Sciences) with Teknova (Norway) | |
| Academic co-supervisor: University of Edinburgh |
| New Materials for Thermoelectric Power Generation from Low-Grade Waste Heat |  |
| Supervisor: Dr. Paz Vaqueiro (School of Engineering & Physical Sciences) with European Thermodynamics (England) | |
| Academic co-supervisor: University of Glasgow |
| Assessment of the role of energy storage in construction mass in optimising yields from passive and active solar technologies in housing using laboratory validated dynamic thermal simulation design tools |  |
| Supervisor: Prof. Sue Roaf (School of Built Environment) with Integrated Environmental Solutions. | |
| Academic co-supervisor: Strathclyde University |
FLEDGE IV Awards
Following the October 2011 sandpit, a number of awards were made to support Heriot-Watt researchers engaged in novel cross-school interdisciplinary energy-related research. Four awards of £2500 were made this time around. The awards were made based on science & innovation potential, and the potential to attract follow-on research funding, generate journal papers, and develop new relationships with industry:
The following awards were made, based on science & innovation potential, and the potential to attract follow-on research funding, generate journal papers, and develop new relationships with industry:
- Dr. Angus Creech (EPS) and Dr. Susana Baston (IPE-ICIT) – "Tidal energy: modelling far-field effects of tidal turbine farms"
- Dr. Daniil Yurchenko (EPS), Dr. Angus Creech (EPS), & Dr. Susana Baston (IPE-ICIT) – "Study of the reliability of tidal turbines"
- Prof. Dorrik Stow (IPE) & Prof. Mike Chantler (MACS) – "iGeo - core library and identification"
- John Mills (IPE), Prof. Mehran Sohrabi (IPE) & Dr. David Flynn (EPS)– "Development Of A Novel High-Pressure And Temperature Sensor For Investigating Enhanced Oil Recovery And Carbon Sequestration"
Awards Resulting in part from FLEDGE III funding
The FLEDGE III-funded project entitled "Celtic Communities" looked at the integration of land, river basin and marine management and planning for renewable energy production; up-scaling of the impacts associated with renewable energy developments on the environment; informing marine spatial planning development; and using best practice in spatial planning and community engagement to ensure benefits are maximised and conflicting uses are balanced. The original award has been leveraged into a £47,500 award made by Scottish Natural Heritage.
Researchers on the FLEDGE III project included Dr. Peter Matthews (above),Dr. Lindsay Beevers and Dr. Alan Cuthbertson (all SBE), Dr. Bernadette O'Rourke (SML), Dr. Bill Sanderson and Dr. Joanne Porter (both SLS) & Dr. Karl Stephen (IPE).
The SNH award allows researchers in this pool to perform survey work of the seabed around Orkney. More can be found on the BBC Radio Orkney video feature.
Furthermore, on the back of a FLEDGE III-funded project entitled "Regional Disparities of Energy Spending: The Impacts of Local Housing Stocks", Sotirios Thanos of the School of the Built Environment was successful in receiving £7,323 from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Education Trust to fund his proposal titled "The changing effects on domestic energy expenditure from housing characteristics and the recent rapid fuel price movements".
EPSRC
| Dr. Jan-Willem Bos (School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Dept. Of Chemistry), "Ultra-high temperature synthesis of high-performance Zintl thermoelectrics", EPSRC, £125,000.
The project starts July 1, 2011 and runs for 2 years. |
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| Prof. Phil Banfill (School of the Built Environment), "Adaptation and resilience in energy systems", EPSRC, £388,000. Joint with lead PI Prof. Gareth Harrison of Edinburgh University, total grant £1,100,000. This project will deliver a risk framework to manage the resilience of the UK's energy system to climate change, looking at both the supply and demand in the context of the move towards a low carbon future. Our congratulations to Phil and his team! |
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| Dr. Tapas Mallick (School of Engineering and Physical Sciences), "Development and Integration of Biomass and Concentrating Photovoltaic System for Rural and Urban Energy Bridge: BioCPV", EPSRC, £1,400,000. As part of the UK – India Research Collaboration, this project aims to develop an integrated system of solar energy, biomass and waste power generation and hydrogen generation and storage to provide low-cost integrated renewable energy to rural areas. |
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| Dr. Nicole van der Laak (School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Dept. Of Chemistry), "New Generation Supercapacitors: Realising future energy storage needs for the 21st Century", EPSRC-funded from Apr 2011 – Mar 2013, £146,000. |
| Prof Sergei Foss (School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences), "Mathematical foundations for energy networks: buffering, storage and transmission", EPSRC-funded from Jan 2011 – Dec 2014, £488,000. |
European Commission
| Dr. Tooraj Jamasb (SML – Economics) received £245,000 from the European Commission for a proposal entitled "SESAME: Securing the European Electricity Supply Against Malicious and Accidental Threats". |  |
CIC Start Awards
Dr. Tapas Mallick (School of Engineering and Physical Sciences) will work with Grid Post Ltd. of Edinburgh, who through the Edinburgh Centre on Climate Change last month received a £5000 CIC Start Online Feasibility Award. Grid Post and Dr. Mallick will assess the feasibility of creating PV renewable energy from lamp posts by direct delivery into the National Grid.
Climate Challenge Fund
Transition Heriot-Watt, a group set up by students and staff at Heriot-Watt University to promote sustainability, has won £49,000 in funding from the Scottish Government's Climate Challenge Fund. The project will encourage staff and students to consider more environmentally-friendly ways of travelling to and from the campus, such as car-sharing, taking the bus or cycling.
FLEDGE III
Following the March 16 sandpit, a number of awards were made to support Heriot-Watt researchers engaged in novel cross-school interdisciplinary energy-related research. Although £13,200 was originally allocated, through the generosity of senior members of the Institute of Petroleum Engineering we were able to increase the fund to £20,000.
The following awards were made, based on science & innovation potential, and the potential to attract follow-on research funding, generate journal papers, and develop new relationships with industry:
- Dr. Peter Matthews / Dr. Lindsay Beevers / Dr. Alan Cuthbertson (SBE), Dr. Bernadette O'Rourke (SML) & Dr. Bill Sanderson / Dr. Joanne Porter (SLS) - "Celtic Communities". £3300.
- Dr. David Flynn (EPS) & Dr. J. Murray Roberts (SLS) - "Roadmap of the next generation of sensors for marine applications". £3300.
- Dr. Helena Meier (SML) & Sotirios Thanos (SBE) - "Regional Disparities of Energy Spending: The Impacts of Local Housing Stocks". £3300.
- Dr. Andreas Holter / Prof. Alan McKinnon (SML) & Prof. Jim Ritchie (EPS) - "Improving Container Utilisation". £1650.
- Prof. Tooraj Jamasb (SML) & Dr. Zhen Chen (SBE) - "Understanding the Interdependencies of Critical Energy and Non-Energy Infrastructures under Extreme Events". £1650.
- Dr. Richard Cruise (MACS), Prof. Raffaella Ocone (EPS) & Darragh Hare (Glasgow University) - "Climate Change and Energy Supply: the development of a quantitative predictive tool". £1650.
- Dr. Mehreen Gul (SBE) and Dr. Sandhya Patidar (MACS) - "Energy assessment of an academic building: A Post Occupancy Statistical and Qualitative Evaluation". £1650.
- Dr. Keith Brown (EPS) & Dr. Nick Taylor (MACS) - "Intelligent Home Reference Architecture". £1650.
- Kittitach Pichatwatana (SBE) & Tanakorn Kitivech (EPS) - "Prototype Of Sun Shade In Atrium Building For Reducing Co2 Emissions In Hot-Humid Climates. Case Study: New Bangkok International Airport Terminal, Thailand". £1650.