New Web Science Institute Blog
by Lisa Harris via Digital Economy USRG
Since the start of 2014, we have migrated existing posts from this blog to the new Web Science Institute blog https://blog.soton.ac.uk/wsi – please check this out for the latest content The DE emailing list has also been re-titled WSI – its membership list is unchanged.
Energy USRG – EPSRC Summer Bursaries 2014
by Natalie Sims
Natalie Sims – Working towards developing sustainable biofuels
Chemistry Undergraduate, Natalie Sims, has good cause to celebrate. She has just won a Summer Vacation Bursary. These bursaries, part of the EPSRC vacation bursary programme, provide funding for exceptional students to gain first-hand experience of interdisciplinary research. They are awarded annually and allow outstanding students to gain valuable work experience.
Dwindling energy supplies have given a major impetus towards developing renewable energy technologies; and biomass feedstocks such as cellulose, have considerable potential for the generation of second generation biofuels and renewable plastics using heterogeneous catalysts. The cellulose, which typically might come from poplar, for example, can be transformed into biomass-derived FDCA, a chemical which can serve as a sustainable substitute for terephthalic acid in the synthesis of polyethylene terephthalate, or PET. This biomass-derived FDCA can be generated by catalytic methods and has potential applications in the production of renewable plastics and biofuel intermediates. Natalie will gain a real insight into an interdisciplinary research career that adopts the principles of Chemistry for renewable energy applications. Building upon knowledge gained from her Chemistry degree, she will develop her own design tools for creating discrete active sites for enabling specific transformations involving biomass feedstocks, using a hierarchical porous structure. She will also have the opportunity to fully characterise her materials using a range of techniques including powder X-ray diffraction, BET, X-ray absorption spectroscopy, electron microscopy and 3D tomography.
Teaching Digital Humanities – Higher Education Academy Summit
by Graeme Earl via Digital Humanities | Digital Humanities
I spent the last two days at a fascinating event in Lewes funded by the Higher Education Academy. The “summit” was focused on the teaching of Digital Humanities, with a view to the HEA gaining a sense of the current issues and priorities in teaching and learning. This will in turn inform further HEA policy and recommendations. As part of …
CII seminar, 13:00, 15th May 2014. Room 13/3017
by Luke Goater via Computational Intensive Imaging Blog
Lasers for Spectroscopy and Imaging – developing new forms of cancer treatment and diagnosis of bone disease. Professor Anthony W. Parker FRSC STFC Fellow Central Laser Facility Science & Technology Facilities Council Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Abstract The presentation will describe the STFC Central Laser Facility and focus on research into using multiphoton excitation of […]