Research Excellence Awards 2007 announced

Recognising research with significant future potential - News

Monday 10 December 2007
By Naomi Weston

Leading researchers have been recognised for their high academic achievement and innovative work in the College's Research Excellence Awards 2007.

From new medical imaging technologies to understanding how environment influences biodiversity, from ultrasonic waves to spectroscopic imaging, these research projects have been recognised for their significant future potential.

Four research teams have been awarded, each receiving up to £150, 000.

An external panel of judges considered the final short list of projects. They included: Rector, Sir Richard Sykes, Professor Sir John Bell, Lord Broers, Professor Sir John Enderby and Professor Sir Aaron Klug.

Meet the winning teams:

Professor Peter Cawley, from the Department of Mechanical Engineering and his team, Professor Michael Lowe, Dr Francesco Simonetti, Dr Frederic Cegla and Mr Pierre Belanger won for their project on Super Resolution Imaging.

Professor Cawley, tell us about the research you are doing?

"Carrying out inspections of industrial plants is often problematic because of their harsh environments. The Non Destructive Evaluation Group works with industry to solve inspection problems by designing technologies which use ultrasonic waves and other experimental methods. The group has also been the driving force behind the UK Research Centre in Non Destructive Evaluation– a consortium of business and academia which researches new technologies for industrial inspections."

Why is it important and what is the next step?

"For safety reasons it is extremely important to constantly monitor industrial plants because in the long term they suffer from fatigue, corrosion and other processes that degrade their structures. Our work helps to maintain their integrity. In the future, the group aims to utilise our ultrasound wave technology in medical diagnostics."

How do you feel about winning the award?

"Our group is very pleased to win the award and it is a great honour to be recognised by the College in this way. Awards from colleagues are always particularly satisfying."

Professor Sergei Kazarian from the Department of Chemical Engineering and his team, Professor Andrew Livingston, Professor Paul Luckham, Professor Kang Li, Dr Alexander Bismarck, Dr Andrew Chan, Dr Angelika Menner, from the Department of Aeronautics, Dr Natasha Shirshova, Dr Ludmila Peeva and Dr Camilla Ricci were recognised for their work on imaging nanostructures.

Professor Kazarian, tell us about the research you are doing?

"We are a world leading group in the area of spectroscopic imaging which is a process for analysing the distribution of chemical substances in a broad range of materials."

Why is the research important and what is the next step?

"Our research is important because it allows scientists to analyse many substances. For instance, scientists in the pharmaceutical industry can use detailed images of the distribution of chemicals in tablets to create faster acting drugs. The next step in our research will combine spectroscopy with atomic force microscopy to give the greatest detail yet of nanomaterials. This process will allow scientists to map the terrain and the chemical composition of substances."

How do you feel about winning the award?

"Our team is really pleased to have won this award, which acknowledges the efforts of our students and post doctorates. We will use the award money to fund the next stage of our research and seek out new multidisciplinary collaborations throughout the College."

From the Department of Life Sciences, Professor Andy Purvis and his team, Dr Matthew Fisher from the Division of Epidemiology, Public Health and Primary Care, Professor Henrik Jensen from the Department of Mathematics, Professor Georgina Mace, Professor E J Milner-Gulland, Dr David Orme, Professor Ian Owens and Dr Richard Grenyer from the Department of Life Sciences won the award for their project on understanding biodiversity dynamics in a changing world.

Professor Purvis, tell us about the research you're doing?

"The team I'm part of all try to understand how speciation, evolutionary change and extinction – the processes that have shaped biodiversity – have been influenced by the environment, either in the distant past or in the present day."

Why is it important and what are the next steps?

"It's important because human impacts are changing the world increasingly rapidly. In order to predict how biodiversity will respond to those changes, we need first to understand how it has responded to natural changes in the past. The two main next steps are to try to link up the models across spatial scales – from individuals organisms up to whole ecosystems – and to bring together new models of how the environment shapes biodiversity with projections of future environmental changes."

How do you feel about winning the award?

"Obviously the whole team is delighted that College is investing in what we want to do, and we're all looking forward to getting on with it."

Professor Roy Taylor from the Department of Physics and his team, Dr Sergei Popov, Mr John Travers, Mr Andrei Rulkov and Mr Burly Cumberland won the award for their project on non linear optics and fibre based instrumentation.

Professor Taylor, tell us about the research you're doing?

"The femtosecond optics group which I'm part of in the Physics Department is working on non-linear fibre optics. This means we put a laser into a fibre, which is then modified by the fibre to create new wavelengths. The work which we presently undertake is in high power supercontinuum generation, in which all wavelengths that glass can transmit are generated simultaneously, from the ultraviolet to the near infra red. Our new technology can be operated at very high power levels and has already replaced conventional laser systems in applications as diverse as medical imaging and remote sensing."

Why is it important and what are the next steps?

"This research is important because the operational power levels are in excess of 50 watts continuous wave and so this simple, compact and efficient source, which is only the size of a DVD player, can replace numerous conventional lasers in the applications arena. The next steps for us include continuing to develop new medical imaging technologies using these non-linear optics."

How do you feel about winning the award?

"It's a real honour to have been given this award. Our group is small, currently only six people, yet for the past 20 years and more we have been an international leading force in the field of non linear optics and fibre based laser syste ms. I hope this award is viewed as recognition of the vast body of seminal research the group has produced."

The awards will be presented at the Postgraduate Awards Ceremony in May 2008.