By Heather Hobbs BRINGING YOU THE LATEST RESEARCH & EVENTS NEWS FROM THE SCIENCE INDUSTRY Nottingham Opens a New UK-Chinese Geospatial Centre
A centre for Sino-UK Geospatial Engineering which has opened at The University of Nottingham, is being jointly supported and operated by The University of Nottingham and the Chinese Academy of Surveying and Mapping, the research arm of China's National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation (NASG).
Also operating from a base on Nottingham’s Ningbo Campus in Beijing, China, the centre will offer Executive Training for Chinese leaders working in surveying and mapping companies and will also be used as a platform for NASG to identify and build partnerships in the UK .
Dr Xiaolin Meng, UK Director of the Centre; Professor David Greenaway, Vice Chancellor of Nottingham University; Mr Wanfeng Zhang, Deputy Director General, Department of Legislation and Industry Management; Professor Qin Yan, Vice President of Chinese Academy of Surveying and Mapping and Deputy Director of the Centre.
Professor David Greenaway, Vice-Chancellor of The University of Nottingham, said: “We are very privileged that China’s National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation (NASG), has chosen The University of Nottingham as its sole overseas Executive Education training base.
“It means that we will be able to share international best practice in geospatial engineering research. It will further strengthen our
links with Chinese academics, businesses and government.
Mr Wanfeng Zhang, Deputy Director General, Department of Legislation and Industry Management of NASG said “to date, over 90 leading Chinese CEOs from industry have participated in the seminars held with The University of Nottingham, engaging with leading experts in both the UK and EU on international surveys, industry developments and the use of the latest IT in geo-information. Last year, the Chinese Academy of Surveying and Mapping (CASM) unveiled a plaque in Beijing to mark the partnership. I am glad that the plaque will today be unveiled at the UK Centre at The University of Nottingham, which will further enhance our collaboration in the future.”
Dr Xiaolin Meng, Associate Professor from The University of Nottingham will operate as the UK Director. Dr Meng will be working closely with Professor Jixian Zhang, President of the Chinese Academy of Surveying and Mapping (CASM) and the overall director of the Sino-UK Geospatial Centre.
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Award Supports Development of Proton Therapy
A team of researchers led by the University of Lincoln has received a £1.6 million Wellcome Trust Translation Award to develop the use of proton therapy which has the ability to deliver high doses of radiation directly to a tumour,
This targeted approach will reduce radiation absorption by surrounding healthy tissue, thus is particularly useful in treating cancer in children and for tumours that are close to the body's vital structures.
The new three-year Pravda project is also investigating the use of unique imaging sensors developed at the University of Lincoln in conjunction with detectors developed by the University of Liverpool and used in Large Hadron Collider experiments.
This will provide better measurements of therapy dose, with the help of 3D images to pinpoint where the radiation is absorbed at the tumour site. The shorter dosage times might make it possible to treat some common cancers that so far have resisted treatment with conventional therapy.
Nigel Allinson, Distinguished Professor of Image Engineering at the University of Lincoln, explained: "Radiotherapy is a fundamental weapon in the battle against cancer with some 50% of patients receiving it as part of their treatment.
"Proton therapy is widely used in the USA, and with two new government-supported centres becoming available in the UK, our work is not only timely but, hopefully, will have a major effect on the quality of life for many thousands of cancer patients. Being able to image exactly how the radiation interacts with a tumour, in 3D, is considered the holy grail of radiotherapy."
Professor Allinson has assembled a team of instrumentation scientists, medical physicists and oncologists from across the world, including people from the Universities of Birmingham, Liverpool and Surrey, the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, the University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, and the iThemba Laboratories (Cape Town, South Africa).
Find out more info. 508 FAAM BA BAe-146
Visitors to the UK's Royal International Air Tattoo at Fairford in July saw a new visitor to the show as the FAAM BAe-146 Atmospheric Research Lab made its first-ever appearance at an air show.
Flyby Tests Show Atmosphere
Researchers last year flew into the most disruptive, violent cyclone that Scotland had seen in decades and more recently in May this year, they flew into the heart of ferocious storms battering southern England. The data they collected will help improve weather forecasts by giving scientists unprecedented knowledge about what happens in the storms' turbulent depths.
A research team also took the aircraft to the edge of the volcanic ash cloud that brought UK air traffic to a standstill in 2010. Their efforts, together with the team aboard NERC's Dornier 228, helped give the Civil Aviation Authority the information it needed to allow passenger flights to restart.
This flying laboratory is fitted with equipment that measures wind speed, temperature, humidity, the composition of particles in clouds, and other atmospheric properties. It makes research flights across the world to investigate weather, climate and the environment. Much of the research is funded by NERC and the Met Office.
Find out more info. 509 Hub to Tackle Burning Issues
A new research hub that will investigate the efficiency and whole- life impact of a variety of bioenergy techniques and accelerate the deployment of sustainable bioenergy has been launched.
The new SUPERGEN Bioenergy Hub, funded by a £3.5 million grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) as part of the RCUK Energy programme, spans six research institutions and involves ten industrial partners.
Under the direction of Dr Patricia Thornley of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at The University of Manchester, the hub will initially address 10 research projects ranging from turning biomass into transport fuels to capturing carbon dioxide from burning biomass feedstocks.
Minister for Universities and Science David Willetts said: “Research and innovation play a vital role in our transition to a low carbon economy. The SUPERGEN Bioenergy Hub will bring together leading academic and industrial partners to look at this pressing challenge and develop practical solutions for a greener future.”
Dr Patricia Thornley said: “The SUPERGEN Bioenergy Hub is going to really drill into a whole host of bioenergy prospects. It is not just going to look at what will work practically, in terms of generating power, but also the impact of such technologies. This is vitally
important; we have to look at the sustainability of these new avenues.”
For example, two of the projects will focus on reducing emissions from biomass combustion. One will involve practical measurement work on real boilers, trying to identify cost effective methods of reducing particulates and other atmospheric pollutants at small scale. Additionally, a fundamental scientific study will focus on identifying key markers for emissions from fuel analyses.
Professor David Delpy, EPSRC’s Chief Executive, said: “The scientific research carried out through the SUPERGEN Bioenergy Hub can help us discover new and better ways of making fuels, generating power, managing carbon emissions and create economic opportunities for the UK. The Hub will act as a focal point, bringing industry, academia and other stakeholders together to focus on the challenges associated with bioenergy and its role in meeting environmental targets.”
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