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School of Engineering

Impact

The 2 major areas of impact from the project will be:

  1. Enhancing research- and innovation-related human resources, skills, and working conditions to realise the potential of individuals and to provide new career perspectives.
  2. To develop new and lasting research collaborations, to achieve transfer of knowledge between research institutions and to improve research and innovation potential at the European and global levels:
    • Development of new and lasting research collaborations.
    • Self-sustainability of the partnership after the end of the project.
    • Contribution of the project to the improvement of the research and innovation potential with Europe and/or worldwide.

The proposed outreach activities will improve the public’s understanding of science, especially the advanced knowledge of self-cleaning surfaces which have potential applications in: automobiles (glazing, car bodies, lamp covers and mirrors); household (bathrooms, kitchen fittings and faucets); textiles (self-cleaning cloth); agricultural machinery; power plants; food packaging; and hospital utilities.

Low friction machinery will save energy and low bacterial adhesion/colonisation will save lives. The public awareness and dedication to the successful application of such knowledge in daily life and industrial production will significantly expedite the socio-economic development of the European countries. The advanced knowledge will generate a great impact on the energy conservation and environment protection. This can benefit the sustainable development of the entire globe.

Through the outreach activities, the consortium can directly engage with the public and gain a better understanding of the public interest in priorities for self-cleaning surfaces. This may lead to new potential applications of the research achievements, for example it may be used in the medical surgery such as non-organic implants and vascular stents; the knowledge of structured/functional surfaces will play a significant role in such implant body design and application. This knowledge will also benefit the biometric surface characterisation work and enhance the collaboration of the consortium in the area of functional surfaces. The research will generate advanced and practical techniques in medical surgery, and improve the living quality of patients.