We are delighted to report that Dr Greg Watson and Dr Lin Gui have been promoted to, respectively, Senior Teaching Fellow and Senior Research Fellow, effective from 1 August 2021. Quoting from their recommendations,

What particularly stands out ... is the virtuous circle of (1) Dr Watson’s continual striving for advancing his teaching expertise, evidenced by the extensive courses he has both attended and contributed to, (2) the strong two-way links between Dr Watson’s development and his teaching practice (and that of his peers), evidenced by the various different changes and improvements that he introduced in the classroom based on his scholarly educational investigations, and (3) the consistent very positive feedback from different groups of students as well as colleagues.

and

Dr Lin Gui is one of the most successful postdoctoral researchers in the recent history of the Department, and is continuing his research career with us after a prestigious two-year Marie Curie fellowship. He has been building a solid and high-flying international reputation, underpinned by an impressive trajectory of high-quality publications. Dr Gui’s initiative and emerging independence are in particular reflected in his contributions to substantial successful funding proposals.

it remains to say many congratulations!

An EPSRC Research Software Engineer Fellowship has been awarded to Dr Heather Turner in which she will establish the role of Research Software Engineers in creating more sustainable and inclusive large-scale software projects. The RSE project will foster the next generation of R project developers, creating a more sustainable and inclusive base for the future. Further details here (link to https://warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/research_software_engineers)

What happens at the molecular lever when a photon hits the eye or light shines on a leaf?

Physical processes occurring on nanometre length scales and femtosecond time scales typically undergo complex dynamics involving multilevel quantum systems. Understanding such complex quantum dynamics is a major open challenge. Foremost among them is the dimension of the Hilbert space  involved, which determines the number of parameters necessary for understanding the dynamics. This is typically done by fitting models of various degrees of sophistication to experimental data.

The Gibson and Sosso groups have collaborated with partners in Switzerland to use phage display to discover small antifreeze peptides. Read more

Pint of Science is back for 2021 as a free online festival packed with fun science related talks, debates and demonstrations. The international festival will see 68 events running online over 4 nights from Monday 17-Thursday 20 May. Life Sciences researchers are involved in the events below:

Tuesday 18 May 7-8pm Chemicals, Cocktails and Creativity – from molecules to masterpieces Join us for a discussion from four perspectives on the subject of botanical medicine with researchers from Chemistry, Life Sciences, WMS and Liberal Arts!
Find out more and register

Creative Reactions Digital Gallery

Creative Reactions is the science-meets-arts branch of Pint of Science to showcase research creatively. This can range from drawings, paintings to poetry, sculptures and video.

This year you can view all the Creative Reactions artworks in the form of a virtual gallery during May and June 2021. The School of Life Sciences’ Dr Ellie Jameson has four pieces of art included in the exhibition, where she re-imagines the Phages that she discovers in her vital research that uses these microbes to prevent bacterial infections.

You can explore the online gallery now at www.creativereactions.com and view the exhibition catalogue.

Ellie explains, “I use art to communicate my research to a wider audience who would not normally read scientific papers. My artwork has grown from general art to a focus on microbes and science when I started posting ink drawings on Twitter as part of #Inktober. I love to explore ideas and insights from my own work and the work of other scientists”

Higher Education is facing a mental health crisis, exacerbated by COVID-19. Warwick Engineering researchers are demonstrating the importance of designing and utilsing spaces with user wellbeing in mind.

WMG has been named as a partner in five key battery research projects funded by the Faraday Institution.

The Faraday Institution has committed £22.6m to battery research projects involving a consortium of universities around the UK.

Research will progress over the next two years to 31 March 2023. The projects, involving WMG, are:

· SOLBAT. The solid-state battery (SSB) is one of the most important challenges in battery R&D. As well as increasing energy density, lifetime and transforming safety, SSBs will enable step changes in the safety, driving range and longevity of electric vehicles. Read more here: SOLBAT – Solid state metal anode batteries – The Faraday Institution

· SafeBatt – the science of battery safety. Safety control and countermeasures are built into the design of today's Li-ion batteries (LiB) systems, but this adds complexity, cost and weight. As the use of LiBs expands further into automotive, stationary storage, aerospace and other sectors, there is a need to decrease the risk associated with battery usage further and to enable the simplification of safety systems. This can only be achieved through enhanced understanding of the “science of battery safety.” Read more here: SafeBatt – Science of Battery Safety – The Faraday Institution

· Battery Degradation. Although mass manufacture has made lithium-ion batteries cheaper, cost and durability remain obstacles to the widespread adoption of battery electrical vehicles. The lifetime of the batteries falls well below the consumer expectation for long-term applications such as transport. The automotive industry wants to better understand the causes and mechanisms of degradation to enable improved control and prediction of the state of health of battery systems. Read more here: Battery Degradation – The Faraday Institution

· Multi-scale modelling. The performance and lifetime of a battery depends on how the cells are combined into a pack large enough to power an electric vehicle (EV), an aeroplane or even an electricity grid. The mechanism controlling the local environment of each cell within that pack also influences lifetime and performance. The first challenges to be tackled include fast charging of batteries, low temperature operation and thermal management of cells within battery packs. Read more here: Multi-scale Modelling – The Faraday Institution

· Nextrode Electrode Manufacturing. Nextrode focuses principally on manufacturing research into how to engineer a new generation of battery electrode structures. Novel developments in electrode structuring will be drawn from basic science understanding of the current slurry casting manufacture of Li-ion electrodes along with predictive modelling to suggest how control of electrode microstructure can deliver improved energy storage characteristics. Nextrode will support UK manufacturers and supply chain companies, draw on cutting edge scientific and technological knowledge to produce increased cell performance, add value in electrode processing, and improve safety and sustainability. Read more here: Nextrode – electrode manufacturing – The Faraday Institution

Meet the team and read more about WMG’s Energy research here.

February 2021: Congratulations to our Maths Bloggers

Congratulations to Susie Gabriel (UG, 1st year), Nilusha Perera (UG, 2nd year) and Moh Huda (PGR, PhD) for their new roles as our official maths bloggers on OurWarwick. They will be sharing their experiences as Warwick maths students with prospective and current students through monthly blogs and vlogs. Please visit:

Susie’s blogs: https://our.warwick.ac.uk/profile/susiegabriel/

Nilusha’s blogs: https://our.warwick.ac.uk/profile/nilushaperera/

Moh’s blogs: https://our.warwick.ac.uk/profile/mohhuda/

They will be working alongside our veteran blogger Laeticia Junanto.

Laeticia’s blogs: https://our.warwick.ac.uk/profile/laeticiajunanto/

The GibsonGroup have collaborated with Prof Harm Anton Klok at EPFL, and the Sosso Lab at Warwick to discover new, small, ice binding peptides. The team used phage display to screen billions of possible sequences, to identify a 14 amino acid cyclic peptide than can bind ice crystals. The peptide was a potent ice growth inhibitor and the use of the as a ‘CryoTag’ to purify proteins via ice-binding was demonstrated. This will help develop new cryoprotectants and an understand of how proteins can recognise ice, in a large excess of water.

Read the paper here

Profiling our research impact 
See the real-world impact of our research across a number of areas and demonstrating how research at the University contributes to societal challenges, including the Covid-19 pandemic, including the work of Dr Nicole Tang. Discover how we’re working on the future.