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Energy

Interdisciplinary Research Centre
 
  • 07May

    A free one-hour tour of the capabilities of the Royce Institute's 3D Bioelectronics Facility within the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy at the University of Cambridge. Discover more about this open access equipment and Royce funding opportunities for your research.

    The Royce 3D Bioelectronics Facility is designed for physical scientists and engineers to test the interaction of 3D materials and bioelectronic devices with cells. Our focus is facilitating researchers, with limited access to cell biology equipment, in the fabrication and subsequent analysis of 3D-cell interfacing constructs.

    Cell-biological training provided at the 3D Bioelectronics Facility encourages networking between researchers from a range of disciplines. This facility is embedded within the Cambridge Centre for Medical Materials at the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy to capitalise on their expertise. Equipment falls into six categories:

    • Ice-templating equipment to fabricate porous 3D materials from aqueous suspensions.
    • Cell culture equipment for growth and maintenance of cells in 3D culture.
    • Electrical acquisition equipment to analyse cell behaviour on novel materials and bioelectronic devices.
    • Simultaneous optical and electrical measurement of cells and materials via two-photon microscopy with integrated electrophysiology.
    • Apparatus to section 3D samples.
    • Equipment to transport live cell containing devices to and from the 3D Bioelectronics Facility.
    • This tour will give an overview of the capabilities of the 3D Bioelectronics Facility as well as information on booking, funding opportunities and the work of the Royce Institute.

    For more information about Royce Facilities at Cambridge please contact royce@maxwell.cam.ac.uk and see our full equipment listing at: https://www.maxwell.cam.ac.uk/programmes/henry-royce-institute

  • 07May

    Climate change and sustainability are social issues, to a large extent perpetuated by social, political, and economic systems that shape and govern our access to resources, livelihood possibilities, and capacity to change, as well as to utilise old and new technologies and livelihood practices in order to mitigate and adapt to new realities. Furthermore, the way we talk about and frame these issues also shapes how we conceive of solutions and our abilities as individuals and communities to act.

    Cambridge Zero and the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities (CRASSH) invite you to the Symposium 'Climate change is a social issue! taking place at the Alison Richard Building on the 7th May 2024.The symposium will bring into focus the impact and contributions the social sciences, arts, and humanities have had on climate and sustainability-related discussions, ranging from engaging communities and practitioners to instigate climate action; (re-)framing climate and environmental narratives, solutions, and technologies; allaying emotions of anxieties, grief and loss; contextualising the ‘place’, geographies, and politics of green transitions and climate-related negotiations; to creating usable and applied histories and archaeologies. Changing our understanding of climate change and sustainability issues, how they arose, and how they can exacerbate unjust transitions is a huge endeavour that is hard to quantify and hardly recognised, but has potentially huge social impacts.

    The symposium will feature a number of keynote presentations from senior Cambridge academics, and we are inviting submissions from Early Career Researchers (Cambridge Postdocs, PhD and Masters students) to present their research. The symposium aims is to highlight the necessity of social science, humanities, and arts research around climate change as well as to strengthen collaboration cross-disciplinary collaboration including with STEM disciplines, business, and others, in order to make social, policy, economic, and technological advances more impactful at local and national scales.

     

    Keynotes:

    We invite researchers to speak on (but not limited to):

    • Changing and re-framing climate narratives among communities, authorities, and policy makers
    • New frameworks that help communities, businesses, and authorities to adapt to new climate realities and increase access to resources
    • The impact of climate policies, systems, and technologies on politics, economics, and societies
    • The use, re-use, and (re-)invention of old and new social practices, livelihood strategies, infrastructure, and technologies to adapt and mitigate new climate realities
    • Localisation of climate and environmental change
    • Climate communication that makes the effects of climate and sustainability more tangible, relatable and experiential
    • Shaping perspectives on health through climate and vice versa
    • Barriers and solutions to sustainable and just net-zero transitions
    • Religious thought and practice as motivator, resistor and/or guide for climate engagement

    Cambridge Early Career Researchers can submit their abstract here!

  • 10May

    Speaker: Dr emke Nijsse, University of Exeter

    Abstract:

    Solar power has seen massive and unexpected growth over the last decade. It developed from a niche technology used by ambitious citizens to a utility-scale resource used all over the world. Net-zero plans across the globe aim for 2050 or 2060. Solar energy is the most widely available energy resource on Earth, and its economic attractiveness is improving fast in a cycle of increasing investments.

    During my talk, I will discuss a data-driven technology and economic forecasting model to establish which zero carbon power sources could become dominant worldwide. The simulation models seeks to explore likely future scenarios, based on historical trends, rather than exploring “least-cost” configurations of a future clean energy system, as is usually done in energy modelling.

    We find that, due to technological trajectories set in motion by past policy, a global irreversible solar tipping point may have passed where solar energy comes to dominate global electricity markets, without any additional policies directly supporting solar. Uncertainties arise, however, over grid stability in a renewables-dominated power system, the availability of sufficient finance in poorer economies and the capacity of supply chains. Policies resolving these barriers may be more effective than price instruments to accelerate the transition to clean energy.

    Bio:

    Dr. Femke Nijsse specializes in modelling climate, energy systems, and the economy. With a background in climate physics, they earned a Ph.D. in mathematics, focusing on multi-model comparisons and statistical techniques related to decadal variability, historical warming, and climate sensitivity. In energy research, Dr. Nijsse contributed to the Economics of Energy Innovation and System Transition project, informing energy policies in China, Brazil, India, the UK, and the EU. They improved the E3ME -FTT model’s power sector representation, using evolutionary economics for technology diffusion. Currently, they’re working on cascading tipping points across sectors and a stronger implementation of hourly supply and demand in E3ME -FTT.

  • 13May

    Talks from 1pm

    Short introduction to Royce Cambridge open access facilities and funding - Dr Andrew Dobrzanski.

    Followed by a talk from Vasilis Theofylaktopoulos, Business Development Manager from Heidelberg Instruments and a remote demonstration of the Nano AG.

    Finish with a Q&A session and an optional tour of Royce equipment in the Maxwell Centre.

    Summary

    E-beam and focused ion beam are the most common methods for achieving nanometer resolution patterning in research. They each come with their strengths and weaknesses. Join us to learn about Thermal Scanning Probe Lithography(tSPL). This method relies on a heated cantilever to sublimate the resist with sub 15 nm resolution. It allows for grayscale patterning and read-write capabilities. You can perform tSPL with the NanoFrazor and focus on your research in 2D materials, optics and photonics or biosensing.

  • 13May

    A free one-hour tour of the Royce Institute 3D X-Ray Computer Tomography Facility in the Maxwell Centre at the University of Cambridge.

    The 3D X-Ray Computer Tomography microscope is used for in-situ characterisation of the composition, deformation and damage development of materials for ICT at length scales on the order of 1 micron. It is useful for determining the relationship between processing and microstructure, for observing fracture mechanisms, for investigating properties at multiple length scales, and for quantifying and characterising microstructural evolution.

    It can perform in-situ and 4D (time dependent) studies to understand the impact of heating, cooling, oxidation, wetting, tension, tensile compression, imbibition, drainage and other simulated environmental studies. It can perform non-destructive views into deeply buried microstructures that may be unobservable with 2D surface imaging; compositional contrast for studying low Z or “near Z” elements and other difficult-to-discern materials.

    A particular emphasis will be the development of specialised loading stages that will allow for accurate monitoring of 3D deformation processes (such as the swelling of a battery) during operation.

    This tour will give an overview of the capabilities of the 3D X-Ray Computer Tomography microscope as well as information on booking, funding opportunities and the work of the Royce Institute.

    For more information about Royce Facilities at Cambridge please contact royce@maxwell.cam.ac.uk and see our full equipment listing at: https://www.maxwell.cam.ac.uk/programmes/henry-royce-institute