DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY

CoMPaSS: Characterisation of Materials - a Partnership for Synchrotron Science

Project disclaimer

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Description

CoMPaSS is a partnership of leading South African investigators and synchrotron scientists from Diamond Light Source in the UK. It builds on fourteen research proposals developed by the researchers based in historically disadvantaged institutes (HDI's) in South Africa, ranging from projects based on cardiovascular risks, additive manufacturing, green hydrogen production, through to studies on defects in semiconductor structures. These projects have all been developed to a high degree within the HDI's and utilising the instrumentation that is available. There is the possibility of a step change in all of these areas through providing access and expertise to utilise the advanced characterisation techniques available at Diamond. This will not only advance the scientific outputs, in terms of studying the materials under realistic or operando conditions, where the dynamics of processes or the transient changes that occur in materials in different conditions; but will also develop the capabilities and capacity of the researchers based in the South African Institutes. The consortium also includes three investigators based in South Africa but with extensive synchrotron experience. They will act as local experts, providing mentorship, access to training materials and laboratories as well as helping with synchrotron experiments and data analysis/interpretation. The UK based researchers will provide expert guidance on the synchrotron experiments, delivering both bespoke training during the beamtime and through in-person and online workshops. This complementary set of skills; the materials development, the experiment design, the proposal submission and the beamtime (experimental time) delivery will ensure that all of the fourteen projects are given the environment to succeed and for the staff involved to all gain expertise. The bulk of the CoMPaSS project funding is for 17 PDRA's based in South Africa together with associated research and travel costs. These are the real drivers behind the project, they will dedicate all of their time to one of the projects but we will encourage cross project interactions to ensure dissemination of good practice. The UK staff will include experienced leaders from the synchrotron, together with a combination of beamline based staff to really deliver the programme and two Diamond based PDRA's to support the strongly requested technique areas of spectroscopy and imaging/diffraction. Good project administration will be enabled by a Diamond based grant manager (100%) who will be the first point of contact for all aspects such as invoicing, travel claims, event organisation and coordination across the project. This will give a strong core team with the Project Lead to give day to day oversight, whilst the strategic direction will be overseen by a steering committee and a small Advisory Board. The CoMPaSS project is a real opportunity to create the lifelong collaborations that will define the research leaders of the future, in South Africa and in the UK. The partners all support the direction of this being mutually beneficial, bringing quality science projects to Diamond and enabling more advanced characterisation and development of the materials.

Objectives

CoMPaSS is a partnership of leading South African investigators and synchrotron scientists from Diamond Light Source in the UK. It builds on fourteen research proposals developed by the researchers based in historically disadvantaged institutes (HDI's) in South Africa, ranging from projects based on cardiovascular risks, additive manufacturing, green hydrogen production, through to studies on defects in semiconductor structures. These projects have all been developed to a high degree within the HDI's and utilising the instrumentation that is available. There is the possibility of a step change in all of these areas through providing access and expertise to utilise the advanced characterisation techniques available at Diamond. This will not only advance the scientific outputs, in terms of studying the materials under realistic or operando conditions, where the dynamics of processes or the transient changes that occur in materials in different conditions; but will also develop the capabilities and capacity of the researchers based in the South African Institutes. The consortium also includes three investigators based in South Africa but with extensive synchrotron experience. They will act as local experts, providing mentorship, access to training materials and laboratories as well as helping with synchrotron experiments and data analysis/interpretation. The UK based researchers will provide expert guidance on the synchrotron experiments, delivering both bespoke training during the beamtime and through in-person and online workshops. This complementary set of skills; the materials development, the experiment design, the proposal submission and the beamtime (experimental time) delivery will ensure that all of the fourteen projects are given the environment to succeed and for the staff involved to all gain expertise. The bulk of the CoMPaSS project funding is for 17 PDRA's based in South Africa together with associated research and travel costs. These are the real drivers behind the project, they will dedicate all of their time to one of the projects but we will encourage cross project interactions to ensure dissemination of good practice. The UK staff will include experienced leaders from the synchrotron, together with a combination of beamline based staff to really deliver the programme and two Diamond based PDRA's to support the strongly requested technique areas of spectroscopy and imaging/diffraction. Good project administration will be enabled by a Diamond based grant manager (100%) who will be the first point of contact for all aspects such as invoicing, travel claims, event organisation and coordination across the project. This will give a strong core team with the Project Lead to give day to day oversight, whilst the strategic direction will be overseen by a steering committee and a small Advisory Board. The CoMPaSS project is a real opportunity to create the lifelong collaborations that will define the research leaders of the future, in South Africa and in the UK. The partners all support the direction of this being mutually beneficial, bringing quality science projects to Diamond and enabling more advanced characterisation and development of the materials.

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Location

The country, countries or regions that benefit from this Programme.

South Africa