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Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference: EP/J500045/1
Title: A UK Magnetic Resonance Basic Technology Centre for Doctoral Training (UK-MRBT-CDT)
Principal Investigator: Newton, Professor ME
Other Investigators:
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Agilent Technologies Ltd Bruker Diamond Trading Company Ltd
Element Six JEOL Johnson Matthey
Oxford Instruments Ltd TESLA ENGINEERING LTD Thomas Keating Ltd
Department: Physics
Organisation: University of Warwick
Scheme: CDT - NR1
Starts: 01 April 2011 Ends: 31 March 2018 Value (£): 1,983,937
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:
Analytical Science
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:
No relevance to Underpinning Sectors
Related Grants:
Panel History:
Panel DatePanel NameOutcome
15 Mar 2011 Basic Technology CDT Lite Announced
Summary on Grant Application Form
Our vision is to create a distributed CDT that unites the strands of magnetic resonance (MR) technology funded under the EPSRC Basic Technology (BT) Programme that accounted for more than 10% of the funding in this programme. We will create a world-leading combination of expertise, infrastructure resource and training. Furthermore this vision seeks to capitalise on the BT investment by developing MR technology to have real and lasting impact on UK science and industry. The UK has an outstanding and continuing record of contributions and advances to many aspects of MR research and technology. UK-based companies (e.g. Oxford Instruments, Magnex (now part of Agilent), Cryogenics, Bruker UK, Thomas Keating) using highly trained staff with higher degrees (e.g. MSc, PhD) have pioneered world-leading MR technology, much of it emerging from UK universities. The letters from our industrial partners are absolutely clear about the need for an increased supply of MR researchers trained to PhD level with a broad perspective of the field to maintain the UK's position at the forefront of the development of MR technology. MR methods are firmly established as a primary analytical tool in chemistry, are increasingly influential for characterisation in materials science and have revolutionised medical imaging. Despite the great success of MR there is huge demand to push the boundaries through increasing the sensitivity, resolution (spectral and spatial) and speed of the technique. The technologies involved include fast, high power and versatile electronics, signal detection and processing, high frequency/power sources, cryogenics, micromechanics, sample environments and pulse sequences. These drivers, the range of technologies involved and strong, integrated industrial involvement make the field an ideal research training ground for our PhDs and ensure wider BT impact. The CDT will provide impetus for further cross-collaboration in the UK MR community, with the projects jointly supervised across partners. Our vision centrally fits this CDT call by exposing students to multiple, but synergistic BT concepts around MR. Although the physical principles of the different branches of MR, i.e. nuclear (NMR), electron (EPR) and imaging (MRI), are fundamentally related, conventional 'isolated' PhDs associated with one specific MR topic often miss the connection and broader picture of the field. This CDT will bring new dimensions to the training of a cohort of UK PhD students in MR including acquiring the background skills for creative exploitation of their research. PhD projects centred on developing MR technology will have multidisciplinary impacts

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through extending the range of application of MR techniques. The MR instrument market (certainly worth many hundreds of millions of pounds globally) continues to show strong growth as evidenced by the annual reports of the leading companies and by their projected forecasts of rapid expansion. Hence the already identified need along with the potential growth amply demonstrate the demand for trained people in this area. There is a strong fit to national needs in priorities aligned to RCUK, industry and more broadly. Increasingly there are national concerns about critical mass and improved sustainability through shared services/infrastructure. The demand for very expensive state of the art equipment in MR to compete internationally will require more coordination and joint planning between the leading groups and this CDT can play a central role in this. Specific areas of MR technology where training will be provided and also further developed through the research projects of the students are: (i) MR Pulse Sequence Technology (ii) Cryogenic Magnetic Resonance (iii) Advancing pulsed Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (iv) Beyond conventional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (v) Dynamic Nuclear Polarisation enhanced NMR
Key Findings
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Potential use in non-academic contexts
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Impacts
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Summary
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Further Information:  
Organisation Website: http://www.warwick.ac.uk