Research Projects

All research projects at the School of Engineering. You can search keywords within Project title and filter by Research Institute.

We also have many exciting Engineering PhD Opportunities for postgraduate students looking to join the School.

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Project Titlesort descending Principal Supervisor Research Institutes Project Summary
LEANWIND: Logistic Efficiencies and Naval Architecture for Wind Installations with Novel Developments

Dr Lucy Cradden

Energy Systems

LEANWIND is a 4-year project that started in December 2013. It is led by a 31-partner consortium and has been awarded €10 million by the European Commission, but its total value amounts to €15 million.

The primary LEANWIND objective is to provide cost reductions across the offshore wind farm lifecycle and supply chain through the application of lean principles and the development of state of the art technologies and tools.

Land of the MUSCos

Professor Gareth Harrison

Energy Systems

Present infrastructure service delivery, characterized by isolated supply streams for an uncontrolled demand, is uneconomical, inefficient, and ultimately unsustainable. What kinds of alternatives can be identified and implemented? In this project, we research and promote the establishment of Multi-Utility Service Companies, or MUSCos.

Laser Imaging of Turbine Engine Combustion Species (LITECS)

Dr Chang Liu

Imaging, Data and Communications

The ultimate ambition of the LITECS research programme is to reduce the environmental impact of aviation and industrial gas turbine engines by developing and deploying new measurement technologies to enhance the understanding and modelling of combustion and emissions generation processes and the role of alternative fuels.

Ligniflex: A synthetic biology platform to optimise the process and products of enzymatic lignin disruption

Professor Alistair Elfick

Bioengineering

Our goal is to test the feasibility of producing low molecular weight aromatic chemical feedstocks from the lignin that is currently a waste product from wood processing and paper manufacturing, so that it may be used to manufacture useful products. We propose to develop a "front-end" to optimise the conversion of lignin into its constitutive aromatic chemical building blocks. This technology may be bolted to any "back-end" in a biorefinery to produce bioplastics, biosurfactants, biomaterials and so on. By exploring and optimising a technology which allows for the rapid tuning of bacteria or fungi for exploiting the conversion of lignin, we stand to limit waste by being able to optimise the degradation products being used as chemical feedstocks and diversify the range of end-bioproducts possible.

Liquid crystal lasers

Dr Philip Hands

Integrated Micro and Nano Systems

Usually associated with display technology, liquid crystals also have many other applications and uses.  In this research project we are developing liquid crystal lasers, capable of broad wavelength-tuning, multiple simultaneous colour emissions, and highly customisable outputs, all within a small, portable and low-cost architecture.  We are also seeking to integrate liquid crystal lasers into new photonic systems and applications, such as biomedical imaging (e.g. fluorescence microscopy, flow cytometry), digital holographic projection, and 2D & 3D displays.

Low Power Indoor Positioning Methods

Professor Tughrul Arslan

Integrated Micro and Nano Systems

The project aims to develop a low power low foot-print mobile positioning technology that operates seamlessly both indoors and in urban areas.

MARINET: Marine Renewables Infrastructure Network for Emerging Energy Technologies

Professor Ian Bryden

Energy Systems

MARINET, the Marine Renewables Infrastructure Network, is a network of research centres and organisations that are working together to accelerate the development of marine renewable energy technologies - wave, tidal and offshore-wind. It is co-financed by the European Commission specifically to enhance integration and utilisation of European marine renewable energy research infrastructures and expertise. MARINET offers periods of free-of-charge access to world-class R&D facilities & expertise and conducts joint activities in parallel to standardise testing improve testing capabilities and enhance training & networking.

 

MacSeNet: Machine Sensing Training Network

Professor Mike Davies

Imaging, Data and Communications

The aim of this Innovative Training Network is to train a new generation of creative, entrepreneurial and innovative early stage researchers (ESRs) in the research area of measurement and estimation of signals using knowledge or data about the underlying structure.

Massive MIMO for Future Wireless Communication Networks

Dr Tharmalingam Ratnarajah

Imaging, Data and Communications

The spectrum crunch is a global phenomenon, where wireless networks constrained by scarce spectrum resource cannot keep pace with the explosion in mobile broadband use, particularly at a time when smartphones and tablets are becoming even more prevalent and heavily used. Every new opportunity has to be maximally exploited to cope with this spectrum deficit and meet the demands of explosive broadband usage by pushing more data through existing spectrum. Massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), an advanced antenna technology only developed in 2010 offers one such opportunity.

Measurement and modelling of powder flow in flexible containers

Prof. Jin Ooi

Infrastructure and Environment

The research focuses on understanding cohesive powder flow in flexible bulk solid containers (buggies and bulk bags) with a view to develop a design methodology for ensuring reliable discharge from these containers. The project involves experimental powder flowability characterisation, finite element analysis of the stresses in flexible containers and pilot scale experiments to study the powder flow field and validate the new design methodology for reliable discharge.

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