Innovation Report - Design of a proof-of-concept Hybrid Solar Concentrator System Utilising Spectrum Beam Splitting Technology to generate sustainable heat and electricity, for palm oil processing farms in South-West Nigeria

Sansom, Christopher L. - Associate SupervisorThis research explores the potential of a hybrid solar energy system that combines Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) and Photovoltaics (PV) using spectrum beam-splitting technology to address energy shortages in Nigeria’s small-scale agro-industrial sector. By using cold and hot mirrors in a dish-based setup, the system separates the solar spectrum into visible and infrared bands for simultaneous electrical and thermal energy production, enabling cogeneration. Laboratory experiments, backed by theoretical modelling, show that this method can improve overall system efficiency, reduce PV overheating, and offer a reliable, modular, and sustainable energy solution. The innovation is situated within a design-based, neighbourhood-scale framework that aligns with regenerative sustainability principles. A real-life application is presented using the palm oil processing sector at Owodaiye Farms in Ijebu-Ife, Ogun State, Nigeria, as a demonstrator site. Here, the hybrid system not only meets off-grid energy demands but also catalyses local empowerment, circular economies, and thematic integration within agricultural tourism. The implications of this work extend beyond energy efficiency: the proposed system offers a replicable model for integrated rural development and community-based renewable energy infrastructure. It bridges the gap between technology and place-based regeneration by framing solar energy as a “Crude Sunlight Refinery”—a novel construct that envisions sunlight as a raw, separable, and usable resource for decentralized processing. Future research will investigate the scalability of this beam-splitting concept into modular solar refineries featuring fluid-based thermal receivers, enhanced optical coatings, and adaptive tracking mechanisms. Additionally, investigations into policy alignment, climate resilience metrics, and long-term techno-economic feasibility will strengthen its potential deployment across sub-Saharan Africa.EngD in Sustainable Materials and Manufacturin

Are two bodies in a trench a mass grave? an attempt to bridge the gap between single and mass graves

Warning: This article contains images of mass Graves from genocides, which some may find disturbing.The definitions for mass graves proposed in the past concentrated on the minimum number of casualties and whether they were in a connected body matrix. This meant that many graves practitioners encounter could not be classified properly. They were neither a single grave nor a mass grave. This article proposes four key measures to address the grave classification issue. Firstly, it introduces three simple criteria to assist in classification. Secondly, it suggests three new grave types (cluster, trench, and serial grave) to name the most common graves. Thirdly, a final grave type, the multiple grave, is added to describe any grave that does not fit into any of the other categories. Finally, this article suggests that the threshold between multiple and many casualties, i.e. how many casualties constitutes a mass grave, should be set for each individual conflict or context rather than aiming for a universal figure. These four measures are designed to be simple, intuitive and flexible enough to allow practitioners to use grave labels that make sense in their particular context for forensic and legal professionals as well as the general public.Forensic Archaeology, Anthropology and Ecolog

How strategic intent shapes the beliefs and behaviours of senior managers: evidence from a medical technology company.

Bowman, Cliff - Associate SupervisorThis study employed the critical incident technique to examine how strategic intent shaped the behaviours and beliefs of senior managers in a medical technology company undergoing change. Using this evidence, I contribute a model of the organizational effects of strategic intent, which shows how strategic intent is realized in organizations. In doing so, I also contribute a foundational definition of strategic intent, grounded in the literature employing the concept, but also informed by Action Philosophy. Together, these elements form a common basic theory of strategic intent that brings clarity and coherence to the disparate but related conversations about strategic intent in the literature. Finally, I revisit and add nuance to the resource allocation process and strategic renewal literatures.PhD in Leadership and Managemen

Integrated assessment of parallel hybrid electric aircraft propulsion architectures

Bacic, Marko - Industrial Supervisor Norman, Justin - Industrial SupervisorAdvisory Council for Aeronautical Research in Europe (ACARE) has published ambitious goals for reduction in emissions from aircraft applications by the year 2050. Hybrid-electric and alternative fuelled powerplants have been proposed as one of the major solutions to resolve this problem. There has been significant industrial push to build and test viable hybrid-electric propulsion systems onboard aircraft and certify them for flight, with Rolls-Royce ACCEL, Airbus E-Fan X and Boeing SUGAR VOLT being some recent examples. Despite this, there exists significant uncertainty around the potential fuel burn benefits from these architectures across the different aircraft classes, the impact on gas turbine design, thermal management and aircraft integration, as well as fleet technology penetration. The work in open literature has focussed on individual aspects mentioned above but no study was found considering all these aspects in a common design and optimization loop. The aim of this thesis is to develop robust integrated design and optimization methods, to help industry examine future application scenarios in a more objective, systematic and therefore, more cost-effective manner. The regional to single aircraft design space is explored with ATR 72, Fokker 100 and A320 being the baseline aircraft platforms. Initially, a design space exploration is performed for the Fokker 100 style airframe utilizing lithium ion batteries in a parallel hybrid configuration. The impact of hybrid gas turbine cycle redesign strategies are benchmarked and compared to retrofit hybrid gas turbine. A power management optimization loop is set up to optimize the power split for varying battery pack sizes and motor powers on different mission ranges. This sweep is also performed for varying technology levels on gas turbine, motor power density and battery energy density. It is demonstrated that the benefit from electrification improves with improvement in gas turbine technology level. The integrated hybrid gas turbine cycle design and power management optimization ANN method is applied to all three aircraft platforms for EIS 2035 time frame. The optimal power management strategies favour take-off and initial climb for redesigned gas turbines while they favour cruise for retrofit gas turbines. Incorporation of direct operating cost modules show retrofit hybrid systems having a lower direct operating cost as compared to redesigned hybrid systems owing to reduced gas turbine maintenance cost. The multi-mission method is applied to the test cases showing the penalty paid in carrying a fixed battery pack. Two thermal management architectures, ram air-liquid coolant heat exchanger and vapour compression cycles are utilized to reject the heat load from the electrical systems. The design space of both the systems are first explored for varying levels on quantity of heat load, quality of heat load and flight mission conditions. The method to integrate optimal combinations of thermal management architectures in terms of, coolant mass flow rate, condenser pinch, condenser geometry and compressor pressure ratio is utilized and applied to different propulsion configurations. The full framework is also expanded to include proton exchange membrane fuel cells and hydrogen-powered gas turbines. A final technological assessment is performed for the regional ATR 72 style aircraft platform for both thermal management architectures. A pure electric, battery and fuel cell powered aircraft with an optimal power split is identified as a suitable candidate against kerosene and hydrogen powered gas turbines to power EIS 2035 regional turboprop. While for single-aisle applications, there is a case for mild hybridization to reduce NOx and improve gas turbine operability at part load settings.PhD in Aerospac

Advanced turbofan architectures with alternative fuels

Mourouzidis, Christos - Associate SupervisorAviation at present is required to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050. An effective method to reduce aviation’s carbon footprint with immediate effect is to switch to alternative fuels. This thesis explores novel alternative fuels that could be used for future civil aviation and investigates their impacts on turbofan design to aid in research and development of future turbofan engines operating with alternative fuels. Investigations have been conducted in a systematic manner by adopting an appropriate methodology to answer the identified research questions. The proposed novel alternative fuels for civil aviation consists of seven fuels namely Hydrogen, Ammonia, Methane, DME, Butane, Butanol and Octane with SAF as an additional drop in fuel. The potential impacts and design opportunities for turbofan engines when operating with the proposed alternative fuels is highlighted through a preliminary turbofan design space exploration study. Maximum impacts in the design space are observed for zero carbon fuels Hydrogen and Ammonia. They offer 3% and 6% ESFC benefits respectively against kerosene with up to 20K and 40K peak cycle temperature reduction at take-off. The potential impacts on turbofan engine size and weight when operated by alternative fuels is brought to light through this research. Maximum impacts on engine size, weight and temperature are observed for zero carbon fuels Hydrogen and Ammonia. The maximum benefits in weight and take-off temperatures are 20% and 164K respectively for Ammonia cycles whereas for Hydrogen cycles, it is 6% and 64K respectively. The potential role that aircraft mission range can play in affecting the turbofan engines powered by alternative fuels is showcased in this thesis. Hydrogen SMR and LR aircraft leads to BPR increment up to 31.7% and 61.5% respectively considering a retrofitted style Hydrogen aircraft application.. The potential role of various fuel conditioning strategies and thermal power requirements in affecting turbofan designs highlighted through this research work indicates fuel conditioning to be a major design driver for future turbofan engines operating with alternative fuels. For the investigated LR thrust class application, Hydrogen, Methane and Ammonia requires up to 3 MW, 2.28 MW and 2.2 MW of thermal power to condition the fuel respectively. Finally, the thesis explores the feasibility of utilising Ammonia as a Hydrogen carrier in aviation and highlights certain challenges at mission level and turbofan design implications. For the investigated LR thrust class application, the amount of thermal power required to crack Ammonia into Hydrogen for the Hydrogen turbofan engines can be up to 25 MW which is interestingly an order of magnitude higher than the fuel conditioning requirements of Hydrogen, Methane and Ammonia.PhD in Aerospac

Securing landscape resilience

Harris, Jim A. - Associate Supervisor Simms, Daniel M. - Associate SupervisorClimate-induced perturbations are expected to increase in frequency and intensity and affect wetlands by altering its hydrology. An essential first step in comprehending the wetland hydrological and ecological resilience to future amplified climatic disturbances in coastal regions and beyond is this work, which enhances the approach for measuring wetland hydrologic resilience at a regional scale. Land use change, natural disturbance and climate change directly alter ecosystem productivity and resilience levels. The estimation of ecological resilience dynamics depends on the quality of land cover change data and the effectiveness of the ecosystem models that represent the vegetation growth processes and disturbance effects. We used different mathematical approaches determining resilience, land cover change data to examine landscape resilience of the ecological networks in terms of scale, and how resilience exhibits as an emergent behaviour in different types of ecosystems, with its influencing factors, suggesting application to other estuarine ecosystems. A set of quantitative metrics was developed including the variations of landscapes, utilizing spectral power to determine changes in autocorrelation and variance as measures of critically slowing down, detecting the early warning signals with the development of the Dynamic Linear Model (DLM). The coastal landscape, which includes coastal-herbaceous wetlands, was then subjected to this method detecting the influence of salinity intrusion on estuarine systems along geographical and temporal salinity gradients. We discovered that an excellent indication of resilience is the multiscale autocorrelation fluctuations of wetlands, affected by the temporal trends in data, under various climatic circumstances. Climate interannual variability was the key driving force for the large interannual changes of ecosystem state level while extreme weather events and drought were the dominant driving forces for resilience balances in several specific ecoregions. There is a need for techniques that may be utilised to recognise when a major transition is about to happen because these events might happen without warning and are challenging to handle. A number of "early warning signals" can be used to determine a system's near to a critical transition, according to recent theory, and successful empirical examples point to the possibility of practical use. Our study provides a practical toolbox that can be applied in a variety of sectors to help identify early warning signs of crucial transitions in time series data, in addition to a methodological guide.Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)PhD in Environment and Agrifoo

Promoting resilient and sustainable food systems: a systematic literature review on short food supply chains

Purpose This review aims to comprehensively analyze the Short Food Supply Chain (SFSC) model, which connects local food producers directly with consumers. By exploring participation factors, sustainable practices, challenges, economic impacts, and social benefits, this study seeks to provide a thorough understanding of SFSCs. Addressing gaps in existing research, the review aims to guide policymakers and practitioners in fostering sustainable, resilient, and inclusive local food systems. Design/methodology/approach A systematic literature review of 92 research articles was conducted following a well-defined research protocol. Findings The review revealed that factors driving the adoption of SFSCs include increasing consumer demand for local and sustainable products, resilience-building in the food system, and environmental concerns. The SFSC supply chain was categorized into four critical stages: food sourcing and production, processing, aggregation, and distribution and review examined the sustainable practices at each stage. However, challenges such as information asymmetry, lack of infrastructure, regulatory barriers, and market dynamics hinder the full potential of SFSCs. Economically, SFSCs contribute to local economic development and empowerment of small-scale producers, while also showing promise in reducing environmental footprints and fostering community engagement. Research implications The study identifies several research avenues to further advance the understanding of SFSCs. Future research should delve into consumer behavior and attitudes towards SFSCs, analyze the full sustainability impacts of SFSCs using integrated assessment methodologies, and extend the study to different regional contexts. Additionally, investigating policy interventions and governance mechanisms that can support the growth and resilience of SFSCs will be crucial for promoting sustainable agricultural practices. Originality/value This review contributes to the existing literature by providing a comprehensive and systematic overview of SFSCs, addressing gaps left by previous review studies. The study's findings offer valuable insights for policymakers, researchers, and stakeholders seeking to enhance the adoption and support of SFSCs in contemporary food systems

Impact of integration on procurement of urgent goods and serviceswithin the public healthcare sector

Saghiri, Soroosh - Associate SupervisorUrgent procurement in healthcare has been under-researched despite its critical role in ensuring business continuity and timely patient care. This study explores how procurement integration impacts urgent procurement by combining a systematic literature review with secondary data analysis from the UK government’s Model Hospital database. The findings indicate that while procurement integration is well understood in planned contexts, it remains insufficiently addressed in urgent situations, particularly unpredictable, patient- specific requirements. Two key contributions emerge from this research: first, it differentiates between standard and urgent procurement processes, emphasising the latter's unique challenges in healthcare. Second, it highlights the limited integration of urgency within procurement strategies, with procurement often overriding clinical input. A theoretical framework is proposed to bridge this gap, drawing on case studies of eight healthcare providers (five public and three private) and interviews with 30 professionals, including clinicians and procurement managers. The results show that effective communication integration is essential for improving urgent procurement outcomes, enabling faster response times and fostering stakeholder collaboration. The study underscores that previous procurement successes enhance future urgent procurement performance, while failures reduce responsiveness. Additionally, conflicting objectives between clinical and procurement teams and a lack of tailored decision support systems (DSS) hinder urgent procurement efficiency. This PhD thesis calls for developing a DSS designed to streamline urgent procurement processes by improving communication, transparency, and alignment of objectives. Integrating contingency and socio-technical systems frameworks with qualitative data offers a robust foundation for future research and practical solutions to optimise healthcare procurement, particularly in the UK public healthcare sector.PhD in Leadership and Managemen

Digital twin of aircraft electrical actuator to generate data for health management research

King, Stephen - Associate SupervisorElectric-powered actuators play an important role in the new generations of commercial aircraft systems. They are used in Flight Control, Propulsion, Landing Gear and even seat actuation. As they are “Power-by-Wire” and connected to the aircraft control system, it is easy to acquire their operations and health data. Electro-Mechanical Actuator (EMA) is increasingly used to replace traditional hydraulic actuators in the future All/More Electric Aircraft. However, lack of historical operational data makes complicated the risk analysis of EMA into aircraft systems. This research aims to develop an approach of Digital Twin design to support data generation for Aircraft Health Management algorithm development. The Digital Twin is designed to represent flight control EMA. The data generator is developed combining the Digital Twin EMA and a fault injection module, controlled by MATLAB scripts, to simulate operations in multiple scenarios, including nominal operations, degradation, and fault. EMA faults represented include unstable power supply, mechanical backlash, and power cable wear. The combination of simultaneous faults is explored by introducing multiple faults as part of the case analysis. This research indicates data could be generated to enable failure features detection in early or mid-stage failures. The research tackles the challenge to monitor, trigger and locate faults at subsystem/component level of an EMA. The framework could generate datasets to accelerate diagnostic and prognostic research in the early detection of EMA failures and enhance performance, thus facilitating timely maintenance actions that can prevent costly downtimes and extend the operational life of aircraft components. The framework extends the concept of Digital Twin as a tool to support engineering design and operations to a toll for data generation.PhD in Transport System

How green are my apples? the greenhouse gas emissions and blue water scarcity footprint of fresh apple supply chain

The environmental impact of the UK fresh apple supply chain depends on the sourcing locations. This paper examines the contribution of production, storage, processing, and transport to evaluate the greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) and blue water scarcity footprint of the main sources of apple supply to the UK (2016 – 2025). Domestic production accounted for 38 % of supply, with imports from the rest of Europe (e.g. France, Italy, Germany, Ireland, The Netherlands, Spain) representing for 37 % and most of the remainder from southern hemisphere countries, such as South Africa (12 %), New Zealand (7 %) and Chile (5 %). Our results revealed that GHGE at the orchard stage for UK, European, and Chilean apples are similar. During postharvest, cold storage is the main contributor for GHGE, which were 40 % lower in northern hemisphere countries compared to maritime shipping stages for the southern hemisphere areas. Transport emissions are affected by international travel distances. South Africa and Spain presented the highest blue water consumption (BWC) as well as blue water scarcity footprint. We found that blue water scarcity footprints are negligible where apple production is rainfed. The results suggest that in order to mitigate GHGE, energy mixes need to be improved as well as cold storage technologies. For water footprint, implementing infrastructural changes is paramount. These results can help as decision making tool to define new sourcing strategies that can minimise environmental impacts. This assessment also highlights limitations in methodology, including inconsistent approaches in GHGE assessment, and underscores the need for standardised methodologies, emphasises the role of externalities, and highlights the importance of considering economic and social factors in assessing environmental trade-offs in apple supply chains.Agricultural Water Managemen