Nanoscale solutions applied to global challenges

Prof Jason Reese of the University’s Faculty of Engineering has been awarded the grant by the EPSRC, alongside support worth £720,000 from nine industrial partners, to lead research investigating how engineering flow systems can help respond to global health, transportation, energy and climate challenges over the next 40 years.

The United Nations estimates that by 2050, four billion people in 48 countries will lack sufficient water. As 97 per cent of the water on Earth is saltwater, large-scale technologies to make seawater or other contaminated water drinkable are therefore needed urgently.

Similarly, figures from the US Energy Information Administration forecast that China’s passenger transportation energy use per capita will triple over the next 20 years, and India’s will double. Improving the fuel efficiency of air and marine transport is a strategic priority for governments and companies around the world, and would reduce the emissions.

The cross-disciplinary team includes Prof Reese, Dr Duncan Lockerby from Warwick University, and Prof David Emerson from Daresbury Laboratory in Warrington. The team will deliver new techniques for simulating fluid dynamics at the micro and nano scales.