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Stars `r' Us! (SRU) is a touring exhibition conceived in 2004 by Professor Martin McCoustra to engage the public with astrochemistry. SRU has been updated frequently, most recently in 2010 to include on-going work at Heriot-Watt University (HWU). SRU has contributed regularly to major science festivals, with independently corroborated strong impact on public attitudes. Over its lifetime, active researchers have interacted directly with an estimated 11,000 visitors, most of whom were teenagers. SRU has further indirect reach through a widely distributed teacher's pack. It is also a valuable element of the public engagement programme at HWU which has seen demonstrably improved recruitment to chemistry programmes over recent years. SRU has engaged with the EU Commission through an ESF co-sponsored event: laboratory astrochemistry has recently achieved preferred status in a Horizon 2020 foresighting exercise.
University of Nottingham researchers have been at the forefront in promoting and establishing Green Chemistry in developing nations. Working with and influencing colleagues and policymakers in both the UK and Africa, they have increased awareness of the importance of introducing sustainable technologies that meet local communities' needs. As a result, they have invigorated the chemistry teaching curriculum in Ethiopia, placing Green Chemistry at its core, and helped shape the approaches of professional bodies, including the Royal Society of Chemistry, for the benefit of the developing world. This has led to what the British Council has described as "a sense of empowerment and confidence" among Ethiopian chemists.
The School of Chemistry has a long track record of pioneering and innovative outreach activities aimed at stimulating public interest and understanding in chemistry research and its societal impact. During the period 2008-2013 it successfully communicated to a wide-ranging audience the significance of a series of "firsts" in the areas of nanoscience and materials for energy applications. Using YouTube, Royal Society Summer Science Exhibitions, roadshows and science festivals, this award-winning approach has engaged hundreds of thousands through digital media and thousands more face-to-face, raising public awareness, inspiring interest in science and delivering educational benefits for students and teachers alike.
The UCL Department of Chemistry has for many years run a far-reaching programme of outreach and public engagement that has deep roots in the department's research programme. Its schools outreach work has promoted chemistry and science among secondary school children, while contributions to blogs, newspapers, radio, and television have engaged diverse audiences from primary school children to the elderly. Millions of people have viewed television contributions, while tens of thousands have been reached in theatres and science fairs, with positive reviews and feedback confirming a stimulation of public interest in, and understanding of, chemistry.
Research conducted within the Department of Space and Climate Physics at UCL has had a significant impact upon e2v Ltd., a manufacturer of charge-coupled devices (CCDs). Through working collaboratively with e2v, UCL has helped the company to secure major contracts and business [text removed for publication]. This includes two contracts for the supply of CCDs for the European Space Agency (ESA) missions Gaia (€20 million) and Euclid (€10 million). Furthermore, the symbiotic relationship has contributed to the establishment of e2v as Europe's leading supplier of high-quality CCDs for space science applications and has underpinned an improved understanding of device design and optimisation within the company.
The leather industry is globally significant: the supply chain, from leather production to leather goods manufacture is currently worth in the order of $1 trillion per annum. Although written records show that leather production is at least 5,000 years old, an understanding of the chemical principles underpinning the reactions involved only began at the turn of the 19th century, roughly corresponding to the development of modern chemistry and, coincidentally, with the revolutionary introduction of chrome tanning. At that time, the basis of the stabilising reaction was assumed to be crosslinking, whereby the component strands of protein are linked like stitches by the tanning chemical and this was the accepted view thereafter. Furthermore, it was also accepted that the ability of tanning reactions to confer high hydrothermal stability is a property of a few unrelated chemistries, of which chromium(III) tanning is the best known example.
Link-lock theory is revolutionary, insofar as it is the first new thinking in the chemical stabilisation of collagen in over half a century. This view of tanning was the outcome of examining the reaction with modern analytical instrumentation and applying a weight of evidence from the literature. The consequence has been the rejection of the accepted view of tanning mechanism, in favour of a simpler but more powerful theory. The principles of the theory can explain the effects of all known tanning processes. In an applied technology, its use is most powerful as it can predict the outcome of all, even as yet unknown reactions. Moreover, it is a major part of the way in which practitioners can predict details of the processes required to make leather and other biomaterials with desired properties and performance.
The fundamental importance of the theory is that it allows the subject to move on as it is more powerful than the alternative view and there is much evidence to support it. By combining this thinking with other new thinking into wider aspects of the heterogeneous chemistry, modifying collagen is now placed on a firm basis of leather science, which means that the outcomes of reactions can be predictable. The primary impact of this new view of protein stabilisation lies in the ways in which the thinking has and is informing developments of collagenic biomaterials and applications in the global leather and associated industries.