2020 – Ongoing: EnviroAsh – Development of New Waste-Derived Raw Materials for the Foundation Industries Funded by Innovate UK. Project PDRA: Dr. Wei Deng The EnviroAsh project brings together partners from across the six Foundation Industries [Glass (Glass Technology Services, Glassworks Services Ltd., Encirc), Ceramics (Wienerberger), Steel (British Steel Ltd), Paper (Saica), Cement (Hanson, Breedon), Chemicals (Power Minerals Ltd. - through its Biolite division, which converts an ash-waste into a fertiliser product)], the Energy sector (Drax) plus key academic partners (SHU, UoS) and supply chain partners experienced in handling and processing wastes and raw materials (PML, LKAB Minerals). The project will identify opportunities to take waste ashes, slags, mineral by-products and filter dusts from across the FIs and convert them into new raw materials for a range of products produced within the glass, ceramic and cement Foundation Industry sectors.

2021 - Ongoing: Intermediate Range Order Effects in Radioactive Waste Glasses: Implications for Aqueous Durability and Mechanical Properties Funded by EPSRC. Project PDRA: Dr. Alex Scrimshire This project aims to understand the phase stability, thermal and radiation effects in radioactive waste glasses, in light of atomic scale structural changes due to radiation effects. These modifications will then be correlated with glass dissolution and mechanical properties such as cracking/fracture. The glasses selected are critical to the radioactive waste management programs in the UK and India, thus complementing methods and scientific expertise to realise clean, safe and economical energy from nuclear technology whilst presenting the most robust safety case for waste disposal.

2018 - Ongoing: New Industrial Systems: Manufacturing Immortality Funded by EPSRC. Project PDRA: Dr. Gaurav Gupta In this project we are developing innovative manufacturing methods to enable the reliable and scaleable production of evolvable bio-hybrid systems that possess the inherent ability to sense and repair damage, so-called 'immortal' products. This will ultimately lead to the development of products and devices that can continue to function without needing repair or replacement over the course of their life. For example, imagine a mobile phone that can self-repair its own screen after being dropped, or a circuit board in a laptop computer that can repair itself after being short-circuited. The outputs of this project have the potential to provide solutions to some of our greatest societal challenges and by doing so to reinvigorate the UK manufacturing industry by establishing it as a world leader in the production of self-healing systems.

2021 – Ongoing: GRIFFIN – Hot Gas Raman Identification and Measurement for the Foundation Industries. Funded by Innovate UK. Project PDRA: Dr. Deblina Majumder. The UK Government is committed to moving to a zero-carbon economy, including the most energy-intensive sectors. These sectors consume a considerable amount of energy, but also play an essential role in delivering the UK's transition to a sustainable, low-carbon economy, as well as in contributing to economic growth and rebalancing the economy. This project aims to deliver a transformative instrument for helping the glass, cement and ceramics industries to decarbonise, utilising analytical Raman gas measurement instrumentation.

Paul works with a very wide range of industrial collaborators and sponsors, from large multinationals to SME's, to Government and NGO's and other academic institutions.

A selection of these includes: Glass Futures, Wienerberger, Johnson Matthey, Morgan Advanced Materials, Pilkington NSG, Glass Technology Services, Lucideon, British Glass Manufacturers Confederation, British Ceramics Confederation, Encirc 360, Power Minerals, IS-Instruments, i3d Robotics, Breedon Cement, Hanson Group, Saica Paper, Parkinson Spender Refractories, Drax Group, Castle Cement, Mansol (Preforms), University of Oxford (UK), University of Warwick (UK), University of Birmingham (UK), University of Nottingham (UK), University of Southampton (UK), Université de Pierre et Marie Curie de Paris (France), University of Padova (Italy), University of Brescia (Italy), Tokyo Metropolitan University (Japan), Rutgers University (USA), Savannah River National Laboratory (USA), and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (USA).