The group, comprised of the British Antarctic Survey, Heriot-Watt University, National Oceanography Centre, Scottish Association for Marine Science and University of East Anglia, will share £2.5million in funding to achieve this goal.
“We are delighted to be awarded this funding by NERC and EPSRC,” said Professor Alberto Naveira Garabato, from the University of Southampton and director of NEXUSS. “It is an outstanding opportunity to develop a new generation of environmental scientists that is more aware of the vast possibilities that SAOS approaches offer, and that can take forward the environmental application of these technologies in decades to come.”
The new Centre of Doctoral Training in ‘The use of Smart and Autonomous Observation for the Environmental Sciences’ known as NEXUSS (NEXt generation Unmanned System Science), will provide specialised training in the increasingly vital area of innovative sensor platforms such as drone and autonomous robotic submarines, creating a community of highly skilled people whose expertise will contribute both to scientific breakthroughs and to economic growth.
NEXUSS is funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). It will fund training for three annual intakes of ten PhD students each, starting in 2016.
“Smart observation systems are an exciting and innovative field in which the UK has world-class capabilities,” said Professor Duncan Wingham, NERC chief executive. “We have made major investments in SAOS in recent years, and this CDT will produce the expertise to ensure future researchers can take advantage of these investments.”
The Centre will provide the next generation of environmental scientists with the necessary skills to develop and deploy ambitious unmanned systems, which can cover vast areas and stay in place for long periods. They can also be sent to places traditionally considered too difficult or dangerous for humans to work, potentially opening up whole new fields of enquiry.