An Aberdeen academic has been recognised as one of the most promising future science and research leaders in the country by being awarded a coveted Future Leaders Fellowship by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
Dr Ieuan Seymour, from the School of Natural and Computing Sciences, has received a £1.2million research award from the UKRI’s Future Leaders Fellowship scheme to further his research into creating sustainable solid-state batteries for applications such as electric vehicles. The Future Leaders Fellowships program is a highly competitive scheme designed specifically to establish the careers of world-class research and innovation leaders across the UK.
Dr Seymour said: “I am thrilled to have been named as one of the UKRI Future Leader Fellows. The development of sustainable solid-state batteries is in its infancy and this Fellowship will be a step change in how we think about sustainability in all-solid-state batteries from ‘cradle to grave’.
“There is an urgent need to decrease the cost, increase the energy density and improve the sustainability of rechargeable battery technology to allow it to be widely adopted for electric transport and grid level energy storage applications.
Dr Ieuan Seymour
“The goal of this Fellowship is to develop affordable solid-state battery technology based on earth abundant materials, in which sustainability is considered at all stages of the battery life cycle. This project will develop new computational and experimental tools to probe the fundamental atomistic processes in solid-state batteries that will provide new insights into how their properties can be improved in the future.”
UKRI Chief Executive, Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser, said: “UKRI’s Future Leaders Fellowships provide researchers and innovators with long-term support and training to develop ambitious, transformative ideas.
"The programme supports the research and innovation leaders of the future to transcend disciplinary and sector boundaries, bridging the gap between academia and business.
"The fellows announced today demonstrate how these awards continue to drive excellence, and to shorten the distance from discovery to prosperity and public good.”
Dr Seymour will carry out his project in collaboration with the University of St Andrews, Imperial College London, University of Texas at Austin and the University of Birmingham. The project will get underway in October 2024.