A Conversation with Dr. Kamal Hossain, EURAMET Chairperson · 2014. 3. 16. · Organization (UNIDO), and has served on various high level national and international committees. Kamal

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IntroductionKamal joined the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in the United Kingdom after completing his PhD research in Physics at the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge. His research expertise is in high-resolution electron microscopy relating microstructures to materials performance and behavior in aggressive environments. He has authored over 40 publications and is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and the Institute of Nanotechnology.

Kamal’s career includes a break from NPL between 1983 and 1988, when he held various policy positions in central government and the post of Head of Research at the Laboratory of the Government Chemist (now LGC). He has extensive experience performing advisory work for the Government, the European Union (EU) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), and has served on various high level national and international committees. Kamal is a member of the EU’s Advisory Committee for the Framework program and a member

of the European Metrology Research Program Committee. He holds a visiting Chair at the University of Surrey in the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences.

Since 2000, Kamal has been responsible for the strategic development of NPL’s scientific research, focusing on developing partnerships with academia, business and Government. In 2008, he took on the additional role of leading NPL’s international work. In June 2009, he was honored by the Queen with an Order of the British Empire (OBE) award for ‘services to industry’.

In 2012, Kamal was appointed Chairperson of EURAMET, the Regional Metrology Organization (RMO) of Europe (www.euramet.org). EURAMET coordinates the cooperation of National Metrology Institutes (NMIs) of Europe in research in metrology, traceability of measurements to the International System (SI) units, international recognition of national measurement standards and related Calibration and Measurement Capabilities (CMC) of its members.

Q. NCSLI Measure is very pleased to be able to interview you. As Chairperson of EURAMET for the next three years, what are your goals for the organization?

A. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about EURAMET, the European Association of National Metrology Institutes. Over the past five years, the organization has gone through a transformation in what it does and the way we accomplish the work, which makes it quite unique amongst the Regional Metrology Organizations. For me, as the Chairperson, the most important work in hand is to implement our 2020 strategy and to strengthen EURAMET’s profile as the gateway to Europe’s metrology community,

and to have a clear voice at the European level on metrology related issues that affect competitiveness, trade, regulation as well as our health and environment. Metrology remains an ‘unsung hero’ and hence we need to do a lot more to raise the visibility of metrology. We need to intensify our interactions with our stakeholders and liaison organizations.

In addition to implementing the current European Metrology Research Program, which is a major landmark program in Europe jointly funded by 22 member countries and the European Commission, we are also working closely with stakeholders for a new follow-on 7-year joint research program with an expected value to be in excess of 0.5

billion euros. The NMIs of 27 countries have already committed in principle to this new program, which is planned to have a broader scope encompassing leading edge research, innovation, capacity building and research in support of standards development.

Finally, I am personally keen to ensure that EURAMET serves the needs of all of

A Conversation with Dr. Kamal Hossain, EURAMET ChairpersonKamal Hossain

Dr. Kamal Hossain,Chairperson of EURAMET

Kamal HossainNational Physical LaboratoryHampton Road, Teddington, MiddlesexUnited Kingdom, TW11 0LW [email protected]@euramet.org

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its members in a fully inclusive manner. To achieve this, our ways of working and our culture must be open and transparent.

Q. Can you tell us about some of the successes of the European Metrology Research Program (EMRP)?

A. So far the EMRP, and its pre-cursor iMERA Plus, have led to 117 projects, all contributing to fundamental research, new technologies, or research that addresses the so-called Grand Challenges in the areas of health, energy and environment. This is already a tremendous success. All of the projects have promoted international co-operation and scientific exchange. For the first time laboratories took a strategic coordinated view of the most pressing challenges, discussed priorities, and agreed upon the areas where they wanted to drive collaboration to realize the full benefits. The projects deliver one European solution rather than many national ones.

The scale and scope of the funded projects apply ‘critical mass’ to the prioritized areas – allowing large team to make significant progress in a shorter time frame than before. The projects reserve the resources necessary to ensure selected priorities can be delivered efficiently. Additionally the funded projects are required to demonstrate excellent science, good management practice, and good engagement with those that will take up the outputs of the projects. The program facilitates the sharing of knowledge and access to major facilities available at collaborator sites, such as beamlines and power distribution networks. Behind the scenes EURAMET provides the management of the program. The independent EMRP mid-term review panel stated that “the EMRP is a well-managed joint European research program that has already achieved a relatively high level of scientific, management and financial integration.” And “the EMRP is an excellent example of a joint program aimed at creating critical mass to address complex, interdisciplinary social challenges and minimize duplication of research efforts.” I would say that efficiency and impact are the pillars of EMRP’s success.

Q. You are in the process of launching the European Metrology Program for Innovation and Research (EMPIR). What do you hope to accomplish through this initiative?

A. This is correct, we are working with our members and stakeholders to develop and implement EMPIR as a follow-on to EMRP. If approved, EMPIR will be delivered with substantial support from Europe’s forthcoming initiative Horizon 2020. To be implemented, EMPIR must first pass the European parliament and EU co-decision process. The program will build on current work and add new elements to increase capacity, enhance innovation, widen participation, and to provide metrology support for pre-standards research.

With EMPIR, EURAMET will continue its leading-edge research to progress the international measurement units, and research that addresses the “Grand Challenges” in the areas of energy, environment and health. More emphasis is put on innovation related activities that target industrial needs, and we foresee a faster uptake of metrology research results, explicitly by small and mid-size enterprises. In addition, industry will be supported by substantial contributions to pre-normative and standardization activities, especially on the

Map of EURAMET member countries.

EURAMET Organizational Chart.

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European level. At the same time, EMPIR will increase collaborative research with other organizations inside and outside of Europe - building upon relationships which in many cases already exist. Q. One EMRP project of note is Metrology for Energy Harvesting, which aims to harvest waste energy as a means of power supply to possibly replace batteries as an energy storage source. This, along with a number of other energy-related projects, aligns with Europe’s focus on reduced energy dependence and clean energy. What are some of the achievements and also challenges that need to be overcome in this project? A. As with most EMRP projects, the focus of the Metrology for Energy Harvesting project is the development of the measurement capabilities that enable others to develop new technologies. The challenge for metrology research in this diverse area is to understand the emerging needs and get the right solutions in place as they are required. One of the most interesting developments over the past year has been the publication of a paper in Applied Physics Letters discussing losses in piezoelectric cantilevers, one form of energy harvester. The project demonstrated that re-distribution of charge within the piezoelectric leads to losses that can be as high as 25 % of the potential generated power. Reducing the area coverage of the piezoelectric was shown to significantly improve the cantilever power output, with the optimum coverage being 2/3 of the beam length from the root. The project is also developing an advanced simulator that, by mimicking the output of these promising energy sources, can be used to calculate their efficiency and accurately analyze their performance. Existing measurement techniques are not capable of measuring the weak and distorted signals generated by most energy harvesters - the signals from the harvesters are not clean sine waves that can be measured very accurately, but instead are noisy and distorted. Thus, the project has developed a waveform generator that is able to precisely mimic over a million different waveforms of the kind produced by energy harvesters. Because the properties of these simulated waveforms are already known, they can be used to test and calibrate the measurement equipment used on real harvesters.

Q. Each year the EMRP issues a call for projects with a specified focus. In 2012, there were three areas included in the call: industry, the SI, and an Open Excellence call. What projects have been selected as a result of this call?

A. The call in 2012 led to 31 joint research projects and 57 associated Researcher Excellence grants. Projects in the industrial area include work on RF communication systems, processing materials with high natural radioactivity, and airborne molecular contamination in manufacturing environments. In the SI area, projects include work on graphene, traceability for biologically relevant molecules and entities, sound power, and angle measurement. The small open excellence area funded more speculative projects such as the measurement and control of single-photon microwave radiation on a chip. The Researcher Excellence grants fund the involvement of universities and industrial organizations alongside the projects.

Q. In 2013, the focus is on energy and the environment. What is the process for determining the focus and are projects required to fit the focus in order to qualify for consideration?

A. One of our goals is to align the national resources across the 22 EMRP member states. Therefore the EMRP does not have an open call for project proposals. Instead it requires a more structured process; a scope for energy and environment calls was published in the summer of 2012. Anything that develops new measurement methods in support of the EU policies for “safe, secure, sustainable and affordable energy”, and a “resource-efficient Europe” would qualify. We are now collecting stakeholders’ needs in the area to assemble a list of potential research topics which will be completed in March 2013. EURAMET will then take these ideas and merge those it regards as the highest priority into about 50 selected research topics which will be published in June 2013. Those published documents will define specific objectives to be met by any consortia bidding at the next stage. Between June and September 2013 consortia will form and develop project proposals that meet the defined objectives. Independent experts will then review and rank the proposals against published criteria. The top 25 proposals are likely to be funded.

Q. There has been a lot of discussion about the redefinition of several of the base SI units. What role has EURAMET played in the work that is being done?

A. The redefinition of several of the base SI units has been promoted in the international metrology community for several years. The success of this effort depends upon international collaboration. EURAMET contributes, along with other valued organizations, in two different ways. First, through our members, we participate in the work of all relevant committees of the Metre Convention. Secondly, EURAMET makes vital contributions based on the work of several iMERA Plus and EMRP projects. Let me give you two examples: The iMERA Plus project “Determination of the Boltzmann constant for the redefinition of the kelvin” was completed in 2011. The consortium made significant progress in the determination of an improved value of the Boltzmann constant for redefining the base unit kelvin by three fundamentally different primary methods: acoustic gas thermometry, Doppler broadening thermometry and dielectric constant gas

Finite element analysis showing the out of planedisplacement of an electrostatic MEMS device used tocharacterize the piezoelectric output of MEMS scalepiezoelectric devices such as energy harvesters.

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thermometry. The new approach makes the definition independent of any material substance, technique of realization or temperature range. In my view this is a breakthrough with fundamental impact.

A project still in progress is the “Realization of the awaited definition of the kilogram – resolving the discrepancies”. In order to redefine the kilogram, which is the last SI unit defined by an artefact, there needs to be international agreement on the Planck and Avogadro constants. Two experiments have so far achieved accuracies close to the requirements: a watt-balance experiment linking mechanical and electrical power and a silicon sphere experiment determining the number of SI atoms carried out by the International Avogadro Coordination (IAC). However, there is a discrepancy between the values measured in the two experiments. Our EMRP project aims to understand the reason for the discrepancy and to resolve it by delivering a European watt-balance determination of the Planck constant while also refining measurements and repeating the Avogadro determination. This will lead to lower uncertainties and it is an important step towards the redefinition of the SI unit of mass.

Q. The use of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) as an energy source for vehicles and businesses around the world has introduced a new set of challenges. How has the ENG03 LNG project addressed some of these challenges?

A. The process of liquefaction reduces the volume of natural gas and thus makes its trade between countries more economically viable. Improved infrastructure for LNG is a main priority of the integrated EU energy policy, which aims to provide a more diversified and secure energy supply for the future. This creates a need for a suitable measurement infrastructure. That is exactly where the EMRP project comes into play. It has addressed these challenges in various areas, from developing traceability for LNG flow meters and reducing uncertainties in LNG density and calorific value calculations to contributing to measurement guidelines, written standards and legal metrology. The project is being carried out with significant international involvement and involvement of stakeholders; for example, companies from different countries were included and an international advisory group has met every six months to link the project outcomes to the needs of industrial end users. The project aims to provide metrology for LNG custody transfer measurements, leading to smaller uncertainties, reduction of financial risks of transactions, and better transparency for trading partners.

Q. The EURAMET General Assembly will be held in May 2013. What are some of the expected outcomes of this meeting?

A. The General Assembly has always been an important event for further development of the Association. Within the Assembly we review our strategies and action plans for the future. The event provides a great opportunity for key representatives of member countries to interact with each other, exchange views, debate on important issues, and agree upon directions for future work. It also strengthens the community feeling within EURAMET, which is crucial for its future success. During this year’s General Assembly there will be further preparation of EMPIR, which is expected to involve several new members not currently participating in EMRP. We will work on ideas for how best to help emerging NMIs build capacity using research and

structural funds available from the EU. A new item on the agenda is a “Impact Workshop” where we want to explore how we can accelerate impact from our work and develop new solutions for faster innovation.

Q. At the moment EURAMET is the only RMO organized as a legal entity. Why was that done, and what are the advantages? A. European metrology was coordinated successfully for almost twenty years by EUROMET, the European Collaboration in Measurement Standards, based on a memorandum of understanding. New challenges for European metrology revealed the need to establish a legal entity for the coordination of European metrology. The EMRP, which was aiming at a higher level of integration and coordination of metrology research, made it necessary to implement this new organizational form. The establishment of a legal entity was prepared during the iMERA-Project. As a result, EURAMET e.V. was inaugurated on January 11, 2007 in Berlin, Germany.

Advantages include the clear and binding processes and the stable teams like the EURAMET Secretariat and the EURAMET EMRP-Management and Support Unit. Thanks to these teams the support of members and stakeholders is carried out in a smooth and professional way. Additionally, our board of directors and technical committee chairs benefit from this constant support. Thanks to our organizational structure we gain independence in our financial management, and can sign contracts with third parties and apply for research grants. In short, being a legal entity gives us the stability and freedom that we need to make our own decisions.

Spherical Resonator for Acoustic Gas Thermometry.