PHY 435: Physics and enterprise management Lecture 1.

PHY 435: Physics and enterprise management

Lecture 1

PHY 331: Physics and Enterprise Management

• Course designed to encourage creative thinking based around science, technology, research and business.

• Hope to encourage entrepreneurship.• Help develop critical appraisal of ideas.• Introduce you to processes of protecting

intellectual property.• Expose you to people who have successfully

commercialized research.

What will we do?• You will write a proposal to support a new piece of

scientific research

(Theme 1).• You will develop and then make a pitch to

commercialize a new product – Lizard’s Lair (Theme 2).• You will attend a number of creativity workshops.• We will have invited speakers to talk about

commercialization of research.• Each session is scheduled for 2 hours.

Course schedule

Theme 1

• We wish you to develop a case to support a piece of scientific research.

• As closely as possible, this process will mirror the actual procedures used to apply for research funding in UK universities.

What’s the point?

• In many instances in life, you may need to convince someone to give / lend you money: e.g.

• Performing university research.

• Setting up your own business.

• Obtaining a budget within a company or institution.

So you have this great idea….

Project proposal

IDEA

Submission

Peer review

Panel meetingand prioritization

FUNDED REJECTED

Theme 1: Project proposal

You must develop an idea for a piece of research.

This can be based around any reasonable topic as long as it involves physics / technology / science in some form.

Your work must be original. We have sophisticated methods to detect plagiarism.

Adventure in research is strongly-encouraged!

The best way to develop your ideas is through READING. Perform a literature search on your chosen theme. Then think creatively.

Your project…..• Will not cost more than £1M.• Will last for 3 years.• May be done in collaboration with other academic groups

(e.g. biotechnology / chemistry / engineering / theory etc.)• Will be supported within a well equipped research

environment (comprising of labs and workshops).• May include salaries of technicians or other research staff.• May be feasibility or ‘proof of principle’ in nature.• May be experimental / theoretical / information gathering.• Will involve a significant degree of originality.• May have an end-application or may be entirely

fundamental.

Possible Themes • Generating renewable energy / carbon-capture and storage / energy storage using kinetic

systems / materials for energy / energy efficiency.• Safe-disposal of radioactive-waste / Removing pollutants from the environment / Monitoring

pollution / Reducing urban noise • Free-space optical-communication systems.• Physical science solutions to designing out waste.• Music and acoustic technology• Beating the counterfeiter / new methods to fight crime.• Synthetic biology – design and manufacture of biologically based parts.• Designing improved water resource management systems / costal and waterway engineering.• Promoting well-being in old age• Improving the flow of traffic.• New techniques in analytical science / understanding, improving and utilising catalysis• Testing physics using antihydrogen• Artificial intelligence / understanding human-computer interactions / image and vision• New manufacturing technologies• New concepts for use of operation of lasers / LEDs / photodetectors / displays • Using plasmonics to control flow of light• Robotics and assisted living technologies• Built environment – design of buildings and the urban environment• Graphene and carbon nanotechnology

How to structure your proposal

• You must describe your research in 6 pages A4.

• Your proposal must be accompanied by a project proposal form (available on the website at www.shef.ac.uk/physics/teaching/phy435/

• This contains summary information and full project costs.

Notes for Guidance on Completion of the Case for Support

Clear, concise and uncluttered with technical jargon.

The case for support must include the following information:

1. A description of the proposed research and its context

2. An introduction of the research topic and an explanation of its academic and industrial context.

3. An appreciation of past work in the subject area.

You must then describe

Programme and methodology1. Identify the overall aims of the project 2. Detail the methodology to be used in the research and justify this

choice. 3. Describe the programme of work, indicating the research to be

undertaken and the milestones that can be used to measure its progress. Use references, diagrams and other useful supporting material.

4. Describe what you will do, how you will do it, and what it will tell you.

5. Explain how the project will be managed; illustrate the plan with a simple diagrammatic work plan.

Relevance to beneficiaries 1. Identify the potential impact of the proposed work; who is likely to

benefit from the proposed research? 2. indicate any collaborations with beneficiaries and explain their role

in the project.

Dissemination and exploitationIndicate the proposed dissemination and technology transfer routes and explain how the transfer of knowledge will take place to both beneficiaries and the general public;

Justification of resources.Justify the resources requested in the grant proposal.

Remember you are trying to convince someone to fund you!

Past projects

You can see examples of ‘best’ past Theme 1 projects on the PHY435 website.

www.shef.ac.uk/physics/teaching/phy435/index.html

Examples:

Replacement retinas with frequency controlled external processor unit.

Decontamination and disposal of low-level radioactive waste using ion-exchange resins and plant extraction.

Organic piezoelectric film transducer with microprocessor signal processor for use as in-ear prosthetic.

Count research staff as ‘exceptional items’

Costings:

1 PhD student for 3 years £50,000(tuition fees + maintenance grant)

1 Postdoctoral researcher for3 years (salary + superannuation) £150,000

Project submission and deadlines

You must submit a paper copy of your work by Friday 8th March 2012 by 5:00 p.m. to G-floor Maths / Physics Office.

On the same day, please also send an electronic copy to Prof. Lidzey

by email at [email protected]

Please keep total file size to a minimum as all work from the class will be collated into one document.

2 MB max - no large images please!

How your proposal will be judged

We propose to split the class into three groups.

Each student will receive a copy of all proposals from the opposite group.

Proposals will (hopefully) be sent to each student via email on Tuesday 12th March.

Each student will be assigned to study two proposals in detail. However they should also make themselves aware of the contents of all of he other remaining proposals.

You will then have to referee the two proposals before the panel meeting on Thursday 14th March. Provide a mark out of 100, and written comments on a form found at

http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/physics/teaching/phy435/index

Three parallel panel meetings will be held on 14th March

Meeting 1 (F9C Hicks) - Dr. Wilson.Meeting 2 (LT6 Hicks) – Dr Buckley.Meeting 3 (LTB Hicks) – Dr. Cadby.

Each student will then be asked to verbally summarizethe two proposals they have studied, and then discuss its good and bad points (2 - 3 mins / proposal). They will then give it a mark between 1 and 100.

Each group will then agree on a rank order for the excellence (or otherwise) of the proposals.

Feedback

•We will distribute the marks awarded by the panels and also our marks for your work at the end of the Easter vacation.

How your final mark for Theme 1 will be awarded

Theme 1 carries 50% of marks for PHY435

This breaks down as follows….

25% of your total mark will be awarded on the basis of your proposal as marked by Prof. Lidzey / Dr. Wilson / Dr. Cadby / Dr. Buckley

10% of your mark will come from your referee report as marked by Prof. Lidzey / Dr. Buckley / Dr. Cadby / Dr Wilson.

Remaining 15% of your mark will come from your panel-meeting mark.

Any questions?