School of CS newsletter

To apply, please complete the online application form. For the main competition the application deadline is Friday, 24^th May 2019 with two further deadlines of Friday 28^th October 2019 and Friday 14^th February 2020 should any funding still be available. The online form will note whether the fund is still available for applications.The review panel will review all applications and you will be contacted via email within a month of the competition closing.

Any questions, please contact the Social Responsibility Team.

The Great Science Share for Schools campaign have launched their #AskAQuestion campaign to promote the diversity of scientists, engineers and STEM professionals.

Involved in science and engineering? We want you to share your story and inspire the future generations. Take a quick video of yourself answering 5 questions about you, and your journey into STEM. Here is an #AskAQuestion video from Ben Parslew, Senior Lecturer in Aerospace Engineering: #AskAQuestion Ben Parslew

Find more information at: https://www.greatscienceshare.org/askaquestion  or email ellen.logan@manchester.ac.uk

 

We are delighted to welcome Prof. Victorino Franco, one of this year's IEEE Distinguished Lecturers to Manchester on Friday - details below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Magnetocaloric Effect: From Energy Efficient Refrigeration to Fundamental Studies of Phase Transitions

 

Date: Friday 12 April
Time: 11:00
Place: IT407

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The magnetocaloric effect, that is, the reversible temperature change experienced by a magnetic material upon the application or removal of a magnetic field, has become a topic of increasing research interest due to its potential applications in refrigeration at ambient temperature that is energy efficient and environmentally friendly [1]. From a technological point of view, the improvement of magnetic refrigeration systems can have a notable impact on society: a large fraction of the electricity consumed in residential and commercial markets is used for temperature and climate control. From the point of view of magnetic materials, research on this topic mainly focuses on the discovery of new materials with lower cost and enhanced performance. In addition, the characterization of the magnetocaloric effect can be used for more fundamental studies of the characteristics of phase transitions.

 

I will cover an overview of the phenomenon and a classification of the most relevant families of alloys and compounds. I will analyze possible limitations for the optimal performance of the materials in magnetic refrigerators, including hysteretic response and cyclability. Regarding phase transitions, I will present a new method to quantitatively determine the order of thermomagnetic phase transitions using the field dependence of the magnetic entropy change [2]. For second-order phase transition materials, I will show that critical exponents can be determined using the magnetocaloric effect even in cases where the usual methods are not applicable [3]. In the case of first-order phase transitions, more details about their hysteretic response can be obtained using T-FORC [4].

 [1] V. Franco, J. S. Blázquez, J. J. Ipus, J. Y. Law, L. M. Moreno-Ramírez, and A. Conde, “Magnetocaloric effect: From materials research to refrigeration devices,” Prog. Mater. Sci., vol. 93, pp. 112-232, Apr. 2018.

[2] J. Y. Law, V. Franco, L. M. Moreno-Ramirez, A. Conde, D. Y. Karpenkov, I. Radulov, K. P. Skokov, and O. Gutfleisch, “A quantitative criterion for determining the order of magnetic phase transitions using the magnetocaloric effect,” Nat. Commun., vol. 9, p. 2680, Jul. 2018.

[3] V. Franco and A. Conde, “Scaling laws for the magnetocaloric effect in second order phase transitions: From physics to applications for the characterization of materials.” Int. J. Refrig., vol. 33, pp. 465-473, May 2010.

[4] V. Franco, T. Gottschall, K. P. Skokov, and O. Gutfleisch, “First-order reversal curve (FORC) analysis of magnetocaloric Heusler-type alloys,” IEEE Magn. Lett., vol. 7, 6602904, Mar. 2016. 

Biography

Victorino Franco is a professor in the Condensed Matter Physics Department of the University of Seville, Spain. His main research interests cover magnetic materials for energy applications, including soft-magnetic and magnetocaloric materials. He has published more than 165 peer-reviewed technical articles. In 2000, he received the Young Scientist Award from the Royal Physical Society of Spain. He served as chair of the Spain Chapter of the IEEE Magnetics Society and chair of the Magnetic Materials Committee of the Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS). He has been editor and publications chair of several Magnetism and Magnetic Materials (MMM) conferences and will be the general chair of the 2022 Joint MMM-Intermag Conference. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ethical considerations can arise in many circumstances when conducting research and it's important to consider if they may apply to your research particularly with interdisciplinarity and interaction outside of academia at the forefront of the research agenda.

Contrary to popular belief ethical issues do not only arise if you are working in clinical or health related research with human or animal tissue. Other areas that may attract the requirement for ethical review include:

 - the participation of human subjects including observation and/or the collection/use of personal data (eg. relating to housing, working environment, lifestyles, preferences and attitudes)

- Potential or actual application of research findings to cause harm or infringe privacy (eg. defence, surveillance)

- Impact on and/or risk of environmental damage ie. beyond what is covered by standard health and safety procedures in the lab

- Sensitive information , techniques, materials or findings especially if these could be used to cause harm through misuse

- Involvement of associates/sponsors/participants who have associations or interests which could impede or be perceived to impede the impartiality of the research process from it's design through to any publication or exploitation of findings.

- Sponsors or associates with a controversial ethical record

- Physical or psychological risk to the researcher's well being over and above the standard health and safety procedure for laboratory work

- Activities being conducted overseas or involving collaborators overseas particularly in countries considered to have emerging economies or operate under regimes with poor human rights records or that the Foreign & Commonwealth Office deem to be dangerous. These countries may also be currently under trade embargoes which can raise some specific issues for your proposed collaboration.

This is not an exhaustive list but is intended to try and give a flavour of the types of situations under which ethical review would potentially be required. Ethical issues can be complex and so you should think about whether your research may raise them as early as possible in the formulation of your project idea. If you are unsure you should consult the University's Research ethics and governance pages where you will find help and support including a useful online tool to assist you in assessing whether or not ethical approval is required for your project.  

You can also contact me as a first port of call if you are unclear about where to get support  (melanie.macrae@manchester.ac.uk  x56126)