精东影业鈥檚 Dr Yue shortlisted for prestigious Newton Prize

Dr Liyang YueDr Liyang YueDr Liyang Yue of 精东影业鈥檚 School of Electronic Engineering has been for the 2 for his project building a super-resolution metamaterial 3D printing system.

The Prize is an annual 拢1 million fund awarded for the best research or innovation that supports the economic development and social welfare of developing countries. Dr Yue is in with the chance of winning up to 拢200,000 from the Prize to be used to advance or develop the work further.

The Newton Prize is part of the broader Newton Fund, which builds research and innovation partnerships with 18 partner countries to support their economic development and social welfare, and to develop their research and innovation capacity for long-term sustainable growth. It has a total UK Government investment of 拢735 million up until 2021, and each partner country provides matched funding and resources for every programme, making it an equitable partnership.

 Dr Yue work on the development of new high performing metamaterials, which have the potential to transform telecom infrastructures and services, optical computing, solar energy and medical devices.  Usage is currently limited by the manufacturing challenges involved.  Dr Yue鈥檚 project enables 3D metamaterials to be directly printed from 3D CAD models with higher design freedom and lower cost compared to conventional photolithograpy methods. Impacts of this work can be found in the Vietnamese telecommunications and photonics industries, as well as in the energy, environment and health sectors.

On receiving the news, Dr Yue said:

鈥淚 am very excited and honoured to be shortlisted for this prize. My Vietnamese partner and I spent nine months developing a micro/nano 3D printing platform in Bangor. These printed micro/nano structures can be used to fabricate an artificial electromagnetic metamaterial using 鈥榚xotic鈥� properties which cannot be found in nature. This platform is a low-cost but powerful research tool for fundamental nanotechnology and photonics research in both countries, and a huge scientific impact could be expected from it in the future.鈥�

Dr Iestyn Pierce, Head of the School of Electronic Engineering said:

These characters placed next to an eyelash provide an example of the micro/nano printing technology. These characters placed next to an eyelash provide an example of the micro/nano printing technology.鈥淚鈥檓 delighted that Dr Yue鈥檚 work has been recognised. Dr Yue鈥檚 research is a fine example of the ground-breaking, innovative work being conducted at the University. We attract some of the best international-calibre researchers and teachers to our School and is another great example of our international partnership working.鈥�

More than 150 Newton funded projects, fellowships or other awards applied for the Newton Prize from the eligible countries for this year 鈥� India, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. There are in total and five Prizes of up to 拢200,000 will be awarded to each winner to be used to advance or develop existing Newton funded work. There will be two winners in India and one in Malaysia, Thailand and in Vietnam.

The Newton Prize winners will be announced at celebratory award ceremonies held in each of the partner countries:

  • India 鈥� 1 November
  • Thailand 鈥� 8 November
  • Malaysia 鈥� 14 November
  • Vietnam 鈥� 16 November

The Minister for Universities, Science and Research Jo Johnson will also host a UK event in London in early December to celebrate the first year of the Prize and to announce the 2018 Newton Prize countries.

The Newton Prize aims to incentivise researchers to participate in the Newton Fund as partners with the UK, and to work on the most important challenges facing Newton countries. The concept for the Newton Prize has been developed to demonstrate how UK partnerships with Newton countries are solving global challenges.

Further information is available on the . Follow their Twitter feed for regular updates about the Newton Prize: and .

 

Publication date: 24 October 2017