Sandpit Events during PoLNET2 (2017-2019)

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Sandpit Overview

Sandpits are interactive meetings which involve a small group of researchers, including lead academic(s), who define a topic and facilitate discussion, a team of subject experts, working as mentors in support, and a number of independent stakeholders. Sandpits have a highly multidisciplinary mix of participants, some active researchers and others potential users of research outcomes, to drive lateral thinking and radical approaches to address research challenges. Participation is open and FREE (by email to lead academics), but numbers will need to be limited, prioritising key collaborators working towards a particular key research question and future grant application.

Awarded Sandpits

• Airborne Pollution Protection Factor; Prof. Elena Lurie-Luke (P&G) and Prof. Stefan Przyborski (Durham University), £3k awarded for 2 day meeting at Durham University, May 2016 (20 participants).
• How do ATPase proteins work? Rhoda Hawkins (University of Sheffield) and Martin Cann (University of Durham), £500 awarded for 1 day meeting at University of Sheffield in February 2018 (5 participants). 
• Physical biology of the hoof: improving the welfare of working equids; Cyril Rauch and Sarah Blott (University of Nottingham), £4.3k awarded for travel to meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, January 2019 (10 participants).
• Epigenetic Dynamics in Mitosis, Davide Marenduzzo, Davide Michieletto (Edinburgh University), Daniel Rico and Jonathan Higgins (Newcastle University), £1k awarded for various meetings November 2018 to February 2019 in Newcastle and Edinburgh (4 participants).
• Inside-Out: Exploring how mechanics of health and disease are related in internal and peripheral soft tissues, Michael Crichton (Herriot Watt University), £2.5k awarded for 2 day meeting in Edinburgh, April 2019 (10 participants). 
• Multiscale mechanics in biology: next challenges for theory and experiment, Lorna Dougan (University of Leeds), £5k awarded for 2 day meeting in Leeds, date in 2109 TBC (20 participants). 
• Polymer Physics and Topography of Transposable Genomic Elements, Davide Michieletto (University of Edinburgh), Hans-Wilhelm Nuetzmann (University of Bath) and Alexandros Bousios (University of Sussex), £1k awarded for meetings in Edinburgh and Bath, May-October 2019 (3 participants).
• Towards a quantifiable relationship between the composition of multi-component vesicles and their emergent physical properties affecting stability under a range of environmental pressures and its relevance to the origin of life, Sean Jordan (UCL), Omer Markovitch  (University of Groningen) and Eloi Camprubi Casas  (Utrecht University), £2k awarded for meeting in London, July 2019 (3 partcipants).
• Physics and Mechanics of Living Systems, Sami Al-Izzi and Matthew Turner (University of Warwick), £500 awarded for meeting in Warwick, September 2019 (10+ partcipants). 
• The physics and chemistry of ice in plants, Heather Knight (Durham University) and Thomas Whale (University of Warwick), £1300 awarded for meeting in Warwick, November 2019 (10 + partcipants).