Stoke-on-Trent company, Fuerst Day Lawson Ltd, has donated £150,000 to The Trent Rivers Trust, following a pollution incident in the summer of 2015.

Between July and September 2015, a polluting matter entered the balancing pools on Stanley Matthews Way and then entered the Newstead Brook. Discharge from Fuerst Day Lawson’s site on the Newstead Industrial Estate in Trentham, contributed to the impact on the watercourse.

Food ingredients manufacturing company, Fuerst Day Lawson, offered an Enforcement Undertaking to the Environment Agency, which was accepted in September 2018. The donation to the Trust will be used to fund environmentally beneficial projects being carried out in the Stoke-on-Trent area. Additionally, the company has carried out extensive improvements to the site and paid a significant proportion of the Environment Agency’s cost associated with the incident in the amount of £119,143.39.

Environment Officer with the Environment Agency, Emma Swindail said:

Enforcement Undertakings are an effective enforcement tool enabling companies to address non-compliance with environmental regulations which provides support for suitable environmental projects.

Ruth Needham, Senior Catchment Manager at the Trent Rivers Trust added:

We’re delighted to have the opportunity to work with landowners to deliver a number of river restoration schemes along the upper reaches of the Trent.

The works are funded through an enforcement undertaking after a historical pollution incident. Works are focussing on restoring the river at several sites to recreate a range of natural features within the channel and on the banks. The increase in features will enable the river to better breakdown pollution in the future as well as create improved habitats for fish and other wildlife.

An Enforcement Undertaking is available to the EA as an alternative to prosecution or monetary penalty when taking enforcement action. It is a legally-binding voluntary agreement proposed by a company (or an individual) when the EA has reasonable cause to suspect that an environmental offence has occurred. Enforcement Undertakings for environmental offences were introduced under the Environmental Civil Sanctions (England) Order 2010.

The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) is holding an event at Cranfield University on 3rd May as part of a new initiative called Searchlight.

Searchlight aims to encourage small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to work with Dstl, and the first event will focus on Radio Frequency (RF) systems. Specifically, frequency-agile RF hardware, machine learning applied to modern communications standards (including Internet of Things) and novel manufacturing solutions to reduce size, weight, power and/or cost.

The keynote speaker will be Professor Simon Watt from University College London, on the current RF challenges in the UK.

The event is supported by Lockeed Martin and there will be an opportunity to meet a number of current prime Dstl contractors who can provide information and advice on current frameworks.

The event includes: industry insight by leading experts; how companies can enter the market and work with Dstl; case study success stories; sample technical challenges and workshops. Staff from across various Dstl departments will be available throughout the day to offer technical and commercial guidance.

Places are limited and restricted to one person per company.

SME Searchlight aims to engage with non-traditional Defence suppliers and SMEs to meet the needs of a £40 million – £45 million increase in research, in line with the Government’s intent to increase external spending with SMEs. Companies benefit in turn from increased funding and being at the cutting-edge of research and technology.

Over the next 12 months, events, workshops and consultations run by Dstl will take place in partnership with Aerospace and Defence Suppliers (ADS), the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), Team Defence Information and TechUK, to bring companies together from across industry sectors. An ambitious target of 60% of suppliers who may never have worked with Defence before has been set to attend each of these events, with the aim of bringing these new companies into Dstl’s supply chain.

Rob Solly, Division Head for Defence and Security Analysis from Dstl, said:

SMEs possess tremendous ideas and innovation. Dstl has funds available to invest in cutting-edge research, and the commercial and technological clout to accelerate these ideas. Importantly, SMEs retain the Intellectual Property rights to any innovation in most cases, boosting their long-term prosperity as well as that of the UK.

For more information email searchlight@dstl.gov.uk

There are opportunities across a range of areas including in Data Science, Cyber & Electronics Warfare, as well as Space, Sensors & Security Systems. Supporting the campaign is a new online game where users can play an interactive challenge via the campaign micro-website called Know the Unknown.

Dr Paul Kealey, Dstl’s Cyber and Information Systems (CIS) Division Head, said:

With defence and security operations becoming increasingly dependent on sensing and information, this recruitment drive represents our commitment to put the latest science and technology in the hands of users. What attracted me to Dstl was that every day here is different. Our talented people are having a genuine impact keeping British people and the UK Armed Forces protected from harm.

Dstl is looking for people with a flair for problem solving and a passion for new technologies seeking a career with a difference. Ideally candidates will have with design and development experience in one or more of the following areas:

• Radar Electronic Surveillance
• Radio frequency or communications systems
• Navigation system development
• Design of electronic systems
• Digital signal processing
• Space systems design
• Computer science, software engineering or network engineering
• Information technology or technical architecture
• Systems engineering
• Verification and validation
• Data forensics
• Data fusion
• Penetration testing
• Quantum science

Dstl is the science and technology arm of the Ministry of Defence. As part of the UK Government Dstl does sensitive and specialists work that cannot be done anywhere else. We use our world-leading science and expertise to prepare for the threats of tomorrow, and we need talented and dedicated individuals that can help us solve emerging problems and predict the problems of the future.

For all the latest vacancies, visit the Civil Service Jobs website.

Innovative ideas are being sought to increase the UK’s resilience, awareness and capability in Space, ensuring the UK remains at the forefront of the latest developments and opportunities in the Defence and Security sectors.

The space environment is becoming increasingly congested and contested. Satellites are becoming smaller and are being launched more frequently creating many challenges. However, this advancement in Space knowledge and technology also presents us with opportunities to stay one step ahead.

Reaching out to innovators across the globe, the Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) is launching phase 1 of the ‘Space to innovate’ competition. At least £2.25 million will be available to fund technological ideas that have the potential to drive innovation in UK space.

Michael O’Callaghan, Dstl’s Space Programme Manager says:

The space domain is pivotal to defence and security operations, providing critical services such as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, precision navigation and timing, and communications. We also need to ensure that Defence has the capabilities to protect and defend its Space assets and interests in the future.

With such a huge range of expertise needed, we are consciously reaching out to innovators who have not traditionally worked in the Space domain or indeed in Defence and Security. We believe that by bringing together the latest thinking from academia, SMEs and sole innovators, we can exploit the full potential of space.

The aim of this competition is to develop science and technology (S&T) solutions that address four challenges:

• Technologies for defending future UK space assets
• Novel sensing and Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance (ISR) enablers
• Characterisation of objects in space and their intent
• Overcoming the technical issues of ‘Space to Sea Level’ optical communications.

More details on these challenge areas can be found in the competition summary.