A quieter future

‘Noise Network Plus’ is an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) funded interdisciplinary network designed to address the grand challenges for noise pollution for the next 10-15 years.

Above: Some familiar faces at the launch of Noise Network Plus in London

Launched at the Royal Academy of Engineering in March and led by Mark Plumbley and Abigail Bristow (University of Surrey), Charlotte Clark (City St George’s, University of London), Simone Graetzer and Antonio Torija Martinez (University of Salford) and Alan Hunter (University of Bath), six transdisciplinary research projects based at UK institutions will each receive a share of a £10 million investment to help them address the challenges identified in the 2022 Tomorrow’s Engineering Research Challenges (TERC) report (https://www.ukri.org/publications/tomorrows-engineering-research-challenges/)

Noise has a profound effect on human health and wellbeing, but reducing noise and its impacts is a complex, systemic and interconnected problem, requiring insights from many perspectives and creative ways of working.

As the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee reported in 2023, noise is a ‘neglected pollutant’. It is also largely neglected across the UK engineering community. Outside of the IOA and the wider acoustical engineering community, noise is almost invisible in the work of professional engineering institutions. It is not included in teaching of sustainability in engineering degrees, so noise is often neglected until late in the engineering design process, resulting in products, systems and buildings that may create or transmit unnecessary noise.

To address this, the vision is to re-engineer the discipline of engineering so that noise is considered in all stages of the design process. Noise Network Plus is intended to be a catalyst to bring together diverse, dynamic teams from across disciplines, promote dialogue, co-design missions, form lasting and inclusive collaborations, and build unprecedented noise research capabilities.

By taking a ‘systems thinking’ approach to understand the complex systems that build noise into the world, Noise Network Plus will begin a long-lasting inter- and multi-disciplinary programme of research and engagement to reduce noise and its impact on people, the environment, and the economy: engineering a quieter future.

https://www.ukri.org/news/tackling-tomorrows-engineering-research-challenges/