WMG, at the University of Warwick, have announced that Professor Claire Davis and Professor Barbara Shollock have been appointed as two new Tata Steel Chairs for research into Thermo-mechanical Processing and Advanced Characterisation and Coatings.

These appointments strengthen the rapidly developing relationship between WMG, the University and Tata Steel. They confirm the strong commitment of Tata Steel to research and manufacturing in the UK.

Building on the initial Tata Steel / Royal Academy of Engineering Chair of Professor Sridhar Seetharaman, the company and the University have been working closely to develop an exciting strategic partnership, with research, research infrastructure, education and exploitation opportunities.

Professor Davis is currently Chair of Ferrous Metallurgy at the University of Birmingham and will take up the Chair in Thermo-mechanical Processing. She gained her undergraduate degree from St Catharine’s College, University of Cambridge and her PhD from the Department of Materials and Metallurgy during which time she spent 2 months at Nippon Steel as part of the European Research Student Experience Scheme. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Mining and Minerals. She was a founding member of Rail Research UK and has a strong interest in rail related research activities. Her research interests focus on steels, particularly, understanding how the desired microstructure develops during processing; the relationships between microstructure and properties; and non-destructive evaluation of microstructure and defects.

Professor Shollock will take up the Chair in Advanced Characterisation and Coatings, she is currently Senior Lecturer at Imperial College London. She gained her undergraduate degree from Lehigh University, Pennsylvania and D.Phil from University of Oxford. She has been a TFR visiting Professor at Technical University of Lulea Sweden and held an industrial fellowship with The Royal Society. Her research interests focus on engineering alloys by understanding the evolution of their microstructure and relating this to their in-service performance. Alloys studied range from nickel and cobalt superalloys to steels and zirconium and aluminium alloys.

Professor Lord Bhattacharyya, Chairman and Founder of WMG said:

We are delighted to be able to build on our research capability with these two new Tata Steel Chairs. Their research will complement the work that is already being done by Professor Seetharaman as well as other academics within the group, enabling significant new research developments.”

Dr Debashish Bhattacharjee, Group Director Research and Development at Tata Steel said:

We at Tata Steel are delighted with the appointment of these two leading professors in their respective fields, adding to an already successful joint Chair position (Prof Sridhar Seetharaman) at the University. The University of Warwick is growing as a centre for steel based research and the developing partnership with Tata Steel provides us with access to world-leading research.”

Professor Davis comments:

I’m looking forward to working with my colleagues to develop a world leading steel research group. This is a unique and exciting opportunity for experts in steel to be working together in one group.”

Professor Shollock adds:

I’m excited to be joining WMG as a Tata Steel Chair and working in such a dynamic environment. I look forward to building, with my colleagues, a steel research group and working with other WMG colleagues.”

For further information please contact:

Peter Dunn, Head of Communications, University of Warwick,
UK Tel: 024 76 523708 Mobile 07767 655860 email: p.j.dunn@warwick.ac.uk

or

Lisa Barwick, WMG, University of Warwick Tel: 024 76 524721 or 07824 540845 L.Barwick@warwick.ac.uk

PR 6 PJD 30th January 2014