WMG News - Latest news from WMG

The usage of key medicines in developing countries could be significantly increased through improved packaging appearance, a new study by the Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI) and the University of Warwick finds.

Infant dehydration due to diarrhoea results in 600,000 deaths annually in the developing world due to inappropriate or no treatment. Oral Rehydration Salts (ORS) combats this dehydration.

The WMG and CHAI researchers worked with over 600 caregivers in India, Nigeria and Uganda to assess their responses to existing and potential new ORS packaging designs. The study found that simple changes to packaging led to significant increases in the willingness of caregivers to provide ORS to their children. Caregivers indicated that current packaging designs had inappropriately large sachets, lacked clear usage detail and were visually unappealing.

Staff from WMG, alongside colleagues from the School of Engineering were pleased to take part in the Cheltenham Science Festival which took place recently (2-6 June 2015).

WMG’s Margaret Low and Diane Burton will be taking part in the Skirting Science Solihull event on Friday 26 June for 200 teenage girls from schools across the town.

A total of 50 students took part in the inaugural 24 hour hackathon on Saturday (20 June) to mark the start of a new partnership between WMG’s Cyber Security Centre and digital identification company Callsign.

Eight teams ‘hacked’ for 24 hours to produce a varied number of new applications for the Callsign platform. They were challenged with finding new ways to interact with the Internet of Things and given access to Callsign’s mobile app with the aim of improving the security and convenience of identity based transactions and activities.

WMG is to be part of the new revolutionary EPSRC UK-RAS Network, which brings together the UK’s core academic capabilities in robotic innovation under national coordination for the first time.

Robotics and autonomous systems has been recognised by the government as one of the eight great technologies that support UK science strengths and business capabilities. WMG’s research focus is on the Smart and Connected Vehicle aiming to understand and inform the trust in autonomous control and the security of driverless cars.

WMG student Hannah Sugrue is thrilled to be joining the Motorsport presenting panel at this year’s National Women in Engineering Day seminar at the Institute of Mechanical Engineering (IMechE) in London.

The special Motorsport themed session takes place on the evening of Tuesday 23 June and will explore how exciting, challenging and truly rewarding the Motorsport industry can be.

Hannah was selected after recently being celebrated as the 50,000th competitor of the world’s largest student motorsport event, Formula Student. Formula Student, run by the Institution of Mechanical Engineering, is in its 18^th year and challenges student engineers to design, build and race a single seat racing car in one year. The event takes place in Silverstone 8-12 July.

WMG Chairman and Founder, Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya, has been recognised in the Coventry Telegraph Business Awards with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

The award was presented at the Coventry Telegraph Business Awards ceremony on Friday (19 June) at the Ricoh Arena.

The Lifetime Achievement Award recognises Professor Lord Bhattacharyya’s contribution and the key role he has played in enhancing the region’s long-standing reputation for research and innovation in the automotive sector. The establishment of WMG and now the National Automotive Innovation Centre keeps the region at the forefront of the development of new technologies, all in collaboration with the motor industry. He also played a major role in securing thousands of jobs by helping to broker Tata Motor’s purchase of Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford. Now Jaguar Land Rover is stronger than ever, providing thousands of jobs for people in Coventry and Warwickshire and investing billions in research and development.

Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya, Chairman and Founder of WMG at the University of Warwick, explores the research challenges facing the automotive sector in his first paper for a Royal Society journal.

In “Smarter – lighter – greener: research innovations for the automotive sector” he writes about how legislation controlling vehicle emissions has brought urgency to research underpinning the industry, with a more rapid development of technologies than at any time in the past century.

A 24 hour hackathon is to mark the start of a new partnership between WMG’s Cyber Security Centre at the University of Warwick and the digital identification company Callsign.

The WMG Cyber Security Centre will partner with Callsign to work on the future security of digital identities.

In particular they will work together to develop and support cyber security talent. This supports the government’s own strategy for cyber security and is an area that Professor Tim Watson and Professor Carsten Maple, both from WMG’s Cyber Security Centre, have significant national and international reputations – they both sit on national bodies in this field and are key influencers in cyber security policy.

Yesterday evening (Wednesday 10th June 2015), WMG at the University of Warwick celebrated the completion of its funded programme at the International Institute for Product and Service Innovation. It was announced that the programme had reached 1400 West Midlands companies, with 207 projects completed and as a result 200 jobs had been either safeguarded or created in the region.

The SME Team at WMG has also created four innovation driven businesses, and generated additional revenue for SMEs to engage in further research with the institution. A number of products have also been developed through the programme including a novel mudguard product - Mudhugger, ski locking system - Loqski with Barkley Plastics Ltd and an innovative LED light which has been designed for high speed camera applications with Simpact Engineering Ltd.

The International Institute for Product and Service Innovation was part funded by the European Regional Development Fund and the University of Warwick to the value of £12.4 million. Over the last four years IIPSI and its Innovation Programme has supported West Midlands SMEs access world-leading technology to develop highly competitive, innovative products and services.

One company to benefit from the scheme was Autins Group who after initially attending a digital marketing workshop worked with WMG to develop a novel material from their factory waste and developed a new product line. Jim Griffin, Chairman at Autins Group said:

It has been a delight to work with WMG over the last four years. SMEs across the UK should make the most of the support offered by academic institutions to help them innovate and grow; it has certainly worked for us!”