WMG News - Latest news from WMG

Thursday evening saw the eagerly anticipated unveiling of this year’s Warwick Racing Formula Student car at the team’s launch event at WMG. They will compete in the IMech Formula Student competition at Silverstone in July.

The team gave presentations on both the technical aspects of the car, and their activities over the last year, including a successful journey to the other side of the world to compete alongside Monash University in the Formula SAE-Australasia competition in Melbourne last December.

The evening culminated in the unveiling of the new car, a series of photo opportunities for the visitors and the fielding of a range of technical questions by the team. The Warwick Racing team would particularly like to thank The School of Engineering, WMG, The WMG centre High Value Manufacturing Catapult, and the Innovative Manufacturing Global Research Priority for their support in hosting the event, and for their contributions to the team over the course of the year.

A team of Engineering Doctorate students from WMG were runners-up in the grand final of the Engineering Young Entrepreneurs Scheme (Engineering YES) in Birmingham on 18 June.

The competition is for UK-based postgraduate students and post-doctoral researchers to present a business plan for an imaginary startup company to a group of investors and industry experts. Participants learn the techniques of how to go about planning a new business venture, and meet local entrepreneurs and business leaders who have done it for real, before presenting their business plans to the panel.

Congratulations to Simon Brook, Thomas Bruen, Matthew Byrne, James Hooper and Richard Woodward, who were awarded first prize for their 'lift/elevator pitch' in the three-day West Midlands heat last month, where they were also joint winners of the Peer Review Prize and runners up overall, winning £500.

At the grand final, they placed second out of eight teams drawn from heats from across the country, receiving another £500.

Today, WMG was pleased to welcome Jonathan Browning, Chairman of Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership, and Councillor Ann Lucas, Leader of Coventry City Council.
 
Meeting with Professor Lord Bhattacharyya, the visitors were interested to understand the breadth of research undertaken by WMG, how the Group develops partnerships with industry and the significant economic benefits of such partnerships. They were also keen to understand how WMG has developed its education programmes including initiatives such as the WMG Academy for Young Engineers and the new Advanced Engineering Programme which sees WMG offering education in the range from 14 year olds to doctorate.

Dr Tina Barnes, Principal Teaching Fellow at WMG, has been re-elected to the Executive Committee of the UK Council for Graduate Education (UKCGE).

UKCGE was founded in 1994 and is the leading independent representative body for Postgraduate Education in the UK. Its mission is to be the authoritative voice for postgraduate education in the UK, providing high quality leadership and support to members in order to promote a strong and sustainable postgraduate education sector.

The Council’s activities are managed by the Executive Committee which consists of 12 elected individuals who are responsible for the overall management and control of UKCGE. All Executive Committee members are elected for a three year term and support the Council on a voluntary basis.

Dr Barnes was appointed UKCGE Honorary Secretary in May, 2011. She co-organises and contributes to a UKCGE Working Group on the Student Experience, has authored three UKCGE publications, and co-organises events on topical issues in postgraduate education. She represents UKCGE on the HEFCE-funded Research Information and Digital Literacies Coalition (RIDLs) and the EThOS Advisory Board (Electronic Theses Online Service). She also served as a member of the Steering Committee for the Professional Doctorates Special Interest Group (SIG), representing both Warwick and UKCGE, from July 2010 until September 2012.

One of the first students to join the WMG Academy for Young Engineers laid a final brick yesterday as part of the topping out ceremony for the new building.

Emily Rooney, who will join the Academy in Year 12, took part in the special ceremony to mark another milestone in construction.

The first cohort of Year 10 and Year 12 students will come through the doors in September. They will spend their induction week exploring the engineering and manufacturing facilities on offer at the University of Warwick, before starting classes in the new building on Mitchell Avenue.

WMG has secured the 100th job in the region since the launch of a dedicated innovation support programme for businesses in our International Institute for Product and Service Innovation in September 2012. Alongside this, we have created another 45 jobs and helped establish 7 new businesses.

The innovation programme helps West Midlands SMEs solve specific manufacturing, product development and business process challenges that they may have. It also offers a range of interactive workshops; collaborative networking events and specialist internships, helping SMEs embed the skills and processes they need to innovate and to grow their businesses.

The 100th job was secured at Coventry based Region Services Limited (RSL) market leaders in developing and supplying public information systems, such as interactive terminals, broadcast screens and smart ticketing machines.

WMG was pleased to host a visit this week from Amanda Brooks, Director of Innovation for the Knowledge and Innovation Group at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Ms Brooks met with Professor Lord Bhattacharyya and also took the opportunity meet with the Director of the Institute of Digital Healthcare, Professor Sudhesh Kumar, before touring some of WMG's new research facilities including the Energy Innovation Centre and the brand new International Institute for Nancomposites Manufacturing. 

Ms Brooks was also interested to learn more about WMG's expertise in automotive composites research and product evaluation technology.

WMG centre HVM Catapult is pleased to announce that a consortium led by London-based fuel cell company, Arcola Energy, has been awarded £1m R&D funding from the recent TSB call on Fuel Cell Manufacturing. Arcola Energy, the lead partner on the bid, is working within the UK to build up a strong fuel cell supply chain and manufacturing base. They are focussed on portable and small scale automotive applications. Other partners in the consortium are Imperial College and Lohmann Tapes.

Professor Robert Harrison’s team at WMG will focus on the application of manufacturing process modelling to fuel cells. The work will leverage WMG’s extensive in-house battery manufacturing and automation systems knowledge. It is anticipated that current fuel cell lifetime limitations and high unit costs that result from immature manufacturing processes will be addressed through this research by the application of automated processes and improved quality control.

The project will also work on developing a UK supply chain to support UK manufacturing of fuel cells. Professor Jan Godsell’s team at WMG will be involved in this activity.

Interest in fuel cell technology is increasing steadily from sectors such as automotive and stationary power. It is expected that growing demand will drive up production volumes by two orders of magnitude over the next five years, further reducing costs.

WMG has committed to a new government initiative, Your Life, working in partnership with educators, industry and government to boost female participation in technology and engineering.

WMG is pleased to announce the appointment of alumnus Daren Maynard as an Associate Fellow at WMG in recognition of his continued contribution to WMG and the student community.

Daren studied MSc in Programme and Project Management at WMG in 2010-11 and was awarded an MSc with Distinction. Whilst studying with us, Daren was elected as the Postgraduate Faculty Representative for the Faculty of Science and was a key member of the student community within WMG.

Since graduation, Daren has returned to his home country of Trinidad and Tobago. However, his commitment to the student community remains as he continues to assist online with student engagement through WMG’s Facebook groups. He has provided advice on diverse matters, including accommodation, catering, SSLC and sport at Warwick. He has supported current students with advice on projects and has presented sessions to groups of students via video link. Nearer to home, he has provided detailed support to students in his home country who are considering coming to Warwick.