WMG News - Latest news from WMG

WMG is pleased to welcome Professor Theo Arvanitis today (1st November). He joins the Institute of Digital Healthcare team as Professor of e-Health Innovation.

Professor Arvanitis is a specialist in biomedical engineering, neuroimaging and health informatics. He has a substantial academic publication record with over 300 publications, while he has received research funding from national (UK), European and international governmental funding agencies, charities and industry.

It has been announced today that Professor Sudhesh Kumar, in addition to being recently appointed the Deputy Dean of Warwick Medical School, has also been appointed as the new Director of the Institute of Digital Healthcare.

The Institute of Digital Healthcare (IDH) is a partnership with NHS Midlands and East, WMG and Warwick Medical School (WMS), which aims to improve people’s health and wellbeing through the development, evaluation and use of innovative digital technologies and services.

Professor Kumar will be leading a new team that draws on a wide range of backgrounds including biomedical engineering, health informatics, biomedical imaging, healthcare virtual reality and neural engineering.

WMG, at the University of Warwick, has announced that it is to create a £4.1m International Institute for Nanocomposites Manufacturing, a first of its kind in the world. The Institute will exploit polymer processing techniques which will enable industry to innovate their manufacturing technologies to produce polymer nanocomposites.

The International Institute for Nanocomposites Manufacturing (IINM) will focus on the manufacture of Nanocomposites by adopting a holistic approach. Through synthesising and functionalising nanoparticles and incorporating such particles into polymers using innovative manufacturing techniques industry will be able to scale up and commercialise products with added functionality.

The new Institute will house state-of-the-art facilities including characterisation laboratories, a wet chemistry laboratory, processing hall, offices and open plan research space. A team of 50 academics and researchers will work collaboratively with other academic groups and industrial partners, both national and international, on fundamental and applied research projects in the field of nanocomposites with application in a broad range of industries, including telecommunications, electronics, pharmaceuticals, aerospace, automotive, security and medicine.

The University of Warwick, WMG and Jaguar Land Rover have agreed, and signed, the Heads of Terms for the construction of the National Automotive Innovation Campus.

The National Automotive Innovation Campus (NAIC) is a unique Research and Development facility for the UK automotive industry. An iconic £100m building will provide an environment that will foster collaboration, cohesion and cross-fertilisation of knowledge. NAIC will provide a national focus for research capability by combining the expertise nationally and internationally from industry, universities, supply chain companies and SMEs. Over 900 staff from academic and industry teams from WMG, Jaguar Land Rover, Tata Motors European Technology Centre and other partners will work collaboratively on research projects to deliver world-class breakthrough products, processes and services.

The agreement will enable the delivery of this 30,000m² unique and state-of-the-art facility, which will include engineering, labs and powertrain facilities, virtual reality areas, design studio, demonstration and education facilities.

WMG at the University of Warwick was delighted to host the inaugural lecture of Dame Julie Moore.

Professor Lord Bhattacharyya welcomed Dame Julie Moore who has been appointed as an Honorary Professor at the University.

Over a 100 people attended Dame Julie's lecture which focused on the use of IT in healthcare. She specifically showcased how University Hospital Birmingham has improved the quality of its service provision by taking inspiration from the car industry.

 Jeremy Butler, Director of WMG's Professional and Executive Programmes, has been elected to the CBI West Midlands Council.

The CBI’s Regional Councils are the main consultative bodies in each of the twelve CBI regions. Councillors play a key role in making policy decisions on local issues, as well as providing input into national CBI policy.

The Councils are serviced and supported by the relevant CBI Directors as well as policy colleagues.

WMG, at the University of Warwick, is delighted to have achieved a department Bronze Award from Athena Swan in recognition for its employment and engagement practices for women working in science, engineering and technology.

WMG Associate Fellow John Duckers has published a children’s book, The Amazing Adventures of the Silly Six, following a fund-raising link-up with charity Cure Leukaemia.

John originally put together the book 30 years ago when he lived in Scotland and is set there. The book is aimed at the 5-12 age range, many of whom would feel at home in a world of tumbles into muddy puddles, ghostly fears and April Fools Day practical jokes. The Amazing Adventures of the Silly Six tells the story of Angus McMonty, a snake who is really a softie, Felicity, the dog, Suzi, the cat, Percy, the parrot, Nasher, the hamster, and Mole. The gang get into all sorts of scrapes and naughtiness. Their adventures range from meeting up with an escaped kangaroo from the local zoo to travelling to Inverness in search of the Loch Ness monster.

WMG is to take part in a live demonstration of cutting edge machining technology as part of a technology seminar being run in Coventry by DMG / Mori Seiki next week.

The Ultrasonic Technology Seminar will focus on innovative machining strategies for challenging high-tech materials. As part of the seminar, attendees will visit WMG’s facilities to see the Ultrasonic 65 monoBLOCK in action.

WMG has a long-standing partnership with DMG / Mori Seiki and has recently taken delivery of the Ultrasonic 65 monoBLOCK at its International Manufacturing Centre workshop. The machine is capable of assisting conventional machining operations with the addition of ultrasonic vibrations which have been shown to significantly reduce the damage caused to materials which are difficult to machine, such as carbon fibre composites, while also improving the finished surface.

Professor Sridhar Seetharaman, who leads work on physico-chemical aspects of iron and steel manufacturing with an emphasis on energy efficiency, low carbon and reduction of emissions at WMG, University of Warwick, has been selected for an honorary Professorship at the University of Science, Technology Beijing, in China.

The honorary Professorship is a prestigious post and Professor Seetharaman was nominated for the Chinese government Award of Top Overseas Professorship. Professor Seetharaman is the Royal Academy of Engineering / Tata Steel Research Chair in Low Carbon Materials Technologies at WMG and will be visiting the University of Science, Technology Beijing (USTB) through the month of August. He will be giving lectures, supervising students as well as making visits to steel plants and other universities that have metallurgical programs.