WMG News - Latest news from WMG

A group of five Engineering students from Brazil, studying at WMG on a new Science Without Borders scholarship programme, have successfully completed their year of study with an innovative final project to develop an online community space for businesses in the creative industries.

The students were given just six weeks to design, develop and implement the platform for knowledge and resource sharing and potential commercial opportunities for those working within the creative economy. This platform will develop into the online presence for the new Creative Economy Special Interest Group.

The five students were studying in the UK as part of the Science Without Borders scholarship programme. The initiative was established by the Brazilian government in order to develop stronger links between the UK and Brazil. It aims to send 10,000 Brazilian students to study in the UK over the next four years.

The Associate Parliamentary Manufacturing Group visited WMG on Wednesday (21 August) to hold a roundtable discussion with manufacturing leaders as part of its first Parliamentary Inquiry into the industrial culture and competitiveness of manufacturing in the UK.

The Associate Parliamentary Manufacturing Group (APMG) group, which is led by Chris White MP (Conservative) and Jonathan Reynolds MP (Labour), aims to examine how Government and industry can work together to achieve a resilient and world-beating manufacturing sector coming out of recession. The APMG aims to look at how Government, industry, and business support structures interact with the manufacturing sector to drive growth.

Professor Lord Bhattacharyya was pleased to welcome Stephen Tetlow, Chief Executive of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), to WMG earlier this week.

Mr Tetlow met with Lord Bhattacharyya during his visit and discussed the key priorities for the engineering profession and industry. The discussions also focused on a deepening of the already highly successful relationship between WMG and the IMechE, which has led to a number of innovations in the industry, such as the Advanced Skills Accreditation Scheme.

The Edinburgh International Festival (EIF) has been wowed this month by the ‘Leonardo da Vinci: Mechanics of Man’ exhibition; and 3D printing from the University of Warwick has created one of the big talking points.

Collaborative work between WMG and Warwick Medical School created translucent 3D plastinations that use Leonardo Da Vinci’s original drawings of the human anatomy. The exhibition, which runs until 10 November 2013, sees the drawings, which are over 500 years old, side by side with plastinations, 3D scans and a translucent 3D heart.

The heart was generated by transferring an MRI image into a STereoLithography (STL) file. The software then slices this STL file into layers that can be 3D printed by jetting a liquid polymer layer-by-layer, which is instantaneously solidified through the use of ultraviolet light.

The first European Scratch conference took place in Barcelona at the end of July (27-29 July) bringing together educators, researchers and developers from the worldwide Scratch community to discuss and share experiences and knowledge. Margaret Low, Principal Teaching Fellow at WMG, has been part of the Organising Committee and Programme Committee for the conference and a number of staff and students from the University of Warwick led sessions across the days.

At the European conference, students from the University of Warwick, undertook a live demonstration of the power of Scratch. Andrew Sula, Sam Edwards and Tom Preece, student leaders of the University of Warwick’s Technology Volunteers project (part of Warwick Volunteers), built a dance mat and developed a game, all within five minutes, live on stage. Dr Claire Rocks from Computer Science ran a session 'The Robot Garden', a workshop where participants can program their own robot gardeners.

Jaguar Land Rover has announced a £1.4m investment, over 5 years, to create a new Chair (Professor) at the National Automotive Innovation Campus (NAIC) with WMG at the University of Warwick.

The Chair will lead a world-class team which will achieve international research leadership in advanced propulsion systems. These systems will be essential to enable the UK automotive industry to embrace and robustly deploy new vehicle technologies and deliver a low carbon future.

The new Chair is part of a long- term strategic activity at NAIC that will ensure that this new research base enhances the UK’s capacity and capability in key research areas which will have a major impact on the supply chain and the wider economy.

Pupils from local schools have been taking part in a series of Royal Institution Engineering Masterclasses, hosted and delivered by staff and students from WMG and other Science departments at the University of Warwick.

Last weekend saw the end of the series, which concluded with an official presentation and awards ceremony for the children, attended by teachers and parents, to mark their participation in the series.

Year 9 students from several local schools have been attending regular Saturday morning masterclasses over a period of 6 weeks. The sessions were designed to spark their interest in a wide variety of engineering paths. Topics covered over the series included programming robots, understanding waves, intelligent vehicles and 3D printing.

It has been announced today, July 17^th 2013, that WMG at the University of Warwick will receive over £7m funding to research ‘The Smart and Connected Vehicle’.

Through the National Automotive Innovation Campus (NAIC), robotics and autonomous systems research will lead the development and implementation of intelligent vehicles.

Co-funded by EPSRC (over £3m) and industry (over £3.5m), the research will focus on the long-term multi-disciplinary research challenges identified by the industry.

A multi-sensory virtual real-world environment will be built in NAIC which will enable intelligent vehicle systems to be developed to learn driver behaviour.

The systems will be optimised to enable drivers to reduce emissions and fuel consumption, assist monotonous tasks and react to hazards, increasing vehicle safety. The research will be delivered with leading academics and industry groups.

The new facility will support the extensive and world-leading research capability at WMG, and in the network of international universities collaborating with industry through NAIC.

The WMG SME Team has hosted a summer networking event which was attended by over 70 regional businesses. They were joined by partner organisations including the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, the Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS), Growth Accelerator, Coventry City Council and Warwickshire County Council at the showcase event that highlighted the exciting work being conducted with West Midlands SMEs over the last year.

Last year, through the delivery of the ERDF funded support programme at the International Institute for Product and Service Innovation, the WMG SME Team has helped create six new businesses and 75 new jobs in the West Midlands region.

On Tuesday 25 June, Drayson Racing’s lightweight electric racing car set a new world land speed record for an electric vehicle. The Lola B12/EV hit a maximum speed of 204.2mph (328.6kph) in its attempt at RAF Elvington in Yorkshire, breaking the previous record of 175mph which was set in 1974.

Over the last 6 months, WMG has worked with Drayson Racing on the car’s development, drawing on WMG’s expertise in sustainable materials and energy management.

WMG researchers developed recycled carbon fibre panels which were used on the Drayson car, research which was the result of a WMG EPSRC Challenging Engineering grant. Through WMG’s Energy Innovation Centre, testing and characterisation work was carried out on the vehicle’s electric motor to enable the maximum power possible to be achieved. This helped to contribute to the success of the Drayson racing vehicle.