WMG News - Latest news from WMG

Researchers at the University of Warwick have been awarded £1.1 million to develop the statistics needed to pool the vast quantities of data generated by brain scans.

The University has also been awarded £500,000 to improve quality control in 3D printing.

Both projects are joint between the Department of Statistics and WMG, exploiting the unique strengths of each group.

WMG is pleased to announce its hosting of the SecureWarwick 2013 conference, which will be held at the University of Warwick campus on 2^nd July 2013. The conference is being organised jointly with (ISC)² (The International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium) and will focus on the subject of Revolutionary Trends in Technology and their Impact on Security.

Speaking at the conference will be James Morris MP, member of the All Party Group for Homeland Security. Mr Morris came to politics from a business career in computer software and he will be giving the keynote address at the conference.

Other speakers already announced include John Colley, Managing Director of (ISC)² EMEA, Robin King, CEO of Deep Secure, and Ray Stanton, Executive Vice President of BT Advise.

The SecureWarwick conference aims to bring together practitioners, researchers, industry and government experts and solution providers to explore the scope and nature of the latest technology developments and their impacts on our security. The speakers will endeavour to anticipate the emerging vulnerabilities by offering a glimpse of current experience, exploring innovations coming down the line and outlining the management imperatives for securing the modern business environment.

For more information on the event, visit the (ISC)² website.

It has been announced, today, by the Minister for Universities and Science David Willetts that WMG’s Applied Engineering Programme will be one of the programmes benefiting from a £50m Catalyst Fund.

WMG, at the University of Warwick, has an established reputation of working with business and industry to deliver cutting-edge research, innovative products and services, and world class education programmes.

Professor Lord Bhattacharyya, Chairman and Founder of WMG said “We welcome this announcement from HEFCE which will help us to continue to deliver an education programme that meets the needs of industry. It is vital that our engineers have the right skills and knowledge to be able to develop world-class products that keep the UK on the global stage.”

The new Applied Engineering Programme is aimed at advancing industry-relevant skills of graduate engineers and those working in advanced manufacturing. A novel learning environment will focus on Manufacturing Engineering or Product Development Engineering, which will be taken into the workplace including through higher apprenticeships. The programme, will focus initially on the automotive sector, with Jaguar Land Rover as an initial co-investor.

Engineering students at the University of Warwick are the only UK team to qualify for a place in a global competition to design and build a search and rescue robot.

Each year a team of students enter The European RoboCup Rescue competition, but this year’s team has gone one better and qualified for a place in the World RoboCup Rescue 2013.

The Warwick Mobile Robotics (WMR) team will be pitted against teams across the world for a chance to win the coveted championship in the Netherlands. They are currently the only UK team to be entered into the competition, which takes place in June.

An entrepreneur whose Eureka moment came at last year’s wet and windy Grand National has reinvented the umbrella with the help of WMG at the University of Warwick.

The Rainshader protects people from the elements while watching major sporting events - crucially it doesn’t blow inside out, poke passers-by in the eye or drip on neighbours’ shoulders in crowds.

Its cut-away front, based on the design of a motor cycle helmet, lets people see the action while allowing the umbrella to sit low over the head so it doesn’t block the view of those behind.

It is specifically designed for major sporting events and other big televised gatherings, and is fully customisable in order to offer firms a significant branding opportunity.

WMG at the University of Warwick has launched a new initiative to allow 25 West Midlands firms to take on a skilled intern to help them develop new products or services.

The Project Associate scheme is part of WMG’s Innovation Programme run by the new International Institute for Product and Service Innovation (IIPSI).

IIPSI’s core mission is to give West Midlands SMEs access world-leading technology to develop innovative products and services.

A team of researchers from WMG took part in a visit to several academic and industrial facilities in Indiana, USA, in March, resulting in some exciting collaboration possibilities for the future.

The programme of meetings included visits to the Universities of Purdue (West Lafayette) and IUPUI (Indianapolis), as well as to several companies and battery research organisations in the area. The visits cemented links which will support WMG’s centre for the High Value Manufacturing Catapult – the centre of excellence aiming to accelerate the transfer and commercialisation of new and emerging technologies within UK manufacturing.

Researchers on the visit gained valuable knowledge and insights relevant to the future development of WMG’s Energy Innovation Centre. An early outcome of the visit is WMG being granted associate membership of the Battery Innovation Centre in Indiana, which will foster future collaboration between the two centres. Plans are already in place for reciprocal membership of WMG's Energy Innovation Centre and future visits from colleagues in Indiana.

Engineering students at the University of Warwick aim to defend their championship title at this year's Electric Vehicle Grand Prix (EVGP) in the United States.

The WMG sponsored team of eight students have designed and built an electric-powered go-kart and to improve on last year's winning kart they have reduced the weight by 20%, making it lighter on the track.

The EVGP competition consisted of two races, the first on the Purdue University go kart track on 27th April and the second on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway track on 12th May.

Dr Greg Gibbons, Head of WMG's Additive Layer Manufacturing group, was featured on BBC's The One Show last night in a piece about the future of 3D printing.

One Show presenter, Marty Jopson, visited WMG's facilities to see the range of work that is currently taking place and the number of different sectors that are are already benefitting from the technology.

The full piece on The One Show can be viewed on BBC iPlayer for the next 7 days:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01rjzcc/The_One_Show_27_03_2013/?t=31m46s 

WMG's Professor Sridhar Seetharaman has been selected as the recipient of the Jerry Silver Award for Best Paper 2013 by the Association for Iron and Steel Technology (AIST) Metallurgy Technology Division. The award is for Professor Seetharaman's work entitled 'Effect of Silicon on Hot Shortness'.

The Jerry Silver Award is presented to the author of a process metallurgy or product applications technical paper judged to be the best of class by the AIST, where one of the authors is a student.

Professor Seetharaman has recently joined WMG as the RAEng / Tata Steel Research Chair in Low Carbon Materials Technologies.

The award will be presented to Professor Seetharaman during the AIST Metallurgy, Processing, Products and Applications Technology Committee Meeting in Canada, later this year.