WMG News - Latest news from WMG

Today, Tuesday 8^th February 2011, sees the opening in the Midlands of a unique £2.28m facility at WMG at the University of Warwick that will be vital importance to companies developing engines for hybrid vehicles.

The unique Vehicle Energy Facility (VEF) is the UK’s only purpose built hybrid powertrain testing facility for the automotive sector that is not owned and operated by an individual automotive company.

WMG were pleased to host a visit from Lord Drayson. Meeting with Lord Bhattacharyya, Lord Drayson was interested to understand the diverse research undertaken by the Group in collaboration with business and other organisations and the impact this has on industry.

In a prestigious ceremony on 28 January the Director of WMG Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya was presented with the award for Lifetime Contribution to Midlands’ Business.

Professor Lord Bhattacharyya has been at the heart of business and championing manufacturing for over 30 years. He has been intensively involved in the British Automotive industry, and recently announced that Jaguar Land Rover will be establishing an Advanced Technology Centre at WMG co-locating 160 R&D people to work on the development of new technology, with a special focus on low carbon vehicle technology, digital technology and materials technology to name but a few.

Professor Lord Bhattacharyya today welcomed the Prime Minister of Latvia, Mr Valdis Dombrovskis, and the Latvian delegation to WMG’s International Digital Laboratory.

The visit was part of a high profile event at which Mr Valdis Dombrovskis gave an address to Midlands companies about the opportunities of doing business in the Baltic state. The government of Latvia regards the attraction of foreign direct investment as an important input for successful economic recovery and were pleased to host a seminar in which to engage with potential partners.

Engineering students at the University of Warwick are building an innovative rescue robot which uses the Xbox Kinect to help navigate the machine - in a bid to retain the European RoboCup Rescue Championship title which was won by a team of Warwick students last year.

They are currently trialling the XBox Kinect to see if they can use it to provide a method of real time visual communication and 3D mapping, which will ultimately aid in the navigation of the autonomous robot to give the team an edge over the competition.

Researchers at the University of Warwick have developed the world’s first complete High Dynamic Range (HDR) video system, from video capture to image display, that will help a range of users including: surveillance camera operators, surgeons using video to conduct or record surgery, and camera crews following a football being kicked from sunshine into shadow.

The researchers will be premiering footage of the world's first ever showing of a short film shot using this new HDR technology in the WMG Digital Laboratory at the University of Warwick on Wednesday January 19 at 6:00 PM.

Download the video about HDR 

WMG at the University of Warwick has been awarded one of five new Industrial Doctorate Centres announced today by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). EPSRC are funding five new Industrial Doctorate Centres to address fundamental engineering challenges in advanced manufacturing engineering. The WMG centre will focus on High Value, Low Environmental Impact Manufacturing.

The new Centres will train Engineering Doctorate (EngD) students. These four-year postgraduate awards are intended for the UK’s leading researchers pursuing a career in industry. It provides postgraduate engineers with an intensive, broad-based research programme incorporating a taught component relevant to the needs of, and undertaken in partnership with, industry.

WMG is offering undergraduates the opportunity to find out what a career in academic research involves. Through the summer vacation 2011, students will spend their time undertaking eight weeks of research in one of WMG's many research groups.

For over 30 years WMG has been involved in carrying out world class research and education. We work with global companies on real world problems to develop real world solutions. Our aim is to improve competitiveness through the application of innovation, new technologies and skills deployment, bringing academic rigour to industrial and organisational practice.

The aim of the internship scheme is to identify and develop researchers of the future. There are a number of projects on offer which will appeal to both engineering and computer science students.

If you are a current University of Warwick student and would like to find out more visit WMG undergraduate internship scheme (you will need to be logged in to view this page).

Dr Steve Maggs, Principal Fellow has been awarded the Rowbotham Medal for an outstanding contribution from a young person to the development or innovative use of materials for automotive applications.

The Medal was presented at a ceremony hosted by the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining as part of the Institute's Medal and Prizes for 2010.

Professor Jeremy Wyatt, Co-Director of the Institute of Digital Healthcare (IDH) recently welcomed Malcolm Harbour MEP and Michael Wood, European Policy Manager, NHS European Office to the International Digital Laboratory, the home of the IDH. As well as representing the West Midlands in the European Parliament, Malcolm chairs the influential Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee. He wished to find out more about the Institute and the diverse research being undertaken to improve people’s health and wellbeing through the use of innovative digital technologies. Professor Wyatt outlined IDH’s current and future research to design and deliver appropriate care solutions to bring real benefits to patients and their care support networks, health care professionals, the NHS and other partners, followed by a lively discussion.