WMG researchers, at the University of Warwick, will be a significant part of a new £65 million national battery research initiative. The Faraday Institution, a new multi-million pound research institute, was announced on Monday 2nd October 2017, by Greg Clark, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. It will drive and accelerate fundamental research in developing battery technologies, and its translation.

The Faraday Institution (FI) will be the UK’s independent, national institute for energy storage research. Funded through the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) from the government’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF), the Faraday Institution is part of the coordinated activity between UKRI partners Innovate UK and EPSRC with the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) to meet the Faraday Battery Challenge, announced by the government in July, of delivering an integrated programme of research, innovation and the scale-up of novel battery technologies.

The UK’s leading battery researchers in academia worked closely with UK industry to assess the challenges and opportunities, and the seven university founders (Cambridge, Imperial, Newcastle, Oxford, Southampton, UCL and Warwick) proposed to charter an independent national Institution as the best way forward. The ambition of the Faraday Institution is to make the UK the go-to place for the research, development, manufacture and production of new electrical storage technologies for both the automotive and the wider relevant sectors.

Six members of our team have been recognised for their hard work and commitment at the Warwick Long Service Awards 2017.

Maddie Langeveld, David Mullins, Kevin Fielding, Nigel Brennan, Andrea Latham and Anita Taak were all honoured at a special awards ceremony hosted by Stuart Croft, Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Warwick.

Maddie, our Teaching and Learning Manager, who is celebrating 20 years here, said: “I’ve officially had around eight different job descriptions in my time at Warwick and there are new challenges regularly which keep things interesting. I also love how paths cross with colleagues every few years, it’s always nice to catch up with someone you have worked with previously, and to find out where their career has taken them.”

Research to help identify women at risk of pregnancy complications is to receive a huge financial boost.

The Medical Research Council (MRC) is to give The Tommy's Reproductive Health Biobank a grant of £1.2million.

The biobank will be the most significant collection of reproductive health tissues in the UK. Operating on a virtual basis with its server based at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust (UHCW) and will begin operating on 29 September. It will store biological samples collected by scientists and clinicians at UHCW, the University of Warwick, University of Birmingham, Imperial College, Kings College London, University of Edinburgh and University of Manchester. The tissues, donated by women who have a history of pregnancy problems, and clinical data will help scientists find new causes and cures for miscarriage, stillbirth, and premature birth.

Professor Lord Bhattacharyya, Chairman and founder of WMG, at the University of Warwick, was on Friday bestowed two prestigious awards from China – the Great Wall Friendship Award, from Beijing City, and the Chinese Government Friendship Award, the premier national award.

Receiving the awards, on Friday 29^th September, at two separate ceremonies in China is the first time that an individual has received Beijing’s Great Wall Friendship Award and the Chinese Government Friendship Award on the same day.

The Great Wall Friendship Award was presented in appreciation of Professor Lord Bhattacharyya’s ‘enthusiastic support and contribution to Beijing's construction and your friendly cooperation’. Acting Mayor Mr Chen Jining on behalf of the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality presented the award at a special ceremony in Beijing.

The Chinese Government Friendship Award, is the highest award offered by the Chinese Government to honour foreign experts. It was presented by Vice Premier Ma Kai at the Ceremony of the Chinese Government Friendship Award in the Great Hall of the People in Tiananmen Square. Vice Premier Ma Kai 'extended warm congratulations on behalf of the Chinese Government and heartfelt thanks for Professor Lord Bhattacharyya’s participation in China's development. We welcome you to be a facilitator of China's modernisation drive, practitioner of the innovation-driven strategy and promoter of international collaboration between China and the world, by making further contribution to the economic and social development of China as well as progress of human civilisation.'

Plans for a very light rail service in Coventry moved a step closer today, as researchers from WMG, at the University of Warwick, unveiled early vehicle concept designs to representatives from Coventry City Council.

The project, funded by the Government’s Local Growth Fund through the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership and West Midlands Combined Authority Devolution Deal (which is subject to approval of the business case), is set to better connect the City. This will use a state-of-the-art rail system which will be cheaper, quieter and more environmentally friendly than anything currently available.

Councillors Jim O’Boyle and David Welsh will meet with Dr Nick Mallinson, Dr Darren Hughes and Dr James Winnett from WMG, at the University of Warwick, to showcase the latest plans which have been developed through an initial feasibility study.

Our Professor of Experiential Engineering Paul Jennings, will be presenting “The road to autonomous connected vehicles” at the Malvern Festival of Innovation next Wednesday (4 October).

The Festival, which runs from 2-6 October, takes place at the Morgan Motor Company, and will explore topics including how research and development is leading to new technologies to improve lives, and the new insights that are leading the way.

Professor Jennings’s talk will form part of the Automotive Advances programme, and will focus on self-parking and autonomous driving capabilities, and the next significant advances including how our roads might look in the future.

For more information on the Festival and the full Automotive Advances line-up visit: https://www.festival-innovation.com/

A new report launched today by researchers at WMG at the University of Warwick, and Reshoring UK, finds that UK companies that consider both direct and indirect reshoring of manufacturing gain best performance boosts and urges companies to consider both approaches when developing their future strategies.

The report will be launched at WMG Supply Chain Research Group event entitled “Realities of Reshoring: A UK Perspective held tonight, Tuesday 26 September 2017, in the International Institute for Product and Service Innovation (IIPSI), WMG, at the University of Warwick.

A study led the University of Warwick suggests that people are reluctant to use public access defibrillators to treat cardiac arrests.

The analysis of existing international studies, which has been published in the European Heart Journal – Quality of Care and Clinical Outcomes, suggests that there are a number of factors that prevent members of the public from using them and potentially saving lives.

The researchers’ study suggests that many members of the public don’t know what an automated external defibrillator (AED) is, where to find one and how to use one. This is despite AEDs being suitable for use by untrained members of the public. Although studies suggest there is variation across the studies they analysed in the number of people willing to use an AED a lack of confidence and fear of harm are common themes.

The research, Barriers and facilitators to public access defibrillation in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: a systematic review, was conducted by Warwick Medical School, the University of Warwick; the Institute of Digital Healthcare, WMG, the University of Warwick; Heart of England NHS Trust, Birmingham; London Ambulance Service NHS Trust and Imperial College Neurotrauma Centre, St Mary’s Hospital, London.

WMG’s Professor Paul Jennings, and his Experiential Engineering research team, have received a ‘Highly Commended’ accolade at the prestigious AutoSens Awards.

The automotive awards held in Brussels, recognise the greatest design, technical and marketing innovations within the automotive imaging sector.

Professor Jennings and his team were recognised as ‘Highly Commended’ in the Greatest Exploration category, for their inventive 3xD driving simulator, a key facility for our researchers working on Autonomous, Smart and Connected Vehicles.

Professor Lord Bhattacharyya welcomed Mr Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons to WMG, at the University of Warwick, on Saturday 16th September.

Mr Chandrasekaran was very interested to see for himself some of the projects that WMG and Tata companies are collaborating on, and to understand the breadth and depth of WMG’s research, education and technology transfer activities.

To bring these to life, he was given a tour of WMG’s Energy Innovation Centre, which is going through significant expansion, and will see WMG to continue to provide a unique facility for industry and academia to develop innovative energy storage technology. Mr Chandrasekaran also visited the Advanced Steels Research Centre and the International Manufacturing Centre where the focus was on light weighting, metrology and intelligent vehicles. As well as hearing from the Institute of Digital Healthcare.