WMG News - Latest news from WMG

Professor Lord Bhattacharyya has been appointed a trustee on the board of the Baker Dearing Education Trust.

Lord Baker and Lord Dearing created the Baker Dearing Educational Trust in 2007 to develop and promote University Technical Colleges (UTCs).

Professor Lord Bhattacharyya has already played an integral role in the development of two University Technical Colleges – the WMG Academies for Young Engineers in Coventry and Solihull. The two state of the art learning campuses cater for students from Coventry, Warwickshire, Solihull, and Birmingham.

Starting his career as a graduate apprentice at Lucas Industries, Professor Lord Bhattacharyya became Britain's first ever Professor of Manufacturing. Throughout his career he has been a passionate advocate for engineering innovation and the revival of British industry.

The Rt Hon Greg Clark MP, the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, visited WMG, at the University of Warwick, on Friday 20^th January 2017, taking up an invitation to see for himself the work underway to complete the new £150 million National Automotive Innovation Centre on the University Campus. He also saw the work expanding WMG’s Energy Innovation Centre which provides a one-stop-shop for the development of new battery chemistries to create advanced batteries for the automotive sector.

The National Automotive Innovation Centre is a unique automotive research centre, and the largest facility of its kind in Europe. It will provide high technology automotive manufacturing research that will be of significant benefit in the delivery of the key manufacturing component of the UK’s Industrial Strategy.

WMG at the University of Warwick is delighted to announce the appointment of cyberpsychologist Professor Monica Whitty, who joins the Cyber Security research team from the University of Leicester, as Professor of Human Factors in Cyber Security.

As WMG’s first cyberpsychologist, Professor Whitty will work alongside colleagues in WMG’s Cyber Security Centre concentrating on the human element focusing on behaviour online to identify cyber criminals and in turn protect people from becoming victims.

Professor Whitty’s research spans 15 years focusing on the way individuals behave in cyberspace examining identities created in cyberspace, online security risks as well as detecting and preventing cybercrimes (e.g., mass-marketing fraud, insider threats).

"Breaches continue to take place without companies identifying the breach, or at least the full impact of the breach. The time taken between the breach occurring and notification to those whose details are breached can leave to risk of compromise of other accounts.

"We have an issue about how we authenticate ourselves to systems currently - mostly relying solely on passwords or personal information (when a password is forgotten)."

Carsten Maple, Professor of Cyber Systems Engineering at WMG's Cyber Security Centre (CSC)

Productivity is at heart of Government's industrial strategy. Now a new report by researchers, industry, and policy specialists entitled: “The Productivity Challenge: Solving the Puzzle,” looks at a range of positive attributes of the current UK economy and policy sphere which could position it well for growth in productivity.

WMG and WIG (The Whitehall and Industry Group) have collaborated over the past eight months in a series of events relating to the challenge of increasing UK productivity to improve the nation’s competitiveness.

Steel production in the UK could be cheaper and more energy-efficient in the future, thanks to research at WMG, University of Warwick.

The ASSURE2 project, led by Professor Claire Davis, is looking to significantly cut steel production costs, and reduce energy consumption by over 300%, through exploring the use of belt casting technology.

Belt casting is a significantly lower energy production route compared to traditional continuous casting techniques, as belt casting is a near net shape casting process, producing strip that needs minimal hot deformation to achieve the required product thickness.

It is also very efficient because it can minimise or eliminate any reheating processes, which reduces overall costs.

Furthermore, there are certain advanced high strength strip (AHSS) steel grades which are commercially attractive but cannot be produced using conventional casting techniques - which could be manufactured using belt casting.

Margaret Low, Principal Teaching Fellow at WMG, has been selected by the Higher Education Academy (HEA) for a National Teaching Fellowship.

Margaret was recognised by the HEA for her individual excellence, raising the profile of excellence and developing excellence in teaching.

Margaret is an inspirational educator with 30 years’ experience in the HE sector. She teaches on both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. She is also our Widening Participation Officer, coordinating activities across the department and collaborating with other colleagues within the University.

A National Teaching Fellowship is the HEA’s most prestigious individual award for excellence in teaching in higher education.

Professor Lord Bhattacharyya, Chairman of WMG said "I am delighted that Margaret has had her dedication to teaching recognised by the HEA. Her contribution to WMG has had a significant impact on the students she has taught and the department as a whole."

Warwick received three Fellowships (the most that any institution can be awarded) which makes it the only institution to achieve this distinction in 2016.

WMG, at the University of Warwick, will be building on its reputation in materials research, as it is set to be a hub for the development and application of advanced lightweight metals, thanks to a £1m Growth Deal award from the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (CWLEP).

The award will create a local network of knowledge, equipment and skills – supporting WMG to share its expertise on steels and other advanced materials with companies in the CWLEP area, enabling them to exploit emerging technologies and new materials grades. In particular, those based on metallic materials and their effective forming and joining, often in combination with other materials.

The deal will fund new capital equipment, to be in WMG’s Advanced Steels Research Centre, based in the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Centre, which combined with WMG’s leading R&D capabilities will give local companies, in particular SMEs, the ability to introduce new market-leading products, improve the performance of existing products and introduce weight and/or cost saving in products.

Construction vehicles could become more efficient and environmentally-friendly, thanks to new technology developed by WMG at the University of Warwick.

Through a new Innovate UK research programme, WMG in collaboration with partners JCB and Pektron PLC are working to optimise the fuel economy of the next generation of off-highway vehicles.

Dr James Marco from WMG is leading the University’s contribution to the project that aims to introduce new intelligent power systems for improved engine operation.

This could lead to significant fuel savings and fewer carbon emissions for the industry.

Dr Marco’s team is analysing JCB’s current fleet to better understand the opportunities for emissions reduction and intelligent control.

Today’s construction industry is more environmentally-conscious than ever, and the amount of CO₂ emissions released by vehicles is a significant factor in deciding which ones to use during an assignment.