Company Sponsorship

Need rigorous research into a specific industry challenge or project?

Our doctoral programmes offer companies an opportunity to harness pioneering research in order to tackle a specific industry challenge, although the long-term benefits may extend well beyond single projects.

Company benefits:

By sponsoring a doctoral student, you’ll be harnessing specialist skills to conduct pioneering research into a specific challenge to improve your organisation’s competitiveness.

Your researcher will be focused on delivering tangible benefits such as reduced manufacturing costs, technological advances and process transformation. With access to a wealth of world-leading WMG academic expertise and cutting-edge facilities, the knowledge the researcher gains is transferred directly back to your company and embedded in everyday practice. You’ll benefit from an innovative approach to problem solving, which can transform entire ways of thinking, deliver permanent culture changes and influence future direction.

What you’ll provide:

As a sponsor, you’ll provide access to your staff and facilities, and an experienced industrial mentor to support the researcher and ensure that research is aligned to your long-term strategic goals.

You may already have an employee in mind – from someone in the early stages of their career or a senior manager – or we can find one for you.

If you have a project which could form part of a doctorate, contact us today and see how we can help.

Companies we work with

We place partnerships at the heart of all we do.

We work with SMEs and large global corporations, respecting their experience and expertise, working towards a seamless exchange of knowledge to reach our shared goals.

Our multi-disciplinary capabilities enable us to work with diverse organisations across a range of sectors. Our research is rigorous and informs evidence-led policy making and investment at a regional and national level.

We translate know-how and technology from our traditional manufacturing and engineering activities to other sectors.

We have a rich and diverse environment with cutting edge centres and facilities.

Creating long-term benefit for businesses.

Hear from employers, who have seen how sponsoring a doctoral student has helped harness pioneering research to tackle real challenges.

Tom Everitt, Group Compliance Manager, Ecoganix |

Development of Sustainable Manufacturing Materials from Cellulose Based By-Products

“The project is a critical part of the research and development strategy in the current Ecoganix business plan. It has produced interesting data to date and shows great promise. The structure of the project coupled with exposure to the insight of field leading academics has helped to continually demonstrate relevance and value as it has progressed.”

Bob Stear, Head of Innovation, Severn Trent Water Plc | Ammonia Recovery from Sewage

“We are delighted to be an industrial partner on this Engineering Doctorate CDT programme, collaborating closely with WMG at the University of Warwick, the CDT partners and sponsoring research into ‘Ammonia Recovery from Sewage’.

“This is a research topic that is an important component of our technology roadmap regarding maximising the recovery of valuable products from wastewater. The benefits to Severn Trent Water are considerable; the EngD programme allows us to advance industrially relevant research in an area we have specifically identified as important to us.

“It gives the opportunity to build upon our relationships with the universities involved, and provides a great route to bring top quality engineers into the water industry. We find the Engineering Doctorate a very cost-effective model for achieving our research aims, while also providing the opportunity to recruit high calibre technical staff into the business."

Mike Stonemann | Head of Engineering, Hunter Stoves

“There is real value to our company investing in studentships that add profitability to our business by optimising stove performance. We were so pleased with the initial research from the project that we have now started a second project to invent a new paint with enhanced heat resistant properties."

Frazer Barnes | Managing Director, ELG Carbon Fibre Ltd

“We are delighted to be an industrial partner on this Engineering Doctorate CDT programme, collaborating closely with WMG at the University of Warwick, the CDT partners and sponsoring research into ‘Ammonia Recovery from Sewage’.

“The EngD programme has allowed ELG Carbon Fibre to expand its R&D portfolio to address areas of technology that are important in the medium to long term. “As an SME, internal R&D resources are often focussed on short term needs, and this ability to plan and carry out work aimed at longer term developments is an important part of the company’s growth strategy. “A further benefit that derived from the EngD programme is access to high quality academic input and excellent R&D facilities across a range of leading universities, which an SME would not normally be able to fund on a commercial basis."

Our research profile

Over the last twenty years, we have worked with over 1,000 global companies and had over 2,800 SME interventions.

We have proactively supported a variety of sectors and industries, from automotive and aerospace through to IT and energy, collaborating with companies and organisations to deliver over 1200 projects.

The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is the UK’s evaluation of research quality across higher education. Our engineering research has been ranked 20th out of 89 UK institutions in REF2021 according to Times Higher EducationLink opens in a new window, with over 90% of outputs identified as world-leading or internationally excellent.

Start the conversation

Get in touch with a member of our team to establish how sponsoring a doctoral student or research entrepreneur could help improve your organisation’s competitiveness.

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