Departmental news

New research from WMG has found that the carbon footprint of collecting and refurbishing abandoned trolleys adds up to the equivalent of flying from London to New York and back twice!

“Thousands of shopping trolleys are reported as abandoned in the UK every year. When you multiply the carbon impact of retrieving each one, it becomes both significant and concerning,” explains Neill Raath, Assistant Professor at WMG, University of Warwick, who led the research.

Despite supermarkets introducing a range of methods to stop shopping trolleys leaving their premises, including coin slots and wheel-locking mechanisms, over 520,000 are still reported as abandoned in the UKLink opens in a new window each year, according to global trolley and retail equipment manufacturer, Wanzl.

Supermarkets rely on commercial collection services, typically using diesel vans to survey suburban areas, to collect and return the trolleys. Researchers at WMG assessed the environmental impact in order to tally the true cost of abandoning a trolley.

To drive safety in our future airspace, WMG has been working with the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on new research to assess how future electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft can be safely integrated into UK skies. The 18-month study, funded by the Department for Transport, forms part of the regulator’s Future of Flight programme and applies systems thinking to assess the safety of future eVTOL aircraft operations in UK airspace.

Earlier this year the UK Government recognised agri-tech, in its Industrial Strategy, as a key frontier industry within Advanced Manufacturing.

The recognition marks a pivotal shift by the government - acknowledging the sector’s potential to drive growth, enhance productivity, strengthen climate resilience, and reduce agricultural emissions - while prioritising a sustainable and secure food supply for the UK.

This also aligns with the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) new food strategy for England, to tackle UK food resilience and enhance supply chains, while protecting nature and biodiversity.

Warwick Agri-Tech, established in 2022, is a pioneering initiative that brings together the expertise of two leading University of Warwick departments – WMG and the School of Life Sciences. By integrating advanced engineering with plant science, the initiative aims to shape the future of agriculture.

As part of this mission, Warwick Agri-Tech has launched a new Pilot Facility featuring state-of-the-art robotics designed to support sustainable food production and accelerate agricultural innovation.

Cutting-edge WMG scanning technology led by Professor Mark Williams featured in BBC Two documentary, The Moors Murders: A Search for Justice  

Advanced scanning technology developed by Professor Mark Williams and his team at WMG, University of Warwick, plays a pivotal role in the powerful new BBC Two documentary series The Moors Murders: A Search for Justice.  

The two-part series, produced by Longtail Films and airing on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer, reopens one of the UK’s most harrowing cold cases: the search for the final victim of serial killers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, 12-year-old Keith Bennett. The documentary features never-before-seen documents and audio recordings, alongside new forensic investigations that challenge long-held assumptions about the case.  

Professor Williams is a leading expert in advanced scanning and imaging technologies, who contributed state-of-the-art forensic analysis to the programme. His team’s high-resolution 3D scanning and material analysis provided critical insight into key pieces of evidence uncovered during the investigation. The technology helped to scan an area of interest on the moors to identify anomalies and features in the landscape for potential body deposition sites.   

The UK and India signed the landmark Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) on Thursday 24 July, to foster greater research and scientific collaboration between the two nations. Professor Robin Clark, Dean of WMG, and Professor Siddartha Khastgir, Head of Safe Autonomy at WMG, share their thoughts on the deal.

WMG at University of Warwick was proud to welcome the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) last month.

Comprising over 20 representatives from some of India’s leading companies and education institutions, the Confederation was welcomed by Dean of WMG, Professor Robin Clark, before being introduced to Warwick by the University’s Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Stuart Croft. Talks and presentations by some of WMG’s leading academics followed, showcasing the depth and breadth of WMG’s diverse activities, plus its research and key strengths.

WMG, University of Warwick is part of an industry-academia consortium, with Mint InnovationLink opens in a new window, Jaguar Land RoverLink opens in a new window (JLR) and LiBatt Recycling (Recyclus Group)Link opens in a new window, to accelerate Lithium-ion battery recycling research.

Funded by the UK Department for Business and Trade through the Advanced Propulsion Centre UKLink opens in a new window (APC), the project will see the expansion of Mint Innovation’s technology platform to recover lithium, nickel and cobalt from end-of-life lithium-ion batteries, helping the UK automotive industry with onshore and circular supply of lithium, cobalt and nickel critical for electric vehicle (EV) batteries.

Each partner, within the consortium, has a role to play in ensuring a sustainable lifecycle for lithium-ion batteries, from end-of-life battery supply and processing through to integrating recycled materials into new batteries, closing the loop and increasing supply chain resilience.

Academics at WMG, University of Warwick, have partnered with Tata Steel UK on a major new research initiative: Accelerating the Development of Automotive and Packaging steel Technology for Electric Arc Furnace production (ADAPT-EAF). The £7m project, which is backed by Tata Steel UK, WMG, Imperial College London, University of Cambridge, and the EPSRC Prosperity Partnerships programme, will develop a new generation of advanced steel products to transform the future of automotive and packing applications, from car bodies to food cans.

WMG, University of Warwick is part of a unique £2m academic-industry partnership to develop novel methods to understand, measure, and ultimately insure against risk associated with the commercial application of artificial intelligence.

The UKRI Prosperity Partnership ‘AI2: Assurance and Insurance for Artificial Intelligence’Link opens in a new window, led by the University of Edinburgh, alongside insurance group AXA, WMG and the University of Oxford, will build an implementable AI assurance framework that enables auditing of algorithmic systems across metrics such as model accuracy, bias and privacy.

The partnership will seek to tackle key industry challenges in areas from drug manufacturing and artificial intelligence (AI) to cybersecurity.

Researchers at WMG will be developing techniques to assure the AI underpinning national transport, manufacturing and energy infrastructure, and exploring how such assurances can impact AI insurance premiums.

Professor David Greenwood, CEO of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult (HVMC) Centre at WMG, University of Warwick, was delighted to welcome Tom Adeyoola – Executive Chair of Innovate UK – on Tuesday 1 July, as part of his tour of the UK’s Catapult Network.