Departmental news

GC Ventures is the latest investor in Interface Polymers, a developer of high-performance additives for performance plastics to enhance recyclability properties. Read moreLink opens in a new window

Emma Tetsill, who studied on our Law 3 year LLB degree and graduated in 2022, has written a touching story titled 'My Grandad and Covid - with underlying health conditions in care home, his life was no less valuable'. The heartfelt piece was recently published by our Lacuna Magazine and addresses the tragic human cost of the pandemic and government neglect.

Dr James Poskett, Associate Professor in the History of Science and Technology, has been awarded a British Academy / Wolfson Fellowship.

The British Academy / Wolfson Fellowships support early career researchers “who show outstanding talent in both research and public engagement and will communicate their research to a global audience.”

As part of the fellowship, Dr Poskett will be working on a research project titled, “The Scientific Revolution as Global History, 1200–1800”.

We are very pleased to announce this year’s winners of the Student Mentor Awards, an annual celebration of our students’ mentoring achievements.

The aim of the Undergraduate Mentor Scheme run within the Department of Economics, is to provide support to first-year students so they have a smooth transition into the Department and university life. It is also a great opportunity for our second and third-year students to enhance their skills and CV in their role as mentors.

The Student Mentor Awards winners are selected from three categories. Two of them, Best Overall Mentor and Best Mentor Team, nominated by student mentees who sent in examples of how they have benefited from having a mentor, and the Department Choice Award selected by the Department's Pastoral Team.

What is valued most by first-year students is having informal advice on a range of topics like module selection, clarifying module assessments, and help with practical issues, all done in ‘a casual, friendly atmosphere’ where students feel comfortable asking questions, making them feel welcome and supported.

We congratulate the following Student Mentor Awards winners:

Best Overall Mentor

• Chris Mucicka (Year 3 BSc Economics, Politics and International Studies)
• Sasha Gill (Year 3 BSc Economics)
• Pavitra Parsana (Year 2 BSc Economics)
• Laura Piontek (Year 2 BSc Economics, Politics and International Studies)

Best Mentor Team

• Sarim Poonawala (Year 3 BSc Economics) and Aashna Mishra (Year 2 BSc Economics)
• Andrea Sequeira (Year 2 BSc Economics) and Nishant Ramesh (Year 2 BSc Economics)

The Department of Economics Choice Award

• Milena Ermolenko (Year 3 BSc Economics, Politics and International Studies)
• Kehan Yan (Year 2 BSc Economics)
• Daira Povez Gamboa (Year 3 BSc Economics)

The winners attended a celebratory lunch on 3 May 2023 and received their prize vouchers.

Here is what the winners said about receiving their awards:

Daira Povez Gamboa

“Mentoring is about giving back: making an impact on your mentees and celebrating their achievements are the best rewards!”

Milena Ermolenko

“Being a mentee and receiving invaluable advice from EPAIS mentors in my first year, fuelled my desire to give back and become a mentor this year. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience as a mentor. Chris and I had a wonderful group of EPAIS students, who were always keen to learn more about their degree and ask questions about university life. Our frequent meetings were full of useful insights and engaging conversations. I recommend everyone in their second or final year to consider becoming a mentor. It is an enriching experience that facilitates teamwork, collaboration, and excellent time management skills.”

Parsana Pavitra

“Becoming a student mentor came with lots of opportunities to learn and grow as a person, build new relationships, and develop several transferable skills. Overall, it was an amazing experience.”

Kehan Yan

“I’m thrilled and grateful to have received the award! It signifies that my efforts have been recognised by the department and that I am acknowledged by my mentees for succeeding in helping them, even if it was in the slightest way. Although the mentor scheme is designed to assist the mentees, I have also benefited from the experience considerably. For example, my mentees often seek my guidance on academic matters such as studying tips. Whenever I provide advice, I am prompted to reflect on what I did in my first year and identify areas where I can improve, which I can then apply in both my current and next year of study.”

Would you like to become an Undergraduate Student Mentor in 2023/24?

If you are interested in becoming a Mentor, recruitment for mentors takes place in the Summer Term for the following academic year.

Please submit your online application on the UG Mentor Scheme Application webpage by 1 July 2023.

On Tuesday 25th April, the Outreach Team at WMG, University of Warwick hosted an Engineering Industry Day.

The Team welcomed 200, year 9 and 10, students who were identified by their teachers as students, from groups under-represented in engineering and STEM careers, with an interest and a potential to do well in those subjects.

The students came from schools across the region including Eden Girls School Coventry; WMG Academy for Young Engineers in Coventry and Solihull; Colmers School and Sixth Form College; Nicholas Chamberlaine School; Lyndon School; Harris Church of England Academy; Barr’s Hill School and Community College; and KEVI Northfield School for Girls.

The group was welcomed by Professor David Greenwood, the CEO of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult and Director for Industrial Engagement at WMG, before being taken on a tour of the STEM facilities on campus.

Along with their teachers, they met academics and students, and heard about the research being carried out by the High Value Manufacturing Catapult; WMG and the School of Engineering. WMG Technical Services and the apprentices demonstrated their skills, and the Student Project teams - Warwick Racing and Warwick Mobile Robotics - showcased their work and shared their experience of studying engineering.

Participants also met with local companies including Jaguar Land Rover; Tata Motors; Aston Martin; National Grid ESO; Balfour Beatty; Wates; Willmott Dixon; National Grid; Tarmac and 3P Innovation, who provided them with advice and guidance about the skills and knowledge required to become an engineer.

They also received information about a range of support available from the Degree Apprenticeship Team; Student Funding; the Warwick Scholars Access Programme; the Sutton Trust Pathways to Engineering; the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Educational Programme and the Engineering Development Trust Programme.

WMG’s Outreach Project Officer, Marie Diebolt, who organised the event, explained: “With these types of events, and across our outreach activities, we work with our partners to close the engineering skills gap and inspire young people to pursue careers in STEM. We purposely timed the event to coincide with students selecting their GCSE subjects to enable them to make an informed choice and inspire them to consider a range of careers in engineering.”

Professor David Greenwood added: “We know that the UK manufacturing sector has a big skills gap – which WMG is keen to fill. Events like these help to shine a spotlight on the exciting career prospects in manufacturing – thanks to advances in digitalisation, automation and sustainability. The opportunity to speak to potential future engineers was a privilege, and the event was a great success.”

Find out more about WMG’s Outreach programme here: Public engagement and Outreach (warwick.ac.uk)

We are happy to share the news that Dr Alex Dixon has been promoted to the position of Assistant Professor, effective from 1 May 2023. Alex joined our department as a Teaching Fellow in September 2021, while still completing his PhD research. Despite juggling both roles, he has made significant contributions to the department's activities. Many congratulations to Alex for his accomplishments in completing his PhD research and for earning this well-deserved promotion.

The Computational Surface Science Group is celebrating a number of notable successesLink opens in a new window, from an exciting EPSRC-funded computing consortium, co-led by Reinhard Maurer, to great fellowship news.

Dr Hannes Houck, EUTOPIA-SIF Fellow, receives ECR Award for best talk at the 14th Advanced Polymers via Macromolecular Engineering Conference (APME2023). Read moreLink opens in a new window

As the famous Graham-Buffet quote says “price is what you pay; value is what you get" and every business success or failure is driven by the match or mismatch of the two. We will discuss a simple question in pricing algorithms: how to adjust prices over time to learn a buyer's valuation while minimizing revenue loss. This is a nice puzzle with a surprising solution. We will discuss the Kleinberg-Leighton algorithm and how to generalize it to multi-dimensional settings. There, we will do a detour to convex geometry and the theory of intrinsic volumes. We will also discuss how to measure the length of a potato.

Free attendance

There will be a reception after the lecture

Main contact point: K.G.Latuszynski@warwick.ac.uk