Departmental news

Congratulations to the incredible WMG Class of 2023.

On Wednesday (18th January), a total of 1,264 Master’s, Postgraduate, Research and Undergraduate students graduated from across WMG.

There was a total of 1,164 Master’s students, made up of 1,055 full-time students and 38 part-time students. There was a further 23 and 48 graduating on the Overseas Master’s full-time and part-time programmes respectively.

From the Undergraduate courses 85 apprentices graduated from the BEng Applied Engineering programme.

There was a further 15 students from the Postgraduate Research programme including one EngD and 14 PhDs.

Professor Gill Cooke, Pro-Dean (Education) at WMG, University of Warwick, said: “It’s always lovely to recognise the hard work and achievements of our students. The students graduating this week have all had parts of their education impacted by the pandemic, their resilience and commitment has been remarkable.

“Very well done to you all, and welcome to the Warwick alumni community.”

Find out more about WMG’s education programmes, here: Education (warwick.ac.uk)

3-D tissue models (such as spheroids and organoids) better predict physiological responses than 2D monolayers and may play a role in reducing animal usage, particularly in toxicology. Spheroids are more challenging, however, to work with than cell monolayers and hence there is a barrier to their use. Spheroids can also not (always) be easily cryopreserved and hence buying them ‘off the shelf’ and ‘ready to use’ is not common or is expensive. The GibsonGroup, working with Cryologyx, have show in this latest work that their macromolecular cryoprotectants can protect live cell spheroids during cryopreservation allowing the recovery of viable spheroids direct from the freezer.
Read the paper hereLink opens in a new window.

WMG at the University of Warwick’s Widening Participation Co-ordinator, Dr Phil Jemmett, delivered important sustainability advice to Santa, at a special interactive Christmas Lecture.

De-carbonisation of the transport network is a key area for researchers at WMG, so it seemed only sensible to offer advice to Santa on a more sustainable approach.

Dr Jemmett explained: “With the population across the world increasing and carbon emissions in the air, we really need to help Santa become more environmentally friendly.

“We looked at different motor models including petrol, diesel and electric, and invited volunteers on to stage to play a game that demonstrates efficiency. We had a Team Petrol and Team Electric – each using a winch to lift stockings into the air for Santa to deliver, with Team Electric winning the race!”

Dr Jemmett, who was joined on stage by Chief Elf, WMG Engineering Technician, Bethany Haynes, presented to hundreds of children and families in December.

Claire Edwards, who was a guest at the lecture said: “I don’t come to the Christmas Lectures with a child, I bring my 84-year-old father who is a massive fan of the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures and enjoys Warwick’s just as much.”

Find out more about WMG’s Outreach work here.

On December 12, 2022, we held the DIMAP Theory Day 2022. This event highlighted recent, exciting advances in the field of Algorithms and Complexity and provided means to facilitate interactions within the algorithms research community in the UK. The event was supported by the Centre for Discrete Mathematics and its Applications (DIMAP) and UKRI. We plan to hold further events in this series on a regular basis.

See more details at the DIMAP Theory Day 2022 page

History Alumna Freya Rowson has won a competition by the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust (HMDT), with the Royal School of Drawing, to create portraits of Holocaust survivors to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day 2023.

Freya created a portrait of survivor Rudolf Brazda, the last known Holocaust survivor who was deported on charges of homosexuality, and was not only a winner but was asked by the HMDT if they could exhibit their work in the Houses of Parliament as part of Holocaust Memorial Day 2023. This work was one of only two competition entries chosen to be exhibited, and is being displayed alongside portraits of genocide survivors taken by renowned photographer Rankin.

A massive congratulations to Freya on their success in the competition!

Ruth Adesanya, one of our final year students, has been awarded the Kinder-BrANCH MA Fellowship. Full details can be found in the BrANCH NewsletterLink opens in a new window. Please join us in congratulating Ruth and wishing her all the best during her time in Missouri!

Professor Sandra Chapman has been awarded the 2023 Johannes Geiss Fellowship of the International Space Science Institute.

The International Space Science Institute at Bern, Switzerland is an Institute of Advanced Study where scientists from all over the world meet in a multi- and interdisciplinary setting to reach out for new scientific horizons. The main function is to contribute to the achievement of a deeper understanding of the results from different space missions, ground based observations and laboratory experiments.

Chapman's research at ISSI during the fellowship will focus on the fundamental physics of plasma turbulence with particular emphasis on recently launched missions - NASA's Parker Solar Probe and ESA'a Solar Orbiter - which will explore the sun's expanding atmosphere- the solar wind - close to the sun, to within the orbit of Mercury, for the first time. Plasma turbulence may provide the answer to one of the outstanding mysteries of the solar system, how the solar wind is heated and accelerated.

One Johannes Geiss Fellowship is awarded each year. The fellowship is named for the founder of ISSI, a distinguished space plasma physicist who pioneered interdisciplinarity.   

Every year, several awards and prizes are granted to a selection of our graduating students to recognise and celebrate the success of our top performers! We are proud to announce this year's winners.

The Energy Innovation Centre (EIC) at WMG, University of Warwick has successfully achieved two key ISO Management Systems Standards (MSS).

ISO Management Systems Standards set out requirements or guidance to help organisations manage policies and processes to achieve specific objectives and maintain high customer service. Each ISO has specific points of clarification.

The first MSS that the EIC was assessed against was ISO 9001 on Quality Management Systems. The audit covered the entire business operation within WMG’s battery research facilities, including the manufacture of battery cells and packs, testing of chemistries from degradation and performance through to full destructive testing.

The second standard ISO 14001 covers Environment Management Systems. This standard specifies the requirements for a sustainable management system that can be used to enhance environmental performance. This included a full assessment of how environmental risks are managed within the EIC.

The EIC was successful in achieving full certification of both standards.

Mark Amor-Segan, Chief Engineer based in the EIC at WMG, University of Warwick said: “We are one of the first university research groups to achieve this. This certification will align us with many of our industrial partners in terms of the fundamental principles of quality and environmental performance.

“Achieving this is a testament to the hard work from everyone within the EIC, and demonstrates our commitment to develop, implement and maintain an integrated quality and environmental management system (IMS) that meets the requirements of ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and our company, legal and other obligations.”

For a copy of the WMG Energy Innovation Centre IMS Combined Policy Statement contact: eic.support@warwick.ac.uk

The Energy Innovation Centre is a national facility, funded by the High Value Manufacturing Catapult (HVMC), for battery research across the R&D process from materials and electrochemistry through to application integration and recycling/re-use. The facilities support test, development and scale up of new battery chemistries from concept through to full proven traction batteries, produced in sufficient quantities for detailed industrial evaluation in target applications.

For more information or to arrange a tour of WMG’s facilities email wmgbusiness@warwick.ac.uk

Congratulations to Dr Ravindra Desai who has been awarded two Royal Astronomical Society awards, the Winton awardLink opens in a new window and the Higher Education awardLink opens in a new window.

Ravindra commented "I am over the moon to receive these awards, the RAS has been a tremendous support throughout my academic journey and I look forward to engaging with them further in the future."

Read more about Ravindra's awards.