Departmental news

Keith joined the University of Warwick in its early years and was a key figure in the Department of Chemistry for 25 years.

Dr Ann Dixon shares her experience of the nurturing of talent in girls and women in stem for International Day of Women and Girls in Science. bit.ly/4hyVnIS

A student from WMG at the University of Warwick was honoured to represent the UK at the inaugural Kunoichi Cyber GamesLink opens in a new window at the CODE BLUE cyber security conference in Tokyo recently.

Team UK joined competitors from Japan, the USA, and Europe, to compete in the world first, in-person, under 30, female international CTF competition.

Team UK was made up of young women who have been part of the National Cyber Security Centre’s (NCSC) CyberFirst Bursary programme, and were sponsored by Amiosec, BT, Interrupt Labs, Immersive Labs, TryHackMe, and Microsoft.

The Kunoichi Cyber Games in November 2024 aimed to champion women in cyber security and inspire young women to pursue careers in cyber. On the first day of the games the teams showcased their technical skills, and on day two they took part in forums on various topics based on the competition’s themes.

On 14 January 2025, WMG at The University of Warwick hosted the inaugural lecture of award-winning designer and WMG Industrial Professor, Sebastian Conran.

The lecture was held in the Design Showroom in the National Automotive Innovation Centre (NAIC), with an audience of design and engineering partners, staff and students.

The evening was opened by Professor Robin ClarkLink opens in a new window, Dean of WMG, who spoke about the future of the manufacturing industry and the need for designers and engineers to work together seamlessly to meet society’s challenges. Professor Clark highlighted Sebastian Conran’s work in the design engineering space, and his role in the development of WMG’s new Master’s in Engineering Design ManagementLink opens in a new window.

Sebastian’s lecture, titled ‘Engineering Emotional Experiences’ - Lessons in Collaborative Implementation of Innovation, took the audience on a journey from his early years growing up and wanting to be an inventor, to his teenage years stacking shelves at Habitat, his time at art school studying industrial design engineering, and his career where he’s seen thousands of products through from concept to consumer.

We are saddened to learn of the passing of Professor Graham R. Nudd. Graham joined the department in 1984 and served as departmental chair for two decades. A few words have been shared by former colleagues to celebrate his life and career.

Congratulations to all of 2023-2024 MSc students graduating in January 2025.

The department would also like recognise the winners of the following MSc prizes:

Best Overall Data Analytics student: Pak Ho Gordon Sy

Best Overall Computer Science student: Olly Wortley

Best Data Analytics dissertation: Tianyi Huang

Best Computer Science dissertation: Olly Wortley

Congratulations to Dr Xingyu ZhaoLink opens in a new window, from WMG at the University of Warwick’s Safe Autonomy research group, who has been awarded the EPSRC’s prestigious New Investigator AwardLink opens in a new window (NIA).

The purpose of the NIA scheme is to address a gap identified in the funding landscape and support researchers to develop their own research vision.

Dr Xingyu ZhaoLink opens in a new window, Assistant Professor in Safety-Critical Systems, was praised for his project entitled: "Harnessing Synthetic Data Fidelity for Assured Perception of Autonomous Vehicles."

The project focused on scenario-based virtual testing for Autonomous Vehicle (AV) safety, developing a rigorous framework to define and quantify synthetic data fidelity, and explore how this impacts public confidence.

By advancing synthetic data and AV safety research, Dr Zhao’s research supports industry innovation, shapes safety standards, and ultimately enables the safe deployment of autonomous vehicles.

A PhD student from WMG at the University of Warwick, has been honoured at the International Rubber Conference Organisation (IRCO) RubberCon 2024.

The IRCO RubberCon, an annual event organised by a careful selection of rubber societies, gathers industry leaders and experts for insightful discussions. This year’s conference, held in Kerala, India, focused on the theme, “Sustainable Development in the Rubber Industry: Challenges and Opportunities.”

Ajitha Achuthanunni, who is based in WMG’s International Institute of Nanocomposite Manufacturing (IINM), received the Best Presentation Award for her groundbreaking research on composites of 2D materials and rubber blends.

We are happy to announce that an academic from our department, Dr Sayan Bhattacharya, is among the winners of ERC Consolidator Grants 2024. According to the European Research Council: "These grants, totalling €678 million, aim to support outstanding scientists and scholars as they establish their independent research teams and develop their most promising scientific ideas. The funding is provided through the EU's Horizon Europe programme."

Sayan Bhattacharya has been awarded a €2million ERC Consolidator grant for a 5-year project entitled "Towards a Dynamic Algorithms Centric Theory of Linear Programming" (DYNALP). The project aims to build a new theory exploring the interplay between two key concepts, Linear Programming and Dynamic Algorithms, which, in turn, will pave the way towards attacking outstanding open questions in the field of Theoretical Computer Science.

In the 2024 round, this was the only project from the United Kingdom that was awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant in Computer Science and Informatics (PE6 panel). The press release contains more information about the ERC funding programme.

We are pleased to announce that two of our academic staff members, Dr Jonny Foss and Dr Ian Saunders, have been awarded professional fellowships by Advance HE, recognising their commitment to educational excellence.