Departmental news

Hannah Sugrue, originally from Coventry and a Mechanical Engineering student at the University of Warwick, is being celebrated as the 50,000th competitor of the world’s largest student motorsport event, Formula Student.

Formula Student, run by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, is in its 18th year and challenges student engineers to design, build and race a single seat racing car in one year. The event will take place in Silverstone on 8-12 July. The cars are judged on their speed, acceleration, handling and endurance in a series of time-trial races, while the teams are tested on their design, costing and business presentation skills.

Hannah, 24, attended Bablake School in Coventry and is hoping to pursue a career in Project Management.

WMG, at the University of Warwick, and BAE Systems have signed a memorandum of understanding for the delivery a new post-graduate programme in Cyber Security.

The programme has been developed in cooperation with WMG’s Cyber Security Centre and Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) to offer a three-year MSc in Cyber Security and Management. Both universities formally agreed to the programme during a signing ceremony at the House of Lords in London.

The extensive programme will offer ten specifically designed Cyber Security and Management modules delivered at UPNM each year of the programme. Up to a total of 72 students will study the programme over three years.

The partnership with BAE Systems also extends through to research with BAE’s Applied Intelligence.

A new initiative to provide business leadership training for 20 senior managers from fast growing SMEs (Small and Medium Sized Enterprises) has just been launched by WMG, at the University of Warwick, in partnership with Santander.

The postgraduate award programme has received £40,000 of support from Santander, which will significantly reduce the cost of the programme that will give senior SME managers the opportunity to boost their ability to lead and embed innovation in their organisations. The scheme was launched, at WMG, at an event attended by a number of leading SMEs in the region as well senior figures from Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, the EEF and Tata Motors.

Dr Mark Swift Head of SME Programmes at WMG said:

The new programme blends WMG’s longstanding experience of delivering executive education and cutting edge research with a suite of additional support from Santander’s SME Breakthrough Scheme, networking opportunities and innovative product and service technology.”

The emphasis of the programme is to equip the leaders of today and tomorrow with the very best tools to encourage and embed a culture of innovation. We will teach participants about the latest modes of management as well as offering hands on experience of using new technology to grow and develop a business.”

WMG was, last week, pleased to welcome to campus the first cohort of participants on the executive education programme from Inner Mongolia University (IMU) in China.

The group of 26 senior executive participants from IMU attended the Innovation and Leadership course which was led by Professor Sujit Banerji and delivered by Dr Jay Bal and Dr Xiao Ma. The executive training programme is a key result from a Memorandum of Understanding which was signed in 2012 by Professor Sujit Banerji, Executive Director of Postgraduate Programmes, and Professor XiaoChuan Guo, Dean of IMU.

The successful collaboration has been a result of International Partnership Fund (IPF) funding for development of partnerships between leading institutes around the world. WMG has established a relationship to foster collaboration with the School of Economics and Management at IMU, the leading university in the region.

Thursday evening saw the eagerly anticipated unveiling of this year’s Warwick Racing Formula Student car at the team’s launch event at WMG. They will compete in the IMech Formula Student competition at Silverstone in July.

The team gave presentations on both the technical aspects of the car, and their activities over the last year, including a successful journey to the other side of the world to compete alongside Monash University in the Formula SAE-Australasia competition in Melbourne last December.

The evening culminated in the unveiling of the new car, a series of photo opportunities for the visitors and the fielding of a range of technical questions by the team. The Warwick Racing team would particularly like to thank The School of Engineering, WMG, The WMG centre High Value Manufacturing Catapult, and the Innovative Manufacturing Global Research Priority for their support in hosting the event, and for their contributions to the team over the course of the year.

WMG is pleased to announce the appointment of alumnus Daren Maynard as an Associate Fellow at WMG in recognition of his continued contribution to WMG and the student community.

Daren studied MSc in Programme and Project Management at WMG in 2010-11 and was awarded an MSc with Distinction. Whilst studying with us, Daren was elected as the Postgraduate Faculty Representative for the Faculty of Science and was a key member of the student community within WMG.

Since graduation, Daren has returned to his home country of Trinidad and Tobago. However, his commitment to the student community remains as he continues to assist online with student engagement through WMG’s Facebook groups. He has provided advice on diverse matters, including accommodation, catering, SSLC and sport at Warwick. He has supported current students with advice on projects and has presented sessions to groups of students via video link. Nearer to home, he has provided detailed support to students in his home country who are considering coming to Warwick.

Engineering students from the University of Warwick are gearing up for a big Australian motor racing event which will see them go head to head with their friends and rivals at Monash University.

The team of seven students, helped by WMG and School of Engineering staff, are taking their racing car WR3 to compete in the Formula SAE-A competition in Melbourne in December.

The run-up to the competition has seen the two sides – Warwick Racing and Monash Motorsport – share expertise as part of the Monash-Warwick Alliance, which has helped to fund the trip.

It has been announced, today, by the Minister for Universities and Science David Willetts that WMG’s Applied Engineering Programme will be one of the programmes benefiting from a £50m Catalyst Fund.

WMG, at the University of Warwick, has an established reputation of working with business and industry to deliver cutting-edge research, innovative products and services, and world class education programmes.

Professor Lord Bhattacharyya, Chairman and Founder of WMG said “We welcome this announcement from HEFCE which will help us to continue to deliver an education programme that meets the needs of industry. It is vital that our engineers have the right skills and knowledge to be able to develop world-class products that keep the UK on the global stage.”

The new Applied Engineering Programme is aimed at advancing industry-relevant skills of graduate engineers and those working in advanced manufacturing. A novel learning environment will focus on Manufacturing Engineering or Product Development Engineering, which will be taken into the workplace including through higher apprenticeships. The programme, will focus initially on the automotive sector, with Jaguar Land Rover as an initial co-investor.

WMG will be opening its doors on 4th December 2012, to showcase the research, education and knowledge transfer capabilities of its Service Systems Group.

Professor Irene Ng, Head of the Service Systems Group and Director of the new International Institute for Product and Service Innovation, will speak on Service Systems, Markets and New Business Models in the Digital Economy.

Mark Reddish from Rolls-Royce will provide his perspective on why service - and the new MSc programme - is important to his business. Traditionally, a manufacturing-focused concern, Rolls-Royce now derives more than half of all its revenue from services.

The event will take place on Tuesday 4th December (6pm - 8pm). A light buffet will be provided beforehand with presentations starting from 6:30pm.

If you would like to attend the event, please RSVP to Julia Fan (J.M.Fan@warwick.ac.uk)

WMG at the University of Warwick has used its unique position between academia and industry to launch a new MSc in Service Management and Design. Delivery of world class customer service and generating a slice of the vast business revenues that can be achieved by getting this right remains the goal of all companies wishing to survive and grow in today’s tough and uncertain economic climate.