Departmental news

A major competition organised and run by the Manufacturing Assembly Network (MAN) with support from WMG at the University of Warwick, designed to get more young people involved in manufacturing, has recognised the talented engineers of the future.

The Design & Make Challenge 2024 attracted nearly 100 pupils from 15 schools in what is one of the largest independent STEM events ever held in the UK. It was hosted at the University of Warwick’s Innovation District.

Southam College, Barclay Academy and Lawrence Sherriff High School took the main prizes, winning the Efficiency, Innovation and Manufacturing Awards respectively. The Awards focused on the way they tackled a challenge to use a box of simple materials, to build a device, that could securely lift a metal block with nothing more than a pulley system.

The students split up into teams of four to design, test and build their solution, working closely with apprentices from the eight MAN companies and engineers from WMG’s SME Group.

Dr Mark Swift, Director of SME Engagement at WMG, University of Warwick said:

“Design & Make connects young people with dynamic manufacturers whilst they are still at school and making future career decisions – this is critical for addressing the UK's engineering skills gap and fostering a culture of innovation.

“Early exposure and practical experience help to inspire the next generation of engineers, equipping them with the necessary skills to ultimately develop new technology and grow our world leading manufacturing sector."

Austin Owens, Managing Director at Grove Design and Co-Chair of the Manufacturing Assembly Network commented: “What a fantastic way to celebrate the fifth year of the Design & Make Challenge, with the biggest turnout of students we’ve ever had – that really shows the appetite to learn more about a possible career in industry,”

“The competition is all about inspiring young people to get hands-on with design and engineering skills, working together to come up with a solution that then competes with other schools in terms of efficiency, innovation and design for manufacture.”

“We’d love to make the competition even bigger and are urging other manufacturers, funders and schools to come forward and get involved. Together we can start to bridge the skills gap industry continues to battle against.”

Southam College, Barclay Academy and Lawrence Sherriff High School each received a 3D Printer as part of their prize package, which was sponsored by 3DPrint UK. These will be taken back to each of the schools and used to develop additive manufacturing and design skills.

There was a fourth prize given out to recognise the different careers in engineering, with Thomas Telford UTC beating off competition to win the ‘Communications’ Award.

This saw the Shropshire school praised for the way it told the best story of the day through the use of social media, with a single post racking up more than 347 likes and over 2000 views in just a few hours.

For more information on WMG’s SME Group visit SME Support - WMG - University of Warwick

More details on MAN can be found at www.man-group.co.uk or follow MAN Group on LinkedIn.

Many congratulations to graduate Sara Akhavan-Malayeri, the Maxine Berg Prize winner of 2024! Her dissertation entitled "The Fight over the Five ‘Soviet-born Wives of British Subjects’: the Impact of Anglo-Soviet Marriages in Early Cold War Britain” was awarded Best Dissertation in the Field of Global History. Sara was also awarded the Final Year Undergraduate Iain Smith Single-Honours Prize set up by a bequest from Emeritus Reader Iain Smith.

The other 2024 prize winners are:

• Jacob McVaddy - Final Year Undergraduate Felix Dennis Dissertation Prize
• Richard Gregory - Final Year Undergraduate Roger Magraw History Joint-Honours prize
• Jade McFarlane - Final Year Undergraduate Year Abroad Reflective Assignment Prize.

A massive congratulations to the other prize winners and all Warwick History graduates 2024!

Find full details of the History prizes awarded at the end of each year here.

Professor JE Smyth's upcoming publication is featured in an article by the Guardian about Mary C McCall Jr, the female screenwriter airbrushed from Hollywood history.

Professor Smyth's new book, "Mary C McCall Jr: The Rise and Fall of Hollywood's Most Powerful Screenwriter", will be published in September and aims to restore Mary C McCall Jr’s reputation as one of the film industry’s most important figures.

Read the article in full.

University of Warwick researcher Dr Lory Barile is passionate about reaching new audiences with her work on understanding the barriers to improving the energy efficiency of our homes, so when the chance came up to promote her Retrofit Rocks project at Coventry’s Godiva Festival she didn’t hesitate.

Dr Barile and her team took a stall in the Your Coventry tent alongside community groups from across Coventry to meet festivalgoers and speak with them about her work.

She explains: “We decided to attend Godiva as we wanted to promote the Retrofit Rocks project to the public, particularly to schools in Coventry.

“The Godiva festival attracts enormous audiences – typically around 70,000 people – so we thought it was a great opportunity both to promote the project, which is ongoing, and to raise awareness of housing retrofitting schemes.

“Some Coventry residents may be eligible for financial support to improve the energy efficiency of their homes so also we wanted to let people know about this and help the Council to increase uptake of the schemes.”

As part of the Retrofit Rocks project Dr Barile and her team have worked with pupils, parents and staff at St Augustine’s Catholic Primary School in Radford, Coventry. The pupils carried out scientific experiments measuring the insulation properties of various materials and worked with local artists to design their own 3D models of well-insulated homes.

The project team will draw up a toolkit and a policy briefing to share the lessons which emerged during the workshops about why people don’t take advantage of retrofitting and other insulation schemes.

Despite competing for attention with headline acts including Eurovision star Sam Ryder, Richard Ashcroft and Beverly Knight, Dr Barile found that festival-goers were interested in the project and happy to hear more.

She said: “It was a great experience We spoke with at least 600 people, handed out our flyers with information on how to get in touch with us, and promoted our survey.

“People living in our communities are the recipients of policies made by policymakers, so it is crucial to understand the problems they face if we are to design policies that can truly be effective.

“It was really rewarding to see people engaging with the project and sharing their experiences with housing retrofitting. It was especially inspiring to see the children at St Augustine’s school asking for more workshops and activities to help save the planet. I loved every second of this project and I am sure my team did as well.”

• The survey is still open and Dr Barile is keen to hear from Coventry residents – access it at this link.

Two infectious disease experts have been selected to be Policy Fellows as part of a Japan-UK collaboration led by Professor Chris Dowson to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR). AMR is a major threat to global health, with overuse of drugs, including antibiotics, leading to so-called ‘superbugs’ that have become more resistant to medicine.
Press Release (9 July 2024).

Maria Brigida Brunetti and Andy Chappell (Postdoctoral Research Assistants) in the Elementary Particle Physics (EPP) group have been part of the organising committee for the 2024 Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition.

The British Academy is inviting proposals from early career researchers in the humanities and social sciences wishing to pursue an independent research project, towards the completion of a significant piece of publishable research.

Applicants must be researchers from the humanities and social sciences and be based at an eligible university or research organisation for the duration of the Fellowship.

Applicants must be of Early Career Status, meaning they must apply within three years from the date of their successful viva voce examination. For this round of competition, applicants are expected to have completed their viva voce between 1 April 2022 and 1 April 2025.

For more information and how to apply click hereLink opens in a new window

Dr Michael Hope wins prestigious EPSRC Open Fellowship award, worth £1.4 million, helping him drive the transition to clean renewable energy.