Departmental news

WMG at the University of Warwick, Innovate UK (IUK) and advanced recycler of plastics Mura Technology are to continue their collaboration on sustainability with a new IUK funded, two-year Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP).

WMG will develop operational sustainability models for Mura’s Hydro-PRT advanced plastic recycling technology to identify opportunities for further improvements to the already sector-leading environmental performance of the process. Mura has already identified an annual carbon emissions saving of 40,000 tonnes at the first Hydro-PRT site in Wilton, Teesside, due to commence operations in 2024.

Mura Technology is an advanced recycler of waste plastics, producing fossil-equivalent oils from post-use, mixed, multi-layered flexible and rigid plastics for the petrochemicals industry to create virgin-grade plastics, such as for use in food packaging. Mura's patented, innovative next generation processing technology, Hydro-PRT, produces high quality chemicals and oils with sector-leading sustainability attributes, creating a low carbon and circular model for a range of stakeholders working with polymers.

The company's first commercial scale plant, at Wilton, Teesside, will become the world's largest advanced recycling plant when it commences operations later this year, with two further plants being built under licence with partners in South Korea and Japan, expected to come online by the end of 2024. Driven by increasing regulation on plastic waste, Mura has a global growth ambition for more than 1.5 million tonnes of recycling capacity in operation or development by 2032.

WMG will create a modelling platform that will operationalise sustainability at all future Mura project sites, including Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs), to demonstrate transparently how Hydro-PRT meets environmental requirements. The platform will be used to educate and inform stakeholders including global regulators, policy makers and the plastics value chain on the low carbon potential of
Hydro-PRT.

The KTP is the continuation of the IUK Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging research partnership, where Reader of Sustainable Materials and Manufacturing at WMG, University of Warwick, Dr Stuart Coles successfully developed and published Life Cycle Analysis models, independent of Mura, for the Hydro-PRT process and the UK waste plastic recycling ecosystem. Dr Coles will also be the academic lead on this project.

Simon Broome Innovation Manager at WMG, University of Warwick, who co-wrote the application for the project, said: “I was blown away by the potential of this project to transform the process for recycling contaminated waste plastic. The team are highly committed and have already demonstrated impressive growth on their journey to make real sustainability gains in this important material sector.”

Mura’s Head of Sustainability and R&D, Dr Geoff Brighty, said: “Continuing the collaboration with WMG is critically important to bring this new science into our core business operation. Hydro-PRT has sector leading sustainability credentials, but every prospective site will be unique, influenced by the local energy grid, plant configurations as well as its material supply chain. The KTP project models will inform options appraisals and decision making, ensuring sustainability is at the heart of our global growth programme.”

For more information on developing a Knowledge Transfer Partnership application with WMG, contact wmgsme@warwick.ac.uk

For more information on WMG’s research in Sustainable Materials and Manufacturing visit: Sustainable Materials and Manufacturing Group (warwick.ac.uk)

Dr Samuel Seddon has recently published his paper in Physical Review B titled 'Ferroelastic control of magnetic domain structure: Direct imaging by magnetic force microscopy.'Link opens in a new window

Expert comment, from Dr Ben Silverstone, Workforce Transformation, Skills and Policy Lead at WMG, University of Warwick, on the establishment of Skills England

“WMG welcomes the formal announcement on the establishment of Skills England. A combined approach from the Government, education providers and employers is, without a doubt, the best way of ensuring that the skills system is fit for purpose. The decision to appoint a non-governmental chair should also be applauded and will ensure the needs of industry and the workforce are placed before policy pressures. 

“To make the most of this opportunity we encourage the Government to consider the following key issues:

• Everyone, regardless of age; background or employment status, must have the best opportunities in terms of education - this is critical to the future prosperity of our society
• There must be an equal, if not greater, focus on upskilling and reskilling those already in employment
• We must learn from the Apprenticeship Trailblazer model, and focus on the skill enablers of our economy rather than the narrow interests of a traditional sectoral led approach
• Finally, we strongly urge Government to ensure the balance between a nationally conceived strategy, a regional contextualisation and high-quality local delivery is not lost.”

Jeremias Knoblauch has been awarded the 2023 Savage Award of the International Society for Bayesian Analysis for his Warwick PhD thesis.

The 2024 National Student Survey (NSS) results published recently show that Warwick Economics students remain highly satisfied with their undergraduate courses, with 90% of the respondents stating that they would recommend Warwick to future students.

The annual national survey took place between February and April 2024, and we recorded a high response rate of 78%, four percentage points higher than last year.

The annual UK-wide survey asks undergraduate finalists about the quality of their courses, with 28 questions grouped into seven areas: Teaching; Academic Support; Learning Opportunities; Learning Resources; Assessment & Feedback; Organisation & Management and Student Voice.

The Department of Economics continues to perform strongly across all areas with highest scores in:

• Teaching on my course: nearly 90% of respondents were happy with the teaching stating that staff were good at explaining things, making the subject engaging and that the course was intellectually stimulating and challenged them to achieve their best work.
• Academic support: 90% of the surveyed students were pleased with the ways teaching staff supported their learning.
• Learning Resources: 92% of respondents were happy with the available learning resources such as the IT and library resources as well as access to subject specific resources.

Compared to 2023 we have made improvements across six of the seven main areas of the survey, with percentage points noted in brackets: Assessment and Feedback (2.8); Student Voice (2.5); Teaching (1.9); Learning Resources (1.7); Academic Support (1.3) and Learning Opportunities (0.9).

The position of the Department in comparison with other Departments within the Russell Group of research-intensive universities, remains strong, with Warwick Economics ranking 2nd for Teaching on My Course; 3rd for Learning Opportunities, Assessment and Feedback, Learning Resources, and Student Voice; and 4th for Academic Support and Organisation & Management.

Head of Department, Professor Ben Lockwood commented:

“I’m very pleased to see that our NSS scores remain high, considering that the class of 2024 cohort of undergraduate students was the largest in the history of the Department, with 522 of finalists (78% response rate) responding to the survey.

“We take the feedback received through the NSS very seriously, as it provides us with invaluable insights into what’s important to our students, what we do well, and which areas of our teaching we should improve further.

“I would like to pass on thanks to all staff for their hard work, particularly during the Covid years which affected this cohort of students.

“I would also like to thank this year’s finalists, now graduates of Class 2024, for rating their student experience at Warwick Economics so highly, despite the difficulties they had to overcome during the Covid pandemic. We’re delighted to see that 90 per cent of our finalists would recommend Warwick to prospective students.”

Exciting Warwick photochromic chemistry features in the latest edition of SCI Chemistry & Industry (C&I) Magazine.

We demonstrate the cryopreservation of vero-cells in assay ready format using macromolecular cryoprotectants and induce ice nucleation.

Congratulations to the members of the department who have received a promotion this year.