Cranfield to train water engineers to benefit Britain’s future
Posted: Monday 26th January 2009
Cranfield University has won £5.8 million funding for a new centre to train research engineers for the UK water sector it was announced today. The engineering doctorate centre will offer 50 studentships over the next five years.
TheUK’s funding body for science and engineering, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), is investing a total of £250 million in 44centresacross theUK. It is thought the centres will generate over 2000 PhD and EngD students and tackle some of the biggest problems currently facing Britain such as climate change, energy, our ageing population, and high-tech crime.
Cranfield, in collaboration with Imperial College London and the universities of Sheffield, Newcastle and Exeter, has won funding for the Skills, Technology, Research and Management (STREAM) centre. The centre will address a sector driven research portfolio and deliver an industry shaped postgraduate training programme.
Professor Simon Parsons, STREAM Director and Cranfield’s Professor of Water Science, said: “The UK water industry faces a wide range of challenges from growing urbanization, demographic shifts and climate change at a time when it is being expected to deliver more financially and energy efficient services. A new round of engineers is required for the water industry to not only make our society more sustainable and profitable but to develop a new suite of goods and services for a rapidly urbanizing world.
“This is an exciting opportunity for the five collaborating universities to work closely with the UK water sector in delivering sustainable water services and management into the next decade. It’s important that postgraduate training provision in this important area is reinvigorated with new educational techniques and delivery methods. However, we are also conscious of the responsibility placed upon us with this award and we will work to make STREAM an aspirational programme within which ambitious young engineers can achieve their intellectual and career potential.
“The EPSRC Industrial Doctorate Centre programme is an ideal mechanism with which to remediate the current research and training shortfall within the sector.”
The centre has already attracted funding for studentships from 11 different companies including Yorkshire Water, Northumbrian Water, Anglian Water, Thames Water and Severn Trent Water.
EPSRC Centres for Doctoral Training are a bold new approach to training PhD students, creating communities of researchers working on current and future challenges. Cranfield is one of 17 new centres nationwide to be designated an ‘industrial doctorate training centre’ by the EPSRC, because its students will benefit from working closely with partners from the UK water industry throughout their doctoral training.
Professor Sir John O’Reilly, Vice-Chancellor, said: “This is an excellent opportunity for Cranfield to work in collaboration with other universities to help raise the numbers of engineers within the water industry. We are very pleased to have been awarded funding and look forward to the development of this centre in the not-so-distant future.”
Minister of State for Science and Innovation, Lord Drayson, said: “Britain faces many challenges in the 21st Century and needs scientists and engineers with the right skills to find answers to these challenges, build a strong economy and keep us globally competitive. EPSRC’s doctoral training centres will provide a new wave of engineers and scientists to do the job. This is an exciting, innovative approach to training young researchers and will help build a better future for Britain.”
Professor Dave Delpy, chief executive of EPSRC, said: “People are the heart of our future strategy. We want to drive a modern economy and meet the challenges of tomorrow by investing in talented people and inspiring the next generation of scientists and engineers. EPSRC Centres for Doctoral Training expand our existing training portfolio, focus on priority themes for the UK, emerging and multidisciplinary research, and greater collaboration with business.”
This approach to training has been extensively piloted by EPSRC through a small number of thriving Engineering Doctorate Centres and Doctoral Training Centres in Complexity Science, Systems Biology and at the Life Sciences Interface. This new investment builds on the success of these and will establish a strong group of centres which will rapidly establish a pre-eminent international reputation for doctoral training.
The multidisciplinary centres bring together diverse areas of expertise to train engineers and scientists with the skills, knowledge and confidence to tackle today’s evolving issues. They also create new working cultures, build relationships between teams in universities and forge lasting links with industry.
Students in these centres will receive a formal programme of taught coursework to develop and enhance their technical interdisciplinary knowledge, and broaden their set of skills. Alongside this they will undertake a challenging and original research project at PhD level.
To find out more information visit www.epsrc.ac.ukorwww.cranfield.ac.uk
