Warwick professor awarded major research chair
A SENIOR professor at The University of Warwick has been awarded a £500,000 Royal Academy of Engineering Research Chair in Power Electronics to support new research.
The award to Professor Phil Mawby is financially backed by Converteam Group SAS, the UK’s largest technology company in the renewable energy sector.
The award will support research into the use of new materials for power electronics to support sustainable technologies through a range of applications including the next generation of power grids.
The new chair will enhance Professor Mawby’s work with Converteam, a worldwide specialist in power conversion which is based in Rugby.
The company provides customised solutions to the conversion of electrical energy through design of drives, controls, motors and generators. It operates in four main markets: marine, oil & gas, energy and industry.
The award offers the company the opportunity to be a key strategic partner in developing energy research activity at the university.
The new Chair builds on the Warwick Institute for Sustainable Energy and Resources (WISER), which links together energy research at Warwick, including the fundamental sciences, economics, business and social studies.
The award is particularly timely as Professor Mawby’s research is also being backed by the Birmingham Science City initiative, which is providing additional funding to support the research.
Professor Mawby is one of the University of Warwick’s senior professors in the School of Engineering at Warwick.
He said: “Power electronics is the technology used to manage electrical energy efficiently. Almost every piece of modern electrical equipment uses power electronics.
“It is a generic technology with a vast array of applications, from the very low power levels found in mobile phones to the very high levels used in power distribution grids.”
Technological advances in the area have a significant potential to reduce energy consumption, even at a time when the global demand is growing rapidly.
“Japan judges power electronics to be one of the three most important technologies that are necessary for building a low carbon future. This award will greatly assist our research in these areas,” he added.
