Tata Steel and RAEng fund research chair for WMG

TATA Steel RD&T and the Royal Academy of Engineering are jointly funding a new chair for research into Low Carbon Materials Technology at WMG at the University of Warwick. The two partners will invest £600,000 into the new research chair.

Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya, WMG Director, said: “This announcement not only allows us to create a crucial new chair to research this vital area, it is also wonderful recognition by the prestigious Royal Academy of Engineering and the renowned Tata Steel Group of the significant work WMG is already undertaking in low carbon vehicle technology.

“This research has already produced vital research for major manufacturers and has also helped many SMEs in the West Midlands region.”

Robert Barrett, head of research programmes at the Royal Academy of Engineering, said: “The academy strongly supports the effective combination of academia and industry through our prestigious Research Chairs Scheme. This new professorship at the WMG is an example of the Academy’s commitment in supporting areas of strategic importance to the UK economy and we look forward to appointing a world-leading individual to this post.”

Dr Debashish Bhattacharjee, group director for research, development and technology at Tata Steel, said: “We are very pleased and honoured that the Royal Academy of Engineering is supporting this chair. We will be using this to spearhead our strategic work in steel-based low carbon solutions for the automotive and other related sectors to show that steel is very much part of the solution to the environmental challenges facing our society.”

The announcement follows an event staged by WMG to showcase to SMEs the new research and technical support into low carbon light materials which is already available free-of-charge to West Midlands businesses.

The university hopes the new chair will lead to the development of more low carbon materials technology for the benefit of manufacturers both in the region and beyond.