果冻传媒

The Black Country in Birmingham was the energy and innovation stomping ground in the 18th and 19th century, creating the UK鈥檚 industrial economy. Fast forward to the 21st century there is now a need to make a business model that鈥檚 more economically and environmentally sustainable.

With the help of WMG, 果冻传媒, the have made a future business model for Aluminium in the Black Country based on the provision of low carbon energy sources, as part of a project , which aims to make the Black Country the world鈥檚 first zero carbon industrial cluster.

The aim of the project is to enable clean GVA growth of 拢16bn by 2030, creating or safeguarding at least 20,000 skilled jobs. Thanks to funding from Innovate UK researchers from WMG specifically looked at the Aluminium Industry in the area.

The researchers report that if the Black Country Strategic Economic Plan forecasts GVA growth of 拢16bn by 2030. The growth will be driven by reshoring of manufacturing from overseas and organic growth, particularly in high value manufacturing, building, transport and environmental technology sectors where the Black Country has long-standing strengths.

However, if this growth simply follows the structural templates and energy practices of the past, annual CO2 emissions from Black Country industry will almost double to 2.3M tCO2.

To deliver green growth and meet UK industrial strategy objectives researchers from WMG propose that the Black Country needs to take the opportunities created by Brexit and Recovery from Covid-19 to reconfigure and repower its industrial base and create a fundamentally new economic model for the area.

Professor Jan Godsell, from WMG, 果冻传媒 explains:

鈥淭his has been an exciting project for WMG to get involved in. By using circular supply chain principles, we鈥檝e been able to demonstrate how re-industrialising around low carbon energy hubs in the West Midlands can help meet our net-zero carbon goal by 2050 but also create value-adding jobs for the region.鈥�

Since the project has completed The Black Country Consortium has been awarded funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) to support clean industrial growth through the Repowering the Black Country Project. This second round of funding, focused on helping the UK achieve net zero emissions as part of Government鈥檚 Clean Growth Strategy, will support businesses and local authorities in developing plans for zero carbon hubs and reducing energy costs across the Black Country.

Funded by UK Research and Innovation, on behalf of the UK government, Repowering the Black Country is one of only 7 projects funded nationally focused on helping the UK achieve net zero emissions by 2050 as part of the Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge. This is a key component of the government鈥檚 Clean Growth Strategy.

Tom Westley DL, Chair of the Black Country LEP Board said:
鈥淭his funding is another step toward the Black Country putting in place plans to decarbonise our industrial supply chains and lead the way nationally for industrial clean energy. The Repowering the Black Country project is a real partnership approach to planning for the future of our world-class industrial sector.

鈥淭his boost will enable the team to work across the Black Country with local authorities and industry to develop zero carbon industrial estates that optimise and generate clean energy in the most efficient way. Zero carbon means lower energy bills, lower carbon emissions and commercial opportunities locally – all of which will be good news for the Black Country economy.鈥�

Energy Minister Kwasi Kwarteng said:
鈥淭he UK is leading the world鈥檚 green industrial revolution, with ambitious targets to decarbonise our economy and create hundreds of thousands of jobs.

鈥淎s we continue to level up the UK economy and build back greener, we must ensure every sector is reducing carbon emissions to help us achieve our commitment to net zero emissions by 2050.
鈥淭his funding will help key industrial areas meet the challenge of contributing to our cleaner future while maintaining their productive and competitive strengths.鈥�

, the Mayor of the West Midlands, said:

鈥淥ur region鈥檚 plan for economic recovery is all about delivering the high-paid, high skilled, 鈥榞reen鈥� jobs of the future. So this funding partnership is both good news for West Midlands jobs and industry, helping businesses grow while using less energy. So it鈥檚 great news for our environment.

鈥淭he West Midlands Combined Authority has an ambitious #WM2041 plan for the region to be carbon neutral by 2041. This Government funding for clean industrial development in the Black Country will help our region build on its long history of manufacturing, building a green economy that鈥檚 good for jobs and good for the planet.鈥�

ENDS

7 JANUARY 2021

NOTES TO EDITORS

Images available at:
/services/communications/medialibrary/images/january_2021/repowering_jpeg.jpg
Caption: The Phoenix 10 site in the Black Country

Report available to view at:

For further information please contact:

Alice Scott
Media Relations Manager – Science
果冻传媒
Tel: +44 (0) 7920 531 221
E-mail: alice.j.scott@warwick.ac.uk

Until now, smaller manufacturing companies have missed out on the productivity benefits of digital technologies and data-driven solutions. Too many manufacturers don鈥檛 know where to start, and lack the skills required to deploy and use digital solutions. The costs are perceived to be high and the return on investment is unclear.

A consortium, including WMG at the 果冻传媒, has been awarded funding through the Government鈥檚 Challenge to tackle this problem by developing a Smart InforMation PLatform and Ecosystem for Manufacturing (SIMPLE).

Project SIMPLE will bring the benefits of digitalisation to manufacturers for whom the technology, skills, and business benefits are currently inaccessible. The project will deliver a platform that is fast to deploy, easy to use, cost-effective, and versatile. And it will be supported by an ecosystem that addresses skills and training requirements.

The consortium includes a wide range of end-user, academic, and technology partners to provide the necessary breadth of expertise:

鈼� (construction) is representative of SMEs seeking to improve their operations through the deployment of digital capabilities, but have a low skill level in the domain, bare bones IT capabilities and low levels of automation

鈼� (automotive) is representative of global organisations challenged by their operational complexity, the diversity of technologies deployed in production, fragmented software landscape and data repositories

鈼� is seeking a vendor independent solution that can support their short-term objectives and scale up rapidly to support multiple production campaigns in the future

鈼� WMG, 果冻传媒 is a world leading research and education group, transforming organisations and driving innovation through a unique combination of collaborative research and development, and pioneering education programmes

鈼� is a government agency that carries out research in science and engineering. The focus for project SIMPLE is on knowledge representations and knowledge models relevant to manufacturing

鈼� AI Idea Factory and 4thWall Virtual develop engineering tools, industrial software components and supply related services.

The benefits of SIMPLE will be validated via deployment of the platform at the end-user partners鈥� facilities - demonstrating the value in three different use cases. The deployment of a skills training system at WMG, 果冻传媒, will validate the skills and training proposition.

Project SIMPLE is co-funded by the businesses in the consortium and the UK鈥檚 innovation agency, Innovate UK, through the Manufacturing Made Smarter Competition. The Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) Manufacturing Made Smarter Round 1 Competition offers grant funding investment in projects that focus on the use of industrial digital technologies (IDTs) to transform the productivity and agility of UK manufacturing. Of 34 applications submitted, project SIMPLE is one of 14 projects approved following independent assessment and expert review.

Dr Daniel Vera, from WMG at the 果冻传媒 comments:
鈥淎t WMG, we will be focussing on making sure that manufacturers become fluent in deploying and using digital systems. Our training platform will mean that manufacturers can confidently use data-driven methods and digital solutions to optimise their processes, which in turn can speed up their project delivery and significantly improve their business operations.鈥�

Jason Powell of Innovare Systems adds:
鈥淭he technology is important as it offers greater operational transparency, which allows greater scrutiny of performance whilst maintaining the production activities鈥� live information. Additionally, this system can also be used as a tool to drive production efficiency through optimising performance which will increase capacity. We are expecting this technology to boost productivity by 10% even from the early deployment.鈥�

Matt Patching of the said:

鈥淭he SIMPLE toolset will help us deliver battery technologies and processes to industry at a rapid rate. The flexible design will be compatible with our range of manufacturing processes, ranging from electrode and cell assembly, to module and pack, and to consistently present the relevant information. The scalable nature means that new promising technologies in the battery field can be implemented into our digital systems as quickly as it can be installed at our site.鈥�

The project will engage the wider manufacturing community to ensure the SIMPLE platform and methodology addresses the widest set of manufacturers鈥� needs. For further information, please contact peter.hopkinson@fullydistributedsystems.com.

ENDS

6 JANUARY 2021

NOTES TO EDITORS

About WMG, 果冻传媒

WMG is a world leading research and education group, transforming organisations and driving innovation through a unique combination of collaborative research and development, and pioneering education programmes.
As an international role model for successful partnerships between academia and the private and public sectors, WMG develops advancements nationally and globally, in applied science, technology and engineering, to deliver real impact to economic growth, society and the environment.
WMG鈥檚 education programmes focus on lifelong learning of the brightest talent, from the WMG Academies for Young Engineers, degree apprenticeships, undergraduate and postgraduate, through to professional programmes.
An academic department of the 果冻传媒, and a centre for the HVM Catapult, WMG was founded by the late Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya in 1980 to help reinvigorate UK manufacturing and improve competitiveness through innovation and skills development.

About Innovare Systems

As the only provider to have complete design to delivery capability in-house, Innovare Systems is uniquely placed to simplify the offsite construction process to help clients manage time, cost and risk more effectively. Innovare Systems鈥� aim is to make it easy for clients to achieve the time and cost saving benefits of offsite construction and make full use of the greater flexibility offered through a joined-up design, manufacture and installation solution with its i-SIP panel system.

About Lear Corporation

Lear, a global automotive technology leader in Seating and E-Systems, enables superior in-vehicle experiences for consumers around the world. Lear鈥檚 diverse team of talented employees in 39 countries is driven by a commitment to innovation, operational excellence, and sustainability. Lear is Making every drive better鈩� by providing the technology for safer, smarter, and more comfortable journeys.

About UKBIC

The 拢130 million UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC) is a pioneering concept in the race to develop battery technology for the transition to a greener future. The unique facility provides the missing link between battery technology, which has proved promising at laboratory or prototype scale, and successful mass production. Based in Coventry, the publicly-funded battery product development facility welcomes manufacturers, entrepreneurs, researchers and educators, and can be accessed by any organisation with existing or new battery technology – if that technology will bring green jobs and prosperity to the UK.

In addition to funding from the Faraday Battery Challenge through UK Research and Innovation and the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, UKBIC is also part-funded through the West Midlands Combined Authority. The project has been delivered through a consortium of Coventry City Council, Coventry and 果冻传媒shire Local Enterprise Partnership and WMG, at the 果冻传媒. UKBIC was created in 2018 following a competition led by the Advanced Propulsion Centre with support from Innovate UK

About Fully Distributed Systems

FDS specialises in the development and integration of control and software solutions for manufacturing industries. In the last 5 years, FDS has developed expertise in the development and deployment of Industrial IoT integration platforms and common manufacturing and production data models, in line with the requirements of Industry 4.0 and digital manufacturing solution development.

For further information please contact

Alice Scott
Media Relations Manager – Science
果冻传媒
Tel: +44 (0) 7920 531 221
E-mail: alice.j.scott@warwick.ac.uk

Many capital project companies have invested in digital and data capabilities, but only a few actually get the returns they expected.

WMG Professor Naomi Brookes has shared her complex programme management expertise in the Data-driven Transformation of Capital Projects report compiled by leading global professional services company, .

Professor Brookes explains: 鈥淚鈥檓 delighted to have contributed to this fascinating and important report that shows a clear relationship between the effective use of digital technologies in major projects and bottom-line benefits.鈥�

The report surveyed over 700 "owner-operators" and engineering, procurement and construction companies to see how they were driving their digitalisation.

Accenture鈥檚 report shows how a small group of companies is able to drive much higher value from digital by making specific changes to their operating environment.

Read the report in full .

Edited version of a speech given, by Margot James, to the Westminster eforum Conference on Women in the Tech Sector

Tuesday, 15th December 2020

鈥淐losing the gender gap in tech and championing digital skills鈥�

Sadly, there is a broad, systemic issue in the Tech sector.

Nowhere near enough women are attracted to Tech, study Tech, work in Tech or reach the top in Tech.

The figures are stark.

At GCSE, 21.5% of Computing students are girls. Just 14.5% of those taking A-Level Computing are female.

Only 18% of undergraduate Computer Science students are women.

17% of British tech workers are women, and just 13% of IT directors.

Nor are there huge signs of change – the proportion of women working in ICT is up just one per cent in the last decade.

When the scale of the problem is so great, change feels difficult. But we know it can happen. In politics, just 60 MPs were women in 1992. Today, there are 220.

We all know that the Tech sector has cultural issues around work-life balance, stereotyping, harassment and all the other evils of discrimination. But so does politics!

What do we need to do in Tech to fix the problem?

First, unblock the pipeline. One reason women are under-represented in Tech is that Computing is seen as optional.

Why isn't Computing a core part of the e-bacc? Why is there no Computer Science element of GCSE combined science?

Change that, and you'd have a massive impact in the gender diversity of Computing education.

We need to promote Computing as a career option. 16% of female students have had a career in Tech suggested to them. That has to change.

Schools and universities must go out of their way to recruit, promote and support women.

At WMG, 果冻传媒, we emphasise recruiting women to our Cyber-Security Degree course, and work with employers to ensure women apply for our digital degree apprenticeships.

Programmes like Athena Swan have helped identify the steps we need to take, whether supporting staff returning from a career break, developing a flexible working policy, or offering mentoring and promotion application training to female staff.

Similarly, as a minister, I was a major advocate of the Tech Talent Charter. This focuses on straightforward measures businesses can make to recruit women – like measuring application rates, or ensuring you have more than one woman on job shortlists.

Next, we have to support women who are making a difference.

Whether calling out bad behaviour in companies, showing how algorithms can discriminate against women and minorities, or demanding change in workplace culture and 'crunch' - women in Tech need our support.

My experience is that only sustained pressure leads to change.

As a minister, I led the Government agenda on online harms – an issue that disproportionately affects women. There was a lot of nervousness about holding the big Tech companies responsible for online. Despite this, we managed to get the policy changed; and we published a white paper in April 2019.

Progress has been very slow since then, and in my experience if you take your foot off the pedal, you stop moving forward.

But although too slowly, things are changing for the better.

Globally, last year the Tech sector saw the steepest increase of all industries in the share of women on boards.

Among smaller Tech companies, over 40% of employees in technical roles are women. These firms will be drivers of change as they expand.

There's a strong business case for change. MSCI's Gender Diversity Data report showed that employee productivity was higher in companies that had three or more women on the board of directors.

If we widen the pipeline of women in Tech, attract and recruit women to study and work in Tech, and support women in Tech when they raise issues like workplace culture and gender pay gaps, then the future is bright.

Congratulations to WMG Engineering Technician, Bethany Haynes who has received her Professional Engineering Technician (EngTech) accreditation and membership from the .

At WMG, Bethany provides technical support in robotics, machining, technical drawings, quotation, manufacture and fabrication.

To achieve her IMechE accreditation, Bethany had to provide details of successful projects, any technical problems she had to overcome, and evidence of new skills and knowledge developed during her career.

Bethany explained: 鈥淭his is a really great personal achievement, and something I鈥檝e been determined to accomplish for a long time. I鈥檝e worked so hard for this, and as a young female technician it has given me a real confidence boost. I am so thankful for the support of my fellow technicians and colleagues who encouraged me to push myself.鈥�

WMG Workshop Manager, Luke Millage, said: 鈥淚t is great to see that Beth has pursued this professional registration with the IMechE. Beth has worked tirelessly to develop her skills over the last couple of years, and it is wonderful to see this formally recognised.鈥�

EngTech is a globally recognised level of professional registration for Engineering Technicians. It is a formal recognition of engineering skills and competence and an important stepping stone towards becoming an Incorporated Engineer or a Chartered Engineer

Read more about Bethany鈥檚 career here

WMG hosted a workshop to support launch of the Transforming Foundation Industries (TFI) Large CR&D call. The event was held to raise awareness of the funding call, which opens on 11th January 2021, to provide a space for discussion around two of the key themes and to showcase how WMG can play a role in projects for the foundation industries (manufacturers and suppliers of paper, cement, metals, glass, bulk chemicals and glass).

Keynote talks were given by WMG鈥檚 Professor Robert Harrison and Dr Stuart Bradley. Their talks on 'Advanced automation for the foundation industries and Waste heat energy recovery' provided details on WMG鈥檚 expertise and capabilities, where there are commonalities across sectors and opportunities for these industries to work together.

There were four breakout rooms where attendees were able to network and discuss project ideas for the upcoming call. The breakout rooms, hosted by subject experts, were themed around waste heat and energy storage, recovery and conversion; how waste products could be communally used and shared by foundation industry firms; and how advanced automation, machine learning and Industry 4.0 could help to advance the industries. There was also a general discussion room, where subjects such as future business models and waste streaming were considered.

As a result of the workshop, there are likely to be several applications to the TFI Large CR&D call, which we hope will be successful. It is clear that these different industries can work together to solve common problems and that organisations, such as WMG, can provide the platform to bring them together successfully.

If you work in the foundation industries and would like to hear more on how you can access support for your project from WMG experts, please contact Dr Russ Hall at R.Hall.5@warwick.ac.uk.

The WMG Outreach team has been making special Christmas deliveries to children across the West Midlands and 果冻传媒shire.

Young engineers from a total of 15 local schools have been sent parcels with card templates of stars, stags, sleighs and baubles; a mini laser-cut Christmas tree and 3D printed cubes, octopuses and dinosaurs.

The year five and six children were also set some special STEM challenges including creating their own 3D Christmas decorations but without the use of glue.

WMG Outreach Project Officer, Phil Jemmett explained: 鈥淭hese boxes use the expertise of engineers at WMG to create exciting activities to engage children with 鈥榚ngineering鈥� - without a car in sight. We want to provide children with a chance to see creativity and engineering as two parts of the same approach to solving a problem.

鈥淚nside the boxes are templates to build Christmas decorations out of paper – and once they have made a few they will notice the advantages of flat-packing the items we see in shops because they won鈥檛 all fit back in the box they came from!

鈥淟ast year, this resource box was the most fun activity we worked on. It has been a bit different this year and without the help of our fantastic technicians Beth Haynes; Joe Benjamin and Ehman Altaf, it would not have been possible to laser cut or 3D print any items to go in these boxes.鈥�

WMG Director of Outreach and Widening Participation , Professor Margaret Low added: 鈥淚鈥檓 delighted that WMG is again able to share the engineering activity boxes with local primary schools. It鈥檚 important that we work in partnership with teaching colleagues at all stages of education, to raise awareness of engineering and how it contributes to our society.鈥�

Find out more about WMG鈥檚 Outreach programme here.

*In total 25 boxes were sent out. Local schools involved were:

路 St Giles Junior School, Bedworth

路 Charter Primary School, Coventry

路 St Joseph, Kings Norton, Birmingham

路 St Columba, Rednal, Birmingham

路 St James, Rednal, Birmingham

路 St Thomas More, Sheldon, Birmingham

路 St Brigid, Northfield, Birmingham

路 St Paul, Birmingham

路 Arley Primary School, Nuneaton

路 Burton Green Primary School, Coventry

路 Balsall Common Primary School, Balsall Common

路 Burbage Junior School

路 Dorridge Primary School, Solihull

路 Shottery St Andrews Primary School

路 Clifford Bridge Academy, Coventry

Currently there are 24 million victims of modern day slavery or forced labour around the world, with a significant amount working on project-related activities.

In a WMG academic Professor Naomi Brookes from the 果冻传媒 has worked with the University of Leeds, and University College London to identify ways to prevent modern day slavery in projects.

The key drivers of modern day slavery are:

搂 Globalisation

搂 Supply chain complexity

搂 Informal employment practices

搂 Government ambivalence

Researchers have identified several ways that can tackle modern day slavery, from organisations, public and Government.

At an organisational level there are a range of structural solutions that could inhibit modern slavery, including developing a clear policy on forced labour and slavery; training auditors and compliance officers; establishing measures to monitor suppliers and subcontractors and extending monitoring to contract agencies.

However the public can also help from home, by increasing pressure for visibility within supply chains. If supply chains are forced to show their sources and more companies apply for fair trade certification they will eliminate slavery.

The Government can also apply new legislation, although the UK鈥檚 Modern Slavery Act exists, in 2019 a panel of parliamentarians found that there was confusion over which companies are covered by the legislation, and condemned the level of reporting of supply chain transparency as inadequate.

They also found poor compliance and identified a major weakness in the legislation, since large sections of the economy, including public bodies, were exempt from the requirement to report on their own supply chain. Therefore new legislation that all must report on their supply chains could be another route forward to eliminating modern day slavery.

Another, and perhaps more effective route given the complexity of eliminating modern slavery given the difficulties at organisational and legislative levels, is multi-stake holder initiatives (MSIs), which consist of global institutions involving corporations and civil society organisations that 鈥榝ill the gap鈥�, providing governance solutions for ethical issues where national legislation and other initiatives have failed.

Professor Naomi Brookes, from WMG, 果冻传媒 comments:
鈥淢SIs can privately regulate by meeting the basic requirements of credibility and effectiveness. If we could compare the legitimacy of several MSIs it would give us a better understanding of the criticism levelled at certain MSIs by NGOs, as well as areas that could be improved.鈥�

Although MSIs may seem the most efficient way to tackle modern day slavery, when it comes to projects, which tend to be short-term, project management practices must be changed.

The researchers questioned many individuals from professional membership organisations, project practitioners, NGOs and academic researchers and independent experts to answer a questionnaire, which covered their individual and organisational experiences of modern day slavery.

There was then an event, where the experts were split into groups and had to answer two questions:

1. What can project professionalism do to eliminate modern slavery from projects?

2. What can professional membership organisations do to assist project professionals in eliminating modern slavery from projects?

Professor Naomi Brookes, adds:
鈥淚n reaction to the survey and event we found the best way to eliminate modern slavery was to have MSIs, it was striking to note the similarity between the participants views of professional membership organisations and functionality of MSIs in developing codes of conducts, providing learning standards as well as processes, standards and policies, issuing labels and certificates as a stimulation of legislation and developing mechanisms for auditing and compliance trans-organisationally.鈥�

Daniel Nicholls, APM research manager, says: 鈥淭his topical research is key in helping to raise awareness of modern slavery across the wider project profession. It highlights how projects are particularly susceptible, providing guidance and support for project professionals and organisations.鈥�

In order to eliminate modern slavery in projects, further investigation of professional membership organisations acting as MSIs would be use key to identifying mechanisms of modern slavery.

ENDS

15 DECEMBER 2020

NOTES TO EDITORS

Report available to view at:

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Alice Scott
Media Relations Manager – Science
果冻传媒
Tel: +44 (0) 7920 531 221
E-mail: alice.j.scott@warwick.ac.uk

The 果冻传媒 is one of eight trailblazing universities to have become the first in the UK to gain recognition for their commitment to cyber security education in a new initiative from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) – a part of GCHQ.

Pioneering institutions in the UK have been recognised as the country鈥檚 first Academic Centres of Excellence in Cyber Security Education (ACEs-CSE) for delivering first-rate cyber security education on campus and promoting cyber skills in their community.

The ACE-CSE programme, led by the NCSC – a part of GCHQ – and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, has recognised eight universities with gold and silver awards – with the next round of applications opening early next year.

Professor Tim Watson from WMG, 果冻传媒 comments:

"We are delighted to be recognised by the National Cyber Security Centre as an academic centre of excellence and to have been awarded a Gold Award for our cyber security education."

Chris Ensor, NCSC Deputy Director for Cyber Growth, said:

鈥淚 am delighted we can now recognise the first tranche of universities as Academic Centres of Excellence in Cyber Security Education, complementing our existing programmes which recognise high quality cyber security research and degree courses.鈥�

鈥淚t is a testament to the continual efforts of academics, support staff and senior management that cyber security remains high on their agenda.

鈥淲e very much look forward to working with them over the coming years and strongly encourage other universities to work towards achieving similar recognition in the future.鈥�

Seven universities received Gold awards in this first round of applications for demonstrating impressive approaches to promoting cyber security excellence. They are:

路 Abertay University

路 Lancaster University

路 University of Southampton

路 University of South Wales

路 University of Surrey

路 果冻传媒

路 University of the West of England

Each of the successful Gold centres demonstrated they offer at least one deliver top cyber security training to staff and students from other specialisms within the university, work to improve the institution鈥檚 cyber resilience and carry out local outreach activities.

Digital Infrastructure Minister Matt Warman said:

鈥淭he UK has some of the brightest minds in the world working in tech and it's right we celebrate universities where so many people develop relevant and cutting-edge skills.

"We continue to work closely with academia to nurture the next generation of cyber security talent and I urge interested education institutions to apply for this recognition.鈥�

Offering a NCSC-certified degree is necessary for receiving ACE-CSE recognition, as it demonstrates that an institution is already providing a high standard of education to students enrolled in cyber security disciplines.

However, successful ACE-CSE institutions go beyond this, offering cyber security education opportunities across the whole campus and to those in their wider community.

In the first tranche of award winners this included giving cyber security classes to those studying subjects such as Politics, Law, and Psychology and setting up work experience placements for local schoolchildren.

The next round of applications for ACE-CSE recognition will open in early 2021 to higher education institutions in the UK. More information about the initiative can be found

ENDS

15 DECEMBER 2020

NOTES TO EDITORS

The ACE-CSE programme plays an importance part in the NCSC鈥檚 ambition to create a regional cyber security eco-system which nurtures cyber security talent in local communities. In September, the NCSC announced for their excellence in cyber security education.

On the NCSC

搂 The UK government is fully committed to defending against cyber threats and set up the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) as part of GCHQ.

搂 The NCSC was created as part of the five-year National Cyber Security Strategy in 2016, supported through 拢1.9 billion transformative investment

搂 The NCSC is the UK鈥檚 lead technical authority on cyber security and offers unrivalled real-time threat analysis, defence against national cyber attacks and tailored advice to victims when incidents do happen

搂 If you have any additional questions, please contact pressoffice@ncsc.gov.uk.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Alice Scott
Media Relations Manager – Science
果冻传媒
Tel: +44 (0) 7920 531 221
E-mail: alice.j.scott@warwick.ac.uk

WMG Research Fellow, Dr David Fengwei Xie has been awarded a prestigious five-year .

Based in the International Institute for Nanocomposites Manufacturing (IINM), Dr Fengwei Xie has been working on sustainable polymer materials and composites for tackling the current issues around petro-derived plastics, recycling, and single-use plastics. His fellowship will allow him to further explore in this highly important area and to develop functional, biopolymer-based composite materials with tailored structures and properties for demanding applications.

The fellowship will provide his projects with sufficient funding and a dedicated team that will engage with the public, industry and policymakers.

An EPSRC Fellowship is designed to provide the recipient with the necessary support to establish or further develop themselves as a leader of the future. The award enables the recipient to devote their time to delivering their proposed research vision.

Dr Fengwei Xie explained: 鈥淭he support provided by the EPSRC will allow me to develop my technical and transferrable skills to the greatest extent, become an independent and leading academic in advanced biopolymer materials engineering, and establish and grow my own group – fulfilling my career ambition.

鈥淚 am extremely excited to be awarded this fellowship as it will allow me to continue working on 鈥榞reen鈥� polymer composites for people鈥檚 welfare and a sustainable future.鈥�

Read more about WMG鈥檚 Nanocomposites research here.