1 Mar 2016

£3.8m investment to grow Loughborough’s research activity

The University will use the money – awarded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) through its Doctoral Training Partnerships (DTPs) – to develop research and support researchers in key strategic areas for Loughborough.

These include: 

  • Enabling Technologies – developing a pipeline of new technologies to enhance lives, economies and societies, with a focus on Quantum Systems Engineering.
  • Energy – ensuring a secure, sustainable, clean and affordable energy supply, with a focus on Thermal Technologies.
  • Health and Wellbeing – addressing all dimensions of health and wellbeing through the application of our expertise in design, engineering, sport and manufacturing to regenerative medicine and lifestyle interventions, with a focus on Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering.
  • Secure and Resilient Societies – tackling major potential environmental hazards and human-induced threats.
  • Changing Environments and Infrastructure – tackling the challenges to global economies and ecosystems presented by climate, land use and hydrological change.

Professor Andrew Dainty, Director of the University’s Graduate School which supports Loughborough’s 1500-plus postgraduate researchers, said:

“This substantial investment from EPSRC in doctoral training at Loughborough forms a significant component of our research strategy for engineering and the physical sciences, supporting both interdisciplinary research via our Research Challenges, and our discipline-based research strengths.

“It also provides a platform for exploiting inter-institutional collaborative opportunities afforded by major research infrastructure investments where Loughborough is a key partner.

“Our DTP students will benefit from enhanced cohort-based training and support that is a hallmark of the Loughborough doctoral experience”.

Universities and Science Minister Jo Johnson said:

“We are committed to securing the UK’s position as a world leader in science and innovation, and supporting the vital work of scientists at Loughborough University is key to this.

“This £3.8m funding for Loughborough University will enable them to take on more doctoral students to support their most promising research, leading to new discoveries and commercial partnerships. It will also give more students the chance to study at PhD level, boosting high level skills in Loughborough and supporting jobs and growth.”

Overall, forty UK universities will share in £167 million that will support doctoral training over a two year period,

The DTP funds will support students for the academic years beginning October 2016 and 2017.

EPSRC Chief Executive, Professor Philip Nelson, said:

“This year we are allocating £167 million to universities via Doctoral Training Partnerships. These will cover a two year period and give institutions greater certainty and increased time to plan their DTP programmes, and support excellent doctoral students.

“These strategic investments will help science push at the boundaries and make discoveries that are taken through into innovations.”

The funding is a part of the Government’s ongoing commitment to UK science, with a record £6.9 billion invested in science labs and equipment up to 2021, and protection of the science budget at £4.7 billion per year in real terms for the rest of the parliament.