Rolls-Royce holds 3rd EngD conference

Rolls-Royce held its third Engineering Doctorate Conference on 21st November at the Learning & Career Development Centre in Derby. This exhibition provided Rolls-Royce sponsored Engineering Doctorate (EngD) researchers to showcase their cutting-edge research, promoting the EngD scheme through innovation.

The Rolls-Royce EngD Network hosted this exhibition, providing a gateway to provide EngD researchers with an opportunity to communicate and collaborate with other EngD researchers across all sectors of Rolls-Royce. The Network was founded in 2012 by EngD researchers Oliver Nowers, Maria Felice and James Pettit, to promote awareness of the EngD scheme and the benefits that it has provided to Rolls-Royce.

Presentations were given by previous and current EngD researchers, ranging from a novel diamond rotary concept for grinding aerospace materials to the In-Situ Patch Repair of Thermal Barrier Coatings, revealing a high-level summary of background knowledge and ongoing research efforts that are being incorporated into their projects.

Invited keynote speakers included Frank Kirkland, Chair of Rolls-Royce Fellows and Chief Designer for Civil Aerospace, who has worked on a range of RR aerospace engines since he joined Rolls-Royce in 1981. Invited speaker Sam Turner, Chief Technical Officer of the AMRC with Boeing, who is responsible for technology strategy, capability growth and support to the AMRC departments and relationship management with major stakeholders. He had delivered high impact projects in manufacturing research and its application towards the industry.

Mark Jefferies, Chief of University Research Liaison presented insight into the effectiveness and strategic development of key academic research partnerships for Rolls-Royce. This includes the company's worldwide network of 31 University of Technology Centres engaging with hundreds of academics and researchers. Also presents the critical impact of collaborative research, developing the fundamental technology, tools and skills required by Rolls-Royce, maintaining scientific excellence.

EngD poster events were held at the Heritage Museum in addition to a variety of DTC stands, exhibiting their research with potential application to Rolls-Royce technologies. Universities including Nottingham, Bristol, Southampton, Surrey, and Birmingham have participated.

This event demonstrates the continued commitment from Rolls-Royce to invest in the next-generation of engineering challenges, and the value of the EngD programme for the transfer of skills and development from academia towards the industry.

(contributed by Lee Pardoe, EngD research engineer at Southampton University)

YES to engineering entrepreneurship!

Engineering YES (Young Entrepreneurs Scheme) is a simple and direct way for universities to educate researchers all about innovation commercialisation. Fundamentally, it is a team-based training event. YES take a “hot house” approach, exposing participants to a fast-paced, experiential environment. All training is delivered by business and industry specialists (covering areas including Intellectual Property, finance, marketing, routes to market, venture capital, etc).

Each team brings a “future possible” idea for an engineering-related technology or service which could be taken to market. This is normally loosely based on the real research of one of the team members. They apply their learning to this idea as they develop a business plan to bring it to market. Their plan is presented orally to a panel of industry judges on the third day of the event.

YES 2014 involved 125 researchers grouped into 25 researcher teams from 12 different UK Universities, and around 50 speakers, mentors and judges from business and industry (eg: Rolls-Royce, E.ON), patent attorneys, venture capitalists and engineering entrepreneurs.

Applications for the 2015 competition need to be submitted by 13 March, with regional heats taking place during April, May and June, ahead of a grand final in Birmingham on 17 June.

Funding

Researchers need to be funded onto the programme by their home universities. Historically, this has led to the event being dominated by researchers from larger red-brick universities, but even central funding streams at these institutions are running out, so the event is looking for more industry support. According to YES coordinator Dr Jo Gilman:

"We work without any central funding and fund our programme using a “pay by participant” model – so each university that sends researchers to us pay fees for each person they send. The average spend for a team of researchers is around £4,000."

If you would like to know more about the scheme and/or help with increasing its central sponsorship, please email Jo.

Engineer yourself a lucrative career

"i-Education", within the Independent newspaper's succinct sister edition, yesterday (4 April 2013) had a feature on the demand for technical qualifications. Journalist Amy McLellan reported:

One increasingly popular alternative to the PhD, yet carrying the same academic weight, is the Engineering Doctorate. The qualification was launched in 1992 and it's thought around 2000 have either gained an EngD or are in the process of studying at one of 29 Industrial Doctorate Centres. Each has its own speciality, from formulation engineering at the University of Birmingham, to nanomaterials at Surrey or nuclear engineering at Imperial or Manchester.

"There is feedback from industry that they value the EngD very highly," says a spokesman for the Association of Engineering Doctorates. With a programme described as a four-year interview, research engineers spend 70 to 80 per cent of their time working on a research project for companies. "It fits them well for their future and the outputs from the research are not just valuable in terms of career advancement but also in terms of developing products, processes and intellectual property," says the spokesman. "It's very satisfying."