Tata Steel establishes new chair at UK varsity

Updated on: Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Tata Steel RD&T and the Royal Academy of Engineering are jointly funding a new Chair for research into Low Carbon Materials Technology at the University of Warwick.

The two partners will put 600,000 pounds into the new Research Chair based at the Warwick Manufacturing Group at the university.

WMG Director Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya 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."

He added, "This research has already produced vital research for major manufacturers and has also helped many SMEs in the West Midlands region."

The new Chair will lead to the development of even more low carbon materials technology that will benefit manufacturers large and small, a university release said.

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 inpidual to this post."

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."

Tata Steel Research, Development and Technology has technology centres in Teesside and Rotherham in the UK, IJmuiden in the Netherlands and Jamshedpur in India.

The work carried out by its scientists, researchers and engineers focuses on process and product innovations, enhancing the Group's competitiveness by improving the quality, applicability and sustainability of steels.

RD&T collaborates with universities and research institutes all over the world, as well as with major customers in the automotive, transport, construction and packaging markets.

WMG was founded by Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya in 1980 in order to reinvigorate UK manufacturing.

The Group started small: just an office, the Professor and his secretary. Currently, there are over 450 staff working across four buildings at Warwick, with education centres in six countries and an annual programme of over 120 million pounds.

Tata Steel establishes new chair at UK varsity

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