Completed Materials & Manufacturing Chemistry

Sir Henry Royce Institute - Manchester Build

Funder EPSRC (part of UKRI)
Recipient organisation University of Manchester
Funding £112.9M
Period Mar 2016 — Feb 2022

In plain English

AI plain-English summary

The Sir Henry Royce Institute for Advanced Materials will build a national network of labs and equipment to turn new materials from lab discoveries into working products faster and more cheaply. The problem is a gap in the UK’s innovation chain. Researchers can invent a promising new material—a stronger alloy, a flexible electronic film, a better battery electrolyte—but translating that discovery into a manufactured product often takes years and costs too much. The Institute will provide the shared facilities, expertise, and training needed to close that gap. It will cover soft materials, functional materials, structural engineering materials, and energy materials, with a focus on sustainable use. If successful, the Institute could shorten the time from a materials breakthrough to a commercial product, making UK manufacturing more competitive. This matters for industries people rarely think about: lighter aircraft components, longer-lasting batteries, more efficient computer chips, and materials that withstand extreme heat or radiation in nuclear reactors. The Institute will also train the next generation of materials scientists in areas of national need.

View original technical description
As a national institute, The Sir Henry Royce Institute (SHRI) for Advanced Materials, will provide the missing 'link' in the UK innovation chain allowing the iterative design of advanced materials for various applications, at speed and reasonable cost, providing a critical component to delivering on the government's economic strategy. The Institute will reduce the time-scales to translate discoveries to applications, provide strategic leadership together with training and career development in areas of particular need. The aim is to establish the Sir Henry Royce Institute for Advanced Materials as an 'An international flagship for the accelerated discovery and development of new materials systems for the economic and societal benefit of the UK.'. The SHRI will cover the invention and manufacture of Soft Materials; Functional Materials; Structural Engineering Materials and Energy Materials along with the necessary facilities to test and characterise them within a framework that emphasises the sustainable use of materials. Initially there will be 9 core material areas led by founding partners. Chemical materials discovery Biomedical materials and devices Materials for energy efficient ICT Atoms to devices 2D Materials systems Advanced Metals Processing Materials systems for demanding environments Energy Storage Nuclear materials

View the original record at the funder ↗

Researchers

Martin Schroder (Principal Investigator)Philip Withers (Co-Investigator)

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Original classification

Research Grant

Plain English summaries and category classifications on this site are generated by AI and may not perfectly reflect the original research.