Industrial CASE Account - University of Cambridge 2016

The University of Cambridge will train a new generation of engineers and physical scientists through a partnership with industry, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. This grant supports a "CASE Account" — a scheme that places PhD students directly into companies for part of their training. The problem it addresses is a persistent gap between academic research and commercial application. Too often, promising fundamental science never makes it out of the lab because researchers lack exposure to real-world manufacturing constraints, market needs, or industrial workflows. By embedding students in partner organisations, the programme ensures that their doctoral work tackles problems that matter to industry from day one. If successful, this approach could shorten the time it takes for new materials, devices, or processes to reach production. It may also produce graduates who are equally comfortable in a university cleanroom and a factory floor — people who can translate between the language of fundamental science and the language of engineering at scale. The immediate impact is on the students themselves, but the downstream effect is on the UK’s ability to turn research into products that compete globally.