Launch of welding partnership bonds cutting edge research with industrial know-how
A partnership forged between academia and industry aims to strengthen our knowledge of the science of welding in order to train and equip the next generation of engineers.
Launched on 6 September, the Materials Innovation Centre (MatIC) is a long-term strategic partnership between TWI and the University focusing on materials characterisation, materials modelling and novel materials development.
Senior representatives from the University, TWI and of the regional business community marked the start of the partnership with a launch event at the University.
TWI is one of the world’s foremost independent research and technology organisations, with expertise in materials joining and engineering processes as applied in industry. By working collaboratively, the two organisations aim to harness their existing research capability to drive forward new developments in metal processing and modelling.
Combining expertise from TWI and the University’s Department of Engineering, MatIC will operate from TWI’s newly constructed 25,000m2 world-class facilities in a thriving, industrially driven, professional working environment in Cambridge.
Professor Hongbiao Dong, from our Department of Engineering, said: "Through the partnership with TWI, MatIC aims to deliver 'use-inspired' research that meets both the current and future needs of metal industry, in the technical areas of advanced metallic materials, materials processing and modelling, physical metallurgy and failure mechanism, Structural assessment and mechanical performance. We are collaborating with the best people in their fields to achieve maximum benefit for the metal industry. It will be exciting when we all come together and a synergy develops from this collaboration between academia and industry."
Professor Jonathon Chambers, Head of Engineering, said that the MatIC Centre was a “great fit” with Leicester’s research capabilities in metals and alloys.
He said: “MatIC has made significant progress recently, may I congratulate the MatIC team for such a successful opening ceremony. This is a unique bridge between the academic community in the University of Leicester and industry, and I'm excited to see how it grows in our Department.”