Engineering research highlights
• A project jointly funded by the Technology Strategy Board and industrial partners, has exploited laser additive manufacturing to produce high value aerospace components. Dr Liang Hao and Professor Ken Evans developed an innovative laser technique to polish the additive manufacturing components, improving their quality and reducing post-processing time and cost. The recently launched Centre for Additive Layer Manufacturing (CALM) is funded by EADS Ltd, the SWRDA and the ERDF and will help develop new manufacturing technology.
• The Centre for Water Systems at the University of Exeter receives, on average, £2-3 million of research grants every year to investigate a wide range of complex issues. These relate to effective and efficient management of urban water systems in view of future climate change and urbanisation leading to increasing sustainability of these systems. The Centre is co-led by Professors David Butler and Dragan Savic, both of whom were recently selected alongside 31 other specialists from across the globe to be Fellows for the International Water Association (IWA).
• A team of engineers have received a US$1.1 million Grand Challenges Explorations grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to support an innovative global health research project which could help tackle one of the world’s biggest killers – malaria. Early results suggest that the new diagnostic technique could be as effective as rapid diagnostic tests, but far faster and cheaper. Professor Dave Newman, Dr Luke Savage, Dr Raphael Matelon and Dr Lesley Wears have now developed a small, portable device that is being tested in trials in rural areas of Kenya.
