Midlands clean tech hub unveils new energy research centre

A £3m sustainability centre has been launched this week to provide a unique training programme for the nation's energy researchers and help plug the predicted skills gap that will develop as the UK moves to a low-carbon economy.

The Midlands Energy Graduate School (MEGS) is intended to provide expertise for knowledge transfer across the entire spectrum of energy research, while accelerating the supply of highly trained graduates and postgraduates with specialist knowledge in energy technologies and practical engineering skills.

The graduate school will also pilot and develop new methods of training and research collaboration and will be targeted at delivering engineers with the skills necessary to support the UK government's vision for a low-carbon economy based on renewable energy technologies and smart grid infrastructure.

MEGS will be run by the Midlands Energy Consortium (MEC) – a flagship collaboration between the University of Birmingham, Loughborough University and the University of Nottingham, which also hosts the £1bn UK Energy Technologies Institute.

Almost £3m of core funding for MEGS was awarded to the consortium this week by the Higher Education Funding Council for England.

Meanwhile, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council is providing more than £10m in funding to the MEC to train students in energy technologies through two centres for doctoral training, one focusing on clean fossil fuels and the other on hydrogen and fuel cell applications.

Recent evidence from the Energy Research Partnership has shown that there is a worsening shortage of graduates with high-level skills in emerging energy technologies, such as renewables.

Professor David Greenaway, vice chancellor of the University of Nottingham, said: "Energy is... a critical issue for the coming decades and the UK requires the skilled personnel to meet the challenges ahead. MEGS can make a significant contribution to providing appropriately skilled personnel."

The new MEGS centre will provide both core modules covering the energy system and transferable skills and specialist modules covering a wide range of energy technologies, including hydrogen and fuel cells; power generation and carbon capture; renewable energy; energy efficiency in the built environment; energy use in transport; electrical infrastructure and socio-economic and policy issues.

The graduate school will also seek financial support from industry to help fund specific research projects that could later result in commercialised products.

Ian Dwyer, business development executive for energy in the Energy Technologies Research Institute at the University of Nottingham, said that the new centre would provide benefits for both individual clean tech businesses and the wider economy.

"This significant initiative is good news for the MEC in developing its energy partnership, good news for the evolving energy industry which will benefit from the highly trained students emerging from MEGS, good news for students with interests in careers in sustainable energy, and good news for government and society in assisting the achievement of national targets for carbon dioxide emissions," he said.