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Welsh Secretary welcomes £2.5 million UK Government funding today

The £2.5million funding awarded to Swansea University via the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, creating 40 new research posts from September 2015 is a welcome boost for the University, says the Secretary of State for Wales David Jones yesterday (9 January).

The funding for Swansea University forms part of a wider announcement made by Universities and Science Minister, David Willetts today when he revealed 19 new Centres for Doctoral Training (CDT), including Swansea.

The funding allows Swansea to establish COATED2, a centre which will train researchers on how to develop new functional coatings for products. For example, new coatings on steel and glass mean that everyday buildings can generate, store and release energy, effectively turning a building into its own power station.

Some of the areas where Swansea researchers are already working, which are set to be boosted by today’s funding, include:

More efficient batteries which can store energy generated from photovoltaic coatings for use throughout the day. New coatings for coins, making them more durable, in a project with the Royal Mint Coatings for spacecraft which generate electricity from heat, in a project with the European Space Agency Smart packaging for retail products using large area plastic electronics

Major companies work with the Swansea team, including Tata Steel, BASF, the world’s largest chemical company, and NSG Pilkington, one of the world’s biggest manufacturers of glass.

Secretary of State for Wales David Jones said:

“Today’s funding announcement for Swansea University will create 40 research doctorate posts at Swansea University from September 2015 – a welcome boost to the groundbreaking research being taken forward in Wales.

“The University itself is going from strength to strength and making great strides in being one of the very best in science and research.

“The funding will spur the growth of new products and industries and also train the leaders of industry for the future – Swansea University continues to make a great contribution to the Welsh economy and the science field.”

Notes to Editors:

College of Engineering at Swansea University is ranked 8th in the UK and offers accredited degrees in a variety of disciplines, with 5-star rated teaching and established links with industry

SPECIFIC, an academic and industrial consortium led by Swansea University with Tata Steel as the main industrial partner, is funded by EPSRC, Technology Strategy Board and the Welsh Government.

The shared vision is to develop functional coated steel and glass products, for roofs and walls, that generate, store and release renewable energy - transforming buildings into power stations and delivering significant environmental and economic benefits.

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is the UK’s main agency for funding research in engineering and the physical sciences. EPSRC invests around £800 million a year in research and postgraduate training, to help the nation handle the next generation of technological change. The areas covered range from information technology to structural engineering, and mathematics to materials science.

Swansea University is a world-class research-led university located in beautiful parkland with views across Swansea Bay close to the Gower Peninsula, the UK’s first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The University was established in 1920 and currently offers around 350 undergraduate courses and 100 post-graduate courses to 14,500 undergraduate and postgraduate students. By September 2015, the University will have a new 65 acre Bay Campus to complement an upgraded Singleton Park Campus. Visit www.swansea.ac.uk. Swansea University is a registered charity. No. 1138342.

For more information, please contact Kevin Sullivan, Swansea University Public Relations Office, Tel: 01792 513245, or email: k.g.sullivan@swansea.ac.uk