Recruitment for September 2020 has started, with a University wide open day held over the summer. My first experience driving an electric car was parking this University owned vehicle in a prominent spot for the day.
A beautiful day and our Open day in full swing @EngineeringNCL @StudentsNCL pic.twitter.com/zaNs0hLCdD
— Colin Davie (@CDavie250576) June 28, 2019
Two weeks later summer graduation was held – there was a good range of students that I taught in their third year, plus fourth year tutees graduating that I have known since their first year. Amongst a focus of research impact it is easy to forget that graduated students are probably the greatest ‘pathway to impact’ for the university. Its also the time of year when you get to see the academic’s true colours.
This year’s E3 academy summer school was held in Oxford, including an impressive tour of the YASA manufacturing facilities (https://www.yasa.com/ ). A really pioneering British electric motor manufacturer. Photos from the summer school, including this one, and more information about E3 Academy in general can be found from their facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/eee3Academy
For the second year in a row I was delighted to be involved in a STEM outreach project at Beamish Open Air museum. The challenge was to build a crane, here are some of the designs from the school I visited
@BeamishLearning Great day encouraging some budding new engineers !@power_group_ncl@stemNewcastle@EngineeringNCL pic.twitter.com/6ZrbrUVE3w
— nick baker (@dr_nick_baker) July 5, 2019
and here is an action shot of me acting as one of the competition judges.
Fab day today inspiring the next generation of young people into STEM careers #BeamishCrankItUp @Beamish_Museum @BeamishLearning @dr_nick_baker @STEMNewcastle pic.twitter.com/9508NP1iSD
— Amanda (@funkyhairchick) July 5, 2019
In research, two of our papers were presented at the 12th International Symposium on Linear Drives for Industry Applications (LDIA) conference in Switzerland: One summarising the EDRIVE project (DOI: 10.1109/LDIA.2019.8771015) which won an award
https://twitter.com/dr_nick_baker/status/1148586630430769155
– and one hinting at the next linear machine we intend to build DOI: 10.1109/LDIA.2019.8771011
A successful outcome for my (now ex) PhD Student M.A.H. Raihan as he passed his viva this month. Congratulations
In recent months I did a small piece of work to help a local firm trying to develop appropriate affordable wind energy technology for use in rural South America. Part of the university’s commitment to work with SMEs in the North East. https://www.ncl.ac.uk/work-with-us/expert-solutions/arrow/ . A nice project that I would have liked to spend more time on.
Driving the Electrical Revolution. We have known this was coming for some time, but it has now been formally announced that the UK government intends to invest £80 million over 4 years to help UK businesses seize the opportunities presented by the transition to a low carbon economy. It aims to ensure the UK leads the world in the design, development and manufacture of power electronic, machines and drives (PEMD). Good news for those of us involved in electric machine design and passionate about low carbon technologies. More details about the first call available here.
https://apply-for-innovation-funding.service.gov.uk/competition/405/overview#scope
