University of Birmingham Revamps EPSRC CDT in Formulation Engineering to Address Net-Zero Challenges

The University of Birmingham’s long-standing EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Formulation Engineering is one of 65 CDTs to secure a share of £1 billion in funding, the UK’s biggest-ever investment in engineering and physical sciences doctoral skills, as announced today by Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan.

The funding consists of a £500 million investment from UK Research and Innovation and the Ministry of Defence, with a further £590 million from universities and business partners. The 65 Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) CDTs will support leading research in areas of national importance, including critical technologies such as AI, quantum technologies, semiconductors, telecoms, and engineering biology.

Science and Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan said: “As innovators across the world break new ground faster than ever, it is vital that government, business and academia invest in ambitious UK talent, giving them the tools to pioneer new discoveries that benefit all our lives while creating new jobs and growing the economy.

“By targeting critical technologies, including artificial intelligence and future telecoms, we are supporting world-class universities across the UK to build the skills base we need to unleash the potential of future tech and maintain our country’s reputation as a hub of cutting-edge research and development.”

The Birmingham EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Formulation Engineering – Formulation for Net Zero will equip graduates with the skills to manufacture the next generation of formulated products at net zero. Formulated products, including foods, fuel cell and battery electrode materials, pharmaceuticals, paints, catalysts, structured ceramics, coatings, cosmetics, detergents and agrochemicals, are central to UK prosperity (sector size > £95bn GVA in 2021, UK data). The new CDT will be based in the University’s School of Chemical Engineering, building on over twenty years of development of new technologies and leadership in formulation engineering in support of UK manufacturing, as recognised with a Queen’s Anniversary Prize in 2011.

The new Formulation for Net Zero strategy, developed with industry partners including Celanese, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Jacobs Douwe Egberts, Johnson Matthey, GSK, Innospec, Bristol Myers Squibb, AstraZeneca and Rolls-Royce, will apply digital manufacturing approaches to the design of new formulated products to be manufactured and used at Net Zero. This will require new and optimised processes which combine decarbonised energy sources with green raw materials sourced from non-petrochemical or recycled materials.

Elspeth F Micklem, Chair of the Industrial Management Committee for the CDT and Global Director of Product Engineering at Unilever, said: “This new focus for the CDT – FFN0 – is positioned to make a unique contribution to the design, manufacture and future scale-up of net zero formulated products, by applying digital approaches to complex multi-disciplinary multi-component challenges with incoming industrial application”.

The new Director for the Centre, Professor Mark Simmons said: “I’m delighted that the new CDT will be spearheading the drive to Net Zero with our world-class formulation industry partners, which will lead to exciting new products, underpinned by digitalisation and zero-carbon approaches to materials choice, processing and use”.

The University of Birmingham will support a second CDT to receive funding, the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Aerosol Science: Harnessing Aerosol Science for Improved Security, Resilience and Global Health, led by the University of Bristol.