Lancaster wins nanotechnology investment

Lancaster University is to play a key role in two new training centres that will generate scientists needed for Britain's future through strategic investment in the high-priority area of nanotechnology.

Lancaster University is receiving over £1m to expand theoretical research in the novel electronic material graphene (one or two atom thick graphitic layers), as part of a £5m Science & Innovation Award 'Maximising the Impact of Graphene Research on Innovation' shared with Manchester University, where graphene has been discovered by Professor Andre Geim FRS. The competitive Science & Innovation Awards are provided by EPSRC and HEFCE to guarantee the UK leadership in strategic research areas.

Lancaster University is also a partner in the Northwest Nanoscience Doctoral Training Centre (NOWNANO) led by Manchester University. NOWNANO aims to train 100 PhD students (half of those fully funded by EPSRC) who will receive taught courses in materials, nanoscience and nanotechnology and participate in multidisciplinary research projects ranging from the fundamentals of nanoscience to application of nanodevices in engineering and medicine.

Professor Vladimir Falko (Physics) who leads Lancaster's contributions in NOWNANO and the Science & Innovation Award said: ‘The participation of Lancaster condensed matter theorists in the Manchester-led DTC and Science & Innovation Award marks a new era of strategic cooperation between the two leading Universities in the North-West for training postgraduates and performing world-leading research in nanoelectronics, including the recent progress in the fundamental science of graphene and development of graphene-based devices.’

Lancaster is also set to receive around £5m to fund a new Digital Economy Innovation Centre to educate a new generation of PhD students. The funding will enable around 50 PhD students over 5 years to become the innovators of the future - trained to work at the cutting edge of the Digital Economy.