Midlands Industrial Ceramics Group (MICG) has invited a panel of experts from industry and academia to form an external advisory group as part of its £18.7 million Strength in Places Fund (SIPF) programme.
MICG will receive advice and recommendations on the future applications of its Advanced Ceramics research and development work from members of the new group. MICG is made-up of blue-chip companies, universities and SMEs, including Rolls-Royce, Lucideon and Morgan Advanced Materials, as well as the universities of Birmingham, Leicester and Loughborough.
Members of the external advisory group include Landon Mertz, the CEO of Cerion Nanomaterials, Ben Melrose, International Syalons’ Technical Director, James Wade-Zhu, UK Atomic Energy Authority’s Senior Materials Engineer and Richard Todd, a Professor of Materials at the University of Oxford.
Dr. Gilda Gasparini, MICG spokesperson, said: “The external advisory group features experts from the advanced ceramics sector and related customer industries.
“It’s an exciting development for MICG and will bring insight and resources to support our continued progress.
“The group’s remit is to give advice and make recommendations to MICG, with a focus on addressing developing technologies to help tackle industry challenges faced now and in the future.”
MICG was allocated £18.27 million in government funding through UK Research and Innovation’s flagship Strength in Places Fund (SIPF) in 2021.
Since then, it has gone from strength-to-strength, with the funds being used to create a world-leading industrial and academic research and development programme, with the aim of developing a cluster of new businesses in the Midlands and strengthening the supply chain in the region.
Dr. Gasparini added: “MICG works collectively to make a difference to the Midlands region and to advance the local economy, creating high-value roles in a multi-billion global industry. “We are looking forward to drawing on the support and governance of the external advisory group to continue our progress.”