DCU chosen as host location for Ireland-UK Doctoral Training Centre in Advanced Manufacturing

Dublin City University warmly welcomes the announcement that it has been chosen as the host location for the establishment of a Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Advanced Metallic Systems (AMS).

The designation is a joint award by the state agency Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the UK's main organisation for funding research in engineering and the physical sciences.

The Centre will train 26 PhD research students within Ireland over the coming nine years and 75 PhD researchers in the UK. The Irish component is funded by SFI and the UK component by the EPSRC. The PhD projects will be industry-problem-based projects for companies sponsoring the AMS CDT.

The CDT is a collaboration between the University of Sheffield, University of Manchester, University College Dublin and Dublin City University, and the Irish component is led by Prof Dermot Brabazon at DCU.

Commenting on the announcement, President of Dublin City University Professor Brian MacCraith said:

“DCU is delighted to have been chosen as the host location for the Centre for Doctoral Training. The University has established a significant reputation in the areas of advanced manufacturing and processing technology and the establishment of the centre at DCU is an endorsement of our expertise in this area. DCU has a particularly strong focus on the development of skilled talent appropriate to the major needs of the 21st century economy and, through the new centre, we will make a significant contribution in this area by supporting over a hundred PhD students.

The manufacturing sector is the second largest employer in Ireland and the centre will play a key role in both growing our knowledge base in the area of metallics manufacturing and in responding to industry’s skills needs.”

Professor Dermot Brabazon said:

“The UK and Ireland has a critical shortage of doctoral level metallic materials specialists, which impacts on our competitive manufacturing capabilities. In this CDT, we deliver 4-year doctoral projects with technical and leadership training for STEM graduates, designed specifically for and with industry, to support high-value manufacturing across the whole supply chain, from fundamental research through to high economy impact industrial delivery.

This is a great opportunity for the PhD researcher to gain the skills and experience needed to become leaders in the dynamic area of advanced manufacturing, as well as for the sponsoring companies to solve their manufacturing challenges while directly accessing the next generation of highly-trained graduates. In providing this training, the expertise and facilities at DCU fit well with those at the universities of Sheffield, Manchester and UCD. In particular, the complementary metal additive manufacturing, powder metallurgy, laser processing facilities, staff research expertise, industry engagement, and training facilities all enable a much higher level of training provision than would be otherwise possible.”

Dublin City University is home to three internationally-recognised manufacturing centres: I-Form, the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, APT, the Advanced Processing Technology Research Centre, and the Fraunhofer Project Centre ( Centre for Embedded BioAnalytical Systems), all funded by Science Foundation Ireland.