The University of Nottingham has launched a new research centre with a partner in Shanghai, to find low-carbon solutions to some of the world’s most pressing energy and environmental challenges.
The new Joint Centre on Low Carbon Research (JCLCR) has been established in conjunction with the Shanghai Advanced Research Institute.
Operated jointly by the Shanghai Advanced Research Institute (SARI) and The University of Nottingham, the centre will cooperate on research projects, student and staff exchange programmes and seminars.
World-leading energy research
The £1m SARI - University of Nottingham centre, is a signature initiative between two of the leading research institutions in China and the UK’s, both with world-leading research strengths in the energy sector.
The JCLR will also create an innovation bridge between the Midlands and China. It is also very relevant, as the Government’s £60m Energy Research Accelerator (ERA) will be based in the Midlands - at Nottingham, Birmingham and Warwick, and with connections to Loughborough, Leicester and Aston.
Research will focus on carbon capture, utilisation and storage, waste biomass and biomass and lignite. Industry partners include Lu’An Group, BP and Johnson Matthey.
Funding opportunities
Under the agreement, the University will work with SARI to identify and apply for a range of funding opportunities, and will also combine expertise and intellectual property in order to create strong applications where appropriate.
Professor Colin Snape, The University of Nottingham’s lead on the centre, said: “The new Joint Centre on Low Carbon Research will act as an exemplar for the University’s engagement strategy with Asia. It is also a groundbreaking initiative, as research will be coordinated to generate joint Intellectual Property for the new technologies to be developed.”
Professor Yuhan Sun, vice present of the Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, added: “I believe the joint centre in low carbon technologies will be a vehicle to accelerate the promising collaboration between us for the R&D of low-carbon energy conversion technologies.”
A long-term relationship
The establishment of the Joint Centre on Low Carbon Research marks the culmination of a long-term relationship between The University of Nottingham and SARI. Over the last five years, the partnership has involved two joint EPSRC-National Science Foundation (NSF) China projects on new materials for CO2 capture. These projects have made significant advances in ways to reduce the energy penalty and the cost associated with CO2 capture from power plants, and have also formed the basis for Nottingham and SARI to work together to take these advances forward. The collaboration has been further strengthened by the appointment of Colin Snape as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at SARI.
For more information about the Joint Centre on Low Carbon Research, contact Professor Colin Snape at The University of Nottingham.
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Notes to editors: The University of Nottingham has 43,000 students and is ‘the nearest Britain has to a truly global university, with a “distinct” approach to internationalisation, which rests on those full-scale campuses in China and Malaysia, as well as a large presence in its home city.’ (Times Good University Guide 2016). It is also one of the most popular universities in the UK among graduate employers and the winner of ‘Research Project of the Year’ at the Times Higher Education Awards 2014. It is ranked in the world’s top 75 by the QS World University Rankings 2015/16, and 8th in the UK by research power according to the Research Excellence Framework 2014. It has been voted the world’s greenest campus for three years running, according to Greenmetrics Ranking of World Universities.
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