Newcastle and Northumbria Universities to Lead £1.38m National Coatings Network
The UK Network+ for Sustainable Coatings aims to make a £45bn industry greener, with Durham, Teesside and Sunderland Software City also involved.
- The network has £1.38m from the EPSRC to run for 42 months.
- The UK coatings sector is worth an estimated £45bn a year and supports 635,000 jobs.
- 23 organisations are involved, including Durham and Teesside universities.
Northumbria and Newcastle universities will lead a new national network to make the UK’s coatings industry more sustainable, after securing £1.38m of funding.
The UK Network+ for Sustainable Coatings will act as a national hub for research, innovation and collaboration with industry. The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is funding it for 42 months.
A big industry
The coatings sector is worth an estimated £45bn a year to the UK economy and supports 635,000 jobs.
The network will build a community of experts across materials science, surface engineering, digital technologies and circular manufacturing, connecting academia, industry, government and innovation organisations.
Strong North East presence
It is co-led by Professor Elizabeth Gibson of Newcastle University and Professor Matt Unthank of Northumbria University. Of the 23 organisations involved, Teesside University and Durham University have also joined, and Sunderland Software City is a founding member.
Unthank said the network would create, support and nurture long-lasting collaborations between industry and academia, which he said had often been hard to forge.
