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Warwick Grant to Bolster Skills in Power Electronics, Machines, Drives

October 30, 2022 by Stephanie Leonida

The University of Warwick’s competition-winning Warwick Electrification Development (WELD) program received £1 million in grant funding to promote industrial workforce development.

To ensure that the world aligns with the goals of the historic Paris Agreement and continues on the path toward electrification of transport (on the ground or in the air) and other critical carbon-emitting sectors, green technologies must be developed and implemented. The people behind creating such technologies and others that can generate them must also be developed. The skills gap across power electronics, machines, and drives (PEMD) must be addressed.

 

The University of Warwick will use its WELD program to train the workforce of the future with PEMD skills. Image used courtesy of Sensiba San Filippo LLP

 

The University of Warwick has received £1 million in grant funding to help launch its competition-winning Warwick Electrification Deployment (WELD) program.

 

WELD Program Addresses PEMD Capabilities

The WELD program was selected as a winner of Innovate UK’s ‘Driving the Electric Revolution: Building Talent for the Future 2’ competition. The competition invited applicants to bring forward meaningful methods for addressing industrial gaps and needs concerning PEMD workforce skills, training capabilities, and the talent pipeline in the United Kingdom. This competition began on March 11 and ended on April 27, 2022.

The University of Warwick’s globally recognized research and education entity, Warwick Manufacturing Group, and the School of Engineering's Power Electronics group will use the university’s facilities, as well as its testing and manufacturing capabilities, to contribute to the WELD program.

 

Listen to Margot James, the executive chair at WMG, University of Warwick, as she provides an overview of the WMG Skills Center. Video used courtesy of WMG Warwick
 

Under the program, new educational content on power electronics, eMachines, and drives will be created to enhance the skills of the existing workforce and encourage a new generation to join the future workforce.

In today’s sustainability-focused society, transitioning from fossil-fuel-based to electrically powered technologies will require workers with design, manufacturing, and maintenance skills for electric drivetrains. The WELD project will progress with designing Ingress Protection-free electric propulsion motors (eMachines). The manufacture, building, and testing of these devices will be done on campus to offer a hands-on learning experience.

 

Image used courtesy of Adobe Stock

 

WELD to Hone Skills, Inspire Future Engineers

As opposed to higher education courses currently available, the WELD program is set to deliver tailored workshops and hands-on learning to establish the future industrial workforce.
The University of Warwick’s latest newly won funds will go toward filling the gap in international and national PEMD skills, as well as paving the way for engineering graduates to step into the industry through new Automotive Electrification and PEMD Masters of Sciences degrees. Further outreach will also bring knowledge to new learners to inspire the next generation of engineers.