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Overview
The National Technical Platform for Materials Innovation (NTPMI) is a four year programme which aims to empower, share expertise and best practice, and break down silos across the Research Technical Professional (RTP) community in materials innovation and associated manufacturing technology. The programme is led by the Henry Royce Institute and funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
RTPs are crucial to the effective operation of research infrastructure across the UK. They have a vital role in deploying their skills and experience to support both academic and industrial research and development, as well as to train users in the latest techniques and methods.
The NTPMI will focus on delivering training, development, and professional networking opportunities for Research Technical Professionals across the UK’s materials innovation community and in the process increase visibility of RTPs.
The NTPMI is centred around four key areas that underpin materials innovation:
(i) make, (ii) test, (iii) characterise and (iv) modelling. Within this, we will focus on themes including technical innovation, automation, novel techniques, equipment and capability development, training methods, teaching tools, and creating a connected and visible community.
Our activities will include technical workshops and masterclasses in a range of techniques, visits and secondments to equipment suppliers or manufacturers, non-technical skills training, conferences and external engagement. The platform will naturally align to many of the existing Royce research areas and will engage with existing national networks, community of practices and initiatives in the respective fields related to materials innovation.
Contact Us
Project Lead
The platform is led by Royce Chief Technology Officer, Prof Tony Horner with co-leads from across Royce partners nationally.
“As the UK institute for advanced materials Royce is in a unique position in the research infrastructure to bring together a community of practice for all of the UK’s materials RTPs, not just those at Royce Partners. RTP team members both here and across the UK make major contributions to all our innovation endeavours – running experiments, offering insights and of course providing training to researchers.
“Importantly we work closely with a range of innovative companies which play a critical role in the career progression of the RTP community – and these collaborations will really support the aims of the New Research Technical Platform initiative.”
Prof David Knowles | CEO, Henry Royce Institute
Our Partners
Meet the Team
Project Lead: Tony Horner, Royce Chief Technology Officer
Co-Leads:
Peter Petrov, Imperial College London
TBC, National Nuclear Laboratory
Andy Pollard, National Physical Laboratory
Jason Robinson, University of Cambridge
Nadia Stelmashenko, University of Cambridge
Mark Rosamond, University of Leeds
TBC, University of Liverpool
Ross Nolan, University of Manchester
Colin Johnston, University of Oxford
Rob Deffley, University of Sheffield
Michael King, University of Strathclyde
Project Mentors:
Brad Wynne, University of Strathclyde
Training and Skills:
Tom Hancocks, Royce Training and Skills Manager
Project Management:
Helen Allwood, Royce Senior Project Manager
Join Our Community
We will be launching our first series of training events and secondment opportunities soon. Be the first to know about these, by signing up to our mailing list, or email us on: ntpmi@royce.ac.uk.