Nineteen new CDTs to be announced by Universities and Science Minister

Jan 10 2014

Postgraduate training in a wide range of engineering and scientific fields important to the UK's economy will receive a boost today. Nineteen new Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs) will be announced by Universities and Science Minister, David Willetts.

Mr Willetts will make the announcement at 10.00am during a visit to Imperial College London, which will host three of the additional Centres.

The new CDTs come on top of the 72 Centres unveiled by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) in November 2013. EPSRC has been able to fund these new centres by renegotiating contracts with universities and by gaining further financial support from partners in industry and academia.

The minister will meet Directors of some of the CDTs and will also announce a £13 million investment for a suite of national wind tunnel facilities based across the UK.

Mr Willetts said: "The Government will be investing in a further 900 students through an additional 19 Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs), bringing our total investment in CDTs to £390 million. 

"In addition, universities, industry and other charitable partners will be adding a further £174 million to support the training of tomorrow's scientists and engineers. The combined public and private investment amounts to £764 million."

Professor David Delpy, Chief Executive of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), said: "The support of the academic and industrial communities has been tremendous and we would not have been able to fund these new centres without their cooperation. These new CDTs will provide training and advances in research in many areas of science and engineering including quantum technologies, manufacturing, robotics, energy and sustainability and brings the total number of Centres funded in this round to ninety one."

Source: http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/