Professor Guy Brown, Faculty Director of Internationalisation, hosted Professor Matthew Mench and colleagues from UT's Tickle College of Engineering for discussions on collaboration with the Faculty of Engineering. The visit included a tour of the Diamond building with time spent with faculty colleagues concluding in signing the MoU with Dr Malcolm Butler, Director of Global Engagement. The party from UT also made an extended visit to the AMRC to discuss potential collaborations.
The MoU aims to establish collaborative projects between the two institutions, sharing common interests in several fields, including advanced manufacturing, materials science, and aerospace engineering. This shared expertise suggests strong potential for future collaborations.
Professor Brown said: “We toured the University's Diamond building which supports multidisciplinary engineering education across our four schools as well as touring the Royce Discovery Centre, to learn about early-stage research on materials discovery and processing. We also took our visitors on a tour of the National Epitaxy Facility which supports semiconductor research across the UK by providing high-quality semiconductor epitaxy.
“We are looking forward to building connections with the Center for Advanced Materials and Manufacturing at UT, in particular. We have many shared interests including atomic force microscopy and the development of quantum materials.”
The partnership will greatly benefit students at both Sheffield and UT through an exchange program, offering valuable academic and research opportunities. It is expected that UT will be added as a destination to Sheffield's existing engineering year abroad program, which allows undergraduates to spend an extra year at a partner institution between their second and final years.
In addition, Sheffield will be running the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Machining, Assembly, and Digital Engineering for Manufacturing (MADE4Manufacturing) from September 2025 and PhD student exchanges are expected between the CDT and UT.
This June, 30 engineering students will gain hands-on experience in our Diamond building as part of their "Engineering in London" study abroad program.
The majority of the experience starts in London where the students will visit significant engineering sights and museums in London and surrounding areas while also completing two courses required for most engineering programs. During the first three weeks, students will engage in a combination of coursework and course-related excursions as well as several culturally-significant events.
Their last full week will be spent in Sheffield where they will undertake research projects in the Electronic and Thermodynamics labs and participate in social activities during their month-long study-abroad experience.
Professor Andrew Garrard, Head of Multidisciplinary Engineering Education, said: “Collaborations like this one are incredibly important for both the university and students as they foster global connections as well as providing students with an opportunity to use our world-class Diamond building.
“We're hoping this programme will be a blueprint for subsequent summer schools that we can offer to other institutions and we can carry on showcasing our incredible facilities and teaching to students.”
Running from 23rd to 27th June, the Summer Schools will be delivered by Professor Garrard from Multidisciplinary Engineering Education and Jo MacKenzie and Laura Wilson from the Faculty office. More information about the programme can be found here.