Jaguar Land Rover has announced that they are to fund a new Chair (Professor) in WMG at the University of Warwick as a key element in their strategic relationship with WMG.

The new Chair is not expected to be a lone appointment, they will lead a new team which will achieve international research leadership in simulation support of the vital complex hybrid and battery electric component and systems innovation, so essential to enable JLR to embrace and robustly deploy these new vehicle technologies and continue to successfully compete in the automotive sector into the Low Carbon future.

The new Chair is part of a long term vision to ensure that the research base has capacity in key research areas necessary to deliver JLR’s bold vision for the future of their digital research agenda, building on WMG’s already formidable research record in the application of digital technologies to manufacturing

As Professor Lord Bhattacharyya, Chairman and founder of WMG says: “This new JLR Chair will help drive forward the research challenge in the area of digital product innovation a key enabler of the creation process for future advanced vehicle technologies and essential to their robust introduction.”

Tony Harper, Head of Research and Advanced System Engineering at JLR said “The new Chair in Simulation Innovation supporting the emerging product technologies of batteries, battery modules and their related systems integration, is such a new area of innovation that is 30 years behind existing simulation capability for the equivalent mechanical technologies. The appointment of this Chair reflects our sense of urgency and the extent of academic challenge essential to drive forward Simulation Capability in this product domain.”

The JLR Chair is the second industry-sponsored Chair to be secured by WMG in recent months, with the Royal Academy of Engineering and Tata Steel funding a new Research Chair in Low Carbon Materials. WMG is currently recruiting to this post, which will lead to the development of low carbon materials technology that will benefit manufacturers large and small.

For more information please contact Professor Richard Dashwood on R.Dashwood@warwick.ac.uk