Plant&Equipment

Introducing the
EngD award
at Loughborough
University
The Centre for Innovative and
Collaborative Engineering
(CICE) was setup in 1999 after
an expansion of the EPSRC’s
prestigious Engineering
Doctorate (EngD) Programme.
The key objectives of the
Centre are:
To sustain a high quality
research and training
programme that meets the
needs of the construction
industry, and enhances its
knowledge base.
To maintain close partnership
with the industry sponsors in
addressing their core
technical and business
needs, and to broaden
industry participation in
the Centre.
To produce high calibre
doctoral graduates that can
drive innovation in the
industry with a high level of
technical, managerial and
business competence.
The Centre is funded by the
EPSRC and a group of over
40 industrial sponsors. Initial
funding for the first 5 years
consisted of £4M in cash and
over £2M of ‘in kind’ support.
Further funding has been
secured for another 5 years.
The Centre (CICE) had its first
intake of Research Engineers
(REs) in October 1999. The
Research Engineers (who are
recruited from a combination
of top class graduates and
experienced engineers from
the sponsoring firms) are
awarded the degree of ‘Doctor of
Engineering’ (EngD) after 4 years
of advanced study and research.
Research Engineers who
are recruited onto the EngD
Programme receive a stipend
of £14,100k per annum (as of
October 2007). In addition they
are paid a minimum of £3k per
annum from the sponsoring
company, which can be
increased to any amount but
cannot exceed the basic stipend.
This equates to a MINIMUM of
£17,100k tax free p.a. In addition
to the minimum top up paid by
the sponsoring company an
annual Centre contribution of £3k
is payable to the Centre for each
year that it has an RE. Tuition
fees are paid by the University at
home student rate.
Many of the Researchers are
seconded onto the programme
from their employing companies,
who put forward a project title
that their Research Engineer
will work on. The benefit of this
is two-fold: the company keeps
their employee and benefits from
the findings of their research,
advertising feature
in addition to receiving a
contribution of £10k pa which, as
an industrial studentship, is paid
to the company (the Researcher
does not receive a top up as
they stay on the company
payroll). The only outlay from the
company is thus the £3k annual
centre contribution for each
year that they have a Research
Engineer.
The Researchers are also happy
as they still benefit from company
perks such as the pension
scheme and working with their
current employers.
Further benefits for the
company include:
strengthened links between
academia and industry;
the opportunity to help
academia understand industry
problems (as the company
puts forward the project);
cost effective funding for
research;
access to a wealth of
expertise;
the ability to groom potential
employees; and
the chance to tackle a
problem in a new way
(including longer-term issues)
If you or any of your
employees are interested
in the EngD award, then
please contact:
Dr David J. Edwards
Senior Lecturer
Loughborough University
email:
D.J.Edwards@lboro.ac.uk
February 2008
43