Research for your business
From micro-companies to large multinational enterprises, there are a number of ways for your business can benefit from our research.
Our range of schemes includes collaborative research and development projects, student internships, short-term consultancy and long-term consultancy. These can run from a few weeks to several years, depending on the requirements of your company.
The relative timescales of these options are illustrated in the attached table (PDF):
- Work placement timescales (341 KB)
Areas of expertise
With over 150 academic and research staff, and more than 250 postgraduate students, we have coverage across a wide range of physics and astronomy research areas. The attached infographic (PDF) lists some of the areas in which we have significant expertise:
Funding and pricing
As well as projects funded outright by business, we frequently secure funds via research council (RCUK) impact acceleration and innovations co-sponsorship programmes, Innovate UK schemes such as the Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) and European funding available through Horizon 2020.
Working arrangements
There is scope for a great deal of flexibility in collaborative partnerships, including:
- split-site working, where researchers may carry out activities both at the University and company premises;
- use of facilities, enabling industry scientists to access dedicated research equipment;
- secondments of staff, both into and out of the University;
- co-supervision of undergraduate and postgraduate students, where both an industry sponsor and academic will have responsibility for the teaching and development of a student;
- IP agreements, where both partners can benefit from new discoveries;
- perks for industry partners, including official visitor status, access to cross-disciplinary research groups, facilities, international collaborations and overseas markets.
