Coastal STEMfest goes with a BIG BANG!!!!

Coastal STEMfest culminated with a highly successful Big Bang at Butlins on March 3rd. Over 700 young people from 20 schools attended a day of noisy and colourful interactive displays, shows and hands-on activities provided by local businesses and other organisations aimed at bringing science and engineering to life. Many thanks to GSK and Rayner for participating and inspiring the next generation of health and life sciences talent.

Are you STEM company in Mid Sussex?  Can you help out with Mid Sussex Science Week?

Two schools in Mid Sussex are seeking partners for Mid Sussex Science Week (June 13th-17th). The week will consist of a project based activity to be determined between the company and the school with a fair at the end of the week in which participating schools and companies will present their projects and the winners will receive a prize.

If you are interested in helping out please contact Pete Bradbury pete.bradbury@westsussex.gov.uk.   

Nuffield Placements- could you change a local student’s life this summer?

The Nuffield Foundation provides over 1,000 bright students (age 16/17 ) each year the opportunity to work alongside scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians over a 4-6 week period in their summer holidays.

Local companies in Sussex interested in hosting one or more students for a research/development based project are needed. By offering a placement to a local student you will support your staff’s mentoring/management skills, demonstrate your commitment to public engagement and corporate social responsibility, and help develop and inspire the future Science workforce.

For more information please view or email nuffield@brighton.ac.uk

Industrial CASE Studentships

The Medical Research Council (MRC) has announced an opportunity to fund a collaborative studentship for doctoral students with a non-academic partner, the deadline for the bid submission is 14 July 2016.

Companies need to provide an industrial supervisor and a 3 month placement. If a company has less than 250 employees, MRC will cover the £1,400 to the university and £2,500 top up to the student stipend (this will be provided no matter the size of company).

Please contact the named individuals below if you wish to collaborate with the following universities:

- Sussex: Eduardo Hernandez

- Brighton: Jennifer Wells 

- Surrey: Yvonne Dunstone 

The University of Sussex Skills and Workforce Offer

The UoS Skills and Workforce Offer can now be found on our website. The University of Sussex has circa 1800 undergraduates studying degree related disciplines. The Offer has been specifically designed for the West Sussex Health and Life Sciences Cluster and features the numerous ways you can access talented students and collaborate with the University.  

The West Sussex Health and Life Sciences Event at the University of Sussex

On March 10th the University of Sussex hosted an event for the West Sussex Health and Life Sciences Cluster. Professor John Atack started the evening by providing a very interesting tour around the Sussex Drug Discovery Centre. Attendees were then treated to presentations on topics such as Bio markers, health entrepreneurships and 3D printing in healthcare delivery. There were also ample opportunities for cluster members to engage with representatives from the various Schools at the University.

Thank you to Eduardo Hernadez for organising the evening and to everyone that participated in making the evening a success. We have received some very positive feedback from the event and it looks like there are some encouraging collaborations emerging.  

Knowledge Exchange Event-The Future of Pharmaceutical Supply Chains

On March 3rd a one-day knowledge exchange event arranged by Samuel Roscoe, brought together industry and academic experts to map the future challenges facing the pharmaceutical supply chain.  Particular attention was paid to how redistributed manufacturing techniques (i.e. 3D printing) could enhance the resilience and responsiveness of the pharmaceutical supply chain. A summary from the knowledge exchange can be seen here.

Samuel Roscoe, Lecturer in Operations Management at the University of Sussex is currently working on an feasibility study investigating whether new manufacturing technologies, such as additive manufacturing (3D Printing), will reconfigure pharmaceutical supply chains and move them towards local manufacturing for local markets. Sam would like to speak to several of our pharmaceutical companies in the near future to discuss his work.

Invitation to the Creative Technology Research Group Launch April 26th

You are invited to...watch levitation you can program... read a graphic with your fingers... learn how smell can impact your creativity... meet a robot that jokes... and play with the mist bubbles that may be the future of interfaces.

The new research group works at the point where societal and technological challenges meet, creating new knowledge, opportunities and relations. We will be showing our latest projects and collaborations, demonstrating the breadth and versatility of researchers in the areas of novel interfaces, interaction design, knowledge visualization, cognitive modelling, media technology, games, multi-sensory experiences, participatory design, product design and human-centred digital technology - and the overarching vision of our research.

If you would like further details and to register please on the eventbrite link. 

LinkedIn Group

For those of you who have not joined, the West Sussex Health and Life Sciences Cluster has a closed LinkedIn Group and you can access it here.