Newcastle Engineers Win Prestigious Chemical Engineering Awards

Study in UK: Dr Greg Mutch has been awarded this year’s Warner Medal, and Professor Ian Metcalfe has received the Sharma Medal.

Dr Greg Mutch and Professor Ian Metcalfe of Newcastle University have been awarded this year’s Warner Medal and the Sharma Medal respectively.

The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) in the UK annually awards prizes and medals in research and teaching. These awards are given to universities, companies and individuals for their outstanding contributions to chemical engineering research and teaching.

These awards have been named after distinguished individuals who have outstandingly contributed to the chemical engineering field.

Prof. Kamelia Boodhoo, Director of Discipline (Chemical Engineering) said, “Congratulations to our distinguished colleagues on receiving these prestigious awards. It is great to receive external recognition for their hard work and outstanding achievements. I am grateful to the IChemE for the award of these medals and to all our staff, researchers and students for all their valued contributions in Chemical Engineering at Newcastle.”

Newcastle Study Helps Improve Windstorm Outage Prediction

Newcastle University and Met Office study shows that when accounting for multi-hazard effects, the power outage predictions in windstorms improved.

The study is titled - “Antecedent rainfall, wind direction and seasonal effects may amplify risk of wind-driven power outages”.

Dr Colin Manning, research associate at Newcastle University and visiting scientist at the Met Office, and report author, said, "Windstorms have long been recognised as a threat to the UK's electricity distribution networks, which are vital components of the nation's critical infrastructure. Failures in these networks can cascade through other systems, affecting essential services. By taking the multiple weather conditions into consideration, we can significantly improve the accuracy of power outage predictions and can better prepare for the impacts of extreme weather events."  

Professor Lizzie Kendon, Strategic Head of Climate Processes and Projections at the Met Office, concludes, “This is the first UK study demonstrating the importance of additional factors affecting wind-driven power outages. Understanding how these factors will change, and including them in future risk assessments, is critical for accurately projecting the changing likelihood of power outages in future. Changes in the seasonality of storms and increases in heavy rainfall with warming may act to compound the impact of strong windstorms in future.”

This study is significant for the UK as windstorms are the leading cause of major power outages in the country.

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