Researchers in Residence scheme welcomes first four academics to tackle built environment challenges

Four academics have been appointed by Connected Places Catapult in the first round of the Researchers in Residence scheme, which aims to help forge closer ties between universities, industry and the Catapult Network.

They are Ges Rosenberg from the University of Bristol and Dawid Hanak from Teeside University who will both investigate the decarbonisation of railway stations; Haopeng Wang of the University of Nottingham who is looking into circularity principles in construction; and Andy Newton of Nottingham Trent University who is researching transport safety for women and girls.

Round one of the Researchers in Residence programme attracted more than 120 enquiries from over 30 academic institutions covering the key themes of net zero, resilience, healthcare and wellbeing. A second round of the scheme has just been launched.

The four Researchers in Residence are being supported by Connected Places Catapult’s Technical and Milestone programmes. The initiative is led by the Innovation Launchpad Network+ which is aiming to build new bridges between universities and the Catapult Network.

For the second round of the Researchers in Residence programme, applicants are invited to address one of five themes that broadly cover the procurement of net zero solutions, modelling flooding impact on transport infrastructure, encouraging hydrogen uptake, electric vehicle micro-mobility in India, and the use of data to drive net zero operations for ports and vessels.