A new Chair has been set up at the University of Leeds to lead research that involves firing electrons at almost the speed of light to study the structure of materials down to the atomic level. This represents a collaboration between the Royal Academy of Engineering, Diamond Light Source, Infineum UK and the university.

The post has been awarded to Sven Schroeder, whose work covers areas as diverse as nano-technology, energy, electronics, chemical processing, pharmaceuticals and formulated products like fuel additives. As the RAE’s Bragg Centenary Professor of Engineering Applications of Synchrotron Science, Professor Schroeder will have a key role in ‘driving’ engineering research at Diamond Light Source’s synchrotron-science facility near Oxford — and in co-ordinating national and international research in the field.

The Bragg Centenary Chair commemorates Nobel Prize-winning research by Professor William Henry Bragg in 1913-1914. His work — along with that of his son William Lawrence — pioneered the scientific technique of X-ray crystallography, which underpins a variety of research taking place at modern synchrotrons.