The University of Derby (www.derby.ac.uk) is supporting an advanced manufacturing project which has secured a £1.2 million UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) grant. The award has been made for a project led by engineer Ayantika Mitra of Hampshire-based firm TISICS to transform advanced materials manufacturing through digital technologies.

The four-year project, named ‘RAiSE: Radical Approaches in new materials Science and Engineering’, will develop tools to enable rapid certification and qualification of new lightweight products for spacecraft and aircraft.

The University of Derby is providing advanced materials and processing expertise support for the project through its Institute for Innovation in Sustainable Engineering IISE, led by Professor Angelo Maligno.

The project also draws on expertise from the University of Manchester and the Henry Royce Institute for Advanced Materials.

Professor Warren Manning, Provost (innovation and research) at the University of Derby, said: “We are delighted to be part of such an exciting project for the future of aerospace technology, underlining how our expertise can play a vital role in the manufacturing processes which will facilitate new developments in air transportation.

“Partnerships between business and universities continue to drive industrial innovation, and the continued support of government for ground-breaking research, as with this project, is essential.”

The university has already been involved with several advanced manufacturing projects in the transport sector with a focus on lightweight composite materials and metal additive manufacturing.

As well as working with businesses, the University has formed strategic academic partnerships and research collaborations with universities and institutes in Europe, the USA and India.

Stephen Kyle-Henney, TISICS Ltd managing director, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to accelerate digital manufacturing processing. Automation is essential to achieve the reproducibility and economics demanded by our space and aerospace customers for flight-critical systems.

“The skillset we have at TISICS, combined with the expertise of our partners, such as the University of Derby, and UKRI’s support ensures we can deliver the technology needed for the next generation of fuel-efficient aircraft and high-performance space systems.”