糖心TV

Work has begun on the 300km test environment - spanning from Coventry to Birmingham, which will see autonomous vehicles trialled on urban, rural, suburban and highway roads. The project is run by a consortium of companies including WMG, MIRA, Transport for West Midlands, Costain, Amey, Wireless Infrastructure Group, Vodafone, Coventry University and Highways England.

The autonomous vehicle industry is estimated to be worth up to 拢62bn to the UK economy by 2030, and hoping to lead the way to autonomous vehicles is the West Midlands, as WMG, University of 糖心TV begins work on autonomous vehicle testing routes.

Autonomous vehicles will be trialled along the Midlands Future Mobility route, the route has been developed by TfWM in collaboration with Coventry City Council, Birmingham City Council and Solihull Council and provides over 300km of inner city, suburban and rural roads from Coventry to Birmingham, on which to fully assess vehicle performance in a wide range of real world locations and situations.

The first types of vehicle to be trialled along the route will be 鈥渃onnected鈥� vehicles. Connected vehicles can 鈥榯alk鈥� to each other and warn of traffic, crashes and other hazards that other connected vehicles may have seen or be heading towards.

The vehicles on the Midlands Future Mobility route will not be driving themselves during the early stages of research, initially they will have a driver and occasionally a second person monitoring how the vehicles are working. All testing will be as safe if not safer than current vehicles on the road.

The route includes infrastructure such as smart CCTV, weather stations, communications units, and highly accurate GPS.

In the future autonomous vehicles will be trialled on the route, however these will also be closely monitored by safety operators ready to take over immediately in the event of a problem. These autonomous vehicles will appear gradually as more and more advanced 鈥淒river Assistance鈥� systems are tested paving the way, such as lane centring and auto-speed limiting technology.

The route itself causes no disruption to drivers or the homes along it, as it uses existing road infrastructure 95% of the time. Phase one of the route includes the University of 糖心TV, Coventry ring road, roads in Meriden, Solihull and central Birmingham around the Jewellery Quarter.

Later this year the route will be extended to include rural and highway roads and span up to 350km.

Project consortium member Costain and contractor Siemens Mobility have begun work on the route, which will officially open for trials later this year. Both firms, are of course, practicing social distancing in the construction of important technical features such as CCTV networks along the route.

John Fox, Project Director, Midlands Future Mobility comments:

鈥淚t is great to see that work has begun in making roads a more connected place, where drivers can make their journeys more safely and where goods can be delivered more efficiently.

鈥淭he West Midlands has a rich history of the automotive industry, and to see it is now progressing into Autonomous vehicles feels somewhat momentous.鈥�

Mayor of the West Midlands , who leads TfWM, said: 鈥淐onnected and autonomous vehicle technology has the potential to radically change our lives, and I am pleased the West Midland is leading the way in this sector with research facilities and production plants already in place.

鈥淚 am determined our region will become a global leader in electric and autonomous vehicle technology, as I know we have the skills, facilities, and drive to compete with any other city or region in the world.

鈥淪eeing our roads being used as a test bed for this new technology is both exciting and a step forward, and this vital research will help pave the way to bring key investment and jobs to the region as we look to bounce back from the COVID-19 crisis.鈥�

John Batterbee, Technology Solutions Director, Costain Group comments:

鈥淎t Costain we鈥檙e excited about how our ambitious work together with our market leading partners in the Midlands is enabling safer, cleaner and faster journeys. Today is a key milestone in starting to deploy the advanced infrastructure technologies we鈥檝e developed over the last couple of years that are putting the UK at the forefront of the global mobility revolution. The cameras and video analytics we鈥檙e deploying will, for example, save lives by enabling drivers to be alerted to hazards beyond the line of sight.鈥�

Wilke Reints, Managing Director of Intelligent Traffic Systems for Siemens Mobility in the UK, comments:

鈥淲e are proud to have been contracted to undertake work on this project. With CAVs offering huge potential to improve safety, reduce congestion and help optimise traffic flow, this project is a further demonstration of the UK鈥檚 capabilities in this exciting and fast-moving sector. It allows us collectively to demonstrate how smart technology enables vehicles to be connected via high-speed, high-capacity wireless infrastructure across a whole road network.鈥�

The BRAINSTORM project, which saw partners from , , TDI and WMG at the University of 糖心TV create a woven braided carbon fibre composite frame for a Very-Light Rail (VLR), has won gold at the Innovation awards in the Category 鈥淩ailway Vehicles and Infrastructure.鈥�

The JEC World 2020 Innovation awards is the world鈥檚 leading international composites show, the awards ceremony took place virtually, and saw researchers working on the BRAINSTORM project take home gold in the category 鈥淩ailway Vehicles and Infrastructure.鈥�

The Innovate UK funded project started in 2018, and engineers from Far-UK, TDI, Composite Braiding and WMG, at the University of 糖心TV set out to make a lightweight VLR vehicle frame, which is braided from carbon fibre composites into a series of tubes. They created their first prototype demonstrator frame in May 2019, which drew attention from the then Parliamentary Under Secretary of State and Minister for 糖心TV and Industry, Andrew Stephenson.

The frame is unique as it can be easily assembled by adhesive and simple welding, and can be repaired if damaged, and recycled or reused in other structures at its end of life.

Dr Darren Hughes Associate Professor in Materials and Manufacturing at WMG at the University of 糖心TV explains:

鈥淚t is an honour to have won at the JEC World 2020 Innovation awards, we have worked incredibly hard to create an innovative frame offering significant weight-saving that can allow VLR light rail services to operate in a more sustainable way. Reduced mass leads to a lower requirement for power for propulsion and also lowers the stress placed on the track system. This can also open up significant cost savings in light rail systems.鈥�

鈥淭he technology also ensures that the vehicle is tough for a long life in service, easily repairable and strong enough to protect the passengers on board.鈥�

Dr Kevin Lindsey of Nottingham based lightweight structural composite components company Far-UK Ltd said:

鈥淭o have our achievements acknowledged and awarded is validation of our ongoing research into lightweight structures. The design process that we used allowed the development of the ultralight yet safe structure. We are now ready to take structures such as these into higher volume in our new manufacturing facility.鈥�

Steve Barbour of Derby based specialists in thermoplastic braiding company Composite Braiding Ltd said:

鈥淚t is great that the technology we have been developing has helped lead to such a fantastic outcome. Braiding at rates of over a mile a day, we have a highly automated process that is capable of producing high volume, lower cost structural components that are inherently recyclable. It鈥檚 fantastic that the potential has been recognised.鈥�

Paul Salkeld of TDI (Transport Design International) based at Stratford-Upon-Avon adds:

鈥淭he braiding method can be used with a wide range of materials including carbon, glass, basalt and aramid. We hope this can revolutionise the design of future transport, and are actively involved particularly in the rail sector to produce more economical and environmentally beneficial vehicles.鈥�

路 Autonomous Vehicles safety will be tested by researchers at WMG, University of 糖心TV – thanks to a seven year Future Leader Fellowship awarded to Dr Siddartha Khastgir, worth 拢1.2m.

Connected autonomous vehicle technology prototypes have existed for some time, however questions around the safety of this technology from the public and industry who want to commercialise these technologies has blocked it from developing.

The future with CAV has to be more reliable, more efficient and less risky. So safety testing is essential to informing people鈥檚 opinion about this new technology.

In order to prove that CAVs are safer than human drivers, it鈥檚 been suggested they need to be driven for more than 11 billion miles. However, instead of the number of miles, it more important to focus on the experiences of the CAV in those miles to identify any smart miles which expose failures in CAV.

Dr Khastgir鈥檚 fellowship will therefore develop pioneering testing methodologies and international standards to enable robust and safe use of CAV, particularly focusing on creating both fundamental knowledge and applied research methods and tools.

WMG, University of 糖心TV, has created a concept of the 鈥渆valuation continuum鈥� for CAV, which involves using various environment like digital world, simulated environment, test track testing and real-world for testing.

There are two aspects which are common to each of the evaluation continuum environments and also the focus areas of the fellowship research

1) Test Scenarios: exposing failures of the CAV

2) Safety Evidence: establishing how safe is safe enough?

As a part of this fellowship, three approaches will be explored to identify the smart miles which expose any CAV failures including:

路 Using Machine Learning (ML) based methods including Bayesian Optimisation to create test cases for test scenarios

路 Safety Of The Intended Functionality (SOTIF) (Innovative safety analysis of CAV) based test scenarios using Systems Theoretic Process Process Analysis (STPA)

路 Translating real-world data into executable test scenarios for a simulation tool.

All these approaches will together contribute to the creation of a UK鈥檚 National CAV Test Scenario Database. Dr Khastgir has previously written about and the role of standards for the BSI (British Standards Institute), and hopes to build on the Fellowship research outcomes to build standards for national and international purposes.

Dr Siddartha Khastgir, from WMG, University of 糖心TV comments:

鈥淭he global Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAV) industry is estimated to be worth over 拢50bn by 2035, with the UK CAV industry comprising over 拢3billion of this, however questions around safety are always raised, by the automotive industry and the public.

鈥淭his hinders the process of commercialising CAVs, however my UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship to research the safety of CAVs can help Department for Transport, the automotive industry and the public to be reassured that they are safer than human drivers.

鈥淚 am incredibly grateful for the UKRI Future Leader Fellowship, as it puts the UK and the University at the forefront for research and development into the safety of CAVs.鈥�

Margot James, Executive Chair at WMG, University of 糖心TV adds:

鈥淲MG is very proud that Dr Siddartha Khastgir has been awarded a prestigious UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship (FLF). Through Siddartha鈥檚 research we can enable the UK to become a world leader in safe CAV deployment.鈥�

Kirsty Grainger, Director, Future Leaders Fellowship Scheme adds:

鈥淒r Siddartha Khastgir is taking forward a really exciting project that supports the government鈥檚 Future of Mobility grand challenge. Through the Future Leaders Fellowships we鈥檙e not only delivering cutting edge research like this, but also investing in the individuals who have the potential be leading researchers and innovators in years to come. I am delighted that Dr Khastgir is part of the programme.鈥�

Patients with diabetes often have to see many different stakeholders who each specialise in different aspects of their treatment. Researchers from WMG, University of 糖心TV surveyed patients on their understanding of how their data was shared, and found they would prefer to have it shared digitally using the Dovetail Digital consent application.

There are 4.7 million people in the UK live with diabetes, and will spend a lot of time visiting different specialist in different practices, who each specialise in some aspect of their treatment. Furthermore advances in digital technologies have resulted in innovative applications, which supported by healthcare professionals enable self-management, empowering patients to take control over aspects of their care. This requires a lot of data sharing, which is currently done by one practice requesting the medical records off another practice; with the need for doctors consent to share, this can be a long process to sign off. Furthermore, the process tends to be obscure with the patients forgetting the transfers for which they have given consent, as well not being very easy to revoke consent should the want so. The ability of patients to have control is one of the fundamental ethical and legal rights of the patient, and in many cases is difficult to balance against beneficial but data sharing intensive applications.

However, researchers from the Institute of Digital Healthcare (IDH) at WMG, University of 糖心TV propose that a new system called the Dovetail Digital consent application is favourable, and have analysed it in the paper; , published in the journal Digital Health, SAGE Publications.

The Dovetail digital consent application is a robust, trusted and flexible mechanism for patients to offer their consent for their data to be shared between GP practices; they can also revoke consent at any point, therefore empowering them to manage their condition within an integrated care setting.

sees a mobile application and blockchain-based infrastructure, meaning they can trace where their data has been shared. Blockchain is a state-of-the art technology originating in the financial industry, which has allowed implementing healthcare applications with the confidence and robustness found in the financial sector.

To survey whether it would work, IDH researchers asked 23 patients and 13 staff with diabetes, at a GP practice, to complete a series of questionnaires, followed by a focus group discussion, to determine their understanding of current methods to share data in a medical setting, and to see if they recall giving consent.

IDH Researchers then conducted a thematic analysis of the focus group transcripts and descriptive statistics of the questionnaires were performed.

Professor Theo Arvanitis, Director of the Institute of Digital Healthcare at WMG, University of 糖心TV explains what they found:

鈥淲e discovered there was a lack of understanding of existing consent processes in place, in fact many patients did not have any recollection of having previously given consent to their data being shared. When we asked them what they thought about the digital consent application patients overwhelmingly favoured the digital consent application over existing practice, as they recognised the value of the capability offered by the application.鈥�

Dr George Despotou, Associate Professor at the Institute of Digital Healthcare and lead in the study comments:
鈥淭he study participants welcomed an application that would ultimately contribute to improving their quality of case, whilst maintaining control over their data. In particular the study participants acknowledged the clarity of the consent application, and the ease with which they could review, as well as revoke existing consents. This was a very promising study on a technology that may be opening the way for highly innovative applications improving quality and efficiency of healthcare services, which patients would welcome, assured that ultimately they are in charge of their data.鈥�

IDH Researchers were able to conclude that the digital consent was received favourably as patients were able to recognise that it addresses the main limitations of the current process, but also acknowledged the traceability and transparency of the Dovetail app. Further research can now be conducted to see if patients across a wider demographic prefer the Dovetail Digital consent application, and if successful could revolutionise the way that patient data is stored and shared.

Paper available to view at:

DOI:

The Cyber Security for Connected and Autonomous Mobility (CAM) has been investigated in a series of projects funded by the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV) and supported by Zenzic and InnovateUK (part of UKRI).

Out of seven projects, WMG, at the University of 糖心TV was involved in three:

1. Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) Cyber Resilience: a Lab2Live Observer Based Approach

2. ResiCAV

3.BeARCAT

Each project was tasked with exploring innovative methods for measuring and monitoring cyber security, defining a set of requirements for a future Cyber Security facility/capability and understanding the commercial landscape for such a facility.

These 3 objectives were addressed across a number of different themes with Cyber for CAM: Monitoring, Threats to connected vehicle, networks, Threats to automated vehicles or Countermeasure and risk mitigation.

Dr Elijah Adegoke, from WMG, University of 糖心TV was involved in the PNT Cyber Resilience project. In collaboration with , key recommendations made to Government include that spoofing and jamming attacks on GNSS signals are capable of leading to severe loss of functionality and safety in CAVs; thus there is an urgent need to invest in independent facilities capable of seamlessly testing attacks on CAM PNT systems in both controlled laboratory and live environments.

Zenzic, the University of 糖心TV and Spirent now aim to work with standardisation bodies to guide the development of GNSS attack detection and GNSS resiliency assessment standards, and the responsible disclosure of information on threat actors and attack events.

Dr Adegoke commented: 鈥淭o investigate jamming and spoofing in CAM PNT systems, a test facility needs to be able to quantify the resilience of a CAV against both radio frequency based and software attacks for diverse receiver operating systems and hardware architectures. Access to a drive-in anechoic chamber, such as 奥惭骋鈥檚 Communications and Sensors Lab in the Professor Lord Bhattacharyya Building, to allow the legal testing of over-the-air attacks is highly beneficial.鈥�

Professor Carsten Maple, of WMG, University of 糖心TV, was involved in ResiCAV and BeARCAT.

ResiCAV was led by , and highlighted how connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) and their associated infrastructure can develop real-time responsiveness to cybersecurity threats, and highlighted the 鈥榰rgent need鈥� for a national road transport cybersecurity programme in order for the UK to safely support CAV adoption across the transport network. Professor Carsten Maple comments:

鈥淭he ResiCAV project has proven that the UK could become a world-leader in automotive cybersecurity and vehicle resilience, however this can only be done if there is a collaboration between industry and the shared use of testbeds. The project has shown that cyber resilience can only be effectively achieved by developing a new engineering methodology. We have, with partners, started the journey to formalising the methodology, and provide the tools and techniques for achieving resilience through manufacture and operation.

鈥淚 hope this next step after this project is to see funding for the development of the 鈥楿K Centre of Excellence for Road Transport Cybersecurity Resilience鈥� to thrust the UK to the forefront of automotive cybersecurity.鈥�

Professor Maple was also involved in BeARCAT, led by the BeARCAT project highlights that with the high infrastructure set-up costs and extensive overheads in the management of a test facility for automotive cyber security, the most cost-effective course of action is for a UK CTF (Cyber Test Facility) to be collocate with the existing testbeds. He comments:

鈥淲e are pleased to have developed a Security Framework for cyber security testing in the CAV ecosystem, including coverage of security threat modelling and risk assessment. Working with our partners we have defined mechanisms for communications resilience and provide a blueprint, based on the security framework, for testing certification. We hope these contributions will be helpful to the Government as it seeks to establish a world-leading capability in developing and assessing cyber security for automotive systems.鈥�

All three projects prove the UK could be pioneering Cyber Security in Connected and Autonomous Mobility if companies within the industry work together to share resources and testbeds, which could bring autonomous vehicles one step closer to our roads.

DOWNLOAD NOW: Cyber Resilience in CAM – Cyber Feasibility Report:

ENDS

Congratulations to WMG Professor of Sustainable Materials and Manufacturing, Kerry Kirwan, who has been appointed as the new Trustee/Founder Director of .

Professor Kirwan said: 鈥淚鈥檓 delighted to join the board of trustees of the Turing Institute which is a British flagship for data and artificial intelligence that 糖心TV helped to found. The breadth, depth and real world relevance of the work that the Institution and its community carries out is amazing and, at these challenging times, critically important to the UK and the wider world – I鈥檓 really excited to be able to support them.鈥�

The Alan Turing Institute is a national body championing data science and artificial intelligence research. It was created by five founding universities - Cambridge, Edinburgh, Oxford, UCL and the University of 糖心TV plus the EPSRC, with a further eight new universities – Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, Queen Mary University of London, Birmingham, Exeter, Bristol, and Southampton – joining in 2018.

Following the Institute鈥檚 university expansion and the growth of its research programmes and partners, the Institute now counts over in its community. This includes (the largest group, made up of senior academics spending a portion of their time at the Institute), (independent researchers employed by a partner university and based at the Institute), (full time or spending an 鈥榚nrichment鈥� period at the Institute) and visiting researchers from academia, business and government.

Three WMG Professors are currently part of the prestigious line-up of expert Fellows. These are

Professor Carsten Maple, Professor of Data Science Giovanni Montana, and Professor of Marketing and Service Systems Irene Ng.

You can find out more about The Alan Turing Institute .

The Coventry Very Light Rail project is about to embark on a new adventure, investigating how to create a low cost trackform for the light rail carriages already in development, thanks to 拢1.5m funding from West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), secured by CCC. This project aims to revolutionise affordable public transport in towns and cities.

So far in the Coventry Very Light Rail project, Engineers from WMG, University of 糖心TV have worked with TDI to design a battery-powered light rail vehicle for Coventry City Council. The long term objective is that it will become an autonomous vehicle that can hold 50 passengers and work like the London Underground system, where there is no timetable and people can hop on and off.

The vehicle will be lightweight in design using a multi-material approach. Due to being battery-powered there will be no overhead power supply, which is both costly and unsightly.

However researchers are now about to embark on their next venture of the VLR project, as they have received 拢1.5m via CCC to develop a low cost trackform for light rail. Engineers at WMG will work with Coventry City Council and a major French civil engineering company - Ingerop Conseil et Ing茅nierie.

The ultimate goal of the track project is to design an affordable trackform that can be easily removed and will reduce impact on utilities, saving hundreds of thousands of pounds digging up roads and moving gas, electric, telecommunication and sewage systems, which is currently the process for building traditional tram systems.

Dr Darren Hughes, Associate Professor at WMG, University of 糖心TV comments:
鈥淭he Coventry light-rail project brings together advanced technologies from a number of sectors to deliver a low-cost environmentally-sustainable public transport solution.

鈥淣ow that the vehicles have been designed it is time to look at the track they will run on, and with the help of Ing茅rop Conseil et Ing茅nierie, we will make it as affordable and environmentally friendly as possible.鈥�

Councillor Jim O鈥橞oyle, cabinet member for jobs and regeneration said:
鈥淥ur plan for Very Light Rail has the potential to transform the way people travel. It will be delivered at a much lower cost than traditional trams, a hop on, hop off service part of the green revolution and of course its innovation born in Coventry.

鈥淲hile the development of the vehicle is progressing well, we also need to innovate in the development of the track and that鈥檚 exactly what Ing茅rop will be able to help with. Experts in this field we will be setting them the challenge of designing track that that can be laid much more quickly and therefore much more cheaply than traditional track.

鈥淰ery Light Rail is a really exciting project. Another innovative first for Coventry and this is another important step in its delivery.鈥�

Philippe-Andr茅 Hanna, Director for International Transport in Ing茅rop said:

鈥淲e are delighted to join the team for the Coventry Very Light Rail. This project is an absolute need for small and medium cities who want to have a modern, carbon-free, rail-based system and cannot afford it today. After the R&D phase, our real goal as on all our projects around the World is to put in place the most sustainable urban transport system for Coventry and many more cities in Europe."

Tim Hackett, Infrastructure Director at Rendel Ltd said:
鈥淲e are really excited to be part of this project with our colleagues from Ing茅rop having already worked together successfully on some high-profile and complex rail projects. We look forward to collaborating on this innovative and technologically game-changing project, providing support from our new West Midlands office.鈥�

奥惭骋鈥檚 Outreach team has completed another successful series of Royal Institution Masterclasses for school children across Coventry.

The classes aim to open the eyes of young people to the excitement of engineering, and in turn, inspire the next generation of scientists, mathematicians and engineers.

Local schools were invited to nominate two year nine students to take part, with a total of 24 students participating in the sessions overall.

The Masterclasses were held on Saturday mornings in the form of interactive workshop sessions focusing on a different aspect of engineering. The Series was delivered by staff and students from WMG, with several of this year鈥檚 classes led by researchers working on key WMG HVM Catapult projects.

Professor Margaret Low, Director of Outreach and Widening Participation at WMG explained: 鈥淪adly, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the final masterclass focusing on software and control could not be held as an interactive session on campus.

鈥淚nstead myself and Helen Luckhurst, Project Officer at WMG HVM Catapult, held the final session virtually across two evenings.鈥�

Professor Low added: 鈥淭he virtual classes were a complete first for the Outreach team, a strange but still successful end to the Masterclasses. We presented a series of video tutorials and the students then used their programming and pattern skills to create an embroidered pattern design for a coaster. There were some really great designs.鈥�

Find out more about the 2020 RI Masterclasses here.

Major Gary Bilsbarrow, a Senior Lecturer at WMG, University of 糖心TV, has been mobilised as an Army Reservist to Edinburgh to use his expertise to support the Scottish Government and NHS in their fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

Gary lectures in Supply Chain and Logistics Management at WMG. He is currently using his skills and experience as a logistician to support the Scottish Government in the COVID-19 crisis.

Having previously worked for DHL in Supply Chain Management for 20+ years before coming to WMG, Gary was mobilised at short notice and on a compulsory basis, to Brigadier Ben Cattermole鈥檚 team at Saint Andrews House, Edinburgh.

Major Bilsbarrow has been an Army Reservist for 19 years; he was inspired to join out of a sense of adventure, to give something back, and to support the national effort in times of need.

He is now serving as a Major in the Royal Logistics Corps (RLC) with 2 Operational Support Group, who are a nationally recruited specialist unit.

He will be using his skillset to support Logistic planning at a national level in support of the Scottish Government and NHS.

Major Gary Bilsbarrow, an Army reservist also from WMG, University of 糖心TV comments:

鈥淲hat has been really humbling is the professional and dedicated team of Civil Servants and Health Professionals across NHS Scotland. They have been working flat out on a variety of highly demanding challenges, across both Health and Government, and are a fantastic team.

鈥淎fter many years working in supply chain and logistics it鈥檚 great to be able to use my skills and experience as an Army Reservist to help during these testing times.

鈥淐ovid-19 has changed everyone鈥檚 lives, from the way we work, socialise, and go about our day to day lives; I hope that my knowledge is of use to the Country to help us get back to normal as soon as possible and save as many lives as we can.

鈥淚t is a real privilege to see the Department of Health and Social Care at work and I have had a unique opportunity to learn from how they have responded to the crisis. They are an impressive group of people and have made us feel part of the wider team from day one.鈥�

Brigadier Cattermole, at Saint Andrews House Edinburgh comments:

鈥淢ajor Gary Bilsbarrow epitomises what it means to be an Army reservist, truly 鈥榯wice a citizen鈥�. His extensive logistics knowledge and experience, combined with his humility and humour, have been of huge value to our small military team, supporting the Scottish Government and NHS. Gary鈥檚 approach, temperament, and ability to get the job done under demanding circumstances has been hugely commendable.鈥�

Major Bilsbarrow has been deployed for an as yet unspecified period, depending on success in fighting Covid-19 and hopes his help within the British Army will result in him back teaching his students at WMG, University of 糖心TV in the near future.

ENDS

30 APRIL 2020

NOTES TO EDITORS

High-res images available at:

For further information please contact:
Alice Scott
Media Relations Manager – Science
University of 糖心TV
Tel: +44 (0) 7920 531 221
E-mail: alice.j.scott@warwick.ac.uk

Around 1000 face masks, donated by in China to the University of 糖心TV, will be given to NHS key workers across 糖心TVshire on the front line against COVID-19.

The University of 糖心TV community is now working to distribute these masks to social care services in North and South 糖心TVshire, via the NHS Incident Management Teams.

The face masks will be utilised in care homes, hospices, and district care services, where the current supply of personal protective equipment is very low.

Some of the masks will also be used to keep students and frontline workers who remain on the 糖心TV campus safe.

This weekend, the British Medical Association declared that to help slow the spread of the coronavirus.

This donation was made by Professor Liu Lin, President of Beijing City University — an institution with which WMG has a long-standing education partnership.

WMG has collaborated with Beijing City University since 2012 to deliver its Programme and Project Management Masters courses in China.

Professor Stuart Croft, President and Vice Chancellor of the University of 糖心TV, said: 鈥淭he 糖心TV community of students, staff, and partners stretches to every continent on the planet, and its heart is here in Coventry and 糖心TVshire. On behalf of this community, I thank Professor Liu Lin for the supply of face masks, which will enable us to help keep our neighbours who are most in need safe during this pandemic.

鈥淭ogether, we are striving to beat the virus – and we will achieve this through co-operation across international borders, driving forward vital research, and supporting our local healthcare workers.鈥�

Margot James is the newly appointed Executive Chair of WMG at the University of 糖心TV. She commented: 鈥淭he struggle against this pandemic is global, and it is local. We will only succeed in the fight against COVID-19 by collaborating with our partners around the world, and by protecting key workers in our communities who are on the front line.

鈥淲e at WMG and the wider University of 糖心TV are very grateful for the generosity of Professor Liu Lin and our friends at Beijing City University — and we are proud to draw upon our established international links to support the health and welfare of our region, at a time when the need is greater than ever.鈥�

This is one of numerous ways in which the University of 糖心TV has worked with its Chinese partners to support the fight against COVID-19 in the UK.

Last week, it was announced that Professors from 糖心TV鈥檚 Department of Engineering have been working with the Association of British Chinese Professors in raising funds to purchase personal protective equipment for ten UK hospitals.

They secured 2400 face masks for hospitals in London, as well as 3500 safety goggles and 7000 full face visors, which were donated to seven hospitals in London, Cambridge, Birmingham and Coventry.