Key projects include

Perceptions of engineering

Comparative study of different perceptions of engineering among schoolchildren in UK, Germany, Italy and Korea and investigation of the potential impact upon career pathways.

Development of professional capabilities for industry

Examining how students develop these capabilities during an IfM MPhil programme. Work is currently focused on the short industrial placements that the students undertake; defining the activities that they need to do, the skills they need to develop and identifying the taught knowledge deployed.

Scale up of innovative technologies in the process industry – Manjusha Thorpe

After working in a range of manufacturing industries for over 10 years, Manjusha Thorpe joined MIERG in 2010 and completed her PhD in 2014. Manjusha’s research topic was identifying the knowledge required to overcome the challenges faced in scaling up new technologies in the manufacturing industry. Manjusha’s research has identified the key risk areas associated with scale up and the relevant approaches for avoiding or mitigating the problems that are commonly encountered. Furthermore, the knowledge required to execute these approaches has been identified and building on this, a process for enabling effective scale up has been established. Manjusha has returned to Australia expand the scope of her research findings and to apply them in practical environments. Manjusha welcomes engagement with people interested in managing the knowledge required for scaling up and commercialising new technologies and can be contacted via manjusha.thorpe@cantab.net

Initial development needs for technical graduates in small companies

(1) A survey of small companies, mainly in the technology sector, to investigate their needs for graduate training and their response to the different formats for part-time education. (2) An exploratory study of early career engineers in an early stage company in an emerging industry to understand the relationships between their activities and the required capabilities.