Student-Centred Training

Access our unique training programme that will bestow the key technical and business skills needed to put you at the forefront of Net Zero.

IN PARTNERSHIP
WITH

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Core Modules

Our defining principle is for you to become “Net Zero-enabled”. The 6 key enablers to realise this are: Process Intensification, Green Chemistry, Data/Digitalisation, LCA, TEA, and Ethics (“Responsible Engineering”)

  • Industry Net Zero will introduce Green Chemistry and Process Intensification to ensure that students can speak a ‘common language’.
  • Sustainability-Ready Engineers, delivered in partnership with Green Rose Chemistry will teach the mathematical, digital, and data skills that underpin Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) and Technoeconomic Analysis (TEA)
  • Green Business Skills, Enterprise, and Entrepreneurship recognise that ‘engineering Net Zero’ requires business acumen and an ability to traverse the research-policy-industry interface.
  • Industry Net Zero will forge a new ‘common language’ between different STEM disciplines based on the need for inter-disciplinarity when addressing systems-wide problems.
  • Student-Requested Skills, developed with our current PhD students seeks to address gaps in AI, digitalisation and data, and state-of-the-art analytical methods.
  • Responsible Research & Innovation, Equality, Diversity & Inclusion, and Research with Impact, delivered by The Leeds’ Inter-Disciplinary Ethics Applied (IDEA) Centre, will cover deployment of AI and automation, unintended consequences of innovation, and engineering inclusively in a global world.

TRAINING

Your journey with PINZ

Our philosophy is to front-load the training which will minimise disruption to your research, but also offer regular annual events for networking and developing your communication skills

Months 1–3: Induction

An intensive induction will focus on developing your skills and knowledge, engaging with your cohort, familiarising you with places, procedures, and personnel. Team-building events and away days will develop your community and ‘soft’ skills.

Year 1: Research and Education

Beyond the induction, year 1 will also develop the core principles of Net Zero, and additional modules will ensure you can navigate your data and use it effectively and ethically throughout your research

Year 2: Business and Engagement

Year 2 will further develop Net Zero themes run by our industrial partners. The “Green Business Skills” and “Enterprise” skills will culminate in Dragons Den Net Zero (DDNZ), where you will work in multi-disciplinary teams to mitigate the CO2 emissions produced by the PINZ CDT during its lifetime.

Year 3: Careers and Professionalism

Year 3 will develop transferable professional skills involving modules such as “Career Planning” and “Professional Certification”. You will also have the option of working at your industrial partner site or at a world-leading international academic institution, where the duration will be flexible to your needs. Your visibility will broaden through participating in international conferences and publishing your work.

Year 4: Beyond PINZ

Year 4 will prepare you to move on to your research careers. “Entrepreneurship” and “Career Transitions” modules will focus on business skills and will have significant participation by our Industrial Partners and policymakers.

   

Networking Programme

PINZ will host numerous and diverse events throughout its lifetime developed with our unique access to >1000 industrialists/academics through ours and our Industrial Partners’ networks

Annual PINZ Conference – you will have the chance to present your results to your peers, the academic community, and industry community which will develop your communication skills and provide valuable feedback and ideas

Industry@Stephenson – you will engage with our industry community in the new £110 million Stephenson Building at Newcastle University

Public@Great North Museum – you will have the chance to present your ideas and findings in an accessible format to the general public at the Great North Museum

Annual Process Intensification Network meeting – you will learn about the latest developments from practitioners of process intensification and have the chance to also present your own findings

Annual NWG Innovation Festival – you can spend up to five days at Newcastle Race Course engaging in workshops and brainstorming sessions to propose solutions to global issues like climate change

Annual NEPIC events – you can raise your personal profile by engaging and networking with companies from the North East process cluster

International academic placements – where appropriate, you can expand your horizons and enhance your skillset by undertaking placements in institutions in Australia (Griffith University), Germany (ATB Liebniz Institute, Potsdam), France (University of Toulouse), Canada (Polytechnique Montreal), USA (NCSU), with more in the pipeline.

Co-Located Labs – you can spend time at Newcastle University and University of York to learn a unique combination of skills from our research specialisms like 3D printing, reactor engineering, green chemistry, etc.

Team Building Events – we will run away days at the start of each academic year involving various fun activities to develop your cohort’s community

And more! – you will also have numerous other opportunities during your PhD like attending international conferences (where you will also have time to explore the local areas), developing new skills at summer schools and workshops, etc.

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