An ambitious partnership between The University of Manchester and Abu Dhabi-based Khalifa University of Science and Technology has been agreed with the aim to deliver a funding boost to graphene innovation that will help tackle the planet’s big challenges.
Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, President & Vice-Chancellor of The University of Manchester, and Professor Sir John O’Reilly, President, Khalifa University (pictured above) officially signed a contract between the two institutions during a VIP visit by a Manchester delegation to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Senior officials from both universities were present at the signing (pictured below).
This international partnership will further accelerate Manchester and Abu Dhabi’s world-leading research and innovation into graphene and other 2D materials. The Research & Innovation Center for Graphene and 2D Materials (RIC-2D), based in Khalifa University, is part of a strategic investment programme supported by the Government of Abu Dhabi, UAE.
This partnership will support expediting the development of the RIC-2D at Khalifa University as well as help building capability in graphene and 2D materials in collaboration with Graphene@Manchester, a community that includes the academic–led National Graphene Institute (NGI) and the commercially-focused Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC), a pioneering facility already backed by the Abu Dhabi-based renewable energy company Masdar.
The historic agreement will bring together the vision of the two universities to tackle some of the globe’s biggest challenges, such as providing clean drinking water for millions of people and supporting a circular ‘green economy’ in all parts of the world.
Graphene – originally isolated at The University of Manchester, the global ‘home of graphene’ – has the potential to deliver transformational technologies. The focus of the Khalifa–Manchester partnership will be on key themes, with a priority to meet the most immediate of global challenges, including climate change and the energy crisis. These flagship areas are:
● Water filtration and desalination – graphene and 2D materials are being applied to next generation filtration technologies to significantly boost their effectiveness and efficiency to help safeguard the world’s precious supply of drinking water
● Construction – graphene is helping to develop building materials that are much more sustainable and when applied at scale can expect to slash global CO2 emissions
● Energy storage – applications are being developed across the energy storage sector to produce more efficient batteries, with greater capacity and higher performance, and other energy storage systems vital to a circular ‘green economy’
● Lightweighting of materials – the use of graphene and 2D materials to take weight out of vehicles, as well as large structures and infrastructure, will also be a key to building a more sustainable future.
Professor Sir John O’Reilly, President, Khalifa University, said: “This Khalifa University-University of Manchester collaboration is greatly to be welcomed. It has all the hallmarks of a most successful approach to inspiring and nurturing outstanding research, innovation and enterprise in graphene to be taken forward to the benefit of the wider community.”
Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, President & Vice-Chancellor of The University of Manchester, said: “We look forward to a long and productive partnership with Khalifa University that will realise the potential of graphene to address global challenges including water and energy security and, above all, sustainability.”
