Southampton University to launch two new multi-million pound research centres

The University of Southampton is to be home to two new multi-million pound research centres, which will train the students needed for Britain’s quantum technology and defence sectors.

Around £32 million has been given to the university for the centres. They are among 65 announced by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) to train 4,000 PhD students across the next decade.

The £18million EPSRC-funded centre for doctoral training in Quantum Technology Engineering will receive funding from tech businesses including Microsoft, QinetiQ, Riverlane, and Oxford Ionics, while the £12.5 million Centre for Complex Integrated Systems for Defence and Security will train the next generation of leaders and experts needed to support UK safety and resilience. It will receive funding from EPSRC, the Ministry of Defence and numerous industry partners.

Both investments were announced by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

Dr Tim Freegarde, from the quantum technology center at the university, said the facility would be a “crucial” part government plans to transform Britain into a quantum-enabled economy by 2033.

“Within 10 to twenty years, quantum technologies will be affecting our lives in diverse ways from faster mobile data and banking security to GPS-free navigation and locating pipes beneath the road.

“Our training centre will develop a new generation of graduates with the knowledge, skills and awareness needed to engineer new quantum technologies and put the UK at the forefront of the world’s quantum industry,” he said.

Professor Jordan Cheer, director at the entre for Complex Integrated Systems for Defence and Security, added: “A strong defence and security industry is vital for the UK, and our centre will train a new generation who will work to keep Britain’s future safe.

“We are opening places to graduates, current sector employers and those transitioning from serving military or policing roles to drive forward research that will develop the complex technologies needed for the modern defence and security of our country.”

The university said that its experts have also been awarded funding for two additional doctoral training centres – one on mathematics for the future climate, hosted at Imperial College London, and another on acoustics at the University of Salford.