Professor Chris Breward appointed Scientific Director of UK’s new Knowledge Exchange Hub for Mathematical Sciences

Professor Breward’s own research works to explain phenomena arising in industry and medicine, often involving fluid mechanics or heat and mass transfer, and has been used for applications as diverse as making “ultrathin” glass sheets viable, and enhancing the operation of sulphur-dioxide-removing filters.

Since 2014, he has been the co-Director of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Industrially Focused Mathematical Modelling at the University of Oxford’s Mathematical Institute. During that time, he has overseen partnerships with over 80 firms, focusing on company-specific challenges and co-funded with industry.

Professor Breward said: “I am delighted to have recently started as the Scientific Director of the UK’s new Knowledge Exchange Hub for Mathematical Sciences. I am looking forward to working with the Mathematical Sciences community to build upon the UK’s world-leading successful activity in Knowledge Exchange and to expanding and enhancing the scale and range of our collective endeavours.

“We have an exciting time ahead as we launch some early KE Hub initiatives, such as establishing a KE Champion’s congress, offering funding for some KE activities, and providing easy-to-access signposting of opportunities to engage in KE activities, in order to benefit Mathematical Sciences departments across the UK.”

The development of the KE Hub follows the recommendation from an independent review that a “national centre in impactful mathematics for the UK should be created to work with industry and government to drive mathematical research through to commercialisation”.

The KE Hub aims to share good practice, scale up knowledge exchange activity in the UK, and connect researchers and end users.