Funding research trips: how the James Bates Grant can help

How the James Bates Grant helped one group of students fund a research trip to the Netherlands

Imogen O’Connor is an insights and data consultant and software engineer at Capgemini. She is currently working on a construction project for the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station that is being built in Somerset, however this does not mean her work is restricted to the British Isles.

Last summer, Imogen led a team of 12 engineering students on a week-long tour of the Netherlands to research how businesses in the country were approaching digitalisation, as well as gauging the level of adoption of enabling technologies.

As O’Connor explained, the aim of the tour was to answer the following questions:

• Which aspects of businesses are currently being adapted in order to incorporate Industry 4.0 technologies?
• What are some of the key success criteria for the adoption of these technologies?
• How is the adoption of these technologies changing the role of the engineer?

“We found that there are five areas that are required to adapt in the transition to Industry 4.0 and the research also highlighted some key success factors.”

These factors included slow and incremental introduction of new technologies; ensuring adequate training and education to ease the transition process; appropriate use of scale-up facilities and open innovation technologies; adequate focus on research and development to maximise the benefits of automation; and continued focus on cultural change to ensure the workforce continues to engage with technological advancements.

O’Connor and her team benefitted from the James Bates Grant when it came to organising the research tour, something which she says was critical to the success of the trip.

“One of the most challenging parts of organising the research trip was definitely budgeting and raising the money to fund it. We had to plan for two cases in case we could not raise the required amount by a certain deadline.

“The James Bates Grant gave us security and half of the funds that we needed for the whole project. When we knew we had been awarded it, it was certain that the trip was definitely going ahead.”

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• James Bates Grant