Smart Nano NI member spotlight - Queen’s Universty Belfast
Queen’s University Belfast’s work in photonics and advanced data storage is globally renowned and the university works with committed industry and academic partners to deliver much needed innovations in the area.
Professor Robert Bowman is Director of the EPSRC-SFI Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Photonic Integration & AdvancedData Storage. In 2019, the Irish Photonic Integration Centre (IPIC), a world leading Science Foundation Ireland research centre, joined the CDT as it renewed its partnership through to 2027.
The CDT was established in 2014 through a partnership between Queen's and the University of Glasgow and around a dozen UK industry sponsors, including Seagate, to tackle the challenges presented by the increasing quantities of data generated by society.
The inspiration for the CDT is heat assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) that will see the need for up to two billion photonic integrated devices to be created each year to meet demands of the data storage industry. Scientific and engineering outcomes in HAMR can have significant spill over benefits and impacts and support developments in sectors including healthcare and telecommunications.
Over the first eight years of partnership the CDT has educated over 50 future scientists and engineers and with a target of 75 over the renewal phase to 2027. As well as Seagate, other Northern Ireland companies such as Cirdan Imaging, Yelo, Andor and Causeway Sensors are participating in the next phase. The centre aims to address a skills shortage in the photonics industry. The collaboration with industry allows the students to develop specialist technical skills as well as innovation and business skills.
In 2017 Professor Bowman was awarded the Seagate Technology / Royal Academy of Engineering Research Chair in Advanced Materials for Data Storage, a five-year project to research and develop new materials for use in the next generation of hard drives, which involves working with Seagate and partners to grow a wider ecosystem from the partnership between Seagate Technology and Queen’s.
Securing funding through the Strength in Places fund, would help Queen’s maximise the potential for partner collaboration and exploit the potential of photonics and nanotech in high-growth sectors in Northern Ireland and beyond.
It’s an opportunity for Queen's, along with all the consortium partners, to make a significant contribution to skills, knowledge sharing, innovation and make a lasting difference to the local economy.
