In my February newsletter: a grant from the Wolfson Foundation for clean energy research; next stage of LUSEP development unveiled; the development of Law at Loughborough; Emeritus Professor Ruth Lister’s public lecture; and partnership opportunities forged through a visit to Boston.

University awarded more than £1m to advance clean energy research

At the start of the month, we received news that we had been awarded a grant of £1.1 million from the Wolfson Foundation, an independent charity, to set up the Wolfson X-Lab Extreme – a new facility that will be pivotal in the advancement of Loughborough’s clean energy research.

The Wolfson X-Lab Extreme will establish the University and East Midlands as a hub for hydrogen productivity and manufacturing of materials under extreme conditions and will be a crucial step for a sustainable hydrogen economy in the UK. This aligns well with our Climate Change and Net Zero strategic theme and particularly our plans, as part of The Hydrogen Works, to work with partners to enhance hydrogen skills, innovation and productivity, and position the East Midlands as a hydrogen superpower.

The Wolfson X-Lab Extreme will house the Gleeble 3800, a specialist piece of equipment and the first of its kind in the UK and Europe. The Gleeble will enable us to undertake materials testing for designing, manufacturing and maintaining new and existing hydrogen storage, distribution and end-use application infrastructure, all essential to achieving the UK’s ambitious net zero targets

The new lab, which will be located in the School of Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering (MEME), will also be open to external collaborators, enabling students, researchers and scientists from both academia and industry to access it. It will foster collaboration, inspire the next generation of engineers, and enhance our reputation as a hub for world-leading materials research.

The Wolfson X-Lab Extreme is set to open in late 2025 for testing in early 2026.

Next stage of plans for LUSEP revealed

Earlier this month we held a public consultation on the next major phase of the strategic development of Loughborough University Science and Enterprise Park (LUSEP), which is sited at the west end of our East Midlands campus.

The University’s strategic plan, Creating Better Futures. Together, outlines our ambition to expand our high-quality research and innovation that has the potential to make regional, national and global impact. Much of this will be done in partnership with internationally renowned businesses and organisations. LUSEP will be central to the realisation of this ambition. The Park offers a unique opportunity for us to work collaboratively with some of the world’s leading companies, who are developing pioneering tech that will benefit a range of sectors.

Our overall plans for LUSEP’s development will create a dynamic and vibrant place for new business ventures, retail and hospitality, opening up opportunities for job creation and thereby further strengthening our position as an economic powerhouse for Loughborough and the East Midlands.

At the consultation event we also shared plans for a new building, the development of which would enable us to strengthen our partnership with Druck, a successful local technology company which, since its formation in 1972, has grown into a global pressure measurement business that is recognised for designing, developing and manufacturing world class high-quality and high-accuracy piezoresistive pressure sensors and calibration instrumentation.

To support its business needs and growth ambitions, Druck is looking to relocate from its current site in Groby and build a purpose-built global HQ. We are delighted that, subject to planning, Druck has chosen to locate its new HQ on LUSEP, bringing its workforce of around 600. The company is a long-standing partner of the University. Their proposed relocation to LUSEP will strengthen our partnership and bring benefits to the whole of the University, including research and development opportunities, work-based learning projects, executive education and studentships.

If all conditions are met as part of the planning process, we would expect work to begin on the site in November 2025, with the new building ready for occupation by October 2027.

The overall development of LUSEP is being phased over a number of years. It is already home to more than 90 organisations, with a total workforce of more than 2,500 people. Organisations based on LUSEP range from high-tech start-ups to research and development divisions of global companies, such as the National Centre in Combustion and Aerothermal Technology which has put Loughborough at the heart of UK aerospace engineering and technology development, and SportPark, which is a hub for sports organisations and businesses, including UK Sport, Aquatics GB and British Wheelchair Basketball.

When fully developed the Science and Enterprise Park will house businesses employing as many as 7,500 people, of which about 4,500 could be new jobs.

Introducing Loughborough Law

In order to continue attracting high achieving students, who graduate with the skills, knowledge and experience required for their chosen career path, we continually reflect on the academic programmes we offer. Sometimes we will change programme titles or alter course content to ensure programmes remain relevant, and on other occasions, after careful consideration, we branch out into completely new areas of study, as we did in 2016 with Architecture and currently are with the establishment of Loughborough Law. Our aim is to offer, in the first instance, an LLM programme, based in London, to commence in September 2025, with an undergraduate LLB programme, based at Loughborough, to begin from September 2026, as well as a PhD programme across both campuses. Loughborough Law will sit within the School of Social Sciences and Humanities.

The development of Loughborough Law aligns with our social justice ambitions as part of our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) aim, and the strategic theme of Vibrant and Inclusive Communities. Loughborough Law will also allow us to capitalise on one of the largest educational markets globally, to support our desire to increase and diversify our international population, particularly at postgraduate level on the London campus.

Our plans are progressing well. At the start of the year we welcomed to Loughborough Rosemary Hunter, who has been appointed as Professor of Socio-Legal Studies and Founding Head of Law at the University. With a BA (Hons) and LLB (Hons) from the University of Melbourne, Australia, Rosemary did her postgraduate study at Stanford University in the US. She began her academic career at the University of Melbourne, went on to Griffith University, Brisbane, where she was Dean of the Law Faculty, before moving to the UK in 2006 to become Professor of Law at the University of Kent. After a period at Queen Mary, University of London, Rosemary returned to Kent, becoming Deputy Director (People and EDI) of the Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice and then head of Kent Law School.

Rosemary’s research focuses on family justice, particularly in relation to domestic abuse, judging and the judiciary, and access to justice. She was one of the founders of a new methodology for feminist socio-legal critique and activism and her current research includes a project for the Office of the Domestic Abuse Commissioner, piloting a review and reporting mechanism on the family courts’ handling of domestic abuse cases. Rosemary was awarded Fellowship of the Academy of Social Sciences in 2012 and appointed KC (honoris causa) in December 2022 for her scholarly achievements in the study of the Family Justice System and her work in the field of domestic abuse that has directly affected legislative developments.

We have appointed several other members of staff who will join us in the coming months to work with Rosemary on this exciting new area for us. I am sure you will join me in welcoming them all to Loughborough.

Lecture by Emeritus Professor Ruth Lister reflects on the importance of community

A few days ago we hosted a public lecture by Baroness Ruth Lister, Loughborough’s Emeritus Professor of Social Policy, in partnership with the local charity Equality Action. If you weren’t able to attend, the lecture is now available through or ReVIEW system.

Emeritus Professor Ruth Lister is a well-respected voice on social policy issues, such as poverty, citizenship and asylum. She worked for the Child Poverty Action Group for 16 years, spending eight years as director, and is now the group’s president. In 1987 she moved into academia, joining Loughborough in 1994 as Professor of Social Policy. Her work was instrumental in the University receiving the 2005 Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education for its contribution to social policy.

When Ruth retired in 2010, she was appointed as a Labour Peer to the House of Lords, becoming The Baroness Lister of Burtersett CBE. She has sat on the Joint Committee on Human Rights and the Select Committee on Citizenship and Civic Engagement.  She is an officer on the All Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs) on Domestic Violence and Abuse, and Poverty and Inequality, is vice-chair of the Migration APPG and co-chair of the Poverty and Inequality group. Baroness Lister also sits on the advisory board for the University’s Living Well Inquiry, alongside the Rt Hon Baroness Nicky Morgan and Loughborough MP Dr Jeevun Sandher, and has provided feedback on the Inquiry’s White Paper.

Professor Lister’s lecture looked at the issue of community, through the lens of the horrendous riots that took place in the UK last summer. Afterwards, Professor Lister was joined by Veronica Moore (Director of EDI Services), Helen Carter (Chief Executive of Loughborough Wellbeing Centre), Dr Jeevun Sandher MP, and Richard Herrick (Asylum Policy Officer for East Midlands Strategic Migration Partnership) for an engaging question-and-answer session.

At a time when society can often feel quite fractured, we have to acknowledge and try to address difficult and challenging issues if we are to foster a sense of belonging and cohesion, a sentiment that lies at the heart of both our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion core plan and our Vibrant and Inclusive Communities strategic theme.

Visit to the US to discuss partnership opportunities

I have recently returned from a visit to Boston in the US, which enabled us to further some initiatives in which we’re already a partner and to be part of a broader programme, involving three key Midlands’ collectives, to encourage partnership development and investment.

Professor Jan Godsell, Dean of Loughborough Business School, and I went to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to discuss future opportunities offered through our membership of the MIT Global Supply Chain and Logistics Excellence (SCALE) Network. Loughborough has worked for many years with MIT, the world’s top-rated university in the global QS rankings, and last year we broadened our links with them further through our partnership in the UK Supply Chain Excellence Centre within Loughborough Business School – the UK hub of MIT Global (SCALE) Network. Centres in the network bring together industry and academia to pool their expertise and collaborate on research projects that address real-world supply chain and logistics challenges, helping companies worldwide navigate an increasingly complex business environment.

During our visit to MIT, we also explored opportunities to extend an entrepreneurship and exchange programme offered to our students, working with the Loughborough Enterprise Network, and visited MIT’s Centre for Transportation Logistics and its sports lab.

Then we joined forces with Midlands Innovation, the Midlands Engine Partnership and Midlands Enterprise Universities to take part in two roundtable events, alongside leaders from MIT, Harvard and Northeastern University. The first was focused on knowledge diplomacy and the geopolitics that universities need to navigate both now and in the future; the second concerned the innovation and investment opportunities that universities offer, and the value that science parks such as LUSEP can provide in fostering innovation and growth, particularly in the areas of health and life sciences.

The agenda shared by the three Midlands groups allowed us to showcase the capabilities of 17 universities from our region. By harnessing the power of working together, to scale-up our strengths, our ambitions and our offer to investors, universities are undoubtedly stronger in the hunt for investment and partnership building. Strong partnerships with great organisations and institutions are central to all that we do, and intensifying and expanding our collaborations is the cornerstone of our strategic Partnerships core plan.