Update from Professor Simon Pollard, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, School of Water, Energy and Environment

The School comprises of the bulk of Cranfield’s activities in water, energy and environment, or themes as we call them, and continues to offer a distinctive take on the ‘green economy’; this includes everything from creative design for remanufacturing through to carbon capture, drones for environmental monitoring and on to water microbiology. Being Cranfield, our focus remains firmly on the engineering, technology and management agenda and we have invested in new staff at all levels to drive our thinking forward, and in major new facilities to support their work. I'd like to share with you a snapshot of all that’s going on and invite you to connect with us, see the recent developments and learn more about the fantastic work that continues here.

One item we’ve started a conversation on internally is a refresh of our Masters’ curriculum. I’d be delighted to have your input to add to our own. We’re lucky to work in fast-paced sectors with an enormous variety of engineering, social and political challenges. For postgraduates entering your businesses, and for educators transforming their ambitions into credible prospects for employment, the mainstreaming of the sustainability agenda in the Boardroom, combined with the all-pervasive role of digital and the financial momentum building behind the Paris Agreement means taking a new look at what and how we teach our subjects and prepare our learners for a quite different world. Being led by our early-career staff, we are exploring how a new curriculum might look, especially for our post-millennial learners that need a new set of skills they can take with them for their diverse career paths. Starting with our water courses, we are ‘breaking the mould’ and introducing new teaching styles and methods to deepen the competencies of our students whilst they are with us.

Applied data analytics, policy appraisal and through-life asset management will all be important as we renew our infrastructures and redesign our cities. Responding to what is being termed the ‘planetary health’ agenda, staff in our Themes are also exploring the interdependencies of human and natural systems in practice, working with colleagues across the University, and externally, to seize the opportunities that are coming with a greater acceptance of the need for change. Nowhere is the role of digital technology more evident than in the agritech revolution and Cranfield is playing an international role bringing digital technology to the deep expertise we have in plant and soil sciences. On water engineering, our new test facility will gather data that gives water utilities the ability to manage risk in real time and design systems that are flexible and resilient; and in energy we are discussing how blockchain technology might bring new efficiencies to regulation and the financing of energy technology.

We remain immensely proud of all that our alumni do in the world. Our current students here are as excellent as ever, so do think of them as you recruit your own staff and, if we can help you in any way, we will be delighted to do so. You can email me s.pollard@cranfield.ac.uk