Research Incubators

What is a Research Incubator?

Research Incubators (RIs) are a focal point in our CDT's calendar and central to our goals and training programme.

These workshops take place twice a year in January and June, bringing together students, academics and external partners to come together to explore cutting-edge topics in automotive propulsion and sustainable mobility with a goal of generating novel research ideas.

These incubators serve as unique platforms for collaborative idea generation and proposal development.

Next Incubator

3rd June- 7th June 2024

Find out more, and register by emailing aapscdt@bath.ac.uk

Concept

Research Incubators are intensive off-campus workshops involving around 80 participants.

They are designed to:

Ignite Ideas: Researchers from diverse backgrounds converge to discuss, and explore innovative solutions to pressing challenges in automotive propulsion.
Catalyse Collaboration: Industry experts, faculty members and doctoral students collaborate on developing interdisciplinary proposals, bridging the gap between theory and practice.
Seed Research Proposals: Incubators serve as fertile ground for developing research proposals that address real-world propulsion and mobility problems.

The Research Incubator starts with a series of concise, thought-provoking talks that lay the groundwork for the theme. Participants then work together in small groups of mixed expertise to develop the questions into well-defined research challenges and outline potential methods for investigating them.

RIs are not about immediate solutions; they're about uncovering paths to explore complex challenges.

The outcomes of our RIs vary widely, reflecting the range of ideas generated. Some ideas become extensive research initiatives such as PhD studentships or research grants, while others evolve into short-term projects.

In practice

Research Incubators take place twice a year, in January and June.

The RI build-up takes place through a student-led symposia series. In collaboration with academic staff, students identify the background information that is required to prepare for the RI. This could include expert lectures, training in software, or mini-courses. The programme is organised by the students themselves with academic support and oversight.

Impact and outcomes

Research Incubators generate ideas that can be jointly pursued between academia and industrial partners, and lead to direct impact in terms of applications and research. Taking forward RI outputs is a collaborative process and each one is different, the routes to developing potential projects and outputs may not be immediately apparent. This means that each RI continues to deliver long after the event has taken place.