CMAC DTC

The CMAC Doctoral Training Centre (CMAC DTC) commenced in October 2012, and offers a vibrant, world-class, multi-disciplinary training programme that will equip graduates with leading edge skills in pioneering continuous processes. The CMAC DTC was established through combined support, from a £4.2m award from EPSRC (2012-2018), a £668k contribution towards training costs from AstraZeneca, Bayer, GSK and Novartis and significant support for studentships, training and infrastructure from the seven EPSRC CIM universities. From 2017 the new DTC projects will align with the CMAC Future Manufacturing Research Hub scope. The CMAC DTC employs a novel approach to cohort building and training whereby year 1 of the PhD encompasses residential training weeks from the partner institutions with visits and input from industrialists. Through the remainder of the PhD researchers attend an annual DTC Summer School and take part in all CMAC events and activities as well as undertaking their research project.

Figure 1: Structure of CMAC DTC training programme


By embedding the CMAC DTC within our EPSRC CIM (2011-2016) and CMAC Future Manufacturing Research Hub (2017-2023) research programmes our students are exposed to:

  • relevant fundamentals across each discipline
  • current state-of the-art in knowledge and the challenges in continuous manufacturing and advanced crystallisation
  • research activities both within the CMAC and internationally
  • unparalleled opportunities to engage in leading-edge research projects

 

The formal training programme is coordinated by Prof Jan Sefcik and has three main elements:

  • a range of taught modules covering the different aspects of the programme
  • individual and group mini-projects
  • transferable skills training
 
To date four cohorts have completed their first year residential training weeks and are now in the research phase of their projects. The first DTC graduates have now completed their time with us and have gone on to employment securing both industry and academic positions. A fifth cohort of students commenced training in October 2016.

Figure 2: Progress of CMAC DTC Cohorts: first graduates from 2012 cohort are now being recruited