University secures new £6m centre

The University of Cambridge has won £6m funding for a centre aimed at helping create a new generation of scientists.

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council has awarded the funding to the university to set up a new Doctoral Training Centre.

The centre will train students to tackle some of the biggest problems the world faces, the university said.

It will support more than 50 PhD students over the next five years and train them in a range of disciplines.

The centre will be one of 44 training facilities across the UK which will train more than 2,000 PhD students.

'Generation of entrepreneurs'

They will target problems such as climate change, energy use, and the ageing population.

As well as studying physics, engineering, chemistry and material science, the students will be linked to courses at the university's Judge Business School.

Professor Peter Littlewood, head of the university's department of physics, said Cambridge University had a strong track record in converting innovations into commercial successes.

He said: "Here we will expose PhD students at an early stage to innovation, and grow the next generation of entrepreneurs to feed the Cambridge phenomenon."