Head of Group:
Professor of Critical and Magnetic Materials
Co-Director of the Birmingham Centre for Strategic Elements and Critical Materials
School of Metallurgy and Materials
- Telephone
- (+44) (0) 121 414 5195
- Email
- a.walton@bham.ac.uk
Academic Staff:
Emeritus Professor:
Honorary Research Fellow:
David Kennedy
Dr John Speight
Research Fellows:
Dr Oliver Brooks
Alex Campbell
Dr Malik Degri
Dr Vicky Mann
Dr Lydia Pickering
PhD Students:
Muhammad Awais
Fabian Burkhardt
Fernando Coelho
Masters Students:
Bennett Colgan
The Birmingham Energy Institute (BEI) is at the forefront of the technological innovation and original thinking required to solve the challenges facing the UK as it seeks to develop sustainable energy solutions. It is focused on creating technology and guiding policy which will shape the energy solutions of tomorrow and has nationally-recognised centres of excellence across a range of energy research.
Professor Alan Walton is the Co-founder and Director of the Birmingham Centre for Strategic Elements and Critical Materials (BCSECM). The BCSECM aims to address the supply shortages for strategic elements and critical materials by recycling, re-use, efficient use and substitution of these materials. The centre draws together expertise from a wide variety of disciplines including law, economics, materials science, chemistry, physics, biosciences, chemical engineering and mechanical engineering. In 2019 the BCSECM will be commissioning a policy commission focused on securing critical materials for the UK.
The MMG work closely with the National Centre of Nuclear Robotics (NCNR) at the University of Birmingham as well as a number of external robotics groups. This link has allowed the MMG to automate disassembly processes for electronic goods which has improved the efficiency of recycling processes for magnets and batteries.
Investigators from the University of Birmingham’s School of Chemical Engineering are working on the physical and biological separation of materials. The MMG have an on-going collaboration on the circular economy of electrical machines.
The MMG work closely with Professor Peter Slater and Dr Paul Anderson in the Materials Chemistry group on the characterisation of rare earth materials.