University to open Brussels office

The University is setting up an office in the Belgian capital located close to national embassies and the European Parliament buildings, which will open next week.

It’s hoped that by creating a presence at the home of the European Union, the University will be at the centre of the political decision-making process, and will be able to forge a network of contacts throughout the EU.

It will be able to collaborate with other trans-European academic institutions and businesses on some of the University’s most successful initiatives in research, knowledge transfer and skills development.

This will allow the University to build new partnerships with scientific or industrial projects and firms and bid directly for EU funding to support new, innovative developments.

Professor Ian Oakes, University of Wolverhampton Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and External Engagement, said: “Our research centres encompass a broad range of disciplines and as a University we are striving to produce world class research.

“It is vital that as a University we can share our expertise and collaborate with a wider European network as well as giving ourselves the best opportunity to broaden our research work in future years.

“This means we need to be well placed to access opinion makers, businesses and potential funding streams and that is exactly why we are launching this new venture in Brussels.

“We are open to new ideas and partnerships and would like to share our success with other organisations, jointly developing research in order to address the main societal challenges and supporting the world of business.”

The University is rapidly developing areas of world class research and only recently created a Research Hub as part of a £6m investment into research.

The Hub, located in the University’s Harrison Learning Centre, will provide training and support for postgraduate research students and the Research Librarians, and also provide support for researchers, an environment for mentoring and an enhanced research area for student’s private study.

Areas of cutting edge research for which the University has international reputation include being the first in the world to uncover one of the processes in the body that can cause type 2 diabetes, developing Europe's first metal laser sintering machine, providing breakthrough research into brain tumours and producing world-leading analysis of web content and traffic.

ENDS

For media inquiries please contact Chris Jones in the Media Relations Office on 01902 322736.

Date Issued: Wednesday 11 September 2013