2026 R W Thomson Prestige Lecture

The 2026 R W Thomson prestige lecture will be given by Dr Alan Partridge, Director of the Defence Materials Centre for Excellence (DMEx) on Tuesday 16th June at 6pm.

The title for this year's lecture is "The National Materials Innovation Strategy: Unlocking UK Economic Growth Through Materials Innovation".

The UK National Materials Innovation Strategy is a major blueprint designed to accelerate how advanced materials move from the laboratory to real-world industrial adoption.  Facilitated by the Henry Royce Institute (the UK's national centre for advanced materials research) and shaped by insights from over 2,000 experts across industry, academia, and government, the strategy addresses a critical vulnerability: the UK has world-class materials science research, but historically risks losing the race to commercialise those discoveries. 

Dr Alan Partridge is the Director of the Defence Materials Centre for Excellence (DMEx), a multi-million-pound UK research partnership specifically established to pioneer the next generation of advanced materials for defence and security applications.  DMEx is led by the Henry Royce Institute (headquartered at the University of Manchester).

The lecture will be delivered on-line using Microsoft Teams.  It is free of charge and open to all with an interest in engineering materials and related manufacturing technologies.  To attend the event, simply register here.