Manchester has the rare combination of materials science, a working industrial hinterland, and people who will tell you if your idea is daft.
The National Graphene Institute and neighbouring facilities make it a natural stop for anyone who has a 2D material and a 3D problem.
The graphene story here has matured usefully. The excitable phase is over, and what remains is a body of expertise on consistent supply, honest specification and the composites, coatings and membrane applications where the material genuinely earns its place. Partners are now more likely to be asked what property they need than told what graphene can do.
Beyond materials, the quantum sensing group takes instruments out of the laboratory more readily than most, and the microscopy suite is one of the few places where sample preparation is treated as the craft it is rather than a step to be rushed.
Capabilities
- 2D materials and devices
- Quantum sensing
- Advanced materials characterisation
- Electron microscopy and sample preparation
- Nuclear materials and decommissioning research
- Health data science at population scale
Ways in
The routes that exist, and what each is suited to.
Characterisation and analysis services
Day-rate access to microscopy and materials analysis, with industrial reporting. The most common first engagement, and often the most immediately useful.
Collaborative research projects
Co-funded work through national programmes or direct contract, typically twelve to thirty-six months on a materials or sensing question.
Applications development with the graphene facilities
Structured programmes for firms taking a 2D material towards a product, with the scale-up and specification questions treated as the substance rather than the afterthought.
How to approach them
For characterisation work, contact the facility directly with a description of the sample and the question. Quotations are usually straightforward and turnaround is measured in weeks.
For research collaboration, expect a genuine technical conversation first. Groups here are comfortable saying that a proposed project is not interesting, which saves everybody a funding round.
Known for
- The isolation of graphene, and rather more usefully, two decades of subsequent work on what it is actually good for
- Quantum magnetometry taken from optical bench to field survey
- Long-running nuclear materials programmes supporting decommissioning