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Published on: 11 Sep 2024
Read moreWRc signs MOU to form unique Learning Site partnership with the Royal Agricultural University.
On Wednesday 6 December, the Royal Agricultural University (RAU) Cirencester and WRc signed an MOU that launches the beginning of an exciting partnership. The collaboration will form an incorporated ‘Learning Site’ to develop and foster a shared framework of learning in the broad fields of sustainability, food, environmental engineering, water/wastewater management, and energy efficiency.
The intention is to foster development of several novel, cross-disciplinary areas, including biosystems, environmental engineering, sustainable technologies, and management of the impact of climate change on water resources and food. This will, ultimately, spearhead cooperation and interaction between RAU and WRc for the further promotion and understanding of the United Nations’ Sustainability Development Goals.
The RAU was formed in 1840 and was the first agricultural college in the English-speaking world. Today, as well as being known as a leading specialist university for research in England, it is also one of the UK’s leading agricultural technology business incubators, has an award-winning Wild Campus project, and was voted a National Centre of Excellence by the Institute of Enterprise and Entrepreneurship.
The detailed aims and intent of this hugely positive partnership between RAU and WRc will be developed via an incorporated ‘Learning Site,’ which will support internships, placements, volunteering, training, learning / knowledge transfer experiences, and the exchange of information on engineering / scientific benchmarks for both research purposes and industry applications.
This symbiotic relationship will be supported by site tours to each facility, including water treatment works/wastewater treatment plants, farms, agricultural zones, and waste remediation plants. In addition, the relationship will also open up opportunities for postgraduate and research students to link their work to industrial projects, and the potential for employee exchange opportunities and sabbaticals.
At the signing of the MOU ceremony, David Main Pro-Vice Chancellor of the Royal Agricultural University told the onlooking visitors from WRc, “We offer practise-based delivery that provides students, academics and researchers with seamless access between the natural environment, the commercial entrepreneur, the laboratory, the classroom and resource-rich online learning environment. Our work complements one another and we have the foundations, I believe, for a successful and enduring partnership between our two organisations.”
The affiliation will nurture the link between WRc’s industrial know-how in the water, waste, and environment sectors and RAU's academic experience, to develop a positive dialogue between fundamental research, exchange of best practice on real-world models, education, and training in current and novel areas, including AI and smart computing. As well as nurturing a cooperative framework, RAU and WRc will benefit from each other’s initiatives and working procedures, which will support collaboration among the researchers, engineers, scientist, practitioners and academia and lead to the development of a suite of educational / training and Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programmes.
The initial Learning Site set-up will be for three years, until programmes, training opportunities, PGCerts, PGDips, MScs & MBAs become self-sustaining for both institutions.
“This collaboration is focused on the significant opportunity arising from the relationship between food production, land and water. We will be able to deliver teaching ambitions globally, and collaborate on research objectives that are common to both organisations." - David Main, Pro-Vice Chancellor, Royal Agricultural University.
