The Durham Institute of Research, Development and Invention (DIRDI) has been awarded a grant from Durham University’s Enterprise Education Fund, in partnership with Dr. Oliver Vogt, Department of Engineering, Durham University.
This grant will help kick start a week-long, annual event engaging Engineering, Computer Science, Physics and Mathematics students in “Exploring Entrepreneurial Opportunities Using Drones (EEOPS-D)”. The event will be supported by DIRDI fellows and provides students the opportunity to develop new skills and meet academic and industry leaders.
Exploring Entrepreneurial Opportunities Using Drones
This drone technology development ‘hackathon’ will be hosted annually by DIRDI at the North East Technology Park (NETPark), Sedgefield, County Durham. EEOPS-D aims to solve real-world challenges, while increasing students’ technological, entrepreneurial and commercial skills.
Over the course of the event, teams of students will compete to build, programme and fly their own drones. We will also challenge them to think about the potential end use of their drone and the variety of applications available to them. In line with the second of our five aims, this challenge encourages applied research which extends beyond a single discipline or application and it enables students to gain a valuable insight in to the processes of development and commercialisation.
Supported by Dr Oliver Vogt and our DIRDI members and fellows, the event will include a short introductory talk from an industry or academic leader in this field. Thereby allowing students to build interdisciplinary connections and challenge their perceptions.
No previous experience with drones is required, just an interest to learn more and develop their practical skills. Students can register their interest in the event here, or contact DIRDI to learn more.
The Durham Institute of Research, Development and Invention
DIRDI is a scientific research institute comprising undergraduates, postgraduates, academic staff at Durham University, and Coltraco Ultrasonics RDDE professionals with plans to expand membership in due course. DIRDI was established by Coltraco Ultrasonics in partnership with Durham University and is based at NETPark, Sedgefield.
This partnership is the product of three years of work between Durham University as a world renowned centre of research excellence, and Coltraco Ultrasonics as a global leader in ultrasonic instrumentation for contents monitoring of gaseous extinguishing systems and watertight/airtight integrity testing. DIRDI aim’s to mobilise the strengths of both Durham University and Coltraco Ultrasonics towards DIRDI’s five principal aims:
- To achieve “Newtonian Discovery”: fundamental research into the physical laws of the Universe, for the benefit of humankind
- To achieve “Edisonian Commercialisation”: applied research in acoustics, electromagnetism, and information engineering, enabling technological diversification, the proceeds from which will fund Objective 1
- To identify the “United Kingdom’s Next Newton” (whomever they may be)
- To create an environment at Durham University where future Nobel Laureates of Science may be identified early-stage in their undergraduate academic careers and nurtured through their postgraduate, post-doctoral, Associate Professor and Professorial careers. In time we may grow this into a national network of top Universities.
- To provide a gateway into academic research at Durham University for local people with inventions and inventive ideas, across the Northeast, so that their inventive ideas can be sifted, selected, realised and used to generate “economic hope” for many where there is currently so little for so few. In time we may also grow this nationally, since our belief is that inventive thought exists within everyone.
DIRDI brings together academics and industry professionals across disciplines, primarily Physicists, Engineers, Mathematicians, and Computer Scientists. In doing so, it offers an opportunity for some of the UK’s finest minds to grapple with complex problems, some of which are abstract problems of the sort Newton wrestled with, specifically fundamental questions regarding the nature of the universe.
Others are applied problems of a more ‘Edisonian’ nature, concerned with the application of fundamental physical principles to the design and development of new technologies. Core research specialities include acoustics, electromagnetism, and information engineering.
Unlike typical research institutes, DIRDI is primarily commercially-funded. Through the rapid commercialisation of promising R&D lines, the freedom to explore fundamental science is sustained. Without the inhibitors of prescribed grant-seeking processes and the pressure to produce publishable results, DIRDI members are encouraged to pursue blue-skies, curiosity-driven research with the utmost scientific integrity.
It is the faith that such research will drive world-changing, prosperity-generating innovation that enables DIRDI’s freedom of research. In the years to come DIRDI aspires to grow, nurturing its members throughout their academic and commercial careers, identifying and supporting the ‘Newtons’ and Nobel Prize winners of the future, and delivering a critical mass of new research and scholarship.
