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Half-million pound scholarship fund to develop clean energy solutions

11 May 2022

 

A new scholarship fund at Teesside University, worth almost half a million pounds, is helping an energy infrastructure company develop the necessary talent to aid its transition to a net zero future.

Aberdeen-based Kellas Midstream has donated £486,000 to the University to help create the next generation of engineers with the requisite skills to help industry transition to a net zero future.

The Kellas Midstream Clean Energy Scholarship will support 18 students by funding undergraduate and postgraduate courses in sustainable energy and engineering in the University’s School of Computing, Engineering & Digital Technologies.

Applications for the first four scholarships, to start in the academic year 2022/23, are now being accepted.

Kellas Midstream is an independent energy infrastructure company that owns and operates critical midstream infrastructure in the Central and Southern North Sea.

The company is collaborating with Teesside University as it works to facilitate change in the energy industry and to build a new business around Net Zero.

The University’s research expertise focused around forging a smarter, greener industrial economy through the use and design of novel and disruptive technologies, processes and business models will prove critical in this respect.

Likewise, the forthcoming £13.1m Net Zero Industry Innovation Centre which is being constructed by the University and scheduled to open in spring 2023 will have a vital role in driving forward the green industrial revolution and act as a national centre of excellence for net zero technologies. The project has secured £5.2m of funding from the Tees Valley Mayor and Combined Authority.

Professor Stephen Cummings, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation) at Teesside University said: “As an industry-engaged University we pride ourselves in our ability to work with businesses to help them meet and overcome the challenges of the 21st century.

We are delighted to partner with the University and to offer, through the Kellas Midstream scholarship programme, an opportunity for the area’s emerging engineering talent to be a part of its contribution to Net Zero.

Andy Hessell, Kellas Midstream Managing Director

“We all recognise the need to decarbonise our economy and so we are delighted to be working with Kellas Midstream to help industry make this vital transition.

“This will require new and evolving skills and it is fantastic that this partnership will help to develop the next generation of engineers who will be at the forefront of this critical role.”

Andy Hessell, Kellas Midstream Managing Director said: “Teesside is being reinvented with energy transition firmly at the forefront. We are delighted to partner with the University and to offer, through the Kellas Midstream scholarship programme, an opportunity for the area’s emerging engineering talent to be a part of its contribution to Net Zero. There is a proud industrial heritage on Teesside and we look forward to seeing this evolve through skills development into an important source of high-quality clean energy jobs.”

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said: “Our region is leading the way in the cleaner, safer and healthier industries of the future, and Kellas Midstream is one of the key firms driving our low carbon ambitions.

“By working alongside our university and investing in the talent of the future, Kellas Midstream is making sure that local people can secure the good-quality, well-paid jobs of tomorrow while boosting our skills offering.

“This scholarship fund will help keep Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool at the forefront of the transition to net zero and give us the expertise to grab all of the opportunities the sector presents with both hands.”

The Kellas Midstream Clean Energy Scholarship forms part of the Teesside Transformation Fund, an initiative which supports students to access higher education and helps to fund targeted research projects in key areas.


In the News

Teesside scholarship fund supports students driving transition to Net Zero
Business Live, Web, 02/06/2022
A new fund set up by energy infrastructure firm Kellas Midstream will help Teesside University teach a new generation of engineers.


Teesside scholarship fund supports students driving transition to Net Zero
Today UK News, Web, 02/06/2022
A scholarship fund worth almost half a million pounds will support Teesside students who will lead the transition to Net Zero.

 
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