University of Liverpool Launches International Training Programme for Advanced Materials Innovation

University of Liverpool Launches International Training Programme for Advanced Materials Innovation

(IN BRIEF) The University of Liverpool has secured €4.4 million in Horizon Europe funding to establish the iDTC-MIF, an international doctoral training centre focused on advanced materials discovery and processing technologies. The five-year programme will train two cohorts of international postgraduate students, helping address a skills gap in materials chemistry, data science, automation, robotics, artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing. The fellows will be based at the University’s Materials Innovation Factory, where they will access robotic materials synthesis facilities and work within an interdisciplinary, industry-facing research environment. The initiative supports the University’s wider Materials Discovery ambitions, particularly around net zero challenges, digital materials design and automated materials chemistry.

(PRESS RELEASE) LIVERPOOL, 11-Aug-2026 — /EuropaWire/ — The University of Liverpool has secured €4.4 million in Horizon Europe funding to support the development of a new international doctoral training initiative focused on advanced materials innovation.

The funding will support the creation of the International Doctoral Training Centre bridging Advanced Materials Discovery and Advanced Processing Technologies to develop the Materials Innovators of the Future, known as iDTC-MIF.

The programme is designed to help accelerate the transition from materials research to practical products that deliver benefits for society and the environment.

Materials research plays an important role in innovation across sectors including manufacturing, construction, healthcare and energy.

The development of high-performance materials increasingly requires new approaches that combine computational methods, experimental research, automation and advanced processing across every scale, from atoms to finished products.

However, the sector faces a shortage of specialists with combined expertise in materials chemistry, data science, automation and advanced manufacturing.

iDTC-MIF aims to address this skills gap by bringing together a diverse group of leading international postgraduate students from disciplines that connect the physical sciences, computer sciences and materials engineering.

The five-year programme will support two cohorts of fellows.

Participants will work with a cross-sector group of industrial partners and gain access to a multi-methodology training environment.

The training will help students develop core capabilities in automation, robotics and artificial intelligence, equipping them with the skills needed to support the next generation of materials innovation.

The programme will be based at the University of Liverpool’s Materials Innovation Factory, known as MIF.

The facility provides a world-leading robotic materials synthesis suite and is designed to foster an industrial mindset within a collaborative research environment that brings together academic and industrial expertise.

Through this setting, iDTC-MIF fellows will also develop leadership and entrepreneurial skills alongside their technical training.

Dr Esther Garcia-Tunon Blanca, coordinator of the initiative, UKRI Future Leaders Fellow and Senior Lecturer in Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Liverpool, said the funding provides an important opportunity to train the innovators of the future.

She said their work will help move materials research toward products that can benefit society and the environment.

Dr Garcia-Tunon Blanca added that iDTC-MIF offers a unique opportunity for some of Europe’s brightest minds to come to Liverpool, where they will access an interdisciplinary training programme and internationally recognised academic supervisors leading pioneering research worldwide.

The new funding reflects the ambition of the University of Liverpool’s Materials Discovery research frontier, which focuses on addressing net zero challenges through digital materials design and automation.

iDTC-MIF also builds on the University’s existing doctoral training strengths, including the EPSRC-funded Centre for Doctoral Training in Digital and Automated Materials Chemistry.

By adding an international dimension to this portfolio, the new programme will further strengthen Liverpool’s role in advanced materials discovery, automated research methods and the training of future scientific and industrial leaders.

Media Contact:

pressoffice@liverpool.ac.uk

SOURCE: University of Liverpool