Electrical & Electronic Engineering: Business
Dyson
The Newcastle research office has been based in Newcastle University since 2006 and has a long history of working on advanced motor design and control for Dyson products. Over this time, six PhDs and EngDs have been sponsored, including three current PhDs.
The topics covered by the office include:
- the electromagnetics and mechanics of motor design at high speeds and efficiencies
- power electronics and power system design for mains and battery powered motors
- the advanced control of motors and actuators
The research focus of the office complements the Newcastle Electrical Power group's expertise in power system design and control for high power density electric drives with high efficiencies and low cost.
The office falls under the direction of the Technical Research Group in Dyson RDD.
We have very close links with Dyson RDD, 20 current and former employees of the motors research team have completed postgraduate and doctoral training in motors and power systems at the department. We maintain close links with the department to ensure the content of courses and teaching will continue to produce high-quality engineers with skills suited to Dyson and industry in general.
Advanced Electric Drives
The Centre for Advanced Electrical Drives has a long history of successful research collaborations, helping our industrial partners to apply cutting-edge research to commercial motor drive products.
We pride ourselves on our ability to deliver:
- High performance, high speed, low-cost and high-efficiency projects
- Professional service offering with a proven track record of success

Advanced Propulsion Centre UK Partnership
We are a member of the prestigious Spokes Network, a national network to support the automotive industry with specialist academic, technological and commercial expertise, part of the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK.

Smart Grid
The Smart Grid Lab and Energy Storage Test Bed are grid connected facilities at Newcastle University.
They are funded through a combined £2 million grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Newcastle University and industrial partners Northern Powergrid and Siemens.
These key facilities are part of Newcastle’s £200 million flagship project at Newcastle Helix bringing together academia, the public sector, communities, business and industry to create a global centre for urban innovation and sustainability.
Newcastle Helix is founded through a partnership between Newcastle University and Newcastle City Council to develop an exemplar of a smart, sustainable, resilient city that links energy, transport and digital infrastructure in an urban context.
Located on the former Scottish & Newcastle Brewery industrial site in the heart of Newcastle, Newcastle Helix is the perfect environment for exploring digitally enabled urban sustainability, and for demonstrating innovation that can benefit the local region and beyond.

Industry
Our team boasts some of the leading academics in electrical and electronic engineering.
As well as our excellent teaching and research facilities, we pride ourselves on our services for industry.
We have collaborated with a wide range of business, both small and international, through consultation, developing new technologies and developing our students into world-leading engineers.
Our work with industry includes:
- Industrial Advisory Board
- collaborative research
- consultancy for design, evaluation, development and testing
- employee training programmes
- support small and medium sized businesses to develop their products
- transfer of IP from our research in to new products and services
- expert witnesses
The Advanced Propulsion Centre UK (APC) aims to position the UK as a centre of excellence for low carbon propulsion development and production. The APC team brings together and supports those who have good ideas in the form of innovative technologies with those who can bring them to market as products.
As the Electric Machines Spoke, we act as the focal point for electric machines development in the automotive sector. We are bringing together the academic and industrial communities in order to set the agenda for future collaborative research.
The Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) consists of six Spoke communities:
- Newcastle University for Electric Machines
- University of Nottingham for Power Electronics
- University of Warwick for Electrical Energy
- Loughborough University for Digital Engineering & Test
- University of Brighton for ICE Thermal Efficiency
- University of Bath for ICE System Efficiency
The Spokes network identifies the next generation of researchers and industrialists in the UK. The aim is to encourage collaboration and engagement with the automotive industry. The Spokes work also includes helping junior researchers into collaborative projects and working with industrial partners to ensure apprentices are trained to manufacture future technologies.
The Electric Machines Spoke acts as the focal point for electric machines development in the UK automotive sector. The Spoke brings together the academic and industrial communities and set the agenda for future collaborative research.

The Spoke Network aims to build collaborations that focus on transforming research into products. ‘Open to all’ the Spokes will include research and industrial representatives from the materials, manufacturing, design and simulation, testing and vehicle integration.
The aims of these Spoke communities include:
- Taking the key research from the academic community and identifying opportunities for embedding the outcomes into future low carbon technologies
- Establishing key industry challenges and translating them into fundamental and applied research programmes for the broader academic community
- Bring together the whole of the Supply Chain to establish ‘end to end’ solutions and routes to production
The Spoke is for everyone involved in the development of electrical machines for the automotive industry, including:
- materials research
- electromagnetics
- mechanical design of high speed rotating machines
- software tools
- manufacturing
- test and more
For more information on our work in Electrical Machines, visit the APC Spoke Network