News

Helping to drive the region forward

(31 October 2003)

Durham University has further enhanced its commitment to Tees Valley regeneration with the appointment of a post specifically aimed at utilising the University's knowledge base to further impact on regeneration in the area.

Andy Cattermole joins the University as Tees Valley Regional Regeneration Officer, working within the University's Research and Economic Development Support Service (REDSS). The new post has been created to maximise the opportunities for further integrating the university, industry and the community in close partnership.

Primarily based at the University's fast-growing Queen's Campus, Stockton, Andy will be working in partnership with academic staff and Tees Valley partners to co-ordinate and develop projects which bring Durham University expertise to assist in the regeneration of the Tees Valley. His work will include identifying and promoting opportunities for Durham University engagement and acting as a contact point for regeneration activity based within the Tees Valley.

Before joining the University of Durham, Andy was working on his PhD at the Centre for Rural Economy at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. His main research included the role of the National Trust in rural development. He has also worked in a variety of Logistics Management roles in industry.

He commented: "I arrive at an interesting time as a number of projects involving the University and its neighbours are in varying stages of development. I am beginning to meet with Tees Valley businesses and organisations to let them know about the strength and depth of the University's business-related work and technology transfer activities. Some may feel that they would benefit from some form of co-operation with the university but are unsure of how that might happen in practice".

The appointment has been facilitated by funds from One North East via the Tees Valley Partnership and is one of a number of initiatives within which the University is involved in the Tees Valley.

The School of Engineering is also in the process of rolling out its Agility programme to businesses in the Tees Valley. The Agility programme has been very successful at streamlining manufacturing processes in SMEs and larger businesses by assisting North East firms to work smarter, not harder by helping businesses which need a fresh perspective on how to improve their profitability. Its advisors, who are all recruited from industry, will go into a company and help the management and workforce to adopt best practice "agile" manufacturing to meet the changing demands of domestic and export markets. The Agility Group consists of three strands - process and factory improvement, business strategy and logistics and digital enterprise technology - each with two or more dedicated engineers. Funding from One North East via the Tees Valley Partnership is facilitating expansion into the Tees Valley.

As a world-class university on two campuses: in the city of Durham and in Stockton-on-Tees, the University plays a major role in driving the region forward through a broad range of activities which include:-

• extensive collaborative work with industry and professions, including leading edge developments in communications, biotechnology, physics,chemistry, engineering, biology, medicine, law, management and education.
• a rising number of spin-out companies and ideas for commercial exploitation.
• creating more opportunities for high quality teaching and learning. The University's 13,000 students include an increasing proportion both from the North East and from non-traditional backgrounds.
• successful expansion of the Queen's Campus, Stockton as a gateway to the University's entire area of operations. With its research and teaching expertise in health, medicine, education and business, the Queen's Campus has been one of the most significant developments in the university sector over the last twenty years.

For more information about this release contact

Andy Cattermole, Tees Valley Regional Regeneration Officer email a.j.cattermole@durham.ac.uk, tel: 0191-334-0139

or Jan Cawood, Public Relations Officer tel: 0191-334-0018.