News

Durham student wins government award for project and doubles PSP UK Ltd’s turnover in two years

(11 May 2006)

A Durham PhD student has won the University and his employer a prestigious government award for a project which helped a Shildon–based company double its turnover and increase its workforce by 50 percent over two years.

Tamer Qaqish, 28, from Durham, joined Pressed Steel Products Ltd, which manufactures architectural facades and pressed steel products for the construction industry, in 2002 as part of the government-funded Knowledge Transfer Partnership scheme. This scheme offers companies access to the resources of UK universities for strategic advantage in the form of high-calibre graduates working on projects to develop their businesses. During his project Tamer introduced a new planning system to introduce the latest manufacturing and business control systems.

Heath Hindmarsh, Managing Director of PSP said: “This project helped us take our business to a new level. During the project period company turnover doubled and created 20 new jobs. We are now building the business even more by investing in new equipment and extending our premises and hope to create more new jobs in the next year. We were so delighted by Tamer and the project that we offered him a permanent position and he is now our IT and Projects Manager.”

Tamer, Durham University and PSP Ltd were among nine other partnerships to be awarded a Knowledge Transfer Partnership award at a recent ceremony at the Savoy Hotel in London. The Rt Hon Alan Johnson MP who attended the ceremony commented on the importance of the scheme saying: “If we (the UK) want to keep our competitive edge in the modern global economy, this type of collaboration – between businesses and education needs to become the norm…. as the economies of China and India forge ahead.”

Tamer said: “The KTP scheme worked so well for me and I am really pleased to receive an award. I initially came to Durham University to study a masters but this project has helped me develop both my commercial expertise and my academic research. It has now spurred me on to extend my masters to a PhD which I am working on part-time at Durham while working full time at PSP.”

Val Wooff, KTP Manager at Durham University said: “Knowledge Transfer Partnerships are now in their 30th year and have provided over 6,000 partnerships with academia. There are usually between 12 and 15 partnerships between Durham University and companies at any one time and we are working with organisations ranging from small manufacturers to NHS Trusts. We can work with most sectors and the project needs to be challenging enough for the company partner, academic team and the Associate to attract the funding. Any company that is interested should contact Val Wooff, KTP Manager on 0191 334 3175 or email v.a.wooff@durham.ac.uk.