The Centre for Doctoral Training in New and Sustainable Photovoltaics, CDT-PV, reaches the end of its 10 year lifetime in September 2024. The centre was headed by Professor Alison Walker between 2021-2024.
The centre benefitted from £9M budget, of which £6.6M was from UKRI/EPSRC. It was co-led by the University of Liverpool (2014-2020) and the University of Bath (20221-2024), and collaborated with universities in Cambridge, Loughborough, Oxford, Sheffield and Southampton.
The principal ambition of the CDT-PV was to educate future leaders in solar cell technology and solar energy. The research vision and key themes were high-efficiency devices, sustainable materials, transparent conductors and hybrid perovskites.
Dr Jacob Leaver, a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Liverpool, says:
The greatest achievement of the CDT-PV was its community, bringing together many research groups working in different areas of PV.
Among many others, seven Bath students were successfully trained and graduated, finding positions in the academic and commercial sectors.
Fifteen outreach activities took place through the lifetime of the centre, many of which were led by Bath, and over one hundred and twenty publications and conference papers have appeared, including a high-profile article on feasibility of solar cells on Bath Abbey. The article, featured in Physics World and the Bath Magazine, was a joint effort by seven CDT-PV students from Liverpool, Bath, Cambridge, Sheffield, Loughborough, and Professor Alison Walker as the senior author.
Laurence Bennett, a PhD student at the University of Southampton, says:
The centre helped develop the careers of intelligent, well rounded and thoughtful people.