Safe drinking water

Tobias, a recipient of a donor-funded Research Impact Scholarship, is examining ways of using graphene to allow those in the developing world to access clean water. “97% of global water is salty water. Only 3% is drinkable and only a small fraction of that is actually drinkable without pollutants, so there is a great need Read More…


Unlocking graphene’s potential

Manchester PhD student Chris Hoyle has made a discovery that could have a major positive impact on healthcare in the future. The University of Manchester is the home of graphene. The one-atom thick wonder-material was first isolated here by Professors Konstantin Novoselov and Andre Geim in 2004. Since then, countless potential uses for graphene have Read More…


How graphene could revolutionise touchscreens

Smartphones and tablets have revolutionised all our lives. But for many, using touchscreens presents a myriad of problems. Graphene could help solve these issues. The prominence of consumer touchscreen devices has surged over the last few years. Smartphones, the most common touchscreen devices, are now owned by 85% of people in the UK. While younger Read More…


Changing lives through social enterprise

Christina, a scholarship recipient and graduate of the Manchester Enterprise Centre, is changing the lives of young people with her award-winning Aim Sky High Company. Start-up businesses are becoming increasingly more important to the UK economy, with 40% of all UK businesses having been set up in the past 3 years. Start-ups employ 12% of Read More…


Donations change lives: graphene and enterprise

It’s a story that could one day be as famous as Newton and the apple, or Fleming’s accidental discovery of penicillin. One Friday evening in 2004, in a physics lab at The University of Manchester, Professors Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov were holding one of their ‘Friday night experiments’. During these sessions, the two scientists would Read More…


Seb Leaper

Simply, Reliably, Cheaply – Solving the Global Water Crisis

PhD student Seb Leaper shares his award-winning enterprise project, where he aims to help solve the global water crisis by using graphene to desalinate sea water. “Around five million people die every year from water-related illnesses, and about four million of those are children.” The stats around the global water crisis are staggering. One in Read More…