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Lucideon and Keele University: Three Decades of Collaboration

How Keele University and Lucideon turned advanced materials research into impact across healthcare, energy and sustainability

From advanced ceramics and biomedicine to hydrogen and net‑zero energy, our partnership with Keele University has helped turn cutting‑edge research into real‑world impact.

 

Beginnings

In the early‑1990s, our teams and Keele researchers began working together on new ways to process and characterize advanced materials. The early focus on ceramics and biomaterials included viscous plastic processing (VPP) and Lucideon co‑authored work applying VPP to hydroxyapatite in 1995, aligning with our early biomaterials interests.

A key enabler was the movement of expertise between industry and academia - illustrated by Prof Kevin Kendall FRS, who spent approximately 20 years in industry at ICI before moving into academia, pursuing research interests at various universities, including Keele.

 

What we've achieved together

  • People pipeline. The DTI-EPSRC Postgraduate Training Partnership (PTP) ran across multiple PhD cohorts (mid‑1990s to early 2000s), totalling over 40 jointly supervised PhD projects, feeding skills directly into Lucideon, Keele, and industry. Long‑standing alumnus Dr Giles Blundred, supervised by Professor Mark Ormerod OBE (Professor of Clean Technology and Inorganic Materials Chemistry and now Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost at Keele University) is now the XRD specialist at Lucideon is one example, with many others moving into roles across Lucideon’s customer base, with another Emma Kendrick is now Professor of Energy Materials in the School of Metallurgy and Materials at the University of Birmingham.
  • Faster R&D. Access to Keele's expertise and facilities (cell biology, pharmacy, energy demonstrators) has accelerated feasibility and de‑risked the scale‑up of technologies e.g., collaborations around hydrogen blending on Keele's private gas network.
  • Capability build‑out.  Early subcontracted work with Prof Alicia El‑Haj’s team at Keele’s Institute of Science & Technology in Medicine (ISTM) informed subsequent investments at Lucideon in cell testing.
  • Regional innovation. Joint demonstrators, most notably HyDeploy, a £7m project funded by OfGEM, led by Cadent successfully demonstrating practical hydrogen gas blending at scale at Keele University, showing how academia / industry partnerships can deliver measurable impact for the transition to low‑carbon energy.

 

Looking ahead

We're continuing to explore new materials, processes and demonstrators with Keele, bringing together discovery‑led science and industrial problem‑solving to accelerate innovation for healthcare, clean energy and sustainable manufacturing.

 

 

Key milestones

  • Early-mid 1990s - Viscous Plastic Processing (VPP). Collaboration as Prof Kevin Kendall FRS moved from ICI to Keele. Early joint work on advanced ceramics and biomaterials.
  • Mid‑1990s-early 2000s - Postgraduate Training Partnership (PTP). Multi‑cohort programme (over 40 jointly supervised Keele-Lucideon-industry PhDs). Dr Giles Blundred is a long‑standing PhD alumnus (supervised by Professor Mark Ormerod OBE) now at Lucideon; many participants moved into roles with customers.
  • Mid‑1990s-early 2000s - Prof Jon Binner as mentor/lecturer. Split time between Keele University and Lucideon for the duration of the Postgraduate Training Partnership.
  • 2000s – Bioceramics cell work with Keele’s Institute of Science and Technology in Medicine (ISTM) (Prof Alicia El‑Haj). Subcontracted cell studies on zirconia‑toughened alumina (ZTA) destined for orthopaedic applications. This work helped shape our later investment in in‑house cell testing.
  • 2010s - Pharmacy/tablet R&D with Dr Tony Curtis. Lucideon reviewed Keele's tablet‑pressing and testing capability to support formulations using our iCRT controlled‑release technology. Bids were submitted, and Lucideon subsequently invested in its own tablet presses.
  • 2019-2021 HyDeploy at Keele. Keele University hosted the UK’s first live hydrogen‑in‑gas‑network trial, blending up to 20% volume H₂ across ~100 homes and 30 buildings, informing the HyDeploy2 public‑network evidence base
  • 1990s-present - IOM3 and School of Earth Sciences. Ongoing engagement via lectures, events and knowledge exchange with Keele’s earth sciences community.