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The Enterprise Fellowships support innovative, creative entrepreneurial engineers who have demonstrated an exceptional innovation in engineering which they want to develop further. Dr Ilan Adlerwill be engaged on a full-time capacity for one year, 2018-19 on his project, EcoNomad-Fuelling a Sustainable Future. It will involve developing practical solutions for smallholding farms to enhance their productive capacity and sustainability, by implementing innovative solar pumping techniques for irrigation and waste-to-energy eco-technologies for the optimal recovery of nutrients and biogas. The project builds on his previous experience as the founder of the International Renewable Resources Institute (IRRI-Mexico), an NGO which also generated a successful spin-out called Sistema Biobolsa, a modular anaerobic digestion system which has now achieved worldwide recognition across Latin America, Africa and Asia.

Through the past few years at CEGE, Dr Adler has successfully engaged students at various levels in the research and development of these technologies, including collaborations with industry, which has led to the Provost Community Public Engagement Award 2017 among other distinctions. This is expected to continue during the fellowship through five MSc projects scheduled for this summer, one of which will be based in Malawi, with support from Professor Yacoub Mulugetta (STEaPP), as well as a potential PhD project. This year, Dr Adler also obtained the Santander Research Catalyst Award, which will link to the fellowship through a collaboration with CICY, a research centre based in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, with ample expertise in solar-based research and sustainability.

The Enterprise Fellowship programme focuses on equipping the awardee with the confidence, skills, experience and network of expert advisors necessary to enable them to develop their innovation. As part of his RAEng Fellowship, Dr Ilan Adler participated in the intensive proBiogas International certificate course, based in Stuttgart, Germany. The 52 hour training, with participants from across three continents, included visits to numerous biogas and biomethane upgrading plants in the south of Germany, as well as practical lab tests. Some of the field trips were done with a CNG (compressed natural gas) vehicle, which was refuelled with upgraded biomethane obtained from biogas. The course is run on an annual basis by IBBK Fachgruppe Biogas GmbH in collaboration with the Bioenergy Institute at the University of Hohenheim.

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Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Fellowships