THE James Dyson Foundation announced funding for a new professorship at the University of Bath today.

The new Dyson Chair of Design Engineering will support Britain’s next generation of design engineers.

It will provide the latest industry relevant insight for students, helping them to develop ideas and technology, to ultimately commercialise and export them.

Professor Gareth Jones, previously the Product Development Director at Malmesbury-based Dyson, known for its innovative vacuum cleaners, hand driers and fans, has been appointed to the role.

He will integrate design engineering, entrepreneurship and innovation into the undergraduate engineering course.

Working closely with Dyson will enable Gareth to teach a similar approach to how engineers at Dyson develop new and exciting ideas.

James Dyson said: "I want the world’s best ideas to originate here in Britain and Bath is one of our most successful engineering universities.

"Gareth knows what it takes to turn an engineering concept into a technology that can be exported worldwide.

"As the Dyson Chair of Design Engineering, he will provide invaluable first-hand experience of inventing.”

In addition to his eight years’ industry experience at Dyson, Prof Jones has held visiting professorships at the Royal College of Art, Imperial College and the University of Bath.

Alongside the professorship he will continue working in industry, running his own design consultancy in Bath - FreshWorks Ltd.

Prof Jones said: “Design is embedded as a core theme running through the four years of Bath’s Mechanical Engineering undergraduate programmes.

"I look forward to helping develop a new generation of design engineers, bringing to bear my creativity, technical and industry experience.”

Vice-Chancellor Professor Dame Glynis Breakwell said: “We are delighted that the James Dyson Foundation has strengthened its ties with the University of Bath.

"This appointment will further enhance our already highly-rated Mechanical Engineering degree course, voted top for student satisfaction in the UK for the last two years."

The James Dyson Foundation supports local charities and education projects related to engineering, design and technology, and this is the latest additional to existing support given to the University of Bath.

In 2011, the Foundation announced a scholarship for a PhD student to study in the Faculty of Engineering & Design every year. Past scholars include Lisa Fitzgerald who has recently completed her PhD looking at knee replacement techniques. Her work was presented at the World Congress of Biomechanics in Boston, July 2014.

The foundation set up the Jeremy Fry scholarship, commemorating the work of the Bath-based engineer who died in 2005. Mr Fry, who founded the company Rotork Controls, was renowned for his inventive approach to engineering design as well as for nurturing young talent. He gave James Dyson his first job.

The scholarship is funded by the James Dyson Foundation and is presented annually to a first-year engineering student at Bath University.

This year’s recipient is Integrated Mechanical & Electrical Engineering student, Esther Dunstan-Sewell, who won the scholarship on the basis of her design of a low-cost, light-weight motorised pram, which weighs only 8kg and costs £80.