Manchester Met’s powerful new research platform wins major award
A powerful new research platform that helps experts work faster together on potentially life-changing academic studies has won Best Cloud Project at the Cloud Excellence Awards 2025.
The Research Cloud Project uses High performance computing (HPC) which is far more powerful than a typical desktop computer. Now connected by one shared, central system, it enables researchers to take on more ambitious projects and makes collaborations easier – including potentially ground-breaking studies on climate science and Parkinson’s Disease.
Professor Nicola Ray, Professor of Neuroscience at Manchester Met, is just one of the academics who has seen major improvements from using the platform for her study on Parkinson’s. The research uses data from two NHS trusts and 60 patients, and work that used to take weeks has been transformed to hours.
Another success is Dr Ling Lim a Research Fellow who works in climate science and has used the platform to support six major funding bids worth over £2 million.
Nick Brook, Pro-Vice Chancellor of Research at Manchester Met, said: “This award is a testament to the team’s innovation, dedication, and collaborative approach. It reflects the hard work that went into building a platform that empowers our research community. We set out to create something transformative and the impact we’re seeing across the University shows we’ve done just that.”
The Research Cloud Project has also strengthened collaboration, internally between IT, technical services and academic teams, and externally with partners such as Microsoft and Red Oak Consulting.
It is now part of Manchester Metropolitan’s new Centre for Digital Data Research (CDDR). The CDDR allows the University to harness the power of cloud computing, artificial intelligence and big data to accelerate research and drive new discoveries.
Looking ahead, Chief Information Officer Chris Robinson underscored the importance of digital investment. He said: “Improving our research capabilities is a core component of our investment in Digital infrastructure. The HPC project and more recently the CDDR are truly collaborative endeavours, that will lead to real world impact. It sets a marker for quality, that we now need to maintain, as we continue to drive improvements in digital experience for staff, students and our research community.”
If you would like to know more about the CDDR, visit the CDDR website or email [email protected].
