The UK Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Centre (IDRIC) has been named Research Institute of the Year at the prestigious 2025 Edie Net Zero Awards in London.
Professor Marcelle McManus, Professor of Energy and Environmental Engineering in Bath’s Department of Mechanical Engineering and UK-HyRES academic, is one of IDRIC’s Research Co-Directors.
This recognition highlights IDRIC’s leadership and significant contributions toward accelerating the sustainable energy transition of industry whilst boosting competitiveness and productivity. The Edie Net Zero Awards recognise the most innovative and impactful sustainability projects, teams and individuals in the UK and beyond.
IDRIC is the UK flagship research and innovation centre, pioneering a whole-systems, place-based approach to realise green industrial futures. Bath is a partner in the centre, which is led at Heriot-Watt University. Over the past five years, it has worked with academic institutions, industry, community representatives, and policymakers to address innovation needs and integrate knowledge across various disciplines and sectors.
Professor Marcelle McManus, from Bath’s Faculty of Engineering & Design, is IDRIC Research Co-Director. She said: “Decarbonisation is not easy, but through our research we are bringing together industry and academia to solve long and short-term problems, driving innovation and impact in this important area.
“Through our work we are creating opportunities for innovative circular economies- pushing beyond the fossil fuel system we have inherited. Our researchers in Bath have worked with multiple industrial clusters as part of IDRIC, with a focus on understanding and optimising the wider system.”
The Edie Net Zero Awards recognise the most innovative and impactful sustainability projects, teams and individuals in the UK and beyond. This win highlights IDRIC’s leadership and contributions toward accelerating the sustainable energy transition of industry whilst boosting competitiveness and productivity.
Over the past five years, IDRIC has unified national capabilities and integrated efforts across the entire research and innovation ecosystem. During this time, the centre has delivered more than 230 project outputs from 100 research projects, along with over 60 prototypes, tools, and models.
IDRIC teams have built strong relationships with more than 12 UK industrial clusters and over 45 research institutions. They have also made over 40 policy recommendations to the UK Parliament, supported by numerous influential convening policy events. In addition to this work, IDRIC has also collaborated with skills organisations across the UK and enhanced skills and workforce diversity through secondments and training. It has also launched the EPSRC CDT in Green Industrial Futures, training 100 future leaders for the green industrial transition.
IDRIC has also launched the Net Zero Industry Visualisation Tool for the wider public – an interactive tool that allows users to explore what a green industrial future looks and guides school leavers toward potential training routes for a career in decarbonisation.
Prof. Mercedes Maroto-Valer, IDRIC’s Director, commented that “Being named the “Research Institute of the Year”, is testament to the fact that ambition, commitment and collaboration can have a real impact on the sustainable journey of our industrial heartlands to net zero. We are very honoured to receive this fantastic award among very strong competitors and remain more committed than ever to translating rigorous research into real-world impact.”