Keele’s HyDEX Programme Wins Top Knowledge Exchange Award

Ever wondered how the Midlands is staking its claim as the UK’s next hydrogen powerhouse? Keele University has just taken a huge step forward. Its HyDEX programme has scooped a prestigious Knowledge Exchange Award for driving a clean energy ecosystem across the region.

From Deep Green Roots to Award-Winning Innovation

It all began in the early 2000s when Keele University launched its “Deep Green” sustainability drive. Fast forward a couple of decades and the campus has become a living lab: home to Europe’s largest Smart Energy Network Demonstrator, a private power network and an on-site renewable park. That groundwork laid the foundation for 2019’s HyDeploy trial, the UK’s first real-world test of blending 20% hydrogen into a live gas grid. Teaming up with Cadent and Northern Gas Networks, Keele proved that green hydrogen blending can slash carbon emissions without tearing up existing pipes.

Pioneering the Blend: HyDeploy to HyDEX

Riding the HyDeploy success wave, Research England backed HyDEX in January 2022. Under the umbrella of the Energy Research Accelerator, seven Midlands Innovation universities joined forces, led by Keele. Professor Martin Freer and Professor Mark Ormerod have steered HyDEX from concept to real-world demos and policy briefs. Meanwhile, Cadent’s Ed Syson and Sally Brewis are busy plotting a Midlands “hydrogen valley,” complete with new pipelines to stitch regional hubs together.

Seven Universities, One Hydrogen Vision

• Aston University is converting forestry waste into fuel via biomass, boosting GreenCo’s BR300 system.
• University of Birmingham built a refuelling station and an ammonia cracker at Tyseley Energy Park for energy storage trials.
• Cranfield University is exploring bulk production routes like Sorbent Enhanced Steam Reforming and methane cracking for large-scale hydrogen production.
• Loughborough University zeroes in on sustainable manufacturing and lifecycle management of hydrogen systems.
• University of Nottingham debuted a Flex Fuel engine that swaps seamlessly between hydrogen and ammonia in retrofitted diesels.
• University of Warwick is scaling up high-efficiency renewable hydrogen production for commercial markets.
• Keele University continues to harness campus renewables, driving green hydrogen via electrolysis and even eyeing subsurface storage in depleted fields.

More Than Machines: Skills, Policy and Global Reach

HyDEX isn’t just about fancy kit—it’s shaping the people and policies we need for industrial decarbonization. Through skill-mapping reports and tailored training programmes, it’s teaming up with industry to define tomorrow’s jobs. On the policy front, HyDEX has laid out roadmaps for hydrogen rail, UK–EU collaboration and wider industrial adoption. And by hosting over 30 events from Brussels to Singapore, it’s forged international links with South Korea, China and beyond.

Charting the Road Ahead

With net-zero targets breathing down everyone’s neck, hydrogen is emerging as a go-to lever for sectors that need serious heat—think aviation, heavy transport and construction. The Knowledge Exchange Award underlines that HyDEX’s blend of research, demos and policy work isn’t just academic—it’s powering a real-world hydrogen economy in the Midlands. The next leg of the journey depends on steady government backing, fresh hydrogen infrastructure investment and ongoing collaboration between universities, industry and policymakers.

Armed with this award, Keele University and its HyDEX partners have made it abundantly clear: the Midlands isn’t just an industrial heartland—it’s the springboard for the UK’s hydrogen-powered future in sustainable energy.