The University of Aberdeen has been named alongside Robert Gordon University (RGU) as among only four European institutions to be chosen to work with Mexican universities to address the future needs of the country's energy sector.

SENER (Mexico’s Secretary of Energy) announced that the north-east’s two universities will join Imperial College London and the IFP School in France as the selected institutions.

Aberdeen’s involvement in the collaboration will see Scotland’s University of the Year deliver a mixture of research and teaching, across engineering and law.

In engineering, the University will deliver two research projects – one on a thermally-assisted enhanced oil recovery (EOR) method with Instituto Potosino de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica (IPICYT), and the other on developing methods to assess and monitor the integrity of subsea infrastructure in partnership with Instituto Mexicano del Petróleo (IMP).  Meanwhile, the University will also deliver a collaborative MSc in Subsea Engineering with IMP.

In law, the University will work with the Universidad de las Americas Puebla (UDLAP) to deliver a joint LLM programme on Oil & Gas Law, and will collaborate with Instituto de Investigaciones Juiridicas (UNAM) and Institutio Teconologico Autonomo de Mexico (ITAM) in a major research project on Hydrocarbon Law, combining socio-legal and economics research in the areas of international arbitration, social licensing and innovation.

Professor George Boyne, University of Aberdeen Principal, commented: “This Memorandum of Understanding with SENER is testament to the University’s status as a world leader in energy research and teaching across multiple disciplines, from subsea engineering to energy law. 

“Our well-established links with Mexico stretch back several years, and our close relationship with CONACYT, the Mexican Council for Science & Technology, has seen hundreds of Mexican students come to Aberdeen to benefit from our renowned energy programmes.