The Reece Foundation was established in 2007 by renowned North East engineer, businessman and Newcastle University alumnus Dr Alan Reece.
It is an independent charity which provides grants to help promote engineering and manufacturing, whilst supporting the improvement of education in STEM subjects in the north east. It also focuses on issues affecting the countryside and protecting the wild places of the region.
Over the past decade, the Reece Foundation has donated more than £1.3m to advance research and support students at Newcastle University. Their generosity has provided essential laboratory equipment for our Centre for Translational Neuroscience, sponsored activities for students interested in a career in the automotive sector and awarded prizes for student innovation.
The Reece Foundation are today one of the biggest corporate supporters of Newcastle University’s Stephenson project, which is redeveloping our School of Engineering to provide a collaborative hub for students, researchers, local businesses and visionaries to come together to tackle world challenges.
The Reece Foundation is also contributing significant funds to support the University’s research into the pollution in the Ouseburn and possible solutions, with the first two phases of the work receiving circa £100k.
Dr Alan Reece: A lifelong connection with Newcastle University
Born in London, Dr Alan Reece first arrived on campus at the then King’s College as a Mechanical Engineering undergraduate in the mid-1940s. He stayed to complete a Master’s in Agricultural Engineering in 1950 before joining the Ford management trainee scheme in Dagenham.
Dr Reece returned to Newcastle University as an academic in 1956, gaining his PhD in 1964, and remained at the University as a lecturer in Agricultural Engineering until 1984.
Towards the end of his career at Newcastle University, Dr Reece began working on a design for a cost-effective deep-sea plough. This was in response to the increase in the number of undersea cables being laid, and the problems caused by deep-sea trawlers. His design allowed cables to be laid much more safely and efficiently.
Dr Reece left Newcastle in 1984 to focus on developing this through his company Soil Machine Dynamics (SMD). Employing graduates from Newcastle University, SMD soon had customers like BT and BP, and by 2000 had an annual turnover of £60m.
Throughout his entrepreneurial success, Dr Reece remained committed to benefitting the North East region and the future of engineering innovation. He established the Reece Foundation in 2007 with the aim of increasing the long-term and sustainable prosperity of the North East of England - primarily through the promotion of engineering and manufacturing.
Since then, the Foundation has supported projects that improve education in engineering and related scientific and mathematical subjects, training in engineering skills, and the development of employment opportunities.
Dr Reece's legacy
Dr Reece sadly died in 2012, but his legacy lives on through the Reece Foundation and the projects they support. Now chaired by Alan’s daughter, Anne, the Reece Foundation has made an outstanding difference in Newcastle and around the world through its sponsorship of Newcastle University research and students over the past 11 years.
Most recently, the Reece Foundation has awarded prizes for student innovation in the challenge of reaching Net Zero and has committed £65k to the redevelopment of the Stephenson Building on campus, an engineering hub for the future. Professor Kenny Dalgarno from the School of Engineering said:
“The Reece Innovation Prizes have given us a great way to enhance our teaching on how to develop and pitch ideas for new products and services over the years.
“And their most recent investment in our new Makerspace will enable us to train a team of students to become maker experts, who will go on to support other students in the creative space and grow our new community of makers.”
Drawing from the North East’s rich heritage of engineering and innovation, from mining and shipbuilding to the development of the world’s first railway, the new Stephenson Building will provide a world-leading space for the development of innovative solutions to some of humanity’s most pressing issues, including developing cleaner technologies and advanced medical technology.
The Stephenson Building will also host three new research hubs at Newcastle University, focusing on digital manufacturing, sustainable propulsion and biomedical engineering.
The Reece Foundation’s donation will contribute to the ‘Maker Space’: a new student-centred zone for interdisciplinary collaboration, creativity and entrepreneurship.
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the late Dr Reece, his family and the Reece Foundation for their ongoing generosity and support of Newcastle University.
Corporate and Foundation Giving at Newcastle University
We work closely with a variety of organisations, from grant-making trusts to corporates, to support research, student activity and campus developments here at Newcastle.
We are committed to working together to make a difference and provide a positive impact on our community through widening participation initiatives, funding, training and careers support.
If your organisation would like to know more about partnering with us, please contact Fiona Watson, Head of Corporate and Foundation Relations.