University appoints local businessman as professor

THE University of Manchester has appointed Dr Robert Eden, managing director of Culcheth-based Rawwater Engineering Company Ltd, as an Honorary Professor in the Faculty of Science and Engineering, within the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.
Dr Eden’s appointment is in recognition of his work in the field of well integrity and geomicrobiology.
Before establishing Rawwater almost 20 years ago, Dr Eden worked at UMIST, where his technologies included corrosion, subsea engineering and oilfield souring. Within these areas, he raised several millions of pounds, attracting funding from the major North Sea oil operators, the USA, South America, the Middle East, the British and Norwegian governments.
He is currently leading a team of scientists and engineers at Rawwater in the development of a range of new alloys to provide secure, high integrity, metal seals for the repair of leaking oil wells and leak-containment in the nuclear industry. His team also operate the world’s largest suite of pressurised bioreactors to simulate the extreme geomicrobiological conditions that cause souring deep inside oilfield reservoirs. It is when souring is poorly managed that wells and pipelines corrode and leak.
Dr Eden said: “I am truly delighted to have been made an Honorary Professor within the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at The University of Manchester. Thoroughly understanding human impact on the geosphere and biosphere is essential to the future wellbeing of our planet, and I look forward to working with the Department’s distinguished staff, as well as assisting its students who, no-doubt, will become the next generation of leading scientists and entrepreneurs in these fields.”
Rawwater Engineering Company Ltd’s headquarters are at Culcheth Enterprise Centre.