Showcasing Scotland's Engineering Research: SRPe Annual Conference 2021 (#srpe21)
The Scottish Research Partnership in Engineering hosted its Annual Conference 2021 on Wednesday 27th January (#srpe21).
With over 190 attendees attending virtually from across academia, industry and the public sector, it was an exciting and fast-paced day successfully showcasing the diversity and impact of engineering research and collaboration across Scotland.
The opening address was given by SRPe Chair Professor Sir Jim McDonald highlighting some of the recent successes and impacts delivered by SRPe in collaboration with our key partners from across academia-industry-public sector/government. These included the launch of 47 industry doctorate projects, and delivery of continuous professional development to industry/SMEs to support their transition to digital manufacturing. The activities and impacts of the academic research community in supporting the overall response to the pandemic, and the role it will continue to play into the future were also highlighted.
Our Keynote speaker Richard Lochhead MSP gave an inspirational speech underlining the important role that engineering research and collaboration will continue to play in addressing the key challenges and opportunities ahead as Scotland continues in its Just Transition to Green Economic Recovery, and towards meeting Net Zero 2045 targets.
Our Thematic Chairs and Guest Speakers gave very informative presentations spanning SRPe’s four strategic themes (Advanced Manufacturing; Robotics and Autonomous Systems; Engineering for Healthcare; and Infrastructure and Environment) highlighting the research strengths of Scotland, the key challenges and opportunities, and the importance of collaboration in driving towards common goals. Q & A sessions were held throughout.
Flash-presentations were given by a selection of our 47 industry doctorate students from across SRPe’s Graduate School spanning our four strategic themes, followed by Q&A with the students.
The standard of entries to our student mini-poster competition was very high and all entries can be viewed along with their audio clips here. More details on the competition can be found here, including details of the prize winners.