Membership with the Big Innovation Centre and the Disruptive Forces Seminar

Prof. Fionn Dunne and Dr Saira Naeem (Imperial College) met with Prof. Birgitte Andersen from The Big Innnovation Centre (BIC) to establish a new partnership with the HexMat Programme and Imperial College. BIC aims to facilitate in making the UK a global innovation hub and to transform the UK economy. Industrial uptake of research and influencing policy were both discussed together with the potential impact of the HexMat programme.

Imperial College and the Big Innovation Centre hosted the Disruptive Forces seminar on 30th June, 2014. This was a half-day meeting, bringing together leading industrialists and academics. The HexMat team presented some pioneering transformational techniques being developed in materials technologies, including characterisation, microscopy and modelling, addressing how industries can better take up research  in materials for improved materials properties, behaviour and performance.

The meeting was chaired by Will Hutton (Chair of BIC) and speakers included Fionn Dunne (HexMat PI, Imperial College), Michael Preuss (HexMat Co-I, Manchester University), Adrian Sutton (Materials Physicist, Imperial College), Angus Wilkinson (HexMat Co-I, Oxford University) and David Rugg (HexMat partner, Rolls-Royce).

The afternoon included a break-out session (download summary), giving the opportunity for discussions and a drinks reception and networking.

For further details and speaker's presentations, see the BIC webpage.

Engagement with Rolls-Royce

HexMat academics, postdoctoral researchers and postgraduate students from Imperial, Manchester and Oxford spent a day at Rolls-Royce, Derby on 28th April 2014, meeting key industrial representatives in the aero and nuclear sectors. The visit also included a tour of the Rolls-Royce Heritage Centre.

Following last year’s success of the HexMat ‘titanium day’, Rolls-Royce invited the HexMat team to Derby again for a similar day, but this time focused on zirconium alloys. The team from Imperial College London, University of Manchester and University of Oxford met with key Rolls-Royce engineers and were presented with Rolls-Royce’s research interests in relation to HexMat. Some key speakers included Aidan Cole-Baker (Engineering specialist – Core Materials), Ted Darby (Corporate Specialist – Nuclear Materials), Mike Martin (Structural Integrity Specialist) and Steve Curr (Chief Technologist – Core).