To mark the bicentennial of the railway industry (Railway 200), the inaugural student-led conference of the UK Rail Research & Innovation Network (UKRRIN) was successfully held in Sheffield this month.
Over 160 delegates, a mixture of in-person and online, from at least 30 different institutions and businesses, attended the event. Supported by UKRRIN, Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB), and Network Rail, the conference effectively blended oral and poster presentations, keynote speeches, and engaging panel discussions, showcasing cutting-edge research and innovations poised to transform the railway industry.
Extending beyond formal presentations, the conference fostered lively discussions and idea exchanges, emphasizing the crucial role of collaboration and innovation in driving advancements in railway infrastructure and engineering. A diverse range of railway research themes were explored, encompassing structures, infrastructure & drainage, the tribology of the rail-wheel contact, electrification, energy & decarbonisation, and digitalisation & change in the railway.
Best poster and presentation winners were Supakorn Suttidarachai (University of Sheffield), Tan Kang Rui (University of Nottingham), Ugur Mutlu (University of Birmingham), and Mark Lodge (University of Birmingham).
Jacob Whittle, Organising Committee Co-Chair, said: "Myself and Philomenah Holladay started this journey in early June 2024 with the goal of delivering the first in a series of student-led conferences for UKRRIN. We delivered an event that gave students, researchers, academics, and industry leaders the chance to communicate cutting edge research, network with peers, forge new connections, and space to think about where their research fits within an ever shifting rail industry landscape. This event has taken a lot of time and careful planning, but has well exceeded our own expectations in terms of interest, attendance, and quality of output."
Professor Paul Plummer, keynote speaker and UKRRIN lead at the University of Birmingham, said "The first UKRRIN student conference was a great success so I'm confident it won't be the last. And it was fantastic to see the future of rail research with so many inspirational PhD students exemplified by the prize winners."
More about the conference and all conference materials are available on SPARK, a free knowledge hub that helps the rail industry, and its research community in particular, to understand what we know and who knows it across the globe.