SUSTAIN Engagement Event December 2019

EventsBlog

9 Jan

SUSTAIN Engagement Event December 2019

The SUSTAIN Steel project recently held its Inaugural Engagement Event at The Royal Society in London on 4th December 2019.

SUSTAIN is a £35M Future Manufacturing Research Hub, supported by £10M of EPSRC funds, as well as by Universities, Trade Bodies, RTO’s and Businesses over 7 years to support the UK steel industry. The Grand Challenges the project addresses are “Carbon Neutral Iron and Steelmaking” and “Smart Steel Processing”. More information on the Project Themes is also available.

The event was attended by over 70 delegates from industry, academia and government, and was launched by Professor Dave Worsley from Swansea University followed by Gareth Stace from UK Steel. Both discussed how the industry has previously evolved but must now develop further in order to reduce carbon emission in the face of climate change, and update processes to embrace new technologies.

Academics from each task gave short elevator presentations on their projects, and how the different research areas can help achieve the Grand Challenges SUSTAIN aims to tackle. Throughout the day, delegates had the opportunity to view posters on each task and learn more about the work being undertaken and chat with the staff involved with the projects.

In the afternoon, Grand Challenge workshops were held, to delve deeper into the issues faced. Richie Hart and Louis Brimacombe ran sessions on “Materials, Resources and Energy”, whilst Rhys Charles and Eoin Bailey led sessions on “Decoupling the Material-Value-Carbon-Nexus: Retaining the Embedded Value of Steels” and “Steel as a Service”. There was lively discussion around the issues facing the industry in both sessions, with high levels of engagement and enthusiasm. Many ideas were generated during these sessions, which will help shape future projects within SUSTAIN.

If you are interested in getting involved with SUSTAIN, or would like to discuss the project with one of the team, please contact us here.

Information and presentations from the event can be found here.