NSIRC research and innovation conference 2021 award winners

The National Structural Integrity Research Centre (NSIRC) has announced the award winners for the NSIRC Research and Innovation Conference 2021.

The conference took place virtually in September 2021 and was watched online by over 600 viewers and delegates. Since its introduction in 2016, the NSIRC Conference has been praised as a valued experience for postgraduates students to disseminate their industry-led research.

Presentations focused on PhD research projects currently taking place at the centre, covering technology areas including digitalisation and additive manufacturing, industry 4.0, polymers, joining technologies and more relating to structural integrity.

Established in 2012 by founding partners TWI Ltd, Lloyd’s Register Foundation and BP, research topics at NSIRC focus on novel industry challenges that can make the world a safer place to work and advance technology for the benefit of global society.

The award winners from the NSIRC conference are recognised for their quality of research and presentations skills. There were three categories, with a winner and runner-up in each.

George Brooks, winner of the Third Academic Year Oral Presentation award for his investigation into the influence of friction stir welding in thick section aluminium alloys, explains “the primary aim of the research project is to investigate the influence of welding variables on the microstructure and mechanical of welds created in thick section aluminium and thereby develop the technical and commercial benefits of the FSW process.”

Maciej Gierulski, winner of the Second Academic Year Oral Presentation, said “the aim of my project is to design athermoplastic connector for polyethylene thermoplastic composite pipes that utilises electrofusion welding technology."

Magali Rego was also successful in the First Academic Year Research Poster category for ‘Recycling of thermoset resins via the development of a solvent trigger de-curing system’.

As long-term partner of NSIRC, Lloyd’s Register Foundation has provided vital support and industrial guidance for over 70 PhD students in the pursuit of enhancing safety and critical infrastructure in an engineering world, collectively amounting to over 230 years of research to date.

More information on the award winners and the NSIRC Research and Innovation Conference can be found on the NSIRC website.