The Autumn Industry Partner Day was a huge success. It brought together a stellar group of round 30 industry engineers from various market-leading civil engineering companies to share experiences and to discuss with FIBE academics how they can engage with the MRes year providing leadership opportunities, education and skills training. FIBE2 Cohort 1 students were there to interact and learn from the many inspiring industry leaders. It was held at the Moller Centre next to Churchill College with a very delicious lunch at the beautiful 360 degree Tower Lounge.

Ioannis Brilakis, the academic who led on the event said the FIBE2 CDT Autumn Industry Day gave a thorough update of the structure and processes by which the Centre operates, along with the progress in setting it up.

We discussed methods and examples of engagement, the recruitment process and recruitment scenarios for maximising leverage of the funding invested by the partners, and the process for managing intellectual property."

                                                                                  - Ioannis Brilakis

He continued that this was followed by a lively conversation during the Industrial Advisory Panel session that provided plenty of constructive feedback. During the networking breaks, industry partners and academics found the opportunity to discuss potential research areas of common interest with each other that may lead to advertised PhD studentships or MRes projects.

The industry partners were very engaged in the topics and are very keen to work with FIBE2 and pair up with the academics. They especially see value in being able to engage with other companies and do research together with Cambridge University."   

                                                                             Sally Birse, FIBE2 Manager