Plates of vegan food

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The Faculty of Technology was pleased to welcome 65 attendees to their Annual Research and Innovation Conference on 17 June 2020. In previous years the event has taken place in Portland Building, however the COVID-19 lockdown meant that this year plans had to be changed to hold it online. One attendee said, 'Being a first online conference, very well organised', and 91% of feedback respondents were Very satisfied or Satisfied with the conference as a whole.

Research students were invited to submit video presentations, PDF posters and papers, which were uploaded to Moodle forums for participants to view and comment on. Invited video presentations by recently promoted Faculty staff were also available regarding computable biomedical knowledge, language evolution, and super-fast information processing.

A live discussion panel took place on Google Meet with a wide-ranging Q&A session between staff and students on research subjects as varied as blended learning, household energy demand, quantum studies, interferometer constraints, environmental modelling, machine learning, and train rescheduling. The panel was also joined by members of the Computing Industrial Advisory Board.

The Faculty of Technology would like to offer congratulations to the research students awarded competition prizes:

Poster Prize

  • Winner - Anut Sangka, Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation for "Cosmological forecasting from kappaHI 2-point statistics of forthcoming surveys"
  • Highly Commended - Chakkrit Kaeonikhom, Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation for "Qualitative dynamics of interacting vacuum"

Research Paper Prize

  • Winner - Dario Gatto, School of Mathematics and Physics, for "Distributed quantum metrology with a single squeezed-vacuum source"

Video Presentation Prize

  • Winner - Serena Cunsolo, School of Civil Engineering and Surveying for "Fate of microplastics through the wastewater treatment system"
  • Highly Commended - Ruth Leskovar, School of Energy and Electronic Engineering for "Investigation of proprioceptive feedback for prosthetic limbs"
I think the conference went very well, particularly considering the change of venue due to the current circumstances, which meant that some of our students struggled with remote access and staff were still very much involved with assessments; despite which the turnout was good and the vast majority of those who attended enjoyed it.

Dr Tineke Fitch, Faculty Research Degree Coordinator