Future Materials, Minerals & Mining conference 2023

The IOM3 Student & Early Career Group held its biennial conference on 12 December at the Manufacturing Technology Centre in Coventry, focusing on disseminating knowledge among early career materials, minerals and mining scientists, and presenting their research.

Sandwiched between two storms, the Future Materials, Minerals and Mining Conference 2023 promised to offer some fascinating presentations on the novel and new work being conducted by IOM3 members and non-members. Our keynote speakers dazzled our audience with discussions on waterless furnaces and advanced diffraction techniques in engineering alloys, both aided by collaboration, to kick off the morning. We were treated to some excellent speakers from a range of topics right up to lunch, where there was time to review the brilliant posters and practice networking skills. Many interesting conversations were had, new connections made, and chartership discussions had.

The afternoon sessions featured three more keynote speakers presenting on the brief history of graphene, the importance of increasing EDI in materials science, and impact of culture on innovation. Reminding everyone that progression within a career is not just about the hard science, but also about the people and the progress that can be made as a collective. During the remainder of the afternoon, speakers demonstrated equal talent as in the morning sessions and continued the conversions on materials and their real world applications.

As SECC chair, Dr Aimee Goodall rounded off the day with her closing remarks. She also presented Jake Kelly-Walley with the award for best presentation of the day for 'Rotational Moulding and Post-Consumer Recyclate (PCR): The opportunity and the challenge'.

The event wouldn’t be possible without the generous sponsorship from the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre and Henry Royce Institute who both push future developments of materials forward, and a number of IOM3 Affiliated Local Societies: the Birmingham Metallurgical Association, Coventry & Warwickshire Materials Society and East Midlands Materials Society.

On behalf of the Student & Early Career Committee, we would like to thank again all those who submitted abstracts and presented at the conference. Please keep an eye out on socials and future newsletters for more events.

Ms Elizabeth Scoffins CEng CEnv MIMMM, Conference Chair