Polymer conferences

The Bayreuth Polymer Symposium ‘09 will be held at Bayreuth University, Germany, 13-15 September 2009. BPS ‘09 is the 11th in this biennial series of meetings. Topics to be presented include:

• Functional Polymers
• Block copolymers
• Polymer colloids
• Intelligent polymer interfaces
• Polymer nanostructures
• Polymer nanotechnology

A primary objective of this meeting is to bring together people from different areas of polymer and materials science to discuss various aspects of fundamental and applied research. The symposium aspires to provide a forum for dialogue between researchers from universities, industry and research institutions.

For more information and to register, please visit the conference website.

BPS ‘09

The Molecular Engineering Translational Research Centre’s business development team, together with Polymer Centre Manager, Liam Sutton, is this week attending Nanomaterials ‘09 in Bonn, Germany.

This three-day conference and networking event is designed to showcase private sector and academic UK resources that support the safe and cost-effective development of nanotechnologies, close to the geographical centre of gravity of Europe’s manufacturing industry. Organised by Nanocentral and IntertechPira, the conference aims to build the connections that will lead to value-added, nanotechnology-enabled products.

METRC is sponsoring the event and will be hosting a stand in the networking area. We look forward to building links between European manufacturing companies and the world-leading soft nanotechnology expertise available in the North of England’s universities.

Conference website

METRC

This year’s meeting of Recent Appointees in Polymer Science will take place at the University of Reading on the 16-18 September.

This annual event is designed to enable relatively new starters in both academia and industry to learn more about each others’ technical interests and to develop mutually beneficial networks.

For more information including registration details, please download the flyer via the link below.

RAPS_2009_flyer (PDF, 54 kB)

The Polymer Centre is to host a consultation platform at SciTech ‘09 at the Barbican Centre in London on 30 April. This event is designed to shape the UK government’s role in fostering innovation and so will host leaders from civil service, industry and academia for a programme of plenary lectures, masterclasses and a networking surgery.

Speakers include Phil Willis MP, Chair of the DIUS Select Committee, Prof Tony Ryan OBE, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the Faculty of Science at the University of Sheffield, and Prof David Delpy, Chief Executive of EPSRC.

We look forward to welcoming visitors to our stand in the networking surgery.

Please see the conference website for details of how to register.

SciTech’09

The Deformation and Fracture of Composites series provides an unrivalled opportunity to discuss the issues and impact of composite materials on different industry sectors. Since 1991 this series has atttracted high quality papers and delegates from industry, research associations and universities worldwide, and has successfully brought together researchers from a variety of backgrounds to discuss common interests.

This year, DFC10 is being held at the University of Sheffield from 15-17 April. Registration for the event is open and the list of attendees is growing. A full, high-level lecture programme and over 70 posters are confirmed.

For more information, including a detailed programme and registration instructions, please visit the conference website:

DFC10 website

Last week METRC made links with over 100 companies and organisations interested in nanotechnology at nano tech 2009 in Japan. nano tech 2009 is the largest nanotechnology trade show & conference in the world and is held annually in Tokyo. Now in its eighth year, the exhibition has grown to be a global centre of nano business and research. Exhibitors and delegates are from some of the world’s largest companies as well as start-ups, universities and government labs across the world. Almost 50,000 people attended the event of which most were from Japan.

Richard France, METRC Centre Manager, said “nano tech 2009 was an excellent opportunity to talk to companies interested in collaborating with METRC and we received extremely positive feedback. We are confident of turning these promising discussions into collaborative research projects in the future.”

Nature has evolved self-healing systems to repair organisms when they become damaged; polymer science is working towards emulating this response in advanced materials. The Polymer Innovation Network and the Polymer IRC are offering a free one-day workshop to industrialists and academics to identify the issues, challenges and future opportunities for self-healing polymers.

The meeting will be held at the Department of Engineering Materials at the University of Sheffield from 10:00am on 19 February 2009.

More details, including a full programme and how to register are available in the PDF flyer linked below.

Flyer (600KB PDF)

The METRC Business Development team is to attend the world’s largest annual nanotechnology exhibition, Nanotech 2009, in Tokyo later this month. Occupying a pod in the United Kingdom pavilion and supported by UK Trade & Investment, the team aims to build links between companies from across the globe and the “soft” nanotechnology expertise from academia throughout the North of England.

The Molecular Engineering Translational Research Centre (METRC), funded by the N8 Research Partnership, combines the research strength of the N8 group of universities to explore molecular engineering and nanotechnology to develop new products.

By combining world-class research expertise from the Universities of Durham, Lancaster, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield and York, the Centre helps move technology past the concept phase to highly functional products for use in everyday life. It collaborates with businesses in the North and internationally, to share knowledge to develop new products, processes and services to help them innovate faster and take a larger share of rapidly-changing global markets.

Researchers at the centre focus on a number of market sectors, including home and personal care, medicine and healthcare, and energy. Developments might include sensors and implants providing healthcare through human-device interfaces, easier interaction between humans and IT, and smart homes and fabrics.

Professor Tony Ryan, founding Director of METRC, says “ Our business is in the science of everyday things.”

The team would welcome visitors to the stand at the exhibition. Delegates are invited simply to arrive at the stand, or to contact Richard France, METRC Manager, to arrange an appointment at the link below.

Contact Richard France

Please visit the METRC website for more information:

www.molecularengineering.co.uk

The Deformation and Fracture of Composites series provides an unrivalled opportunity to discuss the issues and impact of composite materials on different industry sectors. Since 1991 this series has atttracted high quality papers and delegates from industry, research associations and universities worldwide, and has successfully brought together researchers from a variety of backgrounds to discuss common interests.

For more information, please visit the conference website:

DFC10 website

A two day international symposium on fire Retardants - vital chemicals protecting people and property in all walks of life and particularly in areas such as mass transport, furnishings, construction, electrical equipment and electronics. Different fire retardant strategies have evolved from halogen flame retardants to metal hydroxides and more modern char forming and intumescent fire retardants. More recently phosphorus based materials and nanocomposites have shown potential to reduce flammability whilst addressing environmental concerns.

FRT09: Fire Retardant Technologies 2009