ChAMP Partnership Day breaks attendance records

The Chalcogenide Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (ChAMP) Open Day drew record breaking audience numbers for an industry day at the University of Southampton.

Held on Monday 9 March 2015 to mark the launch of the EPSRC funded project to advance the manufacture of Chalcogenide glasses and demonstration their applications, the event combined the Advance Manufacturing conference with the first Photonex SOUTHAMPTON exhibition, bringing 231 delegates to Highfield campus.

Talks from the work package leaders at Southampton, Heriot-Watt, Exeter, Oxford and Cambridge Universities were welcomed by an audience including over 100 representatives from across UK industry.

Dan Hewak, who leads the ChAMP Partnership, explained,"Unlike many large research collaborations which hold open days near the end of their project to communicate their results, we wanted to engage with UK universities and companies right from the start of our project, ensuring that what we do is relevant both to our industrial partners and compliments other university research teams and their activities.

"Our goal is to create partners with UK academia nationwide and explore emerging applications of chalcogenides, establishing the UK as a world leader in this important and highly functional material.

"We were delighted with the turnout of almost 300 people in total, including undergraduate students learning about these advanced materials for the first time; PhD students, many of which presented posters describing their research projects, research scientists from across the country and scientists and engineers from UK industry. We had 40 companies exhibiting at the Photonex Technology Roadshow, which added a vibrant and beneficial contribution to the day’s activities."

ChAMP's industry partners provided valuable insights into how Chalcogenide glasses can be processed and what is driving their adoption in both passive and active applications.

The success of the event was a result of the sponsorship and organizational skills of the XMark Media Team, led by Laurence Devereux; the hard work and dedication of Deanna Standen, who runs the Optoelectronics Research Centre's EPSRC Relationship & Research Public Relations Office, and the contributions made by our academic and industry partners. The spirit of teamwork with which all those involved has provided an extremely positive launch to the project.