The London-Loughborough Centre for doctoral research in energy demand held its first Annual Colloquium on Friday 5 November 2010. 70 people attended the afternoon event held at Kings Place, London aimed at bringing students together with industry and government representatives for a knowledge sharing session.
The event was designed to help students establish relationships, identify mentoring opportunities and define MRes and PhD projects.
Jenny Love, PhD student, UCL Energy Institute
“..the colloquium provided an opportunity for students to not just talk to but also work with people in industry and academia, to come up with research questions together. It was interesting to hear what they thought needs to be done and great to be able to voice our own ideas to them. The atmosphere was cooperative and positive and everyone’s opinion was valued no matter whether they were an expert or just starting out.”
Maximising knowledge exchange and interaction with industry and government
Attendees included MRes and PhD students from the London-Loughborough Centre, representatives from government (DECC, Homes and Communities agency, ETI etc.) from industry, (Barratt homes, EDF, E.On, Tesco) as well as academics and selected affiliated students from both UCL and Loughborough University. Members of the Centre’s Advisory Board also played an active role.
All participants engaged in a 2-hour long knowledge café: an open and creative conversation on topics of mutual interest to surface collective knowledge, share ideas and insights, and gain a deeper understanding of the subject and the issues involved. Themes discussed included Climate Change, Systems, Technologies, People, Building Performance and contributors tackled questions regarding significant issues and knowledge gaps in these different areas in relation to energy demand.
Professor Niklaus Kholer, Karlsruhe Institute of TechnologyProfessor Niklaus Kholer, Emeritus Professor, Institute for Industrial Building Construction, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany and member of our Advisory Board said this of his experience of the afternoon session..
“.. the experience convinced me it was good way to make people meet on a common not clearly defined ground. There were no real “experts” but a group dynamic. In fact I have never seen this type of event and I think it worked out really well.”
Producing the next generation of multi-disciplinary thinkers and innovators
The London-Loughborough Centre, a partnership between UCL and Loughborough University, is the new UK centre for energy demand research. It was set up as a Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in 2009 and is funded over an eight-year period by EPSRC.