Following the November launch, the first RRUK-A event was held on Tuesday 13th December at Nottingham University’s Innovation Park. The 24/7 Railway workshop was a busy and interactive day, facilitated by Tessa Darley and Rob Furlong at the Transport KTN.
Andy Doherty led a team of Network Rail experts in giving their experience on the obstacles to achieving the 24/7 railway and their vision for what could be achieved. They stressed to the participants how they were open to innovative solutions and enthusiastically participated in proposal brainstorming in breakout sessions with the researchers. All participants commented how useful it was to hear these issues first hand and have the opportunity to discuss them with the industry.
Those individuals with and without rail experience said that they found the day extremely useful, and everyone enjoyed the opportunity to network – so we were pleased to see lots of consortia forming by the end of the day.
We’d like to thank everyone who attended and are looking forward to reading the proposals for feasibility studies.
We are beginning to plan a programme of events for 2012 – watch this space and join RRUK-A as an individual researcher to be sure you are contacted with all the information.
The application process for the 24/7 Railway workshop has now been concluded, and all applicants have been contacted. We had more applications than expected, and were really pleased that so many people not traditionally associated with rail research made such good applications. We are looking forward to a successful event.
We are now planning our next events and would encourage you to register with us (see ‘How to Join’), to keep up to date with future events.
We are pleased to report that RRUK-A, which was started up a year ago, was officially launched yesterday in London. The launch seals the joining of forces between UK universities and the rail industry in a virtual research body, to be a bridge between the rail industry’s research needs and potential providers of research in the UK university sector. For more information please download the News Release.
Presentations can be obtained from our “Document Downloads” page.
Applications are sought from university researchers and industrial representatives to take part in RRUK-A’s inaugural one-day workshop which will aim to establish creative solutions to the problems of running a “24/7” railway. ~£100k funding for a limited number of initial feasibility studies will be available, on a competitive basis, exclusively for academic-led consortia formed by workshop participants.
All university-based applicants must be members of RRUK-A or must join RRUK-A in order to be eligible for consideration.
The event will be held on 13th December 2011 at the University of Nottingham, but the deadline for applications is Tuesday 1 November.
For more information and to apply, please download the Call Document and the Workshop Application Form
To support the Technology Strategy Board’s Accelerating Innovation in Rail £4M funding competition, the Transport KTN are holding a consortia building and information day at Coventry University on the 20th October. To get involved and find out more please visit the official Transport KTN group by CLICKING HERE
The Rail Research UK Association (RRUK-A) Launch event will be held on Tuesday 8th November, from 4pm until 6pm, with a reception from 6pm until 7pm. The venue is: Central Hall, Westminster, London.
This event will bring together senior decision makers and funders from the railway industry and academia, from CEOs and Managing Directors of industry to Vice Chancellors at Universities. There will be keynote addresses from Professor Martyn Pemble (Tyndall National Institute) and Theresa Villiers MP (DfT). The aim will be to show universities and industry what can be gained from closer cooperation and to set the scene for a step change in cooperation.
If you would like to attend, please e-mail secretariat@rruka.org.uk for further details.
Railway researchers may be interested in the above employment opportunity at RSSB. CLICK HERE for more details.
RRUK-A members have elected their Executive Committee, who are:
- Dr David Fletcher (University of Sheffield)
- Professor Roger Goodall (Loughborough University)
- Professor Simon Iwnicki (Manchester Metropolitan University)
- Professor TX Mei (University of Salford)
- Dr Jeffrey Priest (University of Southampton)
- Professor Felix Schmid (University of Birmingham)
- Dr Sarah Sharples (University of Nottingham)
- Dr Andrew Smith (University of Leeds)
The committee met for the first time on 24th February, chaired by Anson Jack of RSSB, and elected Professor Simon Iwnicki as its academic co-chair. Andy Doherty is the Network Rail representative on the committee.
A new special edition of the IMechE Journal of Rail and Rapid Transit has just been published. This edition carries papers arising from a range of research projects carried out under the auspices of the Rail Research UK (RRUK) consortium. RRUK was a virtual research centre funded by EPSRC between May 2003 and September 2010; it comprised 12 research groups based in 8 universities, all of whom are now members of the Rail Research UK Association.
The publishers have made all the papers in this special issue free to download until 28th March 2011. After that date only subscribers to the Journal will have access to the full papers.
To view the contents please click here.
Network Rail has agreed to co-fund RRUK-A, alongside RSSB. This further demonstrates the commitment of industry to strengthening its ties with academia and gives extra stability to the long-term presence of RRUK-A. Andy Doherty, Director of Railway Systems Engineering at Network Rail, has joined the newly elected committee.
