Looking Ahead to the 8-month Review

Neil Morris and the Faraday Institution team highlight what is in store for the 150 delegates that will attend the 8-month review meeting for the Fast-Start projects on 6th - 7th November. 

At the Faraday Institution, we are all looking ahead to the 8-month review of the Fast Start projects with a sense of excitement and anticipation. This will be my first large review meeting since joining the organisation as CEO. I’m looking forward to the many opportunities that it will allow to meet attendees – from our 2018 summer interns, over 35 of our 100-strong team of PDRAs, the leadership teams of the four projects, our Expert Panel, as well as selected industry partners and speakers.

We are planning a packed, and, I hope, highly enjoyable, two days. Attendees will get the opportunity to hear about the recent progress made by each of the projects – from PDRAs as well as from the project leaders. We’ll ask you for your input as we brainstorm ways forward around particularly thorny challenges facing the project teams. We’ll be gathering your ideas on how we should seek to build connectivity and improve communications, and what role the Faraday Institution could play in your professional development. We’ll also be sharing the set of values we’ve developed for the Faraday Institution community and encouraging you to think about what actions you, your department or your project team could make to align further with our values and ways of working. Do come prepared to share your ideas.

A key driver behind our planning for the event has been to create opportunities to develop the Faraday Institution community and build connections: between the FIHQ and the project teams, and between project teams themselves. I would urge you to make the most of the two days to build your network. At each of the sessions, think about making connections: be it opportunities for research collaborations, mentoring or sharing process improvements. Bring plenty of business cards…

I am delighted to announce that Stefan Berger, Director of Electrification at Jaguar Land Rover, and a Member of the Faraday Institution Board of Trustees, has kindly agreed to deliver the keynote address prior to the conference dinner on the 6th November. Additionally, on the 7^th November, those not involved with an expert panel review will have the opportunity to hear from Karl Ziemelis, Chief Physical Sciences Editor at Nature, who will present "What makes a great paper?" Paul McNamara, Technical Director at Williams Advanced Engineering will also share his views from industry. We’re pleased to include these different perspectives in the programme, and hope that you find them interesting, and of value to your professional development.

I look forward to talking with many of you in Daventry.

Some notices about the event:

• To give you more of a sense of what’s in store over the two days please take a look at the draft agenda here (though this may still change slightly). You’ll see that there are three streams running on the 7th November:
  • A detailed Expert Panel review of progress with each project leadership team in turn.
  • A mini-conference for PDRAs and project leadership teams (when they are not involved in Expert Panel reviews).
  • An industry-only session.
• We need to notify the hotel of final numbers for rooms and meals shortly. If you haven’t already done so, please can all invited attendees inform their project co-ordinators of their plans for attendance today. Please could project co-ordinators ensure that everyone on their project team is registered in Eventbrite by the end of tomorrow. Thank you.
• Nicolas Dean and Jacqueline Edge of the Multi-scale Modelling Project are organising a pub-style quiz on the evening of the 5^th November, which is open to everyone attending the event. It will start at around 8.30 pm in the County Suite of the conference hotel and may feature some battery-related questions... Teams will be organised at the start of the event. Please do go along if you are available and take the opportunity to get to know members of other project teams in an informal setting. As it is bonfire night the modelling team is also looking into organising some fireworks. More details will be available when you arrive at the hotel.
• On 5th November a buffet lunch and dinner will be provided for delegates who have arrived for closed-door project meetings. Delegates should proceed to the hotel restaurant between 12 noon – 2 pm and 6.30 – 9.30 pm. Any alcoholic drinks can be purchased from the bar.
• You can find directions to the conference hotel here.