The Henry Royce Institute at the University of Oxford hosted the very first Royce Hydrogen Conference at St Anne’s College in November.
The event brought together experts from industry and academia who have been involved in projects supported by Royce, particularly the Industrial Collaboration Programme (ICP), Materials Challenge Accelerator Programme (MCAP) projects and investments in experimental capabilities.
There were also presentations from UK-HyRES (UK Hub for Research Challenges in Hydrogen and Alternative Liquid Fuels) and STFC (Science and Technology Facilities Council).
Across 24 short presentations and 13 posters, the conference showcased a range of fantastic achievements against materials challenges for end-to-end hydrogen, including novel experimental set-ups, advances in analysis and characterisation, fabrication methods, theoretical modelling and database evaluation. Highlighting key industrial collaborations, presenters articulated the progress that had been enabled through the Royce-supported sprint projects.
The presentations also demonstrated the immediate impact of new capabilities, follow-on funding and new partnerships. Participants also heard more about the progress in establishing the Royce Hydrogen Accelerator which is bridging the gap in the existing innovation landscape between lab-based materials research and proven technologies executed at scale.
Professor David Knowles, Royce CEO said: “This inaugural Royce Hydrogen Conference organised by the Oxford team saw a truly fantastic day of talks covering all aspects of materials for end-to end hydrogen
“The impact from the Royce Industrial Collaboration Programme is a testament to the range of expertise across the UK. We now need to crank up the investment to build real momentum, while ensuring all the relevant research communities remain connected.”
Due to the popularity of the event and very positive feedback plans are already taking shape for a similar conference next year.
