David Wisth

After a 5-month period of embargo, I'm delighted to now share with you the updated UK Fusion Materials Roadmap. The first UK Fusion Materials Roadmap, released in 2021, was incredibly successful in educating non-fusion researchers, allowing them to see where their skills and expertise could be applied to solve fusion related material challenges. This led to a significant increase in fusion materials research and progress made in solving some of the challenges identified in 2021.   Based on this progress, recent global advances in fusion energy, and a need for further collaborative research, an update to the first roadmap was required. Throughout 2024 and early 2025, facilitated by UK Atomic Energy Authority and co-funded by the Henry Royce Institute and EPSRC, a wide range of fusion materials experts from academia, industry and national labs came together via online and in person workshops to describe the material science and engineering challenges still to be solved for commercial fusion in the UK to become a reality. The narrative these experts created included descriptions of the facilities, capabilities and skills required to help solve these challenges, as well as identifying cross-cutting themes common to all of the challenges identified. A group of leading UK-based fusion materials researchers collated this information and, with the help of an editorial board comprising experts from within and external to fusion, created a document communicating the nature and scale of these challenges and offering potential solutions via further collaborative research and accessing and developing capabilities at national user facilities.   A key message I'd like to convey is that many of these challenges have synergies in fission, aerospace, defence, and beyond, and I hope that this document is accessible to those of you not yet working in fusion, leading to an increase in connectivity across sectors.   The information contained in the roadmap was correct at the time of completion in April 2025. Since then there have been even further advances in fusion, including the UK government's announcement of a record breaking £2.5 billion investment into UK fusion research over the next 5 years.   I want to give my heartfelt gratitude to all of those involved in updating this roadmap, including the research area leads Susannah Speller, Greg Brittles, Simon Chislett-McDonald, Samuel Humphry-Baker, Max Rigby-Bell, Samuel Murphy, Hazel Gardner, Philip Edmondson, Enrique Jimenez-Melero, Benjamin Evans, Simon Middleburgh, Liberato Volpe, Megan Leyland, Chris Race, Chris Hardie, Tom Sellers, Thomas P. Davis, David Armstrong, Anna Widdowson, James Gibson, Dave Lunt and Ionut Jepu, the editorial team Susan Ortner, Karl Whittle and Damian Hampshire, everyone who provided their experience and expertise, and to Henry Royce Institute, Cathy Bell and Abbie Jones for supporting this work and hosting the in-person workshop, expertly facilitated by Megan Evans and her team.

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Cardiff University rocket team wins at space competition. 👇 Full story in the comments 👇 The student team won the Hybrid Rocket Engine category at the Race 2 Space competition, a groundbreaking educational initiative to boost the UK space sector. Competing in their first national event, the newly formed Cardiff Rocket Labs (CRL) impressed judges with their debut hybrid rocket engine, ‘Bowser,’ designed, built, and tested entirely in-house by students, with support from the university’s engineering technicians. The CRL team is a student-led group of engineering and physics students at Cardiff University. Three members represented the team at the competition: Team Lead and Propulsion Lead Oscar Mabon (mechanical engineering), President Yusif Al-Gurair (astrophysics), and Propulsion Engineer Joel Cartwright (mechanical engineering). #CardiffUniversity #PrifysgolCaerdydd

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𝐀 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐞𝐫𝐚 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐈 has arrived for the water industry. Today, we’re proud to announce our partnership with 🏎️Williams Grand Prix Technologies and 🧠JuliaHub to bring 𝐒𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜 𝐌𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 (𝐒𝐜𝐢𝐌𝐋) into the UK water sector - 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦. Unlike traditional machine learning, which relies on large volumes of clean, historical data, 𝐒𝐜𝐢𝐌𝐋 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡. 🔬 It blends physics 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 AI to model how systems 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 behave - using known scientific laws like fluid dynamics and thermodynamics to fill data gaps. 📉 That means failure prediction 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐬, 📡 Minimal reliance on costly sensor networks, 🔄 And maximising value and insight 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦. Already proven in aviation, aerospace, and elite motorsport, 𝐒𝐜𝐢𝐌𝐋 𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞-𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐱 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬. And we’re now deploying it in the water industry - where data is patchy, assets are aging, and the need to predict failure has never been greater. T̳h̳i̳s̳ ̳i̳s̳ ̳j̳u̳s̳t̳ ̳t̳h̳e̳ ̳b̳e̳g̳i̳n̳n̳i̳n̳g̳.̳ 👉 Read the full press release: https://lnkd.in/ejv6hFKQ #WaterIndustry #WaterEngineering #SciMl #DigitalTwins #WaterInnovation

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The UK’s infrastructure challenge is clear: we need to build faster, smarter and greener to keep up with demand. In our recent webinar, industry leaders from National Grid, Hyperion Robotics and The University of Sheffield joined Hyperion Robotics to explore how 3D printing, robotics and digital tools can transform the way we deliver critical infrastructure. 💡 Key takeaways: - Cutting carbon, cost and waste with 3D printing - Delivering projects faster without compromising safety - Unlocking the potential of digital workflows, and BIM - What it will take for the UK to scale these innovations If you work in utilities, infrastructure, or construction and want to understand what’s next for the sector, this conversation is worth your time. 👉 Watch the full webinar here: https://lnkd.in/eFmCiGW8 #futureofinfrastructure #3dprinting #3dprintedconcrete #buildsmarter

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We're pleased to announce that our senior theme lead for Data, Connectivity and AI, Dr Jon Stammers, has been appointed as the new joint theme lead in AI for Engineering and Manufacturing at The University of Sheffield's Centre for Machine Intelligence (CMI). Joining Professor Tom Hayward, Dr Stammers will play a pivotal role in uniting two world-class centres of excellence. This collaboration is set to accelerate the integration of cutting-edge machine intelligence with practical, high-impact applications on the factory floor. As Jon explains: “The CMI exists as a research centre of excellence for AI and the AMRC is a research centre of excellence in manufacturing – but there’s a gap recognised on both sides. Now, it’s an opportunity to bring these two areas together.” This appointment will be key to fostering new research partnerships and driving innovation. Congratulations Jon. Read more here: https://bit.ly/4pupgOO

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