LIV.INNO showcases its research at event in Liverpool
The LIV.INNO CDT has held a showcase event at the Hilton hotel in Liverpool. Students, staff and industry partners were all invited to this event to celebrate what has been achieved in the CDT so far and to discuss future collaborations with both new and existing partners. Over 60 people attended the event to hear presentations from a wide variety of speakers and discuss research with the current LIV.INNO students and industry representatives.
The day started with an introduction to the CDT from Director Professor Carsten Welsch. This was followed by talks from current partners Adaptix and Mirion who both talked about the work they are currently undertaking with the CDT. This included the exciting announcement that the Adaptix-Liverpool collaboration has been awarded a £400,000 STFC grant to fund the OptiX project, a novel 3D chest X-ray device.
John Whaling, Lead Officer of Innovation and Commercialisation for the Liverpool City Region, discussed the vibrant research landscape across Liverpool and the opportunities that exist for academia and industry. This was followed by Lisa Carey from the Partnerships and Innovations team at the University of Liverpool, who gave a talk on the mechanisms that exist to facilitate cross-sector collaborations.
To showcase partnerships from a student’s perspective, PhD candidates Beth Slater and Qiyuan Xu spoke about how collaboration with international research facilities and work with industry has benefitted their research, skill portfolio, and career progression. They also demonstrated the benefit that the structure their PhD studies has had on their partner organisations.
Following a lively lunch and networking session, QUASAR Group member and LIV.DAT student Luana Parsons-Franca spoke about her industry placement at Silveray with her supervisor Lana Beck. Together, they showcased the benefit for industry in working with academia. Such fixed-term collaborations enable dedicated research time to spent addressing a promising area, which may otherwise not see sustained attention in the rapidly evolving world of a technology start-up. Luana commented on the many benefits to her, which included the ability to travel internationally to partner research organisations, and gain familiarity in a new field.
In the next session, representatives from NHS England and the Home Office spoke about the many opportunities for challenging and rewarding data science internships that exist, as well as the arc of career progression a data scientist may expect to follow in the public sector.
Having heard talks from a range of perspectives on collaborations between academics and industry, attendees next had the opportunity to engage directly with LIV.INNO’s students and partners in a poster and display session. This session saw animated networking and discussion on areas of mutual interest and opportunities for further collaboration.
The day was completed with a talk from Constantinos Astreos, Business Development Manager at the University of Liverpool who spoke about how we achieve knowledge exchange and innovation through industry collaboration. Any organisation who are interested in working with LIV.INNO should contact Constantinos for more information.
The full agenda for the day can be found on Indico here