UKRRIN is governed by a Steering Committee which meets bi-monthly to discuss the activities and development of the network as a whole.
TOP SIX ITEMS
UKRRIN 2nd Student Conference:
A very successful second edition of the UKRRIN Student Conference took place 7 – 9 January co-chaired by Harry Bryant and Alec Critten. Congratulations and thanks were noted from the UKRRIN Steering Committee to the co-chairs, organising Committee and Swansea University as hosts for an interesting and engaging event. The committee will be sharing an event report shortly and is working with RSSB to provide content for the annual update to the collated PhD list on SPARK. Next year’s conference will be hosted by University of Leeds.
University of Southampton wins Queen Elizabeth Prize for Higher and Further Education:
The prize was awarded for “Leading research into the sustainability, resilience and cost-effectiveness of the UK’s rail system, resulting in new industry design guidelines and standards, influencing engineering practice globally and delivering significant cost savings”.
RIA Innovation Conference 2026:
UKRRIN will have a strong presence at RIC26 with an exhibition stand, and panel session. UKRRIN members are invited to submitted updated case studies and exhibition stand content. There is also an opportunity for academic members of the network to have a free exhibition space in the Future Focus Zone. This is an area for demonstration additional to the UKRRIN zone enabling universities to be present as individual institutions to showcase content relating to the theme of intelligent systems. Please contact: ukrrin@rssb.co.uk with any questions.
New Strategic Partnership:
University of Birmingham has signed a new strategic partnership with Eurotunnel.
UKRRIN – Hitachi Innovation in the Tram Industry:
A UKRRIN-Hitachi event focused on innovation in the light rail sector will take place 23 March at Sheffield United Football ground. The one-day event is being hosted by RIA in conjunction with a member interest group. It will provide academia with opportunities to understand challenges light rail operators face in Britain and in the afternoon workshop some research ideas / proposals that might help address those challenges. The event is free to attend, open to all and registration is now open.
Network Rail Test Tracks delivered an innovation event at Tuxford
when the energy and transport sectors came together to demonstrate the ability of the railway to move hydrogen as a commodity as well as a vector for energy and alternative to batteries where access to the electricity grid is not possible. The event drew interest from across both sectors as well as from four government departments, with representatives from the DfT, DESNZ, DBT, MOD as well as from the East Midlands Combined County Authority’s mayoral team. View the press release for more information: Network Rail’s Test Tracks takes centre stage as hydrogen is delivered by rail for the first time.