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First AILM a Success for DUT

First AILM a Success for DUT

Taking steps to bridge the gap between DUT and industries was the key reason the first Academic, Industry Liaison Meeting (AILM) which was held at the DUT Hotel School, Ritson Campus.

Professor Mervyn Kanny from the Department of Mechanical Engineering and his Composites Research Group, co-ordinated by Dr Shalini Singh and the students, hosted the event to foster and develop further collaborative work environments among researchers, industry partners and funding agencies.

The Composites Research Group is located in the DUT Department of Mechanical Engineering and consists of Post-Doctoral Fellows, Doctoral and Master’s, undergraduates and in-service trainees. This multidisciplinary group consists of Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Material Science, Quality and Dental Science practitioners, thus enabling the group to manage a variety of topics, projects and disciplines. Research conducted by the group consists of nearly 30 students and focuses on the processing, analysis and modelling of synthetic and natural composites, biocomposites and nanocomposites.

Speaking at the event, programme director Dr Shalini Singh, senior lecturer in the Department of Operations and Quality Management, said the University and industries have been engaged in collaborating in research activities for many years, however, changes in the global economy, together with recessions, have increased the need for more strategic partnerships that go beyond the traditional and industry funding of research projects. She added that science and technology have their limits, so having the right people is critical.

Also speaking at the event was Prof Kanny who gave the industry partners and stakeholders an overview of what the research group capabilities are in terms of world class research at DUT. He said he was highly impressed by the wealth of expertise of industry partners, adding that there was still a large gap between industry and the universities and his hope through his research group was to close this gap. “We intend to kickstart this process and for this we need an intervention between industry and the University to translate into a collaborative partnership to work on industry problems,”he said.

Also part of the evening, entailed a presentation of research work being undertaken by the Master’s students from robotics, solar cells to sugar bagasse, to name but a few. Students from the group, Avinash Ramsaroop, Stanley Onwubu, and Maleni Thakur, among others, showcased their research work currently undertaken.

All in all, the first AILM was a huge success and DUT aims to continue the culture of hosting such events to strengthen strategic partnerships and to overcome their cultural and communications divide that tends to impair the industry-university relationship, going forward.

– Waheeda Peters

Pictured: The dynamic Research Composite team, at the first AILM event.

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