Part of the MEE group attended the second CChESMate network meeting, held in Ghent, joining other researchers interested in Materials Science driven solutions to modern societies climate change and energy challenges from Lille, Ghent University and KU Leuven.
The second meeting of the Climate Change and Energy Solutions through Materials Science (CChESMate) network was held on the 7-9th November 2023 with 7 representatives from the University of Kent, including 6 members of the MEE group. The meeting this year was hosted by researchers from Ghent University in Belgium with approxiately 40 attendees present across the 4 Universities that make up the 3i network Kent, Ghent, Lille and KU Leuven.
This year the focus of the meeting shifted to having sessions on the 8th that focused on researchers presenting potential funding opportunities that those within the network could collectively prepare an application for. This included Dr Maria Alfredsson from Kent presenting a pitch on “Doctoral training using Operando measurements on Energy materials”. This was preceeded by researchers giving presentations on the afternoon of the 7th about capabilities within their institution to provide context for the discussion of potential bids. This included Professor Anna Corrias, who gave a presentation on the capabilities and expertise in materials chemistry and physics research at Kent, focused on the MEE group. The formal part of the meeting on the 8th concluded with a session in a similar vein to Dragon’s Den in which a panel of three experts evalutated the potential of each potential application, with Dr Gavin Mountjoy taking the role of the Dragon from Kent. During the meeting two PhD students from the MEE group, Rebekah Attard-Trevisan and Marie Naylor also presented their research on phosphate related materials, although with quite different focuses in the form of cathodes for Li iron batteries and speromagnetism, respectively. The meeting finished on the 9th with a tour of the excellent solid state science laboratories at Ghent University. The meeting also provided an excellent opportunity to experience some of the other highlights in Ghent including excellent food and local beverages!