BCI welcome over 130 guests to the 2026 Postgraduate Research Symposium

The annual Bristol Composites Institute PGR Symposium took place on Wednesday 29th April at the MShed Museum on Bristol's harbourside.

Doctoral students from the BCI shared their innovative composites research through an array of posters and presentations.

Delegates were welcomed to the Symposium, held at Bristol's MShed Museum, by the BCI, ISCE CDT and CoSEM CDT Directors. The day then continued with keynote talks from Dr Sam Scott of Emirates and Dr Claudia Jiminez Martin of Airbus, an array of student presentations covering all three research themes of the BCI and a panel session to round the day off. Each presenter showed real knowledge and passion about their research, and comfortably fielded audience questions.

When presentations weren’t taking place, delegates were invited to view student posters. There was lots of exciting conversation, with authors and delegates discussing the research on display. The Symposium always offers a great opportunity for networking, with this year’s event being no different. Posters have been collated into an electronic booklet which is available on request (see details below).

Delegate's were also encouraged to vote for their favourite presentation, poster and poster runner-up, with the prizes being awarded to:

  • Best presentation winner: Jan Uszko
  • Best poster winner: Harvey Buhagiar
  • Best poster runner-up: Cameron Abercromby

The final session of the day was an industry-led panel, comprising experts from Cygnet Texkimp, Leonardo, University of Nottingham, Composite Braiding, Airbus, NCC, McGill and Royce Institute. 

Documenting the day's events was local artist, Helen Frost. Her graphic visualisation captures the highlights of the events and gives an insight into the key themes of the day.

To round off the day, staff, students and guests met for the Symposium dinner at the Bristol Harbour Hotel. The dinner is always a great celebration to mark another year of the work achieved within the BCI.

BCI Co-Director, Prof. Stephen Hallett, said: "This was another great event from our post-graduate students. I particularly enjoyed the wide range of project topics being presented, which embodies the diversity of our composites research in BCI."

ISCE CDT Director, Prof. Janice Barton, said: "The BCI PG Symposium provided an interactive opportunity for our students to showcase their research achievements and inspire each other by sharing their success. It was an enjoyable experience for all in attendance."

Programme: