The Annual WIRe CDT Conference 2025

 

The Annual WIRe CDT One-Day Conference took place 30 June 2025, providing our PhD students with an opportunity to share their research both with each other and industry professionals.

a room full of people sat around round tables facing forward. The people are dressed smartly in business attire
The conference audience

The day began with a keynote talk by Dr Robin Price, Director of Quality and Environment at Anglian Water. Robin discussed his career with Anglian Water and the issues the sector is facing, before highlighting several key areas that rely on the delivery of academically rigorous research to drive the industry forward responsibly and sustainably, including:

 

  • Emerging contaminants
  • Circular economy – recovering resources from ‘waste’
  • Nature-based Solutions
  • Availability of water resources
  • Health of our water assets, such as reservoirs
  • Process emissions
  • Reputation of sector

 

As the students presented their research throughout the day, it was great to see that all these topics are covered across the broad range of WIRe PhD projects!

The conference audience
Robin Price delivering his keynote. He is wearing a dark jacket, white shirt and beige chinos. behind him is a projector screen and pull-up banners advertising the WIRe CDT
Dr Robin Price presenting

The students from Cohort III had the opportunity to present full-length talks highlighting the work they have done over the course of their PhD projects.

Samuel Yeboah Nyarko presenting. He is wearing a dark shirt and stood in front of a projector screen
Samuel Yeboah Nyarko (Cohort III) presenting
Eleyna presenting, wearing a black and white striped dress
Eleyna McGrady (Cohort III) presenting

In the breaks between talks, we had the opportunity to check out the posters produced by students in Cohorts IV and V.

 

As well as producing posters, students in Cohort IV presented 3-minute poster pitches, summarising the work they have done so far!

people in business attire stood chatting holding cups of coffee
Delegates catch up over coffee
People in business attire stand around boards with scientific posters
Poster session discussions
People in business attire stand around boards with scientific posters
Delegates have a chance to view posters
Blessing presenting - she is wearing a purple, orange and green shirt with green trousers. She is stood looking to the left of the image with a projector screen behind her
Blessing Mobolaji (Cohort IV) presenting her poster pitch

Congratulations to the winners of the conference prizes:

 

Best Talk: Mark Powders - Ammonia to energy: A key decarbonisation strategy for the water sector

 

Best Poster Pitch: Ana Amezaga-Kutija - Proactive Management of Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC) in Drinking Water Catchments

 

Best Poster: Tomas Hotzel Escardo - Advanced sensing and AI for risk detection in rail environments

 

We also awarded the prize for the highest achieving student from our induction semester - well done Lydia Mahan!

Mark Powders (left) shakes hands with Peter Jarvis (right), both are smiling at the camera wearing business attire
Mark Powders (Cohort III) wins the prize for Best Talk
Ana Amezaga-Kutija (left) shakes hands with Peter Jarvis (right), both are smiling at the camera wearing business attire
Ana Amezaga-Kutija (Cohort IV) wins prize for Best Poster Pitch
Tomas Hotzel Escardo (left) shakes hands with Peter Jarvis (right), both are smiling at the camera wearing business attire
Tomas Hotzel Escardo (Cohort V) wins prize for Best Poster
Lydia Mahan (left) shakes hands with Peter Jarvis (right), both are smiling at the camera wearing business attire
Lydia Mahan (Cohort VI) wins prize for Highest Achieving Student from our induction semester

Overall, the day was a great opportunity to hear about the range of research our PhD students are doing - we can't wait to see what they do next! To see all of our students, and their project topics, click here.

A large group of people wearing business attire stand in rows smiling at the camera. They are outside on grass, the weather is sunny with blue skies and behind them is a stately home. Members of the group include PhD students, academic staff and industry partners who are sponsoring students
All delegates of the Annual WIRe CDT One-Day Conference

This was Cohort III’s final WIRe Annual One-Day Conference – their presentations highlighted a wide range of impactful and innovative research. We wish them good luck in the final stretch of their projects!

A group of people wearing business attire stand in a white bandstand smiling at the camera
Cohort III

After the conference, we took a coach to Angle Entertainment, where staff and students had the opportunity to try out axe throwing, escape rooms, and play board games; it was a chance to unwind with some healthy competition!

 

Students from Cohorts IV, V, and VI, stayed in Peterborough to take part in the annual WIRe Summer Challenge - find out more about what we got up this year here!