Nuclear Early Career Researcher Conference launched
The Dalton Nuclear Institute hosted its first Early Career Researcher (ECR) Conference, bringing together more than 80 researchers from across The University of Manchester and partner CDTs.
The event was hosted by the Dalton Champions team 鈥� early-career colleagues who support and strengthen the Institute鈥檚 nuclear research community.
The Dalton ECR Conference showcased the breadth of modern nuclear research, with presentations spanning space reactor development, fusion energy safeguards, advanced nuclear materials, and the application of artificial intelligence in nuclear safety case automation.
The event was opened and closed by Deputy Director of the Institute, Professor Clint Sharrad, who said: 鈥淭he Conference highlighted Dalton鈥檚 commitment to fostering the development of the nuclear ECR community who displayed outstanding leadership qualities from the way they prepared and delivered the conference itself. We鈥檙e proud of our Dalton Champions team for coordinating such a successful day that really showcased the incredible breadth of research taking place at 91直播 and the impressive talent of our ECR community.鈥�
Keynote sessions were delivered by Professor Ali Tehrani, Principal Nuclear Safety Inspector at the Office for Nuclear Regulation and Visiting Professor at Imperial College London, and Dr Nejdet Erkan, Senior Nuclear Engineering Researcher at the UK Atomic Energy Authority. Professor Tehrani discussed the regulatory challenges and opportunities associated with artificial intelligence in nuclear applications, while Dr Erkan addressed severe accident assessment in fission systems and design challenges in fusion energy.
Recognition was given to outstanding early career contributions through the Best Oral and Best Poster Presentation awards. The Best Oral Presentation was awarded to Nour Hammoud for her work on a structured framework assessing proliferation-relevant characteristics of fusion systems, including tritium handling, neutron-driven material production risks, and safeguards considerations across magnetic, inertial, and magneto-inertial confinement concepts.
The Best Poster Presentation award was shared between Elsa Verheul 鈥� 鈥�Modelling magnetohydrodynamic effects on dendritic solidification in fusion steels during additive manufacturing鈥�, Bengu Su Ates 鈥� 鈥�Investigating ductile fracture mechanisms in SA508 steel using in situ X-ray tomography鈥�, and Nick Williams 鈥� 鈥�Unstable magnetic reconnection self-generates turbulence鈥�.&苍产蝉辫;
The conference organising committee was: Ahmadreza Farrokhnia, Farouq Alatassi, Francesca Brooks-Ward, Charlotte Brown, Dilek Kale, Maria Kapousidou, Ruairi McCabe, Matthew Rogers, Jake Smith, Anastasia Vasileiou, Matthew Warner, Saleh Zaila, and Qasim Ali.