Contributed by: Chris Blenkinsopp

The 13^th UK Young Coastal Scientists and Engineers Conference (YCSEC) was held at Bath on 11-12^th April as part of the University’s 50^th Anniversary celebrations.  The conference was organised by the Water, Environment and Infrastructure Resilience (WEIR) research group and the Water Innovation Research Centre (WIRC) with support from our sponsors SICK (UK) Ltd, DHI and The Institution of Civil Engineers.

The goal of the conference is to provide a unique opportunity for leading young coastal scientists and engineers working in academia and industry throughout the UK to present their work and network with their peers.  Building on the success of previous conferences, the 13th YCSEC brought over 60 early career researchers and practitioners from more than 30 UK and overseas universities, research institutes and companies together for 2 days of fascinating presentations and exciting discussions.

To open the conference, Professor Ad Reniers from Delft University, an internationally renowned coastal modeller, gave a highly thought-provoking keynote presentation on “Recent advances in modelling of wave impacts on complex coasts”.  This was followed over the two days with 27 outstanding presentations on topics including coastal tourism, beach morphology, wave processes, ocean engineering and port operations.

In addition to the talks, 17 posters were displayed in the refreshment area for discussion during networking sessions.  As in previous years, bringing together research students and early post docs from all over the UK generated a friendly and collaborative environment, and this was evident during a very lively conference dinner at the Tramshed in Bath on the night of April 11^th.

First and second place prizes were awarded for both posters and presentations, and the winners were:

Presentations:

            1^st Prize – Sonja Eichentopf, Imperial College

2^nd Prize – Clementine Chirol, University of Southampton

Posters:

            1^st Prize – Paul Bayle, University of Bath

2^nd Prize – Helen Brooks, University of Cambridge

Great to see so many females attending the event and taking out 3 of the prizes!