News & updates

Q2 Work Package progress meetings

office@m2i.nl June 24, 2024

Another succesful round of Work Package progress meetings was held in the last month. In these meetings, we discuss the progress of the past period, and take time to look toward the future.

The researchers have presented their updates and the work is progressing well. There was ample opportunity to update each other on progress and to look for ways to collaborate. The industrial partners expressed their interest in the program and will continue to provide valuable and much needed input for the research.

With the progress meetings, we keep up-to-date on the program and they allow the researchers to interact with the user committee.

Work Package progress meetings

office@m2i.nl November 14, 2023

The DEPMAT program has started with the end-of-year Work Package progress meetings. In these meetings, we discuss the progress of the past period, and take time to look toward the future.

Existing plans are reviewed to ensure they remain up-to-date and current, and potential future, issues are discussed. Furthermore, focus lies on the interactions between the individual research projects within the work package, but also on interactions with the other work packages.

We will continue to hold these Work Package progress meetings annually to ensure the success of the DEPMAT program.

DEPMAT kick-off event held!

office@m2i.nl September 4, 2023

On August 31st, the full consortium gathered at Tata Steel Netherlands in IJmuiden for the kick-off event of the DEPMAT Perspectief program. With 35+ people attending the event, ranging from the PhD and PostDoc researchers and supervisors, to the industrial representatives of the various companies, the event was a success.

The event was opened by Ton van den Boogaard, program leader of DEPMAT. During the morning sessions, representatives of industry presented their expected Impact Pathways to highlight the importance of this program for their companies. Furthermore, the various Work Packages were introduced by their respective WP leaders, after which we broke out into separate sessions focused on this packages. During these sessions, the involved parties discussed the research within, and aligned views on how to proceed.

During the day, many opportunities presented itself for further alignment between different parties, and discussions on the work content allowed for improved understanding of the way forward. Furthermore, the event gave ample chance for everyone to get to know each other. This promotes interaction between the various parties (universities and industry) during the coming years.

After a successful first day, the second day of the kick-off focused on bring all new researchers up to speed with the various steel production processes, from rolling and annealing, to forming processes at steel “users” (i.e. companies such as Geerts Metaalwaren, SKF and Bosch Transmission.). This way, all students have a basic understanding of how steel is made and processed.

Exactly two years after our first consortium meeting, preparing the project proposal, the DEPMAT kick-off event was a perfect opportunity to update each other on what has changed since then. It was great seeing every party represented and to meet all the researchers that have started in this program.

The kick-off meeting of the DEPMAT program was the perfect opportunity to align the expectations with the full consortium. It also allowed everyone to meet and catch-up, which is even more important to enable a good start of this important and interesting program.

An exiting kickoff event for an exciting project. The team got the opportunity to not only get up to speed with the initial vision of the project, but in collaboration with the industrial partners, the vision was turned into clear goals for the immediate future. We deepened our knowledge on metallurgy with the help of the experts and bonded as a team with a wonderful dinner by the beach. The DEPMAT team is ready.

The event provided lots of interactivity to create a great base for collaboration in the program. The presentations were great at providing an overall overview of the program, and what's to come, and the discussions that followed ensured we were aligned to make this program a success.

Recruitment update

office@m2i.nl July 5, 2023

Recruitment is going well for the DEPMAT perspectief program. Already 9 out of the 13 positions have been filled and the recruitment process is ongoing for the remaining positions.

The PhD and PostDoc students that have already started are eager to get working on the full program and look forward to a great kick-off event at Tata Steel IJmuiden on August 31st and September 1st.

Stay up to date with the recruitment process by going to the vacancies part of the website.

Kick-off event

office@m2i.nl July 1, 2023

The DEPMAT consortium is looking forward to the official kick-off event of the program, on August 31st and September 1st.

The first day will focus on presenting and aligning views for the various work packages in the program, and to get to know each other. Furthermore, sessions will focus on the desired Impact for the industrial partners in the program.

The second day will be focussed on training the PhD and PostDoc students. A tailor-made course program will be organised, focussing on the various aspects of steel production and manufacturing to ensure that all students have a great grasp on the topic. The courses will be given by experts from academia and industry.