Programme 

Monday 14 December 2020: Research

Day 1 focussed on how HSR is enabling education; showcasing a diverse range of research outputs and presenting industry-relevant future research directions. Day 1 Keynote addresses were provided by:  

• Mark Thurston, CEO at HS2 Ltd, on the legacy of HS2 
• Lusia Moisio, Director of R&D at RSSB, on the drivers for HSR 
• Inaki Uriate, New Operations and Innovation Director for Transport Mobility, Euskotren on the experience of launching new HSR operations 

 Live Sessions

• 10:30 – 11:00 Welcome
  Day 1 Welcome by Dr Holly Foss, Director of Education BCRRE, with guest speaker Professor Anson Jack, Director, International Railway Benchmarking BCRRE.
  
• 11:00 – 12:00 Research Showcase
  Three parallel streams of international research into HSR, on the topics of Operations, Track and Analysis Tools. Find out more about the presenters in the Session Details tab. 

• 12:00 – 13:00 Break
  
  
• 13:00 – 14:00 Research Challenge Round Table
  Our 5 challenge experts came together for a panel discussion facilitated by Professor Clive Roberts, Director of BCRRE. Associated presentations were pre-released ahead of the conference. 

Research Challenge Round Table Presentations

Challenge Expert	Presentation Topic
Professor John Preston, University of Southampton	The Economic Challenges
Professor John Dora, Climate Sense	Infrastructure Systems and Climate Challenges
Toufic Machnouk, Network Rail	Integration
Dr Pietro Tricoli, University of Birmingham	The future of traction power systems
Luca Fracassi, Siemens	The Digitalisation Challenges

• 14:00 – 15:00 Virtual Poster Exhibition
  We also offered a drop-in session to discuss and ask questions directly to our poster exhibitors, find out more about this in the Session details tab.

Tuesday 15 December 2020: Education and Training

Day 2 focussed on how education is enabling HSR; exemplifying education and training best practice to support HSR delivery and exploring the educational needs of the industry. Day 2 Keynote addresses were provided by:

• Francois Davenne, Director General at UIC, on UIC’s HSR activities
• Dyan Crowther (CEO) and Richard Thorp (Engineering Director), HS1 Ltd, on the challenges of managing a HSR line
• Deb Carson, Head of Operations at HSRG, on encouraging collaboration in the high speed rail supply chain

Live Sessions

• 10:30 – 11:00 Welcome
  Day 2 Welcome by Dr Holly Foss, Director of Education BCRRE, with guest speaker Dr Aziza Mahomed, Head of Education, Mechanical Engineering, UoB. 
• 11:00 – 12:00 Education Showcase
  Three parallel streams of international research into education and training for HSR, on the topics of Futures, Pedagogies and Experience. Find out more about the presenters in the Session Details tab.

• 12:00 – 13:00 Break
  
  
• 13:00 – 14:00 Education Challenge Round Table
  Our 5 challenge experts came together for a panel discussion facilitated by Dr Holly Foss, Director of Education at BCRRE. Associated presentations were pre-released ahead of the conference. 
  
  

  Education Challenge Round Table Presentations

  Challenge Expert	Presentation Topic
  Neil Robertson, NSAR	Skills & Productivity
  Lucy Prior MBE, 3squared	Digitalisation
  Sharon Odetunde, RSSB	Sustainable Staffing
  Jan Peters, Katalytic	Equality Diversity and Inclusion
  Zena Green, University of Birmingham	Internationalisation of Education in HSR

• 14:00 – 15:00 Virtual Poster Exhibition
  We also offered a drop-in session to discuss and ask questions directly to our poster exhibitors, find out more about this in the Session details tab.

Wednesday 16th December 2020: Collaboration 

Day 3 focussed on collaboration between the two sectors.  Day 1 Keynote addresses were provided by:

• Professor TC Kao, University of Illinois, on the future of HSR systems
• Professor Roderick Smith, Imperial College London, on lessons we can learn from past implementations of HSR
• Ernesto Sicilia, Managing Director of Trenitalia, on the Frecciarossa experience of new HSR services

Live Sessions

• 10:30 – 11:00 Welcome
  Day 3 Welcome by Dr Holly Foss, Director of Education BCRRE, with guest speaker Professor Clive Roberts, Director of BCRRE.
• 11:00 – 12:00 Research Meet the Keynote Session
  Our keynotes came together for a panel discussion facilitated by Professor Anson Jack, University of Birmingham. Panellists: Luisa Moisio - RSSB, Inaki Uriarte - Euskotren and Richard Thorp – HS1.
• 12:00 – 13:00 Break
• 13:00 – 14:00 Education Meet the Keynote Session
  Our keynotes came together for a panel discussion facilitated by Professor Felix Schmid, University of Birmingham. Panellists: Ernesto Sicilia - Trenitalia and Professor Roderick Smith – Imperial College London.
• 14:00 – 15:00 Workshop Activity
  A workshop activity, where delegates were able to add their thoughts to the HSR Research and Education discussion. 

Keynote Sessions  

Our themed Keynote presentations were pre-released ahead of each day. On Wednesday 16 December, a number of keynote speakers joined us for Meet the Keynote panels to discuss their views of challenges and opportunities and answer delegate questions.

Showcase Sessions

The Research and Education Showcase Sessions brought together international researchers to present their work, followed by a Q&A. These live sessions were held in parallel streams.

• Monday 14 December – Research Streams: Operations, Track and Analysis Tools

  Research Showcase Timetable

  Time	Operations Chair: Dr Marcelo Blumenfeld	Track Chair: Dr Mani Entezami	Analysis Tool Chair: Dr Heather Steele
  11:00 - 11:15	James Walker and Chris Pownall, Systra BBVT Reaping the benefit of long-term investment in HSR and the wider rail network	Dr Hugo Pacheco Magalhaes, University of Huddersfield Support Tool for Optimal Design of Conventional and High-Speed Railway Turnouts	Dr Jin Liu, University of Newcastle Virtual Environments; a solution for testing novel applications for railway traffic management systems
  11:15 - 11:30	Dr Manu Sasidharan, University of Birmingham A risk-informed decision support tool for the strategic asset management of railway track infrastructure	Pascal De Laurens, ETF BBVT and David Mommer, TSO BBVT Track installation on a high speed line: the example of SEA Tours-Bordeaux	Dr Pedro Antunes, University of Huddersfield Advancements in Pantograph-OLE Dynamic Analysis tools
  11:30 - 11:45	Naphat Ketphat, University of Leeds State movement for controlling trains operating under the virtual coupling system	Dr Jin Lui, University of Newcastle  Use cases for obstacle detection and track intrusion detection systems in the context of new generation of traffic management systems	Jose Batista Rebelo, University of Huddersfield Minimal Requirements for Realistic Pantograph-Catenary Interaction Studies in High Speed and Conventional Rail Operations
  11:45 - 12:00	Q&A	Q&A	Q&A

• Tuesday 15 December – Education Streams: Futures, Pedagogies and Experience

  Education Showcase Timetable

  Time	Futures Chair: Zena Green	Pedagogies Chair: Dr Marcelo Blumenfeld	Experience Chair: Dr Heather Steele
  11:00 - 11:15	Merve Ersoy, University of Birmingham International education of railway engineers of the future	Alican Erdem, University of Birmingham A methodology for teaching System Engineering within the Railway Education Framework	Professor Ryo Takagi, Kogakuin University The First Decade of Kogakuin University Rail College and the Situation of Railway Systems Education in Japan
  11:15 - 11:30	Gerard Davies, Contented Ltd. Developing a Target Operating Model for sustainable learning organisations across the transport value chain	JoongSub Lee, University of Birmingham Sharing best practice of SIL application for a holistic approach to safety management and education	Neville Leary, Crossrail Project Chief Engineers Group The Industrial Cadets accredited work experience programme
  11:30 - 11:45	Dr Rachel Fisher, University of Birmingham Climate Change and High Speed Rail: Educating the Engineers of Tomorrow	Usman Abdurrahman, University of Birmingham Evaluating the Effectiveness of Postgraduate Study Tours in Railway Engineering Education	Dr Hongsin Kim, University of Birmingham New paradigm for Education in Railway Control and Safety Management
  11:45 - 12:00	Q&A	Q&A	Q&A

Challenge Round-Tables

Our themed Challenge presentations for Research and Education were pre-released ahead of the conference. The live Challenge Round-Tables brought together the 5 panellists to discuss and answer delegate questions. 

Virtual Poster Exhibition

The Virtual Poster Exhibition was accessible throughout the conference. Research and Education poster presenters were available to discuss and answer delegate questions during scheduled live sessions.

All Poster Details

Poster title	Author
Sensor Placement for Pantograph Fault Detection Based on PCA/KPCA Method	Jiaqi Qin, University of Birmingham
Rail Passenger Comfort Evaluation using Advanced Passenger in the Loop Simulation	Professor Richard Romano, University of Leeds
Review of Technologies for Real Time Rail Electrification Systems Monitoring	Jordan Brant, University of Huddersfield
Notch-based Speed Profile Optimisation for High Speed Railway Automatic Train Operation	Dr Shaofeng Lu, South China University of Technology
Harnessing innovation to decarbonise delivery	Harrison O’Hara, Skanska Costain STRABAG working in partnership with HS2.
Queer Pedagogy Online	Dr Holly Foss, University of Birmingham
A new global open university	Professor Felix Schmid, University of Birmingham