Steel's coming home - University of Sheffield to host major international steel conference

One of Europe's biggest steel conferences - where some of the latest innovations in research to support the use of steel in the construction industry are presented for the first time - is set to be hosted by the University of Sheffield this week (1-3 September 2021).

Eurosteel 2021 will see over 500 delegates from academia and industry come together to discuss how research and innovation can help to tackle some of the major challenges facing the constructional steel industry.

Usually held as a physical conference, this year's event will be held online to make it easier for delegates to participate from across the UK, Europe and the rest of the world.

The conference has previously been hosted by some of Europe's most famous cities, such as Copenhagen, Naples, Budapest and Prague. Now, this year the event will see Sheffield take centre stage - a place widely considered to be the spiritual home of steel with the city having played a huge role in the birth of the industry.

This year's conference is focused on helping academia and industry learn from each other through a series of sessions held over the course of three days. The conference will see structural steel researchers meet with designers and fabricators to discuss some of the biggest problems facing the industry and how research can help.

The University of Sheffield is one of the UK's biggest and best engineering universities with a particular strength in steel research. Sheffield's Faculty of Engineering is a major driver of research and innovation, including one of the UK's leading research centres on steel structures that focuses on stability, performance and modelling under fire and dynamic loading.

Researchers in the University's Faculty of Engineering work closely with the industry through partnerships, such as a multi million pound research and development programme that will see British Steel collaborate with engineers from the University to enhance its range of world class rail products and services.

Engineers from the University have recently made a new breakthrough in steel manufacturing by developing a completely new way of making lightweight, high strength steel that can be easily adapted for mass manufacturing.

Professor Ian Burgess from the University of Sheffield's Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, who is chairman of the local committee for the conference, said: "Sheffield has made massive contributions to the steel industry over more than two centuries. From the Huntsman's crucible steel process and the Bessemer's process which revolutionised the throughput of steel production, to Harry Brearley's development of stainless steels. The city continues its association with steel today in the 21st century, mainly in special and stainless steels, so in a sense we are seeing steel come home through the Eurosteel 2021 conference.

"We are delighted to be hosting the conference and look forward to seeing over 300 papers of the very latest in steel research and innovation being presented over three days."

Professor Buick Davison, who is a member of the local committee for the conference, from the University of Sheffield's Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, added: "Steel has a vital role to play in construction and the increasing awareness of the need to reduce global emissions has sharpened structural engineers' focus on using construction materials responsibly. Many papers at this conference focus on improved analysis and design approaches to enable designers to utilise steel in the most efficient way possible. Innovations in steel production and highly efficient design and construction methods will help the construction industry address the global challenges of resource depletion and carbon emissions."