European Conference on Coal Research and Its Applications
The first UK national meeting on Coal Research and its Applications was held in 1996. This event has now grown into an established biennial conference with an international attendance.
Previous conference - 3-5 September 2008
The seventh biennial coal research conference organised by the Forum was held in Cardiff in early September. The event was preceded, as usual, by a workshop organised by Robert Davidson of the IEA Clean Coal Centre. The conference was held from Wednesday 3rd to Friday 5th September and was hosted by Cardiff University, Wales. A late flurry of registrations resulted in the conference numbers being the highest of any CRF conference. Once again there was representation from a number of European countries such as Spain, Italy, France and Greece with some long distance travellers from Colombia, South Africa, Japan and Australia.
A full programme of oral presentations covered two and a half days in which 68 papers were given in nine parallel sessions. There were no 'no-shows', which is at least in part due to the willingness of some presenters to step forward at the last moment - thanks are due to them. In addition there was a full poster session held on Wednesday evening in conjunction with a buffet dinner. The Conference Dinner was held on Thursday night in the convivial surroundings of Aberdare Hall. This once women-only hall of residence provided a pleasant atmosphere in which an excellent meal was enjoyed, we hope, by all. Unfortunately, the warm welcome which we received from the local organisers did not extend to the weather, which was particularly memorable for its almost incessant rain! We will remember this conference as "The Wet One" remarked one of the attendee towards the end of the week.
The impression of the organising committee was that, although there were a number of minor technical problems, these did not detract too much from the overall enjoyment of the attendees and the conference was on balance a success. The committee would also like to place on record their thanks for the continuing support received from INCAR in Spain, the University of Nottingham and Imperial College London. As a footnote for anyone who did not enjoy the conference, the secretary and treasurer will be different for the 8th ECCRIA and any past shortcomings should be directed to the as yet unformed organising committee!