
As I am sure most of you are aware, towards the end of the year both the UK and Australia are hosting a conference. Preparations for the conferences are going well.
Mario will mention how the biannual Australian conference is nearing capacity. The UK conference is entitled: ‘Sustainability for a low carbon world’, and the accompanying training day is, by member’s suggestion, planning to be ‘Beyond the data sheet’. We are now calling for papers for the conference, (email: secretary@ireng.org) and planning for the training day is coming together.

In the old days, if you will forgive me my age, the Institute had several branches that held evening meetings. These allowed people to meet, network, engage in a technical presentation and socialise. Alas, with the decline in membership, these branch meetings have largely ended. Therefore, it was good to see Dominic Oates organise, what we will optimistically call, the ‘first technical evening’ in a new chapter of events at his company’s offices in Cheshire (UK). This was a success with over thirty people attending both in person and, as a sign of the times, remotely.
We will get feedback by survey, but the consensus at the event was positive. Hence, we do plan to organise more of these events as we consider them to be of great value.
We recently held our annual AGM. During that meeting we voted to approve Council’s proposal that Dominic Oates, currently the Treasurer, becomes the next Vice President and, thereafter President of the IRE. I wholeheartedly endorse this and am sure that he will do a great job in this position.
We also approved Peter Rooney becoming an Honorary Member. He, as a former President, has been stalwart in his support of the Institute and is fully deserving the awarding of honorary membership. I hope you enjoy the September 2024 issue of The Refractories Engineer and I look forward to catching up with you in person at one of our events this year.
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