On Wednesday 17th July 2019, the IEEE Student Branch UoM and the CIGRE UK NGN co-hosted an event at The University of Manchester. The event attracted 24 attendees, mostly new MSc and first-year PhD students.
The event had two primary aims: to increase awareness of IEEE Student Branches / Chapters and CIGRE NGN; and bring attention to the types of resources useful to young researchers produced by the IEEE and CIGRE.
These aims were met in the event through three talks. The first was delivered by James Hill, the CIGRE-UK NGN Institutions Collaborations Lead and Past-Chair of the IEEE PES Student Branch Chapter at UoM. His talk introduced the two institutions of IEEE and CIGRE, explained which publications are available from them, and how to be involved and get the most from the Student / NGN societies.
After this introduction, Prof. Paul Jarman explained how research can actively influence the direction that standards take, and conversely, how standards can help to influence and direct our research. Prof. Jarman drew on his vast experience from involvement with standards related to transformers to explain the process required for their establishment and revision.
Finally, Dr. Mathaios Panteli presented on his experience as a young researcher involved in a CIGRE working group during his PhD. He highlighted how beneficial this was to his career and how ideas he got from conversing with the senior personnel he was exposed to in this environment helped to add significant value to his final thesis.