The Leeds-Lyon Symposium celebrates continued Leeds success for 45th year

ConferenceLeeds joined the universities in Leeds in celebrating the return of the Leeds-Lyon Symposium, which took place last month. The annual conference took place at Leeds Trinity University and was a major international biennial conference return for the city. This year’s Leeds-Lyon symposium on Tribology was held between 4th-7th September and saw over 200 delegates from across the globe travel to Leeds for the 45th event.

The symposium is jointly sponsored by the University of Leeds (UK) and the Institut National des Sciences Appliquèes (INSA) de Lyon, Université de Lyon (France), who have alternated acting as hosts for the conference since its inauguration in 1974. This year, the conference was held in Leeds Trinity University, making the most of its facilities and range of conferencing spaces in a variety of sizes, from interview and multiple seminar rooms, through to the Auditorium which has capacity for 280 delegates and is perfect for opening sessions and welcome plenaries. The symposium saw 36 individual sessions taking place across the conference period, beginning with a welcome dinner which was held at Rudding Park in Harrogate, allowing delegates to network and enjoy the food and drink on offer.

Each year the symposium provides an opportunity to tribologists to discuss and exchange views and ideas and reflect on the future of upcoming developments. This year’s theme was ‘Smart Tribology Systems’ looking at tribology embedded in smart engineering systems, and delegates enjoyed insight into research from keynote speakers including Professor Daniele Dini from the Imperial College London, and Eduardo Tomanik from the University of São Paulo.

Alison Whiteley, Faculty of Engineering at the University of Leeds said: “We’re incredibly pleased that we have been able to partner over the last 45 years with such a high-profile conference. This is demonstrative of not only the success of the work in engineering sector across the city, but also the conference offer from our university institutions here. We very much enjoyed showcasing the venues available, and welcoming a wide spectrum of delegates and speakers both within the UK and internationally.”

Claire Heap, Head of ConferenceLeeds, commented: “We’re delighted that the annual Leeds-Lyon symposium has once again returned to the city of Leeds, making the most of our academic institutions and the brilliant conferencing facilities that they have on offer. We hope that the Leeds-Lyon symposium returns for another successful year in 2020, adding to the roster of exciting events that we have in the calendar already.”