News

The first issue of Smart Infrastructure and Construction, ICE Publishing's new Proceedings journal, is now available online. All content published in the journal's first two volumes (2017 and 2018) is being made free to access to allow the widest possible dissemination of its findings.This new ICE journal will provide a learned forum for documentin…

CSIC has published its spring newsletter.Highlights include announcements of new CSIC Phase 2 partners, responding to the National Infrastructure Commission’s Technology Study and participating in the ICE State of the Nation 2017: Digital Transformation. Other news includes updates on the most recent CSIC research and industry collaborations. Read …

For several years, the Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction at Cambridge University has been developing distributed fibre optic sensors, DFOS, for a range of civil infrastructure monitoring applications. Dr Nicky de Battista, who has been researching innovative uses of DFOS, said: “After many field trials and incremental improvements, D…

According to an investigation by the RAC Foundation the number of substandard road bridges in Britain has risen 35 per cent to 3,203 in just two years. The resulting cost of clearing the backlog of work associated with the deterioration of the country’s bridge stock is estimated to be £3.9 billion.However, the survey of local authority highway brid…

A debate was held in the House of Lords on Thursday 23 March 2017 on the report from the Science and Technology Committee, A Time for Boldness: EU Membership and UK Science after the Referendum (1st Report, HL Paper 85). The report calls for bold steps to prepare the UK for life outside of EU membership and to secure a more prominent place for thi…

CSIC is delighted to announce five new Phase 2 Partners who have joined over the past year: BP International, Bentley Systems, OptaSense, Plowman Craven (PC Monitoring) and Assetscape. These organisations join 11 Phase 1 Partners who have formally renewed their partnerships for Phase 2.  CSIC partnership agreements enable collaboration, knowledge t…

In response to a request from the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) launched a four-week call for evidence on 15 February this year to identify which emerging technologies have the most potential for improving infrastructure productivity. The NIC will make recommendations to government on what actions it sho…

The EPSRC has released details of new state-of-the-art facilities planned as part of a UK Collaboratorium for Research on Infrastructure and Cities (UKCRIC) programme to upgrade the nation's infrastructure. Image of NRFIS. Courtesy of Grimshaw Architects.The National Research Facility for Infrastructure Sensing (NRFIS), which will be located in the…

Image: CSIC Director Jennifer SchoolingAs part of their series 'Women in Engineering' the University of Cambridge Department of Engineering have published an interview with CSIC Director Dr Jennifer Schooling. A fascinating insight into the motivation and possible career paths for young engineers!Click here to read the full article on the Departmen…

State of the Nation 2017: Digital Transformation calls on industry and Government to use the Modern Industrial Strategy to drive the uptake of digital technology and data in infrastructure design and delivery.This transformation could drive up productivity and unleash the full potential of the UK’s economy, while also creating a world leading indus…

Supporting the national drive to inspire more women to build careers in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM), we present a series of interviews that showcases the talent and diversity of women working in science and engineering with CSIC. Bingyu Zhao, 24, is a PhD student at CSIC• What attracted you to engineering?I became interested i…

Following Chancellor Philip Hammond’s spring Budget, the Director General of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), Nick Baveystock, has called the recognition of the importance of infrastructure to closing the productivity gap in the UK “very positive developments”.ICE Director General Nick BaveystockThe Chancellor highlighted that, in 2015, UK…

A debate in the House of Lords exploring the economic and environmental benefits of shale gas development in the United Kingdom heard opinions from a number of expert Peers, including Professor Lord Mair, Head of CSIC.Professor Lord Mair speaking in the House of LordsOpening the debate that took place on 7 March, Lord Truscott, former UK Energy Min…

The company 8power, spun-out of CSIC to develop and commercialise novel technology for sensing and measurement in industrial applications, has been selected as one of the candidates for Best Paper Award at the Smart Systems Integration 2017 conference. The paper presents how 8power's work on energy harvesting technology enables a step change in sen…

CSIC’s innovative bridge monitoring system for the Staffordshire Alliance has been shortlisted for the Product and Service Innovation award at the UK Rail and Industry Awards (UKRIA) 2017. Working with Industry Partners Network Rail, Laing O’Rourke and Atkins, CSIC engaged with the Staffordshire Alliance at the early stages of this project to deplo…