West European Student and Young Professional Congress (WESYP), Glasgow – September 2019
Event-packed West European Student and Young Professional Congress (WESYP) 2019 concludes in Glasgow amidst much enthusiasm and fanfare!
See the full report here
The West European Student and Young Professional Congress (WESYP) 2019, which recently concluded in Glasgow, witnessed active participation from around 75 students, academics, entrepreneurs and professionals attending from a host of countries including UK, Ireland, Spain, Germany, Croatia and Austria. The Congress was hosted at Glasgow Caledonian University’s (GCU) city centre campus in Glasgow, Scotland from September 19 – 21. The event kicked off with a visit to the Power Networks Demonstration Centre, followed by a joint reception with HISTELCON – Region 8’s flagship conference on History and Electrotechnology to provide cross collaboration and mutual networking opportunities. This was followed by the official WESYP 2019 opening ceremony and dinner addressed by the IEEE Region 8 Director Dr. Magdalena Salazar Palma amongst others. Day 2 (September 20th) of the Congress started with welcome addresses delivered by Prof. Mike Hinchey (IEEE UK and Ireland Section Chair), Noel Gomes (IEEE UK and Ireland YP Chair) and Mahsa Sadeghi Ghahroudi (GCU IEEE Society chair). The keynote for the day was delivered by Theo Priestley (Chief Marketing Officer, WFS Technologies Ltd.) on ‘Emerging Trends for the Next Decade and Beyond’. There were 2 sub-plenaries organised for the day on a host of topics ranging from networked systems, digital technologies as well as global sustainability. The sub-plenaries were delivered by eminent academics from the University of Glasgow, University of Strathclyde, University of the West of Scotland, as well as by the IET Young Women Engineer of the Year 2018 awardee, Ms. Lorna Bennet. This was followed by an insightful workshop on ‘Entrepreneurship’ from Entrepreneurial Scotland and ‘Technology to the Next Generation’ by Google Digital Garage. All events were very well attended by the Congress participants, and there were ample networking opportunities for everyone during the lunch and coffee breaks as well as during the trade exhibition where each sponsor/IEEE society had a stall to share information on the entity they represented. During the last break poster, presenters present their poster for judges and audience.
The Congress gala dinner themed ‘culture, diversity and success’, hosted at ‘The Lantern’ was the highlight of the conference and included a scrumptious 3-course meal, Outstanding Volunteer Awards, Ceilidh music entertainment in the form of a local Scottish band along with an impromptu Ceilidh group dance class which captured everyone’s attention. The evening showcased Scottish hospitality and culture and also provided an opportunity for attendees to network in an informal setting.
The final day (September 21st) of the Congress began with a keynote delivered by Mr. Derek Wilson (Founder and CEO, Pandora Project) on ‘Zero Carbon/Hydrogen Based Economy’. This was followed by an interactive debate on AC vs. DC technologies sponsored by the IEEE Industry Applications Society, and facilitated by representatives from WSP, University of Manchester, Siemens Gamesa as well as the host university, GCU. The main attraction of the day was a panel discussion on the theme of ‘Emerging Technologies’, which witnessed the participation of academics and entrepreneurs alike. The esteemed panellists were Mr. Derek Wilson, Dr. Hadi Heidari (University of Glasgow), Dr. Shufan Yang (University of Glasgow) and Dr. Jo Watts (Founder, Effini). The final sub-plenary of the day included two parallel workshops – one on autonomous underwater vehicles conducted by Andrea Munafo from the National Oceanography Centre and the other on professional development conducted by Lynn Tomkins, Chair of Skills4UK.
The closing ceremony in the evening of September 21st brought down the curtains on this hugely successful 3-day Congress. Prizes were awarded to the best poster presenter as well as to volunteers and members of the WESYP 2019 Organising Committee. Noel Gomes, Chair of the IEEE UK and Ireland Young Professionals, delivered the concluding speech as well as a note of thanks to the event sponsors, which included GCU, the host university as Gold sponsor, The Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance (Silver sponsor), IEEE UK and Ireland Section (host Section), Region 8 SAC, Young Professionals and a number of IEEE Societies namely: Photonics, ComSoc, Signal Processing, Industry Applications, Power & Energy, Region 8 Professional & Educations Activities Sub-Committee and Antennas & Propagation Society along with co-hots IEEE UK and Ireland Young Professional and GCU IEEE Student Branch without whose support and exceptional contribution this event would not have been possible. Photos and videos of the event can be found here and here
The feedback received from the Congress attendees was very positive, and everyone appreciated the range and depth of the topics covered as well as the numerous networking opportunities offered. By Arijit Bagchi (Program Chair) & Noel Gomes (WESYP 2019 Conference Chair)
