As I type this, I see people, both students and lecturers, leaving the buildings. Another year is coming to an end and the new one looks difficult and bleary. A new government means new ways to manage science and technology in this country. These new ways are not clear at the moment and fear has been spreading around the colleagues.
In spite of this, I remain confident. I have additional funding for the next two years and collaborations are improving. I also have a foundation to work on severe plastic deformation and characterisation. Namely: a 100-ton hydraulic press to ECAP, a 20-ton rolling mill to ARB and a microtester coupled with DIC to analyse deformation. In addition, I have currently 4 PhD students with a 5th starting on March and probably a post-doc at some point next year. Papers are being written and submitted. Consultancy work is steady.
While the year is coming to a close, I’m grateful for this year and remain optimistic for 2019. There are new challenges around the corner, but I believe that I’m better prepared to face them than I was a few years ago.
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