International Activities

The group is very active on the international scene. In addition to taking part in the planning and delivery of major international conferences, group members are regularly invited to give lectures on the subjects of mechatronics research and teaching curricula. The group has good links with over 35 Universities in more than 20 countries. At any one time there is strong activity (eg a joint project, or a research visitor) with, typically, 8 groups. The table below gives a flavour of some of the activities.

	Technical University of Radom, Poland Prof Rob Parkin with the Pro Rektor of Radom, Jan Bednarczyk, the International Officer Ewa Rybinska and Mechatronics Professors Zbygniew and Andrej Kesy.  Rob Parkin attended the opening ceremonies of the University year as guest of the Rektor, October 2001
	University of Applied Sciences FHO Ostfriesland, Germany Tony Sutton and Rob Parkin with students on a field trip during the European Intensive Programme in Emden, Germany (July 1-14, 2001).  40 participants from 6 countries were involved.
	Technical University of Ilmenau, Germany Prof Rob Parkin with the Rektor of Ilmenau, Prof Kern on the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the Loughborough and Ilmanau to work together in the field of mechatronics education and research. June 2001
	University of Linz, Austria Final meeting of the RichODL project funded by the EU (November 2000).  Professor Rob Parkin of MRC with other members of the consortium headed by Prof Mann (CTU, Prague) as guests of Linz Mechatronics Centre at Voest Alpine (Prof K Sclacher).
	University of Maribor, Slovenia Visit of Dr Mike Jackson and Prof Rob Parkin (June 2000) with Prof K Jezernik of Electrical & Electronic Engineering.  Also with Prof Riko Safaric and Mr Ales Hace, both past research visitors to MRC.
	Loughborough, UK Visit of Professor Gene Rivin of Wayne State University, USA.  Gene gave a series of research lectures on mechatronic applications during his one week visit of 1996.
	National University of Seoul, S Korea Prof Rob Parkin with Professor Pahk of the Precision Engineering and Metrology Laboratories.  Visit leading a Department of Trade and Industry OSTEMS mission in 1997.
	Technical University of Ilmenau, Germany Euroconference on Control & Configuration Aspects of Mechatronics (CCAM) organised by MRC and run alongside the Ilmenau annual IWK conference.  CCAM funded 50 young European researchers to atttend.
	University of Applied Sciences, FHO, Emden, Germany Dr Mike Jackson and Prof Rob Parkin with Prof Horst Kreitlow and PhD students (July 2000).  MRC has 4 current PhD students working in the FHO Institute of Laser Techniks, with two previous PhD successes.
	Daewoo, Pusan, S Korea Members of the OSTEMS mission team of the DTI, led by Prof Rob Parkin in 1997.  The Daewoo company hosted the visit of team members from Rolls Royce, Taylor Hobson, Schlumberger and GKN.
	University of Hitachi, Japan Prof Rob Parkin with a group of Japanese students from the laboratory of Professor Shiraishi.  Visit as part of a Royal Society funded 5 week tour of Japanese Universities and Companies.  One week visits to Nagoya, Gifu, Tokyo, Sendai, Tsukuba.
	University of Skovde, Sweden The Mechatronics Research Centre was well represented at Mechatronics '98, the UK Mechatronics Forum biennial conference, with seven attendees Dr Memis Acar, Dr Mike Jackson, Dr Riko Safaric, Dr N Brown, Prof Rob Parkin, Mr Bill Dudeney and Mr Mike Millman. The largest group present.
	Meyer Werft, Papenburg, Germany A premier builder of the worlds largest cruise ships.  Visit as part of a European Intensive Programme in Intelligent Open Systems Engineering & Laser Materials Processing, containing lectures given by Dr Mike Jackson and Prof Rob Parkin.  Students from Netherlands, UK, Spain, Germany, Belgium and Finland.
	Loughborough, UK First higher degree graduation (Uwe Samuels) following the co-operation of the Institute of Laser Techniks, at the University of Applied Science in Ostfriesland, Germany.
	FCME, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, PRC Prof Parkin with the faculty of the Forestry College of Mechanical Engineering.  This HEI was the first to start Mechatronics in 1997.  The MRC has hosted a visiting research scholar (Mr Hongzhi Wang) and Professor Parkin is Visiting Professor of Mechatronics at FCME.
	Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan Prof Rob Parkin with Professor Yoshimi Ito of the Tokyo Institute of Technology.  Whilst there much time was spent in the precision engineering laboratories looking at the influence of mechatronics on the design of very high precision machine tools.
	University of Minho, Portugal MRC received funding for a series of Euroconferences in Focused Aspects of Mechatronics.  The first, Vision and Control Aspects of Mechatronics (ViCAM) was held alongside M96 in Portugal.