News

Our Professional Development Partner,  the Local Government Technical Advisers Group (LGTAG) is holding its annual conference on 5 June at the Kassam Stadium in Oxford, at which IHE Council member Sean Rooney assumes the role of President of LGTAG.

Sean Rooney, who is head of service for highway maintenance at Oxfordshire County Council, has chosen the topic of Collaborative Research – From Research to Reality. He said: ‘We as a sector face many challenges in the future, including rapid advances in technology and what society expects from us in terms of level of service. Research provides us with the means to anticipate and adapt to some of these changes.

‘Research allows us to make informed decisions now and in the future. Working collaboratively across the sector we can explore innovative solutions, test ideas, implement best practice and make best use of the resources available to address these challenges we all face.

‘The highways sector relies upon many new technologies and processes, from connected vehicles to gulley sensors and everything in between and 2 May progress in all aspects relies upon research to bring them into business as usual.

‘Collaborative research plays a pivotal role in shaping the future of our highways. It is widely recognised that there is a need for innovation and knowledge exchange to address pressing challenges we all face while delivering ongoing commitments and obligations.

‘National Highways has outlined its approach in its Innovation and Research Strategy but, as we are all  aware, that accounts for 2% of the UK network.

‘Local roads make up the remaining 98% of the network and it is essential that we adopt a similar approach to ensure we act collaboratively to ensure we direct the research into the areas the sector needs. We should be supporting academia and utilising the resources that are available through them to really push the research into reality.’

The conference will bring together the key decision makers, academia,  organisations who have been successful in research projects becoming reality, representatives from the supply chain and thought leaders from the sector.

These influential speakers will highlight what works and identify some of the gaps we need to fill in terms of opportunities and awareness of how we can work more collaboratively.

The conference will connect organisations in their endeavours to promote the correct research that can usefully be brought into being.

There is still time to register for the conference at: https://www.lgtag.com/event/presidents-conference-2024/