Under SET for BRITAIN, a special Parliamentary Reception for Britain's Younger Engineers (the third in an annual series) was held on Monday, 9 December 2002 at the House of Commons.

The central aim of SET for BRITAIN is to nurture, encourage and promote younger researchers through novel, high profile meetings where there is an opportunity to present their projects in a detailed poster format. Younger researchers in all fields of science, engineering, medicine and technology are seen as the 'engine-room' of British and European research and R&D. For this reason, selected MPs and other relevant figures from the worlds of science, engineering and technology were invited to attend including Boris's MP for the Kelvin constituency, Mr. George Galloway.

Hosted by Claire Curtis-Thomas MP, MBA, CEng FIMechE, Boris Kolle was one of several students to have the opportunity to present his poster in the unique and stimulating atmosphere of the House.

Boris left Germany four years ago in his final year at the University of Karlsruhe for an exchange year to Glasgow and is now in his third year of his PhD studies here.

The focus of his research is concrete - the second most consumed substance after water. Strong, relatively cheap and everywhere, it is hard to imagine a modern building without it. From pavements to bridges and even the colossal off-shore oil rigs of the North Sea - all depend upon concrete, in every sense.

However, the main problem is that it cracks early and, at the moment, this is addressed by reinforcing concrete with steel bars. The behaviour of concrete reinforced by bars or fibres is very complex and Boris's research addresses some of these issues.

For more details about this event and Set for Britain, please use the following link ﾖ Set for Europe

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First published: 10 December 2002