Events
DAFNI Conference 2023 – Building a secure and resilient world
Updated on December 9 2025
DAFNI (Data and Analytics Facility for National Infrastructure) Post Conference Updates
At this year’s DAFNI Conference on 12th September 2023, we welcomed over 100 in-person delegates to Imperial College, London for the day.
The conference theme of ‘Building a Secure and Resilient World’ highlighted the importance of the new Centre of Excellence for Resilient Infrastructure Analysis, as well as the pivotal role of the Data & Analytics for National Infrastructure (DAFNI) platform in climate-related and infrastructure projects.
The Centre of Excellence fosters research in resilience in the natural and built environment as part of the overarching UKRI programme ‘Building a Secure and Resilient World’ (BSRW), a 5-year programme which seeks to tap the UK’s research and innovation system to tackle large-scale, complex challenges for the UK.
09:00 Arrival – Breakfast networking
09:25 Welcome and introduction
SPEAKERS
Dr Giuliano Punzo
Lecturer at the University of Sheffield
09:30 Keynote presentation
DAFNI to Improve Capacity & Resilience of Infrastructure Systems
Bridget Rosewell, Non-Executive Director at UK Infrastructure Bank (UKIB), Formerly Commissioner of the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC)
SPEAKERS
10:10 DAFNI – Exploring Resilience
SPEAKERS
Dr Brian Matthews
DAFNI Facility Lead, Scientific Computing, STFC
10:35 DAFNI Platform Presentation
SPEAKERS
Dr Bethan Perkins
DAFNI Team Lead, STFC
10:55 Break, Demos, Networking
11:25 The Challenges of Resilience
SPEAKERS
Dr Kristine Zaidi
Associate Director of Programmes, UKRI AHRC
11:45 Presentations from Centre of Excellence
Dr Ana Mijic, Reader in Water Systems Engineering and Innovation, Imperial College London
Professor Richard Dawson, Professor of Earth Systems Engineering and Director of Research in the School of Engineering, Newcastle University
Dr Francesca Pianosi, Senior Lecturer in Water and Environmental Engineering, School of Civil, Aerospace and Design Engineering, University of Bristol
Dr Raghav Pant, Senior Research Associateat theEnvironmental Change Institute, University of Oxford
12:45 Networking lunch and demonstrations
13:45 Welcome back and introduction to the afternoon session
SPEAKERS
Dr Giuliano Punzo
Lecturer at the University of Sheffield
13:50 Keynote presentation - Spatial Planning Reimagined
SPEAKERS
Dr Wei Yang
Co-Founder & CEO, Digital Task Force for Planning; Chairman, Wei Yang & Partners
14:30 Standards in Practice – embedding Resilience in Infrastructure
SPEAKERS
Russell Price
ISO
14:50 Break, demos and networking
15:20 Presentations from Centre of Excellence
Dr Xilin Xia, Assistant Professor in Resilience Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Birmingham
Dr Anna Murgatroyd, Postdoctoral Researcher at the Environmental Change Institute (ECI), University of Oxford
Dr Vassilis Glenis, Senior Lecturer in Hydroinformatics, School of Engineering, Newcastle University
Dr Richard Milton, Senior Researcher, Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, UCL
16:20 Q & A panel session
Chaired by Dr Giuliano Punzo, University of Sheffield
SPEAKERS
Dr Brian Matthews
Dr Wei Yang
Russell Price
16:50 Conference closing remarks
SPEAKERS
Dr Brian Matthews
DAFNI Facility Lead, Scientific Computing, STFC