DAFNI Conference 2024
Updated on December 16 2025
At our annual conference on 10th September 2024, we welcomed over 150 in-person delegates to Aston University, Birmingham for the day.
We held project sessions, a series of talks and our first ever industry panel.

09:00 Arrival – Breakfast networking

09:20 Welcome and Housekeeping
09:30 Keynote presentation
Martine Wauben, Head of Data for London, and Helen Huemer-Markides, Infrastructure Data & Innovation Lead, Greater London Authority
10:10 DAFNI – Technical Update
SPEAKERS
Dr Brian Matthews
DAFNI Programme Lead
Dr Jens Jensen
DAFNI Team Lead
10:45 Break, Demos, Networking
11:15 Project Presentations
Room 1:
Dr Xilin Xia, University of Birmingham
Dr Desen Kirli, University of Edinburgh
Professor Richard Dawson, Newcastle University
Dr Giuliano Punzo, University of Sheffield
Room 2
Dr Richard Milton, UCL
Dr Vassilis Glenis, Newcastle University
Dr Hannah Bloomfield, Newcastle University
Dr Anna Murgatroyd, Newcastle University
12:20 Networking lunch
13:20 Exhibitions and Demonstrations
13:50 University of Birmingham’s Digital Twin
Professor Asaad Faramarzi, Professor of Geotechnical Engineering, University of Birmingham

14:30 Industry Panel
Yiu-Shing Pang
Open Data Manager at UK Power Networks
Martine Wauben
Head of Data for London at the Greater London Authority
Holger Kessler
Senior Stakeholder Manager, Assets & Technology-Infrastructure UK & Ireland at AtkinsRéalis
Ben Fitzsimons
Technical Director at Water Resources East
Olly Tones
Head of Data Sharing and Technology at Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT)
15:20 Break, demos and networking
15:50 Project Presentations
Room 1:
Dr Ana Mijic, Imperial College London
Professor Konstantinos Nikolopoulos, Durham University
Dr Raghav Pant, University of Oxford
Room 2
Saskia Salwey, University of Bristol
Dr Qiuchen Lu, UCL
Dr Fabian Steinmann, Cranfield University
16:40 Conference closing remarks
Dr Brian Matthews, DAFNI Facility Lead, Scientific Computing, STFC