In 2025, the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is celebrating 125 years of impact and innovation. This commemorative event will reflect on the UK's legacy in materials metrology and outline a forward-looking strategy for the future of advanced materials, with keynote presentations from national and international leaders and wide participation from industry, academia, and the international community.
Registrations to participate in person are now closed but we invite you to watch the event live via this link.
| 10:30 | Welcome | Dr Emma Haynes, Partnerships Director, NPL Prof Fernando Castro, Dept Head of Science, NPL |
| 10:40 | Keynote session: Critical importance of Advanced Materials and the Role of Metrology | |
| The UK’s approach to Advanced Materials Policy | Dr Isabel Webb, Deputy Director for Technology Strategy and Security, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), HM Government | |
| The role of materials metrology globally | Dr Kathryn Beers, Director of Materials Measurement Lab, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) | |
| Why good material property measurement matters | Dr Ben Saunders, Chief of Technology – Materials & Manufacturing, Rolls-Royce | |
| UK Advanced Materials Strategy | Prof Ian Kinloch, Chief Scientific Officer, Henry Royce Institute | |
| Historic Impact of NPL’s Advanced Materials Work | Prof Mark Gee, NPL Fellow, NPL | |
| 12:00 | Break | |
| 13:00 | Future direction of science and engineering capability at NPL | |
| NPL's Advanced Materials Metrology Strategy | Prof Fernando Castro, Dept Head of Science, NPL | |
| Operando measurement in electrochemical devices | Dr Andy Wain, Principal Scientist | |
| Advanced chemical imaging for advanced materials | Prof Ian Gilmore, NPL Senior Fellow | |
| Supporting the commercialisation of nanomaterials | Dr Andrew Pollard, Principal Scientist | |
| Materials challenges in quantum technologies | Dr Mayela Romero-Gomez, Higher Scientist | |
| Smart and multimodal sampling methods for functional materials | Dr James Blakesley | |
| Engineering materials at the extremes | Prof Stefanos Giannis, Principcal Scientist | |
| Data science for materials: A forward look | Louise Wright, Head of Digital Metrology | |
| 14:45 | End of workshop | |
| Please leave teams call |
This conference is part of a landmark series of international events hosted by NPL from 15 to 19 September 2025, celebrating 125 years of Advanced Materials research at NPL and the 50th Steering Committee Meeting of the Versailles Project on Advanced Materials and Standards (VAMAS).
These events will bring together leading experts from across science, industry, policy, and standards organisations, with confirmed participation from 16 countries across all continents, to explore the future of advanced materials and the critical role of standards and measurement science in enabling innovation and trade.
Other events taking place during the same week include:
This week of activities will highlight the pivotal role of pre-standards research and set the direction of global initiatives to support innovation and world trade of Advanced Materials technologies.