The annual Autumn Festival is motivated entirely by these aspirations and, as such, is a key event in the ERCOFTAC calendar. This year the Festival will be held from the 29th - 31st October in the august surroundings of the Belgian Royal Academy.

‘Modelling and Simulation : Significant Achievements and Hard Lessons’

The day will be dedicated to the current state-of-the-art in industrial practice, emerging technologies and, most importantly, the harnessing of capability to meet industrial needs and aspirations. The programme will comprise a number of key-note lectures and presentations from highly experienced, leading figures drawn from the industrial and scientific/academic communities. These lectures will set the scene for an open discussion which will be facilitated by an expert panel. The aim is to identify those key challenges in modelling and simulation, both across sectors as well as specific to individual sectors, that must be surmounted in order to realise current ambitions for engineering design and validation. The most promising technical pathways for meeting these challenges will also be debated. The outcome will inform the formulation of future ERCOFTAC policy and action.

30th October – Leonardo da Vinci Student Award and Science Forum

Each year, the ERCOFTAC national centres invite those students who are about to complete, or who have recently completed PhD studies in an aspect of applied fluid dynamics to submit a summary to a national panel. Three of these are then selected from each nation for entry in to the Europe-wide Leonardo da Vinci Award. Five finalists from this group are then selected by an international panel of experts to present their work during the morning of the second day of the Festival. The afternoon is devoted to a Science Forum in which the leading activities of the ERCOFTAC research axis are presented and discussed. The day ends with the award of the 2007 Leonardo da Vinci Prize to the best student. On the lighter side, the day is always great fun involving a host of young people rooting for their candidate.

31st October – Meeting of the ERCOFTAC Scientific and Industrial Committees and the Managing Board

Registration and Expression of Interest

The first two days of the Festival are open to both members and non-members of ERCOFTAC. Delegates from outside Europe are especially welcome. A modest registration fee will be charged in order to cover organisational costs.

Students pursuing full-time studies can register for free.

On-line registration or expressions of interest can be made by filling out the online form.