On Wednesday 4 March, fortunately before the Covid-19 crisis fully hit the UK, and prior to the lockdowns now in place, the College held another in its series of Business Network events in London. This time we used a new venue, the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS), thank you to the efforts of alumnus and speaker David Marshall (U62), who is a former Society President (2007–8) and persuaded the Society to waive their usual hire fee.

We were thrilled to have a second alumni speaker, Neil Fleming (U89), Senior Specialist Risk Analyst at AIG, whose specialism is risk analysis for space flight. Our third speaker was Churchill Fellow Dr Anna-Maria Kypraiou, whose recent research activities focus on applying machine learning to identify operating modes within engines, and whose recent work involves find greener technologies in the shipping industry.

The event, based around the aeronautical industry, was smaller than others in this series of networking opportunities, due largely to the more niche industry field. That said, after three fascinating introductory talks from our speakers, the questions posed by the audience showed a real interest in the topics under discussion, with very technical enquiries around what might be done to make technologies greener, for example.

After the Q&A session, we retired to an adjoining room for networking over some drinks and a wonderful selection of nibbles! The Society proved an excellent venue for the event.

Once the current crisis is over and lockdowns are lifted, or even as webinars or teleconference events, we look forward to hosting more events such as these. If you would like to see a talk based around your field of expertise, do let us know, especially if you would be a willing speaker. If your employer has a room suitable to hold events we would love to hear from you.

We hope all our alumni and their loved ones stay safe and well, and we hope to see as many of you as possible at events in College, London, or virtually until life returns to normal!