Taking place from 1-3 September, the conference brought together academics, engineers and business leaders to focus on the future of engineering assets, infrastructure and emerging technologies. The vice-chancellor of the University, Bob Cryan, opened the conference, delivering a welcome address.

The three-day event explored how artificial intelligence, digital twins, smart sensing and predictive maintenance can improve reliability, safety and sustainability across sectors such as rail, energy, manufacturing, construction and healthcare.

It featured more than 130 research papers alongside keynote speeches, industry talks, workshops and technology demonstrations, with topics ranging from hydrogen infrastructure and renewable energy systems to structural health monitoring, cybersecurity and intelligent asset management.

Hosted by the University’s School of Computing and Engineering, ICMIAM 2026 highlighted the growing role of data-driven technologies in helping organisations extend asset life, reduce costs and support more sustainable and resilient infrastructure.

The event was led by Rakesh Mishra and Leigh Fleming as executive conference chairs. “As Chair of ICMIAM 2026, I am delighted to reflect on the outstanding success of this year’s conference, which brought together leading researchers, industry experts, practitioners and academics from around the world,” said Mishra, director of the University’s Centre for Energy, Environment and Sustainable Engineering. “The conference provided an exceptional platform for sharing innovative research, emerging technologies and best practices that are shaping the future of intelligent asset management and sustainable maintenance strategies. The enthusiastic participation and collaborative spirit demonstrated by attendees fostered valuable partnerships and knowledge exchange, reinforcing the importance of interdisciplinary approaches to managing complex engineering assets.”

A number of University of Huddersfield academics featured in the programme, including Parikshit Goswami, Wenxian Yang, John Allport, Konstantina Lambrinou, and Marco Corradi, alongside Andrew Ball and Shirsendu Sikdar. Their presentations highlighted the University’s research strengths in sustainable engineering, intelligent asset management, renewable energy and advanced monitoring technologies.

“Bringing together colleagues from across the globe to discuss such an important topic to the Engineering and wider technology community was a great honour for us at Huddersfield. I am looking forward to seeing the new connections and collaborations which have resulted from this event developing,” stated Fleming, dean of the School of Computing and Engineering, closed the conference with her Professorial Lecture, Engineering Quality of Life. 

The conference also fostered new connections between researchers, industry leaders and policymakers from around the world, reinforcing the importance of collaboration in tackling complex engineering challenges.

Industry speakers from National Gas, KOSO Kent Introl and Trust Electric Heating, as well as OSMOS Group in France and MIMER Services AS in Norway, shared perspectives on some of the biggest challenges facing asset-intensive sectors, demonstrating how research and innovation can deliver practical solutions across energy, infrastructure and manufacturing.

In addition, the international line-up featured leading experts from institutions including Federation University Australia, Luleå University of Technology in Sweden, IITs in Bombay, Indore and Jammu in India, Nottingham Trent University, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Oslo Metropolitan University in Norway, University of Johannesburg in South Africa and the Asset Management Council of Australia, reflecting the conference’s global reach and influence.

By bringing together expertise from a range of disciplines and sectors, the event helped create opportunities for future research partnerships and knowledge exchange.

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