RefMap Consortium Gathers in Manchester for 3rd Plenary Meeting
- RefMap
- Apr 16
- 2 min read
Sunny skies and a welcoming atmosphere set the stage for two days of technical discussions as the RefMap consortium convened for the project’s third plenary meeting on the 10th-11th of April at the University of Salford in Manchester.
Held in a hybrid format with both in-person and online participants, the meeting brought together all partners to review the project's progress and to align on the next critical phases of work.
The plenary meeting comes as the RefMap project has reached a key stage, with work progressing to consolidate individual work package outputs into a unified outcome.
“The aim of the third plenary meeting was to make strategic decisions regarding the future direction of the project,” Gerardo Zampino of the KTH Royal Institute of Technology said, project manager of Refmap.
“Rather than focusing only on summarizing past achievements and publications, we wanted to align our efforts on what still needs to be done. Specifically, we concentrated on identifying and prioritizing the remaining tasks related to the full integration of contributions from all work packages into the final deliverables.”
The agenda for the meeting covered the full spectrum of technical activities. Partners shared updates on multi-fidelity airflow prediction models, deep-learning approaches to trajectory optimisation, and advanced noise modelling. Particular emphasis was placed on the integration and validation of these models within large-scale aviation simulations and use cases.
The tools being developed are coming together to create a platform that will help minimise impacts on the climate, citizens, and wildlife alike as European aviation evolves with new forms of aerial mobility, including electrically powered drones and manned aircraft, as well as greater use of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) for conventional aircraft.
Partners were also updated on RefMap’s ongoing dissemination and clustering activities. Among others, RefMap has spearheaded the creation of the Aviation Twin Transition Cluster, joining forces with the EU-funded projects ImAFUSA, AIRSHIP, Di-PEGASUS, COLOSSUS, and E-CONTRAIL. Partners were updated on planning around the cluster’s first in-person event, to be held on July the 29th-30th in Athens.
Following the plenary meeting, Zampino expressed satisfaction over the work achieved, "The discussions among the partners were engaging and constructive, leading to a shared understanding of the next steps and reinforcing our collaborative spirit," he said.
With the project's final phases now clearly charted, RefMap is firmly on track to deliver a cutting-edge digital platform that will empower aviation stakeholders to minimise environmental impacts and support the twin transitions of green and digital transformation in the sector.
Sincere thanks are due to the University of Salford for hosting the plenary meeting which included arranging a delightful social dinner in Manchester for consortium members to network and discuss in a more informal setting.
Likewise thanks are due to all project partners for their commitment and efforts: KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Delft University of Technology, AgentFly Technologies, Future Needs, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, University of Birmingham, ISCTE - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, DronePrep, S[&]T, and ICCS-NTUA.
