Event Review: UoB IEEE Student Branch Event – Review of the IEEE R8 SYP Congress 2022 and Membership Drive
In the afternoon of 31st August 2022, the UoB IEEE Student Branch hosted the event of ‘Review of the IEEE R8 SYP Congress 2022 and Membership Drive’ in the new School of Engineering building, University of Birmingham. 15 attendees participated in this event.
Mr Nan Chen, Chair of the student branch, firstly introduced the student branch briefly to the audience. Then Mr Zixuan Jia, Secretory of the student branch, gave a brief report of his experience and learning outcomes of attending the IEEE R8 SYP Congress 2022 in Tunisia, representing the student branch. The detailed report can be found in the Appendix below.
Mr Rutwik Patil, Webmaster of the student branch, introduced the upgraded website of the branch. Mr David Li, the treasurer & publicity officer of the student branch, showed the social media accounts which were recently created to enable audience to follow. Mr Rabee Jibrin, Vice-Chair of the student branch, provided a preview of future events as a summary.
This event ended with a relaxing networking chat with refreshments.
Joint Photo: Student Branch Event 31/08/2022
By Nan Chen
Chair, University of Birmingham IEEE Student Branch
Appendix
Report of the IEEE Region 8 SYP Congress 2022
The IEEE Region 8 Student and Young Professional (IEEE R8 SYP) Congress is one of the largest IEEE events in region 8. The first IEEE R8 SYP started in Istanbul, Turkey, 1998. Held every two years, the event brings together over 400 members from across the region for five days to improve and develop their skills, engineering awareness and more.
The 2022 edition of IEEE R8 SYP was held in Tunisia from August 3, 2022 to August 7, 2022. At this event, more than 200 participants and guests from 40 countries were gathered, including IEEE President: K.J. Ray Liu; IEEE Region 8 director: Antonio Luque; IEEE Vice President, Member and Geographic Activities: David Koehler; Senior Director, Member Experience: Michael Kreisberg; and IEEE Young Professional Committee Chair: Emre Ayranci.
Figure 1: IEEE Leadership Forum
For IEEE United Kingdom and Ireland Section, student representatives from the University of Birmingham, University of Sheffield, Imperial College, University of Bristol and Lee Crudgington ( the vice-chair of Student Activities in the UK and Ireland Section) attended the event. Zixuan Jia, as secretary of the University of Birmingham IEEE Student Branch, participated in the event on behalf of the branch.
Figure 2: Multicultural Evening
During the poster session of the student branch, many guests and student representatives were very interested in the poster of the University of Birmingham IEEE student branch, Zixuan Jia said: “Due to the impact of COVID-19, the past two years have been difficult, with everyone having to work from home and only communicate online. The offline face-to-face communication is irreplaceable, thanks to the IEEE R8 SYP for giving us this opportunity, providing students and young professionals from Europe, Middle East and Africa with the opportunity to communicate, during the conference, we can learn about different technologies research, meet other IEEE members, and exchange ideas and experiences.”
Zixuan Jia is currently a second-year PhD student in the School of Engineering researching coordinated charging of electric vehicles in smart grids under the supervision of Professor Xiao-Ping Zhang, IEEE Fellow. Professor Zhang is also the University of Birmingham IEEE student branch counselor.
Figure 3: Poster session
In this event, there are many very professional keynotes and workshops, including “How do we stay technically current?”, “Student Branch Vitality by IEEE Region 8 SAC (student activities committee) team”, “HKN presentation by IEEE HKN Vice-President ” and “Does keystroke dynamics tell us about emotion ? And how AI can intuitively humanize computer interaction”. The speaker described the research in an easy-to-understand manner and answered the questioner’s questions professionally.
Figure 4: Keynotes and workshop
At the same time, there was an open discussion after the workshop. Randomly formed group members include young professionals or students from industry, academia, etc. Each panelist shared their experience and offered their own perspective.
In the plenary session: IEEE Leadership Forum, IEEE President: K.J. Ray Liu proposed “Make IEEE Your Professional Home”, published the congress summary and announced the successful conclusion of the IEEE Region 8 Student and Young Professional Congress.
Figure 5: Group photo of the closing ceremony
The profiles of all the speakers of the congress can be found here: http://r8syp.ieee.tn/speakers . For more details about the University of Birmingham IEEE Student Branch: https://edu.ieee.org/uk-uob/.
The Impact of the Event
Exciting and memorable, the event is one of the largest IEEE events in Region 8, fostering interaction among students, young professionals, and seasoned industry professionals. At the event I learned how to coordinate student branch activities efficiently and professionally through the study in the workshop. Through this event, we represented the IEEE UK and Ireland Section to the rest of Region 8. At the same time, upon my return, the student branch of the University of Birmingham also took this opportunity to inform students about the event, increasing external publicity and further introducing IEEE and its benefits to the University of Birmingham students. In the future, we hope more students and young professionals will join our team as members and volunteers.
Support
The event was approved and supported by the IEEE UK and Ireland Section. IEEE R8 SYP also provided funding for the event. The School of Engineering at the University of Birmingham co-sponsored the travel. Zixuan also appreciates the support from UoB IEEE Student Branch including: Student Branch Chair Mr Nan Chen, Student Branch PES chapter advisor Dr. Daniel Donaldson, and Student Branch Counselor Prof. Xiao-Ping Zhang for their encouragement to attend the event.
Report prepared by:
Mr Zixuan Jia (University of Birmingham IEEE Student Branch Secretary)
Prof. Xiao-Ping Zhang (University of Birmingham IEEE Student Branch Counselor)
Dr. Daniel Donaldson (University of Birmingham IEEE Student Branch PES Chapter Advisor)
Mr Nan Chen (University of Birmingham IEEE Student Branch Chair)
This event is partially published on the website of the IEEE PES UK & Ireland Section. For more details: