Influential Committees and Working Groups
Professor McIlhagger is a member of the EPSRC Structural Materials College (1995-to date) and Professor McLaughlin is a member of EPSRC Life Sciences College (1999-to date). In these roles, along with Professor Brown, Dr Eggins and Dr Maguire, they are called upon frequently to referee research applications related to structural and functional materials. Professor McIlhagger has been both a member and Chair of a number of EPSRC Structural Materials Responsive Mode Panels. Professor Brown has also served as a member of the project selection panel (1996 & 1998) for the Strategic Research Grants Scheme supported then by Forbairt, the Republic of Ireland science and technology agency. In addition, Dr Eggins frequently reviews RS/NATO grant applications and is an assessor for EU Framework V applications. Dr Akay has refereed grant applications for the Arthritis Research Campaign on bio-mechanical properties and modelling of joint replacements.

Professor Hill is a member of the World Braiding Co-operation Committee and has participated in round-robin testing of braided composite materials (1997-to date). Dr Brown has participated in a similar exercise on behalf of NPL to establish standard test methods for composite materials (1999). Dr Eggins is the co-ordinator of two EU projects. Professor McIlhagger is a member of the Textile Professors Council (1997-to date), and the Council of Professors of Mechanical Engineering in Ireland (1996-to date).

Professional Institutions
Professor Brown - Council Member, Royal Society of Chemistry, (1992-98); Professor McIlhagger - Member of the Composites Division Board, (2000-present), previously Polymer Matrix Composites Committee (1998-00), Institute of Materials. Professor McLaughlin (1996-99) & Dr Laverty (1998-to date) - committee members of the Royal Irish Academy National Committee for Physics. Dr Eggins is a member of the Council of the Environmental Sciences Association of Ireland. Dr Morley is a member of the UK Nitrides Consortium (1998-to date).

Conference Organisation
Staff have also been involved in the organisation of International Conferences either as committee members or as Conference Chairs:
Dr Singh -- Conference Chair, International Conference on Sheet Metal, (SheMet97), Belfast; Organising Committee member and one of the editors – SheMet96, Twente, SheMet98, Twente, SheMet99, Erlanger, and SheMet00, Birmingham (1994-present); Professor Brown – Conference Chair, 5th & 6th Surface Science Conferences, Coleraine (1996 & 1998); Professor Hill – Technical Committee and Organising Committee member, TEXCOMP3 Conference, Aachen, Germany, TEXCOMP4 Conference, Kyoto, Japan, TEXCOMP5 Conference, Leuven, Belgium, (1996-to date); Professor McIlhagger -- Conference Chair, International Conference on Manufacturing of Advanced Composites (ICMAC), International Conference on Automated Composites 6 (ICAC6), Bristol (1998-present); Committee member ICAC5, Glasgow; ICAC4 Nottingham (1994-98); Professor McLaughlin – Conference Chair, MSI Conference1999, Organising Committee member, EUREM96 Conference, EBMS International Conference 2001; Dr Maguire – Organising Committee, MSI Conference 99, Irish Plasma and Beam Annual Conference, 93-to date. EPSRC Technological Plasmas Annual Conference 2000.

Editorial Boards and Journals
Staff have a variety of editorial responsibilities and act as referees for numerous national and international peer reviewed prestige journals for bodies such as the Royal Society, ASME, the ElectroChemical Society, the Institution of Electrical Engineers, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the Institute of Materials, the Royal Society of Chemistry, RAPRA Technology, as well as for a wide range of recognised commercial, scientific and engineering publishers.

Editorial responsiblities: Professor Brown – Chemistry in Britain, Editorial Board Chairman, 1993-98; Materials Science Foundations, Editorial Advisory Board member; Professor McLaughlin - DATATECH and SMAC 98 and 99 editorial staff; Professor McIlhagger – Composites Part A special edition, guest editor (1999-2000); Dr Singh – J of Material Processing Technology, special edition, joint guest editor (1999-2000).

Invited Presentations
Members of the Unit have been invited to present papers at the following national and international conferences:
Dr Singh, in the R&D of the Steel Authority in India, 2000, and Telco of India, 2000. Professor Brown, in Luxembourg, 5th International Conference on Progress in Analytical Chemistry in Steel and Metals Industry, 1998 and in Ghent, Belgium, 3rd International Conference on New Products and Production Technologies for a New Textile Industry, 1999; Dr Eggins in UCC, Cork, in Belfast and Aberdeen by the Royal Society of Chemistry and in Birmingham at the International Water Exhibition (IWEX); Dr Brown, Professor Hill and Professor McIlhagger at TEXCOMP3 in Aachen (1996); Professor McIlhagger at TEXCOMP4 in Kyoto, Japan (1999) and to the Australian Composites Structures Society (ACSS) in Melbourne, Australia (1997); Professor McLaughlin at SMAC99 Conference at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and TSID 99 Conference at Berkley and Santa Clara University in California; Dr Maguire, The Irish Plasma Beam Annual Conference 1996 and 1998. Society of Information Displays; Phosphors Conference 1997. Specialist Meeting on Amorphous Carbon, 2000, Turin.

Visiting Scientists: Dr Ogwu to the Department of Metallurgy & Materials Science, University of Toronto, Summer 1998. Dr. Caraiman from the Technical University, Iasi, Romania, summer 2000; Prof. SK Maiti & Prof. P Date from the Indian Institute of Technology (ITT) Bombay, summer 2000.