On 18 June 2024, 70 people from across the National Composites Centre (NCC) and the University of Bristol took part in the NCC football tournament, in Kingswood, Bristol.
The tournament was organised by Dr Michael Elkington, alumnus of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Advanced Composites for Innovation and Science (ACCIS CDT). When he was a student in the ACCIS CDT Dr Elkington set up a yearly football tournament as a cohort building exercise for his fellow CDT students and has now carried on the tradition at the NCC, where he works as a Research Engineer. The tournament was funded by the NCC Wellbeing team, as part of their ongoing commitment to provide employees with a collaborative environment.
Teams taking part in the tournament included a team of students from the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Composites Science, Engineering and Manufacturing (CoSEM CDT), students from the Industrial Doctorate Centre (IDC) in Composites Manufacture, and staff from the NCC.
The tournament started with the nine teams competing in a group stage. The CoSEM CDT team came out on top of this stage, going through to play in the final which culminated in an exciting penalty shootout to decide the winner. Third year CoSEM CDT student Toby Wilcox scored the winning penalty, making the CDT team winners of the tournament. They celebrated their win and took home the trophy.
Of the tournament, Toby Wilcox said: “the event was a great team building exercise. The CDT team was made up of players across four different cohorts and provided a good opportunity to get to know each other. It was also good to mix with NCC staff members and IDC students and get a chance to put names to faces. The event was very well coordinated, and all credit goes to Mike Elkington at the NCC for putting it together.”
Nuhaadh Mahid, fourth year CoSEM CDT student, added: “the tournament was a fantastic opportunity to meet NCC staff, Composites CDT Alumni and current IDC students at the University of Bristol.”
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