Fri, 16 May, 2025
We were pleased to welcome two familiar faces back to TWI for our first-ever Technology Fellows’ Day on 15 May, 2025.
Among the more-than 100 attendees to join us at our headquarters near Cambridge, UK, were two representatives from Industrial Member, IHI Corporation’s Corporate Research and Development Division.
IHI’s Senior Technical Advisor, Dr Hiroto Yamaoka, and Integrated Development Centre General Manager, Dr Naoki Oiwa had both spent time working on secondment at TWI earlier in their careers.
Figure 1. Left to right: Nathan Horrex (TWI Laboratory Team Leader), Dr Hiroto Yamaoka, Dr Naoki Oiwa, Mike Nunn (TWI Group Manager, Technology Delivery)
Hiroto spent a year at TWI in the late 1990s working on a project with our experts in laser technologies, while Naoki also spent a year at TWI, in the early 2000s, working in linear friction welding.
Naoki was able to meet up with colleagues, Nathan Horrex and Mike Nunn – who both worked in a team alongside Naoki over twenty years ago!
Figure 2. Naoki with colleagues at TWI in the early 2000s
Both have maintained links to TWI over the years and took the opportunity to schedule meetings with our experts while they were in the UK.
It was a pleasure to welcome them both back to TWI and see how we can continue to provide support through them to IHI as a TWI Industrial Member.