The four South East Wales Universities collaborated in hosting a one day networking event exploring opportunities for collaborative research. The Get Connected Event was the first of its kind held at the Waterton Centre on Friday 22^nd June, allowing Business School researchers from Glamorgan, UWIC, Cardiff and Newport to share ideas and develop links to Industry.

The morning commenced with an opening address from Karen Latham, Business Development in DE & T, who emphasised the significance of collaboration and innovation in overcoming obstacles by sharing her personal experiences with us. Discussions were then led by Paul Thomas, Glamorgan University and Hefin Rowlands, University of Wales Newport, regarding past and future plans and collaborative opportunities at the Waterton Centre. Delegates participated in an enthusiastic and lively “speed networking” activity hosted by Rebecca Boden, UWIC, which allowed everyone to get to know each other, sharing and debating their research interests.

The Afternoon kicked off with an interactive group activity, facilitated by Kelly Page-Thomas of Cardiff University, debating the issues and barriers to collaboration and overcoming the obstacles which all universities face, in order to move collaboration forward and become more involved in industry and its needs. The day was seen by researchers and industry representatives to be a positive step to working more closely together in the future.