ACE Network / UKACC/ MathWorks Early Career Researchers & PhD Summer School 2026
The ACE Network, in collaboration with MathWorks, and UKACC is pleased to announce a two-day summer school for Early Career Researchers (ECRs) and PhD students working in the field of automatic control.
The summer school will focus on two key themes:
- Collaboration – developing connections between academia, industry, and the wider control community.
- Control Design – exploring the journey from fundamental theory to practical implementation.
The event will provide opportunities to hear from leading researchers and industry experts, take part in interactive sessions, develop new collaborations, and network with colleagues across the control community.
Who should attend?
This summer school is aimed at PhD students and Early Career Researchers (ECRs) working in automatic control and related areas.
The event is particularly suitable for those interested in:
- developing collaborations with researchers and industry partners;
- learning about different approaches to control design, from theory to practical implementation;
- building their professional network within the control community;
- gaining insights from experienced academics and industrial practitioners;
- sharing their own research through informal presentations and networking sessions.
Researchers from all areas of control engineering are welcome, including those working in both theoretical and applied aspects of the field.
Event Details
Dates:
Monday 14th – Tuesday 15th September 2026
Location:
MathWorks
1 Cambridge Science Park
Milton Road
Cambridge
CB4 0JL
The venue is approximately a 10-minute walk from Cambridge North railway station.
Registration:
Attendance is free, but places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.
Registration will close on Friday 28th August.
Bursaries
A limited number of bursaries will be available to support attendance.
Bursaries will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, subject to available funding. Applicants will be asked to confirm whether alternative sources of funding are available.
For further details on bursary eligibility, please contact info@ukcontrol.org
Accommodation
Participants are responsible for arranging their own accommodation.
The venue is easily accessible from Cambridge North railway station.
Draft Programme
Day 1 – Monday 14th September
Theme: Collaboration
10:00- Registration, Coffee and Networking
10:30-Welcome and Introductions
Plenary: Collaboration with Industry – Theory, Application and Personal Perspective
Prof. Christopher Edwards (University of Exeter)
11:30- Industry Panel Session: What does it mean to collaborate with industry?
Personal experiences, challenges, opportunities, skills development, and the future impact of control.
Panel: Academics with strong industry links and industrial partners (TBC)
12:30- Lunch
13:30- Community Building Exercise: Collaborative Competition
Dr Ross Drummond (University of Sheffield)
15:30- Coffee Break and UKACC Showcase
16:30- Quick-Fire Research Presentations
Short presentations from researchers and industry participants (TBC)
17:30- Close
Day 2 – Tuesday 15th September
Theme: Control Design
08:30- Arrival
09:15- Plenary: Fundamentals of Control Design
Prof. Alessandro Abate (University of Oxford)
10:15- Coffee Break and Networking
10:45- Tutorial Session: Control Design Methods
Prof. Joaquin Carrasco (University of Manchester)
Title: Input-output methods for control analysis and design
Abstract: This lecture introduces input-output methods for robust control analysis and design, showing how uncertainty can be represented and analysed within a feedback framework. Starting from the small-gain theorem, the lecture develops frequency-domain techniques for assessing robustness and stability in the presence of modelling errors and unmodelled dynamics. Particular attention is given to uncertain time delays, illustrating how multipliers can be used to characterise delay-induced uncertainty and obtain less conservative stability conditions. These ideas naturally extend to more general multiplier and Integral Quadratic Constraint (IQC) frameworks for robustness analysis. The lecture concludes by demonstrating how these classical input-output concepts underpin modern robust control methodologies, including Hinf analysis and synthesis.
Biography: Joaquin Carrasco is a Reader in Control Systems at The University of Manchester. His research interests include robust control, nonlinear systems, absolute stability theory, integral quadratic constraints, and time-delay systems. His work focuses on frequency-domain methods, multiplier theory, and duality principles for the analysis of uncertain dynamical systems, connecting classical robustness theory with modern control methodologies.
12:30- Lunch
13:30- Model-Based Design and Control
MathWorks
14:10- From Theory to Practice – Control Design Tools (Part 1)
Auto Code Generation with Microcontrollers
Dr James Pickering (Harper Adams University) and MathWorks
15:30- Coffee Break and UKACC Showcase
16:15- From Theory to Practice – Control Design Tools (Part 2)
Auto Code Generation with Microcontrollers
Dr James Pickering and MathWorks
17:15- Close