ACE-Lab Workshops 2026

Organiser: ACE-Lab
Dates: September-October 2026
Locations: Glasgow, Birmingham, Sheffield, Dublin and London
Duration: 3.5 hours
Cost: Free to attend

Overview

The ACE-Lab Practical Model-Based Control Engineering Workshops are a series of hands-on workshops led by ACE-Lab, providing an introduction to Model-Based Design for control systems using MATLAB and Simulink alongside portable, low-cost hardware platforms.

The workshops are designed to demonstrate a complete workflow, from the definition of engineering requirements through controller design, implementation, testing and validation. Participants will work through practical examples and gain experience of applying control concepts to real systems.

Five workshops will be delivered across the United Kingdom and Ireland during September and October 2026.

Who Should Attend?

The workshops are intended for a broad control engineering audience, including:

Educators

Explore practical approaches to teaching control engineering through application-led learning, using experimentation and real systems to support the delivery of theoretical concepts.

Researchers

Learn how Model-Based Design, code generation and hardware validation can support faster progression from research concepts to tested implementations.

Industry Professionals and Recent Graduates

Develop practical experience of moving from system requirements to deployed control solutions using modern engineering workflows.

Students

Gain hands-on experience of applying control theory to real systems and observe how design decisions influence system performance.

Workshop Content

Participants will be introduced to key stages of the control engineering workflow, including:

Defining and interpreting control-system requirements
Controller design and tuning
System identification and parameter estimation
Offline and online control design approaches
Model-Based Design techniques
Code generation and implementation
Testing, validation and performance assessment

Throughout the workshop, participants will work with practical examples and hardware-based demonstrations.

Workshop Locations

Glasgow

Venue: Glasgow Caledonian University
Date: 1 September 2026
Time: 10:00-13:30

Birmingham

Venue: University of Birmingham
Date: 3 September 2026
Time: 10:00-13:30

Sheffield

Venue: University of Sheffield
Date: 10 September 2026
Time: 10:00-13:30

Dublin

Venue: Technological University Dublin
Date: 17 September 2026
Time: 10:00-13:30

London

Venue: ASU London, Clerkenwell Campus (City St George’s, University of London)
Date: 14 October 2026
Time: 13:30-17:00

Draft Programme

Standard Workshops (10:00-13:30)

10:00-10:30
Introduction to Model-Based Design and code-generation tools in MATLAB and Simulink

10:30-11:20
Controller tuning for an application subject to a defined set of system requirements

11:20-11:40
Break

11:40-12:30
Model-Based Design using system identification for offline and online parameter estimation, controller design and self-tuning

12:30-13:20
Attendee-led open session based on topics and suggestions submitted in advance through the registration form

13:20-13:30
Conclusions, key takeaways and next steps

London Workshop (13:30-17:00)

The London workshop follows the same programme and content, delivered during an afternoon session.

Registration

Attendance is free; however, places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

Travel Bursaries

A limited number of bursaries are available to support reasonable travel expenses associated with attending a workshop.

Bursaries will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, subject to available funding. Applicants may be asked to confirm whether alternative funding is available.

For eligibility information, please contact the organiser.

Organiser

Dr James E. Pickering
ACE-Lab

Website: https://www.ace-lab.co.uk
Email: james.pickering@ace-lab.co.uk

For further information and updates, please visit the ACE-Lab website.