Consortium activities 
Core activities
The core activity of the consortium is to organise a number of research based meetings each year providing the opportunity for informal contact between consortium members. The content of the meetings will vary ("themed" seminars, technical meetings etc) aiming to provide broad appeal, and cater for those with interests in asphalt and related industries. In addition to their technical content, the meetings provide opportunities for technical discussions that may lead to ‘spin-off’ research ideas. This identification of future research is seen as a primary activity of the consortium, and is discussed below in more detail.
‘Spin-off’ research
One of the main objectives of the consortium meetings is to identify possible ‘spin-off’ research ideas. This may result in a sub-set of consortium members funding (or partly funding) research in a specific area under the general umbrella of the consortium. This funding will be in addition to the annual consortium membership fee and, for example, may include "in-kind" contributions. Any research performed in this way will be commercially in confidence by separate agreement of all consortium members supporting the particular research. Commercially sensitive research results will not be made generally available to other members of the consortium unless agreed by all consortium members supporting the particular research.
Previous Meeting Themes
- Automated Plate Load Testing (APLT) Equipment (April 2015) - presentations from:
- Mark Wayne, Tensar International, Alpharetta U.S.A - Automated Plate Load Testing Equipment
- Mark Waterson, East Riding of Yorkshire Council - Skid resistance performance of 6mm thin wearing courses
- Thin Pavements: Design, Research, and Reducing Costs (September 2014) - presentations from:
- Norfolk County Council, led by Bob Noakes,
- plus an update on "Compaction of Warm Mix Asphalt" from Venon Jalali
Meeting Themes 2004 - 2013
- Local Highway Authority – Delivering Value (December 2013)
- Current Research at the University of Nottingham (September 2013)
- Impact of drought and floods on the network/effects of climate change workshop (April 2013)
- Long-Term Pavement Performance Modelling (December 2012)
- Futuristic Pavements (April 2012)
- Current Research at the Universities of Nottingham and Cambridge (January 2012)
- Winter Damage (April 2011)
- Highway Maintenance: More for Less (December 2010)
- Traffic Counting and Characterisation (Sep 2010)
- Mechanical Empirical Pavement Design (April 2010)
- NARC Research: The Next Ten Years (December 2009)
- Surface Preservation (April 2009)
- Cost Inflation (April 2009)
- University Research (December 2008)
- Green Issues (September 2008)
- Cold and Low Temperature Asphalt ( March 2008)
- Climate Change (October 2007)
- University Research (June 2007)
- CSS/DfT Research (April 2007)
- Specialist Surfacings (Dec 2006)
- Thin Pavements (June 2006)
- University Research (April 2006)
- Specialist Pavements (December 2005)
- Future Research Needs (April 2005)
- Versatile Pavement Design (December 2004)