The Royal Institution of Naval Architects invites papers on all aspects of modern materials and joining technologies including design, fabrication, validation, quality assurance and certification issues for presentation at the conference on Advanced Marine Materials to be held in London 9 - 10 October 2003. As materials science continues to advance, new applications, structures and techniques become available to the marine industry. This conference aims to explore the expanding range of materials, composites and bonding technologies, along with both the theories behind them and their applications.

Lightweight structures have always been at the forefront of research. There have been recent advances in the marine use of aluminium and titanium as well as continuing rapid progress in the available range of composites. Steel structures have also been addressed with continuing research into high strength varieties, not to mention steel composite and sandwich materials. In the associated field of bonding technologies, there has been a similarly fast rate of progress. Welding technologies, including laser welding, electron beam welding and friction stir techniques, have been the subject of increasing industry attention. Interest in adhesive bonding techniques in marine applications has also been constantly increasing, especially during outfitting and in the small boat industry.