EASES 2023, the 5th European Academic Symposium on EAF Steelmaking, started on Monday 5. June 2023 in Oulu, Finland with a get-together at the famous Toripolliisi statue in the centre of Oulu followed by a city tour and an informal dinner. The next two days were filled with a programme of 29 presentations on EAF related topics structured in six sessions. Not even a power outage on Tuesday could disrupt the event. Instead the presenters talked while the participants followed the quickly shared slides on mobile phones and laptops. The presentations on Tuesday focused on process control and sensors as well as process modelling and simulation. The programme on the following Wednesday included sessions on Slag and by-products engineering, processing and valorisation, CO2 emission reduction and environmental impact and Fossil-free raw materials in the EAF. As part of the programme the almost 60 participants also took part in a lab tour of the Process Metallurgy Research Unit of the University of Oulu, where some of the melting and testing equipment was presented.
One of the highlights of the program was the evening dinner on Tuesday. It was held at Ravintola Rauhala and gave another glimpse into the academic life at Oulu University. As part of the dinner the best paper award was presented to Davide Mombelli from Politecnico di Milano for his paper on the "Manipulation of the leaching behavior of high-alloyed steel EAF slags through the particle size modulation". In addition, an award for the best paper by a doctoral candidate went to Lilly Schüttensack of RWTH Aachen University for her paper on the "Application of hydrogen operated burners in the electric arc furnace". The dinner was rounded off by a performance of the band Teekkaritorvet, made up of students from the university, who performed a number of jazz classics.
At the end of the conference co-host Thomas Echterhof thanked everyone for contributing to a successful EASES 2023 by presenting, chairing a session or just by being there and participating in the lively discussions. Special thanks went to co-host Ville-Valtteri Visuri and colleagues from the University of Oulu for hosting EASES 2023 and for the excellent organisation of the event. Finally, it was announced that the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia will host EASES 2025.
