LIGHT2015 Project at CLEO®/Europe-EQEC 2015
The LIGHT2015 project – coordinated by the EPS – was present at the LASER World of PHOTONICS Congress and Trade Fair 2015 that was held in Munich from 21 to 25 June supporting a high-profile event and organizing several events to promote careers and entrepreneurship in Photonics.
The events organized and supported by the LIGHT2015 project started on Sunday 21 June with a Networking Event with Light Refreshments that took place before the ECBO-CLEO/Europe 2015 International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies (IYL 2015) Special Plenary Session on Super-Resolved Fluorescence Microscopy that welcomed the 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry Laureates Stefan Hell and Eric Betzig.
The LASER World of PHOTONICS Congress and Trade Fair was officially opened on Monday 22 June 2015 with an event entitled “Light Solutions for the Society Challenges of our World”, where high-level speakers addressed how light-based technologies can help to promote sustainable development and provides solutions to worldwide challenges in areas such as energy, education, communications, health and sustainability. The event was supported by the LIGHT2015 project and was attended by science advisors and attachés from selected member states of UNESCO, Nobel Prize Laureates and scientific dignitaries, conference attendees, CEOs from exhibiting companies at the LASER World of Photonics Trade Fair, Presidents and CEOs of relevant associations and CEOs and Presidents of IYL 2015 Founding Partners / Patron Sponsors.
The keynote speakers included: Dr. Flavia Schlegel, Assistant Director-General for Natural Sciences, UNESCO; Prof. John Dudley, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and IYL 2015 Steering Committee chair (moderator); Mr. Wolfgang Boch – Head of the Photonics Unit of the European Commission; Dr. Lawrence S. Goldberg, Senior Engineering Advisor in the Division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems, Directorate for Engineering, at the National Science Foundation; Dr. Yanne K. Chembo, ERC Starting Grant Laureate, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Paris and the African Physical Society; Dr. Reinhard Pfeiffer, Deputy CEO, Messe München International.
After the opening addresses the invited guests had the opportunity to follow a guided tour around the LASER World of PHOTONICS Trade Fair.
During the week, the LIGHT2015 Awards to Young Women in Photonics and Young Entrepreneur in Photonics were presented at the CLEO Europe-EQEC 2015 Plenary Session and Awards Ceremony on Tuesday 23 June.
The remaining LIGHT2015 events were dedicated to the promotion of Careers in Photonics.
A Student Networking Lunch event, co-sponsored by SPIE, was held on Wednesday 24 June and gave the possibility to PhD students attending the congress to discuss about careers in photonics and optics with senior scientists. The event was attended by 130 participants, comprising around 110 students and 20 senior scientists. The LIGHT2015 project supported the participation 45 PhD students (21 Female and 24 Male) attending the CLEO Conference and five senior scientists and Postdocs.
A Panel Discussion on Careers Choices (co-sponsored by SPIE) completed the LIGHT2015 events during the Congress. The event was held on one of the exhibition halls of the LASER World of Photonics Trade Fair and around 70 participants attended it. The panel was comprised by a talk from John Dudley, IYL 2015 Steering Committee Chair and a key member of the LIGHT2015 Consortium, who gave a talk entitled “Surviving in Science: What they don’t tell you about careers in Research!”.The talk was followed by a panel with professionals from a variety of fields in optics and photonics, which was comprised by Alex Vitkin (University of Toronto) Caroline Boudoux (Castor Photonics), Marisa Edmund (Edmund Optics).
