6th EPS Young Minds Leadership Meeting
The University of Naples Federico II (UNINA) hosted the 6th Young Minds Leadership Meeting (12-13 May 2017) and the 15th Young Minds Action Committee Meeting (11 May 2017).
The meeting was organised by the Physics and Optics Naples Young Students (PONYS), the local European Physical Society (EPS) section, and the Young Minds Action Committee, and was supported by EPS, the Physics Department of Naples University Federico II, the Italian Physical Society (SIF), the local section of the National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN Napoli), and the Institute of Applied Sciences and Intelligent Systems of the National Research Council (CNR-ISASI).
The first Young Minds Leadership Meeting took place in CERN (Geneva, Switzerland) in 2011. Since then, every year representatives of the different student sections and members of the EPS gather to present their activities, to develop new ideas, and to network. This time there were 27 section representatives, 9 members of the action committee (plus 5 guests), and 20 members of the Naples section.
After a brief introduction from Dr. Antigone Marino, Prof. Carlo Altucci officially welcomed the sections with an overview of the department of Physics at the UNINA in Naples. The Società Italiana di Fisica is celebrating its 120th anniversary this year, and Prof. Luisa Cifarelli presented the history and activities of the society in a fabulous talk. Christophe Rossel, the past president of EPS (2015-2016), provided a lecture highlighting the importance of networking for scientific carreers, followed by Prof. Francesco Tafuri, from UNINA, explaining superconductivity as a macroscopic phenomenon.
In the afternoon session, Karen Davies from the London Science Museum engaged everyone with some tips to improve outreach activities. During the second day, Dr. Fatema Tanjia explained her research career taking us on a wonderful journey from Bangladesh to Strasbourg.
All the sections had the chance to present their activities (outreach, professional development, networking, skills development, etc.). The poster session focussed on one specific activity per section, and the EPS Young Minds Committee assessed them based on originality, effort and relevance.
The EPS Young Minds & OSA Messina Student Chapters represented by Giovanna Ruello and Giovanni Ceccio won the 2nd Prize, whereas the Best Activity Prize – sponsored by European Physical Letters (EPL) – was awarded to the European Physical Society Young Minds Vilnius, for Open Readings, the 60th international conference for students of physics and natural sciences, represented by Laura Šerkšnytė. The winner of the second edition of the “5 minutes scientific talk” contest was Gabriel Bleotu, from the INFLPR in Romania.
There were impressive outcomes of this first Meeting organised by a student section. Firstly, members of the Naples section expressed how much they have learnt from being responsible for the organisation, and how very important skills can be developed throughout this process, encouraging other sections to undertake the challenge next year. Secondly, Eva Salvador Balaguer, the EPS YM Chair, mentioned at the end of the meeting that several sections would already like to apply to host the event next year, demonstrating how positively this experience is viewed.
The purpose of this event was achieved once more: to present the enormous success of the Young Minds Project, and to bring together young physicists from all over Europe and North African countries.
For further information about the EPS Young Minds project visit the EPS Young Minds website or the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/EPSYM/
