Editorial – Advising on Science

One essential question today is how much responsibility must scientists take in advising politicians on science policy issues and other society challenges.

In an article that appeared in EPN45/3 in 2014, entitled ‘Climate change can we afford to wait longer?‘ I expressed my personal view on the need to communicate on important and timely environmental issues. This was an easy process since this opinion was that of a single author. In the meantime, the EPS has published a position paper written by its…

Editorial – Is there a by-product of fundamental physics?

What is the aim of fundamental science? We have all asked ourselves this question, and however naive it may seem, we often have to provide an answer. When the question comes from policy makers and funding agencies, we suspect ulterior motives. Therefore, rather than explain that the purpose is to gain knowledge and understanding, which is the essence of fundamental science, it is easier to raise an equally important aspect: most of the greatest technological advances are the direct or indirect consequence of not politically oriented research. One example that is often mentioned is the invention of the laser.

Editorial – Twitter Physics!

Twitter has over 280 million active users who send around 500 million tweets a day. These are impressive statistics, and we all hear regularly of some news or controversy that starts and spreads via a tweet. Given the extensive reach of the Twitter network, one would think that it might be useful for serious science. However, most scientists tend to think that Twitter is at best not especially relevant or indeed that it’s a complete waste of time! That said, there are a number of high profile scientists (e.g. Brian Cox, Neil de Grasse Tyson) and research institutes (e.g. CERN, NASA) with over a million followers, so there are clearly many people who wish to hear what scientists have to say.

Editorial – Light is Here!

From an idea hatched back in 2009, the International Year of Light 2015 has now arrived in full force! What an amazing two days it was in Paris at UNESCO HQ at the Opening Ceremony, where the international scientific community came together with diplomats and politicians, architects and designers, leading companies in light technologies, representatives from the European Commission, artists and performers, students, volunteers and many more.

Editorial – Reflections on a fantastic year for EPS

Sometimes we are so busy working on tasks at hand that we forget to look backwards to see how much we have achieved. In a sense, this is exactly the way it should be, because looking forward keeps us focused on moving in new directions! But in this last editorial of 2014, it’s perhaps the right time to go through exactly what EPS has achieved concretely over the last 12 months.
Council in 2014 was held in April at the beautiful location of the ICTP in Trieste. Council saw the election of Christophe Rossel who will take over as EPS President from April 2015. Christophe has worked closely with David and I since …

Editorial – All artists must go where the people are

Every year many PhD graduates in STEM fields around Europe enter the academic market hoping to pursue a scientific career that finally leads to a secure permanent position. However, most of them will not make it. The reality is that there are not many of those positions and every step of a research career leads to an even narrower bottleneck. During the past years, all around Europe, the employment security of researchers is threatened by cuts in national research budgets as well as an unfair standardised recruitment system based on publications that often favours quantity over quality. The young researchers become casualties of the academic system and I am one of those victims …

Editorial – Getting girls into Physics – are we saying the wrong things?

We are all keen to engage more girls in physics. And, certainly in the UK, there have been initiatives and large amounts of money thrown at this problem for the past 30 years. Yet the percentage of girls taking physics up to age 18 and as undergraduates has remained stubbornly at about 20%. We can only conclude that everything we have tried has made NO difference to the uptake of physics by girls.

Editorial – I have worked for a learned society

The EPS hired me during the very cold winter 2012 and I am going to leave my position of communication coordinator by the end of this summer. I already cast a wistful eye on my desk. Amongst other fancy items that are arranged on the wall, my collection of badges best summarises my 38 months at the EPS. In particular, it reminds me of the early time, when I nervously asked myself: What is a learned society? Concretely, what does the EPS do?
Badges are souvenirs of the people I have met during the many events that I attended. The EPS allowed me to meet a lot of people: my co-workers -of course-, physicists -of course again-, policymakers, teachers…

Editorial – Europe and its next-generation scientists

Looking around, it is easy to see how many learned societies and nations are trying to do something to promote the next generation of scientists. In the era of digitisation and social networks most of these initiatives are aimed to give to young researchers the opportunity to create their own network of connections.
If we look at the past, the big differences between a scientist of the current generation and one of the eighties can be synthesised in a few points: the digitisation of scientific discoveries in electronic journals and their diffusion through the Internet allow us to read and publish articles in shorter time. Moreover…

Editorial — The Complexities of Inter-societal Cooperation

The planning for the International Year of Light 2015 has brought to the fore the complexities of inter-societal cooperation. Each learned society has a geographically defined membership base. For example, the European Physical Society attracts mainly physicists from Europe. And while the American Physical Society has many international members, the majority of members are based in the USA. Moreover, each learned society defines its membership by scientific discipline, which can be more or less broad. The Optical Society of America…

Editorial — Outreach for All

One of the most rewarding experiences in preparing for the International Year of Light next year has been to see at firsthand just how many physicists are committed to science outreach. It has been extremely encouraging to learn about the many outreach initiatives throughout Europe. With global concern about public misunderstanding of science and technology, outreach is a hot topic, and ambitious programmes such as the Horizon 2020 “Science with and for Society” aim precisely at developing innovative ways of connecting science with the public.
“Outreach” is of course a very broad term, encompassing many different types of activity. Many research…

Editorial – The road to Brussels

Being elected in a new position is always a nice and enjoyable recognition, also for a scientist. Once the stress and uncertainty of the election are over, the candidate can concentrate on his new duty and prepare to face the coming challenges. The difference here with politicians is that he doesn’t need to manoeuvre during his term to please his electors or own party with empty promises motivated by his wish for re-election.
This being said, I feel really honoured and happy to serve the cause of the EPS in the coming years, first as President-elect and later as President. I would like to take this opportunity to thank…