3rd Leadership Meeting of EPS Young Minds
In June 2014, representatives of the EPS Young Minds sections were invited to present and discuss their activities at the 3rd Young Minds Leadership Meeting. These activities range from colloquia presenting research in physics to visits of local industry to a variety of activities sharing the fascination for physics with the public.
EPS Young Minds was created in 2010 to connect young scientists around Europe and support them by training their communication and scientific skills. The goal is to give them the opportunity to organise various events and create a European wide network of young researchers. At present, the EPS Young Minds network is comprised of 23 sections all over Europe. During the Leadership Meeting representatives from all sections were invited to meet each other and exchange ideas.
The meeting started with a general overview over the project and a series of talks presenting the activities of the sections. In line with these talks Prof. Pierre Lena, President of the well known association for physics outreach “La main à la Pâte”, gave an overview about “Science education: a challenge for the young scientists”. Prof. Bart Van Tiggelen from the EPJ Editorial Board followed with an introduction to “Publishing your research: why, how, where, who and what is behind”.
In the presentation of the various activities of the sections the highlights for most of the sections were outreach activities for the public and especially with children in the kindergarten or in primary school. For example the members of the Debrecen section shared their fascination for physics with pupils in the 7th grade with a series of simple experiments. This event, which will be continued during the next semester, also won the award for the best activity for the EPS Young Minds sections in 2014.
To widen network of young scientists in Europe additional collaborations were discussed, for example with the International Association of Physics Student. Also shared activities for the International Year of Light Light were discussed.
With more fascination for physics in the daily life and ideas for new activities the representatives of the sections went home.
Further information and contact to join the network is available on the EPS Young Minds website.
