7th EPS Young Minds Leadership Meeting
In early May, the Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering of the Czech Technical University in Prague (CTU) had the privilege to host the 7th EPS Young Minds Leadership Meeting. Members of the YM Action Committee met approximately 50 delegates from all over Europe, who presented their sections’ activities covering outreach, professional development and networking events. The Leadership Meeting was organized by the Prague EPS Young Minds section, founded in 2015, and a member of the Czech Physical Society (CPS) and the Union of Czech Mathematicians and Physicists (UCMP). CTU Prague and the BNL-CZ framework also provided support to the meeting.
The meeting kicked off on Friday, May 4, with welcome words from Prof. Igor Jex, Dean of the Faculty, and Dr. Jaroslav Bielčík, head of the Physics Department of the Prague Section of UCMP. Afterwards, during the Action Committee welcome, Ms. Roberta Caruso was announced as the new YM chair. The morning programme continued with a lecture on the quark-gluon plasma by Dr. Jana Bielčíková, head of the Nuclear Spectroscopy Department of the Nuclear Physics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences and talks from YM delegates about their activities. After lunch, the delegates from the different sections had a chance to present the most interesting activity of their section in a poster session to compete for a prize sponsored by the Europhysics Letters journal. Although it was very difficult for the YM Action Committee to pick the best activity, in the end, the first place was awarded to the YM section of Kharkiv in Ukraine, and the second went to the YM section of Trieste in Italy.
In the afternoon, delegates continued presenting their sections’ activities. This was followed by team-building activities and a talk on the publication process in the scientific world, given by the editor-in-chief of the Europhysics Letters journal, Dr. Bart van Tiggelen.
The highlight of the meeting was a panel discussion named “Importance of Science in Society”, which broached many stimulating topics, such as the relation of science and politics, or how scientists can react to “fake news”. The panellists were Dr. Rüdiger Voss, president of the European Physical Society, Dr. Vojtěch Petráček, rector of CTU Prague, Prof. Vlastimil Růžička, rector emeritus of the University of Chemistry and Technology, and Prof. Jan Řídký, vice-president of the Czech Academy of Sciences. The day pleasantly concluded with the conference dinner in a venue with picturesque views of the Prague castle and the night-time city.
The second, and last, day of the meeting started with a talk about quantum walks by Prof. Igor Jex, and continued with more sections’ presentations. In the afternoon the delegates had an opportunity to discuss the future of YM with the AC members.
To close the programme, a physics-focused Prague tour named “Prague Mathematical, Physical and Astronomical Rambles” took place, organized and guided by Dr. Alena Šolcová from UCMP.
Photos from the 7th EPS YM Leadership Meeting can be found on the Facebook page of the Prague EPS Young Minds section: https://www.facebook.com/EPSYMPrague/
