IOP Groups
Mathematical and Theoretical Physics Group
Newsletter, 6 February 2006
Contents:
- Welcome
- Announcement of a meeting organised by the group
- A meeting recently supported by the group
- Call for proposals
- Note concerning communication with members of the group
- Minutes of previous AGM
- Current committee membership
- Welcome
This is the first newsletter of the Mathematical and Theoretical Physics Group in 2006. Its main purpose is to make you aware of the meeting Perspectives in Mathematical and Theoretical Physics at Imperial College London on 10-11 March 2006 – for more details see the announcement below. We felt encouraged by the success of the joint meeting with the Gravitational Physics Group in Durham last July, and hope that you will be interested to attend the meeting, which is supported by Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and General.
Once again, last year's AGM failed to be quorate, with only 9 members of the required 12 present. According to the Institute's bylaws, the AGM was adjourned held a week later in Durham, with only 4 members present. The minutes of this meeting are given below. Two members were elected to the committee, but we have since had one resignation of a committee member who took up a position in Germany, and so will be looking for more committee members at the forthcoming AGM. If you are interested to participate in the committee, please feel free to get in touch with us. There had been no nomination for the Honorary Treasurer. The AGM asked Dr Ruth Gregory, who was elected as a member of the committee, to continue for another year; this arrangement was subsequently confirmed by the Chair of the Group Coordination Committee.
- Announcement of a meeting organised by the group
Perspectives in Mathematical and Theoretical Physics
Imperial College London
10-11 March 2006This meeting is organised by the Mathematical and Theoretical Physics Group of the Institute of Physics, supported by Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and General.
The invited speakers at the meeting are
- Prof Murray Batchelor (ANU)
- Prof Sir Michael Berry (Bristol)
- Prof Kurt Binder (Mainz)
- Prof Robert Littlejohn (Berkeley) (to be confirmed)
- Prof Leaf Turner (Cornell)
- Prof Stu Whittington (Toronto)
- Prof R.K.P. Zia (Virginia Tech.)
This is an exceptionally strong list of speakers – it is thanks to J Phys A that we are able to have so many international speakers at such an event. It is a great chance to see talks from leading experts in many branches of interest.
The meeting will take place on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. There will be no registration fee for this meeting but numbers are limited. Registration details can be found at http://www.mth.kcl.ac.uk/perspectives.html. There are limited funds available to support young researchers attend the meeting – please see the registration page for details.
A Provisional Programme can be found here.
If you have any further enquiries about this meeting please email the local organiser, Gerard Watts.
- A meeting recently supported by the group
The group recently supported the
School on Counting Statistics and International Conference Nanoelectronics 2006,
7-8 and 8-11 January 2006, Lancaster University.Both activities were held at the Conference Centre of Lancaster University and were attended by 108 registered participants from more than 30 nations. The school comprised 8 lectures and addressed mathematical and theoretical frameworks in mesoscopic counting statistics, such as stochastic path integrals and Keldysh Green functions. The scientific program of the conference included 47 oral presentations and 36 posters, and covered a large range of exciting scientific advances in a variety of subfields of condensed-matter physics, including: quantum dynamics and transport, counting statistics, noise and mesoscopic quantum-optics, spin-dependent transport and hybrid SF structures, edge states and quantum-Hall systems, and ultra-thin graphitic films. Further information can be found on the conference web site http://www.lancs.ac.uk/users/esqn/nano2006/. The group funding was used for organisation costs of the school and the two lively poster sessions, where young participants presented their work.
- Calls for proposals
The Mathematical and Theoretical Physics group supports scientific meetings and occasionally other activities of interest to its members. People interested in organising a meeting are invited to contact the Honorary Secretary (Dr Uwe Grimm, u.grimm@physics.org) who will be happy to provide details of the sorts of support provided. You do not have to be a member of the IoP to ask for funding. The group supports around 6 meetings a year on average.
The Mathematical and Theoretical Physics group also supports travel for young members under the age of 30 to attend overseas meetings. It does not itself consider applications, but instead supports members who are successful in obtaining funds from the C R Barber Trust and will match the funding offered by that trust.
- Note concerning communication with members of the group
It is apparent that the contact details held by the Institute are not entirely accurate. This newsletter is being sent out by both post and email – if you only receive one of these then please could you contact the membership department at the Institute – the simplest way is to use the members' area on the website and edit your details there. The IoP is also keen for its members to use the free @physics.org email address that it provides, which you can use as an alternative to your current email, and which can be set up to forward emails sent to that address to your favourite other emailing address.
- Minutes of the AGM, 15 July 2005, Durham University
Present members: R Gregory, U Grimm, I Moss, G Watts
The meeting had been scheduled for 8 July 2005, but had been adjourned as inquorate because only 9 group members were present
The meeting started at 12.35 pm
- Apologies
Several apologies from members had been received for the originally scheduled date, and apologies had been received from MY Mensah and several committee members for 15 July.
- Minutes of the previous AGM
The minutes were approved.
- Matters arising
There were no matters arising from the minutes.
- Chair's report
The chair reported that fewer applications for funding than in previous years had been received. The chair and secretary had attended the Annual Representative Meeting and Group and Division Officers' Forum in May, where a draft of a new Group Constitution was presented, including some changes concerning the regulations for elections of Committee members. Other noteworthy news from these meetings were the announcement of IoP student bursaries for physics undergraduates, a major initiative and a large financial commitment for the IoP, and the news that IoP Publishing will sell its book sector and concentrate on journal publication.
- Treasurer's report
In the previous year, expenditure and income were nearly the same, but in the current year had seen a significant drop in income. Expenditure is estimated to be similar to last year's, and thus will be larger than income, leading to a slight decline in reserves. Nevertheless, the financial situation continues to be healthy, and given that group contributions are set to increase there is no reason for concern.
- Election of Committee
As there were three nominations for two vacancies, a secret vote was held. The result was that Dr Ruth Gregory was elected to serve until the AGM in 2006, and Dr Nicola Wilkin was elected to serve until the AGM in 2008.
- Election of officers
No nominations for the vacant post of Treasurer had been received. The AGM asked Dr Ruth Gregory to continue to serve as Treasurer for one year, with the proviso of identifying a member who is prepared to take over next year, and to pass on her knowledge and experience about the procedures.
- Any other business
There was no other business.
The meeting was concluded at 1.15pm.
- Apologies
- Current committee membership
- Dr Gerard Watts (Chair)
- Dr Uwe Grimm (Honorary Secretary)
- Dr Ruth Gregory (Honorary Treasurer)
- Dr Almut Beige
- Prof Jens Marklof
- Prof Ian Moss
- Dr Nicola Wilkin
Dr Uwe Grimm
Department of Mathematics
The Open University
Walton Hall
Milton Keynes MK7 6AA
Email: u.grimm@physics.org
^ To the top ^