Societies and events
Nexus Conference 2008 - Overview
Student Lectures and Posters
A total of seven students gave 20 minute lectures on their research work, with undergraduates presenting on any topic of interest in physics and astronomy. There was a very good mix of topics, with talks on potential energy surfaces of molecules, the evolution of stars, low temperature physics and quantum turbulence, quantum dots, the physics of music, electromagnetic properties of rock and Maxwell's equations.
There were also six academic posters on topics as diverse as black holes, quantum dot resonances, studies of quasiparticle excitations in superfluids, neutron scattering, quantum turbulence and the winter solstice.
All lectures and posters were very well-received by the audience.
Careers Presentations
Vishanti Fox, IOP Careers Manager, gave a short overview of the careers services available to student members in particular (for more information visit our Careers pages).
Two recent graduates were invited to give short talks about their current career progression. Peter Byrant works with Grontmij, an engineering and environmental consultancy, and Tom Whyntie, who, as part of his PhD studies at Imperial College London, is currently working at CERN. Both gave very well-received and inspiring talks, and there was an opportunity to ask questions over lunch.
Guest Speakers
At the Awards dinner on the Saturday evening we were joined by Sir Arnold Wolfendale, former Astronomer Royal and Emeritus Professor at the University of Durham. He is also a former President of the Institute and has been involved with Nexus on several occasions in the past, so was a natural choice for delivering the after-dinner speech. Talking about the nature and measurement of time, as well as a number of eminent scientists of the past, his speech provoked thought and contemplation - but with a series of humorous and witty anecdotes, a trademark of his famous after-dinner talks, it was also extremely entertaining.
The guest lecture at the conference was given by Professor Jim Al-Khalili of the University of Surrey. He is an expert in neutron halo nuclei, which exhibit the unusual feature of having one or two loosely bound neutrons orbiting the rest of the nucleus. He is also well known for his outreach work with the public. His lecture focused on last year's television documentary series Atom,in which he faced the challenge of communicating complex concepts in physics on the small screen. With a fascinating insight into science communication and outreach, including short clips of the series and ending with the outtakes, it was a great way to conclude the conference.
Nexus Awards
A total of 11 societies entered the awards this year and all were invited to make a five minute presentation at the conference in a bid to win one of three awards. The nominations were:
Best New or Improved Society
LUPAS - Lancaster University Physics and Astronomy Society
Oxford University Physics Society
University of Warwick PhySoc
Best Publicity and Communications
Astro 2 - the Astronomy and Physics Society
The University of Sheffield Physoc
The University of Southampton Physoc
Event Horizon - the UCL Physics and Astronomy Society
Best Overall Society
Cambridge University Physics Society
Imperial College London Physoc
University of Kent Space Soc
Trinity College Dublin DU Physoc
The audience voted by secret ballot for the best society in each category, with participants from the same university as one of the societies presenting in a given category not eligible to vote for that specific award. After the evening dinner Sir Arnold Wolfendale was invited to announce the three winners, which were the societies from Lancaster, Southampton and Kent. Many congratulations to them!
Between 12 and 15 students from each of the winning societies will now have the opportunity to join us for a week on next year's Nexus trip to CERN and the ESRF synchrotron and ILL neutron source in Grenoble in June 2009.
Overall, the conference was a huge success and we look forward to welcoming you all again next year.
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