During the course of the EPS Forum 2022 the Action Committee gathered for its biannual meeting, discussed recent developments of the YM Programme and sketched plans for future activities.
Further, a successor for the current chair Richard Zeltner was elected: Mattia Ostinato, PhD student at the University of Barcelona and former member of the YM section in Naples, received the support of the full committee and will take over the chair position from July 1.
Mattia Ostinato has been elected EPS YM Chair for the 2022 to 2024 tenure period.
We thank Richard for his dedicated work and #leadership in the last two years, and we wish Mattia all the best and much success for his tenure.
Further, Daryna Pesina and Hripsime Mkrtchyan announced that they will leave the committee. We thank them for their valuable work and their commitment, and we wish them all the best for their future.
The 2022 Young Minds Leadership Meeting took place from June 2 to June 3 at the EPS Forum 2022 at Sorbonne University in Paris. On June 2 more than 40 delegates from the YM network, as well as guest from IAPS, were welcomed by the LM organization committee chair Mattia Ostinato and EPS YM Chair Richard Zeltner. Following a networking event, the participants attended the various industrial sessions of the EPS Forum, learning about the career opportunities for scientists outside of academia. In the afternoon Jean-François Morizur gave an inspiring “From PhD to CEO” workshop, that was moderated by Yann Amouroux from the European office of Optica.
The Leadership Meeting 2022 brought together more than 40 delegates from YM, as well as guests from IAPS and the EPS Forum.
On June 3 the LM concluded with inspiring talks from Prof. Petra Rudolf and Giuliana Galati, and the YM Poster Session in which the section delegates shared their recent activities with the rest of the YM network. After three years of virtual engagement the meeting brought together YM delegates from 20 different countries, as well as many interested students and young researchers from outside of the YM network, making it a great success. Beyond the programme of the LM, the co-location with the EPS Forum allowed the participants to learn about industrial opportunities and to attend lectures from world-class researchers, including 3 Nobel Laureates. Thanks to the European Physical Society and its president Luc Bergé for the invitation and this opportunity and congratulations to the organization for the success of the event.
We believe that scientific outreach, cultural exchange and mutual understanding, and peaceful international collaboration are more important than ever, and we believe that bringing young scientists together and equipping them with tools and skills is a great way of fostering these aspects. This said, we are very happy that so many young minds gathered for the meeting, and we are very much looking forward to the Leadership Meeting in 2023.
After a great but virtual 2021 the Young Minds community will reengage physically at the Leadership Meeting 2022, taking place in the framework of the EPS Forum 2022 at the Sorbonne University in Paris.
Participates will have the opportunity to attend varios sessions of the Forum, providing networking and professional developments well beyond that of previous Leadership Meetings. This page will be updated with relevant information, e.g. on programme and travelling. In the meanwhile, the Forum programme can be found here: https://epsforum.org/
Update April 7: Registration closed!
The registration for the upcoming EPS Forum and the EPS YM has closed. We are happy to announce that we have received registrations from 43 section delegates, coming from 21 different countries. We are looking very much forward to connect with all of them!
Update May 14: Information on venue, programme and travel
The AC has prepared a datapackage that summarizes the key information on the Leadership Meeting, its programme and travel and navigation. It is available here
Update July 7: The Leadership Meeting 2022 report
The 2022 Young Minds Leadership Meeting took place from June 2 to June 3 at the EPS Forum 2022 at Sorbonne University in Paris. On June 2 more than 40 delegates from the YM network, as well as guest from IAPS, were welcomed by the LM organization committee chair Mattia Ostinato and EPS YM Chair Richard Zeltner. Following a networking event, the participants attended the various industrial sessions of the EPS Forum, learning about the career opportunities for scientists outside of academia. In the afternoon Jean-François Morizur gave an inspiring “From PhD to CEO” workshop, that was moderated by Yann Amouroux from the European office of Optica.
On June 3 the LM concluded with inspiring talks from Prof. Petra Rudolf and Giuliana Galati, and the YM Poster Session in which the section delegates shared their recent activities with the rest of the YM network. After three years of virtual engagement the meeting brought together YM delegates from 20 different countries, as well as many interested students and young researchers from outside of the YM network, making it a great success. Beyond the programme of the LM, the co-location with the EPS Forum allowed the participants to learn about industrial opportunities and to attend lectures from world-class researchers, including 3 Nobel Laureates. Thanks to the European Physical Society and its president Luc Bergé for the invitation and this opportunity and congratulations to the organization for the success of the event.
We believe that scientific outreach, cultural exchange and mutual understanding, and peaceful international collaboration are more important than ever, and we believe that bringing young scientists together and equipping them with tools and skills is a great way of fostering these aspects. This said, we are very happy that so many young minds gathered for the meeting, and we are very much looking forward to the Leadership Meeting in 2023.
On our webinar on December 9 Lucia Rotheray from Dragonfly Mental Health gave a comprehensive introduction into the mental health. The recording of the webinar, which has been jointly presented together with “The International Association of Physics Students (IAPS)” is now available on our youtube channnel.
The Action Committee is currently looking for a number of motivated Young Minds to join its ranks.
The Action Committee manages the programme, from running short-term tasks like approving or rejecting grant applications, to defining strategic long-term goals for the future development. With the YM network continiously growing and 2022 hopefully bringing back more physical interaction, we are looking for motivated people keen to contribute to the future development of the programme and to bring in new ideas.
If you are interested, please send an email to ac@epsyoungminds.org with a one-page (maximum) application stating your motivation, your experience within the project and other experiences you believe are relevant. Long-standing cooperation within Young Minds is not mandatory, but highly appreciated.
The deadline for applications is December 12. We expect to send out notifications early in February 2022 latest.
Strongly aligned with the agenda of the current EPS presidency to strenghten the relations and the exchange between the EPS and business, EPS Young Minds is delighted to announce the next session of “From PhD to CEO”, the joint webinar series on young entrepreneurship in the European photonics community, jointly hosted by EPS YM and Optica.
Meet Michele from Milano
In the session on October 28 Michele Lacerenza will share the story of PIONIRS. This young and innovative company is based in Milano, Italy, and is working towards developing next generation devices for near infrared spectroscopy in biomedical applications. More details on Michele and the mission of can be found in the flyer below.
As in previous editions registration is possible via the Optica website
Aiming at “Bringing together industry and academia”, this event will: – present the exciting research opportunities in large industries, SMEs and start-ups – encourage and stimulate the dialogue between young graduates and the entrepreneurial world, to close the gap between industry and academia.
Don’t miss the opportunity to interact with major physics-based companies involved in energy production, biophysics, soft matter, machine learning, transportation and quantum technologies.
The European Physical Society (EPS) Young Mind Programme will contribute to RPER 2021 through a Forum dedicated to the employment of young physicists in Europe.
Ph.D. students and Post Doctoral researchers are now welcome to register: The registration fee does not exceed €16 and includes lunch on September 17. One night’s lodging and dinner will also be offered to attendees living outside the Ile-de-France region upon request, but the number of places is limited.
On 7 May 2021, the EPS Young Minds Leadership Meeting took place online. It was the first gathering of the whole YM community since the leadership meeting 2019 in Erlangen. 55 section delegates, representing 21 countries and vastly different career levels ranging from bachelor students to postdocs, attended the meeting and made it a large success.
The meeting included two parts, the first taking place on Zoom and the second on the virtual interaction platform Gather Town. On Zoom EPS YM programme manager Ophélia Fornari welcomed the participants and provided an overview of new functionalities for section management on the EPS website to the participants. She was followed by Richard Zeltner, YM Action Committee Chair, who gave a wrap-up on the years 2020 and 2021 from the YM perspective and highlighted the numerous section activities that were carried out despite the ongoing pandemic. He also gave an outlook on the plans for the rest of the year and 2022 and thanked the members of the Action Committee that left the programme over the course of the last two years, in particular Petra Rudolf who handed over the EPS presidentship, and thus the position in the YM Action Committee, just in April. As the third speaker, Luc Bergé, current EPS president, presented his agenda and his plan to establish the EPS Forum to the YM community. The first part of the meeting was concluded by a panel discussion on career advice for young scientists. The discussion on topics ranging from the role of professional media platforms for personal branding over the difference of working in academia and industry to the importance of aligning career choices with individual aptitudes and talents was very much appreciated by the young minds and certainly a highlight of the event.
The 2021 Young Minds Leadership Meeting brought together more than 50 section delegates from 21 different countries in the virtual realm.
After the panel discussion, the meeting transitioned to Gather Town, where the participants could engage in more informal activities. During a speed networking event, the participants had the opportunity to refresh old connections and to establish new ones within the YM community. This was followed by a Physics Quiz, in which the participants teamed up in small groups and tested their knowledge, not only on physics but also on Trivia and on questions of popular science.
Considering the large number of participants and the very positive feedback that we received during and after the meeting, the event was a large success. Moreover, for the sections that started their activity in 2020 and 2021 the meeting was a great opportunity to gain more insights into the programme and to connect with the network. Even though, we are very much looking forward to connect with the YM community physically again in 2022.
Finally, we would like to warmly thank our panelists Gabrielle Thomas, Lucia Santamaria, Luc Bergé, Chang Kee Jung and Petra Rudolf for their contribution to the panel discussion. We also thank Florian Schorn and Dominik Rattenbacher from the Erlangen section hBar Omega for providing the Gather Town Environment and their contribution to the Physics Quiz.
Recents years have seen increasing awareness of the stress and strain that, in particular, the early stage of an academic career can put on students and young researchers. To address this problem and to contribute to the further dissemination of knowledge and awareness EPS YM organized a webinar featuring Dr. Andrea Welsh, Postdoctoral Fellow & Instructor at the University of Pittsburgh, and advocate for this important topic. In her talk she discussed the current situation, provided a review of the scientific literature and sketched solution tools for both the community and individuals. With more than 30 participants in the webinar, and many more following the live stream on social media, the event has been a great success. Many thanks to Andrea for her time and effort.
EPS YM is delighted to announce the webinar series “From PhD to CEO – Making an Exciting Leap into Business”. In each of the six sessions a young researcher will share his story on how he set up a business. The event is a collaboration with The Optical Society. Registration for the individual sessions is possible via the OSA website
