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
Dear Young Minds,
We are happy to see that despite the unclear situation around the Corona pandemic many sections are very active and have applied for an activity grant. We are currently evaluation the applications. Notifications will be sent around in mid August.
The current pandemic has impacted many organisations, leading to decreased productivity of many fields and delay in projects. Naturally, the Young Minds project has been affected as well. However, it has also opened the possibility to experiment with novel ways of communication and exchange, for instance webinars.
We are glad to share our positive experience with the very first webinar organized by the Action Committee: “Bringing visibility to your event though photos: DOs & DON’Ts” hosted on June the 9th covered aspects on creating media content that attract and tells stories, especially focusing on the connection between science and people. The event was moderated and hosted by Hripsime Mkrtchyan, YM Action Committee member, and the speaker was Francesca di Franco, PhD student at Leon Berard Cancer Center in Lyon and former member of the Naples YM section PONYS. Francesca has an extensive experience as a photographer, especially in scientific events such as science fairs, congresses and workshops. During the one hour long webinar she shared her know-how on the production of multimedia contents to maximize the impact of science-related activities on social media. The webinar and its record has been viewed by more than 100 followers, and is now uploaded in our YouTube channel, making it available for the wider community.
Francesca di Franco, former member of the YM section Naples, will discuss how catchy media content can be created without the use of professional instrumentation.
The current COVID-19 pandemic has affected also the YM program in several ways, among the others the annual Leadership Meeting had to be postponed. This does not mean, however, that our yearly appointment will be skipped. For the rest of the year, we are planning a number of online seminars covering a range of topics from outreach to professional development and networking, with speakers coming from different backgrounds all over Europe.
First up is Francesca Di Franco, PhD student at Leon Berard Cancer Center in Lyon, and former member of the Naples YM section PONYS Physics & Optics Naples Young Students. Francesca has an extensive experience as photographer, especially for scientific events such as science fairs, congresses and workshop. She will share her know-how on the production of multimedia contents to maximize the impact of science-related activities on social media.
The YM Action Committee welcomes Hripsime Mkrtchyan (left) and Tanausú Hernández (middle). Richard Zeltner (right) has been elected as the new chair and is following Roberta Caruso, who did not run for another term, into office.
While the annual leadership meeting and the celebrations for the 10th anniversary of EPS YM have been postponed due to the Corona-pandemic many sections all over Europe are active despite the challenging situation, and some are even testing new and innovative formats to e.g. perform outreach activities via online channels.
Of course the Action Committee is active as well in managing the project, and has assembled for an online meeting last week. Among others the meeting brought the election of a new chair: Richard Zeltner will succeed Roberta Caruso, who did not run for another period, to the office. Many thanks to Roberta for years of dedication and leadership. But this was not the only personal change: Araceli Venegas-Gomez and Giorgio Nocerino are leaving the committee to follow new challenges, and Hripsime Mkrtchyan and Tanausú Hernández, who joined early this year, were formally introduced. Many thanks to Araceli and Giorgio for their valuable contributions over the years and all the best for their future, and welcome to Hripsime and Tanausú.
Following the discussion with section representatives, and in view of the YM 10th anniversary, we are happy to announce that EPS will grant free membership to all BSc and MSc students involved in the YM program.
To access the benefit, follow the instructions here.
The YM Action Committee is currently looking for a limited number of motivated candidates to join.
The Committee members are engaged in the management of the whole project, including the approval or rejection grant applications and the definition of the strategic long-term goals for the future development.
If you are interested, please send an email to ac(at)epsyoungminds.org with a one-page (maximum) application stating your motivation, your experience within the projet and other experiences you beleieve are relevant. A previous history within Young Minds or similar programs is not mandatory but highly appreciated.
Deadline for applications is November 30th, notifications will be sent out by the end of December.
During the 18th Young Minds Action Committee meeting, held in Trieste on 23-24th November, Enrique Sanchez left the Action Committee after serving for four years.
We are extremely happy to welcome in the Action Committee two new members, Daryna Pesina and Richard Zeltner. Congratulations!
The Young Minds section of the University of Liège was created recently (May 2018). During the past months, our group has organized a “get-to-know-us” presentation for physics and space science students (masters, PhD and post-docs). It sparked great interest for the Young Minds activity in the Liège physics community. The objective was also to brainstorm ideas of activities to be organized for the upcoming academic year 2018-2019. This meeting, along with three other group reunions over two weeks, lead us to the idea of a networking event under the theme “Physics and Sport” (see the corresponding document for more details), during which we will test activities we plan using to create an outreach event destined to high school students. It also allowed us to gather motivated PhD students with experience in science outreach event (sci-fi movies analyses, broad audience communication, …) and effectively reinforce the initial team. We have also made contact with a local organization specialized in the field of science popularization at the University of Liège (“Réjouiscience” – http://rejouisciences.uliege.be) and they showed enthusiasm in collaborating with us in the organization of physics outreach events. We committed to participating in the next edition of their “Printemps des Sciences”, a yearly, high-impact science fair week for schools and general public in the Liège area. Members of our team are also dedicating their time to the construction of a website (www.ymliege.uliege.be) and a Facebook page (“YMLiège”) for more visibility. We created a public mail address: youngminds@uliege.be.
Our group takes the opportunity to be part of the Young Minds network very seriously, and we think we are off to a great start. We hope that the aforementioned activities testifiy our motivation for holding physics-related events and for growing the Young Minds network.