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.
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.