We are pleased to announce that registration for the 13th EPS Young Minds Leadership Meeting is now open. The event will take place on June 5th and 6th, 2025, in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, hosted by the Luzada-Santiago USC YM Section.
Support for Participants
EPS Young Minds will cover accommodation and meals from June 4th to 6th, as well as up to €100 in travel expenses for one representative per section.
Please, register before the deadline to secure the funding for your transport and stay.
For those requiring a visa to enter Spain, an invitation letter will be provided upon request. To receive this letter, please select the relevant option in the registration form. Early registration is essential to allow sufficient time for visa processing.
Registration Deadline
Registration is open until April 4th, 2025. For more details about the program, venue, and registration process, please visit the official event website or the Luzada-Santiago USC YM Section page!
A remarkable number of bright and committed Young Minds answered the call for applications to join the Action Committee.
Eventually, Serina Almassu (EPS YM Science4People in Bethlehem & PhD candidate at the Calegari research group, Centre of Regenerative Therapies-Dresden, Dresden University of Technology) and Pasquale Francesco Romano (EPS YM PONYS in Naples & Master’s candidate in subnuclear and astroparticle physics) were selected to join the committee.
Serina Almassu is a PhD candidate (Pre-doc) at Calegari research group, Centre of Regenerative Therapies-Dresden (CRTD), Dresden University of Technology (TUD), Germany. She’s also an administrative board member of the scientific research community of Palestine “ The Researchist” since 2019, and a member of the Palestinian Medical Technology Association since 2020. She has been a member of the EPS Young Minds section Science4People in Bethlehem, Palestine since 2017, and now an Action Committee member of the Young Minds project of EPS.
Pasquale Francesco Romano, a dedicated Master’s candidate in subnuclear and astroparticle physics, has been passionately engaged in scientific outreach and education. His contributions to the Physics & Optics Naples Young Students (PONYS) have been instrumental in organizing numerous events and workshops aimed at fostering a deeper understanding of physics among the public.
Both Serina and Pasquale have demonstrated exceptional motivation and leadership in developing their local sections and broader communities, and we are excited that they have been contributing to the programme’s growth in more central roles since September.
We are confident that their expertise and dedication will continue to significantly enhance our initiatives and impact.
During the EPS Forum 2024, the Action Committee convened for its biannual meeting. The discussions covered recent developments in the YM Programme, and the committee sketched out plans for future activities to continue advancing our goals.
A significant part of the meeting was the election of a new chairperson to succeed Mattia Ostinato.
We are pleased to announce that Carmen Martin has been elected as the EPS YM Chair for the 2024-2026 tenure period. Carmen brings a wealth of experience and enthusiasm to the role, and we are confident she will lead the programme with distinction.
Carmen Martín Valderrama, PhD student at CIC nanoGUNE, Spain, where she works on nanomagnetism and magneto-optics, and former member of the YM section in Valladolid, Physics League, received the support of the entire committee and took over the chair position from the YM leadership meeting onwards. She presented an overview of the main points the action committee will work on for the next two years, which consists in (1) improving the internal processes, (2) strengthening the YM network and the relationship with other associations and (3) working on our digital presence, webpage and social media.
We extend our heartfelt thanks to Mattia Ostinato for his dedicated work and exceptional #leadership over the past two years. His contributions have been invaluable, and he has set a high standard for future leadership. We wish Carmen all the best and much success in her new role, and we look forward to the continued progress and achievements under her guidance.
The 14th EPS YM Leadership Meeting will take place at the Faculty of Physics in Vilnius, Lithuania, on 15–16 May 2026. The event website will be available soon, thanks to the collaboration of the Vilnius Section. Each Section Representative is invited to attend. Online registration is mandatory.
We are grateful to our sponsors for their generous support.
Young Minds Leadership Meeting 2025
The 13th EPS Young Minds Leadership Meeting took place in Santiago de Compostela, Spain on the 5th and 6th of June, 2025.
Monday 25th of March was the first day of the Young Minds (YM) Leadership Meeting (LM) at the EPS Forum 2024. More than 70 participants from the YM network, representing 39 YM sections, as well as guests from other associations, were welcomed by the LM organization committee chair Anna Grigoryan, the EPS Secretary General Anne Pawsey and EPS Former Chair Luc Berge. EPS YM former chair Mattia Ostinato presented an overview of the YM program and the new elected YM chair Carmen Martín Valderrama was presented to the participants. Following two masterclasses on scientific writing given by the EDP Science Senior publisher Isabelle Auffret-Babak and Publishing Director Anne Ruimy, the participants attended the lecture given by Antigone Marino on Impostor Syndrome. Could not be missing the “From PhD to CEO” panel discussion, always inspiring, in collaboration with OPTICA.
Tuesday 26th of March, the day started with the Nobel Prize Laureates’ Lectures. The opportunity to attend such interesting sessions was allowed by the co-location with the EPS Forum. The morning continued with lecturer Tatevik Chalyan on writing a successful grant application, after which Steven Goldfarb presented the talk “Why we bother – the urgency of education and outreach”. To further connect with other YM delegates, a networking session was conducted and the day and LM were concluded with the YM activity poster session and the corresponding “Young Minds Best activity award by EPL” ceremony where the YM sections PONYS and SPAM Caserta received the winners certificates from EPL and 250 euros.
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 participants could learn about industrial opportunities and attend lectures from world-class researchers conducted in the EPS Forum. Thanks to the European Physical Society and 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.
We are very excited that so many young minds gathered for the meeting, and we are very much looking forward to the Leadership Meeting in 2025.
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 future development. As the YM project and network continue to grow, and fresh ideas are always welcome, we are looking for motivated people keen to contribute to the programme’s future development and join the committee.
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 July 15th. We expect to send out notifications early in September.
Update: The deadline for applications has been extended to July 31st.
Finally, please do not hesitate to come back to us if there are any questions.
Last year’s Leadership Meeting was a fresh experience for Young Minds as a joint event with the brand-new EPS Forum in Paris. This year we go back to the usual format of a standalone event, this time in Italy.
The location of the meeting is Naples, hosted by PONYS – Naples Young Minds (Physics and Optics Naples Young Students). The dates are the 19th and 20th of May. You can find all the details on the website of the event.
As you may already know EPS Young Minds covers the accommodation and up to 100€ of the flight fare of one representative per section. Please, register before the deadline to secure the funding for your transport and stay.
Registration for the 11th Leadership Meeting is open starting now. Follow the link to register before the 3rd of March.
The time has come to start organizing the 2023 EPS YM Leadership Meeting! Following tradition, we would like to invite every Young Minds Section to present their candidatures to host the LM of the incoming year! Hosting the LM is not only a great opportunity to promote your section and your city, but it is also rewarded with an extra budget of 1000€ for the next year’s grant applications!
You can apply by filling in the form you can download on this page and sending it in .pdf format to both of the following adresses, mattia.ostinato@epsyoungminds.org and ac@epsyoungminds.org, with the subject “LM 2023 APPLICATION + Name of section + University Name”. The deadline is November 4th!
If you are interested in applying, we encourage you to carefully read the next rules and tips:
General information:
The duration of the LM must be one day and a half (Friday and Saturday) and the proposed date must be around May. Exceptions could be made if connected with some bigger event: conference, festival, etc.
The trip expenses for the representatives of other sections should be reasonable as EPS YM reimburses up to 100€/person. The preliminary cost of flight tickets can be checked in expedia.com or any similar search engines, while you can check all YM sections at: http://www.epsyoungminds.org/sections/.
The lecture hall and accommodation options should be able to fit more than 60 people (sections’ representatives and local section members). Same applies for coffee breaks, lunches and dinners.
Motivation:
Describe why we should choose your section as the host for the next meeting. In other words, tell us why you and your city are the best candidates to host the LM2023.
Previous Experience:
Explain us how familiar is your YM Section in organizing and managing similar events and let us know a bit more about them: how good they were, how many people got involved, the approximate budget you managed and if you were able to obtain funding from your university/institution and other third parties apart from EPS.
Draft Programme:
Provide us with a clear draft of the programme you would like to develop during the LM2023, including the temporal distribution of the different activities. Take the challenge of scheduling the most exciting and interesting experience ever in a LM!
Plan all the logistics carefully, including what kind of transport you expect to use (public or private), how easy is to move between the places where events take place (venue, dormitories, social activities locations, etc.) and ensure reasonable times for moving a large group of people between them.
Take care in designing a good technical programme, including suggestions about local and international speakers you would like them to participate in the event.Do not forget to schedule some social events, sessions issuing social themes and networking activities in your agenda! Establishing strong international relationships between physicists is a relevant goal of the Young Minds Project!
Remember to find the proper balance between the technical part of the programme, the social and networking events and the rest time of the attendees.
Expenses and funding:
Make sure your budget does not exceed the maximum amount of 10.000 €.
Maximize the impact per Euro (plan to invest more money where it is more needed).
All expenses calculations should be done taking into account at least 60 people.
Explain in detail the estimation done for each expense, you are free to add any necessary options in both lists. Not all listed options should cost something.
The biggest amount of money usually goes to meals (coffee breaks, lunches and dinners) and accommodation (accommodation in dormitories is acceptable). Try to be as precise as possible in the budget and in the explanation of these items.
Travel expenses of the representatives of each YM Section are out of the budget you have to elaborate since they are directly funded by the EPS, but keep in mind that this amount is limited to 100€ per person. If elected, try to contain costs of plane tickets by announcing the definitive dates of the LM no later than early february 2023.
Sections are encouraged to approach their own institutions and other sources for any possible further support.
Please, note that most of the expenses related to the LM 2023 will be directly paid by EPS by reimbursement to the hired companies after presentation of an invoice addressed to EPS. It means that you will be free to manage your budget in accordance with the draft programme you presented in this call, but the money will not be directly transferred to your YM Section bank account.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Mattia Ostinato (mattia.ostinato@epsyoungminds.org) writing “LM2023” in the subject of your email.
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.
