Authors: Monica Constantin and Enrique Sánchez-Bautista

The European Physical Society (EPS) is pleased to announce that the EPS Citizen Science Competition has four winners, who receive travel grants to each visit one of the two most renowned research centres in Europe: CERN, Geneva (Switzerland) or EGO-Virgo, Pisa (Italy).

During September 2022, over 350 science enthusiasts joined the competition and participated in two different citizen science projects. They made classifications using real data from CERN and EGO-Virgo facilities in the fields of High Energy Physics and Gravitational Wave Astronomy respectively. These challenges were conducted through the Zooniverse platform, the world’s largest and most popular platform for citizen science projects, that support real researchers to make groundbreaking new discoveries.

The awardees were selected after a rigorous analysis of the number and quality of the classifications they conducted and the motivation letters expressing their genuine interest to visit CERN and EGO-Virgo. The names of the awardees were officially announced on the REINFORCE website and can be consulted here. The awardees will travel in March 2023 and will have the chance to spend one full day at CERN or EGO-Virgo, enjoying guided tours through the research facilities, including visits to the control rooms, labs, etc., accompanied by in-house scientists and engineers.

The EPS Citizen Science Competition was launched in the framework of the Surrounded by Science project, an EU-funded project which aims at fostering out-of-school science activities which can increase the interest in science to the general public. We encourage you to visit the Surrounded by Science website, subscribe to its newsletter and follow it on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and Spotify in order to stay up-to-date with new citizen science competitions and activities!

Networking between learned societies is a key endeavour in physics, and bridging the gap between international and national societies is an important part of that. The European Physical Society (EPS) embraces this principle with its federative nature and by directly supporting events going along such direction.

The EPS Young Minds Project, created with the aim of connecting young physicists all over the Euromediterranean area and foster their activities, also follows this path.

This Year, EPS Young Minds, collaborated with the Italian Physical Society (SIF) and the Italian Association of Physics Students (AISF) to organize a focus session aimed at young physicists in the context of the 108^th  SIF National Congress which took place in Milan from the 12^th to the 16^th of September.

The composition of  the organizing committee, formed by Dr. Antigone Marino (SIF Board Member), Federica De Domenico (AISF President) and Mattia Ostinato (EPS YM Action Committee Chair) and representatives of the local YM and AISF local groups, reflected the spirit of collaboration between different entities on both national and international level that societies such as SIF and EPS try to foster in their activities.

The session itself, was also devised to be deeply interdisciplinary, with a scientific program whose underlying theme was climate change and  energetic transition a topic highly appealing to young physicists

The event took place on the morning of the 15^th of September at the  Polytehnical University of Milan (PoliMi), and was opened by remarks from SIF President Prof. Angela Bracco, Dr. Marino, and Prof. Paolo Biagioni representing PoliMi, who welcomed the more then 50 students attendees.

After a brief introduction to YM and AISF, made by the respective chairs, the scientific session started with Prof Francesco Romanelli (University of Rome “Tor Vergata”) , who talked about the physics behind nuclear fusion and the state of the art technology currently employed in realizing fusion reactors for producing electrical energy. Its talk was followed by Dr. Davide Faccialà (Institute of photonics and nanotechnology- National Research Council), on how the techniques of ultrafast spectroscopy are used to investigate the energy harvesting properties of perovskites, and its application to the design of better performing solar panels.

The event was closed by Prof. Claudia Pasquero (University Milano Bicocca), whose talk was focused on the extreme interconnectedness of climate as a physical system, how physics studies it, and how even small changes can lead to extreme climate events.

The session had a very good success, reflected also by the intensity of the Q&A sessions, where the young participants showed all their interest for the topics and engaged in a fruitful discussion with all the speakers.

Such success is yet another example on how the interaction between national society like SIF and  international federative societies, such as EPS, can not only reinforce the bonds within them, but also foster the realization of important events and have an impact on the next generation of researchers.

image credit: Mattia Ostinato and Antigone Marino

Author: Duarte Esteves

On the evening of 1st July 2022, the Lisbon EPS Young Minds section organised the second edition of the “Young Minds Movie Night”. Just like the previous edition, this event took place in the cloister of the Lisbon Museum of Natural History and Science. This outreach activity targeted a broad and general audience, and the main goal was teaching Physics to everyone in a fun and relaxed way.

In the spirit of the previous edition, this activity consisted of two parts: the screening of a film and a light talk on the subject. This time, the 1981 BBC documentary The Pleasure of Finding Things Out, starring the famous physicist Richard Feynman, was exhibited. The participants were invited to bring their own blankets and watch the documentary with their friends and family while enjoying the complimentary popcorn and beverages we provided.

Afterwards, Prof. Mário Pinheiro, from our home institute, Instituto Superior Técnico of the University of Lisbon, gave an exciting lecture titled “Off the Beaten Path: Celebrating Feynman — the Great Explainer”. After briefly introducing some important aspects of Feynman’s childhood, including some that were also mentioned in the documentary itself, Prof. Pinheiro shared some anecdotes that conveyed Feynman’s particular views on what it means to really learn and understand something, including, for instance, the famous Feynman technique for learning. Subsequently, Prof. Pinheiro highlighted some of Feynman’s main contributions to Physics, such as his role in the development of Quantum Electrodynamics, for which he won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965.

Thus, with this event, it was possible to introduce our audience to an inspiring physicist from both a personal and a professional point of view. In the end, the feedback was very much positive, confirming once again that this event model, combining the screening of a film and a lecture by an expert, is a very effective way to promote Physics to the general public and certainly warrants a third edition in the near future!


image: Daniela Pereira

• https://www.facebook.com/EPSYoungMindsLisbon
  
• https://www.instagram.com/youngmindslisbon/
  
• https://twitter.com/EPSYMLisboa

Gender bias in STEM areas is a palpable reality that we cannot ignore. To face this challenge, the involvement of institutions and scientific societies is vital. The Spanish Optical Society (SEDOPTICA) is committed to being inclusive, striving to provide an environment where all people feel valued and respected, and also have access to the same opportunities. The Women in Optics and Photonics Area started working in 2018 with the following activities:

MENTORING PROGRAMME

This programme aims to connect women researchers to offer a professional support network:

Connected women scientists
Connected Women Scientists is a series of periodic meetings where we invite women scientists to give technical talks grouped by topic. From May 2020, the format was moved to webinar format, reaching a total attendance of 330 users (visit: SEDOPTICA-Youtube channel).

Count on them
Count on them initiative compiles short reviews of women researchers in optics and photonics to promote and facilitate the organisation of gender equal, peer-to-peer events. The objective is to create an open database for anyone who wants to use it when looking for speakers for their events. This initiative also enhances the visibility of their scientific work to other people, such as journalists or people required for counselling on these areas of expertise.

MEET THE WOMEN RESEARCHERS

The 'Meet the Women Researchers' programme was launched in January 2019, with the aim of disseminating the work and experiences in their careers at all levels, from predoctoral to emeritus professors. The women participating in this activity belong to both academia and industry. So far we have 34 interviews with different researchers/teachers/technologists/disseminators of Optics and Photonics.  Written and video interviews have received about 6700 and 500 views, respectively.

DISSEMINATION PROGRAMME AND SOCIAL MEDIA 

Quantitative analysis of the situation of women in optics and photonics in Spain
We are currently collecting quantitative data about the situation of women researchers in the field of Optics and Photonics in Spain. We are performing a statistical study of the doctoral theses defended in Spain in the last five years. To do so, we are using the Ministry of Education's TESEO database, and classifying them according to UNESCO codes. The theses were classified separating whether these descriptors had been chosen by men or women. This study will be presented in the IEEE EDUCON2022 (March, Tunisia), and published as proceeding.

We continue working in these kinds of studies to offer more detailed analysis.

Authors: Gabriele Trovato, Paola La Magna, Massimo Germanà

Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Catania section of EPS Young Minds had the chance to grow and improve. In fact, many new members joined us, inspired by our activities and our mission. We had to rethink our activities in an online version.

Our section collaborated with our department of Physics to create a PCTO project, which consists of part-time jobs/stages for high school students. The name of the project is “Dalla Ricerca alla Divulgazione''.

One of these events was Fisic@Catania. This event took place on November 27, on the occasion of the European Researchers' Night 2020, and it was streamed on YouTube. The purpose of this event was to disseminate among people the most recent scientific discoveries made by physicists from Catania. High school students were also involved through the PCTO project. During the morning, brief interviews were held on a topic chosen by the guests themselves: ten researchers were interviewed, ranging from condensed matter to astrophysics, from particle physics to complex systems.

The activity called “Fisic@Catania Dig-Out '' could be thought of as a sequel of the previous one. This time the students involved in the PCTO project had to choose the topic, because they usually do not have the opportunity to be in contact with someone who works on physics projects.

To develop such a complete activity, we split the event in two days, one for each group: Astrophysics and Condensed Matter Physics, Nuclear Physics and Theoretical Physics. For each physical field there was a professor of the department of Physics of Catania who talked about the research activities she/he is involved in Catania.

The talks had a “dig-out mode”, in the sense that it was like a conversation between the professor and an EPS Young Minds member who asked her/him some curiosities. In this way the professor gave an overview on the physics behind the research, what we know up to now and what they aim to reach, she/he told some personal aspects, but she/he also let the high school students know the good reasons to study Physics at Catania.

After these talks (30 minutes each), we gathered some questions of the students which the professor was glad to answer.
In conclusion the events turned out to be successful, the high school students appreciated it a lot and they discovered some scenarios they did not know at all.

• Fisic@Catania 27/11/2020: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kDDdtfZMz8&t=4540s
  
• Fisic@Catania Dig-Out 15/01/2021: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r6X9wJyttA&t=109s&ab_channel=EPSYoungMindsCT
• Fisic@Catania Dig-Out 22/01/2021: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsdTi5AhLys
  

Fisic@Catania activities are just a portion of the activities related to the PCTO project, we could say that it is the starting point, the “Ricerca '' part. From February to May there are a series of activities related to FameLab that cover the “Divulgazione” part, but we need a second article to talk about it, so stay tuned!