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Welcome from the CEO |
It is the time of year when we begin to look forward to enjoying the summer, and meeting old friends and new colleagues at the 2023 SUPA Annual Gathering! This year the Gathering returns to the Technology Innovation Centre in Glasgow on 16 May. The Gathering is an annual celebration of world class physics research from across Scotland with an added opportunity for PhDs and ECRs to engage with organisations who employ those with PhDs in physics in the exhibition hall. See below for more details and registration!
I am delighted to announce that SUPA, first launched in 2004, has transitioned in 2023 into its 4th Phase of funding by all 8 university partners who have confirmed financial support on a 3-year rolling arrangement. The SUPA Graduate School, as the largest graduate school for physics PhDs in the UK with over 600 registered students, remains the highest priority for the SUPA team. Read on below for more SUPA activities, opportunities, meetings, training and other activities. Congratulations to all that have received awards and been honoured by professional societies and other organisations.
Alan |
News from SUPA |
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This year’s Annual Gathering will be held in-person at the Technology & Innovation Centre at the University of Strathclyde, on Tuesday 16 May. The day will include talks from SUPA researchers, a career reflection from Dr Graeme Malcolm (Founder & CEO of M Squared Lasers), a research keynote from Prof Cait MacPhee (Institute for Condensed Matter & Complex Systems, Edinburgh) as well as a careers fair of organisations looking for talent within SUPA, a poster exhibition and plenty of networking opportunities.
The full programme is available on the SUPA website.
We are looking for students to submit an abstract, a number of which will be selected to be presented on the day. |
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Careers Online at Lunchtime
This monthly series of webinars introduces you to a variety of people who after graduating with a PhD in physics went on to successful careers in a wide variety of employment sectors using the skills developed during their doctorate.
The videos from the previous sessions are available on MySUPA: Lorenzo Zanisi, Data Scientist, UK Atomic Energy Agency Orla Kelly, Knowledge Exchange & Innovation Collaboration Manager, Universities Scotland/UWS Claire Thring, Senior Application Specialist, Novosound Kenneth Freeman, Consultant, Awerian Ltd Jon Orchard, Principle Engineer, Vector Photonics
To watch the videos back or to receive the links, please use MySUPA to enrol on the course. This course is also open to all, so please share with anyone you think may find it useful. Anyone who has an issue with registering should email admin@supa.ac.uk for help.
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Multidisciplinary Matchmaker
Once again the pools and innovation centres across Scotland have come together on a Multidisciplinary Matchmaker scheme. If you have a good idea but need a collaborator from another discipline to make it great, the scheme aims to connect you.
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News from our Partner Universities |
| Back in September, NASA deliberately crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid, to test whether asteroid deflection can be used to protect Earth. Now the global collaboration - including contributions from Edinburgh - are ready to report. |
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| Laser-driven ‘mirrors’ capable of reflecting or manipulating light have been produced in research led at Strathclyde. This could reduce the size of ultra-high-power lasers, which currently occupy large hanger-sized buildings. |
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| An international collaboration involving St Andrews has directly measured the mass of a single isolated star other than our own Sun, for the first time. |
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| A collaboration between Heriot-Watt, Edinburgh, industry and the NHS has won the 2022 Collaborate To Innovate Award for the medical and healthcare category, for their new device aimed at reducing the need for invasive biopsies. |
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| A major telescope upgrade has allowed astronomers to peer through to the distant Universe to map out the spectra of a pair of galaxies 280 million light years away from Earth. Over the next five years, the William Herschel Telescope will run surveys for over 500 researchers across Europe, including researchers from Edinburgh. |
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| The development of new quantum-enhanced imaging and communications technologies could be advanced after a European collaboration, including Glasgow, developed an optical manipulation technique to preserve entanglement between photons travelling through challenging conditions. |
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| Researchers in Aberdeen will work with the University of Technology Sydney on developing 3D printing approaches to shape terahertz waves, under a new SAPHIRE fund. The Scotland Asia Partnerships HIgher education REsearch Fund promotes collaboration between Scottish researchers and their Asian counterparts. |
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| Research at Strathclyde is paving the way to reducing X-ray free-electron lasers to a fraction of their current size, supporting the development of next-generation microchips and new medications, amongst other applications. |
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| Edinburgh has welcomed Stephen Roe as their Royal Society Entrepreneur in Residence. Stephen will share his science-based business experience to help colleagues explore applications of their research, develop links between researchers and business, and foster an entrepreneurial culture. |
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| Each year STEM for Britain brings early career researchers to Parliament to engage with MPs about their research. Congratulations this year to the Physics finalists from SUPA: Tiago Gomes (Heriot-Watt), Louise Finlayson (St Andrews) and Thomas Gregory (Glasgow). Congratulations also to the Engineering finalists: Abdullah Abdulaziz, Connor Bain, Ana Ribeiro and Carolina Tacchella (all Heriot-Watt). |
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| A team at St Andrews have developed anti-reflecting coatings for epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) materials that are easily fabricated and can improve the performance of applications based on ENZ-multilayer thin film stacks. |
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| Three PhD projects based at UWS were selected to be part of ISSET (International Space Station Education Trust). The students looked on as their research on plant growth in microgravity using smart sensing, worms in space, and nanoparticle activity in microgravity, travelled to the ISS. |
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| A consortium of UK astronomers, led by Edinburgh’s Institute for Astronomy, have been awarded £8m from the UK Space Agency to develop and launch an international space mission to study dark energy and dark matter in the universe. |
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| A new simple laser system powered by a cheap, shop-bought laser could help astronomers find earth-like planets, according to research at Heriot-Watt. |
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Congratulations to… |
Dr Cheryl Patrick, Edinburgh |
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Prof John C Travers, Heriot-Watt |
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The School of Physics & Astronomy,
St Andrews |
| for being re-awarded the Athena Swan Silver Award in January. |
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Prof Jim Dunlop, Edinburgh |
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Prof David Ireland, Glasgow |
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Prof Martin Evans, Edinburgh |
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Prof Derryck Reid, Heriot-Watt |
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Dr Jonathan Pritchard, Strathclyde |
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Royal Astronomical Society Awards 2023
Congratulations to all those who have won RAS Awards this year, including: Prof John Peacock, Edinburgh, who has been awarded the 2023 Gold Medal in Astronomy, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to cosmology. Dr Christopher Berry, Glasgow, who receives the Fowler Award for Astronomy, for his work on gravitational waves and his science communication contributions. |
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New Year’s Honours
Congratulations to Prof Gillian Wright, Director of the UK Astronomy Technology Centre in Edinburgh for being awarded a CBE for her services to astronomy through international missions. |
Funding |
| All of UKRI’s funding in one place, search by Council and funding type. Examples: Future Leader Fellowships, Ernest Rutherford Fellowships, travel grants, and technology readiness. |
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| A number of grants and Fellowships are either currently or shortly will be available from the Royal Society. |
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| Funding schools and colleges up to £3,000 to run investigative STEM projects in partnership with STEM professionals in academia or industry.
Open all year with multiple submission deadlines at the ends of April, June and November. |
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| Up to five years funding to recruit and attract research leaders to the UK from overseas. Researchers can be of any nationality and will be eligible to apply for a fast-track Global Talent Visa if a visa is required.
Next opening: June 2023 |
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| Provide international research leaders funding to undertake a 12 month sabbatical in a UK university.
Next opening: June 2023 |
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| The SFC funds a number of programmes administered by Interface, to connect business and Scotland’s universities in innovative collaborations. Applications must be made by the SME partner, if you don’t have an SME partner Interface can help.
Rolling scheme, no deadlines. Standard Innovation Vouchers, <£5,000 for first-time partnerships Student Placement Innovation Voucher, <£5,000 Advanced Innovation Vouchers, <£20,000 of match funding
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Public Engagement & Outreach |
| This year’s theme explores the next big questions for society! What does the future look like, how can we prepare ourselves for the challenges and opportunities ahead?
Across Glasgow, events will take place in a packed programme to be announced in May. |
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| Funding quick-response high-profile PE programmes, relating to unexpected or highly significant discoveries across STFC’s science and technology remit.
Open all year round. |
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And finally…A new era of doctoral feedback? |
One of the many changes required when the pandemic hit was providing thesis or article feedback, without making hand-written notes and handing it physically back to students.
A recent survey of doctoral students at Newcastle University has helped identify what kinds of digital feedback have been used, what students like, and importantly what they don’t like.
With a summary of the findings, and advice for supervisors, this WONKHE article discusses what needs to be left in “the before times” and what supervision now needs to look like. |
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