SUSSP

History

The Scottish Universities Summer School in Physics, SUSSP, was established in 1960 by four ancient Scottish Universities (Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and St. Andrews) to contribute to the dissemination of advanced knowledge in Physics and the formation of contacts among scientists from different countries through the setting up of a series of annual summer schools of the highest international standard. The subject area of each school would be such as to reflect the research interests of one or more of these Universities. The number of Scottish Universities supporting SUSSP has increased to include Dundee, Glasgow Caledonian, Heriot-Watt, West of Scotland and Strathclyde. In the early years, one School was held annually but with the recent increase in the number of Scottish Universities, it has been possible in some years to hold two and sometimes three Schools.

Format

Each School is organised by its own Executive Committee which is responsible for inviting lecturers of international standing to contribute an in-depth lecture series on one aspect of the area being studied. The participants come from all over the world and are mostly at the post-graduate or post-doctoral stage of their careers. Schools are typically of two or three weeks duration and are held in one of the many historical beauty spots within Scotland where quiet surroundings enable participants and lecturers to interact in a relaxed and effective way. In addition to the formal programme of lectures and seminars, an extensive social programme is included to contribute to the overall informal atmosphere which has become the tradition of SUSSP.

Governing Committee

The Governing Committee is responsible for overseeing and supporting the ongoing series through the Organising Committees. The Governing Committee comprises the appointed Trustees, namely the Governing Committee Office Bearers, the Scottish Universities Physics Alliance representative for each of the eight SUPA universities (the SUPA Executive Committee) and two elected independent representatives.

Support

In addition to financial contributions from the participating Scottish Universities, SUSSP was, from the beginning, indebted to the Scientific Affairs Division of NATO for generous support through ASI awards. More recently, support has been made available by the European Commission, by the UK research councils, STFC and EPSRC, and by the Scottish Universities Physics Alliance (SUPA). From 2007, funding was also been made available through a Memorandum of Understanding between STFC, EPSRC and the European Science Foundation (ESF). There are currently no such agreements in place and the Executive Committee of each School seeks its own funding from appropriate sources.

Publications

An important aspect of each school is the wider dissemination of knowledge through the publication of the proceedings of each School in the SUSSP series. Recent editions have been published in the Scottish Graduate Series by Taylor & Francis through their CRC Press division which now markets existing titles and has assumed responsibility for volumes up to and including those of the 2009 School. From 2010, proceedings were published in the Scottish Graduate Series by Springer. Since 2014 hard copy proceedings have been replaced by audio-visual recordings posted online.

Upcoming Schools

Previous Schools