Annual Gathering
The highlight of the year is the SUPA Annual Gathering, a showcase and celebration of physics in Scotland.
The 2024 Annual Gathering took place in the ARC building, University of Glasgow on 22 May 2024.
In 2023, The SUPA Annual Gathering 2023 took place at the TIC building on George Street at the University of Strathclyde. It was held on Tuesday, 16 May 2023.
In 2022, the Annual Gathering was held in person, at the John McIntyre Conference Centre, with the talks streamed online and recorded.
The 2021 Annual Gathering once again ran virtually, from 25-27 May 2021, with Keynote talks from Prof Sheila Rowan, Prof Heather Lewandowski and Prof Martin Dawson; theme Showcases of research highlights; and a social gathering in Gather, where participants could network, revisit the Showcase posters, and talk to the organisations and companies in our Exhibition area.
In 2020, the in-person Annual Gathering was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Instead, a Virtual Gathering took place from 26-28 May 2020 online, featuring guest lectures and a Showcase of research activities.
The 2019 Annual Gathering was held on Weds 29 May at the Technology & Innovation Centre, University of Strathclyde, with about 300 participants for talks, posters and an exhibition of physics impact.
Research Theme Meetings
To provide further opportunities for networking and collaboration within research themes.
Some recent theme meeting events have included:
Careers Events
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During the Careers Events, SUPA researchers, students and post-docs, heard from speakers with a range of careers, all having started with a PhD in physics. Participants could chat to each speaker, whether from academia, industry research, defence, journalism, non-research industry roles or the civil service. SUPA researchers also had the opportunity to get advice on their CV.
The last in-person Careers Event was held at Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh, on Tues 14 January 2020. In 2021, we moved our Careers support online, with a fortnight of one-to-one CV clinics, followed by a fortnight of daily lunchtime talks from our speakers, culminating in an afternoon of networking using the platform, Gather.
Since the 2021/22 academic year, we have moved to monthly lunchtime webinars. By spacing out the support, we aim to engage more students, and have more timely discussions around placement opportunities, linking up with the right organisations at the right time. Details of the upcoming webinars, and recordings of previous speakers are available on MySUPA through the course "Careers Online at Lunchtime".
SUSSP - Scottish Universities Summer School in Physics
The Scottish Universities Summer School in Physics hosts a residential physics training course every year. Information on the SUSSP schools can be found on their website.
Welcome Event
The welcome event for new SUPA students is held in October each year. This engaging day provides an opportunity to learn about the breadth and excellence of research in SUPA, to meet colleagues from other Universities and to receive advice from peers.
The 2023 Welcome Event was also online, with an additional session for students to meet others in their research theme.
The 2020 and 2022 Welcome Events were both held online, returning to in-person in 2022 in Edinburgh.
The 2019 Welcome Event was held at the Technology and Innovation Centre, Glasgow on 17 October 2019.
The 2018 Welcome Event was held in St Andrews University. Photo from 2018 Welcome
The 2017 Welcome Event was held in Discovery Point, Dundee. Programme from 2017 welcome.
The 2016 Welcome Event was held in Our Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh
Other events
Here are some other one-off events organised by SUPA to support Physics research in Scotland.
Inspiring the SUPA Community 2024
In collaboration with the Institute of Physics, SUPA held an event on International Women's Day 2024 called Inspiring the SUPA Community in the Burgh Halls in Linlithgow.
Public Engagement Forum 2021
In 2021 the SUPA community met online to showcase exemplars of public engagement activity across SUPA and Scottish Physics. SUPA provided the opportunity to hear from, and network with, the key science festivals and science centres across Scotland. Full details of the event are available on the Public Engagement Forum webpage.
SUPA Workshop on Infrared Technologies and Applications 2017
The aim of this one day workshop at Heriot-Watt University was to have a set of speakers highlighting different aspects of technologies and applications in the near to mid-infrared spectral range and to then discuss, along with industrial representatives, possible future collaborations or joint grant funding projects with EU and UK programs.
Morning and afternoon sessions on the 6 December 2017 on research and applications were followed by networking and discussions. Programme