The University of Luxembourg together with the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) officially launched the Doctoral Programme in Physics and Materials Science (DPPM) on 23 February 2018 in Belval. This kick-off event was a great opportunity to gather 65 PhD students and scientists from the two institutions around scientific and recreational activities.
Jointly organised by the Physics and Materials Science Research Unit (PHYMS) at the University of Luxembourg and by the Materials Research and Technology Department (MRT) at LIST, the DPPM offers research training at an internationally competitive level in physics and materials science.
The kick-off event, moderated Dr Emmanuel Defay (LIST), started with a poster session. PhD students had the chance to share their research outline and results. To ensure the best judgment, a committee of specialists from the DPPM evaluated the posters.
For their outstanding work, three of them were awarded, namely: François Loyer for his poster on « Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Initiated CVD (AP-Pi CVD): Simple and Upscalable Route Toward Smart and Conformal Polymer Thin Films », Solofo Groenendijk for his poster on « Fundamental Limits to Helical Edge Conductivity due to Spin-Phonon Scattering » and Lawrence Honacker for his poster on « Microfluidics for Surface and Interfacial Tensiometry ». We congratulate the winners on their excellent work.
PhD Lawrence Honaker with Prof. Susanne Siebentritt (PHYMS) and Prof. Jens Kreisel (MRT)
PhD Solofo Groenendijk with Prof. Susanne Siebentritt (PHYMS) and Prof. Jens Kreisel (MRT)
PhD François Loyer with Prof. Susanne Siebentritt (PHYMS) and Prof. Jens Kreisel (MRT)
During the afternoon, two separate general meetings took place: one for the students and one for the supervisors. Doctoral candidates elected their representatives for the Doctoral Candidate Council while supervisors exchanged about the programme and its challenges.
Then, two guest speakers shared their viewpoints. Cornelia Denz, Professor at the Institute of Applied Physics at the University of Münster, gave a presentation on photonic lattices and described interesting effects in light-matter interaction. Johannes Hendrik Fahner, President of LuxDoc (Luxembourg’s young researchers association), presented the organisation.
Prof. Cornelia Denz (University Münster)
Johannes Hendrik Fahner (LuxDoc)
Finally, Prof. Susanne Siebentritt presented the DDPM procedures and activities for PhD students.
The kick-off event ended with the opening of a walking dinner, which was marked by fruitful discussions between the participants.