QUASAR Group makes major contributions to the Euro Science Open Forum (ESOF) 2014

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The EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF2014) gathered thousands of researchers, politicians, entrepreneurs, business representatives and journalists for presentations and discussions of new science and research policy in Copenhagen, Denmark between 21-26 June 2014. QUASAR Group leader Prof. Carsten P. Welsch has a long history in contributing to this important biannual science outreach event and was invited to organize three sessions at this year’s ESOF.

QUASAR contributions started on Sunday 22nd June when Dr. Rob Ashworth and LA³NET Fellow Jakob Krämer were joined by Michael Budde from Danfysik and oPAC Fellow Daria Astapovych from CERN to speak about training within International Training Networks. These insiders from network training described the university coordinator viewpoint, the industry perspective and the experiences and expectation of early career researchers. In this way the functioning of these most advanced learning programs was explained. The presentations were made to a packed hall in the fine settings of the Carlsberg Museum in Copenhagen stimulating a range of questions about the networks, how they are managed and the impact.

Later in the week Prof. Welsch led two sessions on accelerating researcher training and green technologies. International training networks provide a new and unique learning experience for researchers. On the basis of three very large networks that cover research in accelerator science and technology this interactive session explained how international mobility, cross sector exposure, training through cutting edge research and participation in multi-disciplinary workshops all contribute to a unique learning experience. LA³NET Fellow Andreas Döpp from CLPU and Daria Astapovych contributed to this session together with Seamus Hegarty from CERN who provided an HR perspective on the effects of researcher training within Marie Curie Initial Training Networks. For the session on green technologies Prof. Welsch was joined by our Danfysik collaboration partners Dr. Arnd Baurichter and former CEO Dr. Bjarne Roger Nielsen, as well as Dr. Andreas Jansson from ESS. They described the important role accelerators have for science and society and how new technologies can help design and build research facilities with minimum environmental impact. All talks received very positive feedback and interesting questions from the audience.