Second year PGR Connor Sait talks about his experience at ‘Quantum Matter Out of Equilibrium’ summer school:
Between the 1st and 5th of September I took part in the ‘Quantum Matter Out of Equilibrium‘ Summer school in Granada, Spain. The school was the fifth of its kind and was organised by Rosario González-Férez (University of Granada), Igor Lesanovsky and Beatriz Olmos (University of Nottingham).
My research with Janet Anders and Simon Horsley involves the application of quantum non-equilibrium techniques to the theory of ferromagnetic materials, so the school was a great opportunity for me to meet new people who use similar techniques, and learn from their understanding and experience. I learned a lot from the lectures that took place and it really helped me to both solidify my own understanding of certain concepts, and broaden my perspective of the field. The lectures were a mixture of theory and experimental talks and were pitched at a good level for somebody at the early to middle stages of their PhD in a related topic.
I also made a number of friends from several European groups in the field – people from places like the CANES CDT (Kings College London) and the theoretical and computational physics groups at the Technical University of Berlin. Talking with the other PhD students, I was able to resolve many of my questions and correct misunderstandings in a casual and relaxed manner. By giving me a better understanding of the research my peers in the field are conducting, the event has also helped me to feel more comfortable with my own research and identify where it fits in, and contributes to the wider physics community.
Early in the event I gave a poster presentation in the poster session, which was a great chance to ask others about their work and to learn how to communicate my own research. We later enjoyed a conference dinner together, and visited La Alhambra, a mesmerising palace and fortress with a medieval Islamic design.
It was a great experience and a fantastic way to wrap up my first year here at the Exeter Metamaterials CDT.