The International Conference of Physics Students (ICPS) 2013 took place at Heriot-Watt's Edinburgh Campus during August.
The conference was organised by students from Heriot-Watt and hosted 270 international students from 31 different countries.
About the conference
The ICPS was established in Budapest, Hungary, 1986 to enable networking between international students and was the first conference of its kind for Physics students. ICPS takes place in a different country annually, host countries have to bid two years in advance at the AGM of the International Association of Physics Students.
Organised by students
Heriot-Watt student, Ross Donaldson, who chaired this year's event, explains how the event came to be held at Heriot-Watt: "Two years ago, I went to ICPS Budapest, Hungary, to bid for ICPS to be hosted by Heriot-Watt. I was successful with a 95% vote of confidence.
The main purpose of ICPS is to give students the chance to network with students from different countries, allowing them to make contacts all over the world. Heriot-Watt's campus environment allowed the participants to spend more time networking than in previous years.
"Over the past two years I set-up an organising committee in which up to 20 students at one time were involved in some way. All of the Heriot-Watt students were HW Physics Society members or committee members. We also had some assistance from Physics Society members from St. Andrews University. We secured sponsorship for the event from the Principal, the Annual Fund, Institute of Photonics and Quantum Sciences and the School of Engineering and Physical Sciences.
"The main purpose of ICPS is to give students the chance to network with students from different countries, allowing them to make contacts all over the world. Heriot-Watt's campus environment allowed the participants to spend more time networking than in previous years, and I would say the participants managed to network with more students and network longer because of this.
"ICPS moves to different countries every year and next year it will take place in Heidelberg, Germany. I hope that as the chairman of the 2013 conference, I can bring along some extra students next year. In 2015 it takes place in Zagreb, Croatia.
"ICPS was a great project for me. I learnt and lot and it has definitely changed the way I look at things. It was a massive success and I am grateful to everyone who was involved it making it happen."