IOP Groups
Mathematical and Theoretical Physics Group
Newsletter, 1 May 2007
Contents:
Welcome
Report on the 2006 AGM
Announcement of forthcoming group meetings
Announcements of other meetings of interest to group members
Report on recent meetings
Bursary scheme
Calls for proposals
Current committee membership
Welcome
This is the first newsletter of the IoP Mathematical and Theoretical Physics Group in 2007. Its main purposes are to report on the AGM held in December, to announce three new group meetings and to advertise details of the bursary scheme the group is operating this year for early-stage researchers.
Report on the 2006 AGM
Last year’s AGM was held as part of the meeting Themes at the Interface of Physics and Representation Theory , City University, 11-15 December 2006 (see report below) and despite a good attendance at the scientific meeting, the AGM failed to be quorate, with only 4 members of the required 12 present. According to the Institute’s bylaws, the AGM was adjourned and held a week later and was automatically quorate. The minutes of this meeting are given below. At the AGM, two long serving members left, Prof R Gregory and Prof J Marklof, and one new member was elected. Subsequently, two further members have been co-opted to the committee and the full committee is given at the end of the newsletter. We will again be looking for more committee members at this year's AGM. If you are interested to participate in the committee, please feel free to get in touch with us.
Minutes of the 2006 AGM, 20 December, King's College London
Present members: G Watts
The meeting had been scheduled for 13 December but had been adjourned as inquorate because only four group members were present. The meeting started at 15.00 pm
- Apologies were received from the old and new committee members.
- The minutes of the previous AGM were approved
- The chair reported that changes to the funding system meant that the group will be spending more time organising its own meetings and less able to support external meetings, and that the group will be setting up a bursary scheme to enable early-stage researchers to apply for help with attending conferences.
- Prof Ian Moss was elected honorary treasurer and Dr Christian Korff was elected as an ordinary committee member, both nem con, and to serve until 2009
5. There was no other business.
Announcement of meetings organised by the group
There are three scientific meetings organised or co-organised by the group in London coming up shortly. The meetings are open to all but do require registration. The first is a regular meeting on the interface of mathematics and physics in the area of low-dimensional quantum field theory, statistical mechanics and algebra. The second is on new developments in non-hermitian quantum mechanics and differential equations and the third is a joint meeting with the Gravitational Physics Group on low-energy quantum gravity. The details and web sites are
ICFT07, the 11th Annual UK meeting on Integrable Models, Conformal Field Theory and Related Topics
King's College London, 11-12 May 2007
http://www.mth.kcl.ac.uk/events/icft07/index.html
Registration deadline: May 10
6th International Workshop on Pseudo Hermitian Hamiltonians in Quantum Physics
City University, 16th-18th of July 2007
http://www.staff.city.ac.uk/~fring/PT/
Registration deadline: May 10
Low-Energy Quantum Gravity Workshop
University of York, 19-20th July 2007
http://winstanley.staff.shef.ac.uk/LEQG.html
Registration required.
Announcements of other meetings of interest to group members.
Programme at the Isaac Newton Institute
From July, there will be a six month programme on Strong Fields, Integrability and Strings which includes a school and two workshops which are now open for registration. For details, see http://www.newton.cam.ac.uk/programmes/SIS/index.html
STATPHYS23
Genoa 9-13 July 2007
The group recently supported the workshop
Themes at the Interface of Physics and Representation Theory
City University, 11-15 December 2006
http://www.staff.city.ac.uk/%7Era359/annex/ppm/MEETINGS/Home3.html
This week long meeting attracted very high quality talks and an audience of 65 participants from the UK and overseas. Topics covered ranged from new algebraic structures in two dimensional lattice and quantum field theory models to applications in string theory and QCD. CityUniversity provided good lecture rooms (despite occasional problems the air-conditioning freezing some while roasting others) and a decent cafeteria, and the local organisers did a very good job. The only disappointment was that only a handful of group members registered for the workshop – especially so since the AGM was incorporated in this meeting.
Bursary scheme
The Mathematical and Theoretical Physics Group offers bursaries of up to £100 to student and early-stage members to attend selected meetings. To be considered, an applicant must be:
● A member of the Institute of Physics and a member of the Mathematical and Theoretical Physics Group
● A current PhD student or a postdoctoral researcher who has obtained their PhD no longer than two years previously
● Unable to find adequate provision from any studentship, scholarship, grant or departmental funds that are available to them.
The committee welcomes suggestions of meetings for which this scheme would be appropriate.
The meetings for which bursaries are currently available are listed on the group web pages at:
http://www.iop.org/activity/groups/subject/mtp/index.html
Group members who are interested in applying should contact the Honorary Treasurer or the Honorary Secretary (see committee details below)
The Mathematical and Theoretical Physics group organises scientific meetings and occasionally other activities of interest to its members. The committee is always welcomes suggestions of topics for meetings; people interested in organising a meeting or who would like to suggest a topic suitable for a meeting are invited to contact the Honorary Secretary (Dr Uwe Grimm, u.grimm@physics.org)The group supports around 6 meetings a year on average.
The Mathematical and Theoretical Physics group also supports travel for early-stage researchers to attend conferences in the UK and abroad. Details on this year's bursary scheme are given in this newsletter.
Dr Gerard Watts (Chair) gmtw@mth.kcl.ac.uk
Dr Uwe Grimm (Honorary Secretary) u.grimm@physics.org
Prof Ian Moss (Honorary Treasurer) ian.moss@ncl.ac.uk
Dr Almut Beige a.beige@imperial.ac.uk
Prof Patrick Dorey p.e.dorey@durham.ac.uk
Dr Christian Korff c.korff@maths.gla.ac.uk
Dr Reidun Twarock rt507@york.ac.uk
Dr Nicola Wilkin n.k.wilkin@bham.ac.uk
Uwe Grimm, Honorary Secretary u.grimm@physics.org
Address:
Dr Uwe Grimm
Department of Mathematics
The Open University
Walton Hall
Milton Keynes
MK7 6AA
UK
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