March 15, 2018, by Dr. Meghan Gray

Nottingham hosts the first ever Institute of Physics Technicians Event

Guest post by Dr. Nick Botterill, Facilities and Technical Manager, School of Physics and Astronomy


On 7th March, a contingent of Technical staff from the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Nottingham attended a Technicians Event hosted by the Institute of Physics on our Jubilee Campus.  Founded in 1874, this was the Institute’s first such event dedicated to Technicians in its 144 year history, and offered a fantastic opportunity for Technicians working in Physics and related areas from around the country to meet each other and the IoP and to help the IoP shape their support for the Technical workforce.

Attendees were treated to an excellent presentation by David Wilkinson, full-time IOP Regional Officer for the Midlands, which highlighted some of the incredible areas of Physics research and commercialisation in which Technicians play an instrumental role; from drug sensing honeybees to crucial components of the ATLAS experiment at CERN, David captivated the attention of all those present.

Post lunch, sessions consisted of an in depth introduction into the IOP and concluded with a consultative workshop on IoP activities for the Technical community, during which the Institute undoubtedly received rich feedback on the issues facing Physics Technicians on a daily basis.

The School of Physics and Astronomy at Nottingham are incredibly fortunate to have a truly World class Technical workforce, operating at the highest levels of expertise in areas encompassing nanofabrication to cryogenics, vacuum systems to mechanical and electrical workshops and much more besides, offering day to day support that is utterly instrumental in facilitating the high quality research and teaching output that the School is renowned for.  I am incredibly proud of my team and the work that they do, and am excited at the prospects that the IoP, the Technician Commitment and other initiatives can offer to the Technical workforce, both here at Nottingham and in the wider world of Physics.

I would like to thank Stephanie Richardson from the Institute for organising the event, and look forward to more such opportunities in the near future.

 

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