Physics PG-­‐SSLC Minutes 19th October 2012 Physics PG-­‐SSLC Minutes of the meeting held on 19th October 2012, MAS 2.04 1. Welcome and Apologies Present: Nessa Saniee (Chair), Rosie Grayburn (Secretary), Catarina Casteleiro, James Mudd, Nixon Yu, David Patchett, Kevin McAughey, Robert Cook, Charlotte Wallace, Sanam Goel, Eddy Larkin, Neil Wilson, Mark Hadley, Danny Steeghs, Valery Nakariakov, Geetha Balakrishnan, Susan Tatlock, David Kersh, Rory Baggott, David Armstrong, Rachel Tunnicliffe, Simon Walker, Ray Ryan, Gregory Brown, Maria Vlachov, Evelyn Toalster, Stephen Day, Yavor Arnaudov Apologies: Robin Ball, Anna Chowcat 2. Minutes of the Last Meeting a) Agreement of Minutes •
The minutes of the last meeting were agreed to be correct and accurate. b) Matters Arising •
PGCert Transferable Skills event has not yet been organised o
Before this event is organised the department will make the policy on transferable skills consistent o
The event will be for first years and any one else who is unfamiliar with the PGCert •
Milburn House request for water dispenser now lies with the staff in charge of the groups at MH. •
Juno/Athena SWAN committee members will be elected at the end of this meeting and will attend future PG-­‐SSLC meetings. 3. Pigeon Holes •
With new PG students and staff starting this year there were no longer enough individual pigeonholes for everyone. Without consultation with the PG-­‐SSLC, PG pigeonholes were replaced with alphabetised pigeonholes. Concerns were raised as to the suitability of this new arrangement with regarding the amount of extra work involved in sorting and retrieving mail, the lack of space for PGs who mark lab books and privacy. Physics PG-­‐SSLC Minutes 19th October 2012 • The SSLC suggested to Mark Hadley that pigeon hole buddies could be implemented, similar to those used in Chemistry, so everyone shares their space with one other person. PG students will be consulted on whether this is a better arrangement. Alternative arrangements for students who mark lab books will be sought. 4. Dancing Classes on the Concourse •
Noise, vibration and access problems arising from use of the Concourse as a dance practice area have been reported again. This was a problem last year as well but there is not much that can be done, as it is not a Physics controlled area. •
If these dancers are disturbing experiments, supervisors should be contacted in the first instance. •
The new SU Societies Officer, Silkie Cragg will be contacted regarding the issue. 5. Careers Events •
The new Careers Advisor for Physics, Ray Ryan, was introduced to the committee and highlighted some events and services the careers service can offer. o
Ray holds individual careers appointments in the MAS building on Thursdays, which can be booked through My Advantage. Other appointments are at University House o
There will be some careers events organised by the IoP. o
The SSLC suggested that events tailored to Science PGs are of primary interest to our students. o
A PG Physics Careers event may be organised by the SSLC involving Physics PG alumni. 6. Social Events •
Laser Quest, 24th October – contact the Social Secretary if you want to go! •
There was a good turn out of 40 people at the last PG Seminar. If this continues then both pizza and drinks can be provided from now on. •
The drinks reception for new PGs went down really well and was a lively event. It was suggested that next year it could be held in the common room. 7. Any other business •
Library matters o
The IEEE journal is still not accessible for some students o
Article Reach is a new service which sources otherwise unobtainable articles from members of a consortium to which the library is now a part of Physics PG-­‐SSLC Minutes 19th October 2012 o The new Encore search engine was reported to work well. •
PG-­‐SSLC Elections. It was decided that Group Reps now have the job of finding speakers for the PG Seminars from their groups. The following people were elected to the Physics PG-­‐SSLC committee. There is still no representative from the Theory group. o
Chair – James Mudd o
Secretary – Robert Cook o
Social Secretary – David Patchett o
PG Seminar Coordinator – Gregory Brown o
International Rep – Sanam Goel o
Astro Group Rep – David Armstrong o
Condensed Matter Group Rep (upper floors) – Nessa Saniee o
Condensed Matter Group Rep (lower floors) – Yavor Arnaudov o
MAS Building Rep – David Kersh o
Particle Group Rep – Eddy Larkin o
CFSA Group Rep – Rory Baggott o
Milburn House Rep – Evelyn Toalster o
Juno/Athena SWAN Committee Members – Charlotte Wallace and Kevin McAughey 8. Next Meeting 7th December 2012, MAS 2.04