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QIP IRC Conference 2005 report
The QIP IRC conference took place on the 15-16th September 2005 at St Anne's College, Oxford. Over 70 delegates enthusiastically participated in two days of lectures and discussions focussing on the theme of the QIP IRC and the exciting science that we are engaged in together. Read more about the event as seen through the eyes of Joshua Nunn, a DPhil student in the Clarendon Laboratory at the University of Oxford:
"Physics students don't spend a lot of time talking about physics. Well, perhaps that's unfair; we spend all day talking about our physics - discussing technical problems. But it is refreshing to take some time out to consider the wider context of our research. September's QIP conference afforded me a welcome opportunity to hear about the projects being undertaken in the rest of the IRC.
The stability and compactness of semiconductor technology make the solid state implementation of QIP an obvious focus for future development: as a member of an optics research group, it is always illuminating to talk to materials scientists, who are just beginning to bring the full might of industry to bear on questions exploring the quantum mechanical nature of advanced materials.
During the poster session I found myself exchanging ideas over a cup of tea and a jammy dodger with many whose publications have already made them celebrities within the field. I find the warmth and approachability of these busy people remarkable; it is this kind of event that helps to maintain the sense of community which seems to pervade the discipline. The invited lectures were also fascinating, particularly those expositing theoretical results, many of which are quite general, though the infuriating difficulty of quantum mechanics never fails to come through.
It's good to see the other students working within the IRC at the meetings, whose faces are now becoming familiar. The free meals are the clincher though. If you smuggle out enough canapes, the QIP conferences provide quite enough food to last the year." (Joshua Nunn, September 2005)
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