The Collaborative Computational Project for Computer Simulation of Condensed Phases1 (CCP5) held its 26th Summer School online in July this year (2021). Organised by CCP5 and sponsored by CECAM2, the School is intended for newcomers to the science of molecular simulation, and provides a comprehensive introduction to the theoretical background, practical sessions on computational methods, and research seminars to illustrate the versatility of simulation in modern research.
The number of particpants in the virtual Summer School was limited to 129 (from 16 different countries) selected from over 430 applicants. Following an introduction to the basics of programming, five days of intensive introduction to molecular simulations gave the students a thorough grounding in computational tools and methods to expand and enrich their research skills.
The final three days of the school were dedicated to specific advanced molecular simulation techniques used in the fields of electronic structure of condensed matter3, biomolecular simulations4, mesoscale5 and machine learning6.
Throughout the School students were invited to high quality research seminars, delivered by a team of esteemed scientists: Dr Chantal Valeriani (Universidad Computense de Madrid, Spain); Dr Marina Filip (University of Oxford); Elin Barrett (Unilever UK); Prof David Quigley (University of Warwick); Prof Peter Coveney (University College London); and Prof David Wales (University of Cambridge). The students were also given opportunities to present their own research, and following a long-established tradition the organisers ran a poster competition, which this year was won by Charlotte E. Breakwell from Imperial College London for her research on battery materials used for energy storage: 'Atomistic Simulations of Sulfonated Polymer of Intrinsic Microporosity (PIM) Membranes'. Charlotte's prize was a £100 Amazon voucher.
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Charlotte E. Breakwell (ICL) and her winning poster for research sponsored by Shell.
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Despite the online challenges associated with COVID-19 the Summer School organisers received very positive feedback including:
"I've taken a fair share of online courses in the past year and I must say this one is one of the best, if not the best. Everything online is usually tedious but you've managed to somehow make it not tedious. Thanks!"
"Well, thank you very much to all the organizers for this school. It was amazing, I learned a lot and enjoyed it (although online is a bit more tedious). I hope we can share again on another occasion."
Many thanks to go to the Organising Committee for yet another successful CCP5 Summer School: Dr Colin Freeman (University of Sheffield), Dr Mark Miller (University of Durham), Prof Neil Allan (University of Bristol) and Dr Alin Elena (Daresbury Laboratory, STFC). Full list of lectures, speakers, winners and timetables.
Post-pandemic, future incarnations will be a mix of in-person and virtual material, where research seminars are streamed and some lectures might adopt a hybrid format - the exact details are yet to be decided. Keep in touch with the CCP5 website for the latest information.
