Regular get-togethers are important events for the CSE staff (life sciences, physics, engineering and chemistry), who work across two sites that are 170 miles apart - RAL in Oxfordshire and Daresbury Laboratory in Cheshire. The 2019 venue for the get-together event meant a 4 hour coach journey for the RAL contingent and as soon as they arrived, lunch was served before the day began in earnest with three panel sessions focussed on the three main "business lines" of the Division: CoSeC, the work with the Hartree Centre, and the collaborations with large experimental Facilities. Barbara, Michael Seaton and Gilberto Teobaldi described what CoSeC is all about. In Gilberto's entertaining talk, he drew an analogy between the experience of scientists constantly needing to stretch out into the unknown in order to push the boundaries of knowledge, with that of a small child learning to walk by wanting to reach and grab a toy - they really wanted it which helped them overcome the minor inconvenience of falling on their backsides - a lot!In the session on the Hartree Centre, the group leaders of the chemistry, engineering, and biology groups talked about the birth of the Hartree Centre and the plethora of industrially-focussed projects that have since ensued. In the third panel session about working with the facilities, Leandro Liborio, Chin Yong and Tom Burnley talked about their experiences of working with experimentalists at the STFC large experimental Facilities, including tips on how to overcome "language" barriers typically encountered when engaging with interdisciplinary science.
Interspersed with the three panel sessions was the hands-on activity of the day. This activity, devised by Stephen Longshaw, was to build a coherent picture of the breadth of science and technology undertaken by CSE, which, in the near future will result in an all-encompassing Science Story with rich data infographics. In this activity, everyone had to find a place for their recent or current projects on a lengthscale, timescale and enabling technology chart, by means of colourful post-its and sticky dots. The chart quickly became very colourfully bespeckled by a multitude of dots, and Stephen is now busy working on the data gathered.
The day's activities were completed by Nicole Holzman talking about mental training, an area she is well-qualified in - being the current world champion of the womens' Canne De Combat. Finally, Paul Durham gave a post prandial talk 'The CCPs and the People Who Made Them' where the staff learnt about the people who built the collaborative computational projects (CCPs), networks of researchers that are still going strong after 45 years since their inception. Paul also paid homage to recently deceased Professor Emeritus Philip Burke CBE FRS MRIA, who was credited with inspiring the creation of the CCP model.
The second day began with another interactive 'sandpit' session designed (by Dawn Geatches) to encourage cross-group collaborations on projects staff found close to their hearts. Many post-it notes, cups of tea and coffee and two hours later, four groups produced five potential inter-disciplinary projects, including an outline of the Challenge, Approach and Benefits/Impact of each project. These span a number of subjects, from medicine to engineering, and the initial discussions we had have now paved the way for the development of further ideas over the next few months.
The Away Days were brought to a close by a final panel session about STFC staff promotion mechanisms, a wrap-up discussion, and following lunch we departed and went our separate ways back to our labs. It was good to re-connect across the community and the two sites and there will be further efforts to bring us closer together, if not physically then at least in silico - watch this space ....
