What you think

Oliver Alderman
Oldfield awardee 2009

Having accepted my invite from the SGT to give a talk on my undergraduate project, I was a little apprehensive about presenting my work to an audience of experts in the field of glass.  However, after some careful preparation of my slideshow and a few practice runs I was quite confident.  It was great to give a talk to people who were interested, and who posed some nice (and not too difficult!) questions afterwards.  I was also impressed by many of the other talks given by both new researchers and veterans from both science and industry.  I was able to meet many nice people and gain contacts in relevant fields which would have been difficult to make otherwise.  Also, the food was great!

Jérémy Soulié
Paul awardee 2009

The aim of my PhD is to study the influence of several parameters (including doping and porosity) on the bioactivity potential of several glasses. The simplest way to explain my subject was a description of the chronological progress of a typical study with an example (Mg-doping). The steps of this study (that are common to materials scientists) are synthesis, characterization, evaluation of the properties and analysis of results. I also tried to give details about the specific part of my work, PIXE which is not a conventional technique.
During my talk, I had a little apprehension, but I realized that most people were at this conference to share knowledge. This impression was confirmed by interesting asked questions. To summarize, I learned many things in many fields in a nice environment and best of all, I won the Paul Award.

Dr. Richard Haworth
I would recommend all new and young researchers, in the field of glass science, attend the SGT annual conferences. The Young Researchers Forum is by far the best place you'll get to develop your oral presentation skills, as the audience is quite small and very forgiving, allowing you a chance to comfortably gain confidence at public speaking. The other presentations, given by your fellow researchers, show you the cutting edge work that is currently being undertaken, by groups that you may well end up working with in the future. The social evenings spent in the nearest pub are always immense fun, and it's only afterwards that you realise that you've actually been 'networking' - paving the way to future research collaborations, career development, and friendships.

Robert Moss, University of Kent,
Winner of the Paul Award 2008

The annual meeting at Cambridge was the second SGT conference I have attended.  I was enthused by the New research session at SGT2007 and thought it was a welcoming environment to give a conference talk.  I submitted an abstract for the Cambridge meeting so that I could take part in the young research forum.  The facilities provided by New Hall College were well laid out and provided an unintimidating setting to give a first presentation.  The audience was particularly knowledgeable and friendly, which meant that a potentially nerve racking experience actually became enjoyable.

I knew that there was a prize up for grabs, but the competition this year was high and the judges must have had a tough job.  I was very honoured to be given the Paul Award for my talk and the formal presentation at the conference dinner was a great experience.

The SGT annual meetings are definitely one of the best forums to give a presentation.  The subject area tends to be fairly broad, which means that the SGT does not only accept abstracts for presentations involving glass science and technology, but also techniques and amorphous materials in a broader sense.  This large degree of diversity means that every presentation is different and stimulates interest in a variety of areas.  I would definitely recommend the SGT meetings as a good starting point for young people looking to give a presentation in this field and with the possibility of winning a cash prize, what have you got to lose?

Got a comment to make?.... been to one of our conferences and want to have your say? Email your comments to
Lisa@glass.demon.co.uk