PhD retreat to Berlin

This year the PhD students went on a self-organised two day retreat to Berlin. This involved a visit to both the BESSY II synchrotron and BER II nuclear reactor facilities which form the Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin. Spectroscopic techniques involving photons and neutrons are important to much of the work conducted at our institute for both physicists and chemists, and as such this was an ideal trip to provide insight into how these experiments are conducted. Students were able to access the heart of the synchrotron beam line, as well as gain real experience into utilising neutrons by conducing an actual measurement.

In addition to the scientific aspects of the trip, the retreat provided ample opportunity for the students to interact with each other and get to know each other better.