Today marks the official opening ceremony of ICHEP 2020, and we would like to welcome you all - don’t miss the ceremony on Zoom or YouTube starting at 15:30 CEST. We have a number of very special guests to open the conference including the world famous musician Peter Gabriel!"
Message from the Director: Genius Loci
Conferences are organised all over the world. Every organiser tries to showcase the local environment, the genius loci, as part of the conference atmosphere, be it nice excursions, concerts, or dinners. Many impressions (both pleasant and unpleasant) come naturally when travelling, finding places to eat, to visit, etc. I will never forget my first dinner in Seoul during ICHEP2018. The octopus looked fantastic till its first bit reached my mouth. This was literally a breathtaking experience. My tears sprinkled and I swore I would not order anything but hamburger from now on. After watching other visitors I discovered that mixing with rice is the trick and I enjoyed delicious Korean cuisine for the rest of my visit.
Those of us who have attended previous conferences all have similar experiences. This time however, you will be protected at home - but also deprived from gaining an experience linked to Prague: No problems with taxi drivers but no Pilsner beer either; and no strolls along the Charles bridge (exceptionally empty at the moment). We have already advertised a virtual Prague walk with drawings by Jan Hladky - if you have not taken a look yet click here and walk through the narrow streets of the Old Town or the Lesser Quarter while listening to Smetana’s Vltava/Moldau.
Public Talk by Barry Barish - 20:00 CEST today
There will be a public talk by Barry Barish on “Understanding our Universe with Gravitational Waves” at 20:00 CEST this evening. The talk will be available on YouTube, and we invite you, and your friends and family to watch.
Plenary Sessions and Panel Discussions
Plenary sessions make up the second week of ICHEP, with the premiere sessions on Monday and Tuesday beginning at 15:30 CEST to be convenient for attendees based in the Americas. Panel discussions have been organised for every plenary session - the aim of these discussions is to give more time for questions and answers related to the talks from each plenary session. We would like to ask the audience to prepare questions in advance and place them on Mattermost, though live questions from the audience will still be possible during the panels. The panel discussions start on Tuesday, after the replay session for Plenary I - please check the Agenda for the topics of the discussion rooms and also for the Zoom links.
Recommended by... Atsuko K. Ichikawa, Kyoto University, T2K spokesperson
"I would listen to "Accelerators, R&D" by Dr. Vladimir Shiltsev. It will be a good opportunity to know the status and prospects of future high energy accelerators."
Recommended by... Freya Blekman, Vrije Universiteit Brussel
“ICHEP is one of the conferences that have so many parallel sessions that I never get to attend all the talks I want to. It is great to have the plenary sessions to get the overview, but normally physicists also discuss those results amongst each other, and that is definitely where I usually learn most. I am delighted that the ICHEP organisers have organised discussion sessions where more questions can be asked, and encourage everyone, and particularly early career scientists, to submit their questions in advance. I do not have much choice which of the first discussion sessions on Tuesday to attend, but I am very much looking forward to the second Plenary II discussion session on astroparticle physics and dark matter.”
ICHEP Interview: Jaroslav Trnka, UC Davis
Jaroslav Trnka is a Professor in the Theory Group at UC Davis. He was presented the Young Scientist Prize at ICHEP 2018 and in this video he talks about the prize; together with his early life and career in Prague, his current work, and his thoughts on recent results and developments in the field. We are very happy that Jaroslav agreed to convene the Formal Theory Session at ICHEP2020.
View of an early career scientist: Shanette De La Motte
"I am a PhD student, working on Belle II, at the University of Adelaide, Australia. My supervisor raves about how important talks at ICHEP conferences are, so I was super excited when my poster abstract was not only accepted, but converted to a 3 minute talk! In addition to this, attending the diversity streams has been very informative, and I now have heaps of ideas to help support inclusion within my collaboration.
Would definitely recommend applying to present a poster or a talk to other PhDs – you may not feel like you know a lot of physics when compared to your supervisors, but when you share it with someone new at a conference, you’re reminded that you actually are an expert on your own work!"
