On the afternoon of October 6th, the 1stHUST-UoM Joint Symposium was successfully held online. Hosted by Doctor Xia Guoxing of the Department of Physics and Astronomy of The University of Manchester (UoM), the symposium’s attendees included Gary Fuller, Professor of Department of Physics and Astronomy of UoM, Toby Overton, Doctoral Student of Department of Physics and Astronomy of UoM, Cai Jianming, Vice Dean and Professor of School of Physics of HUST, Wu Qingwen, Vice Dean and Professor of School of Physics of HUST, Zheng Xiaoping, Director of Department of Astronomy of HUST, Jumpei Takata, Professor of School of Physics of HUST, Wang Yan, Associate Professor of School of Physics of HUST, Qin Qin, Associate Professor of School of Physics of HUST, Liu Yu, Doctoral Student of School of Physics of HUST, alongside more than 50 people participating in the online discussion.
Professor Gary Fuller and Professor Cai Jianming provided introductions to the schools and departments from both sides respectively, especially about student training, faculty team and scientific research achievements and other aspects pertinent to the discussion.
Professor Gary Fuller said that the study of Physics at UoM has a history of more than 150 years. Nurturing a large number of outstanding scholars, including three Noble Prize winners, the departmentis ranked 9thamong national universities and 1stin Europe according to the 2018 QS World University Rankings.The research focus of the department is on the particle physics, astrophysics, condensed matter physics, biophysics and theoretical physics and it is equipped with several scientific centers and institutes, including the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics.
Professor Cai Jianming elaborated on the recent developments of HUST School of Physics. He said that the school had introduced a large number of high-level young teachers at home and abroad in recent years, more than half of whom were under 40 years old. Nowadays, the School of Physics has three National Laboratories which have strongly supported the research of gravitational physics, astrophysics, condensed matter physics, high magnetic physics, ultrafast optics, quantum optic science, biophysics, particle physics, plasma physics, enabling them to develop rapidly. The Institute for Quantum Science and Engineering of HUST, established in early 2021, integrated the research strength and resources of HUST to form a collaborative innovation platform for interdisciplinary learning in the field of quantum science.
The topics of the symposium concentrated on astrophysics and particle physics. Under the topic of astrophysics, Professor Gary Fuller gave a report entitled "From Cloud to Pulse: Tracing the Evolution of Massive Stars", Professor Jumpei Takata introduced “Research on White Dwarf Binary System” and Doctoral Student Liu Yu presented "Binary Black Hole merging with Large Economy and Orbital Precision". Under the topic of particle physics, Associate Professor Qin Qin made a speech themed “Rare Inclusive B Decays in the Belle II era”, Doctor Xia Guoxing gave a presentation about “Advanced Wakefield Experiment at CERN” and Doctoral Student Toby Overton introduced “Dielectric Wakefield Accelerator at Daresbury Lab”.
As the symposium drew to a close, the two sides conducted an in-depth discussion aboutfuture joint seminars, scientific cooperation and student exchange programs. Professor Gary Fuller and Doctor Xia Guoxing said that the 2+2 undergraduate exchange program between HUST and UoM laid a solid foundation for both sides, and that UoM looked forward to receiving more excellent HUST undergraduates. Professor Cai Jianming and Associate Professor Wang Yan said that they hoped both sides could expand their discussion and carry out more frequent and extensive cooperative activities in the future.
