BLCS Annual Meeting 2022: abstract submission now open

The BLCS Annual Meeting 2022, will take place 11-13 April in Bristol at the University of the West of England, Frenchay Campus. As always, the BLCS conference will be foremostly a platform for young researchers, whether PhD students or early career researchers, to present their work to an expert audience.

This year we are looking forward to welcoming you in person and in addition we are encouraging everyone to think outside the box for their presentation and consider

  • New and unusual applications of liquid crystal research.
  • Liquid crystals beyond low molecular weight.
  • Liquid crystals as art
  • How to make liquid crystals interesting for non-experts

Abstract submissions for both oral and poster presentations are now open with specific details on how to submit an abstract on the conference website.

Deadline for abstract submission: Saturday 12 March 2022

 

 

Date for the diary: BLCS Annual Training Workshop: June 15-17, 2022, Birmingham.

We are pleased to announce the next edition of the British Liquid Crystal Society (BLCS) Annual Training Workshop will be held at the University of Birmingham from 15-17 June 2022.

The workshop, being funded by the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), is intended to provide education and training for the next generation of researchers in the highly interdisciplinary area of liquid-crystal research, highlighting its recent advances in the wider context of soft and biological matter.

The 2022 event will be held as a physical event in the summer. The three-day event will start at noon on the 15th June and finish in the late afternoon of the 17th, and will include lectures, practical training sessions and a mini-symposium “Liquid-Crystal Research in the 2020s”; the mini-symposium will discuss emerging questions and open problems in liquid-crystals research and at its interfaces. The workshop is intended for early-stage researchers (primarily PhD students, but also post-doctoral research associates and researchers in industry, who are relatively new to the field of liquid-crystal research, irrespective of their academic disciplines) and can offer limited number of places.

For further details and to register your interest please download this Expression of Interest form. Note the deadline for expressions of interest is 28 February 2022. There are no registration fees for accepted participants.

Programme
The final programme will be made available here in due course. The list of speakers confirmed so far is as follows:

  • Dr Dwaipayan Chakrabarti
  • Prof. Cliff Jones
  • Prof. Apala Majumdar
  • Prof. Georg Mehl
  • Prof. Nigel Mottram
  • Dr Mamatha Nagaraj
  • Prof. Jon Preece
  • Prof. Mark R. Wilson
  • Prof. Julia Yeomans

The 2022 call for BLCS Prizes and Medals

We are delighted to announce the opening of the 2022 call for BLCS Prizes and Medals. The British Liquid Crystal Society is calling for nominations for the below listed society awards. All nominations must be sent to the Secretary (contact details and advert can be viewed here) by the deadline of Thursday 27th January 2022. Society awards:

  • W. Gray Medal
  • Hilsum Medal
  • BLCS Young Scientist Prize
Please see the advert and the BLCS website for full rules on each award here.

Calls for nominations to the steering committee 2021

At the next BLCS annual meeting in Aberdeen 2021 we are looking for nominations for Secretary, Treasurer, Communications Officer and for Ordinary members onto the steering committee.

Nominations for committee must be sent to the Secretary by 15th June 2021. Both nominees and nominators should be members of the Society and permission of the nominee must be obtained. Nomination forms are on the last page of this letter which you can download from this link: committee nominations.

I would encourage you all members to consider nominating for this great opportunity. For further details of current committee members you can view the Information Pages.

BLCS Annual Meeting 2021: abstract submission and registration now open

The BLCS Annual Meeting 2021, will take place online 21st-24th June 2021. This year for the first time the annual meeting of the BLCS will be a virtual meeting (due to the global pandemic), with chairs from the University of Aberdeen.

Abstract submission for both oral and poster presentations and Registration are now open via the conference website.

**New Extended Deadlines**

  • Deadline for abstract submission: Mon 7 June 2021
  • Deadline for late registration: Sun 20 June 2021

Important:

If you had registered previously for BLCS 2020, you should have received an email from our colleagues at CPD services regarding full or partial refunds and registration for this year: do not register again until you’ve spoken to CPD services! If you have not received the email and believe you should have, please get in touch with them directly at cpdservices@abdn.ac.uk. Please resubmit an abstract via the website even if you submitted one previously.

For those who did not register last year: More information can be found at our website https://www.blcs2020.org

Registration fees are: £20 (students) and £30 (non-students).

 

Date for the diary: BLCS Annual Training Workshop: January 7-8, 2021 online

EPSRC logo
The next workshop in the British Liquid Crystal Society (BLCS) Annual Training Workshops series will be held on an online platform on 7-8 January 2021.
The two-day event will include a mixture of “live” and pre-recorded lectures, discussion hours and modelling training sessions, and a mini-symposium. The workshop is intended for early-stage researchers (primarily PhD students, but also post-doctoral research associates and researchers in industry, relatively new to the field of liquid-crystal research, irrespective of their academic disciplines). The workshop when held in traditional setup can offer only limited number of places.

For further details and to register your interest please download this Expression of Interest form. Note the extended deadline for expressions of interest is 16th December 2020.

Programme
The final programme will be made available here in due course. The list of speakers confirmed so far is as follows:

  • Dr Dwaipayan Chakrabarti
  • Prof. Cliff Jones
  • Prof. Apala Majumdar
  • Prof. Georg Mehl
  • Prof. Nigel Mottram
  • Dr Mamatha Nagaraj
  • Prof. Jon Preece
  • Prof. Ivan Smalyukh
  • Prof. Gordon Tiddy
  • Prof. Mark R. Wilson
  • Prof. Julia Yeomans
  • Prof. Marjolein Dijkstra

The 2021 call for BLCS Prizes and Medals

We are delighted to announce the opening of the 2021 call for BLCS Prizes and Medals. The British Liquid Crystal Society is calling for nominations for the below listed society awards. All nominations must be sent to the Secretary (contact details and advert can be view here) by the deadline of Wednesday 20th January 2021. Society awards:

  • G.W. Gray Medal
  • C. Hilsum Medal
  • BLCS Young Scientist Prize
Please see the advert and the BLCS website for full rules on each award here.

Congratulations to Professor Apala Majumdar who wins a Suffrage Science award for Mathematics

Prof Apala Majumda

Prof Apala Majumda

We are very pleased to learn that Professor Apala Majumdar has won a Suffrage Science Award for 2020 Maths and Computing. Dr Nina Snaith, University of Bristol, on her nomination of Professor Apala Majumdar, University of Strathclyde said: “Apala does outstanding research in liquid crystals and partially ordered materials. She stands out because of the vast array of collaborations she maintains, from pure mathematicians to projects with industry. Her absolute dedication to mathematics has led to a brilliant and prolific output of interdisciplinary work.” For the full story please follow this link to the EurekAlert news release.

BLCS Student Hardship Fund

The BLCS Student Hardship Fund aims to support PhD students near the end of their studies whose project has been delayed by Covid-19 and who have run out or are about to run out of funding. The fund is to be considered as a last resort, to be used if no other funding support, e.g. from research councils, is available. The fund is time limited. Applications will not be possible after the end of October 2021, but the fund may be extended should the need arise.

For full details of eligibility and application process, please read the following linked document: HardshipFund-201029.