Snow in Manchester?

Very cold in Manchester – me wonders if there will be a white land-scape in the morning. That would be cool. I really like snow. I have not seen it very often in my life. I was glad today to hear that Canadians get a good old laugh when the UK shuts down after a few hours of snow paralyses the country. You wouldn’t get that in Canada … and they even have bears eating people who venture out to make snow-men (don’t correct me on that point anyone, it’s a nice image … well funny at least!).

Evan

The Manchester Museum & Science Week

I really like the University’s museum here in Manchester. It is on Oxford Rd. about 2mins. walk from the Physics and Astronomy buildings. It is very nice to eat your lunch while wandering around looking at the various exhibits! From ancient Egypt to dinosaur bones to ancient money it’s all very interesting!
One nice thing I noticed today: it’s Science Week here in Manchester and in the museum there are a few people telling and showing people about magnets. I thought it was quite nice to see a small child (who couldn’t have been more than explain to one of the demonstrators what he discovered. He reckoned the North poles don’t like the South poles and they try very hard to avoid each other. He asked the demonstrator why this was … that boy might be a scientist one day me thinks …

Evan

Starting My PhD II

As I have said I start my PhD in the coming weeks. I have been having a wander around my new city and university also. I even managed to find the building in which I will be based – the Alan Turing Building. This new building will be home to the astrophysicists from Jodrell Bank Observatory, the Photon Science Institute and the Mathematics dept. The astronomers are yet to move in – August 30th is the move date I’m told and I will be rporting for duty on the following Monday, the 3rd of September. The building is quite nice* but will no doubt be much nicer once all us astro folk move in(!).

* It even has showers – it beats NUIG and Cambridge’s fancy CMS in that respect then …

Where is Evan?

There has been a bit of a delay since my last blog post. I have moved to Manchester and am waiting for the BT and Sky people to hook me up with phone and broadband facilities. Until then I am restricted to blogging in an internet cafe! More lengthy posts to follow (on Manchester, my Durham summer school and more) when I sort things out!

Evan

Manchester Irish Language Group

Inniú bhí mé ar suíomh idirlíonn den ionad teangacha ollscoil manchester. Chuardaigh mé le haghaidh cúrsaí Fraincis nó teanga an tSín, nuair a thosaigh mé ag smaoineamh faoi Gaeilge i Sasana(!). Agus cad a cheapann tú?! Tá grúpa ann i Manchester a thabhairt ranganna Gaeilge agus a eagrú imeachtaí sóisealta! Manchester Irish Language Group (Milg) is ainm dóibh. B’fhéidir nach mbeidh mé as cleachtadh le mo chuid Gaeilge i mo chathair nua!

[Today I was on the website of the University of Manchester's Language Centre. I was looking for courses in French or perhaps even Chinese, when i started thinking of the Irish Language, in England. And what do you know - there is a group in Manchester which gives Irish classes and organises social events! The group is cakked Manchester Irish Language Group (Milg). Maybe I will not be out of practice with my Irish in my new city]

Evan

Starting My PhD I

So the time is upon me: I am starting my PhD.

Technically I start on September 1st but before this I have a summer school to attend – the STFC Astronomy Summer School (STFC is the new name for PPARC – remember Swindon Town Football Club) which this year is held in Durham University. This is a week long course held annually about this time of year. There will be classes based on some of STFC’s ‘big questions‘ and most importantly a chance to meet and mix with my contemporaries across the UK. The school is attended by all UK students just commencing their PhDs in astronomy/astrophysics. I am no stranger to the hills of Durham and am looking forward to what will no doubt be a good week and a pleasant introduction to life as a researcher.
As i mentioned my PhD will then start officially from Sep. 1st. My first week will no doubt be a busy one! I will meet the other postgrads, find a desk, get my computer working, print a large stack of reading material and other such things and basically try and find my feet in my new university!
After this first week I will be heading to Bonn in Germany for a week long conference in Radio Astronomy. This looks set to be an even more hectic week(!) with many a crash course on all things radio astronomy (interferometry for dummies, aips for dummies, etc. …). Of course besides from the lectures and talks I will once more have the chance to mix with contemporaries! From looking at the participants list I can see that the crowd will be very international indeed with people from the UK, Ireland, Europe and the US in attendance as well as people from China, South Africa, Russia and plenty of places in between! Exciting stuff!
I will then return to Manchester (with a HUGE stack of work to do already no doubt!). I will then have the next 2 weeks to try and get on top of these things before I have two more conferences to attend (jumping in the deep end or what?!). In this time also, semester 1 lectures begin in the university and I will no doubt sit in on a few things. From my preliminary glances at courses online I can already see a few things that I will be interested to attend.
The next two conference will both be in Manchester (so no travel required!). The first is the ‘Modern Radio Universe’, aka MRU 2007. This conference is HUGE and is definitely a big deal with many important folk from around the globe giving talks/posters presentations/etc. The talks all look interesting and I am keen to hear about things like the Transient Radio Universe as well as the talks on Strong Field Tests of GR. I expect to be a bit lost in the midst of so many smart people but hopefully some of the genius that I will be around will rub off and I will learn as much as I can at this.
The next week sees the 2nd of the Manchester conferences. It is the 2nd meeting of the European network that my astronomy group is part of – ESTRELA. The first meeting was in January in Dwingeloo, in the Netherlands, where ASTRON and JIVE are based. At this I will meet others in this European network – both senior researchers and early stage researchers like myself. I am looking forward to this immensely as I will visiting some (all?) of the partner nodes in ESTRELA during my studies, and it will be nice to meet the people who I will be working with.
So all in all a hectic couple of months awaits me at the start of my PhD. I will be busy but I will be happy. I am excited about working in a field which interests me greatly.

Evan