The Belgian High-School Students Internship Programme (HSSIP) has taken place in 2021. It was a unique opportunity for 24 high-school students from Belgium to be introduced to CERN, its technologies and physics.
After their internship, the 24 students are now sharing their passion of science!
A pre-internship has taken place in Ghent in sept. 21, the internship at CERN in Geneva and the post-internship event take place in Namur.
This post-internship event would be a time to share the student's projects to the Belgian scientific community. The organizing team hope it will generate inspiring stories for the next scientific generation in our country.
This is also an (outreach) scientific conference for everybody interested in science with scientists talking about the climate change, the James Webb Space Telescope, biophotonics...
As a public event promoting sciences, it is integrated in the "Printemps des Sciences" which is one of the most popular STEM event in FWB, see https://pds.unamur.be
Welcome to everybody interested in science, physics, technology, scientific research...
Welcome and introduction
The research of the Department of Physics at UNamur (which is the host of this event) is introduced by its director.
It is focused on the study of materials, radiations and their interactions and is developed within six laboratories.
https://www.unamur.be/en/sci/physics
Photonic structures found in natural organisms are very sophisticated materials, developed during millions of years through natural evolution. When they interact with light, they give rise to astonishing visual effects. Beetles' elytra as well as butterflies' wings are among the most striking examples. Investigating these natural colours allows us to understand these optical behaviours, to elucidate the related biological functions and to draw inspiration for the design and development of novel photonic materials through a bioinspiration approach.
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST, or Webb) is the new flagship mission from NASA and ESA. Webb was launched on December 25 2021 and is currently being deployed and commissioned in space. It will be orders of magnitude more powerful than previous missions with infrared "eyes". Webb will therefore push the boundaries of human knowledge even further, to the formation of the first galaxies and the horizons of other worlds. This talk will summarize the JWST mission and its instruments, including Belgian's role in them, as well as some of the exciting science that Webb will do.
Today, no doubt is left about what causes the climate change we're all experiencing. We'll show three evidences: (1) climate is changing at a very fast rate, (2) climate change is due primarily to the increase of carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere and (3) the increase of carbon dioxide is solely due to the combustion of fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas), which still constitute the main source of energy for humanity. The only way to mitigate climate change and limit the warming to the 1.5°C-2.0°C range is to reduce drastically the use of these fuels in the next decade and aim at a zero-carbon civilization around 2050. The challenge is enormous, but this is what it takes to save our planet!
Mariya Gabriel is the Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth
See also
24 Belgian students to the conquest of CERN (EN/NL/FR) written by S. Libert and M. Portier
With thanks to Ron Suykerbuyk
With thanks to Spyros Trigazis
With thanks to Markus Joos
With thanks to Pieter Everaerts and Filip Moortgat
With thanks to Brice Copy and Thomas Oulevey
CRIS Team : with thanks to Sarina Geldhof
WISArD Team : with thanks to Dinko Atanasov
With thanks to Frederik Van Der Veken and Wietse Van Goethem
With thanks to André Dziewa and Pierre Carbonez
With thanks to Patrick Thill and Anja Kranjc Horvat
With thanks to Paola Catapano