The Centre for Doctoral Training in Photonic Integration and Advanced Data Storage CDT, an exciting   partnership between the University of Glasgow and Queen’s University Belfast, held its third annual Conclave on 20^th and 21^nd of June at the GoGlasgow Hotel, Glasgow. This year, the 2017 cohort intake were responsible for the event planning and execution of the conference, with support from the CDT management team. They gained experience of balance demands from their training programme, whilst successfully prescribing an impressive event.

The conference attracted over ninety attendees – the biggest gathering for CDT PIADS’ extended network to date. The meeting was vibrant, with representation from existing industry partners and networks, key CDT academics and the CDT cohort as a whole. Ten out of the seventeen incoming 2018 cohort students were also able to attend. They were able to network, experience the atmosphere of the CDT and enhance their understanding about the programme in advance of beginning their doctoral journey this September.   

CDT PIADS proudly hosted established partners Seagate Technology, Compound Semiconductor Technologies Global, Kelvin Nanotechnology, Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology, IQE, FEI, the Knowledge Transfer Network, the Institute of Physics and recently acquired partners Technology Scotland, Axenic, Yelo, Fraunhofer Centre for Applied Photonics.

Professor Diana Huffaker, Director of the Institute for Compound Semiconductors, University of Cardiff, delivered an exceptional keynote address at the start of what was an exciting event, focusing on an update on her research portfolio and news on the Compound Semiconductor Applications Catapult.

The conference attracted financial sponsorship from the Institute of Physics Scotland and IOP National Officer Alison McLure was present to award £150 of prizes to CDT students Christopher Gough and Christopher Lambert, winners of the 2016 cohort student poster session.