International PLANKCS competition to bring together world's top physics students at the UAB
The top students in physics from around the world, including a group formed by students from the UAB, will meet on 3 May at the UAB Faculty of Science too participate in the final stage of the PLANCKS competition, the most important of its kind to be held in Spain. The activities include visits to cutting-edge research centres and conferences such as one by Anne L'Huillier, winner of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics.
The best physics students from around the world will meet in early May at the UAB to participate in the finals of the PLANCKS competition, the most prestigious international physics competition.
Every year, countries around the world choose their best undergraduate and master's physics students, who face each other in a grand final. The event is organised by the Student Group of the Spanish Royal Society of Physics (GdeE-RSEF). This year, the meeting will be held in Barcelona and will bring together 200 students from teams from 30 different countries, one of them from the UAB. Of the 140 teams that participated in Spain, four of them have won a pass to the Plancks final: "Txistorra" from the Polytechnic University of Valencia, which won gold in the preliminary; "Oppenhomies Beta+" from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, which came in second place; "PSIsicos" from the University of Valladolid, third place; and 'Plock' from the Autonomous University of Madrid.
The meeting, which is organised in collaboration with the UPC and the Universitat de Barcelona, will take place between 1 and 5 May, and the grand final of the competition will be hled on Saturday 3 May at the Faculty of Science of the UAB. The final will consist of a 3-hour multidisciplinary exam. Throughout the 5 days of the event there will be visits to Catalan scientific centres, such as the Alba Light Synchrotron and the Barcelona Supercomputing Centre, and round tables and talks with personalities in the field of physics from around the world. Highlights include a c onference by Anne L'Huillier, winner of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics, and lectures by Professor Alicia Sintes of the University of the Balearic Islands, and Barbara Buades, PhD at the Institute of Photonic Sciences and CEO of the company Meetoptics.