Participant Testimonials
BIRS provided a perfect surrounding for an intense meeting with a not-too-large, not-too-small number of scientists from around the world. The conference room is superb: the rounded rows of comfortable seats enable a perfect view to the screen and the speaker and encourages discussions since people in the audience can see each other! All technical facilities, like WIFI access, projector, recording devices are more than up-to-date and the staff is incredibly helpful and well-organized. Whenever I have the chance to take part (or even co-organizes a meeting?) in an event at BIRS, I'll be there again!
Dept. of Experimental Physics, Saarland University
I had the opportunity to interact with international researchers who have worked on similar research problems. I enjoyed the discussions that provided me with new avenues to pursue in my research program. I am a junior faculty member who will soon need outside letters of support for my tenure file. This meeting provided me with the opportunity to present my research findings and interact with the leading experts in the field I work in. I know the impact of this meeting will be significant in my academic career.
I had a brilliant time at BIRS and would like to extend my thanks to all those involved with the organization of the week. The talks were interesting and the extended discussion periods after each two talks I felt were a particularly good idea, given how well the audience participated. Whilst not directly impacting on my research now, there were a number of useful conversations I had, which have given me possible ideas for future research, and the chance to make face-to-face contact with many people of whom I have read journal articles and reviews was excellent.
Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London
The workshop was exactly the right setting to present some interesting results we had in the near past, as I met exactly a group of people that struggles with some issues that we can hopefully help to solve with our approach. The intense discussions that followed my talk told me that we are on the right track and should continue working in this direction.
I've been to meetings at BIRS before, but somehow this one was more intense and more focused than before. Pretty much all of the participants got fully involved in all aspects of the workshop (including the discussion sessions) and the week just flew by in a rush of scientific discussions and presentations. The talks are all very good and even the one which wasn't really quite aligned to the workshop theme (not the organisers' fault as the speaker changed topic at the last minute) was interesting. The facilities in BIRS and the Banff Centre were, as always, excellent and the food outstanding. There was some confusion about streaming and/or recording or the presentations, but this is a very minor point. The meeting was one of the best I've ever attended and has already lead to new scientific contacts (and, just as important, renewing of old ones) which will, I am sure, lead to new (and renewed) scientific collaborations in the future.
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Strathclyde
