Participant Testimonials
I had an excellent time at BIRS. The workshop was, as might be expected, interesting and informative, but the infrastructure BIRS provides makes it so much more pleasurable. What's more, it makes it easy to concentrate on the work itself. I had a chance to work with some collaborators, and we fully expect a paper to come out of our joint work.
The workshop definitely lead to new ideas, insights and research projects. Also some new contacts and one collaboration that would not have happened without this workshop. It is very possible/likely that the workshop will have a positive impact on my job prospects but it is a bit too early to tell.
I learned a nice proof about a problem I previously published a paper on. A former student of mine and I obtained a result on a problem presented at the workshop. I had productive discussions with several people I previously did not know well.
The workshop was amazingly inspiring. This happened during the talks and the scientific questionings, but also all along during the discussions in the seminar and over the meals. The atmosphere and service that BIRS are providing are amazing, first rate for sure. I got fresh insights into an old problem (travelling salesperson on grids), due to the interaction with two other participants, one from Canada, one from Spain. It is this international collaboration from various perspectives that makes BIRS a uniquely fruitful place. A new research project may very well result from this interaction. The contact to the colleague from Canada would not have been possible otherwise, I believe.
