International Association of Physics Students

The International Association of Physics Students (IAPS) is a non-profit umbrella organization for physics students associations. Its official seat is in Mulhouse, France in the headquarters of the European Physical Society. It was founded in 1987 in Debrecen, Hungary.[1]

International Association of Physics Students
AbbreviationIAPS
Formation1987
HeadquartersMulhouse
Location
Official language
English
President
Duarte Graça
AffiliationsEuropean Physical Society
Websitehttp://iaps.info

Introduction

IAPS is an association of physics students and student societies from around the globe, working to promote peaceful collaboration amongst its members. These are represented by national and local committees, who meet regularly to ensure the relevance of activities. Since 1987, IAPS has worked continuously to support friendly relations and collaboration between physics students. The group supports its members in their academic and professional work by discussing and acting on scientific, social and cultural issues. IAPS is a recognised non-governmental organisation run entirely by students from around the world.

IAPS runs an annual International Conference of Physics Students (ICPS), one of the biggest student organized conferences in the world. IAPS also organizes visits to global research institutions such as CERN or Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, international physics competitions, summer schools, exchange programmes and multinational meetings.

On a daily basis, IAPS is run by an Executive Committee, which is elected at the Annual General Meeting (AGM), held during the ICPS with the participation of all member societies. Most of the activities are run through the help of student volunteers, whose collaboration is necessary to ensure that all activities are offered at prices that allow participation from countries with weaker economies.

Throughout its existence, IAPS has been accumulating a number of partnerships with several international organizations. Between the most long-standing collaborators stand the European Physical Society (EPS) and the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP). IAPS continuously pursues collaborative partnership efforts with other organizations to have a positive impact in the global scientific community.[2]

Structure

IAPS is run by an Executive Committee, which is elected at the Annual General Meeting (AGM). IAPS members may be national physics student organisations, called National Committees (NC), physics student association localised at one university or city, called Local Committees (LC) and individual members (IM) if none of the before are present where one studies. In a broad sense, all the members of NC-s and LC-s, as well as IM-s, are members of IAPS. Membership costs are calculated for each applicant based on the type of committee and the applicant country's GDP.

Executive Committee

The IAPS Executive Committee (EC) is currently composed of 9 students, elected between representatives of the different member societies. The 2018/19 EC is composed of:[3]

TitleNameNationalityAffiliation
PresidentJyri GenralFinlandUniversity of Jyväskylä
TreasurerMargaret RosenbergAustriaUniversity of Vienna
SecretaryAugustin OreškovićCroatiaUniversity of Zagreb
Membership and Alumni ManagerAnna VarstedDenmarkUniversity of Copenhagen
Events ManagerOwen HigginsIrelandUniversity of Liège
PR ManagerEetu RimoFinlandUniversity of Helsinki
IT manager & Data Protection OfficerMogens Henrik FromDenmarkUniversity of Southern Denmark
Outreach ManagerLuka Cavaliere LokasCroatiaUniversity of Zagreb
Vice-President / Advocacy and Recruitment ManagerDuarte GraçaPortugalUniversity of Porto

National Committees[4]
Member NationOrganisation
AustriaBasisgruppe Physik der TU Graz
CanadaCanadian Association of Physicists (CAP)
CroatiaStudentska sekcija Hrvatskog fizikalnog društva
FinlandSuomen Fysiikanopiskelijat ry
GermanyDeutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft
Greece Hellenic Physical Society, Students Department
HungaryMagyar Fizikushallgatók Egyesülete (Mafihe)
ItalyAssociazione Italiana Studenti di Fisica (AISF)
MacedoniaМакедонско друштво на студенти физичари
MexicoSociedad Científica Juvenil
NetherlandsStudenten Physica in Nederland (SPIN)
NorwayNorske Fysikkstudenters Forening Trodheim
PortugalPhysis – Associação Portuguesa de Estudantes de Física
Spain Asociación Española de Estudiantes de Física (AEEF)
United Kingdom and IrelandUniversity Student Network (USN), Institute of Physics
United StatesSociety of Physics Students (SPS), American Institute of Physics

Local Committees[4]
Member NationOrganisation
Ankara, TurkeyMiddle East Technical University Physics Society
Belgrade, SerbiaStudents Alliance Faculty of Physics
Bratislava, SlovakiaPhysics Correspondence Seminar
Bucharest, RomaniaAsociatia Studentilor Fizicieni din Universitatea Bucuresti (ASFUB)
Copenhagen, DenmarkAssociation of Physics Students of the University of Copenhagen (UNICPH)
Farhangian, IranFarhangian Association of Physics Students (FAPS)
Gdansk, PolandPhysics Student Research Association
Islamabad, PakistanNUST Science Society
Istanbul, TurkeyIstanbul physics Students society
Kathmandu, NepalSt. Xavier’s Physics Council
Krakow, PolandIAPS LC Krakow SKNF AGH-UST
Kyiv, UkraineAssociation of Physics Students of Kyiv National University (APSKNU)
MaltaS Cubed – the Science Students’ Society
Noida, Delhi-NCR, IndiaPhysics Society, Shiv Nadar University
New Delhi, IndiaDecoders of the Cosmic Code (DCC)
Novi Sad, SerbiaKlub studenata fizike
Odense, DenmarkAETER-Student Organization for FKF
Prague, Czech RepublicFyzikální korespondenční seminář MFF UK (FYKOS)
Stockholm, SwedenPhysics Chapter, THS
Zurich, SwitzerlandLC Zurich

Individual Members[4]

Students of physics or related subjects who do not have access to an NC or LC may join as IMs. Only IAPS members may attend IAPS events such as ICPS. Currently IAPS has around 100 individual members.

Honorary Members

The following people were elected Honorary Fellows by an IAPS AGM:

  • Sir Arnold Wolfendale
  • Sir Joseph Rotblat (Nobel Laureate), died in 2005
  • Patroklosz Budai (2005)
  • Tamás Fülöp (2005)
  • Ákos Horváth (2005)
  • Péter Lévai (2005)
  • Péter Ván (2005)
  • Jim Grozier (2008)

Programs
Group picture at the International Conference of Physics Students 2014, held in Heidelberg, Germany.

International Conference of Physics Students

ICPS International Conference of Physics Students is the International Conference of Physics Students, which is the main event of IAPS, organized yearly by one of its member committees. The purpose of the conference is to create an opportunity for physics students from all around the world to come together, to talk about science and life, to practice presenting their research and, all in all, to have a great time.

The first ICPS was organized by students of the Eötvös Loránd University, in Budapest, Hungary in the year 1986. The event had less than fifty participants, but since then, the conference has grown considerably, nowadays bringing together more than four hundred students.

The one week of the conference has its fair share of scientific, social and touristic programs. One gets a chance to listen to and give lectures on various topics in physics, to check out the laboratories of the host city, to make friends with physics students from all around the world, to get a little glimpse of the foreign cultures that gather here, and to see another part of the world.

The following list contains the venues of the ICPS conferences:

  • 2019 Cologne, Germany
  • 2018 Helsinki, Finland
  • 2017 Turin, Italy
  • 2016 Malta
  • 2015 Zagreb, Croatia
  • 2014 Heidelberg, Germany
  • 2013 Edinburgh, United Kingdom[1]
  • 2012 Utrecht, The Netherlands
  • 2011 Budapest, Hungary
  • 2010 Graz, Austria
  • 2009 Split, Croatia
  • 2008 Kraków, Poland
  • 2007 London, United Kingdom
  • 2006 Bucarest, Romania
  • 2005 Coimbra, Portugal
  • 2004 Novi Sad, Serbia and Montenegro
  • 2003 Odense, Denmark
  • 2002 Budapest, Hungary
  • 2001 Dublin, Ireland
  • 2000 Zadar, Croatia
  • 1999 Helsinki, Finland
  • 1998 Coimbra, Portugal
  • 1997 Vienna, Austria
  • 1996 Szeged, Hungary
  • 1995 Copenhagen, Denmark
  • 1994 St. Petersburg, Russia
  • 1993 Bodrum, Turkey
  • 1992 Lisbon, Portugal
  • 1991 Vienna, Austria
  • 1990 Amsterdam, Netherlands
  • 1989 Freiburg, Germany
  • 1988 Prague, Czechoslovakia
  • 1987 Debrecen, Hungary
  • 1986 Budapest, Hungary

Excursions

Since its foundation, IAPS has organised several trips to international research facilities, either directly or through its member societies.

iaps2CERN

IAPS yearly organises annual tours to CERN, in Geneva (Switzerland). The highly successful iaps2CERN programme usually has approximately 40 participants, representing up to 20 different nationalities. The tour usually comprises visits of the CERN exhibitions, some of the experiments currently accessible and also a visit of the United Nations offices in Geneva.

International Physics Competitions

PLANCKS is an annual international physics contest for bachelor and master students. It is usually a three day event and can include in addition to the competition itself scientific program like a symposium and excursions, as well as social events and the award ceremony. PLANCKS is arranged by different IAPS member committees.[5]

In May 2014, the A-Eskwadraat student association held the first PLANCKS edition in Utrecht. Since then, it took place every year at varying places:[6]

YearLocation (host country)Winning country
2014Utrecht ( Netherlands) Netherlands
2015Leiden ( Netherlands) Netherlands
2016Bucharest ( Romania) Czech Republic
2017Graz ( Austria) Spain
2018Zagreb ( Croatia) Netherlands
2019Odense ( Denmark) Germany
2020London ( United Kingdom), online United Kingdom and  Ireland
2021Porto ( Portugal), online

IAPS also support other physics competitions, such as the Ortvay competition (organised by the Hungarian NC) and International Physics Tournament.[2]

References
  1. Jim Grozier (2010). "History of IAPS (Made in Hungary)" (PDF). European Physical Society. Retrieved 2017-01-06.
  2. IAPS Official Website, International Association of Physics Students, 2015-11-01
  3. IAPS EC, International Association of Physics Students, archived from the original on 2016-12-17, retrieved 2017-01-06
  4. "List of {IAPS} Members". {iaps}. 2013-11-16. Retrieved 2017-09-03.
  5. https://www.iaps.info/plancks/what-is-plancks/
  6. https://www.iaps.info/plancks/previous-plancks/
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