1. Participation in the conferences
2. Science and technology in Britain
3. Environmental protection
4. Research at our university
5. International scientific cooperation
6. Research at the labs and departments of the university
7. My scientific research work
8. Research at the university
9. Lifestyle of post-graduate
10. Environmental issues
11. Science and technology in Britain
12. My research work
13. The main problems of your research
14. International conferences
15. Scientists of Belarus and environment
16. From the history of your profession
17. About myself and my research work
18. History of my specialty
19. From the history of your profession
20. Science and technology in Britain
1. Participation in the conferences
5. International scientific cooperation
14. International conferences
A scientific conference is a very important event in a researcher’s life, particularly an international meeting. Annual conferences and assemblies provide ample opportunities for everyone present to meet, to exchange opinions, discuss scientific problems of common interest and to learn about the latest achievements in science and technology. Conferences and meetings serve to promote a greater understanding and increased awareness of the subject matters.
Conferences are usually composed of various presentations. They tend to be short and concise, with a time span of about 10 minutes; presentations are usually followed by a discussion. The work may be bundled in written form as academic papers and published as the conference proceedings. Usually a conference will include keynote speakers (often, scholars of some standing, but sometimes individuals from outside academia). The keynote lecture is often longer, lasting sometimes up to an hour and a half, particularly if there are several keynote speakers on a panel.
In addition to presentations, conferences also feature panel discussions, round tables on various issues and workshops.
Prospective presenters are usually asked to submit a short abstract of their presentation, which will be reviewed before the presentation is accepted for the meeting. Some disciplines require presenters to submit a paper of about 6–15 pages, which is peer reviewed by members of the program committee or referees chosen by them.
In some disciplines it is common for presenters to read from a prepared script. In other disciplines presenters usually base their talk around a visual presentation that displays key figures and research results.
A large meeting will usually be called a conference, while a smaller is termed a workshop. They might be single track or multiple track, where the former has only one session at a time, while a multiple track meeting has several parallel sessions with speakers in separate rooms speaking at the same time.
At some conferences, social or entertainment activities such as tours and receptions can be part of the program. Business meetings for learned societies or interest groups can also be part of the conference activities.
The larger the conference, the more likely it is that academic publishing houses may set up displays. Large conferences also may have a career and job search and interview activities.
Academic conferences fall into three categories:
- the themed conference, small conferences organized around a particular topic;
- the general conference, a conference with a wider focus, with sessions on a wide variety of topics. These conferences are often organized by regional, national, or international learned societies, and held annually or on some other regular basis.
- the professional conference, large conferences not limited to academics but with academically related issues.
The conference usually has a very strict schedule because there are many papers in each session and a speaker is not allowed to exceed his allocated time for presenting a paper by more than 3 or 5 minutes.
Usually the conference lasts 2 or 3 days. The opening ceremony of the conference is preceded by the registration and is followed, as a rule, by a plenary meeting. The technical sessions, workshops, round-table discussions continue in the afternoon and the next day. Very often during the conferences exhibition and demonstrations of different devices, products and services, publisher exhibits take place. Sometimes for the participants and attendees some tours or other events are designed that give the opportunity for relaxed discussions between groups of people.
It is true to say that a scientist is going to attend as they have to submit or a paper to the Program Committee and send it well in advance before the conference. This abstract should contain the main ideas of his research or project. Then every participant should fill in the conference pre-registration form, send a registration fee and make a hotel registration.
2. Science and technology in Britain
11. Science and technology in Britain
20. Science and technology in Britain
Science and technology in the United Kingdom has a long history, producing many important figures and developments in the field. Nobel prizes for science have been won by about 80 British citizens, second only to the United States.
The United Kingdom led the Industrial Revolution from the 18th century, and since has continued to produce scientists and engineers credited with important advances.
British contributions to science include many great discoveries linked with famous names. These discoveries, theories and inventions include the discovery of the laws of motion by Sir Isaac Newton, the invention of the steam locomotive by Richard Trevithick, the creation of the first public steam railway by George Stephenson, the discovery of penicillin by Sir Alexander Fleming and the construction of the first practical telephone by Alexander Bell.
Some modern fields of science result from discoveries made by British citizens. For example, the Turing machine by Alan Turing is the basis of the modern computer. The structure of DNA was discovered in 1960s by James Watson and Francis Crick. Finally, modern scientific cooperation relies greatly on the World Wide Web invented by Tim Berners-Lee.
Scientific research and development is very important in British universities, with many establishing science parks to facilitate production and co-operation with industry. During the last 5 years the UK produced 7% of the world's scientific research papers and had an 8% share of scientific citations.
The "golden triangle" is an unofficial name for a set of leading universities located in the southern English cities of Oxford, Cambridge and London. The University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge form two corners of the triangle. The third is formed by University College London. The universities within the triangle attract among the highest research incomes of all British universities.
In the last two decades major contributions have been made by British scientists working in universities, research institutes and industry. These have included theories on black holes and the origins of the universe; the discovery of genes linked to inherited diseases; the development of scanning techniques for medical diagnosis; the invention of DNA profiling to identify an individual from blood and tissue specimens.
The British government considers that public funding should support work in the basic sciences to advance knowledge and technological capability and provide training for scientists. Industry, however, is expected to fund the commercial applications of scientific advances.
Today, in a new age of modern technology, Britain has made important advances in such new industries as electronics and telecommunications equipment, in aircraft and aircraft engines, in plastics and synthetic materials, radio-isotopes and new drugs.
Industries with the highest levels of research and development are electronics, chemicals and aerospace. Electronic firms are involved in developing new semiconductor materials for computer applications. Chemical research has led to breakthroughs in heat-resistant engineering plastics and substitutes for environmentally harmful chemicals. Pharmaceuticals is the most research intensive segment of the chemical industry. Their research has produced several of the world's best-selling drugs. Pioneering achievements in aerospace include advanced radar and aircraft control systems, flight simulators and ejection seats. The UK remains a leading centre of automotive design and production, particularly of engines.