2018 YCN Workshop in Smolenice

The 1st YCN networking workshop was organised by ECerS YCN Committee from 2nd to 4th October 2018 in Smolenice Castle (Slovakia).

This event was free and open to young researchers (PhD + max 8 years), including post docs, PhD students and master students. There were 45 participants (24 girls and 21 boys) from 13 countries (France, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, the Netherlands, Turkey, UK and Ukraine). There were 3 master students among them.
 

 
2 senior speakers from academy and industry were invited to take part to the event:

• Prof. Thomas J. Webster, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USA 
• Dr. Moritz von Witzleben, Founder & GM, INMATEC - ECerS President

Unfortunately, Prof. Webster was not able to attend the event and Prof. Anne Leriche kindly replaced him with a very nice spontaneous presentation about her career. The presentation of Dr von Witzleben about his career and company was also brilliant and highly appreciated.
 
All participants were invited to introduce themselves in 5 minutes along the 3 days. It was also a good way for them to meet new fellows and to develop their network and set future collaborations!!! 
 
An experienced jury gave them feedback and ranked the presentations. The members of the jury were:

• Francis Cambier –  ECerS and JECS Trust Secretary, Mons - Belgium
• Maria Canillas Perez – member of the YCN committee, Madrid - Spain
• Pierre Charreyron - KAORI training solutions, Lyon - France
• Dominique Hautcoeur – member of the YCN committee, Mons - Belgium
• Véronique Huart – administrative officer of the European Ceramic Society, Mons - Belgium
• Andraz Kocjan – EcerS Young Ceramists and Training Working Group Chair, Ljubljana - Slovenia
• Marie Lasgorceix – member of the YCN committee, Valenciennes - France
• Anne Leriche – ECerS and JECS Trust Treasurer, Valenciennes - France
• Moritz von Witzleben – ECerS President, Rheinbach, Germany

The best 3 best pitches were awarded as follow:
 
 
Number one and second (who is still a master student!) won a grant of 500 € including their registration fee for one of the Conferences/Schools organised by ECerS in 2019 as well as for travel expenses. The third classified won his registration fee for one of the Conferences/Schools organised by ECerS in 2019.
 
A recruiter, Pierre Charreyron, was also participating in order to present a vacant job for Vesuvius Belgium, to share his experience and give advices to the young ceramists who interacted a lot with him during the workshop.
 
We hope that all participants enjoyed this meeting as much as the YCN committee members did and that we will meet again quickly for a next ECerS/YCN event… let stay connected!