IONS-4 in Naples: Optics & Photonics under the Vesuvius

The mediterranean city of Naples in Italy has been the site for the IONS Summer Conference 2008. Hosted by the Naples OSA Student Chapter at the Physical Sciences Department of the Università di Napoli Federico II, the IONS Conference has again proven to be a great opportunity for young researchers to meet and share their ideas.

The IONS-4 conference has been attended by 7 chapters from 6 countries, bringing together more than 30 students from as far as India and Japan.

The scientific part included talks by the attending PhD students and local university staff and a poster session. An extensive lab tour gave the students an impression on the variety of research conducted at the hosting institute.

The friday afternoon had been reserved for chapter related presentations and dicussions. The chapters took their chance to present their local outreach activities, new events and recruitment activites to the other students who took fresh ideas back to their own chapters.

The social programme contrasted the state-of-the-art-science programme nicely by a visit to the nearby ruins of ancient Pompei which had been destroyed in AD79 by an erruption of the vulcano Vesuv though had remained in an impressive shape during the centuries.