ACTIVITY REPORT 2019 Presented to EPS Council, 29 May 2020

European Physical Society more than ideas | President’s Report | Petra Rudolf | INTRODUCTION FROM THE PRESIDENT

ue to the Corona-crisis causing for teaching physicists how to talk to disruption in both our profes- policy makers. The press conference Dsional and personal lives and has not been the only activity in forcing us to adjust to working from Brussels, giving input to the definition home and for many of us to adapt to of the next Framework Programme, remote teaching, looking back on 2019 FP9 or Horizon Europe and lobby- feels different this year. Nevertheless, ing for more research funding have I would like to invite you to read this of course continued. EPS also very report of some of last year’s activities actively participated in the successful of EPS in a celebrative spirit because petition to have the portfolio title of it was an excellent year for the Society. commissioner M. Gabriel amended by A highlight of the year was the terms “education, research and cul- the publication of the report on ture” and thereby highlighting the im- “The Importance of Physics to the portance of education and research for Economies of Europe”, an analysis of the European Community. We should the contribution of our scientific dis- have held our yearly Council meeting cipline to the economies of Europe in Brussels this year in April, but that over the six-year period 2011-2016. was of course not possible and we hope This study, which was presented to the in a second chance in autumn. press in October and is now on the EPS Fostering diversity and inclusive- website, shows that the physics-based ness of the EPS has been high on the sector accounts for 16% of the total agenda in the past year. A “Code of turnover of the EU28 business econo- Conduct” that aims at prohibiting any my and employed 17.8 million people act of discrimination and harassment, in 2016, more than a million more than sexual or moral, during EPS-managed in 2011. It is this kind of data that we events was drawn up and will be pre- need when we talk to policy makers sented at the 2020 Council meet- and to the general public to convince ing. A number of Member Societies CONTENTS them that physics is important for our have already manifested the interest 01 introduction from the President nations because we educate highly to adhere to the Code and the hope 02 Executive Committee Activities skilled professionals and our research is that many others will follow that 03 Highlights from 2019 often lead to discoveries and applica- example. The Monitoring Project 07 Financial Report 2019 tions with long term economic impact. for Gender Fairness in Physics con- 08 Secretariat EPS will foster the development of the tinues to generate important data, 09 Reports by EPS Action Committees advocacy skills of all interested mem- the first Divisions and Groups have 15 Journals Reports 2017 bers by offering a “train the trainers” nominated their Diversity Delegate, 22 Conferences and prizes in 2019 workshop in 2020, where a delegate of who will liaise with the EPS Equal 23 EPS Divisions and Groups each Member Society will be trained in Opportunities Committee and sup- how to organize (and give) workshops port the Committee’s actions within ACTIVITY REPORT 2019

the Divisions or Group. To give more Young Minds grants as well as by offering The Outreach Prize (High Energy Particle visibility to women in Physics, in ad- interesting leadership sessions. An impor- Division) and the EPS Physics Education dition the Emmy Noether Distinction, tant new element from 2019 is the Young Division Award for Secondary School which each year honours two outstanding Minds Conference Grant, designed to Teaching complete the palette. Since the female figures in physics, the EPS 2020 support conference sessions organized Associate Member campaign is going very Calendar giving a tribute to “Inspiring by Young Minds sections. Such sessions well, the perspective for finding sponsors (women) Physicists” was published and like “Boost your career through public for prizes by Divisions and Group who distributed to all Member Societies and engagement!” at the Condensed Matter are not yet to provide a monetary award short portraits with interviews of female Physics National Conference in Portugal seems very promising. researchers have become a regular feature or “Options after your PhD” at CLEO in The EPS can do what it does thanks in e-EPS. EPS is confident that these ex- Germany organized in 2019 were highly the many people, who volunteer their amples will inspire many young women appreciated and have the double benefit time, organizational talents and creative to follow a successful career in physics. of increasing the synergy between Young thoughts in service to the physics com- The EPS Historic Sites programme has Minds and other EPS Divisions and munity. It is wonderful to see that they reached a milestone this past year with Groups and of stimulating the creation are far too many to thank individually the inauguration of the 50th historic site. of new Young Minds sections. – be assured EPS is immensely grateful Up to now 86 requests have been accept- As with every year, the Divisions and for your efforts. I hope that seeing what ed by the indefatigable committee head- Groups were very active in organizing we all achieve together in EPS will be for ed by Karl Grandin. 9 new sites, on the outstanding conferences this past year. you, like for me, a source of energy and Jungfraujoch in Switzerland, in Palermo, Among the 16 conferences and meet- motivation to do even more. At this point, Leuven, Vienna, Frankfurt, St. Petersburg, ings of 2019, one especially stands out: I want to express my special thanks to my Demesne, Aachen, Bologna and Dundee, CLEO/Europe EQEC 2019, which took predecessor, who will step down as Vice were inaugurated in 2019, bringing the place in Munich and attracted 2122 par- President at the forthcoming Council total to 53 in 21 countries so far. Given ticipants, qualifying it as the largest con- meeting. Rüdiger, I already expressed that there are 42 Member Societies in EPS, ference the EPS conference service has the appreciation of EPS for all your great I hope that those in countries where there ever organized. CLEO was a beautiful work as the Society’s president when are no historic sites yet will follow their example that this service can now help you handed me the baton in April 2019 sister societies’ example in order to bring the Physics community to organize any and today, I want to add that I am much the general public’s attention to land- type of event, from a small workshop to obliged to you for teaching me the ropes, marks where important contributions to a large conference, in real and in virtual for excellent collaboration and continu- physics were made. mode. Hopefully the latter will become ous support. Another big “thank you” goes Also, the Young Minds project can look more frequent to the benefit of our planet to all Chairs of our Divisions and Groups: back on a very successful year, in fact by and to allow more people to attend with- as in previous years your engagement for establishing 8 new sections, a total of out worries about travel costs. EPS has been invaluable. EPS and I per- 57 active sections in 30 countries was Putting scientific excellence in the spot- sonally are equally greatly indebted to the reached. Three new sections are in coun- light is another task performed wonder- Members of the Executive Committee, tries that were not present in the project fully by the Divisions and Groups and especially those who will leave after two yet (Armenia, Macedonia, Israel). I trust groups through the 25 prizes and dis- completed terms – you have devoted that soon there will be sections in all tinctions that were handed out in this much of your free time to EPS activities Member Society countries and hopefully past year. Very young researchers were and kept a watchful eye on all EPS enter- some of the sections, which started in the recognized by PhD thesis awards (e.g. prises and finances. Finally, I say “merci” 9 years of the Young Minds project but by the Solar Physics Division), those just to David Lee and all the colleagues of the became inactive over time, will be reawak- a little further in their career were hon- EPS headquarters in Mulhouse and of the ened. Young Minds’ chair Roberta Caruso, oured by for ex. the Fresnel Prize of the Brussels Office for the wonderful job they together with the Action Committee Quantum Electronics and Optics Division have done in efficiently supporting all EPS Team, has done a wonderful job in moti- of course and there were also recognitions activities, assuring their smooth operation vating and encouraging all the local sec- for the leaders in the field like the EPS and for never being afraid of adding yet tions in their activities partly financed by Statistical and Nonlinear Physics Prize. another new element to EPS services. n

01 ACTIVITY REPORT 2019

| Honorary Secretary’s Report | Minh Quang Tran and David Lee | EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE ACTIVITIES 2019

The EPS Executive Committee develops the In 2019 the Executive Committee has work on identifying topics and authors EPS policy, discusses ongoing activities, fi- addressed several items. is ongoing. nancial matters, future plans, and puts in Enhancing the visibility and the influence 2019 was also used to strengthen EPS ac- practice effective strategies to improve the of the EPS in the European instances is a tivities in gender equality. These activities visibility of the EPS. priority item. The EPS Point of Presence in include an updated charter for the Emmy The Executive Committee typically holds Brussels, E. Sanchez, was active in develop- Noether Dstinctions, a calendar of exem- three regular meetings per year where ing high level contacts to EU officials and plary women physicists, and the reinforce- its members meet face-to-face. The EPS with other learned societies. The EPS pre- ment of the rules for EPS prizes to ensure President, elected by the Council, chairs sented the updated study of the Importance that more women are nominated. the Executive Committee meetings. of Physics to the Economies of Europe in At its meetings, the Executive Committee Since the 2019 Council meeting in October 2019.. invites representatives of national physical April, the Executive Committee has met The Executive Committee was active societies, representatives from other learned three times: on the 6-7 of June at the ITER in continuing work on the framing doc- societies, policy makers, and Chairs of D/G. Headquarters in Caderache, FR, on the 30- ument on Grand Challenges and on the The members of the Executive Committee 31 October at the University of Groningen many contributions of Physics to Society, play an important role in establishing and in the Netherlands and on the 6-7 February written by physicists addressing people maintaining contacts to Member Societies 2020 in CERN, CH. Summaries of these outside our community: policy makers, and D/G. Every Executive Committee meetings are published on the EPS Website stakeholders, and general public. The member is the direct contact person for and available to the Individual Members. project is associated to the activity of a small number of Member Societies. The The activities of all Executive Committee the Forum Physics & Society (FPS). same principle has been introduced to es- members are reported monthly in the The purpose, structure and content of tablish privileged contacts with the D/G as e-EPS newsletter. the document have been defined and shown in the table. n

DIVISION AND GROUP EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBERS MEMBER SOCIETY

Atomic Molecular and Optics Division and Quantum Bergé, L. Albania, Croatia, France, Macedonia, Electronics and Optics Division Montenegro, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia

Computational Physics Group Fantz, U. Austria, Germany History of Physics Group Physics for Development Group

Plasma Physics Division Jacquemot, S. Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden

High Energy and Particle Physics Division Nappi, E. Italy, Armenia, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece Accelerators Group Technology and Innovation Group

Physics Education Division Pena, T. Portugal, Spain

Gravitational Physics Division Rabinovici, E. Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Israel Physics for Development Group

President Rudolf, P.

Division of Physics in Life Sciences Saunders, F. UK Environmental Physics Division

Joint European Solar Physics Division, Energy Group Tran, M.Q. Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg, The Netherlands

Statistical and Non-linear Physics Division Zadkov, V. Russia

Nuclear Physics Division Zamfir, V. Bulgaria, Hungary, Moldavia, Romania, Turkey

Condensed Matter Division Zwicknagl, G. Belarus, Czech Rep., Slovakia, Ukraine

02 ACTIVITY REPORT 2019

HIGHLIGHTS 2019

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES gender balance, the EPS put in place in 2018 equality in Europe and, in a second step, to a regular survey on the women participa- take proper corrective actions following the The EPS Equal Opportunities Committee tion and contribution in EPS conferences. outcome of the monitoring. introduced several new initiatives in 2019, The EPS recommends to the organisers The data collected in 2018 from 15 re- while maintain its current activities. to collect information on the total number turned surveys already showed that between and the number of women in the organ- 18 and 30% of the speakers or organisers Actions toward the EPS Divisions ising committees (program committee, were female scientists (see Fig. 1a). About and Groups international advisory committee, local 20% of women scientists were committed In the EPS Executive Committee Meeting organising committee, etc), the total num- at the highest level in the organization of of February 2019, it was decided to involve ber and the number of women plenary scientific conferences or being invited for more the EPS Divisions and Groups (D/G) speakers, keynote speakers, invited speak- “plenary” or “keynote” talks. This percent- in the EOC initiatives devoted to gender ers, chairperson, and the total number and age is close to the rate of participation of issues. A letter was sent to all the D/G chairs the number of women participants. Ratios women scientists in the same conferenc- inviting them to: yielding key indicators are then extracted es. The 2019 statistics based on 16 surveys • Contribute to the monitoring project for from these data. display similar trends with increased good Gender Fairness in Physics, in order to ac- By tracking these statistics over time, the indicators in general, although a marked quire statistics on the participations, con- EPS is expected to provide valuable input fall in the number of plenary speakers calls tributions and responsibilities of women into policy discussions regarding gender to take appropriate measures to reverse it physicists in EPS conferences. (a) • Consolidate the floor rate of 20% of wom- en scientists in the various scientific and organisation committees, and their con- tributions as invited/plenary speakers. This rate is obviously expected to increase in the coming years. • Delegate one member of their Board to act in favour of gender parity. So far, 6 EOC delegates have been appointed by the EPS D/G Chairs and they actively participate in EOC actions. Today, this delegation applies to about 1/3 of all the EPS Divisions and Groups. • Avoid attributing any EPS award if at least (b) one woman is not nominated. • More women should be invited to sit on the EPS prize juries.

The monitoring project for Gender Fairness in Physics A better representation of women in Physics at all career levels is central for every society caring about the well-being of its members. A key element for a fair development of the physics community is the participation of women scientists at conferences as speaker, committee member and organiser. Through FIG. 1: Statistics extracted from the Monitoring Project for Gender Fairness in Physics. (a) 2018 statistics on the rate of women scientists contributing to EPS conferences, workshops and schools as members (yellow text) of its Divisions and Groups, the EPS organ- the international advisory committee, the program committee, the local organising committee, acting as either ises many premier conferences in physics chairpersons or invited speakers (in plenary or parallel sessions). Indications in purple specify the conferences having in Europe and the world. To reach a better reached the highest rates in each category. (b) 2019 statistics on the same topics.

03 ACTIVITY REPORT 2019

in the coming years (see Fig. 1b). On the books, history books, conference speakers, whole, these numbers are encouraging, but scientific reference). they are far from showing a perfect balance, inspiring Our calendar was distributed to our which invites us to continue the present members in Europe and worldwide. Due to CALENDAR physicists 2020 monitoring and to keep a vigilant eye on the SARS-CoV-2 crisis, the development of their evolution. the actions started in schools or conferences was suddenly reduced and the follow-up A Code of Conduct made less easy. However, very positive for the EPS conferences feedback already came from our members In 2019 another important decision was to before lockdowns : distribution to physics elaborate on a “Code of Conduct” that aims teachers at conferences, use as education- at prohibiting any act of discrimination and al medium to raise interest in sciences in harassment, sexual or moral, during EPS- classrooms or training schools and in an managed events. This Code follows the out- exhibition of famous women. lines already drawn up by many scientific Amalie Emmy Noether Catalina Oana Curceanu We hope that with the help of enthusias- Chiara Mariotti Maria Goeppert-Mayer Barbara Marchetti Nynke Dekker societies overseas. It plans, for instance, to Maria Skłodowska-Curie Rumiana Dimova tic teachers and scientists, our calendar will Patricia Bassereau Rocío Borrego-Varillas assist victims and witnesses in reporting Kumiko Kotera Anne L’Huillier inspire young pupils to study physics and all cases of unprofessional behaviour in a to give them the taste of science in 2020 EPS - calendar 2020.indd 1 06/12/2019 11:31 safe and protected way and to act timely FIG. 2: EPS 2020 Calendar giving a tribute to “Inspiring and beyond. either on the conference site or by using a (women) Physicists”. dedicated online portal. A presentation of this document will be Australia – e-EPS May issue) and Ágnes HISTORIC SITES made to the 2020 EPS Council. It will soon Kóspál (Konkoly Observatory, Hungary – be published through the EPS media chan- e-EPS June issue). During 2019 several sites covering different nels. Adhering to this Code will be a con- Finally, several links have been reinforced time periods and subjects were inaugurat- dition for both Europhysics Conferences with the SFP and the European Platform ed. The high-altitude research station at and EPS-Sponsored Conferences. Roll- for Women Scientists (EPWS). For in- Jungfraujoch that has been the venue for ups informing participants of this policy stance, regular exchanges with Dominique several important research projects over the should be available at the conference sites. Chandesris (SFP) allowed us to be informed years, as well as the Institute of Physics of Already some National Societies, e.g., the on the actions led by SFP to reinforce the Archirafi Street, Palermo, Italy, where the French Physical Society (SFP), confirmed parity. Also, in cooperation with Claudine first artificial chemical element, technetium, its interest to adopt this Code of Conduct Hermann (EPWS) and Gina Gunaratnam was isolated by Emilio Segrè and Carlo once ratified by the EPS Council. (EPS), a calendar named “Inspiring Perrier, were inaugurated in February. Later Physicists”, displaying the winners of the in the Spring the Atomistitut in Vienna was Interviews of woman researchers Emmy Noether Distinction and outstand- celebrated with the EPS President, Petra Other specific actions implemented by ing women figures in science, has been Rudolf, inaugurating the site which saw the the EPS tend to attract the young gener- published and distributed in 2020 (Fig. 2). first Neutron interferometer. The Heilige- ation of women to an enjoyable career in The European Physical Society aims to Geestcollege in Leuven, Belgium, where physics. The publication in the electronic promote physics, especially among a young Le Maitre worked, was also honoured in newsletter e-EPS of short portraits with in- audience. In 2020, the Society published a May. After the Summer the EPS honoured terviews of female researchers in physics calendar called “Inspiring Physicists”. Max Born’s Institute for Theoretical Physics (programme called “Visibility for young”) The project, led by G. Gunaratnam at in Frankfurt, where Stern and Gerlach has been pursued. The underlying idea is the EPS Secretariat, is a way to put forward performed their famous experiment. that a young female candidate physicist the laureates of the EPS Emmy Noether September also saw the acknowledgement (student, post-doc or young researcher) Distinction and to provide examples of of the work by Mendeleev because it was 150 may find, in the interviews of successful living and committed scientists. It shows years since he organised known elements women physicists, some encouraging an- the variety of research fields in physics and in a periodic table. A couple of weeks later swers to the questions about the choice of aims at inspiring the young generations in the huge telescope at Birr Castle in Ireland making a career in physics. This program their choice of studies. was recognised and the week after the im- was continued in 2019. We started with an Every month of this year, a new physi- portant work on high voltage necessary for interview of Donna Strickland, 2018 Nobel cist can be discovered in the calendar. The the building of modern accelerators at the Prize in Physics (April issue of e-EPS), and first version puts forward ladies only, be- Technical College in Aachen was celebrated. went on with interviews of “rising stars” like cause they are often under-represented in A month later the Academy of Sciences of Andrea Blanco-Redondo (Sydney Univ., various areas of physics (scientific school the Bologna Institute, where Galvani and

04 ACTIVITY REPORT 2019

several other influential scientists worked. 18. The Synchro-Cyclotron, SC – CERN, 41. Haldde Observatory, Alta, Norway, The last inauguration of the year was at the Geneva, Switzerland, 19 June 2014 26 August 2018 University of Dundee where the develop- 19. The Kamerlingh Onnes Laboratory 42. Laboratories of Kirchoff and Bunsen, ment of thin film transistors intended for and Lorentz Institute, Leiden, The Heidelberg, Germany, 1 October 2018 displays was celebrated. Netherlands, 9 February 2015. 43. Old Physics Building of the Eötvös As of December 2019, 86 proposals for 20. The Fasor Lutheran Secondary School, Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary, Historic Sites have been received, either Budapest, Hungary, 23 April 2015 12 October 2018 spontaneous or channelled through EPS 21. The Ludwig Maximilian University, 44. Laboratorium Bergara, Basque Country, Member Societies. Proposals can be made Munich, Germany, 6 May 2015 Spain, 20 October 2018 at any time from the EPS web site (link be- 22. The Students Residence (Residencia de 45. Jungfraujoch Research Station, low). Of these proposals, 54 EPS Historic Estudiantes), Madrid, Spain, 13 May 2015 Switzerland, 8 February 2019 Sites were inaugurated in 21 different coun- 23. The Mount Vesuvius Observatory, 46. Institute of Physics of Archirafi Street, tries at the end of 2019. Hercolaneum, Naples, Italy, 23 May 2015 Palermo, Italy, 18 February 2019 24. The Institute for Radium Research, 47. Heilige-Geestcollege in Leuven, 1. The Goldfish Fountain of the Physics Vienna, Austria, 28 May 2015 Belgium, 23 May 2019 Institute of Panisperna Street – Centro 25. The Einstein House, Bern, Switzerland, 48. Atominstitut, TU, Vienna, Austria, Fermi, Rome, Italy, 20 April 2012 as Joint APS-EPS Historic Site, 14 Sep- 21–22 May 2019 2. Laboratory “Les Cosmiques”, Col du tember 2015 49. Max Born’s Institute for Theoretical Midi, Chamonix, France, 23 July 2012 26. The Hotel Metropole, Brussels, Belgium, Physics, Frankfurt, 3 September 2019 3. Hoza 69, Warsaw, Poland, 10 Janu- 24 October 2015 50. Mendeleev’s Museum-Archive, St. ary 2013 27. The Ernst Mach Physics Institute, Prague, Petersburg, Russia, 12 September 2019 4. The Study of Bruno Pontecorvo – JINR, Czech Republic,18 February 2016 51. Birr Castle, Demesne, Ireland, 20 Sep- Dubna, Russia, 22 February 2013 28. The Cabinet of Physics of the University tember 2019 5. The Hill of Arcetri, Florence, Italy, of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal, 52. Institute for High Voltage Engineering, 17 May 2013 11 March 2016 RWTH, Aachen, Germany, 30 Septem- 6. The Villa Griffone in Pontecchio 29. The Former Physical Institute of the ber 2019 Marconi, Bologna, Italy, 26 May 2013 University of Würzburg, Würzburg, 53. The Academy of Sciences of the Bologna 7. The Observatory of Tycho Brahe, Germany, 7 June 2016 Institute, Italy, 7 November 2019 Hven Island, Landskrona, Sweden, 30. The “Piersanti Mattarella Tower of 54. The Physics Department at the University 11 September 2013 Thought” of the Ettore Majorana of Dundee, UK, 2 December 2019 8. The LAL-LURE Accelerator Complex, Foundation and Centre for Scientific Orsay, Paris, France, 13 September 2013 Culture, Erice, Italy, 21 August 2016 9. PTB, Formerly PTR, The National 31. The Uddmanska House, Kungälv, YOUNG MINDS Metrology Institute, Berlin, Germany, Sweden, 29 October 2016 8 October 2013 32. The Institute for Advanced Study, Young Minds is an EPS project launched 10. The Cathedral, Kamien Pomorski, Princeton, NJ, USA, as Joint APS-EPS in 2010 with the aim of bringing togeth- Poland, 11 October 2013 Historic Site, 9 November 2016 er students and early career researchers in 11. The Neutrino Experiment at MTA 33. “Les Bastions” of the University of Geneva, Physics and foster the excellence among Atomki, Debrecen, Hungary, 25 Octo- Geneva, Switzerland, 29 March 2017 them by encouraging the creation of local ber 2013 34. H.H. Wills Physics Laboratory (Royal groups called sections and ensuring the 12. The Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen, Fort) of the University of Bristol, Bristol, possibility to access an annual budget to Denmark, 3 December 2013 UK, 13 September 2017 carry on student-led activities falling in 13. The AdA Storage Ring at the INFN 35. IBM Research Laboratory, Rüschlikon, three main categories: outreach, networking Frascati National Laboratory, Frascati, Zürich, Switzerland, 26 September 2017 and professional development. Rome, Italy, 5 December 2013. 36. The Philips NatLab, Eindhoven The Young Minds has now reached nine 14. The European Birthplace of the Atomic Netherlands, 5 October 2017 years of activity with 73 sections in 34 Timekeeping – NPL, Teddington, UK, 37. The Curie Laboratory of the “Institut du countries. For the first time this year, we 31 January 2014 Radium”, Paris, France, 7 November 2017 established the criteria to declare a sec- 15. The Blackett Laboratory, London, UK, 38. Magurele Physics Campus, Magurele, tion as ‘inactive’. As a result, we count 52 30 April 2014 Romania, 15 November 2017 active sections in 28 countries. Given 16. The Fabra Observatory, Barcelona, 39. Institute of Spectroscopy, ISAN, Troitsk, these numbers, the focus of the program Spain, 9 May 2014 Russia, 20 June 2018 for 2020 will be to find new ways to en- 17. The Study of Georgi Nadjakov, Sofia, 40. Dunsink Observatory, Dublin, Ireland, sure active participation of existing YM Bulgaria, 23 May 2014 23 June 2018 sections. In 2019 we have undertaken

05 ACTIVITY REPORT 2019

several actions to strengthen the connec- Venegas-Gomez from the YM Action these contacts, Dr. Bautista was invited to tion between the sections and the sections Committee and Chiara Trovatello from attend to a series of meetings with some of and EPS. Milan YM Section. In the form of a pan- the most relevant Members of the European In 2019 the Young Minds project estab- el discussion, the attendees have been Parliament (MEPs) – including Dan Nica, lished 8 new sections, 3 of them in countries engaged in a discussion with six invit- Lina Gálvez Muñoz and Miapetra Kumpula that were not represented in the project yet ed speakers coming from industry and Natri – to lobby for a better and more ef- (Armenia, Macedonia, Israel), for a total of academia, regarding their career choic- ficient future implementation of the next 57 sections in 30 countries. Each section is es and the processes that led them to Framework Programme. Moreover, the EPS entitled to apply for a maximum of 1000€ their decision. Point of Presence established of an official for funding to support activities falling in at YM in collaboration with the Statistical address in Brussels located in the premises least one of the three categories: outreach, and Non-Linear Physics Division has as- of Fondation Universitaire (Rue d’Egmont networking and professional development. signed three scholarships for YM members 11, 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium. There are two deadlines per year – January to attend the Statistical Physics of Complex A highlight of 2019 was the organisation 15th and July 15th. Systems conference in Stockholm, 7-11 of the presentation of the EPS report “The Starting from January 2019, the YM May 2019, while in collaboration with the Importance of Physics in the Economies Action Committee introduced the Young Quantum Electronics and Optics, the YM of Europe” that was held on October 17th at Minds Conference Grant (YMCA), de- project has assigned 5 Student Travel Grants Press Club premises in Brussels to which all signed as a specific support for conferenc- to attend the CLEO conference in Munich. the MEPs from the Committee of Industry es or sessions organized by Young Minds Young Minds also particiaptes in oth- & Research (ITRE) were invited, as well sections. YM Conference Grants have been er EPS activites, publishing regularly in as representatives from the European introduced to guarantee high visibility to e-EPS, the online magazine of EPS. The Commission, relevant decision makers, as EPS YM during large events involving the representative of Young Minds sitting well as several representatives from sister scientific community. The applicants are -re in the Historic Sites Committee and in societies. The event brought together about quested to guarantee a timeslot to present the Equal Opportunity Committee has 40 people and it was followed by a network- the YM project during the event, or alter- changed. Currently, Araceli Venegas Gomez ing cocktail. natively to distribute YM promo material. sits in the former and Giorgio Nocerino in Throughout 2019, Dr. Bautista defined The organization of Young Minds ses- the latter. the activities of the EPS in the coming sions during EPS sponsored and rec- Roberta Caruso, as chair of the YM months. He was supported by the EPS ognized conferences started in 2018 to project, attended the celebrations for the President, Petra Rudolf. The EPS was one increase the synergy between Young International Day of Light in Trieste, at of the leaders in promoting the petition Minds and other EPS Divisions and SISSA institute, on May 15th, participat- to include the words “research and edu- Groups. This year, two sessions have been ing in a round table on the importance of cation” in the the portfolio of M. Gabriel, organized, one during the Condensed student associations for young scientists, the EC Commissioner for Innovation, Matter Physics National Conference together with representatives from OSA, Research, Culture, Education and Youth. (CMPNC) of the Portuguese Physical SPIE and IAPS. The petition was supported by more than Society (8-12 May 2019) in Portugal and 13.000 scientists. the other during CLEO conference (23 – 27 June 2019) in Munich. The first, “Boost EPS POINT OF PRESENCE your career through public engagement!” IN BRUSSELS was organized by Roberta Caruso of the YM Action Committee, Joaquim Moreira Throughout 2019, Dr. Enrique Sánchez from the EPS Condensed Matter Division Bautista acted as the EPS Point of Presence and Margarida Ribeiro, president of the in Brussels. Extensive efforts have been Aveiro YM Section. After the talk from made to increase the visibility of the EPS Plaque of the EPS Brussels office, located in Rue Roberta Caruso on science communica- in the Brussels ecosystem, establishing a sol- d´Egmont 11, 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium. tion techniques that can turn out useful for id network of contacts with other learned a career in science, there has been an ex- societies and research organisations, sev- The EPS also reacted to three relevant tended Q&A time with attendees from all eral EU officers, as well as other relevant public consultations from the European over Portugal. It is worth mentioning that stakeholders of the discipline of Physics Commission on the co-design process of the event led to the creation of two new in Europe. The Helmholtz Association of Horizon Europe and its strategic plan- sections in Portugal, Lisbon YM Section German Research Centres and the govern- ning as well as to the report of the expert and Porto YM section. ing bodies of the Quantum Flagship initia- group of the European Commission on The other session, “Options after your tive of the European Commission are just the “Future of Scholarly Publishing and PhD”, has been organized by Araceli two, out of the many, examples. Through Scholarly Communication”. n

06 ACTIVITY REPORT 2019

| EPS Honorary Treasurer’s Report | Frances Saunders | FINANCIAL REPORT 2019

The overall financial performance Figure 1. Income and Expenditure 2017-2019 (in Euro) achieved during 2019 was in line with the budget set at the start of the year with a EPS Administrative and Activities Expenditure total income of Euro 1,337,592 of which, 2017-2019 1 200 000 49% from Members, 24% from publication 1 144 134 1 117 620 activities and 27% from conferences and 1 038 751 other activities. The expenditure for 2019 1 000 000 was Euro 1,117,620, with 37% for admin- 800 000 732 525 istration and governance, and 63% for ac- 706 606 tivities. The out-turn for the year was an 646 975 excess of Euro 219,972. 600 000

Income in 2019 was 4% more than budg- 391 776 411 609 411 014 eted, due mainly to increased income from 400 000 Conference Services, and the organisation of the CLEO/Europe – EQEC Conferences. 200 000 This was balanced by increased adminis- trative and governance expenditure, which 0 Final 2017 Final 2018 Final 2019 was Euro 30,000 higher than the budget but Total Expenditure Activities Admin and Governance comparable to 2018 (€411,014 v €411,609). The activity expenditure decreased by 4%, due in part to lower costs for the distri- bution of EPN and reduced staff effort in Figure 2. Income 2019 (in Euro) Brussels. Note to the 2019 Financial report: 366 963 Substantial work has been done in produc- Member Societies ing accounts that are more readable. This Individual Members work will continue. The figures for 2019 532 872 Associate Members have been verified by KPMG, the chartered EPL accountants for EPS. However, it has not been possible to establish the auditor’s re- EJP 98 275 port in time for this report, due principally Conferences to the current coronavirus crisis. 51 234 217 730 Notes 69 595

Figure 3: Expenditure 2019 (in Euro)

81 568

250 332 Core Employement Costs

General Administration

Depreciation

Administrative Expenditure

Governance 329 446 70 128 8 986

07 ACTIVITY REPORT 2019

| EPS Secretary General Report | David Lee | SECRETARIAT

The Secretariat of the European Physical News and e-EPS, website maintenance budgeting, etc. Much work was under- Society is headquartered on the cam- and design, financial control, invoic- taken to develop a clearer method of pre- pus of the Université de Haute Alsace, ing etc. The Secretariat also supports senting the services and the advantages in Mulhouse, France. Staffing fluctuat- Divisions and Groups, and the activities of EPS Divisions and Groups to use the ed throughout the year, linked mainly of EPS Committees, and the Executive EPS services. Conferences organised by to conference activity and some natural Committee. European relations, relations the EPS Conference Service Department staff turnover. At the end of 2019 the EPS with other societies, communications, in 2019 were Nanometa Conference in employed 9.9 FTE, in 3 main areas: Core outreach, policy monitoring and EPS in- Seefeld, AT and CLEO/Europe-EQEC in Secretariat (4.9); Conference Services volvement in EU projects are also part of Munich (DE). (2), and the EPL Editorial Office (3). In activities of the Core Secretariat. EPS headquarters in Mulhouse also addition, the UHA has made a full time The Conference Services department houses the EPL editorial office: the staff secretary available to the EPS. provides a full range of services for con- editor, as well as 2 editorial assistants. In The Core Secretariat provides admin- ferences organised by EPS Divisions and 2019, the EPS Editorial Office handled istrative services to the EPS, including Groups. These include committee man- 1,152 manuscripts. The median submis- accounting, graphic design, and infor- agement, web site design and mainte- sion-to-online time during 2019 remains mation technology. Among the main nance, communication, onsite logistics, below 100 days consistent with the previ- tasks are the preparation of Europhysics online paper submission and maintenance, ous year. n

. Top: F. Burr, S. Loskill, D. Lee, G. Gunaratnam - Middle: P. Padovani, X. de Araujo, P. Helfenstein, A. Ouarab - Bottom: S. Fila, O. Fornari, K. Desse.

STAFF / 2019

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REPORTS BY EPS ACTION COMMITTEES

HISTORIC SITES and an extended article in published after- During both meetings there were special wards in EPN. feedback sessions with the sections, to Chair: Karl Grandin Here is the link to use to make Historic discuss issues and strengths of the Young Site Nominations: https://www.eps.org/ Minds project from their perspective. In addition to the information in 2019 general/custom.asp?page=distinction_sites Following the discussion with section Hightlights (above), the Historic Site representatives in 2018, the YM Action Committee examines proposals typical- Committee presented a proposal for re- ly three times per year. The Historic Sites YOUNG MINDS duced EPS membership fee for YM mem- Committee has already approved some ap- bers. The EPS Executive Committee agreed plications, that will be inaugurated in 2020, Chair: Roberta Caruso to waive membership fees for all under- while other applications are being scruti- graduate students that are part of the YM nized by the EPS HS group. In addition to the information in 2019 project and together with EPS headquar- Hightlights (above), the Young Minds ters, YM Action Committee introduced a Action Committee is composed pf EPS new platform to manage YM membership President Petra Rudolf, EPS Secretary and activities. General David Lee, Executive Committee The Action Committee also drafted a member Sylvie Jacquemot, EPS Conference Memorandum of Understanding with the manager Ophelia Fornari, Roberta Caruso Grupo de Estudiantes of the Royal Spanish (chair, Italy), Daryna Pesina (Ukraine), Physical Society, in order to encourage the Araceli Venegas Gomes (UK), Richard creation of new YM sections within the Zeltner (Germany), Giorgio Nocerino (UK) Groupo de Estudientes and vicevers. and Imran Khan (Germany). In November 2019, R. Caruso and A. Venegas Gomez an- Young Minds Grants nounced that they will leave their role as Each section can apply for a maximum of The 7th Earl of Rosse, Brendan Rosse, and the chair of committee members in May 2020, after the 1000€ for the YM Conference Grant and the European Physical Society’s (EPS) Historic Sites celebrations for the 20th anniversary of YM. up to 1000€ for the regular Activity Grant. Committee, Karl Grandin, unfolds the plaque confirming The new YM chair will be elected in May The tables below summarize the number that the great telescope in Birr is an EPS Historic Site. To the left is Minister for Justice and Equality, Charles 2020, while the new committee members of activity grant requests, the number of Flanagan and the former EPS president, professor Denis have been selected in December with an activity grants approved, the total amount Weaire to be seen. open call for all the members of the YM of funding requested, and the total amount network. The new committee members of funding granted for each deadline. Members of the EPS HS Committee dur- will be Hripsime Mkrytchan (Armenia) Sections are assisted during the grant sub- ing 2019 were: Karl Grandin (Chair), Luisa and Tanausu Hernandez (Spain). mission process, and especially for the YM Cifarelli, Goran Djordjevic, Ursel Fantz, The Action Committee met in May 2019 Conference Grant the Action Committee Alain Fontaine and Jim Hough. Observers: in Erlangen, right before the Leadership provides feedback and the possibility to Alan Chodos (APS) & Araceli Vengas Meeting, and in Warsaw in October 2019, resubmit the grant twice, in a sort of peer Gomez (EPS Young Minds). The new chair hosted by the local Young Minds section. review process that helps both parties. and the communication coordinator at EPS Mulhouse, Gina Gunaratnam, have also worked to establish a system to cope with 2019 Requests Approved with Approved with Total amount Total amount full amount reduced amount requested (€) granted (€) the increasing number of nominations. January 15th deadline 48 34 (71%) 11 (23%) 15789 12708 For each inauguration event, a plaque is th unveiled in the presence of the local repre- July 15 deadline 36 25 (70%) 9 (25%) 11955 10940 sentatives and authorities. The EPS President 2019 Requests Approved with Approved upon Total amount Total amount or her representative (Past President or full amount condition requested (€) granted (€) Member of the EPS Executive Committee January 15th deadline 3 1 1 3000 1000 or Member of the EPS HS Committee) at- April 15th deadline 3 2 1 2800 1800 tends the ceremony. For each ceremony, a July 15th deadline 5 3 2 4800 4050 news is published right away in the electronic October 15th deadline 1 - - 1000 - newsletter e-EPS and on the EPS web site,

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8th Leadership Meeting The Conference Committee is respon- they organised the 8th EPS Young Minds Every year, one representative per section sible for the collecting and disseminat- Leadership Meeting, in Erlangen, Germany is invited to attend the Leadership Meeting, ing information on both Europhysics in collaboration with the Erlangen Young an event where they can present and dis- Conferences (i.e. conferences organized by Minds section and organised the Council cuss their section’s activities. The 2019 EPS Divisions and Groups), and for evalu- meeting in Split, Croatia. Moreover, the Leadership Meeting was organized at the ating applications to obtain the label of EPS Conference Department handled billing Max Planck Institute in Erlangen by the lo- Recognised Conference. Conference organ- for the SNPD conference. cal YM section. The meeting started with an izers may also request EPS Conference pa- overview of the institute from MPL direc- tronage, which is awarded upon approval Conference Grants tor Prof. Dr. Philip Russel, followed by an of the President and entitles the organizers The EPS makes grants available to the overview of the scientific highlights of the to use the EPS logo and communications organizers of Europhysics conferences host institution. A large part of the meeting network to disseminate information. to allow for the participation of Young has been devoted to professional develop- Two years ago, accordingly to the de- Scientists in their meeting. Per confer- ment, with two talks from industry repre- cision taken by the EPS executive com- ence a maximum of 3 grants of 350 € each sentatives (Dr. Bettina Heim, OHB System mittee end of 2017, in the frame of the can be distributed. In 2019, grants totalling and Dr. Michael Fortsch, Q.ant) and two gender fairness in Physics, we launched a 6,300 € were distributed perspective talks, one from Araceli Venegas monitoring of the women participation in IM Travel Grants: The EPS makes grants Gomez, recipient of the first the Milton and the physics conferences organised by the available to individual members (IMs) of Rosalind Chang Pivoting Fellowship from EPS. In this respect, the local organising the EPS to allow for the participation in an OSA Foundation and one from Prof. Dr. committee of all the conferences labelled EPS labelled (Europhysics or Recognised) Petra Rudolf, EPS President. The second by the EPS must engage themselves to meeting. Members may receive a grant of part of the meeting has been devoted to the collect and send the result of the moni- 350 € only once and may request support project itself, with an overview of the cur- toring of women participation to the EPS only in the first 3 years of their membership. rent state of YM given by Roberta Caruso, Conference Service. This has been added as 6 such grants were distributed in 2019, for followed by presentations of the activities one of the required criteria in the confer- a total of 2,100 €. by the section representatives. Besides the ences guidelines when applying for any of Invited Speaker Grants: The EPS makes Action Committee, the invited speakers and the EPS label. It will allow the Conference grants, of 500 € each, available to conferenc- the local representatives, the meeting was service to collect those statistics over a two es organized by EPS Divisions and Groups attended by 30 section representatives and years period and the President of the EPS (Europhysics conferences) to cover costs of 12 local section members. Equal Opportunity Committee to present invited speakers. 4 grants were distributed a compilation of these statistics at the first in 2019, i.e. 2,000 €. Executive Committee meeting of the year EPS Poster Prize: Grants, of 200 € CONFERENCE COMMITTEE 2020. Note that in turn, the conference each, are available to EPS Europhysics or organizers should have received the EPS Recognised conferences for a poster prize, Chair: Dominique Vernhet “Monitoring for Gender Fairness” Label to make an award to a student who has together with the EPS logo, but this has not presented the best poster at the conference. Conferences, Workshops, and Summer yet been implemented. 10 prizes were awarded in 2019, i.e. 2,000 €. Schools are essential elements in the In conclusion, in 2019, the total budget communication of physics, the career de- Conferences/ scientific events spent was of an amount of 12,400 €. velopment of physicists, the promotion of The Conference Committee received 31 ap- Further information on EPS conferenc- physics towards students and young sci- plications of conferences for 2019 and es and grants, including application proce- entists, and for the reputation, the cred- 2020. Among them, 12 Europhysics and dures, is available on the EPS website. ibility, and the visibility of the EPS and 9 EPS Recognised conferences have been physics research activities. The role of the approved for 2019, 2 rejected applications. Conference Committee is to advise the For 2020, at the moment, 4 Europhysics DISTINCTIONS AND AWARD EPS Executive Committee on the devel- conferences have been approved, 1 Reco- COMMITTEE opment of all activities and programmes in gnised, and 3 applications which are in the area of such scientific events, and to ad- pending status. Chair: Jo Hermans, minister EPS Conference grants. The com- In 2019, the conferences organised by the Members: Angela Bracco, mittee members are Dominique Vernhet EPS Conference Service were the Nanometa Elisabeth Rachlew, Marian Reiffers (Chair), Ophelia Fornari (Secretary), Conference in Seefeld, Austria with 210 Marian Reiffers (former EPS ExCom from participants, the CLEO/Europe EQEC 1. The D&A Committee produced a com- April 2016) and Christian Beck (Chair 2019 in Munich, Germany with 2122 partic- prehensive overview of all recipients of EPS SNPD). ipants, 200 more than in 2017. In addition all Distinctions, Prizes and Awards from

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the EPS and its Divisions and Groups in fields of semiconductor lasers, nonlin- scientists in her field of research”. the period 1975 through 2018, including ear fiber optics and optical communi- • The 2019 Winter Emmy Noether the lists of the Honorary Members and cation systems”. Distinction was awarded to Cristiane EPS Fellows. • The EPS Quantum Electronics and Morais Smith, Institute for Theoretical 2. The following distinctions and prizes Optics Prize for fundamental aspects Physics, Utrecht University, the were awarded during the year 2019: was awarded to Anne L’Huillier, Lund Netherlands, “for her outstanding con- • The 2019 EPS-QEOD Prize for Institute of Technology, Sweden, “in tributions to the theory of condensed Research into the Science of Light recognition of her pioneering experi- matter systems and ultracold atoms to was awarded to Javier García de mental and theoretical contributions to unveil novel quantum states of m a t t e r ”. Abajo, ICFO-Institut de Ciencies attosecond pulse trains using high har- • For endorsement, the Executive Fotoniques, Castelldefels, Barcelona, monics, which form the basis of today’s Committee now requires that at least Spain “For pioneering contributions successful field of attosecond s c i e n c e”. one should be female be nominated for to the understanding of the behavior • - The Fresnel Prize (fundamen- all EPS Prizes. of light at the nanoscale, in particular tal aspects) was awarded to Carlos in plasmons and in light interactions Hernández-García, “For pioneering with free electrons”. contributions to the theory of high EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES • The EPS Alfven Prize 2019 was award- harmonic generation, uncovering new COMMITTEE ed to Victor Malka, CNRS/ENSTA, regimes of attosecond and zeptosecond ParisTech/Ecole Polytechnique, France waveforms and designer beams with Chair: Luc Bergé and Toshiki Tajima, University of orbital and spin angular momentum”. California, Irvine, U.S.A “For outstand- • The Fresnel Prize (applied aspects) was During 2019 the Equal Opportunity ing contributions to plasma physics”. awarded to Matteo Lucchini, “For out- Committee (EOC) of the EPS has been en- • The Letokhov Medal was awarded standing contributions in the field of gaged in several actions aiming to promote to Ferenc Krausz, LMU Munich attosecond science. In particular for a balanced gender representation in physics. and MPQ Garching, Germany as seminal contribution in the investiga- The Committee is composed of Luc the first recipient of this new prize. tion of attosecond electron dynamics Bergé (Chair), Martine Bosman, Nadia The Letokhov Medal aims at recog- in solid state materials”.- The EPS/ Martucciello, Giorgio Nocerino (rep- nizing outstanding contributions in QEOD Thesis Prizes (fundamental resentative of the Young Minds Action laser-matter interaction, in particu- aspects) were awarded to Ileana- Committee), Ana Proykova, Elisabeth lar spectroscopy of atoms and mol- Cristina Benea-Chelmus, “Terahertz Rachlew, and Els De Wolf. ecules, laser manipulation of atoms, quantum optics with ultra-short puls- and strong field processes. The prize es” and to Fabian Langer, “Lightwave- The Emmy Noether Distinction consists of a medal, a certificate and a driven quasiparticle acceleration”. In 2019 the EOC revised the Charter of monetary award of 5,000 €. • The EPS/QEOD Thesis Prizes (ap- the Emmy Noether Distinction in order • The Statistical and Nonlinear Physics plied aspects) were awarded to Armin Prize 2019 was awarded to Satya Feist, “Next-Generation Ultrafast Majumdar (Paris-Sud) for out- Transmission Electron Microscopy – standing theoretical contributions in Development and Applications” and nonequilbrium statistical mechanics, to Mathieu Massicotte, “Ultrafast and to Sergio Ciliberto (Lyon) who optoelectronics in 2D materials and provided experimental verifications of their heterostructures”. some highly relevant fluctuation theo- • The Young Scientist Prize 2019 of the Emmy Noether Distinction Medal presented to Prof. rems in the field. AMOPD-EPS was awarded to Philip Cristiane Morais Smith in January 2020. This award was • The SNPD Early Career Prize was Haslinger, TU Wien. attributed in summer 2019 and in winter 2019. The 2019 laureate for the Summer edition of the Emmy Noether • awarded to two very bright young prize The 2019 Summer Emmy Noether Distinction is Prof. Sarah Köster, from the Institute for winners: Karel Proesmans (Hasselt) Distinction was awarded to Sarah X-Ray Physics, Georg-August-University Göttingen, and Valentina Ros (Saclay). Koester, Institute “for X-Ray Physics, Germany, “for her seminal contributions to the physics • The EPS Quantum Electronics and Georg-August-University Göttingen, of biological cells and biopolymers, in particular for the understanding of intermediate filaments, and her Optics Prize for applied aspects Germany, for her seminal contribu- impressive ability in teaching and recruiting women was awarded to Govind Agrawal, tions to the physics of biological cells scientists in her field of research.” The 2019 laureate of University of Rochester, USA, “For and biopolymers, in particular for the Winter edition is Cristiane Morais Smith from the Institute for Theoretical Physics, Utrecht University, pioneering and groundbreaking re- the understanding of intermediate the Netherlands, “for her outstanding contributions to search that underpins a wide range of filaments, and her impressive ability the theory of condensed matter systems and ultracold current photonic technologies in the in teaching and recruiting women atoms to unveil novel quantum states of matter”.

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to enlarge the nominations to any full EPS spectroscopy of atoms and molecules, EPS – CEI Strategy member being individual member, mem- laser manipulation of atoms, and strong In 2019 the activity of EPS-CEI followed ber of EPS Member Societies, Collaborating field processes. The medal is presented the five main directions established in the Societies or Associate Members of the EPS, every odd year at a major conference al- general strategy adopted by the Committee, at any time of the year. The distinction now ternatively sponsored by the QEOD and strategy aiming to promote Physics and consists not only in a diploma, but also in AMOPD Divisions of the EPS. The prize the scientific cooperation across Central, a medal (see FIG. 1). The Emmy Noether consists of a medal, a certificate and a Eastern and Southern parts of Europe. The distinction brings to the wider attention of monetary award set at 5,000 €, partly five directions are: the scientific community and of the general supported by ISAN/RAS. 1. Integrating the access to research infra- public outstanding women scientists, iden- In 2019 the first edition of the Letokhov structures in Europe. tifying them as role models for the young Medal was presented at the ECAMP 2. Student training through a School generations of physicists. News about the Conference organized by AMOPD in Program supported by EPS. winners are published right away in the Firenze on April 8-12, 2019. The prize 3. Physics education and teacher training. electronic newsletter e-EPS, on the EPS committee, chaired by Luc Bergé, received 4. Strengthening the regional cooperation web site and in EuroPhysics News. 17 nominations (among which 2 women) among EPS member societies and other The prize committee is constituted of a and not less than 58 recommendation let- regional organizations. majority of EOC members completed by ters (in particular from 5 Nobel Laureates, 5. Promotion of physics in the regions. EOC delegates belonging to the Boards of APS and OSA Presidents). The Medal the EPS Divisions and Groups (see below). was awarded to Prof. Dr. Ferenc Krausz, Synergy with other organizations Additional activities of the Equal Director of the Max Planck Institute of The objective of strengthening the co- Opportunities Committee are presented Quantum Optics (MPQ) and Chair for operation of EPS with other regional or- as 2019 Hightlights, above. Experimental Physics & Laser Physics ganizations from the Central, Eastern and at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Southern parts of Europe was followed by Awarding the First Letokhov Medal (LMU) Munich, “for his contribution considering the cooperation with other The Vladilen Letokhov Medal has been cre- to the development of high-field laser stakeholders as, for example: ated in cooperation between the Quantum physics, in particular for pioneering • CERN Geneva Electronics and Optics Division (QEOD) attosecond physics, through which re- • ICTP Trieste and the Atomic, Molecular and Optical al-time views of electron motion in at- • CEI Trieste Physics Division (AMOPD) of the EPS, oms, molecules, and solids have become • BPU – Balkan Physical Union and the Institute of Spectroscopy of the possible” (Figure). • SEENET MTP - South-Eastern Russian Academy of Sciences (ISAN/RAS) European Network in Mathematical and in Troitsk/Russia. The EPS henceforth pro- Theoretical Physics. poses a prestigious award that strengthens COMMITTEE our relationships with Russian scientists, ON EUROPEAN INTEGRATION Specific activities in 2019 whose scientific heritage has been deeply 1) An EPS-CEI meeting, with the partici- – and still is – highly impactful in the phys- Chair: Radu Constantinescu pation of CEI-EPS members, of representa- ics community. tives of BPU and of SEENET-MTP, was held EPS - CEI Present Composition in Craiova (Romania), on May 17th- 19th, The present composition of the Committee 2019. It was included as a distinct part in is (in alphabetic order): the program of the Joint Meeting “Physics • Radu Constantinescu, University of in Balkans”. Craiova, Romania (chair). The meeting had as main objective the • Goran Djordjevic, University of strengthening of the cooperation among Nis, Serbia. researchers and Physics educators from (left) the EPS V. Letokhov Medal. (b) Prof. Ferenc Krausz. • Maciej Kolwas, Institute of Physics of the South-Eastern part of Europe. Specifically, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland. a main topic of discussions was related to The Medal has been established • Denes Lajos Nagy, Hungarian Academy the re-launching of the Balkan Physics in memory of Professor Vladilen S. of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary. Olympiads, contest addressed to the Letokhov (1939-2009), former Vice- • Alexei Morozov, ITEP Moscow, Russia. gifted high-school students from the Director for research of the Institute of • Sofoklis Sotiriou, Ellinogermaniki Agogi Balkan Region. It was established that a Spectroscopy of the Russian Academy of Pallini, Greece. first contest will be held in Thessaloniki Sciences (ISAN), in order to recognize • Gertrud Zwicknagl, Institute of (Greece), in July 2019, in the joint organi- outstanding contributions in the field Mathematical Physics Braunschweig, zation of EPS, BPU and Hellenic Physical of laser-matter interaction, in particular Germany. Society (HPS).

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In the meeting in Craiova, the EPS-CEI Science festival. The president of the Local as well as the most important activities was represented by Radu Constantinescu, Organizing Committee was Kostas Vourlias, they have organized. The session of the Goran Djordjevic and Gertrud Zwicknagl. scientific secretary of BPU and president of year 2019, was chaired by Maciej Kolwas, Other participants, representing BPU, the Hellenic Physical Society – Thessaloniki member of EPS – CEI, and was attended by were Kostas Vourlias (Greece) and Maya Branch. An important support in organiz- representatives of several international soci- Zhekova (Bulgaria). David Lee, the EPS ing the whole activity came from Sofoklis eties such as the European Physical Society, general secretary, also attended the meet- Sotiriou, member of EPS – CEI. Extended the Slovak Physical Society, the German ing. During this time, the host institution, information on the activity is presented at Physical Society, the Institute of Physics, the University of Craiova, ran a competition https://balkanphysicalunion.info/?page_ the French Physical Society, the Lithuanian addressed to the local students in Physics, id=657. The event was financed by EPS – Physical Society, the Czech Physical Society, some EPS prizes being awarded to the win- CEI with an amount of 2,400 Euro, from and the Physical Society of Taiwan. See ners. The amount allocated from the EPS- which 2,000 Euro being transferred to or- https://www.epsnews.eu/2012/02/ipsec/. CEI grant was 3,000 Euro. ganizers and 400 Euro covering the travel The financial contribution to the organ- costs of some participants. ization of the activity from the EPS-CEI 2) An important activity related to the budget was of 2,000 Euro. EPS-CEI objective of training the PhD 4) Co-organization of The XI Bolyai– students from the South-Eastern part Gauss–Lobachevsky Conference (BGL- 6) Despite not directly financed by EPS- of Europe was the Balkan School and 2019): “Non-Euclidean, Non-Commutative, CEI, we will also refer to two other meetings, Workshop “High Energy and Particle Geometry and Quantum Physics”. The con- very important in terms of strengthening Physics: Theory and Phenomenology”, host- ference was organized by the Bogolyubov the scientific cooperation among EPS, the ed by the University of Ioannina (Greece), Institute for Theoretical Physics (BITP) Physical National Societies and the other from June 3rd to June 10th 2019. The School of the National Academy of Sciences of stakeholder institutions mentioned before: was attended by 37 PhD students from 9 Ukraine, and took place in Kyiv, from May From October 20th to October 22nd, 2019 countries. Partially supported by EPS –CEI, 19th to May 24th, 2019. it was organized in Trieste the “SEENET- the school was part of a running CERN – BGL-2019 was devoted to the impact MTP Assessment Meeting”, in the frame ICTP Program for PhD students and young of non-Euclidean geometry on modern of the cooperation agreement between scientists. The School was connected with quantum physics. The main topics in the SEENET-MTP and ICTP. It was a very an interesting scientific meeting, “Advances focus included, https://indico.bitp.kiev. good opportunity of gathering high level in Fields, Particles and Cosmology”, held in ua/event/3/: physicists and representatives of impor- the same place. Many scientists from the • Non-Euclidean & non-commutative ge- tant stakeholders who could contribute to region presented their scientific achieve- ometry: theory and applications the development of the scientific cooper- ments to the PhD students participating in • Quantum fields in curved spaces; sym- ation in Physics, in the extended Europe: the event. Information on the activity can be metry & supersymmetry ICTP, CERN, CEI, BPU, SEENET-MTP. found at http://bs2019.physics.uoi.gr. The • Quantum groups & quantum algebras New activities have been planned and new amount used from the EPS-CEI budget to • Deformed quantum models and systems opportunities of cooperation have been support the school and the workshop was • Quantum statistics, quantum informa- discussed https://www.seenet-mtp.info/ 3,100 Euro, from which 2,300 Euro was tion theory news/assessment-meeting-and-sac- transferred to the University of Ioannina • Quantum gravity & cosmology meeting-in-trieste. During this meeting for covering some of the organizational • Gravitational waves, dark matter, the Abdus Salam International Centre for costs. The difference was used for covering dark energy Theoretical Physics (ICTP) has joined The the travel and the accommodation of few • Classical and quantum integrable systems. Framework Agreement for Scientific and scientists participating in the meeting. • The financial contribution of EPS – CEI Technical Collaboration – the bilateral to the organization of the conference was agreement between CERN and SEENET- 3) As it was established by the EPS-CEI 1,500 Euro. MTP Network, established in 2017. The during the meeting in Craiova, the Balkan Annex to the Agreement was signed by Physics Olympiad was held in Thessaloniki 5) Co-financing the Informal Physical the ICTP director Professor Fernando (Greece), from July 14th to July 17th, 2019. Societies Exchange Conference (IPSEC XII) Quevedo, and Dr. Dragoljub Dimitrijević, Teams from 10 countries participated in –session, held on September 13th 2019, in scientific secretary of the SEENET-MTP the contest: Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Kraków (Poland), in parallel with the XLV Network and its Office in Niš. Cyprus, Greece, Montenegro, North- Meeting of Polish Physicists. IPSEC be- From December 1st to December 4th, 2019, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia came a well-recognized forum allowing representatives from Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey. It was a very good opportu- to National Physics Societies from various Serbia, Romania and Turkey participated nity of promoting the scientific education, countries to present the state of the art re- in a meeting held in Craiova (Romania). It the competition being jointly held with a lated to the role of Physics in their countries, was dedicated to the identification of the

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possible projects that could be prepared for while for the other two programs the ap- societies, to raise standards of living at the obtaining complementary financial sup- plications will be elaborated during the global scale, and to provide basic under- port in promoting the cooperation among spring 2020. standing of nature on the Horizon 2050. the Physicists from the South-Eastern This action is developed within the frame- European countries. The main organizers work of the EPS Forum Physics and Society of the meeting was SEENET-MTP and the FORUM PHYSICS AND SOCIETY activities in the period 2019 – 2021 costs were covered from the budget of the Two Editorial Board meetings [June 14th ICTP-SEENET Project NT-03 “Cosmology- Chair: Carlos Hidalgo and November 29th] were held during 2019. Classical and Quantum Challenges” co- Membership of the Editorial Board and ordinated by prof. Goran Djordjevic, Physics for Society – Grand terms of reference were approved during the executive director of SEENET-MTP. Challenges on the Horizon 2050 the first meeting. The structure and topics Three main EU programs were identified: The Grand Challenges EPS action is de- to be covered, as well as EPS coordinators, the COST Action Program, the CEEPUS signed to address the social dimension of were discussed during both meetings. Program, and the Erasmus+ Program. science and the grand challenges in Physics The final structure and chapter coordi- Application to CEEPUS was already sent, that will bring radical change to developed nators are as follows:

Theme 1: PHYSICS AS GLOBAL HUMAN ENTERPRISE FOR UNDERSTANDING NATURE Coordinators Chapter 1.1. 1.1.1. Particle physics: physics beyond the Standard Model Claudia-Elisabeth WULZ [High PHYSICS BRINGING 1.1.2. Nuclear and plasma physics: origin of matter in the visible universe. Energy & Particle Physics Division] THE INFINITIES 1.1.3. Quantum gravity: an unfinished revolution Mairi SAKELLARIADOU 1.1.4. What is the universe made of: searching for dark energy & matter. [Gravitational Physics Division] 1.1.5. A gravitational universe: black holes and gravitation waves. 1.1.6. Stars, the Sun and planetary systems as physics laboratories. 1.1.7. Physics of Earth, planetary interiors and space environments Chapter 1.2. 1.2.1.Quantum many body systems and emerging phenomena. Kees VAN DER BEEK MATTER AND WAVES 1.2.2. The search for new materials [Condensed Matter Division] 1.2.3. High temperature superconductors: physics and applications. 1.2.4. Topological states and novel quantum states 1.2.5. Manipulating photons and atoms: photonics and nanophysics 1.2.6. Extreme light 1.2.7. Systems with numerous degrees of freedom Chapter 1.3. 1.3.1. Searching for life in the universe: What is our place in the universe? Felix RITORT [Division of Physics PHYSICS FOR 1.3.2. Artificial intelligence: What is the nature of human mind?. in Life Sciences] UNDERSTANDING LIFE 1.3.3. Artificial life: sustainable self-replicating systems Bart VAN TIGGELEN [EPL Editor] 1.3.4. Where physics meets biology: Is there new Physics in living matter?. 1.3.5. The emergence of life: the Sun-Earth connection

Theme 2: PHYSICS DEVELOPMENTS TO TACKLING MAJOR ISSUES DIRECTLY AFFECTING THE LIVES OF CITIZENS Coordinators Chapter 2.1. 2.1.1. Accelerators for health Ralph ASSMANN PHYSICS FOR HEALTH 2.1.2. Bionics and robotics [Accelerator Group] 2.1.3. Light for health Giulio CERULLO 2.1.4. Further diagnostics and therapies [Quantum Electronics and Optics Division] Chapter 2.2. 2.2.1. Physics of earth and climate Ulrich PLATT PHYSICS FOR ENVIRONMENT 2.2.2. Physics fields with relevance for energy technologies [Environmental Physics Division] AND SUSTAINABLE 2.2.3. Green cities and transport Luisa Cifarelli DEVELOPMENT 2.2.4. Environmental safety [EPS Past President] 2.2.5. Understanding and predicting space weather Chapter 2.3. 2.3.1. Second Quantum revolution: quantum computing and cyber security Felicia BARBATO PHYSICS FOR SECURE 2.3.2. Information and communication technologies [Technology and Innovation AND EFFICIENT SOCIETIES 2.3.3. Bio-inspired technologies Group] 2.3.4. Sensors and applications Christian BECK 2.3.5. Large-scale complex socio-technical systems and their interactions [Statistical and nonlinear Physics 2.3.6. Artificial Intelligence and data science Division] 2.3.7. Science citizen

The third Editorial Board meeting will be held on February 27th [2020] to discuss potential authors and the final structure of the EPS Forum 2020 [Berlin, October 1st – 2nd] on the occasion of the 175 years Anniversary of The German Physical Society.

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EUROPHYSICS NEWS (EPN)

par europhysicsnews science policies in Europe, make connec- Traffic on the EPN website is mostly direct, THE MAGAZINE OF THE EUROPEAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY

51/2 Focus on Earth and sea sciences 2020 tion with physicists inside academia, with i.e. visitors type the URL directly into their 113€ per year V Happy birthday: anniversaries! European Union countr olume 51 Status of particle physics •

Loránd Eötvös research network number (V AT not included) teachers and those that found a career in browsers. It is an indication that visitors are 2 ies price: Editor: industry or other organisations. Ambitious already familiar with the existence of EPN. V. R . Velasco goals for a small team of editors and a lim- Despite the sharp decrease in the number of and E. de Wolf ited budget, but with a vast amount of vol- visitors, the number of downloads was with unteers inside and outside EPS willing to 466,000 at the same level as in 2018 and the Science Editor: fill the EPN pages with attractive articles. ‘Scopus CiteScore 2018’ was higher (0.31) F.J. Iglói More than a hundred of them contributed than in previous years. Visitors came pre- to EPN 50 in 2019. dominantly from North-America (about Statistics –The paper version of EPN, pub- 28%), West-Europe (about 25%), and Asia lished by EDP Sciences, comprises 25,000 The editorial team - During the year, Els (about 13%). The article ‘Europe’s Quantum copies per issue, which are distributed to de Wolf gradually took over from Victor Flagship is taking off’, published in EPN Individual Members and National Physical Velasco, who excellently served for many 49/5&6 was the top download in 2019. Societies. A digital version is Open Access years as EPN Editor. Ferenc Iglói contin- The website offers authors the possibility available on the websites europhysicsnews. ued as Science Editor and the production to store complementary documents such org and epn.eps.org. In 2019, the EPN 50 team with Xavier de Araujo for the graphics as videos or scientific developments related edition contained the usual five issues. A design and the support by EDP Sciences to a subject that is presented in the printed total of more than one hundred contribu- remained unaltered. The editors rely on issue. As in most previous years, in 2019 this tions were published in the sections: EPS the Editorial Advisory Board (EAB), that possibility has not been used. In conclusion, Editorial (5; 5 pages), News (17; 26 pages), had to bid farewell to Robert Klanner who the website attracts a reasonable amount of Highlights from European journals (55; reached the end of his term and to Claude visitors, although efforts should be made to 23 pages), Features (28; 98 pages). The EPS Sébenne, former EPN Editor. Arnulf Quadt attract visitors from East-Europe. In 2020, Editorial is provided by the EPS President (Göttingen), Victor Velasco (Madrid) and authors will be encouraged again to store and the Executive Committee. The News Roberta Caruso (Naples, representing additional material related to their article, section comprised reports about EPS events Young Minds) joined the team in 2019. while the new dedicated twitter account @ such as award and prize winners, Historic The EAB continues widening the scope europhysicsnews will be used to enhance Sites ceremonies, Conferences and events of Feature topics as much as possible, re- the visibility of the website. from the broader physics community. cruiting authors increasingly from the bor- Highlights in European journals were re- ders of physics and other domains. This is Relation with EPS - Since EPN is one of ceived from EPL, EPJ and JPHYS. Features progressively achieved by adjusting the the communication channels for EPS, the covered physics research and education, composition of the board, upon member re- relation is tight. In 2019, this was visible science policy in Europe and interviews. placements, giving priority to topical rath- by the EPS Editorials delivered by the EPS Opinions of individuals were presented in er than geographical distribution. We feel President and the Executive Committee, Columns and Letters to the Editor. EPN that EPN must primarily be instructive and the reports on the Council meeting, two 51/2 was a special issue on the Nobel Prize pleasant to read, but we also try to report Historic Sites, two EPS awards and one in Physics 2018 and lasers with Antigone from the cutting edge of physics research. EPS Conferences. In addition a Division Marino as Guest Co-editor. report was published about the European Website - The website europhysicsnews. Particle Physics Strategy. We encourage Goals - EPN is the EPS magazine made by org is maintained and monitored by EDP the Executive Committee and Division physicists for physicists. It is a communica- Sciences. EPN issues are Open Access made and Groups to more often submit scientif- tion channel of EPS and serves many objec- available in pdf format and as Google ic reports on EPS conferences and in par- tives. It offers the global physics community searchable flipbook at epn.eps.org. The ticular about prize and award laureates of of people with an education in physics a number of visitors of the website decreased the Society. What would the feelings of a platform to become informed and to pres- from about 25,000 in 2018 to 18,000 in prize laureate be whose name and work ent new research and education initiatives. 2019, mainly because a suspicious blogger remain unknown except for a few people The platform can be used to promote ear- site in the USA was no longer interested. besides the jury? Why limit such infor- ly-career physicists, discuss and alert for The number of page views was 47,000. mation to the Council members when

15 ACTIVITY REPORT 2019

more than 30,000 EPN readers could each issue, a new section by and for Young In summary, the editorial team of EPN, read about it? Minds, a new section ‘In the spotlights’ re- however small, hopes to continue to make A new decade, a new face for EPN - At placing the ‘News’ section, more human an increasingly interesting journal and the EAB meeting in September 2019, a first interest issues and a keen eye for diversity each Council member can help by pro- discussion about possible upgrades of EPN in content and among authors. Financial viding short information of lasting inter- took place. These comprise for instance the possibilities for modernising the look-and- est (preferably with pictures) at the wider introduction of mini-themes as a focus for feel of EPN will be investigated in 2020. European scope.

EPL

themes such as quantum information, ma- particular, a phenomenon that unfortu- chine learning and complexity. Although nately becomes more and more frequent. EPL is open for all physics, the vast majority As a general reference, EPL applies the (80 %) of the published articles are of the- COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) oretical nature. guidelines regarding all issues related to the During the 5-year period 2015-2019, integrity of scholarly research and commits Editor in Chief: 7562 submissions were received, among itself to investigate all well-formulated al- Bart van Tiggelen which 5772 were sent out for Peer-Review. legations profoundly and confidentially. In (Grenoble) Hence 23 % of the manuscripts were reject- 2019 a few EPL articles were scrutinized ed without external review, either directly on possible plagiarism after an external Executive Editor: by the editorial office for style reasons, or complaint. In two cases, self-plagiarism Dr Anne Ruimy (EDP-Sciences Les Ulis) by the handling Co-Editor after careful of an EPL article was identified in articles Staff Editor: reading. The reject of “bad” manuscripts published later by another journal, leading Frédéric Burr (EPS Mulhouse) without Peer-Review is a policy that is en- to their withdrawal, and to the blacklisting Production Editor: couraged, especially because the number of of one author. Barbara Ancarani (SIF Bologna) “strange” submissions (“Michelson-Morley Business Manager: experiment is wrong”, “General relativi- Bibliometrics David Lee (EPS Mulhouse) ty is incomplete”, etc) is steadily growing. During the year 2019, EPL received 1152 Product Manager: Nevertheless, the Editor-in-Chief also submissions, against 1328 in 2018 with Emma Watkins (IOPP Bristol) and encourages Co-Editors to accept “contro- almost 60 % of the submissions coming Catherine Brassac (EDP Sciences Les Ulis) versial” manuscripts, where reviewers pose from Asia (33 % from China, 13 % from Deputy Editors: good questions that have no immediate an- India), and with (only) 25 % coming from Prof. Roberta Citro (Salerno) and swers. Only 50 % of the 26325 requests sent EPS member states. The number of submis- Prof. Gonzalo Muga (Bilbao) out to potential reviewers in the same peri- sions is again declining by more than 10 od led to a report, which shows our strug- % and this is a major worry. Especially in The year 2019 started with 13 newly ap- gle to maintain high quality Peer-Review. condensed matter physics, EPL lost many pointed Co-Editors, replacing 10 Co- On average 2.3 reports were produced submissions. China alone submitted 18 % Editors who stepped down as well as 2 for each submission sent out for review. less. The countries UK, Italy, Russia and non-active Co-Editors, and one Co-Editor This last number demonstrates a healthy Germany saw their submissions falling by who had been elected President of EPS. As performance of the Editorial Board, 2 be- more than 20 %. The reason is undoubtedly of March 2019, our Editorial Board com- ing the desired value, knowing that many that a few years ago the impact factor went prised 67 Co-Editors and 2 Deputy Editors. submissions undergo a second round of down through the symbolical 2.0 barrier Co-Editors should cover all disciplines of review. A Co-Editor handles on average 17 (1.957 early 2017, 1.834 early 2018, and physics, as well as all countries important manuscripts per year (20 in 2018). This is 1.886 early 2019) and EPL is now ranked in for EPL, apart from EPS member states also a supportable workload but note that some the second quartile Q2 of Journal Rankings India, China and the US. The policy of the Co-Editors in statistical physics, quantum in Physics and Astronomy (SJR). For many current Editor-in-Chief is to propose young information, complexity and cosmology potential authors such “second-rank” posi- rising stars for nomination by EPS, and to often handle more than 3 manuscripts per tion prevents them from submitting to EPL, have a representative number of female sci- month: Roughly 25 % of the Co-Editors not rarely discouraged by their funding entists on the board. The current ratio of handles 50 % of the submitted manuscripts. agencies. EPL also suffers from too many 1/3 of female and 2/3 of male Co-Editors In 2019 the Board of Directors recon- “Sleeping Beauties”, i.e. zero-cited papers is reasonable but can be improved. It is also firmed the policy of EPL with respect that are potentially interesting but appar- important to appoint Co-Editors on rising to misconduct and (self-) plagiarism in ently not visible. With 498 papers accepted

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in 2019, our acceptance rate remains con- top two highest downloading institutions. the presence of Co-Editor Prof. François stant around a satisfactory 40 %. Perhaps unsurprisingly, five of the other Peeters, the biophysics section at the DGP After a peak in 2017, the total number of eight positions in the top ten are also insti- meeting in Erlangen, in the presence of Co- downloads has dipped back below 600,000, tutions in China, with two others taken by Editor Prof. Holger Stark, the EPS Young with the total for 2019 at 558,586. Around the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Minds Best Activity Award, attributed to 11% of all downloads in 2019 concerned (MIT) and Cambridge University. the YM sections Yerevan and Artsakh in submissions in 2019 and the download of Armenia during the 8th EPS Young Minds archive content remained high and stable. Editorial Process Leadership Meeting in Erlangen (see pho- However, since the number of submissions The editorial process, from submission to to) and finally the Iberian meeting IBEREO declined again in 2019 there was actually an publication, requires a close and recurrent 2019 on Rheology in Porto. In addition, increase in average downloads per article, collaboration between the four offices in EPL supported the 3 national meetings at 157 for manuscripts published in 2019, Mulhouse, Bologna, Bristol and Les Ulis of the French Physical Society (SFP), the up from 152 in 2018. Editor’s Choice arti- (until 2019) which is quite efficient. A Italian Physical Society (SIF) and the joint cles, of which 24 were published in 2019, strong element of EPL remains the quality Swiss/Austrian society (SPS/ÖPG). EPL received on average 220 downloads per ar- and efficiency of the entire editorial pro- was present at the meeting on Sustainable ticle, which demonstrates the high quality cess. For 2019 we report a median time of Open Access, organised by the publisher of these articles selected by Co-Editors, and 78 days from submission to acceptance, MDPI in Basel, at the IPSEC learned society free to read for one year The 9 Perspective and a median time of 13 days for revision meeting in Cracow, and at the annual SAC articles published in 2019 have brought in by the authors of an in principle accepted meeting of our partner Journal EPJ. No EPS a total of 5,181 downloads by the end of manuscript. Only 30 days more are needed Europhysics Prize was awarded during this December 2019, implying an average of no to get the final version on-line, but work is parity-odd year, always supported by EPL less than 576 per article. The programme going on to reduce this time to about 20 benefitted from an increased commission- days. Most “lost” time occurs externally and Invited Papers ing especially by the two Deputy Editors, is due to reviewer requests with no reply. The present policy is to edit each year typi- and has also seen a good growth from the 6 cally 2 Focus Issues (edited by a Co-Editor) Perspective articles published in 2018. EPL Support on hot topics and a number of commis- China remains the single highest down- EPL has sponsored 9 scientific events sioned perspective papers. In 2019 EPL loader of EPL content, and has increased its (poster prize, , young physicist prize, um- finalized the Focus Issue on the Physics share in 2019 to 17% of all downloads, be- brellas with EPL logo), with EPL visibili- of Quantum Engineering and Quantum fore the USA with 14% of downloads. There ty and with active participation of either Information, edited by Deputy Editors and is still a big gap to the next biggest con- Editor-in-Chief, Executive Editor, Deputy Editor-in-Chief, and a new Focus Issue is sumers, with Germany at 7%; India, Japan Editor, Co-Editor or Chairman of the being launched on the Turbulent regimes in and UK all representing between 4-5%, Board. EPL sponsored the EPS Plasma Bose Einstein condensates. EPL published and France 3% of all downloads. Given Conference in Milan (chaired by EPL Co- 9 Perspective papers (on non-Markovian the continued growth of research output Editor Prof Catherine Riconda, see pho- quantum dynamics, ultrafast electron-pho- from Asia, it is encouraging to report that to), the EPS Statphys meeting in Nordita, non coupling, entropy diffusion in bio- Tokyo University and China University of chaired by EPL Co-Editor Prof. Christian logical systems, shortcuts to adiabaticity, Science and Technology are yet again the Beck), the Vortex meeting in Antwerp, in terahertz spectroscopy from air plasmas,

17 ACTIVITY REPORT 2019

experimental quantum causality, graph the- • Highlights campaign the 4 Partners EPS, SIF, IOPP and EDP ory applied to statistical physics, … ). There • Meet the Editorial Board Sciences, with two important elements. is a real difficulty to persuade recognized • Calls for submissions First, all sales, including the stand-alone scientists to respond to our invitation and • Highlighting highly cited content subscriptions, will gradually be taken over we invite all EPS Divisions and Groups to by IOPP. Second, the printed version of EPL propose suggestions to us. These invited re- The Highlights campaign (involving has been cancelled, except for the Focus search papers are generally well cited, but special articles published 2018, either se- Issues, that will be printed in small num- unfortunately, too few exist so far to make a lected on scientific excellence by Co-Editors bers by the SIF. real difference on impact factor. Finally, 26 or characterized by many downloads) is With the Plan S issued in 2018, the chal- articles were labelled “Editor’s Choice” by the largest campaign of the year. As well lenge for EPL to respond to Open Access the Editorial Board. They are free to read as initial notifications when the collection becomes more urgent than ever. The Plan for one year, and 11 among them have been went live, we also served Gmail adverts for S insists, in a nutshell, on immediate open highlighted in Europhysics News. several months to promote the page. The access free for all readers and accepts dif- adverts were seen over 180,000 times. A ferent ways to accomplish this. Today, Marketing & Promotion printed brochure, produced for distribution EPL is a hybrid journal with only very In 2019 we formalised the ‘vision state- at conferences worldwide, was also used in a few Open Access papers (9 in 2018, 8 in ment’ as a result of the market research direct mail targeted at 400 authors in com- 2019), and is classified as aRomeo/Sherpa work started in 2018. The purpose of the petitor titles. This call for submissions was green Journal: EPL requires the transfer of statement is to guide the EPL Board of also sent by email to target authors, deliv- Copyright from the author to the journal, Directors, Management Committee and ered to an additional 1100 contacts. Since but allows immediate archiving on the per- Editorial Board when making decisions 39 % of these contacts actually viewed the sonal website, yet with 12 months embargo about the journal. It is not intended to be email, we may consider this campaign to to post on institutional repositories. Several made public-facing but should inform any be a success. elements are Plan-S incompatible. EPL has externally-facing copy. In terms of printed material, we have dis- been engaged into a profound internal dis- EPL is a broad scope Letters journal that tributed our ‘Why publish with EPL’ leaflet cussion on how to respond to Open Access. provides authors from around the world to international conferences, nearly 80 in The option that is currently supported is to working in physics and related fields with 2019. The leaflet was created this year using include EPL into the transformative agree- fast, fair and constructive peer review thanks the new vision statement. ments that IOPP is negotiating with many to our Editorial Board of active scientists, Following on from the market research in research organisations, and to increase the who are experts in their respective fields. 2018 we also started our ‘Meet the Editorial number of sponsored OA articles published The journal prioritises scientific excellence Board’ campaign. One email was sent high- within the journal. and therefore does not utilise short-term lighting two of our new Board Members The increase of impact factor is another metrics to prioritise or publish research. In and showcasing their expertise. We will major challenge, crucial for EPL survival. addition, we ensure great science is given as continue this campaign in 2020, to tackle We hope that the active commissioning much visibility as possible while supporting the customer perception that our Editorial of articles will brings us back excellent au- researchers worldwide to get the most benefit Board is not of the highest quality. thors that now prefer to publish elsewhere, from their publishing experience. Continuing on the theme of quality, our mostly outside Europe. An active role of most highly cited content in EPL was also EPS Divisions and Groups to seek authors EPL’s values celebrated this year. Authors of top-cited and topics for EPL would be most welcome. • Driving for scientific rigour papers (more than 15 citations in 2019) It may even be necessary to reconsider the • Embracing inter- and multidiscipli- were notified of their success and encour- scope of EPL, which is currently advertised nary work aged to publish in EPL again. as a broad-scope Letter journal in physics, • Prioritising professionalism and efficiency The Editorial Office continues to run the and to hire staff and/or appoint Editors • Supporting open science Twitter account for EPL, promoting recent whose tasks will be specifically commis- • Making brave decisions articles and engaging with the community. sioning content for EPL. • Working collaboratively Headline figures are as follows: 414 tweets Concerning the evolution of the Editorial Using this as an inspiration, the text un- in 2019 with a total of 2,686 engagements. Board in 2020, 2 very active Co-Editors der on epljournal.org was rewritten, and all Followers have grown to 890 at the time of have arrived at the end of their 7 year marketing communications (emails, print writing (720 in 2018). Conferences support- term, 14 reach the end of their 5 year term, pieces) used these themes to ensure a con- ed by EPL are also promoted on Twitter. and 2 reach the end of their 3 year term; 9 sistent message to our customers. Co-Editors have agreed to have their term Future challenges extended, 10 new Co-Editors will soon be Key campaign activity in 2019 consisted The 1st of January 2019 has seen the activa- nominated by the Executive Committee of the following: tion of a new production contract between of EPS.

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EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICS (EJP)

ARTICLE TITLE VOLUME ISSUE ONLINE DATE DOWNLOADS Stability of democracies: a complex 40 1 27/11/2018 8,448 Editor in Chief: systems Perspective Michael Vollmer Forces on hockey players: vectors, work, 40 6 13/09/2019 2,285 energy and angular momentum Associate publisher Assessing first-year undergraduate phys- 40 1 07/12/2018 1,678 IOP Publishing: ics students’ laboratory practices: seek- ing to encourage research behaviours Iain Trotter The curse of knowledge 40 3 09/04/2019 1,613 Executive summary Maxwell’s (D, H) excitation fields: lessons 40 2 18/02/2019 1,106 from permanent magnets IOP Publishing is pleased to report to the Visualizing and manipulating the spatial 40 5 23/08/2019 888 council another successful year in 2019 for and temporal coherence of light with an European Journal of Physics (EJP). With adjustable light source in an undergrad- the addition of a dedicated Deputy Editor uate experiment for physics education research, the journal Feynman’s different approach to 40 6 15/10/2019 883 Electromagnetism continues to deliver on its dual aims of sup- Leidenfrost effect studied by video 40 6 14/10/2019 821 porting this growing field whilst providing analysis valuable resources for in-service educators Improving student understanding 40 5 19/07/2019 770 – actively helping to foster improved col- of quantum mechanics underlying laboration where these two communities the Stern–Gerlach experiment using a research-validated multiple choice overlap. With a stable publishing operations question sequence team, we are continuing to improve our al- Parabolic curves in a Helmholtz solution 40 1 23/11/2018 768 ready excellent customer service and com- for a bowed string petitor-beating processing times through the careful application of Continuous Improvement practices to both technolo- and of its distinct research and publishing everything from atmospheric optics, to geo- gy and processes. IOP Publishing is also requirements, a new Deputy Editor position physics and climate science, this model will delighted to report another strong finan- was created to support and grow EJP’s cov- again enable contributors to cover a range cial contribution to the European Physical erage in this area. This position was filled of student ages and technicality in re- Society, of €98,275. by an existing member of the Editorial al-world applications of physics principles. Board, Professor Cedric Linder (Uppsala Reflecting the continued good interna- Editorial activity University, Sweden), who brings many years tional visibility of the journal, submissions The editorial board continues to offer in- of experience as a leading expert in the field. remained largely stable in 2019 – with a valuable support to the journal; whether EJP added 2 further articles to its well-re- small drop on recent years. EJP’s robust acting as Guest Editors for focus issues, ceived Reviews programme in 2018, ex- peer-review processes are vindicated by contributing and commissioning high panding our coverage into medical physics. the high quality of content published in the quality content, and promoting the jour- Following the ‘Focus on Medical Physics’, 2019 volume - but coupled with the timing nal at events. In recognition of the crucial in 2019 we announced the second joint of new and mature commissioned ‘focus’ contribution that the physics education focus issue shared with Physics Education collections, this has led to a lower figure research (PER) community makes to EJP, – ‘Focus on the Physics of Nature’. Covering for accepted articles. The journal continues

SUBMISSIONS (BY RECEIVED YEAR) ACCEPTANCES (BY FINAL DECISION YEAR) Article Type 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Papers 731 663 651 778 782 769 143 196 224 206 200 156 Letters 33 40 26 15 17 5 4 13 2 0 0 0 Reviews 15 19 23 10 17 2 3 7 4 3 Special Issue /Focus on 9 12 34 14 9 9 4 3 20 14 19 4 Other 12 14 31 30 15 15 5 9 19 15 14 6 Total 785 744 761 860 846 815 156 223 268 242 237 169

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to capitalise on a raised profile within the Marketing activity 2019 saw the relaunch of the updated international education community, pub- 2019 Highlights campaign Education subject collection page on lishing work from the leading research IOPscience, featuring highlighted articles groups and institutions worldwide. 2019 from both EJP and Physics Education – plus saw another year of hard work from the relevant community news and views from Publishing Operations team at IOPP to pre- Physics World. This page enables EJP con- serve the journal’s strong reputation. Taking tent to be seen by a wider audience. advantage of department-wide ‘Continuous Improvement’ measures in both technolo- Email Campaigns gy and processes, EJP has exceeded its own leading peer-review processing times whilst maintaining an excellent level of personal customer service. In 2019 there were 52,276 Downloads of 2019 EJP content and 308,744 Total Downloads of all EJP content. After an exceptional increase from 2017-18, the Our annual Highlights collection, featur- article download figures stabilised in 2019 ing outstanding papers from the previous – although with a notable increase in the av- year, was once again highly received by re- erage downloads per article. Again, a diverse searchers. All articles in the collection were selection of highly downloaded articles made free to read online until the end of the contributed to the total rather than a few ex- year and promoted via email to all IOPP ceptional cases, which we feel continues to Education contacts to help encourage usage validate our marketing approach of mixing and citation of this quality content. tailored direct contact and daily social me- The Highlights can be found online at: dia interaction with an engaged audience. https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/ 0143-0807/page/Highlights-of-2018 Notes Education subject collection A number of email campaigns were deliv- ered to an average of over 1,500 contacts in physics education and education re- search – promoting a wide variety of EJP content and encouraging submissions from new authors.

Conferences and events in 2019 In engaging with the community and inter- acting with target authors, we can maintain relationships, build confidence in research- ers, and work on improving the journal pro- file. This interaction with the community is vital and plays a major role in our marketing plans and activities.

EJP materials were sent to the following events in 2019:

EVENT DATE LOCATION PRESENCE ETOP 2019 21 May – 24 May Canada Editor in Chief GIREP-ICPE-EPEC-MPTL 2019 1 Jul – 5 Jul Hungary Editorial Staff / Board Members AAPT Summer Meeting / PERC 2019 20 Jul – 24 Jul United States Sponsorship Physics Higher Education Conference 22 Aug – 23 Aug United Kingdom Editorial Staff

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E-EPS

Editor: A. Bracco - Technical Editor : G. Gunaratnam

Overview since the creation in May 2011 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 visits on the website 32031 63530 75370 73934 68009 59876 57616 52446 59939 subscribers (i) 38160 35433 33732 33501 33471 33448 33286 (ii) 33159 articles published 160 244 240 209 216 206 213 188 (iii) 164 i) unknown statistics ii) Since May 2018 and GDPR new EPS IMs are not added to the subscribers iii) Since 2018 no issue in August c Most read articles in 2019 TITLE VIEWS (>600 visits) Balkan Physics Olympiad 2019 972 Physicists peer into hydrogen atom . 928 Statistics for the 2019 issues using quantum microscope EPS distinctions 2019 845 Interview with Andrea Blanco- Redondo: Do what you love and 830 never give up The winter 2018 EPS Emmy Noether 791 Distinction goes to Chiara Mariotti Two Prestigious Prizes in Quantum Electronics and Optics announced 770 by the European Physical Society EPS Historic Site, Leuven, Belgium : Georges Lemaître, founder of the 724 Big Bang theory The Winter 2019 EPS Emmy Noether Distinction for Women in Physics is 719 awarded to Cristiane Morais Smith 49th International Physics Olympiad, 673 IPhO2018 2019 EPS High Energy and Particle 625 Physics Prizes

Details of views in EPS news (> 100 visits)

The switch from http://www.epsnews.eu to https://www.eps.org will be done in 2020.

The email will still be sent out to subscribers.

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Conferences Organised in 2019 CONFERENCE PLACE PARTICIPANTS DIVISION/GROUP ECAMP XIII Firenze, Italy 400 Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics 1st Portuguese CMD Conference Portugal 125 Condensed Matter Division 21st International Vacuum Conference combined with CSS-17 Malmo, Sweden 600 Condensed Matter Division and ICN+T 2019 JEMS 2019 Uppsala, Sweden 700 2nd China-Europe Solar Physics Meeting Hvar, Croatia European Solar Physics Division First GPD -EPS meeting in Rome Rome, Italy 100 Gravitational Physics Division EPS- HEPP Ghent, Belgium 746 High Eenergy and Particle Division Nuclear Physics in Astrophysics IX Frankfurt, Germany 139 Nuclear Physics Division Joint GIREP-EPEC-ICPE-MPTL conference Budapest, Hungary 330 Physics Education Division The International Day of Light: Illuminating Education Trieste, Italy 100 Physics for Development Nonequilibrium Physics in Biology Madrid, Spain 50 Physics in Life Sciences Division 45th EPS Plasma Physics Conference Milan, Italy 400 Plasma Physics Division NANOMETA 2019 Seefeld, Austria 200 Quantum Electronics and Optics CLEO/Europe EQEC 2019 Munich, Germany 2122 Quantum Electronics and Optics 2nd China-Europe Solar Physics Meeting Hvar, Croatia Solar Physics Division Statistical Physics of Complex Systems Stockholm, Sweden 200 Statistical & Nonlinear Physics Division Statphys29 conference Buenos Aires, Brazil 1000 Statistical & Nonlinear Physics Division

2019 conference of Accelerator Group Melbourne, Australia 1186 Accelerator Group 4th SIF-EPS International School on Energy Varenna, Italy Energy Group

Prizes Awarded in 2019

PRIZE LAUREATE DIVISION Young Scientist Prize Philipp Haslinger Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics Vladilen Letokhov medal Ferenc Krausz Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics and Quantum Electronic & Optics Division PhD Prize Norbert Magyar European Solar Physics Division Early Career Prize Lakshmi Pradeep Chitta European Solar Physics Division 2019 EPS High Energy and Particle Physics Prize CDF and D0 collaborations High Energy Particle Division Cocconi Prize WMAP and Planck Collaborations High Energy Particle Division 2019 Young Experimental Particle Physicist Prize Josh Bendavid and Lesya Shchutska High Energy Particle Division 2019 Gribov Medal Douglas Stanford High Energy Particle Division 2019 Outreach Prize Rob Appleby, Chris Edmonds and Robyn Watson High Energy Particle Division Secondary school teaching award Jorge Carmo Antonio Physics Education Division Best Poster Julia Woithe Physics Education Division Hannes Alfvèn Prize Victor Malka Plasma Physics Division Hannes Alfvèn Prize Toshiki Tajima Plasma Physics Division Innovation Prize Hana Barankova and Ladislav Bardos Plasma Physics Division PhD Thesis Award Giada Cantono Plasma Physics Division PhD Thesis Award Michael Faitsch Plasma Physics Division PhD Thesis Award Francisco Javier Artola Such Plasma Physics Division PhD Thesis Award Eleanor Tubman Plasma Physics Division 2019 Vladilen Lethokov medal Prof. Ferenc Krausz Quantum Electronics & Optics Division 2019 Prize for Research into the Science of Light Javier Garcia de Abajo (ICFO, Spain) Quantum Electronics & Optics Division QEOD Quantum Electronics & Optics prizes Anne L’Huillier and Govind Agrawal Quantum Electronics & Optics Division Fresnel Prizes Carlos Hernández-García and Matteo Lucchini Quantum Electronics & Optics Division The QEOD Thesis Prizes Armin Feist/Mathieu Massicotte and Ileana-Cristina Quantum Electronics & Optics Division Benea-Chelmus/Fabian Langer EPS Statistical and Nonlinear Physics Prize Sergio Ciliberto, Satya Majumdar Statistical and Nonlinear Division Early career Prize Valentina Ros, Karel Proesmans Statistical and Nonlinear Division

22 ACTIVITY REPORT 2019 EPS DIVISIONS Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics Division Gravitational Physics Division Chair Chair • Joachim Burgdörfer • Mairi Sakellariadou Sections Conference • Electronic and Atomic Collisions • First GPD -EPS meeting in Rome • Chemical and Molecular Physics Prizes • European Group on Atomic Systems • No Prize so far Conferences Website • ECAMP XIII • www.eps.org/group/GPD Prizes • EPS Young Scientist Prize in Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics • Vladilen Letokhov prize High Energy And Particle Physics Division Website Chair • www.eps.org/eps-amopd • Thomas Ghermann Conference • HEP General Conference Prizes Condensed Matter Division • The High Energy and Particle Physics Prize Chair • EPS Cocconi Prize • Kees van de Beek • 2019 Young Experimental Particle Physicist Prize Sections • 2019 Gribov Medal • Liquids, Macromolecular Physics, • 2019 Outreach Prize Magnetism, Structural and Dynamical Properties of Solids Website • Semiconductors and Insulators, • http://eps-hepp.web.cern.ch/eps-hepp/ Surfaces and Interfaces Conferences st • 1 Portuguese CMD conference Nuclear Physics Division • 21st International Vacuum Conference • JEMS2019 Chair • René Reifarth Prize • EPS Europhysics Prize Conferences every other year • Nuclear Physics in Astrophysics • EPS Nuclear Physics Division Website Conference • www.eps.org/eps-CMD Prizes • IBA Europhysics Prize (Applied Nuclear Science and Nuclear Methods in Medicine) Environmental Physics Division • PhD Prize in Nuclear Physics • Lise Meitner Prize (Nuclear Science) Chair • Herbert Fischer Website • www.eps.org/group/NPD Conferences • No conference organised in 2019 Prize • In the area “Environmental Physics” a large number of international More about EPS divisons: prizes are awarded regularly. As a www.eps.org/members/ consequence a sponsor for a new prize could not be found up to now group_select.asp?type=8719

23 ACTIVITY REPORT 2019

Plasma Physics Division Quantum Electronics And Optics Division Chair Chair • Richard Dendy • Giulio Cerullo Sections Conferences • Beam Plasma and Inertial • Nanometa 2019 Fusion Section • CLEO/Europe – EQEC 2019 • Dusty and Low Temperature Conference Prizes • EPS Plasma Physics Division • EPS Quantum Electronics Prize Conference • Fresnel Prize • 4 QEOD Thesis Prizes

EPS DIVISIONS EPS Prizes • Research in Laser Science • EPS-PPD Hannes Alfvén Prize and Applications Prizes • EPS-PPD PhD Research Award • Travel grants Student Awards • EPS-PPD Innovation Prize • EPS-IUPAP Student Poster Prize Website Website • http://qeod.epsdivisions.org/ • http://plasma.ciemat.es/eps/

Physics Education Division Solar Physics Division Chair Chair • David Sands • Eduard Kontar Conference The JSPD is a joint Division • European Physics Education with the European Astronomical Conference (GIREP-EPEC) Society (EAS) and the European Physical Society (EPS) Prize • EPS PED Secondary Teaching Award Conference • EPEC Best Poster Prize • 2nd China-Europe Solar Physics Meeting Website • www.eps.org/group/PED Prizes • PhD Student Prize Website • www.eps.org/group/ESPD Physics in Life Sciences Division Chair • Felix Ritort Statistical And Nonlinear Physics Division Conference • Nonequilibrium Physics in Biology Chair • Prize Christian Beck • None Conferences Website • Statistical Physics • www.eps.org/group/DPL of Complex Systems • Statphys29 conference Prizes • Award of the Statistical and Nonlinear Physics prize More about EPS divisons: • Early career prize www.eps.org/members/ Website group_select.asp?type=8719 • www.eps.org/group/SNPD

24 ACTIVITY REPORT 2019 EPS GROUPS Accelerators Group Physics For Development Group Chair Chairman • Mike Seidel • Joe Niemela Conference Conference • 2019 Particle Accelerator Conference • The International Day of Light: in Melbourne, Australia Illuminating Education Prizes Prize • No Prizes were awarded in 2019 • None Website Website • www.eps.org/group/EPS-AG • http://www.physdev.org

Computational Physics Group Technology and Innovation Group Chair Chairman • Carlo Bertoni • Markus Nordberg Conferences Conference • None • Technology and Innovation Workshop Prize • None Prize • None Website • http://phycomp.technion.ac.il/ Website ~EPS-CPG/ • Under construction

Energy Group Notes Chair • Jozef Ongena Conference • 4th SIF_EPS International School on Energy, Varenna, Italy Prize • N/A Website • http://epsenergygroup.eu/frontend/ index.php

History Of Physics Group Chairman • Karl Grandin Conference • No conference Prizes • No prize this year More about EPS groups: www.eps.org/members/ Website • www.ehphysg.eu group_select.asp?type=8737

25 European Physical Society

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