Activities

The University of Southampton Optical Society has an academic, educational and social vocation. It shows its commitment towards these goals by promoting and running a series of activities and events which involve the whole graduate members’ community.

Activities fall into one of three strands:

• Academic – this includes organising seminars, talks from invited speakers and trips to sites of scientific interest (such as Bletchley Park and JET). We are also a founding member of the IONS Project, which aims to build social and professional links between young scientists working in photonics around Europe and the wider world.

• Outreach – our Lightwave outreach programme, run entirely by student volunteers, takes science out into primary schools in the Southampton area and beyond. For more information, please see the Lightwave website.

• Social – as the student society of the ORC, we have an extensive social calendar, including sport events, pub crawls, barbecues, formals, quizzes, International Food Days and fortnightly Coffee and Cake Club. We hope to provide events to suit everyone in our society, and to run regular events to enhance the social aspect of the PhD experience.