Annual CRITICAT Conference
As part of being a CDT student, we get to take on variety of experiences whilst doing our PhD's. One such experience for me was the opportunity to organise the Second Annual CRITICAT Conference, along with four other members of the student organising committee.
To begin with, I was unaware of the amount of thought and effort that goes behind organising conferences, but I have come out of it having a more thorough understanding of this process. Initially, when the tasks were distributed, I took on the role of sorting out abstracts and collecting them in to a booklet. Generally, it was an easy process, although it was very time consuming and therefore I think I have improved my time management and organisational skills.
Although, the whole organisation can get a little hectic, I think at the end of the day, good feedback from the conference made it all worth while. We received a lot of general appreciation and what really made my day was when Sir Martyn Poliakoff came up to me and said "I'd take an extra booklet because you have put a lot of effort in to this and I really like it." I'd highly recommend organising such events to other students, not only is it fun working with the other CRITICAT students from different years, but it also helps us polish our skills.
