IBS and the Royal Society are jointly hosting 2015 IBS-Royal Society Research Conference from 14th to 15th September in Milton Keynes, U.K. This annual event has been taking place in Korea and in the U.K. alternately since 2014 after IBS and the Royal Society concluded an MOU for research collaborations and personnel exchanges in November 2013 (when the Korean president Park Geun-hye visited the U.K. as part of her trip to Western Europe).

The Royal Society is the first science society in Europe, and its purpose is to recognize, promote, and support excellence in science and to encourage the development and use of science for the benefit of humanity.^[1] The Royal Society is the world’s most prominent scientific association and over 80 Fellows of the Royal Society (FRS) have received Nobel Prizes.

This year’s conference is held at the Kavli Royal Society International Centre in Milton Keynes, U.K followed by the last year’s conference in Korea.

The Conference brings together 34 leading scientists, including 9 IBS directors and 11 FRS for presentations and discussions in the fields of nanoscience and nanotechnology, astro/particle physics and genome science. It also features a keynote speech by Sir. Harry Kroto at Florida State University who received the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1996.

The Conference includes the following 3 sessions, which will take place at the same time:

1.Nanoscience and nanotechnology
Anthony Cheetham (vice president of the Royal Sociey) and Je-Geun Park (IBS associate director of the Center for Correlated Electron Systems) chair the nanoscience and nanotechnology session. The session’s speakers include the following 5 FRSs and 4 IBS directors:
FRS: Peter Bruce (University of Oxford), Clare Grey (University of Cambridge), Ajay Sood (Indian Institute of Science), John Maier (University of Basel) and Richard Catlow (University College London)
IBS directors: Rodney S. Ruoff (Center for Multidimensional Carbon Materials), Han Woong Yeom (Center for Artificial Low Dimensional Electronic Systems), Sergej Flach (Center for Theoretical Physics of Complex Systems) and Young Hee Lee (Center for Integrated Nanostructure Physics)

2. Astro/Particle Physics
Carlos Frenk (FRS, Durham University) and Hyun Su Lee (IBS associate director of the Center for Underground Physics) chair the astro/particle physics session. Yeongduk Kim (IBS director of the Center for Underground Physics), Kiwoon Choi (IBS director of the Center for Theoretical Physics of the Universe) and Yannis K. Semertzidis (IBS director of the Center for Axion and Precision Physics Research) give speeches and have discussions with researchers from the Royal Society.

3.Genome Science
John Skehel (vice president of the Royal Sociey), Robin Lovell-Badge (FRS, Francis Crick Institute) and Kyungjae Myung (IBS director of the Center for Genomic Integrity) chair the genome science session. Jesper Svejstrup (FRS, Francis Crick Institute) and Jin-Soo Kim (IBS director of the Center for Genome Engineering) are among speakers of the session.
Beyond the Conference, IBS scientists will meet with U.K. colleagues to share and discuss their latest findings within the field of neuroscience at the 8th UK-Korea Neuroscience Symposium. Under the theme of “New Concepts of Neuroscience for Basic Research and Therapeutic Advances”, the Symposium will be held at the Clare College in Cambridge, from the 15th to 16th September. Dr. Doochul Kim, the IBS president will give a congratulatory speech at the Symposium, and Hee-Sup Shin (IBS director of the Center for Cognition and Sociality), Eunjoon Kim (IBS director of the Center for Synaptic Brain Dysfunctions) and Seong-Gi Kim (IBS director of the Center for Neuroscience Imaging Research) will attend the event.

[1] https://royalsociety.org/about-us/mission-priorities/