After a 2-year break due to Covid, the 11th Vacuum Symposium was held on 12th & 13th July 2022 at Daresbury Laboratory, Warrington, UK. The response to an in-person meeting exceeded expectations, and despite some Covid no-shows on the day, 141 people attended the event.
Vacuum Symposium is an annual event that aims to educate and inform in all aspects of vacuum across the many and varied applications. VS attracts a wide variety of academia and industry and promotes a great willingness to share knowledge, ideas, and experiences amongst the participants.
The low-cost Vacuum Training courses put in by VS proved once again to be very popular. Few people working with vacuum have received any formal training and the courses, ranging from introductory to specialist, provide knowledge that can be taken back to the workplace. Our Trainers have a vast amount of experience and know-how, which according to the comments received from delegates, is passionately delivered, and sometimes reveals a prior misunderstanding of vacuum principles.
The Vacuum Symposium meeting is also an opportunity to present the Harry Leck Memorial Medal for distinguished contributions in vacuum science and applications. The 2022 winner was Dr Andrew Chew of Atlas Copco seen here receiving the award from Robin Hathaway (R), Chairman of the Vacuum Symposium committee.
The free to attend Technical Meeting at VS11 included presentations on a range of vacuum topics such as pump technology, contamination and particulate control, and safety in design and operation of vacuum systems. Speakers from industry gave talks on process control and challenging tasks within a vacuum environment.
Outside the meeting rooms was a large marquee (perfect for the hot July weather!) for the Vacuum & Technology Exhibition with table-top displays from over 40 companies. The free buffet lunch provided in the marquee provided a great opportunity to network and talk to the exhibitors.
The Marquee also housed the VS Poster Session with the prize being awarded to Chris Benjamin, University of Warwick, who with colleagues, presented ‘Photocathode Performance Characterisation of Ultra-thin MgO Films on Polycrystalline Copper’.
Date for your diary: the 12th Vacuum Symposium will be held at Daresbury Laboratory on 13/14 June 2023. In addition to all the above the IOP Vacuum Group will be organising a meeting on ‘Vacuum in Medical Applications’. www.vacuum-uk.org.
— Dr Steve Shannon
Vacuum Symposium UK
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