News

First EURAMET Summer School on Thermal Measurements a Big Success

Students in laboratory exercise sessions

Students get theoretical and hands-on experience in thermal metrology

Survey results from lecturers and students of the first EURAMET summer school on thermal measurements have shown that it was regarded as a 'great success'. The summer school, which ran from 17 to 21 September 2018 at the Hellenic Institute of Metrology in Greece, gave 44 students from entire EURAMET Community and all Reginal Metrology Organisations an opportunity to get both theoretical and hands-on experience in thermal metrology.

Feedback on course content
The course aimed to give new thermal metrologists an introductory overview to the field. Students attended talks in areas such as temperature, humidity, and thermophysical quantities, and were encouraged to participate in lively discussions and networking with experts and colleagues in both hardworking and a relaxed atmosphere.

Lecturer Dolores del Campo, who is chair of EURAMET's Technical Committee for Thermometry and responsible for thermometry and gas metrology at CEM (Spain's National Metrology Institute), said of the event, "The communication was excellent, in general there were good interactions among the lecturers and students."

Graham Machin, Head of Temperature Standards at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL, UK) and lecturer at the summer school added, "Mixing lecturers and students together informally at lunch, for example, was a great way of maximising knowledge exchange."

Laboratory exercises
To reinforce their learning and gain experience in the practice of contemporary thermometry, students also performed several laboratory exercises. Feedback from the survey revealed that this was a central and valuable part of the course.

"The laboratory hands on sessions were very important to make the things taught by lecturers concrete," said Graham Machin.

Course participants also described the summer school as an effective way to get 'tips and tricks, and a lot of information in these fields,' with 'first-class teaching' and a 'good opportunity for beginners to meet the community of thermal metrology'. The 30 lecturers were similarly impressed with the attitudes and motivation of the students - who were spotted in the hotel lobby after a whole day of practical exercises working on homework for the next day.

With this type of event replacing around 5 to 10 short courses, and a chance for collaboration and input from experts around the world, it is hoped that another summer school on thermal measurements will be run again in the near future. "I think the Thermometry Summer School must be established as a regular event with a period of 4 or 5 years. It would be perfect if other Technical Committees join this TC-T initiative", says Dolores del Campo.

Graham Machin agrees, "Over a number of days the students developed friendships and established contacts which will stand them in excellent stead throughout their careers in metrology." 

The host
The event has been perfectly hosted by EIM, Greek's National Metrology Institute, with sessions taking place at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Evmorfia Kokkini from EIM said "It was our pleasure to host this big event and also a great opportunity to mark our place in the thermal metrology landscape."

EURAMET would like to thank the host, students and lecturers for their enthusiastic participation and the EURAMET thermometry community who contributed to the event. Tanasko Tasic, Capacity Building Officer at EURAMET, said "Through the great effort and contribution of TC-T community, and the great effort and hospitality of EIM the concept of the summer school has been proved successful and we will present this to other EURAMET technical committees. A long-term, multi-year schedule of such training courses in future will make planning of NMI/DIs staff education much easier for all involved parties." 

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