Inaugural REACT conference – Dr Bhavani Yalagala presents
This November, meLAB Research Manager Dr Bhavani Yalagala presented his work on ‘Cryo-PMOS Hardware towards Energy-Efficient Neuromorphic Systems’ at the REACT Centre (the Centre for Responsible Electronics And Circular Technologies) here in Glasgow. The poster session was part of the 1st International REACT conference, held over 2 days at the University of Strathclyde. Strathclyde partners University of Glasgow, Heriot-Watt University, and Compound Semiconductor Applications (CSA) Catapult in running the UKRI-funded centre.
Its inagural conference was very well attended, bringing together academic and industry experts to showcase the state-of-the-art in green and sustainable ICT, encompassing everything from materials to systems, spanning fundamental technologies to high-TRL solutions. Invited keynotes with leaders in the field, industry collaboration pitches, panel discussions, and an exhibition from leading research groups, ensured a satisifed audience and plenty of conversation.
Thanks to Dr. Jeff Kettle, Dr. Mahmoud Wagih, Natalia Lukaszewicz, Joseph Cameron and the rest of the conference organisers for a rich and stimulating even
Links
REACT | Advancing sustainable electronics | University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
Summer outreach work on gravitational waves and wearable antennas – Kirstin Saunders
From the 5th to the 15th of June, meLAB had the pleasure of participating in the Glasgow Science Festival 2025 – a fantastic celebration of innovation, discovery, and public engagement, organised by University of Glasgow and taking place at over 50 locations across the city, with funding from the Scottish government. Two exciting live demonstrations were showcased. These were:
‘Scale Model Gravitational Wave Detector’, presented by Kirstin Saunders, a current meLAB PhD student in her 2nd year of study on the topic ‘Optical Coatings for Gravitational Wave Detection’. She joined forces with our collaborators from the University of Glasgow, School of Physics and Astronomy team.
‘Flexible Wearable Antennas & Hydrogel-based Materials’, was presented by Jioaran Wang, Ali Mokhtarzadeh Bonekhalkhal and Luvsanbat Khurelbaatar, offering a hands-on look into the future of smart, stretchable tech for health and communications.
Many interesting discussions with the public took place. Dozens of visitors stopped by to take part in the demonstration, first understanding the workings of gravity and space, and the signal produced from these highly energetic celestial events by our collaborators in physics. The meLAB contribution looked and the components and design of an interferometer and their use for gravitational wave detection by allowing people to interact and adjust the mirrors in the setup, mimicking the passing of a gravitational wave. Spectators were visibly fascinated and impressed. Kirstin said:
“It was wonderful being able to show our research to the community and demonstrate the work we do and inspire the next generation of scientists!”
In July, it was time to make the meLAB presence felt by contributing to the prestigious 24th International Conference on General Relativity and Gravitation & 16th Edoardo Amaldi Conference on Gravitational Waves, organised by the Institute of Physics.
2025 is the 10th anniversary of the first detection of gravitational waves, and the two conferences were held together as a joint meeting in Glasgow, bringing together experts from across classical and quantum gravity, mathematical and applied relativity, gravitational-wave instrumentation and data-analysis, and multi-messenger astronomy.
Kirstin Saunders presented her work on materials for the Optical Highly Reflective Coatings for Cryogenic Interferometric Gravitational Wave Detectors. Below we see her discussing her scale model interferometer as a demonstration to a public lecture hosted at the conference. She told us:
“This was a fantastic conference combining interesting fields of research. The talks contained the maths, physics, and engineering required to build, design, optimise and detect these events and open pathways into the physics of the universe!”
A massive thank you must go to the Chancellors of the university who gave some funding to allows us to produce the Scale model gravitational wave detector for demonstration events and to the supervisors for their support and encouragement with these events.