Exciting conferences on the tracks
Are you contemplating whether to fly or take the train to next year's conferences? Here's a travel story by Michael Odelius that might inspire or discourage you. Many people you meet from Europe complain about unreliable national train services. Even in Switzerland, where to an outsider SSB seems to work just fine.

Sprinkler system in Nimes. Photo: Michael Odelius.
Michael Odelius is Professor of Theoretical Chemical Physics and also Director of Graduate Studies at the Department of Physics. Here he talks about his experiences travelling to conferences in an environmentally friendly way.
So how does travelling by train to European conferences work out? Since I was planning to travel to conferences in the summer that were directly after each other, I thought I'd give it a try. Three conferences in July in Barcelona, Locarno and Berlin. That should work.
Night train through Germany to Spain
The greatest challenge was of course to get to Spain by train. The night train to Hamburg and further south in Germany led to a change of trains in Mannheim. As an AC/DC concert overlapped with a Pride parade that day, Mannheim made a strong impression and after a lunch of ‘Ochsenbäckchen in Rotweinsoße mit Spätzle’ the journey continued through France. After an overnight stay in Avignon, I arrived at the hotel in Barcelona for a much needed shower before the evening conference reception at Ultrafast Phenomena 2024, where I met Sambit who is a PhD student in the research group at Fysikum. It was an intense conference with a programme that stretched from morning to evening with inadequate air conditioning during the heat wave in southern Europe in July. A highlight during the week was Spain's victory in the European Football Championship, when Barcelona boiled over with overjoyed supporters.
From Barcelona to Locarno via the French Riviera
The route from Barcelona to Locarno went along the French Riviera via Nimes to Geneva. At the changeover in Nimes, the temperature was +39°C, but the temperature in the waiting room was kept comfortable by a climate-smart air-conditioning system consisting of a ceiling sprinkler system that cooled the air as water droplets evaporated before reaching the floor. During IWP-RIXS2024 at Congressi Stefano Franscini in Monte Verità near Locarno, we presented new methods to investigate ultrafast dynamics during photo-induced processes, and discussed old measurements and new experiments at MAX-IV in Lund and XFEL in Hamburg.
From breathtaking Alpine landscapes to Berlin and Stockholm
With a punctual connection through a breathtaking Alpine landscape, I changed in Basel to a night train to Berlin. I arrived for breakfast at the Max Born Institute in Adlershof, formerly the research centre of the East German Academy of Sciences. During a closing meeting of a European network (SMART-X), we discussed research, the circumstances of PhD students during the COVID pandemic and plans for future networks. Finally, a night train from Gesundbrunnen in Berlin to Stockholm Central arrived more or less on time.
Activities and planning of train changes
The bottom line from the summer excursion is that you not surprisingly spend a lot of time in a fairly comfortable armchair during train travel, and need something to do.
But given that even at Albanova I mainly sit in front of a computer, it's not necessarily a waste of time if you can manage the extra travelling time socially. You can work undisturbed but you need to prepare and make sure you have what you need on your laptop, as internet connections vary depending on the route and train operator.
You also need to plan for transfer times in case of delays. Lots of delays and cancellations make planning a multi-connection journey undeniably tricky, but with Interrail, you have the flexibility to manage short connections. However, you will need to present evidence in your travel plan that the Interrail option is cheaper than just buying the train tickets directly. A general advice is to put the night train first in a sequence if necessary, as otherwise you can easily get stranded and have to stay in a hotel. Travelling long distances by train is considerably more expensive than flying, but Fysikum compensates somewhat by covering half the cost.
What plans do you have for next summer?
For me, with conferences planned in Luleå, Ottawa and Innsbruck, which are also spread out in time, it will be an insurmountable challenge to combine these trips and take the train. I conclude with some advertising for a conference that can be reached by land, and encourage those who are interested to take the train to the Physics Days in Luleå, organised by Luleå University under the auspices of the Physics Society.
I conclude with some advertising for a conference that can be reached by land, and encourage those who are interested to take the train to Fysikdagarna in Luleå, organised by Luleå University under the auspices of the Swedish Physics Society. Physicists from all over the country, including Nobel laureates and high school teachers, meet and discuss new results in various fields from atophysics to green steel. Like other national meetings organised by the American Physical Society and the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft, this is an important networking opportunity within the country, and a good opportunity for PhD students to meet future colleagues.
/Michael Odelius
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Last updated: December 19, 2024
Source: Gunilla Häggström, Communications Officer, Fysikum