It's the summer vacation. Undergraduate life in Cambridge may be quieter for a few months - giving us a bit more time to get on with our actual research - but it's also the season for conferences

We have close links with a number of international researchers; and attending conferences is a great way to present our own work, discover and discuss ideas, and to work across the international community to build collaborations, share best practice and (occasionally, politely) disagree on scientific theories!

The Society of Experimental Mechanics (SEM) annual conference was held in Orlando, Florida in June. James presented his work on dynamic behaviour of composites, and Malvina - who's just wrapping up her PhD - gave a presentation on Group Interaction Modelling of polymers in both the student and main conference. After an intense week of science and engineering, they managed to squeeze in a trip to the Kennedy Space Center (and a day or two at the nearby theme parks) as well!

The American Physical Society's biennial Shock Compression of Condensed Matter conference was in Chicago. David, Chris, Nick and our new PhD student Claire attended and presented - and much deep-dish pizza was consumed

Other conferences in the 2023 conference diary include MACH and DYMAT