ARCHER2 Celebration of Science 2024 review

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The ARCHER2 Celebration of Science was an opportunity to meet up with a wide range of people involved in the ARCHER2 community, and to hear a range of presentations by some of the Consortia Leaders, PIs and other researchers benefitting from access to ARCHER2, and also from some of those involved in providing the ARCHER2 service.

It really did feel like a celebration; a warm, positive, convivial atmosphere.
For myself, part of the EPCC support team for almost 10 years now, it was my first chance to meet many of those presenting face to face, after many, many exchanges of emails via the Service Desk. It was terrific getting to hear about the work being done and the successes and contributions, and though time pressures meant that the talks had to be a whistle-stop tour of the work, it was great to see many of the newer researchers’ work being highlighted alongside that of some of the longer-term projects.

Mark Parsons’ Keynote on the Exascale Project fed into a lively panel discussion on what this may mean for research in the UK and how this can provide maximum benefits.

I was also delighted to be invited to be a member of the Poster Competition judging panel. With 25 high quality posters, it was a pleasure to review them all and then to discuss with the rest of the panel our favourites. In the end the consensus was clear though, with Marina Strocchi’s entry featuring highly for all of us. Congratulations, once more, Marina.

The User Forum offered an opportunity for members of the ARCHER2 support teams to share news and updates and for the audience to discuss and ask questions, and we were pleased to be able to offer this as a hybrid event, ensuring everyone had the opportunity to take part.

In between presentation sessions, there were opportunities to talk to the Excalibur project team about the Preparation for Exascale work that they have been involved in

and to take a virtual tour of the ARCHER2 Computer Room with a VR headset

Though things may have come close to taking an overly-exciting turn when the Excallibur sword was drawn…

We very much hope that those of you who were able to attend the event enjoyed it as much as we did, and that we will be able to run a similar event in the future.