18 Jul 2019
Peipei Wang was awarded a Rideal Travel Bursary to attend the 8th Bubble and Drop Conference in Sofia, Bulgaria. Here, she tells us about the oral presentation that she gave, the interesting presentations she attended and the positive networking experience she gained from the conference.
‘During 24-28 June, I attended the 8th Bubble and Drop Conference (B&D) held in Sofia, Bulgaria. This was an eye-opening interdisciplinary forum and attending the conference was definitely a rewarding experience.
‘The B&D conference is an international conference targeting front-line topics on bubbles, drops, interfaces, foams, emulsions and suspensions, ranging from fundamental science to applied research. A variety of sessions and talks have broadened my vision and updated me with advanced new ideas in this subject area. This conference has achieved a reputation not only for the high quality of the papers presented but also as an ideal forum for meeting fellow professionals in a relaxed and informal atmosphere.
‘During the conference, apart from invited keynote speakers, presentations were held in two parallel sessions. Sometimes, I was a little torn between two presentations since both were fascinating. Coffee breaks, lunchtime and poster sessions provided great opportunities to network with peers and experts from a diverse set of research areas. I travelled alone this time, which further pushed me to communicate with people from different backgrounds.
‘On the morning of the 26th, I gave an oral presentation on drag coefficient prediction of a particle-laden bubble rising in water, a key component of my doctoral project. It was extremely beneficial to present my work to international audiences so as to raise awareness of the work and to publicise it amongst people concerned with similar areas of research. I received quite good feedback on my work. Dr Rogerio Manica from the University of Alberta suggested a different way to express the bubble aspect ratio, while Dr Vamsee Ulaganathan from the University of South Australia gave me some advice on the drag coefficient model I use.
‘A particularly interesting presentation was given by Dr Ivan Vakarelski from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. The topic was about the mobile and immobile fluid interface. The method and analysis gave me some useful ideas for my research on rising particle-laden bubbles. I had a discussion with Ivan afterwards and found that the boundary conditions for mobile and immobile interface would also add value to my work. I also talked with Prof. Anh Nguyen from The University of Queensland. He is an eminent expert in my research area (mineral processing) and his talk on hydrophobic force story was extremely fascinating. He shared with me his experience when studying and doing research abroad, and we even talked about the difference between the mining industries in China and Australia.
‘The conference finished on the afternoon of the 28th, and I toured around the historic Sofia city with three new friends I met during the conference ─ two from the University of Alberta, Canada and one from Kao Corporation, Japan. I am very grateful to had been able to attend the conference with the financial support from SCI-RSC Rideal Trust. Overall, I believe attending this interdisciplinary conference was an invaluable experience for me and it will definitely inspire my further progress in academia. Furthermore, interacting and networking with leading academics has provided an excellent opportunity for me to grow my academic and industrial network.’
Peipei Wang
PhD Student
Imperial College London
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