Context and future
Getting together to catch up on contemporary measurement and instrumentation has long been a tradition of the Scientific Instrument Makers. As part of the programme of lectures, symposia and webinars an annual SIMposium is held which may have a specific theme. Younger members are encouraged to attend and present their cutting edge work.
Potted history
In 2006 Master Carl Saunders-Singer created the first SIMposium where SIM Scholars competed for a prize for the best paper explaining their research. He was also responsible for organising a ‘Beautiful Measurement’ exhibition at the British Museum
In 2008 Master David Smith led an event where the lectures were given by the postgraduate Scholarship awardees and the Beloe Fellow. This event temporarily replaced the traditional annual lecture, now called the Minerva Webinar.
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Grant of Livery, a symposium was organised on 11th February 2014 in SIM Hall. Named ‘Instrumenting the Future’, it positioned WCSIM as a vital part of the development of future technology. The symposium showed how instrumentation was supporting the technological growth of our economy with world leading measurement techniques.
Past Master John Caunt recalls the ‘Measurement and Calibration’ event organised by Seton Bennett. John was on Seton’s committee and asked Steve Davies to speak. There was bad weather leading up to the event and four speakers didn’t show, but that was a blessing as each speaker overran. It turned out that eight speakers was the perfect number. It was a very successful event. After this time it was decided to make the SIMposium an annual occurrence.
On the 3rd July 2017, when John Caunt was Master, his chosen theme was a commemoration of Einstein. It was opened by Alderman and Sheriff Peter Estlin. The event was held in the Hall and well attended. Half the space was reserved for posters, small exhibitions and refreshments, and the other half for seating for the lectures. Scholarship awardees present their work, and given the theme, two speakers were invited to talk about Gravitational Waves, one from an instrumentation point of view and the other from a scientific angle.
The following years:
On Thursday the 5th April 2018 Master Ron Summers conducted the event at the Hall. There were guest speakers invited by Prof Summers and presentations by younger members. The guest speaker was Simon Singh. It was an all day event.
On Tuesday 9th April 2019 Master Ken Sanders offered the first ever hybrid event, on the theme of entrepreneurship. Skype was used for three speakers unable to be in London including one from the USA. The event was well attended at the Hall. It was an all-day event with networking at the end. Three speakers at a time formed a panel for questions.
Master Ken Grattan’s 2020 meeting would have focused on the Scholars’ work but was cancelled due to COVID. .
On Tuesday 19th April 2021 Master Martyn Wheatley’s SIMposium was on Zoom, and included presentations by the Scholarship applicants.
On Monday 4th April 2022 Master Charles Holroyd facilitated an all online event with presentation from all the Beloe Fellow applicants. It was morning only to avoid screen fatigue, and the Beloe interviews followed on during the afternoon.