Primary funder name: Royal Society of Edinburgh

Closing date: 28 Oct 20

Full text: *** This opportunity will be available soon. The next call is expected to open in summer and close on 28 October 2020. The following information is subject to change. *** The Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Science and Technology Facilities Council invite applications for their enterprise fellowships. These enable the development of new businesses that stem from previously-funded STFC research in particle physics, astronomy, particle astrophysics, solar and planetary science, and nuclear physics. The fellowships enable science and technology researchers to develop into successful entrepreneurs and provides them with the skills necessary to succeed in the global business environment. Projects must originate from research that has been largely funded by either the STFC or the EPSRC nuclear physics programme. Graduates, postgraduates, PhD students, academic researchers or members of HEI staff may apply. Non-trading spinout or shell companies may also apply. Applicants must be able to remain and work legally in the UK for the duration of the fellowship and must demonstrate commercial and technical proof of concept. Previous fellows may not apply. The applicant should be hosted within a UK higher education or research institute and must be prepared to take a leading role in the company formed. Fellowships are worth up to £90,000 each in funding and training support and last for one year.

Website: https://www.rse.org.uk/awards/enterprise-fellowships/

Disciplines: Universe Sciences; Particle, Plasma & Nuclear Physics; Innovation & Technology Management

Title: The 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics: The theory and observations of black holes

Speakers: Professor B. Gaensicke, Dr A. Gareth, and Dr E.R.Stanway

Abstract: In this colloquium, members of the department will provide an overview on the topic of the Nobel Prize in Physics 2020. This year’s prize was divided with one half awarded to Roger Penrose "for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity", the other half jointly to Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez "for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy."
We will describe the work of Roger Penrose and his concept of 'trapped surface’, which underpins the singularity theorems that show that black holes form generically in general relativity and not only in special, highly symmetric situations.
We will summarise the experimental techniques used to study the black hole in the centre of the Milky Way and review the observations that were used to quantitatively measure its properties. We will then discuss the wider context of discovery and what we have learnt about supermassive black holes from observations outside the Milky Way. In in particular, we will focus on the key role played by supermassive black holes in shaping galaxy evolution over time.