The Social Metwork

Brian Lo – brian.lo@pgr.reading.ac.uk  

“Quo Vadis”, Latin for “Where are you marching?”, is an annual event held in the Department of Meteorology in which mostly 2nd year PhD students showcase their work to other members in the department. The event provides the opportunity for students to present research in a professional yet friendly environment. Quo Vadis talks usually focus on a broad overview of the project and the questions they are trying to address, the work done so far to address those questions and especially an emphasis on where ongoing research is heading (as the name of the event suggests).  Over the years, presenters have been given constructive feedback from their peers and fellow academics on presentation style and their scientific work. 

This year’s Quo Vadis was held on 1st March 2022 as a hybrid event. Eleven excellent in-person talks covering a wide range of topics were delivered in the one-day event. The two sessions in the morning saw talks that ranged from synoptic meteorology such as atmospheric blocking to space weather-related topics on the atmosphere of Venus, whereas the afternoon session had talks that varied from storms, turbulence, convection to energy storage!  

Every year, anonymous staff judges attend the event and special recognition is given to the best talk. The winning talk is selected based on criteria including knowledge of the subject matter, methods and innovativeness, results, presentation style and ability to answer questions after the presentation. This year, the judges were faced with a difficult decision due to the high standard of cutting-edge research presented in which presenters “demonstrated excellent knowledge of their subject matter, reached conclusions that were strongly supported by their results, produced well-structured presentations, and answered their questions well.” 

This year’s Quo Vadis winner is Natalie Ratcliffe. She gave an impressive presentation titled “Using Aircraft Observations and modelling to improve understanding of mineral dust transport and deposition processes”. The judging panel appreciated the combination of observations and modelling in her work and were impressed by her ability to motivate and communicate her findings in an engaging way. In addition to the winner, three honourable mentions were made this year. These went to Hannah Croad, Brian Lo and James Fallon whose talks were on arctic cyclones, using radar observations in the early identification of severe convection and weather impacts on energy storage respectively. 

Being the first in-person event for a long time, Quo Vadis 2022 was a huge success thanks to our organisers Lauren James and Elliott Sainsbury. Having run for 30 years, Quo Vadis remains a highlight and an important rite of passage for PhD students in the meteorology department. Having presented at this year’s event, I found that summarising a year’s worth of research work in 12 minutes and making it engaging for a general audience is always a challenge. The audience at any level attending the event would at the very least appreciate the diversity of the PhD work within an already specialised field of meteorology. Who knows how Quo Vadis will evolve in the coming 30 years? Long may it continue!