A Scottish Crucible delegation led by Professor Alan Miller and Dr Ruth Neiland, from Heriot-Watt University, has been welcomed to Copenhagen by Professor Kirsten Hastrup, President of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters.

The delegation comprised Crucible Alumni from eight Scottish universities, all of whom are lecturers in academic disciplines ranging from biomedical engineering and robotics to conservation science and music. They were specially selected to take part in the Crucible programme as talented “research leaders of the future” and are now undertaking interdisciplinary research projects with collaborators from academia and industry.

The Scottish Crucible delegation visited Copenhagen to participate in ESOF – the EuroScience Open Forum – a pan-European, multidisciplinary conference which discusses significant and topical research and innovation. The event attracted several thousand delegates, including top researchers from all disciplines, business leaders, senior EU policy makers, and the international scientific media.

Scottish Crucible Director, Dr Ruth Neiland said of the event, “ESOF 2014 was a perfect conference for our Crucible Alumni; not only did they participate in a high quality scientific programme encompassing a variety of multidisciplinary themes, but they also took full advantage to network with potential collaborators and colleagues to help foster future research projects.”

Scottish Crucible Alumnus, Dr Anita Quye, University of Glasgow said, “It was a fantastic experience and fruitful in many ways, not least in strengthening our special Crucible bond across the years. I have a number of research leads to follow up now, thanks to contacts made at the ESOF 2014 conference.”

During their participation in ESOF 2014, the Scottish Crucible delegation also joined a Science Walk through Copenhagen at the invitation of Mr Henrik Slaatorn, Chief Executive of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters.

Professor Alan Miller, Deputy Principal for Research and KT, Heriot-Watt University and Fellowship Secretary of the Royal Society of Edinburgh said, “We thank colleagues from our sister Academy in Denmark for the kind welcome they have shown the Scottish Crucible Alumni at ESOF and anticipate even closer ties developing between members of our respective research communities in the future.”