Subject Groups
PGS
Recent PGS Group News
| 6/9/07 | A new page has been added to the website to display news which should be of interest to PGS members. |
| 18/5/07 | A new edition of the Group’s Newsletter has been published and emailed to all members, along with a letter from the Chair. |
| 26/4/07 | The Group’s name change was approved by the Institute’s Council and is now official. |
| 26/4/07 | 2007 AGM details and links on the Events Page |
Group Purpose
Exciting new developments are taking place in Graphic Arts technology and Printing applications. The Digital Revolution initiated a whole range of new ways of reproducing and displaying images and information: physics is involved in forming and measuring the image and how it is perceived. Inkjet and other printing and deposition processes are being used in many novel applications such as visual displays, flexible electronics, smart packaging, lighting and photovoltaics based on organic and polymer electro-optic materials. Physicists are actively involved in developing the processes, designing and characterising the products, and developing the new materials.
The UK has a world-leading position in these technologies, and the Printing and Graphics Science Group promotes the application of physics in these fields. We will bring together scientists working in industry, academy and elsewhere, and develop links with other active professional societies, such as the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, Institute of Paper, Printing and Publishing, Royal Society of Chemistry, Royal Photographic Society and the Colour Group. Research in our areas is multi-disciplinary, often carried out in departments not called “physics”, by scientists whose original discipline is often not physics. Our activities include this wider community, wherever physics is being developed and brought to bear.
The PGS Group is affiliated to the Applied Physics and Technology Division of the Institute of Physics. This ensures strong links with IOP Groups in related subject areas, such as Polymer Physics, Materials and Characterisation, Engineering Physics, Tribology, Ion and Plasma Surface Interactions. We participate in the Division Conference, as well as maximising the opportunities for joint meetings with other Groups. The PGS Group is a relaunch and renaming of the Printing, Packaging and Papermaking (PPP) Group, which was formed in 1985 to promote physics in these subject areas. We maintain an interest in the manufacture and properties of paper as a key substrate for printing, and in the physics of packaging.
Our objectives are:
- To promote the application of physics in graphics arts technology, printing, packaging and papermaking.
- To promote the development of innovative printing in new markets such as displays, lighting and printed electronics
- To promote a recognition of the importance of physics in those industries, and to promote physics in these industries as a career choice to graduates.
- To act as a forum for communication within the scientific community in these industries.
Our activities are:
- A one or two day PGS Group conference every 2-3 years, with invited and contributed papers.
- Technical meetings and visits to companies, laboratories and other venues.
- An annual Student Conference to enable postgraduate researchers to present their work and network.
- Encouraging student participation by awarding an annual grant, and make travel funds available.
- An annual prize for the best application of physics in the subject areas.
- Organising the 3-yearly IOP Conference on “Preservation and Conservation Issues in Digital Printing and Photography”, following successful events in 2000, 2003 and 2006.
- Participating in the 2-yearly Division Conference “Novel Applications of Surface Modification” (NASM).
- A newsletter published annually or more frequently.
- A website covering the Group’s activities and links to relevant outside conferences, exhibitions, centres of research and sources of information.
^ To the top ^