On May 16 we had our first half-day group strategy retreat in Manly. This was great initiative mostly driven by Andrew with lots of help from David Pham – Thank You! Following an early ferry ride (surprisingly all made it on time), we had a number of talks and breakout sessions on equipment needs, collaborations, revising our group meeting structure, export controls etc. We also heard from David Miskovics about various physical metallurgy facilities available in the School. Our former group member Bernd Schulz talked about his current role and gave some helpful tips to our PhD students. A buffet lunch was followed by a wet but beautiful bushwalk back to Manly. This exciting day ended for most with drinks at the Steyne Hotel in Manly, but a subset of group members then visited the Opera House bar in Circular Quay on the way home and enjoyed some nice seafood. (:
I believe this is something we should do annually from now on…