Conference marks launch of the France-Singapore Majulab

Talks and speeches on the opening day of the kick-off meeting for the UMI Majulab were given by VIPs including Nobel Laureates Claude Cohen-Tannoudji (pictured) and Tony Leggett, His Excellency the Ambassador of France to Singapore, and senior representatives of NUS and NTU.

A conference celebrating the launch of a joint France-Singapore research operation, the Majulab, was held 19-22 January across locations at the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University.

"MajuLab is definitely a sign and a fruit of the longstanding ties in terms of scientific cooperation between our two countries," said His Excellency Mr Benjamin Dubertret, Ambassador of France to Singapore, who gave a speech on the conference's opening afternoon.

The MajuLab was established in May 2014 as a joint research unit of NUS, NTU, the French national research organisation CNRS and the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis. Known as a UMI, or International Mixed Unit, within the CNRS framework, the MajuLab involves researchers from the Centre for Quantum Technologies and the Graphene Research Centre at NUS, and The School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences at NTU. Researchers from Yale-NUS College and the Singapore University of Technology and Design are also participating.

Christian Miniatura, Director of the Majulab and a Visiting Research Professor at CQT, says "The kick-off meeting is a defining moment where the history of the project, its existing achievements, its aims, scope and roadmap can be presented. I think it was a great success."

Opening-day speeches were also given by Luc Le Calvez, Head of the CNRS Asean Office; Andrew Wee, Vice President, University and Global Relations, NUS and Michael Khor, Director, Research Support Office & Bibliometrics Analysis, NTU, before the event moved into its scientific programme.

The conference offered parallel sessions on quantum computing, soft matter and laser physics, condensed matter and cold atom physics, and on quantum information. Keynote lectures on the first afternoon were delivered by Claude Cohen-Tannoudji from the Collège de France, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics 1997; Tony Leggett from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, US and winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics 2003; Ronald de Wolf from the Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica, the Netherlands and David Quéré from PHHM and Ecole Polytechnique, France.