There are many opportunities to give talks, as well as to hear them, which are often as valuable for illustrating how, or how not, to give a talk as for the scientific content of the talk itself.
Research Jamboree: Each member of the Institute gives a short (1 min!) concise (1 overhead!) summary of what they are working on at a meeting sometime in October. This enables everyone to have a feel for what everyone else is working on. This is in addition to the informal talks from postgrads.
Coffee-time talks: Informal talks are given in the Common Room at coffee-time, starting at 11.20am. Originally designed to last for five minutes, twenty to thirty minutes has now become the norm. The idea of these talks is for researchers to give brief, informal summaries of their own current work or other interesting new work in their field, explained at a level suitable for a non-specialist audience. Often these talks can explain an idea or present news of an interesting observation that people have heard circulating informally, but about which they have not been able to learn sufficient information. These are presently organised by Philip Best.
ROE Seminars: The Observatory also runs a weekly series of more formal, hour-long research seminars, which are held in the Common Room. These are given by invited speakers and their aim is to provide a more detailed survey of current astronomical research. PhD students are expected to attend all seminars, as they form part of the taught component of the PhD course. The present organiser is Marek Kukula.
Journal Clubs & Discussion Groups: Within particular subject areas there is the opportunity for more specialised discussions of current work and the astronomical literature. These groups tend to be very informal and their sessions can be some of the most informative and rewarding ways of improving knowledge and understanding in your field. If you feel a particular subject would benefit such a group, feel free to set one up.
Technical Seminars: These are often arranged on an ad-hoc basis to help students improve their knowledge of important scientific methods. Seminars in statistical methods can be especially useful. These are usually arranged through a request from the postgraduate representative.
Head of Department Talks: During the month of November each year there is a session at which the second year students each give short presentations to the Head of Department. These talks should be pitched at a level comprehensible by a person with a general scientific knowledge, and should be able to convince such a person that the particular area of research being described is interesting, important to the nation's intellectual health and, thus, worthy of continued financial support.
Robert Cormack Bequest Meeting: In 1942, the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) was made the residuary legatee of the estate of Robert Cormack, a local businessman, the society being ``directed to administer this bequest for the purpose of promoting astronomical knowledge and research in Scotland''. Under the terms of the bequest, the society makes a number of research fellowships and grants, as well as holding an annual meeting each April. Every other year the meeting is held in Edinburgh, in the Society's rooms on George Street. In the intervening years it is held outside Edinburgh. In this event the Institute will pay travel expenses. Members of the astronomy groups at Edinburgh, Glasgow and St. Andrews Universities are invited to this meeting, to give talks on their work, listen to other such talks and have a very good tea afterwards, before a lecture to the members of the society by an astronomer of note. There are also a number of papers presented as posters. In practice, each Edinburgh student will give one poster presentation during their time here, while some will also give talks.
PIPC Seminars: The Physics Intergroup Postgraduate Committee (PIPC) aims to promote fraternization between the different research groups in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. One of the ways in which it does this is by organising regular seminars at 1pm on Thursdays to give postgrads a chance to talk about their work in front of a (friendly) audience of other postgrads. They are always keen to solicit more talks from astronomers, and provide a good way to get to know people in the rest of the Department. For more details, see the PIPC webpages: http://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/internal/pgseminar/