The Eindhoven student gliding club ZES may have been around for half a century, but “many people still don’t know you can learn how to fly during your time as a student”, says Seth Brussaard of ZES. Brussaard is assistant professor at Applied Physics. “Flying is a dream for many people, and unfortunately it often stays that way.” That thought led to the title of the anniversary symposium, and it also ties in with the TU/e student recruitment campaign on dreams. The six speakers at the event are all people who made their dreams come true “despite the difficulties other people saw”.

Lectures will be delivered by PAL-V (currently developing a ‘flying car’), SpaceX (working on commercial space travel), and Ampyx Power, a company that wants to generate wind energy by using a sort of glider as a kite. The day will include talks about technological developments in gliding, and recent winner of the World Solar Challenge in Australia, Solar Team Eindhoven, will grace the event with a presentation as well. There will be a small-scale market where several businesses will present themselves in the Auditorium during lunch break, and in the MetaForum market hall ZES will exhibit a number of gliders, including an aircraft from the late fifties and the most recent specimen of the club’s fleet.

The location for the symposium is the Blauwe Zaal of the Auditorium. The event is on November 22, from 9am-6pm. Language: English. The event is free for students, others pay fifteen euro (drinks included). Lunch is available for ten euro. For more information, check the website.