UK Solar Physics Newsletter Lyndsay Fletcher & Duncan Mackay, Editors August 2007 o News, Views and Gossip o Congratulations o RHESSI science nuggets o AGU Fellowsip - send your nominations! o House of Commons 7th Report on UK Space Policy o IAU Symposia - call o Request for feedback on the Solar Feature Catalogues (SFCs) o Employment Opportunities o Postdoc position at ISSI, Bern o Postdoc position at MSSL o 2 Postdoc positions at St. Andrews Dear Colleague, Here are a few items which have come to our attention since the last Newsletter. You can find this newsletter also at the UKSP website: http://www.uksolphys.org Lyndsay (lyndsay@astro.gla.ac.uk) Duncan (duncan@mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk) *********************************************************************** * * * News, Views and Gossip * * * *********************************************************************** From: The Editors Congratulations to David Tsiklauri, who has been promoted to a Readership in Space Science and Technology, and also received the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Environment Deans Award, from the University of Salford. Well done David! **************************************************** From: Steven Christe Announcing two new RHESSI Science Nuggets "The Evaporating Sun" by Ryan Milligan Combining RHESSI and CDS observations gives a new look at the upflows related to chromospheric evaporation. These can be found on http://sprg.ssl.berkeley.edu/~tohban/nuggets/ ******************************************************* From: The Editors Nominations for AGU Fellowship Take the opportunity to promote a person in your discipline or country that deserves to be recognized for exceptional contributions to the Earth and space sciences. Make a difference by nominating an AGU member who has made a significant impact on his or her field. The Fellows Committee can only select from the nominations they receive, so your input is essential. Any AGU member may submit a nomination. It is important that Fellowship nominations reflect the geographic, ethnic, and gender diversity of the AGU membership. Only you can make that happen. Accept the challenge and nominate a person whose outstanding performance merits the honor of Union Fellowship. Please visit www.agu.org/inside/fellguides.html for details. The closing date for the submission of AGU Fellows nominations has been extended to 15 August 2007. Fred Spilhaus ************************************************* From: David Tsiklauri The House of Commons has published its Seventh Report on UK space policy: This may be of interest to UKSP to express further views of the community. Actual report: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmselect/cmsctech/66/6602.htm ******************************************************* From: James Klimchuk The International Astronomical Union (IAU) is soliciting proposals for Symposia, General Assembly (GA) Symposia, GA Joint Discussions, and GA Special Sessions in 2009. The following is reproduced from the latest IAU Newsletter. Note that proposals require endorsements from IAU divisions and commissions and that the Organizing Committee of Commission 10 (Solar Activity) prefers proposals that are relatively narrowly focused to proposals that cover a broad range of topics. A letter of intent is due by 15 September and the proposal is due by 1 December. The IAU is soliciting proposals for scientific meetings in 2009: * three regular 5-day IAU Symposia, to be held at least three months before or after the IAU XXVII General Assembly; and scientific meetings held at the IAU XXVII General Assembly, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 3 - 14 August 2009: * six 3.5-day IAU GA Symposia; * up to twenty 0.5-1.5-day IAU GA Joint Discussions; * up to ten 0.5-3.0-day IAU GA Special Sessions. For all these scientific meetings, prospective proposers should observe the Rules and Guidelines for IAU Scientific Meetings, as presented at . Note that for meetings held at the GA, no LOC or registration fee has to be proposed. Letters of Intent for IAU Scientific Meetings in 2009 should be submitted to the IAU Assistant General Secretary, Dr. Ian F. Corbett , on or before 15 September 2007 in accordance with the IAU Rules and Guideline for IAU Scientific Meetings. Final proposals have to be submitted to the IAU Proposal Web Server on or before 1 December 2007, following the instructions given in that Server. Proposals submitted after the deadline may be rejected. It is essential that all the IAU Scientific Meetings cover important areas of topical interest, demonstrating continued progress in astronomy research. Members are reminded that proposals for all Symposia, GA-Symposia, GA-Joint Discussions and GA-Special Sessions have to be backed by a coordinating IAU Division and endorsed by a reasonable number of IAU Divisions, IAU Commissions and IAU Working Groups. A report of the communication with Division and Commission presidents on the proposal has to be included in the proposal. The AGS will appreciate advance notice of such reports. ******************************************************* From: Valentina Zharkova At the third anniversary of the launch of the Solar Feature Catalogues (SFCs, (1st July 2005, http://solar.inf.brad.ac.uk) we would like to request some information and feedback from the UK users. Currently we have 55 registered users from various institutions worldwide involving 4 continents. According to the files of log access and IP address access, the users actively explore the catalogue website every month. Now we were requested to produce a report on the SFC usage and further progress. Can we ask anyone who is using now or used the SFCs in the past in their research or searches, please, send to the Bradford team (fr-egso@brad.ac.uk) a list of: a) journal or conference papers where SFC data were used and b) any projects leading to papers with SFC data used; c) your feedback on SFCs. Many thanks in advance for your response Valentina Zharkova Bradford Space Science Group *********************************************************************** * * * Employment Opportunities * * * *********************************************************************** From: Nicolas Labrosse ISSI invites applications for a Post-Doctoral Position for a two-year period starting in November 2007 or by agreement. The successful candidate shall have received a Ph.D. within the last five years in a field relating to the Space Sciences in general. Applications relating to solar system magnetism, planetary science, or to the heliosphere, are particularly welcome. The successful candidate will participate in the Institute's research and meetings programme and will work in close contact with the scientific staff of the Institute. He or she may also lead or participate as a member in projects conducted by international teams at ISSI. Thus he or she will be exposed to, and interact with, a numerous and varied community of scientists from throughout the world. Nationals from ESA Member States shall have priority. Salary and conditions of employment will be similar to those provided by the Swiss National Science Foundation. Further information may be obtained from the ISSI home page (http://www.issibern.ch) and from Dr. Vittorio Manno, Institute Programme Manager, ph: +41 31 631 48 93, email: manno@issibern.ch). The submission should include a letter of application, the curriculum vitae, the list of publications and the names, addresses and means of contact of three references, not exceeding 7 pages in total. They shall be addressed to ISSI, attn. Dr. V. Manno, Hallerstrasse 6, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland; email: manno@issibern.ch. Submissions by email are preferred provided all the documents are in the form of a single PDF file. All applications must be received by ISSI no later than 24 August 2007. ******************************************************* From: Sarah Matthews Postdoc position at MSSL UCL's Mullard Space Science Laboratory is seeking a postdoctoral scientist to fill the position of Research Fellow in the Solar and Stellar Physics group. The solar and stellar physics group programme seeks to understand the basic physical processes that lead to the many and varied manifestations of solar (and stellar) activity. In particular, we study the processes of energy storage and release that lead to the existence of a hot corona, and impulsive phenomena occurring on all scales in the solar atmosphere (e.g. quiet Sun brightenings, flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs)). Underpinning all of our activities is the requirement to understand the generation and evolution of the solar magnetic field and its role in all solar phenomena, and we place great emphasis on the importance of this. This approach provides us with the basis for a coherent understanding of solar activity and its implications in the heliosphere. In addition, we are actively involved in the development of instrumentation for space missions such as the recently launched Hinode, and the future Solar Orbiter and KuaFu missions . The post is supported by an STFC rolling grant and is available for a period of two years in the first instance. Salary will be in the range 26,666-32,796, dependent on experience. To apply, please send a CV, publication list and the details of three referees to Mrs. E. Daghorn ( ead@mssl.ucl.ac.uk ). For further information contact Dr. Sarah Matthews ( sam@mssl.ucl.ac.uk ). The closing date for applications is Friday 31 August 2007. ******************************************************* From: Thomas Neukirch 2 Research Fellows Solar and Magnetospheric Theory Group School of Mathematics and Statistics University of St. Andrews Salary - 21,884 - 32,137 pa Two posts each initially for 24 months are available, starting 1 October 2007, or soon thereafter, to work on Solar MHD topics in the Solar and Magnetospheric Theory Group. Applicants with experience in either Coronal Seismology or Magnetic Reconnection are particularly encouraged to apply. Experience with large-scale numerical computations is also desirable. You should hold or expect to obtain shortly a PhD in solar MHD or plasma physics. The Group has eight staff members (Professors Hood, Priest and Roberts, Drs De Moortel, Mackay, Neukirch, Parnell and Wright), a Senior Scientific Officer, a number of Research Fellows and PhD students. Links between analytical theory, numerical computations and observations are strongly encouraged. Areas of particular interest within the group include coronal seismology, magnetic reconnection, MHD waves, particle acceleration, coronal heating, and computational MHD. The Group leads a national MHD Consortium in Computational MHD and has a large Beowulf parallel computer. Appointment at Grade 6 may be considered depending on experience. Informal enquiries to: Dr Thomas Neukirch, tel: 01334 463713, email: thomas@mcs.st-and.ac.uk, or Prof Alan Hood, tel: 01334 463710, email: alan@mcs.st-and.ac.uk. The Group's website address is http://www-solar.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/ Please quote ref: PS270/07 Closing Date: 17 August 2007 Application forms and further particulars are available from Human Resources, University of St Andrews, College Gate, North Street, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9AJ, (tel: 01334 462571, by fax 01334 462570 or by e-mail Jobline@st-andrews.ac.uk. The advertisement and further particulars and a downloadable application form can be found at http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/employment/. The University is committed to equality of opportunity.