UK Solar Physics Newsletter Lyndsay Fletcher & Duncan Mackay, Editors April 2nd 2010 o News, Views and Gossip o UKSP Business Lunch o New UK Hinode project scientist o Dr Helen Mason named as one of the UK's outstanding women o Challenge Led Applied Systems Panel (CLASP) medical call o New RHESSI Science Nuggets o New EIS science nugget o SolarNews Items of Interest - http://solarnews.nso.edu/2010/20100324.txt o The NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) Budgets for 2010 and 2011 o Meetings, Conferences and Workshops o Solar Plasma Spectroscopy: Achievements And Future Challenges (13-15 September 2010) o 2010 UK MHD Meeting o SolarNews Items of Interest - http://solarnews.nso.edu/2010/20100324.txt o SH02: Extreme Energetic Particle Events from the Sun o Joint SPA - Atmospheric Sciences Session on Solar Variability and Climate o Space Weather Workshop Announcement o Employment Opportunities o PhDs in Space Science o Research Assistant Position - University of St Andrews o Research Associate in Solar Physics - University of Sheffield o Research Assistant Position - University of 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: Editors UKSP Business Lunch The UKSP Business Lunch will take place between 12.30-2pm on Thursday 15th April in the Senate Room of the University of Glasgow. The UKSP council requests that anyone who has an item for the agenda to email lyndsay@astro.gla.ac.uk and duncan@mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk with the details. During the meeting an update of UKSP activities over the last year will be given. ************************************ From: Louise Harra New UK Hinode project scientist Prof. Alan Hood from St Andrews will take on the role as UK Hinode project scientist. One of the roles is to take advantage of the broad theoretical expertise in the UK to link with the observations from Hinode. We welcome Alan to the team! ************************************ From: Nicolas Labrosse - n.labrosse@physics.gla.ac.uk Dr Helen Mason named as one of the UK's outstanding women http://www.ras.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1722&Itemid=1 Congratulations to Helen Mason who has been named as one of the Women of Outstanding Achievement of 2010 in recognition of her inspirational work in communication within Science, Engineering and Technology. ************************************* From: Melanie.Illsley@stfc.ac.uk CLASP Challenge Led Knowledge Exchange call to meet Challenges in the Medical Sector STFC is building on Challenge-led activities to maximize Knowledge Exchange (KE) and Impact. The concept of developing technology demonstrators and industry-ready prototype systems is at the heart of this scheme and is aimed at de-risking the R&D process for industry. It is intended that industry representatives will be involved in all aspects of the scheme from proposal selection to product decision making. Outline proposals are invited through JeS, from within STFC research community which can provide a solution to one of the many challenges associated with the Medical Sector and for which there would be a demonstrable potential market. It would be expected that any IP generated would reside with the host institution. The closing date for Outline proposals is 16:00 on 27th April 2010. This should be two pages maximum and contain: * Technical outline - explain the technical background to the proposal and its link with STFC funded research. * Impact to Medical Sector - describe the ultimate goal of the project and detail the way in which development of this technology will address the sectorial challenge identified as relevant to your proposal. * Timescale and outline work plan - Use this section to describe briefly the steps that will be taken to develop the technology in the course of the project. Include in this the justification for any collaborations (with experts external to the main proposers) that you will develop in the course of the project to support the work. Proposals should aim to take advantage of the existing effort and skills within the STFC research community, but may include collaborations with other research groups, industry or end users. They will be assessed, in confidence, by a Steering Group with representatives from industry, academia and other stakeholder organizations for relevance to the sectors identified, technological feasibility and the potential for Knowledge Exchange. Following the assessment of Outline proposals, shortlisted applicants will be invited to develop full proposals with assistance and advice from STFC Innovations staff and panel members. The closing date for full applications will be 16:00 on 8th July 2010. Applicants will be invited to present their final proposals to the Steering Group for consideration in early September. The anticipated start date for successful proposals will be October 2010. The total funds available for this call will be approximately ?1.5M. It is expected that this will fund a small number of projects ranging from short feasibility studies to larger developmental projects against key milestones, in the case of the latter this may lead to funding being awarded against initial stages only in the first instance. Membership All CLASP Panel members have signed standard STFC Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs). If applicants require a higher level of confidentiality then please clearly indicate this when you submit your Outline Application. Chair * Prof Jenny Thomas - STFC Science Board Panel * Dr Tim Bestwick - STFC Director of Innovations * Dr Trevor Cross - e2v * Mr. Chris Dorn - QinetiQ * Dr Bryan Edwards ? STFC Futures Security Champion * Dr Catherine Ewart- STFC Head of Futures Programme * Dr Dick Lacey - Home Office * Prof Dewi Lewis - GE Healthcare * Dr Val O'Shea - University of Glasgow Secretary * Mrs Penny Woodman - Head of External Programmes, STFC ************************************* From: Hugh Hudson hhudson@ssl.berkeley.edu New RHESSI Science Nugget http://sprg.ssl.berkeley.edu/~tohban/wiki/index.php/Waiting_Times_of_Solar_Hard_X-Ray_Fl ares "Waiting Times of Solar Hard X-Ray Flares" by Markus Aschwanden and Jim McTiernan http://sprg.ssl.berkeley.edu/~tohban/wiki/index.php/Particle_Acceleration_du e_to_a_Plasmoid-Looptop_Collision RHESSI Science Nugget No. 124: "Particle Acceleration due to a Plasmoid-Looptop Collision," by Ryan Milligan *************************************** From: Lucie Green - lmg@mssl.ucl.ac.uk New EIS science nugget http://msslxr.mssl.ucl.ac.uk:8080/SolarB/eisnuggets.jsp UCL-MSSL is pleased to announce a new Hinode EIS science nugget. The nugget looks at enhanced non-thermal velocities seen along the boundary between a quiet sun region and a coronal hole. Is this an indicator that interchange reconnection is taking place? http://msslxr.mssl.ucl.ac.uk:8080/SolarB/eisnuggets.jsp Next month?s nugget is entitled ?EIS observationns of a pre-flare activity?. EIS nuggets are published on the 1st of every month and we welcome contributions from the community. Please contact Lucie Green if you are interested. ********************************************************************* * * * Conferences, Workshops, Meetings * * * ********************************************************************* From: Durgesh Tripathi Solar Plasma Spectroscopy: Achievements And Future Challenges (13-15 September 2010) Recent spectroscopic instruments such as the Coronal Diagnostic Spectrometer (CDS) on board the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SoHO) and the Extreme-ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer (EIS) on board Hinode have revealed the importance of high quality atomic databases and plasma diagnostic techniques applicable to solar plasmas. Dr Helen Mason has made major contributions in atomic physics for the solar corona and has been a founding member of the CHIANTI database. In addition she has played a pioneering role in the development and application of plasma diagnostic techniques to probe solar coronal plasmas, helping us understand the problem of solar coronal heating. To honour Dr Helen Mason's scientific contributions and achievements, we are organising a workshop on "Solar Plasma Spectroscopy: Achievements And Future Challenges" in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. The conference will review past and recent achievements, as well as future challenges in the fields of atomic physics and solar spectroscopy and their application to the problem of heating of the solar atmosphere. We encourage the participation of colleagues from atomic physics, spectroscopy, and solar physics. The topics covered will include: 1. Development and application of plasma diagnostic techniques to measure physical plasma parameters in solar and astrophysical plasmas 2. Observations and modelling of solar active regions and flares 3. Atomic physics calculations and data If you would like to attend this meeting please send an e-mail to solarconference@damtp.cam.ac.uk before 20th April, 2010. Colleagues who have already expressed an interest have been included in the list of participants. The information regarding abstract submission and registration fees will be provided in a future announcement shortly after 20th April 2010. For further information please visit: http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/astro/conference_web/index.html ********************************************* From: Rainer Hollerbach Dear Colleagues, Registration is now open for the UK MHD meeting, to be held at the University of Leeds on May 20-21. Further details are available at http://www.maths.leeds.ac.uk/rvc/MHD2010/index.html Titles and abstracts (5-10 lines maybe, nothing fancy) should be sent to me by email by April 16th at the latest. The precise format hasn't been decided yet, and will depend in part on how many people want to present something. To avoid being overwhelmed with zillions of talks (each then only 5 minutes long), could I ask individual research groups to exercise some restraint, and not necessarily insist on wanting to present every last piece of work your group has done in the past year. (If necessary we may also have some poster presentations, but ideally we'll all show enough restraint that everyone who really wants to give a talk can actually get a slot.) Thanks very much, and we look forward to welcoming you to Leeds in May then! Rainer Hollerbach PS: Many thanks also to Rekha Jain in Sheffield for taking on the tedious task of updating a proper ukmhd mailing list! *********************************************************************** * * * Positions Vacant * * * *********************************************************************** From: Sarah Matthews PhDs in Space Science UCL's Mullard Space Science Laboratory would like to announce the availability of several STFC and NERC funded studentships for the academic year starting September 2010 in the areas of astrophysics, solar, space plasma and planetary science and Earth observation. Further details of available projects and the application process can be found at http://www.mssl.ucl.ac.uk/www_phd ******************************************** From: Ineke De Moortel - ineke@mcs.st-and.ac.uk Research Assistant Position - University of St Andrews Research Assistant (JC164/10) Closing date: 26 April 2010 ?24,273 - ?27,319 per annum The Solar and Magnetospheric Theory Group has an opening for a Research Assistant to work on modelling of MHD wave processes in the solar atmosphere. The project will be led by Dr I De Moortel and funded by the Leverhulme Trust. You will use mainly established analytical and numerical methods. Experience with running and analysing large-scale numerical simulations on parallel computers is highly desirable. Experience analysing observational data is desirable but not essential. You should have recently completed or expect to obtain shortly a PhD in solar physics or a closely related subject. This post is for a fixed term of up to 2 years. The start date is negotiable but would have to be BEFORE 1 November 2010. Informal enquiries to Dr Ineke De Moortel, Tel: 01334 463757 or email: ineke@mcs.st-and.ac.uk. The University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland (No SC013532) ******************************************** From: Robertus von Fay-Siebenburgen Research Associate in Solar Physics University of Sheffield - Dept of Applied Mathematics Ref: UOS000990 Contract Type: Fixed-term from 1st May 2010 to 30th April 2012. Salary: Grade 7 ?28,138 to ?30,747 per annum Closing Date: 27th April 2010 Summary: The post-holder will undertake research into solar atmosphere physics with Professors Misha Ruderman and Robertus Erdelyi (von Fay-Siebenburgen) and other members of the Solar Physics and Wave Theory Group (SWAT), Solar Physics and Space Plasma Research Centre (SP2RC). The post holder will emphasise leadership of research into transverse MHD waves and oscillations in solar and solar-terrestrial plasma, in particular, their role in solar atmospheric (coronal) plasmas. Candidates must have a PhD or equivalent (or equivalent experience) and demonstrable experience of research in solar physics, space plasma MHD, astrophysics or a related field. The postholder will possess excellent theoretical and/or a high standard of computational MHD skills, and knowledge of IDL is desirable. This post is available from 1 May 2010 for two years. Please note that interviews for this post will be held on 30 April 2010. For informal enquiry please contact Professor R von Fay-Siebenburgen: email robertus [at] sheffield.ac.uk [sheffield.ac.uk] Phone: +44-114-2223832 ******************************************** From: Ineke De Moortel - ineke@mcs.st-and.ac.uk Research Assistant Position - University of St Andrews Research Assistant (SK170/10) Closing date: 03 May 2010 ?24,273 - ?28,983 per annum* The Solar and Magnetospheric Theory Group has an opening for a Research Assistant to work on coronal seismology and/or MHD wave propagation in the solar atmosphere. The project is funded by an STFC Rolling Grant and will be led by Dr I De Moortel and Prof B Roberts, in collaboration with Prof A Hood and Dr A Wright. You will use mainly established analytical and numerical methods. Experience with running and analysing large-scale numerical simulations on parallel computers and analysing observational data is desirable. You should have recently completed or expect to obtain shortly a PhD in solar physics or a closely related subject. This post is initially for a term of 2 years. The start date will be 1 October 2010 or as soon as possible thereafter. * Applications will be considered from candidates with more experience/knowledge of the area for appointment on Grade 6, salary range ?29,853-?35,646 per annum, with the duties to be agreed and altered accordingly. Informal enquiries to Dr Ineke De Moortel, Tel: 01334 463757 or email: ineke@mcs.st-and.ac.uk The University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland (NO SC013532) -- Dr Duncan H Mackay Mathematical Institute, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Fife, KY16 9SS, Scotland. Tel 01334 463760 Fax 01334 463748 The University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland : No SC013532 _______________________________________________ uksp mailing list uksp@physics.gla.ac.uk http://www.physics.gla.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/uksp