UK Solar Physics Newsletter Lyndsay Fletcher & Duncan Mackay, Editors November 1st 2008 o News, Views and Gossip o Obituary for Cesar Mendoza Briceno o Call for nominations to STFC's Astronomy Grants Panel. o ESA SEENoTC working group o STFC Organisational Review - RAS email. o Space Weather Developmental Testbed Center o New RHESSI science nugget o Meetings, Conferences and Workshops o 2nd Annual UK Undergraduate Research School, 15-19 December 2008, in Preston, UK. o Outer planet magnetospheres: Influences, Interactions and Dynamics o Abstracts for November MIST o Astrophysical Magnetohydrodynamics: 1st Announcement o Heliophysics Summer School 2009 o Solar Activity During the Onset of Solar Cycle 24 o Workshop on cross-scale coupling in plasmas o Employment Opportunities o International Max-Planck Research School on Astrophysics -- Call for applications. o PostDoc positions in Switzerland. o 1-y NASA Postdoc fellowships. o Vacant Geomagnetism post in the British Geological Survey o Two research associate positions in Space and Atmospheric Physics Group at Imperial College London o UCL Institute for the Origins and Evolution of the Universe o UCL studentships in Origins and Evolution of the Universe. o Solar Physics Postdoctoral Position at Goddard Space Flight Center o Extra Material o Brief Report on the ESA SEENoTC Working Group Meeting:October 15-17 2008 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: Alan Hood Obituary for Cesar Mendoza Briceno It is with great sadness that we report the death of Cesar Mendoza Briceno, who was shot and killed outside his home in Venezuela, on 13 September 2008. Cesar came to St Andrews University as a PhD student in October 1992 and worked with Alan on a thesis entitled "The Nonlinear Thermal Evolution of Coronal Structure" and he was awarded a PhD in May 1996. Cesar will always be remembered as a conscientious and independent student, who actually required little supervising. He was always enthusiastic about his research and normally suggested the topics for further investigation. His main research focussed on the thermal structure of coronal magnetic fields with a view to obtaining realistic cool prominence solutions. This is hard to do and he soon realised that the assumption of uniform heating may have been the problem. Thus, he investigated spatially varying heating models and wrote his own time dependent code to follow the thermal evolution of the plasma. Cesar subsequently spent time at Sheffield University as a post doctoral fellow with Robertus and worked on standing oscillations and the heating of stratified loops. Last year Cesar and Robertus organised a very successful IAU Symposium in Venezuela where Cesar clearly demonstrated his organisational skills by resolving all the unforeseen difficulties. Cesar was also so proud to bring the international solar community to his home country for the first time, and was really looking forward to expanding the numerous contacts he made. The IAUS 247 proceedings were just posted to participants and libraries when the tragic event occurred. He almost had no time to read the book. Our sympathies and condolences go out to his wife Beatriz and his two young children, Cesar Augusto and Elisa Beatriz. Alan Hood Robert Erdelyi *************************************************** From: Melanie Illsley (STFC,SPO) Call for nominations to STFC's Astronomy Grants Panel. STFC is seeking nominations of outstanding individuals to appoint to the Astronomy Grants Panel (AGP). The AGP is responsible for assessing and making recommendations to the STFC Executive on research grant applications. Vacancies have arisen due to normal rotation of membership. The appointment will be from the 1 April 2009 for a period of up to three years. Nominations are sought from members of the UK research community. In particular we would welcome nominations from those with a strong background in the following areas: astronomy observation, theory, solar, planetary studies or relevant instrumentation, technology and data management. STFC will seek the best members possible for its advisory bodies but also seeks to ensure that membership reflects the diversity within the relevant research communities. *If you wish to nominate yourself or a colleague* Nominations should be a maximum of one page in length and should set out the nominee's area(s) of science expertise and current activity, career track record and committee/policy experience. Please ensure that the nominee is aware of and agrees to nomination. Please send you nomination(s) to Kim.Burchell@stfc.ac by Monday the 1 December, 2008 at the latest. ************************************ From: ian.mccrea@stfc.ac.uk Dear Colleagues I have recently taken over from Mike Hapgood as the UK representative on the ESA SEENoTC Working Group. SEENoTC stands for Space Environment European Network of Technical Competence, and its job is essentially to take an overview of space environment activities in the ESA area, particularly for nationally-funded programmes with relevance to the space environment, which are not in themselves ESA activities, but are complementary to ESA's official programme. Because this is an ESA activity, the emphasis is on the impact of the space environment on mission activities, so there is considerable work on radiation damage to electronics, pre-flight testing of radiation hardness, space debris etc within the SEENoTC domain. Above the SEENoTC working group sits a steering group, for which Mike Hapgood is now the UK member. Further descriptions of SEENoTC can be found at _http://space-env.esa.int/index.php/SEENoTC.html_ and at _www.esa.int/TEC/Space_Environment/SEMPGVRMTWE_0.html_ This working group is relatively new, and last week I attended its latest (fourth) meeting in Toulouse, which was preceded by a workshop for the SEENoTC community on "Data sharing, experiments, flight opportunities and lessons learned". This was attended by around 40 people from all over Europe - the largest representation coming, not surprisingly, from France. I am attaching to this email a brief personal report of the working group meeting, concentrating on those issues which affect the UK. Some of the issues here are not directly relevant to most of the UK Solar-Terrestrial Physics community - however there is a clear overlap between the remit of SEENoTC and some of the activities of the UK Solar Terrestrial and Solar Physics communities. I am sending this report to certain people in the community that I know, or strongly suspect, will be interested in this working group. For this first report only, I'm sending a copy to the MIST and UKSP lists. To avoid spamming the community in future, if you want me to send you these reports in future, send me an email (i.w.mccrea@rl.ac.uk or ian.mccrea@stfc.ac.uk) indicating your interest in this topic. I'll set up a separate list for those who are interested in SEENoTC, and I won't bother the rest of you !! Please feel free to suggest the names of any colleagues who I might have omitted from this list, and who should really be getting these messages. With best regards Ian McCrea (Report on the 4th Working Group Meeting is attached at the end of the email.) ************************************* From: Ronald Wiltshire I attach the final version of the letter sent to Dr David Grant, Chair of the STFC Organisational Review External Panel. Many thanks to everyone who suggested changes to the draft version, all of which were carefully considered. Andy Fabian President STFC Organisational Review Thank you for the opportunity to provide written evidence to the External Panel for the Organisational Review of the Science Technology Facilities Council (STFC). As requested, our submission follows your suggested headings. Vision and Structure The mission set out in the Royal Charter is unexceptionable, as is the vision statement on the STFC website. The words about being a "science-driven organisation" supporting "the highest quality research" are reassuring. However there is no public process to engage the community in developing its vision (this is in contrast to normal practice in other RCs and indeed across Government). We are informally aware that a new process is being developed - we welcome that but it needs to be public and engage the whole scientific community. Without a vision, and without the engagement of the scientific community in that vision, STFC cannot develop a substantive role in promoting scientific research. This is hindering the writing and assessment of research proposals, which are the lifeblood of any research community. It is not clear that the amalgamation of PPARC and CCLRC to form STFC was beneficial to the major stakeholders. PPARC supported basic science, largely in the universities while CCLRC handled large facilities for all Research Councils - an oil and water situation. There appear to be fundamental and intrinsic problem of incompatible responsibilities. The Wakeham Review has recognised this by, in effect, recommending the re-creation of an internal "PPARC" funding stream within STFC, the key recommendation being that "the STFC be required at each CSR to bid for and allocate specific funds to former PPARC facilities and grant funding together. This would avoid the undesired tensioning of these grants and facilities support against national facilities and the project for the development of science and innovation campuses." The grants line remains severely underfunded in the near future. This gives the perception that STFC treats facilities first and the exploitation of those facilities within the old PPARC areas as a poor second. Supporting the very best science in those areas independent of which facilities are used, or not, is very important. There is no other source of support for astronomy research in the UK other than STFC, so this has to be done right. The research appears to be directed in a top-down manner, which is inappropriate. This raises the issue of the accountability of STFC itself. An outside review, which listens to all stakeholders including the community it serves, would seem appropriate The national campus strategy There needs to a clearer vision of what this is all about. In principle, the development of campuses where science and industry can interact could be mutually beneficial. But the present plans are too vague to engage the scientific community. STFC needs to address this as part of its vision - to show how the campuses will act to the benefit of science as well as industry. There needs to be some pay back in terms of advancing scientific knowledge as well as the improved economic impact that the Government seeks. To be successful the campuses must be seen to deliver advantages for all players, including the academic community. Governance The internal structure of STFC i.e. who does what and who reports to whom, remains unclear. The structure and remits of Council - Science Board - PPAN & PALS are standard. Exactly how the members are selected and appointed is also unclear. This is an important and rather basic requirement for openness and transparency. The structure reinforces the impression that STFC still has the logical PPARC + CCLRC structure at the working level. The structure of Council has been commented on by the Select (IUSS) Committee and the Wakeham Review. It seems strange that there are three members of the STFC Executive on a Council of ten people, and no prominent member of the Particle Physics community. This contrasts with the CERN, ESA, and ESO model, where there are no Executive members of Council, and the Director General (Chief Executive) reports to Council. We welcome the recommendation of the Wakeham Review to increase the number of science stakeholders on Council by two. Even more would be welcome. The key words in all this are "responsibility", "transparency" and "inclusion". STFC has failed to ensure that its committee system encompasses experience in key areas relevant to its programme. A key area here is space projects and in particular the ESA Science Programme. This is an important part of the STFC programme, but the STFC committees contain limited experience of space projects. Similar considerations probably apply in other areas (e.g. ground based telescopes). Without this expertise (which is widely available in the community) how can committees make sensible decisions or provide proper oversight of STFC actions? The new advisory panels may help, but there needs to be more focus on ensuring that critical expertise is available across the STFC advisory system. Decisions must also be seen to be based on the peer review process without any suspicion being possible that particular projects are favoured for personal reasons. External Stakeholders The disastrous funding furore has shown that STFC needs much greater openness, transparency, and consultation. Real steps have been taken to address this (including the recent appointment of a Director of Communications). It would appear that the senior members of the STFC Executive need to make a major effort to engage actively with the community outside of set-piece affairs such as occurred at the RAS National Astronomy Meeting. The relationship of STFC upper management with the UK and international research community has been appalling. Examples of the latter are Gemini and EISCAT. There is a concern that the negative publicity associated with the funding crisis will have a knock on effect with the general public and hence feed back into lowered public support for the whole UK science community (so far the amateur astronomy community has been very supportive for the professional facilities and grant funding under threat). Another particular concern is the secrecy of STFC about the criteria used to assess scientific activities and proposals between the research areas and facilities; in particular the use of metrics derived from bibliographic analyses by PPAN in the initial phase of the Programmatic Review. For example, STFC has made claims that some projects, such as solar-terrestrial physics, have low scientific quality and impact, but has failed, when challenged, to explain how they reached this conclusion. This needs to be brought out into the open so that any misunderstandings can be resolved and the community can have confidence and a renewed trust in STFC processes. Priority Areas for Improvement Obvious issues are: a) Communication, transparency, and consultation with all stakeholders; b) Clear definition of structural responsibilities within STFC; c) Engagement of Council and Science Board members with the community(ies). STFC needs a senior management that can engage with the scientific community: that can listen and make good use of advice from the community, that can raise community awareness of wider constraints of government strategy and budgets that can lead the community to exploit the opportunities for science that the Government is keen to promote. If this is fixed, the other problems can be fixed. If not, the problems at STFC will continue. The community needs to be confident that STFC can and will make the best possible submissions for the next Comprehensive Spending Review. Continuity and steadiness of funding are of fundamental importance in establishing a career structure for those scientists aiming to devote their work to astronomy and space science. The problems of the past year have had a considerable negative effect on morale, particularly on the youngest members of the community, with the risk that they choose to either leave the UK or move out of research altogether This message is confidential and is intended solely for the use of the individual(s) to whom it is addressed. If you have received this message in error, do not open any attachment but please notify the sender (above) and delete this message from your system. ******************************************* From: Thomas Bogdan Space Weather Developmental Testbed Center The NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) is pleased to announce that it has, in partnership with the Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA), begun the process of establishing a Development Testbed Center (DTC) to promote the transition of space weather models to operations at the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and AFWA. It is anticipated that NOAA funding to support the new DTC and transitioning effort will become available in FY2010. SWPC has been seeking partnerships with organizations familiar with the complex task of transitioning large research-grade models to operational status. In particular, the NCAR Research Applications Laboratory (RAL) and High Altitude Observatory have been commissioned, with interim funding provided by AFWA, to conduct a pilot study exploring the structure, management, and functionalities of the proposed space weather DTC. The study will draw upon the specific experience of RAL, which has successfully transitioned terrestrial weather models to operations. More information will be forthcoming concerning this exciting development, which promises at long last the advent of operational, state-of-the-art numerical modeling capabilities for the space weather community. ******************************************* From Steven Christe "The SphinX Instrument on CORONAS-PHOTON" by Janusz Sylwester & Ken Phillips In this nugget, SphinX, an X-ray spectrophotometer, that will be launched on the Russian solar spacecraft CORONAS-PHOTON is introduced. The main aim of the SphinX instrument is to measure element abundances in a variety of solar conditions from line features in the solar spectrum, to study physical conditions in flares, and to extend the sensitivity of measurements in the 0.5-4 angstrom band during low level solar activity. This new nugget can be found in the new RHESSI Wiki location at http://sprg.ssl.berkeley.edu/~tohban/wiki/index.php/The_SphinX_Instrument_on _CORONAS-PHOTON NOTE from the RHESSI Nugget Team ------------------------------------------------- We are currently making the move to a new (private) RHESSI wiki website. Wikis have many advantages over the old website including easier editing, organization and searching, and they facilitate collaborative writing. We hope that this encourages new (and old) authors to contribute to the RHESSI Science Nuggets! The RHESSI wiki is a private wiki meaning that the general public cannot edit it. In order to maintain the spirit of the RHESSI Science Nuggets, nugget articles will be locked from editing when they are published though discussion can take place on the nugget/article discussion page. The RHESSI wiki is part of a grander plan to try to bring all kinds of RHESSI documentation to one central and searchable location. If you'd like to edit or contribute to the RHESSI wiki (in the form of a RHESSI Science Nugget or otherwise) please email schriste@ssl.berkeley.edu in order to get an account on the system. If you have any comments or suggestions about the new nuggets or the RHESSI wiki please feel free to email us. Please pardon our dust as we make the move to this new system! S. Christe schriste@ssl.berkeley.edu H. Hudson hhudson@ssl.berkeley.edu ********************************************************************* * * * Conferences, Workshops, Meetings * * * ********************************************************************* From: Robert William Walsh Undergraduate Research Winter School, UCLan, December 2008 www.uclan.ac.uk/researchschool The Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Central Lancashire is pleased to announce the second annual Undergraduate Research Winter School from the 15th to the 19th December 2008. We are funding up to 20 delegates (third and fourth year undergraduates in astronomy, astrophysics, physics, mathematics or computer science) to spend a week with the researchers of the Centre engaging in a range of research activities applying modern techniques, including high-performance computing and 3D visualisation, to contemporary problems in science. Places are fully funded by the Royal Astronomical School and the University of Central Lancashire, including meals, accommodation and a contribution to travel costs within the United Kingdom. Applications are competitive and rely on transcripts of results so far, a CV and a statement from the applicant. Funded delegates are expected to be present for the entire period of the School. Please feel free to advertise this excellent opportunity to appropriate students on your degree programmes. The deadline for applications is 12th November 2008. Students can apply via the above website where you can also find more detailed information. ********************************************* From : Caitriona Jackman Abstract submission is now open for the Royal Astronomical Society meeting: "Outer planet magnetospheres: Influences, Interactions, and Dynamics" to be held at the Geological Society Lecture Theatre, Burlington House, London, on Friday January 9th 2009. The abstract deadline for the 2009 meeting is Friday December 12th 2008. Our intial aim is for all abstracts to be given as talks, but if there is demand than a poster session will also take place. The day will begin with coffee at 10am, followed by talks and/or posters until approximately 3:30pm. We encourage speakers from throughout the magnetospheric and planetary communities. Please pass on the message to other interested and/or new PhD students and Post-Docs. Admission is free for Fellows of the RAS, £5 for students (though students can join the RAS for £1!), and £15 for everybody else. To submit an abstract, please send the following information to Caitriona Jackman (c.jackman@imperial.ac.uk) by the deadline (December 12th) ######################################################################## Name: Institution: Email: Title of presentation: Abstract (maximum 200 words): ######################################################################## Best wishes, Geraint, Caitriona and Cesar Organisers: Geraint Jones, MSSL & Centre for Planetary Sciences at UCL/Birkbeck; ghj@mssl.ucl.ac.uk Caitriona Jackman, Imperial College London; c.jackman@imperial.ac.uk Cesar Bertucci, Institute for Astronomy and Space Physics, Buenos Aires; cbertucci@iafe.uba.ar Meeting theme: The magnetospheres of the solar system's four largest planets serve as excellent laboratories for understanding magnetospheres different to that of the Earth's. Each is anchored to a planetary magnetic field of different strength, rotation rate, and tilt, and influenced to varying degrees by changes in local solar wind conditions, and by neutral and plasma sources that reside within them. At this meeting, we highlight recent discoveries in this field, from Earth-based auroral observations to in-situ measurements by spacecraft, especially those of the highly successful Cassini-Huygens mission. All aspects of magnetospheric science are to be covered, including dynamics, external influences, and the diverse interactions with rings and moons such as Titan, Io, and Enceladus. ********************************************* From: Lanchester B.S. A reminder that abstract submission deadline is FRIDAY 7nd NOVEMBER. Please send abstracts to Betty Lanchester: b.s.lanchester@soton.ac.uk Although there are two broad themes suggested for this meeting, all abstracts are welcome. The MIST meeting will take place on Friday 28th November in the lecture theatre at the Royal Astronomical Society, Piccadilly. The meeting will begin at 10 am with talks from 10.30 am. Best regards, MIST Committee Mike Hapgood [M.A.Hapgood@rl.ac.uk] Gary Abel [gaab@BAS.AC.UK] Andrew Kavanagh [a.j.kavanagh@lancaster.ac.uk] Betty Lanchester [bsl@phys.soton.ac.uk] Gabby Provan [gp3@ion.le.ac.uk] ********************************************** From: anvar shukurov Astrophysical Magnetohydrodynamics Kiljavanranta, Finland, 6-10 April 2009 First Announcement We are organising a meeting on the occasion of the 50th birthday of Axel Brandenburg (Nordita, Stockholm, Sweden). The location has been chosen in Finland, where the academic career of Axel has started. The scope of the meeting covers the broad range of Axel's research interests, from planets to the Sun and stars, to galaxies, and to the Early Universe, with emphasis on the role and origin of magnetic fields, and on numerical experiments. Axel has published with about 130 coauthors. Our intention is to bring together leading experts in these research areas, many of whom will inevitably -- but not exclusively -- be Axel's friends and coauthors. The list of invited and confirmed speakers includes E.G. Blackman, L. Mestel, D. Moss, A. Nordlund, R. Kulsrud, A. Pouquet, K.-H. Raedler, G. Ruediger, R.F. Stein, R. Tavakol, I. Tuominen, and E.T. Vishniac. The venue will be the Kiljavanranta Conference Centre (http://www.kiljavanranta.fi/in_english/ and http://www.supertravelnet.com/serv/?x=kiljavanranta&language=1) located at the lake Sääksjärvi about 50 km from Helsinki (and 35 km from the Helsinki airport, and 4 km from the nearest village, Rajamaki). The Centre provides excellent working environment and attractive leisure facilities. The website of the meeting can be found at URL http://agenda.albanova.se/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=884 (please note that the site is still under construction). If you are interested in attending and wish to be informed, please register at the above URL using a "Registration" link in the menu. On behalf of the organisers, Maarit Korpi, Anvar Shukurov and Kandu Subramanian P.S. We apologise if you'll receive this message more than once. ********************************************** From: Karel Schrijver Heliophysics Summer School 2009 The third of a three-year NASA-sponsored Heliophysics Summer School will be hosted by the UCAR Visiting Scientist Programs in Boulder, CO, 22-29 July 2009. The summer school has two principal aims: 1) to deepen the appreciation of the basic science of heliophysics for a select group of students as teachers take them through highly interactive seminars and hands-on working groups, and 2) to produce a series of textbooks from which heliophysics may be taught at universities worldwide. The three-year program comprises three thematic clusters that together cover the scientific basis of the physical processes that play a role in coupling the Sun's interior to the planetary environments and atmospheres through the vast heliosphere. The third year of the program will focus on long-term processes, from the Sun's modulated activity to its influences on the climate systems of the heliosphere, Earth's atmosphere, and planetary environments. The first year covered the plasma physics of the local cosmos, i.e., the science that is uniquely enabled by our existence within an environment of ionized gases. The second year covered explosive energy conversion and energetic particles. Thus, the three-year program of the summer school encompasses the entire scientific discipline that is now called heliophysics, which was borne out of the need for interdisciplinary research in the context of NASA's Living with a Star (LWS) Program. Approximately 30 students (chosen from graduate students through first or second year postdoctoral fellows) will be selected each year through a competitive process to participate in the summer school. Each participant will receive air travel, lodging and per diem. Attendants will be selected for the 2009 summer school independent of their participation in earlier schools. Drs. Karel Schrijver (Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center) and George Siscoe (Boston University) are the Deans of the summer school. The summer school lectures will be given by teachers from the US, Canada, and Europe - see the schedule at the UCAR website: http://www.vsp.ucar.edu/HeliophysicsSummerSchool. The summer school is sponsored by the Living With a Star program of the Heliophysics Division in NASA's Science Mission Directorate. The UCAR Visiting Scientist Programs office administers the summer school. The deadline for application submission by students is 1 April 2009. ******************************************** From : hugh hudson Solar Activity During the Onset of Solar Cycle 24 This is the third and last circular for an international conference entitled "Solar Activity During the Onset of Solar Cycle 24," a workshop-style meeting in Napa Valley, California, the week of December 7-12, 2008. This is the week before the AGU meeeting. The main goals are to assess our current knowledge of solar activity and to prepare for observations during the onset of Carrington Cycle 24. There will be special emphasis on coordinating ACE, Hinode, RHESSI, SOHO, STEREO TRACE/SDO, and Wind observations, among other space- and ground-based observatories. The conference will have a mixture of invited and contributed talks in plenary sessions, plus significant time devoted to focused working groups in the SHINE style: (a) Slow wind and active regions, (b) Fast wind and plumes, (c) Magnetic field evolution, (d) Global flare energetics, (e) Flares, (f) CMEs, (g) Microflares and nanoflares, (h) Chromosphere, (i) Active-region loops, and (j) Filaments and Prominences. Please mark your calendars now and see the conference Web pages at http://sprg.ssl.berkeley.edu:80/RHESSI/napa2008 where descriptions of the different working groups can be found. We encourage early sign-up for specific working groups along with brief descriptions of topics of interest (or abstracts for talks or posters) so that we can establish key topics and develop a detailed program. The early-bird registration ends October 27, but early registration and hotel booking is encouraged because of space limitations at the conference site. Limited funds are available for travel support, courtesy of NASA and ESA; we hope to use this resource to support students and young research workers, and requests should be made to Gordon Emslie by e-mail, by October 20, 2008. Requests should detail the proposed involvement of the participant and the level of support needed. Important dates: Earlybird registration: 27 October 2008 Hotel deadline 7 November 2008 Registration: 10 November 2008 Meeting: 7-12 December 2008 *************************************** From: Steve Schwartz First Announcement: Workshop on Cross-Scale Coupling in Plasmas Universita della Calabria, Rende (Cosenza) - Italy March 9-11, 2009 Space, astrophysical, and laboratory plasmas are dominated by processes, such as shocks, magnetic reconnection, and turbulence, that are intrinsically variable and coupled on disparate scales. This workshop will discuss and refine the science background and mission design for Cross-Scale, a candidate ESA Cosmic Vision mission dedicated to the study of these fundamental phenomena. The objectives of the workshop is to develop further the science objectives of the mission, their applications, and the mission programmatics (payload, orbit, operations) that will optimise the science return. At the heart of Cross-Scale are fundamental plasma processes (shocks, reconnection, turbulence) that govern a wide variety of astrophysical and laboratory plasmas. Thus an important aspect of the mission will be to ensure that it can provide answers not just about the processes as they are found in near-Earth space, but in a way that can be applied to maximum benefit in other corners of the Plasma Universe. The Workshop will involve scientists from these branches of physics together with the in situ space plasma community to forge a productive wider Cross-Scale community. Invited talks, contributed talks, poster sessions, and splinter workshop sessions will explore the key science questions and how the mission will best address them. This format is reflected in the draft Programme. These discussions will feed into the studies currently being funded by ESA, NASA, CSA, and JAXA and into the payload concepts currently being advanced in laboratories around the globe. They will maintain the broad international support and interest that the mission has enjoyed and thus place it in a leading position for the next selection process with ESA toward the end of 2009. For further information on the workshop, programme, venue, and registration, see: http://www.fis.unical.it/astroplasmi/cross-scale Luca Sorriso-Valvo, on behalf of the Local Organising Committee and Scientific Organising Committee *********************************************************************** * * * Positions Vacant * * * *********************************************************************** From : IMPRS announcements Important: Deadline 1st of December 2008 - (may be extended upon request) Dear Colleagues, The International Max-Planck Research School on Astrophysics (IMPRS) is soliciting applications for its PhD program. Located in the beautiful Munich-Garching area in southern Bavaria (Germany), the school offers a unique environment for graduate students due to the presence of four internationally renowned institutes which form the school: * The Max-Planck Institute for extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) * The Observatory of the University of Munich (LMU/USM) * The Max-Planck Institute for Astrophysics (MPA) * The European Southern Observatory (ESO) IMPRS offers a highly competitive PhD program, including lectures, seminars and a research project supervised by scientists at one of the participating institutions. Course language is English. Students have access to ground and spaced based observatories and instrumentation operated by the participating institutes as well as supercomputers for advanced numerical simulations and theoretical studies. Successful completion of the IMPRS program will be honored with an IMPRS certificate which supplements the doctoral degree (PhD) document awarded by the Ludwig-Maximilians University (or another university to be agreed upon before enrollment). Applications for the program are open to students from all countries. More details on the IMPRS program and the admission requirements can be found on the IMPRS website http://www.imprs-astro.mpg.de/ The closing date for applications for the program starting in September 2009 is December 1, 2008. If for any reason you have problems keeping the deadline, please inform us ahead and we will extend it upon request. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact Ms Ingram at the IMPRS office under: office @ imprs-astro.mpg.de Please apply by using the IMPRS application form available online at http://www.imprs-astro.mpg.de/admission.html In addition to this announcement we have an IMPRS-poster available which we would ask you to print and to display for your students. The poster is available at: http://www.imprs-astro.mpg.de/IMPRS-Poster/IMPRS_poster_2008.jpg Thank you for your support. Dr. Werner Becker ******************************************** From: Andre Balogh There are two PostDoc positions are available in the International Space Science Institute in Bern, Switzerland, one in space physics/space sciences, the other in space-based Earth sciences. Both posts are available for two years, staring on 1 January 2009 or by arrangement. The deadline for applications is 17 November 2008. More details can be found on http://www.issibern.ch/program/PostDoc09.pdf ******************************************** From: Nicolas Labrosse 1-y NASA Postdoc fellowships - due Nov 1 --------------------------------------------- NASA offers approximately 60 postdoctoral fellowships annually. We Would greatly appreciate it if you would share the following announcement with your best doctorate students. The next deadline for applications is November 1. The NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) offers unique research opportunities To highly talented national and international scientists and engineers to engage in ongoing NASA research in Aeronautics, Astrobiology, Astrophysics, Earth Science, Exploration Systems, Heliophysics, Planetary Science, and Space Operations. * Approximately 60 Fellowships awarded annually * One-year appointments, renewable up to three years * Annual stipends start at $50,000, with supplements for certain degree fields and high cost-of-living areas * Annual travel budget of $8,000 * Financial assistance for relocation * Financial supplement for health insurance purchased through the program Apply at http://nasa.orau.org/postdoc. Three application deadlines each year: November 1, March 1, and July 1. Eligibility: * U.S. Citizens * Foreign Nationals with a J-1 visa status as a research scholar, Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR) status, or Employment Authorization Document (EAD) with pending LPR status * Recent and senior-level Ph.D. recipients Locations of Fellowship Positions: * Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA * Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA * Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, OH * Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD * Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York, NY * Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA * Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX * Kennedy Space Center, Kennedy Space Center, FL * Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA * Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL * Stennis Space Center, Stennis Space Center, MS * NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC * Various locations associated with the NASA Astrobiology Institute To obtain more information and to apply for this exciting opportunity, please visit the NPP Web site at http://nasa.orau.org/postdoc. ******************************************** From: "Thomson, Alan WP" British Geological Survey The British Geological Survey, (BGS) part of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), is the UK's premier geoscience strategic mapping and research organisation. BGS staff typically work in teams on a range of projects supporting a broad spectrum of scientific objectives from "blue-skies" research to highly specific commercial contracts. The varied nature of the work programme, which often includes opportunities to undertake personal research and to present that work at international conferences and exhibitions, is highly valued, as is the organisation's commitment to training and developing its staff. Research Scientist in Geomagnetism - £22,670 - £27,990 pay award pending Ref: HSO_MH_08_01 The Earth's magnetic field is one of its most important attributes; amongst other things, it has provided directional information for navigation over centuries, as well as providing the key signal recorded in the Earth's history which fired the development of plate tectonics. Yet there is much we do not understand about it, not least the details of how the main field is generated within the Earth's core, how it changes with time and how the Earth's field interacts with that of the Sun. An exceptional and exciting opportunity has arisen for a researcher to join the BGS Geomagnetism team, based in Edinburgh. This enthusiastic team of scientists is internationally renowned for its work in monitoring and modelling all aspects of the internal and external magnetic field, and building detailed models of its variation over time. We use these models to provide services to navigation that range from producing global maps to directing drilling in deep well-bores. Our team is also a focus for the study of interactions between the Earth's magnetic field and the solar wind, which gives rise to "space weather", and of the hazards presented by geomagnetic storms. Find out more about us at: http://www.geomag.bgs.ac.uk/welcome.html You will likely have significant postgraduate research experience, possibly a doctorate, in the field of geophysics or in a closely related aspect of mathematical physics or modelling. If chosen, you will pursue a programme of research in geomagnetism and publish your results in peer-reviewed journals. You will also contribute to the work of the team by applying your research to produce better products and services for our customers. Working hours will be 37 per week excluding lunch breaks. A generous benefits package is also offered, including a company pension scheme, childcare allowance, 30 days annual leave plus 10.5 days public and privilege holidays. Further details can be obtained through our web page at www.bgs.ac.uk or by contacting the BGS Personnel Office on 0115 936 3209. Please quote above reference number. Download the application form for this vacancy: http://www.bgs.ac.uk/vacancies/load_app.cfm?vacno=Geomagnetic%20Specialist&j obtitle=HSO_MH_08_1 Applications must be returned by 14 November 2008. The Natural Environment Research Council is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all sections of the community. People with disabilities and those from ethnic minorities are currently under-represented and their applications are particularly welcome. The British Geological Survey is an 'Investors in People' organisation. There is a guaranteed interview scheme for suitable candidates with disabilities. ******************************************** From: Michele Dougherty Two research associate positions are available within the Space and Atmospheric Physics Group at Imperial College London. The work will involve data analysis, modelling and theory in the areas of research which include Heliospheric, Solar Terrestrial and Planetary Magnetospheric Physics. Data will be utilised from the Group?s involvement in Cluster, Cassini and Venus Express. Please see this link for details: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/employment/research/ns2008186ga [www3.imperial.ac.uk] The deadline for applications is 17th November 2008. ***************************************************** From: Libby UCL Institute for the Origins and Evolution of the Universe UCL has established a new Institute (www.origins.ucl.ac.uk) to promote world-leading research in topics related to the Origins and Evolution of the Universe. The institute embraces work carried out in four UCL departments - Earth Sciences, Mathematics, Physics and Astronomy and Space and Climate Physics. UCL Research Associates in Origins and Evolution of the Universe. Four new UCL posts have been created at the newly formed Institute. Appointed Research Associates will undertake research in one of the following areas: Planetary Science, Neutrino Physics, Galaxy Formation and Mathematical Foundations. The successful candidates will have a demonstrated track record in related research and will have the flexibility and commitment to work between research groups and departments. Posts are available immediately and are for a period of 2 years. Details of research areas are shown in the job description. The salary range is £28,839 to £35,469 with an additional London weighting of £2,781 (if London-based). The appointment grade will be commensurate with accomplishment and experience. Travel and computing support will be provided. To apply please send a CV, publication list and details of three referees and current salary as well as a completed Personal Details/Equal Opportunities Classification Form to Rachel Youren (ucqsryo@ucl.ac.uk). For further information please contact Prof. Louise Harra (lkh@mssl.ucl.ac.uk) or access our website at http://www.origins.ucl.ac.uk for Job and Person Specifications. UCL Taking Action for Equality The deadline for applications is 12th December 2008. ************************************* From: Libby UCL studentships in Origins and Evolution of the Universe UCL has established a new Institute (www.origins.ucl.ac.uk) to promote world-leading research in topics related to the Origins and Evolution of the Universe. The institute embraces work carried out in four UCL departments - Earth Sciences, Mathematics, Physics and Astronomy and Space and Climate Physics. Four new studentships have been created at the newly formed Institute, alongside the fellows described above. The student projects will be in topics which cross the boundaries of traditional groups in planetary science, astrophysics, particle physics and mathematics. For more details access our website at http://www.origins.ucl.ac.uk or e-mail Prof. Louise Harra at lkh@mssl.ucl.ac.uk . The studentships are supported for 3 years with associated travel and computing funds. The studentship places will be filled from February 2009 and a start date that is flexible but as close as possible to October 2009. ************************************* From: Leon Ofman Solar Physics Postdoctoral Position at Goddard Space Flight Center Email Inquiries: Leon.Ofman@nasa.gov A postdoctoral position is currently available to work on theoretical and computational projects in solar physics guided by recent observations with SOHO, TRACE, STEREO, and Hinode. The work involves numerical modeling (3D MHD, multifluid, and kinetic) of the solar coronal and solar wind plasma. The work location is at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The work is in close collaboration with CUA Solar Physics Group, as well as with NASA GSFC scientists. The candidate should have a Ph.D. degree in Physics, Astrophysics, or a related field, and experience in computational work. The position is for two years, with an initial appointment for one year, with renewal for the second year subject to satisfactory performance. Interested applicants should send by email a resume, a brief statement of research interests, a list of publications and the names of at least three references to the above email address. The deadline for application is December 1, 2008. Information on the CUA Solar Physics Group could be found at http://solar.cua.edu. CUA is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. *********************************************************************** * * * Extra Material * * * *********************************************************************** Brief Report on the ESA SEENoTC Working Group Meeting: October 15-17 2008*_ The above working group met in Toulouse following the SEENoTC workshop, which took place from October 13th to 15th. The first day of the Working Group meeting took place at the IAS, the second and third days at the Laplace building of CNES. Full official minutes will appear in the next few weeks, but here is my own subjective account of the meeting. As well as three members of the ESA Space Weather Group (Eamonn Daly, Alain Hilgers and Alexi Glover), the member nations represented were Belgium (Norma Crosby), France (Robert Ecoffet), Spain (Francisco Estevehs), Sweden (Lars Eliasson) and the UK (Ian McCrea). Apologies had been received from the German representative. It is hoped that representatives from Austria and Switzerland will be able to attend the next meeting. 1._ Presentation of National SEENoTC-related activities_ All countries presented a list of SEENoTC-related activities which were funded from their own resources. Note that this list specifically excludes work on programmes funded by ESA. This means that UK work on ESA programmes such as SEPEM, MARSREM, assessment of data analysis tools and modelling of the Jupiter plasma environment are specifically excluded because thee are wholly ESA-funded activities. Activities allowed for consideration here include ESA's "a la carte" programmes, where ESA is effectively spending national money, as well as internal nationaal research programmes which although not sponsored by ESA, are related to the ESA programme in this area. Mike Hapgood and I put together a list of the relevant UK-funded activities as far as we know them, and this list is attached below as an Excel spreadsheet. Note that we need to complete the entries in this spreadsheet, and add entries for any other UK activities which are relevant to the SEENoTC objectives. Please take a look at the spreadsheet, and send me any missing details for your group. These spreadsheets are very important because they provide evidence of national "in-kind" contributions to the ESA programme, and are also used as an important part of the raw material for the SEENoTC roadmap exercise described in Item 8. Not included above are Qinetiq's work on MERLIN/GIOVE-A, testing of computational tools, contributions to SEPEM and MARSREM, to the modelling of the Jupiter plasma environment and to the GEANT-4 programme in rapid reverse Monte-Carlo techniques. All of these are wholly ESA-funded core programmes. I was asked to check with Keith Ryden on whether there was any other on-going non-ESA-funded activity at Qinetiq that could be counted as an in-kind contribution. Likewise, the Southampton participation in SEPEM and the work at the University of Surrey on energetic electrons in MEO are not included, on the same basis. No BGS work is included on the basis that there is no current applicable activity. It was questioned whether there might be any UK PhD students working on SEENoTC-relevant activities (e.g. at Surrey University) since these could also be declared as in-kind contributions, and I was asked to find this out. It was noted that a UK company called Solar Metrics (led by Bryn Jones and Roger Iles) had in the past been collaborating with MSSL, and may still be doing some relevant work, possibly related to the TEPC (Tissue Equivalent Proportional Counter) which MSSL were working with - if this was not a purely ESA-funded activity than it should be declared as a UK national contribution. As well as the UK contributions, a long list of national contributions was presented from France, as well as contributions from Belgium, Spain and Sweden - all of whom had lists of a similar length to the UK. 2._ Flight Opportunities_ During the workshop, there had been considerable discussion on potential future flight opportunities for radiation monitoring instruments. There were discussions of possible flight opportunities on an SSTL satellite bus, possibly by including a radiation monitor as a standard element of the bus. The Belgians were interested in this possibility, but it was noted that this would need to be funded somehow and that commercial companies were unlikely to be interested in giving a free ride to another group's detectors unless some funding mechanism could be agreed. 3._ Data Sharing_ There was a discussion on data sharing within SEENoTC, especially focused on sharing of data from the pre-Galileo missions (GIOVE-A and GIOVE-B). The aim is to ensure that all such data can eventually be shared among all the SEENoTC partners. However, it was recognised that these data were initially subject to agreements between specific participants which restricted their distribution. SEENoTC will therefore make a recommendation on data sharing which includes the possibility of an initial reserved period for certain data sets, and I was asked to bring this to the attention of Qinetiq and SSTL as the relevant UK groups affected. 4._ Space Situational Awareness_ There was some discussion about the proposed ESA Space Situational Awareness (SSA) programme, which has clear overlaps with the remit of SEENoTC. It was noted that the future status of SSA was unclear and would depend on discussions due to be held within the coming few days. Nonetheless, the proposed elements of the SSA activity comprise a number of activities which would be of interest to the UK space science community. These include: - X-ray solar imaging - EUV solar imaging - A Hydrogen alpha solar telescope - A virtual solar observatory - Sun to ground coupled modelling activities There are also future proposed SEENoTC activities in data sharing, data centres and virtual observatories. A virtual space weather modelling centre is foreseen as a core element of SSA. Note that there is an FP7 programme called SOTERIA (Solar-Terrestrial Investigations and Archives) which runs from November 2008 to October 2011. The program aims at gathering data and tools for space weather forecasting, covering a range of domains from the heliosphere to the atmosphere. This seems highly relevant to SSA, but appears to have no UK involvement. 5._ Next SEENoTC Workshop on test facilities _ The next SEENoTC workshop will likely be at ESTEC, or in Belgium, next autumn and will be devoted to the discussion of ground test facilities (e.g. electron, proton and neutron beams and Cobalt-60). It was noted that there is currently a real need for proton beam test facilities, as the present test facilities are currently in saturation. It was also noted that Germany has a proposed programme in neutron testing of hardware, and that neutron testing is a valuable way to distinguish displacement damage from ionising damage to electronics. 6._ Topical Groups_ There was some discussion of the leadership of the topical group on Spacecraft and Aircraft, which apparently needs a new leader, but no decision was taken and it was agreed that this issue would be explored further before the next meeting. 7._ Progress on standards and input from liaisons The progress of a number of ESA standards initiatives relevant to the space environment was described. I can provide more details on request. Also reports were received from four current activities, namely - ESA Radiation Working Group - ESA Space Weather Working Team (_www.esa-spaceweather.net/spweather/esa_initiatives/swwt_ ) - GEANT-4 modelling study - SPINE (_www.spis.org_ ) 8._ SEENoTC Roadmaps_ This item took up a large fraction of the meeting, and there is still substantial further work to do. The working group went through the exercise of taking all the SEENoTC-related activities in the current ESA programmes, plus the national contributions as defined in item 1 above. These activities were then divided into three headings: - Radiation Monitoring - Space Environment Modelling - Radiation effects and tools development For each of these headings the aim is to produce a separate roadmap, summarising both the ESA core programmes and the related national contributions, making clear the connections between each. The aim is to remove any duplication of effort, and to ensure that relevant results of an activity in one ESA country can be fed into related activities in other countries. The roadmaps also ought to make it possible to suggest areas of collaboration between groups in different countries who might be unaware of each other's activities. At this meeting, we made a start on trying to combine all the parallel activities in a sensible manner, though we were frequently hamstrung by a lack of explicit detail on what a particular study contained, which made it difficult to see how it was related to other activities. The task of refining this roadmap is now being taken forward by the ESA Space Weather Group, and a better version should appear within the next two weeks, in time to be considered by the Steering Group. I will distribute these roadmaps to anyone interested when more intelligible versions are available. 9._ Forthcoming Meetings_ The forthcoming meetings of the working group will be as follows: 19-20/01/2009 at ESTEC 18-19/05/2009 in Madrid 05-09/10/2009 (probably) at ESTEC Ian McCrea October 21 2008_______________________________________________ uksp mailing list uksp@physics.gla.ac.uk http://www.physics.gla.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/uksp