MIST

Magnetosphere, Ionosphere and Solar-Terrestrial

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Announcement of New MIST Councillors.

We are very pleased to announce the following members of the community have been elected unopposed to MIST Council:

  • Rosie Johnson (Aberystwyth University), MIST Councillor
  • Matthew Brown (University of Birmingham), MIST Councillor
  • Chiara Lazzeri (MSSL, UCL), Student Representative

Rosie, Matthew, and Chiara will begin their terms in July. This will coincide with Jasmine Kaur Sandhu, Beatriz Sanchez-Cano, and Sophie Maguire outgoing as Councillors.

The current composition of Council can be found on our website, and this will be amended in July to reflect this announcement (https://www.mist.ac.uk/community/mist-council).

Nominations are open for MIST Council

We are very pleased to open nominations for MIST Council. There are three positions available (detailed below), and elected candidates would join Georgios Nicolaou, Andy Smith, Maria-Theresia Walach, and Emma Woodfield on Council. The nomination deadline is Friday 31 May.

Council positions open for nomination

2 x MIST Councillor - a three year term (2024 - 2027). Everyone is eligible.

MIST Student Representative - a one year term (2024 - 2025). Only PhD students are eligible. See below for further details.

About being on MIST Council

If you would like to find out more about being on Council and what it can involve, please feel free to email any of us (email contacts below) with any of your informal enquiries! You can also find out more about MIST activities at mist.ac.uk. Two of our outgoing councillors, Beatriz and Sophie, have summarised their experiences being on MIST Council below.

Beatriz Sanchez-Cano (MIST Councillor):

"Being part of the MIST council for the last 3 years has been a great experience personally and professionally, in which I had the opportunity to know better our community and gain a larger perspective of the matters that are important for the MIST science progress in the UK. During this time, I’ve participated in a number of activities and discussions, such as organising the monthly MIST seminars, Autumn MIST meetings, writing A&G articles, and more importantly, being there to support and advise our colleagues in cases of need together with the wonderful council members. MIST is a vibrant and growing community, and the council is a faithful reflection of it."

Sophie Maguire (MIST Student Representative):

"Being the student representative for MIST council has been an amazing experience. I have been part of organizing conferences, chairing sessions, and writing grant applications based on the feedback MIST has received. From a wider perspective, MIST has helped to grow and support my professional networks which in turn, directly benefits my PhD work as well. I would encourage any PhD student to apply for the role of MIST Student Representative and I would be happy to answer any questions or queries you have about the role."

How to nominate

If you would like to stand for election or you are nominating someone else (with their agreement!) please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by Friday 31 May. If there is a surplus of nominations for a role, then an online vote will be carried out with the community. Please include the following details in the nomination:

  1. Name
  2. Position (Councillor/Student Rep.)
  3. Nomination Statement (150 words max including a bit about the nominee and focusing on your reasons for nominating. This will be circulated to the community in the event of a vote.)

MIST Council details

  • Sophie Maguire, University of Birmingham, Earth's ionosphere - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 
  • Georgios Nicolaou, MSSL, solar wind plasma - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 
  • Beatriz Sanchez-Cano, University of Leicester, Mars plasma - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  • Jasmine Kaur Sandhu, University of Leicester, Earth’s inner magnetosphere - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  • Andy Smith, Northumbria University, Space Weather - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 
  • Maria-Theresia Walach, Lancaster University, Earth’s ionosphere - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 
  • Emma Woodfield, British Antarctic Survey, radiation belts - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 
  • MIST Council email - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Winners of Rishbeth Prizes 2023

We are pleased to announce that following Spring MIST 2023 the Rishbeth Prizes this year are awarded to Sophie Maguire (University of Birmingham) and Rachel Black (University of Exeter).

Sophie wins the prize for the best MIST student talk which was entitled “Large-scale plasma structures and scintillation in the high-latitude ionosphere”. Rachel wins the best MIST poster prize, for a poster entitled “Investigating different methods of chorus wave identification within the radiation belts”. Congratulations to both Sophie and Rachel!

As prize winners, Sophie and Rachel will be invited to write articles for Astronomy & Geophysics, which we look forward to reading.

MIST Council extends their thanks to the University of Birmingham for hosting the Spring MIST meeting 2023, and to the Royal Astronomical Society for their generous and continued support of the Rishbeth Prizes.

Nominations for MIST Council

We are pleased to open nominations for MIST Council. There are two positions available (detailed below), and elected candidates would join Beatriz Sanchez-Cano, Jasmine Kaur Sandhu, Andy Smith, Maria-Theresia Walach, and Emma Woodfield on Council. The nomination deadline is Friday 26 May.

Council positions open for nomination

  • MIST Councillor - a three year term (2023 - 2026). Everyone is eligible.
  • MIST Student Representative - a one year term (2023 - 2024). Only PhD students are eligible. See below for further details.

About being on MIST Council


If you would like to find out more about being on Council and what it can involve, please feel free to email any of us (email contacts below) with any of your informal enquiries! You can also find out more about MIST activities at mist.ac.uk.

Rosie Hodnett (current MIST Student Representative) has summarised their experience on MIST Council below:
"I have really enjoyed being the PhD representative on the MIST council and would like to encourage other PhD students to nominate themselves for the position. Some of the activities that I have been involved in include leading the organisation of Autumn MIST, leading the online seminar series and I have had the opportunity to chair sessions at conferences. These are examples of what you could expect to take part in whilst being on MIST council, but the council will welcome any other ideas you have. If anyone has any questions, please email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..”

How to nominate

If you would like to stand for election or you are nominating someone else (with their agreement!) please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by Friday 26 May. If there is a surplus of nominations for a role, then an online vote will be carried out with the community. Please include the following details in the nomination:
  • Name
  • Position (Councillor/Student Rep.)
  • Nomination Statement (150 words max including a bit about the nominee and your reasons for nominating. This will be circulated to the community in the event of a vote.)
 
MIST Council contact details

Rosie Hodnett - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Mathew Owens - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Beatriz Sanchez-Cano - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Jasmine Kaur Sandhu - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Andy Smith - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Maria-Theresia Walach - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Emma Woodfield - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
MIST Council email - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

RAS Awards

The Royal Astronomical Society announced their award recipients last week, and MIST Council would like to congratulate all that received an award. In particular, we would like to highlight the following members of the MIST Community, whose work has been recognised:
  • Professor Nick Achilleos (University College London) - Chapman Medal
  • Dr Oliver Allanson (University of Birmingham) - Fowler Award
  • Dr Ravindra Desai (University of Warwick) - Winton Award & RAS Higher Education Award
  • Professor Marina Galand (Imperial College London) - James Dungey Lecture
Full details can be found here: https://ras.ac.uk/news-and-press/news/royal-astronomical-society-unveils-2023-award-winners.

MIST Awards Task Force

 
In 2019 the MIST Awards Taskforce was created.  Our key goals are to:
  1. Actively contribute towards more equal representation and a diverse range of nominees for awards.
  2. Recognise and promote the work of overlooked members of the community.
  3. Provide a means for students and ECRs to gain experience in preparing an effective nomination package.

We continue to learn and thus continuously update our focus, processes and mission. We have begun to act on the feedback we have already received but we welcome further thoughts, ideas and feedback from you.

New website resources:

You can now find our newest addition to the MIST website: the Awards corner (https://mist.ac.uk/awards). We have a summary list of awards, medals and prizes, as well as a list of previous MIST Award winners.

How you can help us:

Ultimately, we are aiming for a culture shift. We cannot do this alone and there are many ways for you to help. We welcome any help that you can offer, even if you have little time to spare. Writing award nominations in beneficial on many levels, and not just for the nominees. A particular career stage is not a prerequisite to writing a winning nomination. PhD students in particular can benefit from learning to write nominations early in their career.
 
Whilst there is overlap, this is separate from MIST Council. Last year, we published our experiences in a perspective article: https://doi.org/10.3389/fspas.2022.1011839.
 
To get in touch with the Awards Taskforce, you can email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Nomination Cheat Sheet

If you know of a fantastic colleague that you'd like to nominate for an award, see what they might be eligible for below:

PhD Student

RAS Thesis Prize [Deadline 31st January]

IoP Thesis Prize [Deadline 30th November]

EPS Thesis Prize [Deadline 28th November]

"Early" Career

RAS Early Career Award [Deadline 31st July]

IoP Bronze Award [Deadline 15th January]

AGU Basu Award [Deadline 15th April]

EGU Arne Richter Award [Deadline 15th June]

"Mid" Career

RAS Fowler Award [Deadline 31st July]

IoP Silver Award [Deadline 15th January]

AGU Macelwane Medal [Deadline 15th April]

AGU Alfven/Bates/Bartels Medals [Deadline 15th June]

"Late" Career

RAS Gold Medal [Deadline 31st July]

IoP Gold Medal [Deadline 15th January]

AGU Parker/Van Allen Lectures [Deadline 15th April]

Outreach

RAS Annie Maunder [Deadline End of September]

Promoting Women in STEM

Royal Society Rosalind Franklin [Deadline November]

RAS Caroline Herschel Medal [Deadline 7th October]

Herschel Society - Caroline Herschel Lectureship [Deadline 30th April]

IoP Jocelyn Bell Burnell Medal [Deadline 31st January]

Other

RAS Chapman Medal [Deadline 31st July] - Investigation of Outstanding Merit

RAS Group Award [Deadline 31st July] - Achievement by a Large Consortia

RAS Service Award [Deadline 31st July] - Promoted/Facilitated/Encouraged Science

Please be aware, definitions of "Early", "Mid" and "Late" career do vary between awards.

 

 

Awards and Prizes List

There are a multitude of awards available which recognise research done by geophysicists, and MIST physicists have been successfully nominated for these awards in the past. The list below may not be complete; if you have any suggestions for awards not listed, please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Awards in the UK

Royal Astronomical Society (RAS)

The RAS presents several awards and prizes annually which are available to MIST researchers. The main family of RAS awards have a deadline for nominations at the end of July each year, and are available for everyone from postdocs to the most senior professors, as well as recognising consortia such as EISCAT or SuperDARN (both previous winners). The awards are paired, with geophysics and astrophysics equivalents for each.

The RAS also awards the Annie Maunder medal (with a deadline for nominations on the last Friday in September) for achievements in outreach. This has so far been won by outreach professionals rather than by academics with strong public engaegment records, but this may change over time.

Finally, the Keith Runcorn thesis prize has a deadline for nominations at the end of January, and is for the best PhD thesis in geophysics in the preceding year.

Institute of Physics (IOP)

The IOP have a large family of awards and medals but we think that the following two medals are those that are relevant to the MIST community. The nominations period for these awards runs from October to the end of January.

  • The Edward Appleton Medal (formerly the Chree Medal) is awarded for contributions to environmental, Earth or atmospheric physics, and has been won by MIST physicists such as Michele Dougherty and Michael Lockwood.
  • The Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin Medal is awarded for contributions to plasma, solar or space physics. This medal has also been won by MIST physicists; most recently Steven Schwartz. 

International awards

American Geophysical Union (AGU)

The AGU also has a large family of awards, the deadline for which is in March. The list of awards given by AGU as a whole can be explored on their website, and of particular relevance to members of the MIST community is the John Adam Fleming Medal. The Space Physics and Aeronomy (SPA) section of AGU also gives honours to eligible physicists, and the most relevant honours they bestow are listed below.

Committee on Space Research (COSPAR)

COSPAR's awards and medals are given annually at the COSPAR Scientific Assembly, and nominations must be received by the Secretariat by the end of November in the preceding year. COSPAR awards five awards soley, three awards in collaboration with other organisations, and one final award, as follows:

  • Space Science Award for "a scientist who has made outstanding contributions to space science"
  • International Cooperation Medal for "a scientist who has made distinguished contributions to space science and whose work has contributed significantly to the promotion of international scientific cooperation"
  • William Nordberg Medal for "a scientist who has made a distinguished contribution to the application of space science in a field covered by COSPAR"
  • Massey Award for "outstanding contributions to the development of space research, interpreted in the widest sense, in which a leadership role is of particular importance"
  • Distinguished Service Medal for "extraordinary services rendered to COSPAR over many years"
  • Vikram Sarabhai Medal for "outstanding contributions to space research in developing countries"
  • Jeoujang Jaw Award for "scientists who have made distinguished pioneering contributions to promoting space research, establishing new space science research branches and founding new exploration programs"
  • Zeldovich Medals "are conferred by the Russian Academy of Sciences and COSPAR to young scientists for excellence and achievements"
  • COSPAR Outstanding Paper Awards for Young Scientists for "first authors under 31 years of age at the time the manuscript is submitted for publication in Advances in Space Research or Life Sciences in Space Research"

European Geosciences Union (EGU)

The EGU's awards and medals are given out annually, and have a deadline for nominations in mid-June. We have tried to list the most relevant awards below, but we encourage members of the community to browse the full list.

European Physical Society

The Plasma Physics Division of the European Physical Society has three awards which are awarded annually. Each award has its own deadline, but all of them appear to be in November.

European Space Weather Week

European Space Weather Week awards three medals annually to researchers in the field. At the time of writing, the deadline for nominations appears to be the start of September.

  • The Kristian Birkeland medal, for "a unique ability to combine basic and applied research to develop useful space weather products that are being used outside the research community", and whose contributions have significantly advanced the field.
  • The Baron Marcel Nicolet medal, for demonstrating an ability to link the space weather community in the spirit of peace and friendship, and who has educated both inside and outside the community.
  • The Alexander Chizhevsky medal for outstanding and innovative achivements in space weather research by a young researcher.

Previous award winners

This table is a list of those MIST physicists who have won awards in the field since 2006. If any names or accolades are omitted, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Year Institution Award Winner
2024 International Union of Radio Science Young Scientist Award Sam Boardman
2024 Royal Astronomical Society James Dungey Lectureship Gabrielle Provan
Winton Award Andy Smith
Fowler Award Christopher Smith
Service Award Ian McCrea
Honorary Fellowship Nicola Fox
Chapman Medal Valery Nakariakov
2024 European Geosciences Union Hannes Alfvén Medal Sandra Chapman
2023 Royal Society Bakerian Medal and Lecture Michele Dougherty
2023 International Space Science Institute  Johannes Geiss Fellow  Sandra Chapman 
2023 Royal Astronomical Society Chapman Medal Nicholas Achilleos
Fowler Award Oliver Allanson
Winton Award Ravindra Desai
James Dungey Lecture Marina Galand
Higher Education Award Ravindra Desai
2022 British Science Association British Science Association Award Maria-Theresia Walach
2022 Institute of Physics Henry Moseley Medal William Dunn
 2022 Royal Astronomical Society  Gold Medal Richard Horne 
Chapman Medal Sandra Chapman
Service Award Farideh Honary
Fowler Award Beatriz Sánchez-Cano
James Dungey Lecture Licia Ray
2022 European Geosciences Union David Bates Medal Emma Bunce
Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award  Greg Hunt
2021 European Geosciences Union Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award William Dunn

2021

 Royal Astronomical Society Caroline Herschel Lectureship Jennifer Carter
Winton Award Julia Stawarz
2020 American Geophysical Union Ed Lorenz Lectureship Sandra Chapman
2020 European Space Weather Week Kristian Birkeland Medal Richard Horne
2020 L'Oréal-UNESCO Women In Science Rising Talents UK & Ireland Award Jennifer Carter
2020 International Union of Radio Science Appleton Prize Richard Horne
2020   Royal Astronomical Society   Chapman Medal Cathryn Mitchell
Group Achievement Award The STEREO Heliospheric Imager Team
Service Award Kim Burchell
2020 European Geosciences Union Arne Richter Award for Outstanding Early Career Scientists Beatriz Sánchez-Cano
2019 Royal Astronomical Society Gold Award Margaret Kivelson
    Chapman Medal Tom Stallard
    Group Achievement Award The Cluster Science and Operations Team
    James Dungey Lectureship Mark Clilverd
2019 Institute of Physics Edward Appleton Medal Cathryn Mitchell
2018 American Geophysical Union  Basu U.S. Early Career Award for Research Excellence Julia Stawarz
  European Space Weather Week Baron Marcel Nicolet Medal Hermann Opgenoorth
  Institute of Physics Richard Glazebrook Medal Michele Dougherty
  Royal Astronomical Society Chapman Medal Emma Bunce
    Service Award Matt Taylor
    James Dungey Lectureship James Wild
2017 Institute of Physics Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin Medal Steven Schwartz
  Royal Astronomical Society Gold Medal Michele Dougherty
    Chapman Medal Mervyn Freeman
    Price Medal Richard Holme
    Fowler Prize Christopher Chen
    Winton Capital Award Zhonghua Yao
    Group Achievement Award The Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN)
    Service Award Richard Harrison
    James Dungey Lectureship Christopher Owen
2016 European Space Weather Week Baron Marcel Nicolet Medal Mike Hapgood
  Royal Astronomical Society Fowler Prize Sarah Badman
    Group Achievement Award The European Incoherent Scatter Scientific Association (EISCAT)
    James Dungey Lectureship Betty Lanchester
    Keith Runcorn Thesis Prize Rishi Mistry
2015 Royal Astronomical Society Gold Medal Michael Lockwood
2014 Royal Astronomical Society Group Achievement Award The Cassini magnetometer team
    Service Award Mark Lester
2013 Royal Astronomical Society Chapman Medal Stephen Milan
    Service Award Michael Hapgood
2012 European Geosciences Union Julius Bartels Medal Michael Lockwood
  Royal Astronomical Society Chapman Medal Andrew Fazakerley
    Fowler Award Mathew Owens
2011 Royal Astronomical Society Winton Capital Award Leigh Fletcher
2009 Royal Astronomical Society Harold Jeffreys Lectureship Emma Bunce
2007 Institute of Physics Chree Medal Michele Dougherty
2006 European Geosciences Union Julius Bartels Medal Stanley Cowley
  Royal Astronomical Society Fowler Prize Duncan Mackay

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