MIST

Magnetosphere, Ionosphere and Solar-Terrestrial

Latest news

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

New MIST Council 2021-

There have been some recent ingoings and outgoings at MIST Council - please see below our current composition!:

  • Oliver Allanson, Exeter (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), to 2024 -- Chair
  • Beatriz Sánchez-Cano, Leicester (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), to 2024
  • Mathew Owens, Reading (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), to 2023
  • Jasmine Sandhu, Northumbria (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), to 2023 -- Vice-Chair
  • Maria-Theresia Walach, Lancaster (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), to 2022
  • Sarah Badman, Lancaster (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), to 2022
    (co-opted in 2021 in lieu of outgoing councillor Greg Hunt)

Charter amendment and MIST Council elections open

Nominations for MIST Council open today and run through to 8 August 2021! Please feel free to put yourself forward for election – the voting will open shortly after the deadline and run through to the end of August. The positions available are:

  • 2 members of MIST Council
  • 1 student representative (pending the amendment below passing)

Please email nominations to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by 8 August 2021. Thank you!

Charter amendment

We also move to amend the following articles of the MIST Charter as demonstrated below. Bold type indicates additions and struck text indicates deletions. Please respond to the email on the MIST mailing list before 8 August 2021 if you would like to object to the amendment; MIST Charter provides that it will pass if less than 10% of the mailing list opposes its passing. 

4.1  MIST council is the collective term for the officers of MIST and consists of six individuals and one student representative from the MIST community.

5.1 Members of MIST council serve terms of three years, except for the student representative who serves a term of one year.

5.2 Elections will be announced at the Spring MIST meeting and voting must begin within two months of the Spring MIST meeting. Two slots on MIST council will be open in a given normal election year, alongside the student representative.

5.10 Candidates for student representative must not have submitted their PhD thesis at the time that nominations close.

Notes from MIST Council meeting 29/10/12

29 October 2012, Conference room 13, RAL

Participants: Mike Hapgood, Emma Woodfield, Mario Bisi, Rob Fear, David Southwood

  1. Agree agenda
    1. Agenda agreed
  2. Draft SSAP report
    1. Draft and Agreed note to send on behalf of STP community
    2. Sent 4 minutes before formal deadline at noon
    3. Put on MIST web site
  3. Autumn MIST
    1. Coffee and rooms are booked
      1. RAS LT for talks
      2. Council room for coffee
    2. Can have 3 sessions and run until about 17:00
    3. Tim Horbury to give invited talk
    4. Will need talk on state of MIST
    5. Deadline is coming Friday (2 Nov) - already have 6 abstracts
    6. Posters
      1. Suggestion to put boards against Council table
      2. But this limits us to use one side of board
      3. Will review when we know how many posters we have
  4. Dungey Special Meeting and Lecture
    1. Reviewed David's draft annoucement
    2. David chasing up other old students of Jim
    3. Looking for younger scientists to talk about topics on which Jim has worked
      1. ULF waves
      2. reconnection
      3. radiation belts
    4. Meeting is in GeolSoc LT so can handle 200+
      1. but some concern we may exceed this
      2. do we need tickets so numbers are controlled?
      3. David may ask Imperial secretary to collect registrations
  5. NAM 2013
    1. Plenaries
      1. First choice is Mark Lester as Mark missed slot at NAM 2012
      2. Other possibilities
        • Andrew Fazakerley - follow up to his Chapman Medal
        • Malcolm Dunlop - SWARM
        • Richard Horne - RBSP
      3. Mike to discuss with SOC
    2. How to build programme?
      1. Need to make a Call for Ideas
      2. Start Call at Autumn MIST
  6. MIST web site
    1. Rob and Emma now in control of web site
    2. Reviewed content on-line and agreed some changes
    3. Remove old links
    4. Tidy up list of groups
    5. Collect data on indicators of esteem for MIST scientists
      • Fellowships
      • Awards and Named Lectures
  7. Promoting our science
    1. Briefing papers
      1. Mike to chase up old list ot proposed papers
      2. Some exist in draft form
      3. EISCAT_3D should be a priority
      4. Re-prompt for ideas at Autumn MIST
      5. Can authors recycle material from proposals
      6. Other options
        • Rad belts - can Spacecast help?
        • Artificial aurora - Lancaster?
        • History - David interested to write about Alfven, Chapman, Dungey and Birkeland
    2. Promote outreach sites
      1. SunEarthPlan.net
      2. SolarStormWatch
  8. AOB
    1. Should we have a MIST equivalent to UKSP nuggets?
      1. How to sustain?
    2. MIST Council election 2013
      1. needs to take place before "Spring MIST" @ NAM2013
      2. Mike to flag this at Autumn MIST
      3. circulate note to Heads of Groups - ask them to encourage candidates so we have a good election
    3. Date of next MIST Council meeting
      1. telecon in Feb/Mar 2013
    4. Rishbeth Prize money
      1. Mike to check status with RAS