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.

Autumn MIST 2024

Autumn MIST this year will be held on Friday 29th November at The Exchange in Birmingham (3 Centenary Square, Birmingham, B1 2DR - near Birmingham New Street). We are hosting Autumn MIST outside of London for the first time, allowing us to use a venue that will be able to accommodate our growing community.
 
Abstract submission and registration are now closed.

Venue Information (https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/the-exchange):

The Exchange is a 10-15 minute walk from Birmingham New Street station, which is the recommended mode of transport for attendance.

There is no on site parking at the venue - the closest parking is (limited) on street parking on Bridge Street.  To find accessible parking, please check this website: https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/the-exchange/plan-your-visit. We would also like to note that there is a clean air zone in place around the centre of Birmingham, that comes with associated costs for driving.

Food will be provided in the form of welcome refreshments, two coffee breaks and a buffet lunch. 

Poster and Talk Presentations:

Talks will be 12 minutes in length, including questions.  We suggest that talks should target 10 minutes, allowing two for questions.  Due to a packed schedule we will have to stick to time throughout the day,  please plan your talks accordingly.

There will be two poster sessions during the day, and the poster boards will support portrait A0 posters only.  As the poster sessions are not as long as we’d like, we are putting together a repository of posters online for people to browse.  This will only be available to registered attendees, and only until the 31st December 2024.

Please check your emails to find the links to submit your talk and poster online.  Talks must be submitted online (by the 28th November), while posters may be uploaded to a secure repository if you wish to share your work with the community.

MIST Buddies:

We are aware that Autumn MIST welcomes a range of attendees, many of whom are new to the community and may be attending their first conference. Following last years success, we will be running a "MIST Buddies" scheme this year that informally partners new members with their peers, with an emphasis on PhD students. The purpose of the partnerships is to give new community members a contact point for the day and someone that can give them a helping hand in networking and getting to know the community. We would love to hear from you if you are (a) a new member that would like a partner or (b) willing to be a MIST Buddy.

To get involved please complete the online form (supplied by email) by Friday 22 November. Thank you in advance for helping make the community more welcoming and supportive.

Name Tags:

As trialed last year, we will not be providing name badges and lanyards. Instead we would like for everyone to bring your favourite lanyard and name badges and reuse those. We would also like to have a lanyard amnesty where people can bring a spare lanyard for those who may have forgotten or do not have a lanyard. There will be a small number of stickers available on the day to make your own name tag if needed.

Code of Conduct:

All attendees must follow the MIST/RAS Code of Conduct, which can be found here: https://www.mist.ac.uk/community/conduct-and-support. Details on reporting breaches of the code of conduct will be provided on the day. Thank you in advance for contributing to a safe and enjoyable experience for everyone. 

Tips for students:

Last year's student rep on MIST council, Sophie Maguire, wrote an excellent article with lots of advice for first time attendees: https://mist.ac.uk/students-corner/344-tips-for-autumn-mist-2023.

The pub:

After events such as Autumn MIST, it is usually the case that people move to a local pub once the conference has finished. Please do not feel intimidated by this. Everyone is more than welcome to come along and it is a really great platform to get to know people and have some more informal discussions. The official pub for Autumn MIST will be the Purecraft Bar & Kitchen (https://maps.app.goo.gl/QpkyEa9SGnsgqQKb6).

Autumn MIST 2023

Autumn MIST this year will be held on Tuesday 28 November 2023 at the Geological Society in London (Burlington House, London W1J 0BG). Please note the change of date and venue due to an unexpected booking cancellation.

Registration

Registration is now open and can be completed here: https://onlinestore.ucl.ac.uk/conferences-and-events/faculty-of-mathematical-physical-sciences-c06/ucl-centre-for-systems-engineering-f63/f63-autumn-mist-meeting-2023. Please note that you will be required to register with the UCL Online Store before you can purchase registration.

The deadline for registrations is Tuesday 21 November 23:59 GMT. All attendees must register before this deadline, and we are unable to accept any registrations on the day.
 
The registration fees are solely for covering the venue hire costs. We are pleased to offer discounted rates for online attendees, students, and retirees. If you have any questions or concerns please get in touch with us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
 
Programme

The programme and abstract book can be viewed here. All talks will be hybrid, and the poster session will be in-person. All attendees can view posters in an online repository.

Poster and Talk Uploads

If you are presenting a poster or a talk then please upload them to the links provided. Please upload all talks and posters by Tuesday 21st November 2023 23:59 GMT with the following format “AutumnMIST23_surname”. The poster and talk repository will be shared at a later date to all registered attendees. 

Posters:https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScq5ekFjLR1MHvIdRlNpbySqbp8wCQ0yiD8htBfjSWM4oqgAQ/viewform?usp=sharing

Talks: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfcf85aPC-BNGWhLBRzB9pw4j_Rlys6uCCTZPrtZ7z6vGroaA/viewform?usp=sharing

Name Tags

For this year’s Autumn MIST, we will not be providing name badges and lanyards. Instead we would like for everyone to bring your favourite lanyard and name badges and reuse those. We would also like to have a lanyard amnesty where people can bring a spare lanyard for those who may have forgotten or do not have a lanyard. There will be a small number of stickers available on the day to make your own name tag if needed.

Code of Conduct

All attendees must follow the MIST/RAS Code of Conduct, which can be found here: https://www.mist.ac.uk/community/conduct-and-support. Details on reporting breaches of the code of conduct will be provided on the day. Thank you in advance for contributing to a safe and enjoyable experience for everyone. 

MIST Buddies

We are aware that Autumn MIST welcomes a range of attendees, many of whom are new to the community and may be attending their first conference. We are trialling a MIST Buddies scheme this year that informally partners new members with their peers, with an emphasis on PhD students. The purpose of the partnerships is to give new community members a contact point for the day and someone that can give them a helping hand in networking and getting to know the community.

We would love to hear from you if you are (a) a new member that would like a partner or (b) willing to be a MIST Buddy.

To get involved please complete the following form by Tuesday 21 November: https://forms.gle/cv8mwRYK98wZnQuQ8.

Thank you in advance for helping make the community more welcoming and supportive.

Extra Information for Students

You can find a short guide on essential tips for PhD students here: https://www.mist.ac.uk/students-corner/344-tips-for-autumn-mist-2023.

 

If you have any questions or would like any further information on Autumn MIST 2023, please contact MIST council at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

 

 

Spring MIST 2023

Spring MIST will be held at the University of Birmingham from 3rd to 5th April 2023.

With eight sessions dedicated to MIST science this is an excellent opportunity to see the truly excellent and world-class research being done across the UK. Included in the registration we will also have a Poster Session and Drinks Reception, a Conference Banquet held at the beautiful Birmingham Botanical Gardens and, after a Covid-induced break, the Spring MIST Football Tournament will also be back. 

There are two registration options: with or without B&B accommodation. All tickets include:

  • Registration for all 3 days of the conference
  • Hot lunch on each day of the conference (Mon, Tue, Wed)
  • Tea/Coffee breaks with pastries
  • Poster session (with drink included)
  • Conference Banquet (Tuesday night) 

The accommodation option includes B&B at the venue (Edgbaston Park Hotel, University of Birmingham) on the Monday and Tuesday night.

The price is £350 for registration with accommodation and £200 for just registration (no accommodation).

Abstract submissions closes on January 30th and Registration closes on February 20th (please register as early as possible to help with the logistic planning!). 

All the details, links to submit abstracts and register are available here: https://spaceweather.bham.ac.uk/conference/spring-mist-2023/ 

We look forward to seeing you at Spring MIST 2023!

Autumn MIST 2022

Autumn MIST will be held on 18th November 2022, at the Geological Society in London (Burlington House).

Abstract submission is closed.

Talks will be given in a hybrid format and posters will be presented in person only.

Registration will close on 11/11/22. You must preregister as we cannot accept registration on the day. Registration is £10 for online attendance, £20 for student in person attendance and £30 for staff in person attendance. The link for registration is below:

https://www.store.reading.ac.uk/conferences-and-events/faculty-of-science/department-of-meteorology/autumn-mist

Code of Conduct

We expect all attendees to follow the RAS code of conduct which can be found here:https://ras.ac.uk/code-conduct-ras-meetings

If you have any queries, please email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Autumn MIST 2021

MIST Council are planning to hold Autumn MIST 2021 on Thursday 25th - Friday 26th November 2021.

  • This will be online only (zoom + gathertown)
  • Here is the abstract submission form for Autumn MIST 2021 https://forms.gle/gDPJLYMK7uXH9ZLi8  - Please submit by end of Friday 22nd October.
  • We will then aim to circulate the programme by Friday 5th November, to give 3 weeks for poster/talk prep.
  • Contributions are very welcome from all areas of MIST science, and you may submit more than one abstract by submitting the form more than once.
  • Exact timings will follow – but we will plan to have a schedule similar to last year: roughly 10am until 3pm each day (with breaks), and this will include both poster and oral sessions.

Please e-mail MIST council at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you have any questions or encounter any problems with submission.