MIST

Magnetosphere, Ionosphere and Solar-Terrestrial

Latest news

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.

SSAP roadmap update

The STFC Solar System Advisory Panel (SSAP) is undertaking a review of the "Roadmap for Solar System Research", to be presented to STFC Science Board later this year. This is expected to be a substantial update of the Roadmap, as the last full review was carried out in 2012, with a light-touch update in 2015.

The current version of the SSAP Roadmap can be found here.

In carrying out this review, we will take into account changes in the international landscape, and advances in instrumentation, technology, theory, and modelling work. 

As such, we solicit your input and comments on the existing roadmap and any material we should consider in this revision. This consultation will close on Wednesday 14 July 2021 and SSAP will try to give a preliminary assessment of findings at NAM.

This consultation is seeking the view of all members of our community and we particularly encourage early career researchers to respond. Specifically, we invite:

Comments and input on the current "Roadmap for Solar System Research" via the survey by clicking here.

Short "white papers" on science investigations (including space missions, ground-based experimental facilities, or computing infrastructure) and impact and knowledge exchange (e.g. societal and community impact, technology development). Please use the pro-forma sent to the MIST mailing list and send your response to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Quo vadis interim board

 

A white paper called "Quo vadis, European space weather community" has been published in J. Space Weather Space Clim. which outlines plans for the creation of an organisation to represent the European space weather community.
Since it was published, an online event of the same name was organised on 17 March 2021. A “Quo Vadis Interim Board” was then set up, to establish a mechanism for this discussion, which will go on until June 21st.

The Interim Board is composed of volunteers from the community in Europe. Its role is to coordinate the efforts so that the space weather (and including space climate) European community can:

  1. Organise itself
  2. Elect people to represent them

To reach this goal, the Interim Board is inviting anyone interested in and outside Europe to join the “Quo Vadis European Space Weather Community ” discussion forum.

Eligible European Space Weather Community members should register to the “Electoral Census” to be able to vote in June for the final choice of organisation.

This effort will be achieved through different actions indicated on the Quo Vadis webpage and special Slack workspace.

Europlanet Networking Activity Workshop on "Uniting Planetary Modelling and Data Analysis: Part 2"

The Europlanet Networking Activity Workshop on "Uniting Planetary Modelling and Data Analysis: Part 2" is to be held at Elite City Resort Hotel, Kalamata, Greece. The workshop will be held over 22–25 July 2019 and is co-convened by Nick Achilleos (UCL) and Nick Sergis (Academy of Athens).

Workshop Format

The large scientific communities involved in the analysis and modelling of ground- and space-based datasets related to planetary environments in our Solar System have, over many decades, developed sophisticated models, algorithms and software for supporting this kind of research. With missions such as Cassini leaving a large legacy dataset for Saturn, Juno expected to do the same for Jupiter, and JUICE in the pre-launch phase of development, now is the time to raise awareness of these resources and in what form their originators have provided or plan to provide them to the wider community.

Following the initial success of the related Europlanet NA workshop which took place last year in Greece, a 'follow-up' workshop is scheduled to take place during July 22 through 25 in 2019.

As before, this workshop aims to unite planetary modellers, providers of data analysis tools/services, and any planetary scientists who wish to find out more about these kind of resources, which could facilitate their research activities.

The format of the workshop will follow the established scheme of a combination of ~30 minute presentations and 'tutorial sessions' on the use of model outputs / data analysis resources. If possible this year, we would like to conduct even more 'tutorial sessions', which could be anywhere up to about 2 hours in duration, according to the wishes of the presenter.

Registration

Registration is done by sending an email confirming your attendance, and containing your presentation title, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. (Please note that you will also have to book your room, as outlined above). The registration fee is payable in cash on the first day of the meeting, and will be €100 (for regular attendees), €50 (for students and early career researchers), or free (for invited speakers).

Support

Europlanet can cover reasonable accommodation costs for approximately the first 20 participants who register, for the purpose of attending the meeting itself, during the dates below (invited speakers will automatically have their accommodation costs provided).

Booking Rooms

The hotel have recommended that participants make their reservation by sending an email directly to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. indicating that they are coming to the `Europlanet workshop', so that they get the special price of approx. €95 (single) / €125 (double). More details are on the conference website. The reduced price also applies to all participants for any number of days, right before or right after the workshop, they may wish to stay in the Elite Resort Hotel.

Autumn MIST date and venue announced

The annual Autumn MIST meeting has been announced, scheduled to be held at the Royal Astronomical Society on 29 November 2019 (the traditional date). The meeting will, as it did last year, include a poster session, lightning talks and oral presentations. More details will be announced as they are confirmed.

Radio scintillation workshop in Hermanus, South Africa during July 2019

A workshop on radio scintillation called “Scintillating Science: Cutting-Edge Science Achieved Through the Observations of Radio Scintillation” will be held in Hermanus (near Cape Town) in South Africa. The conference will be held 15–19 July 2019.

The workshop will cover all aspects of scintillation from the science (including all the domains in which it can be applied, e.g. ionosphere, heliosphere, interstellar) through to engineering concepts/requirements including all aspects of its theory/modelling. More detailed themes will appear on the workshop website before the end of March 2019, alongside invited speakers.

Early registration and abstract submission opens on 25 March 2019 and close on 31 May 2019. More information, including more dates, can be found on the workshop's webpage.

UK Solar Orbiter workshop in 2019

The UK Solar Orbiter Workshop is to be held on 3–4 June 2019 at University College London. For more details, visit the conference website, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or click here to register. All members of the UK solar physics community interested in the Solar Orbiter mission goals are encouraged to attend, and registration will close on 15 May 2019. Due to venue limitations the number of participant is capped, and early registration is encouraged.

Solar Orbiter is an ESA/NASA mission designed to answer some of the key questions in heliophysics, from the origin and variability of the solar wind to the link between solar eruptions, magnetic fields and energetic particles. Solar Orbiter will have a unique combination of in-situ and remote-sensing instruments, probing the atmosphere close to the Sun in and out of the ecliptic plane. The modeling of the magnetic environment that will be experienced by the satellite and its connection to the Sun will be key to the success of both the in-flight operations as well as to the mission’s scientific goals.
With the launch of Solar orbiter scheduled for February 2020, the UK solar Orbiter Workshop aims to bring together the expertise of the UK solar community in magnetic modeling and model validation, to increase the UK impact on the international efforts in preparation for Solar Orbiter operations, and to coordinate the UK efforts for the exploitation of the satellite observations.

Interact 2019: An engagement symposium

Following the huge success of Interact 2017, this landmark symposium will be returning as Interact 2019 on Wednesday 4th September 2019 at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) in Preston, Lancashire. Click here for registration details and to find out more.

Spanning the physical and life sciences this event offers something for everyone with an interest in improving their public engagement capabilities. It will provide a fantastic opportunity to learn new ways to engage with your audience, explore the barriers to engagement and discuss how the engagement landscape is changing. But above all, it will be a chance to share your experiences with like-minded people in a fun and friendly environment.

The STFC, IOP, SEPnet, RSC, RAS Ogden Trust and UCLan are partnering together to develop an inspiring, challenging and refreshing programme on the following key themes:

  • Evaluation & Impact and REF2021
  • Reaching under-served audiences
  • Schools outreach
  • Sharing best and worst practice in a safe space

 

The detailed content of the day will be co-created and you will be able to vote on proposals by fellow delegates, so get your thinking caps on!