Dear Colleague
Due to the ongoing Covid situation, Interact 2021 will now be held as an online event. Entitled V- Interact, this free one day online symposium will take place on Tuesday 14 September 2021 as a series of themed workshops. Commencing with an opening plenary, we will then focus on two core topics: running and evaluating online engagement and supporting an equitable Covid recovery. Above all, it is a chance to share your online experiences and take part in discussions which will help shape engagement work going forward.
The event will also help shape our programme for Interact 2022, which will go ahead in person on 13–14 September 2022, hosted by Cardiff University.
V- Interact offers something for everyone wanting to hear from others and discuss how the pandemic has affected their engagement activities, it will provide a great opportunity to learn how people have adapted their engagement for online delivery, explore how this was evaluated, and provide a chance to share your experience and good practice.
Objectives for V-Interact can be viewed here, alongside evaluations of previous meetings. We will publish a draft programme in the summer and if you would like to receive more details, then please register here.
The Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies (DIAS) will be hosting a seminar by Jesper Gjerloev, Sam Yee, and the entire EZIE Team on 2 June at 3pm (Dublin). Jesper will give an overview of the EZIE mission to study Earth's auroral electrojets. The title and abstract are below; the Zoom link can be found on the MIST mailing list.
EZIE will image the magnetic signature of the ionospheric electrojets using the Zeeman splitting of the O2 thermal emissions originating from around 80km altitude. EZIE’s 3 smallsats each carry a microwave electrojet magnetogram (MEM) instrument for multipoint vector magnetic field measurements proximate to the source current thereby revealing the structure and evolution of the electrojets. In situ measurements of the electrojet region have proved elusive because the altitudes are too high for balloons and too low for satellites. EZIE’s multi-point measurements will provide unprecedented 2D current maps allowing for a separation of spatial and temporal variations of the electrojets.
EZIE will address two primary science questions that have remained elusive because of observation limitations:
EZIE’s science augmentation characterizes the spatiotemporal structure of equatorial electrojets and explores the physical mechanisms of their generation, resulting in EZIE’s third science question:
The presentation will provide an overview of the mission with a focus on science and implementation. We will show results from comprehensive and realistic end-to-end simulations to illustrate the unprecedented observational capabilities of the EZIE mission.
This year’s STFC summer school is provisionally planned to be held in person at Durham University from 22–27 August. However, if the government’s easing of restrictions between now and then changes so that an in-person meeting is not deemed sensible, then the school will instead be held online. The final decision on this will be made by 30 June.
For more information, visit the website for the summer school.
The summer school is intended as an introduction to solar physics and solar-terrestrial interactions, aimed at PhD students starting in Autumn 2021. The five-day course will consist of a number of lectures delivered by experts from across the UK. The lectures will cover a range of topics, from a general introduction to Plasma Physics to more specialised areas such as magnetic topology.
The preliminary programme is currently available. In addition to the core lectures there will be a careers Q&A, a session on surviving a PhD, an interactive introduction to Python/SunPy and a conference dinner on the Thursday evening. Accommodation for students during the week will be in one of Durham's colleges.
The 2nd Annual Meeting of the Ireland and UK Hub of the Europlanet Society will be held on 22 June 2021.
The meeting will be held online due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and restrictions. This second meeting aims to reflect the broad range of research and outreach activities within the Ireland-UK planetary science communities, as well as showcasing the ongoing development of planetary science infrastructures and facilities. The format of the meeting will be a mixture of invited and solicited talks and poster presentations. Presentations are particularly encouraged from early career researchers, and scientists who have disseminated their work via Europlanet networking workshops and/or research infrastructure. Prizes will be awarded for the best student and early career presentations.
Europlanet Society membership is not required for abstract submission or registration. However, only Hub members are eligible for the best student and early career presentation prizes. The input of all community members is valuable at this stage to ensure that the Ireland-UK Hub of the Europlanet Society grows into a valuable forum for all members. If you are interested in joining the Europlanet Society, more details can be found on their website.
The ESCAPE Summer School on Data Science for Astronomy, Astroparticle and Particle Physics will be held online from 7 to 18 June 2021. Registration to attend the school is now open, with a deadline of with a registration deadline of 31 May 2021.
This event is free and open to all, and is being carried out in the framework of Project ESCAPE (European Science Cluster of Astronomy & Particle physics ESFRI research infrastructures).
The program of the school is devoted to project development for astrophysics, astroparticle physics & particle physics. It will provide theoretical and hands-on training on Data Science and Python development:
A Slack community for the school will be available for communication between participants and to ask questions to tutors. The school is held as a continuation of the Asterics/Obelics summer schools (2017, 2018, 2019). Questions can be directed to the organisers.