ESA is currently inviting proposals for their Living Planet Fellowship with a deadline of 15 March 2021. These fellowships, worth a maximum of €110k, are intended:
To support young scientists, at post-doctoral level, to undertake cutting-edge research in Earth Observation, Earth System Science or Climate Research, maximising the scientific return of ESA and European EO missions and datasets through the development of novel EO methods, techniques and products, and by delivering excellent scientific results addressing the grand Earth Science challenges of the next decade, enabling improved predictions of the physical interaction of society with the Earth system.
Interested candidates need to propose a two-year-long research plan which contributes to either of the two themes of the fellowship: "Advancing novel methods and techniques" or "Advancing Earth system science". The call also includes opportunities in the use of cloud computing capabilities; to support small ground-based experiments and in situ data collection; and a visiting scientist scheme to join the new ESA Earth System Science Hub.
Questions related to the call can be submitted via email, and must be "not later than two weeks before the Closing Date" (i.e. by the end of February 2021). The timeline for the fellowships is as follows:
| Milestone | Date |
| Submission of proposals | 15 March 2021 |
| Communication of results* | Q2 2021 |
| Beginning of activities* | Q3 2021 |
*tentative
The Planetary Science Group at Leicester are hosting a virtual seminar on 27 January 2021 at 14:00. The speaker is Dr Angeline Burrell from the US Naval Research Laboratory and her talk is titled: "Python tutorial for space physics". The seminar will be held on Microsoft Teams (click here to join), and the abstract is below.
Python is a free and open source programming language that is very useful for scientific data analysis. Many members of the space physics community have developed packages and tools to perform specialised functions commonly used within the community. In this presentation, I will provide several examples showing how Python can be used to display data, perform common data analysis operations, and perform space physics specific analysis. I will also go over some basics of responsible programming practices, which are applicable across all languages, and provide resources for learning more about Python, Python in space physics, and good programming practices in general.
MIST Council would like to extend their congratulations to the 2021 Royal Astronomical Society Award winners.
In particular, we congratulate the following members of the MIST and wider space physics community that have been recognised for their outstanding achievements and contributions:
Winton Award: Dr Julia E. Stawarz, Imperial College London
Chapman Medal: Professor Ineke de Moortel, University of St Andrews
Annie Maunder Medal: Professor Robert Walsh, University of Central Lancashire
Fowler Award: Dr Richard Morton, University of Northumbria
James Dungey Lecture: Dr Karen Aplin, University of Bristol
Further details on all the RAS 2021 award winners can be found on the RAS website.
The closing date for the 2021 Astronomy Grants Round is 4th March 2021. Submissions are accepted from now. The Astronomy Guidelines for Applicants have been revised and can be found via the links below (the PDF with the full guidance is available under the ‘who can apply’ section on both pages):
Applicants should ensure they have read the guidelines in detail and contact the office with any queries ahead of submission.
Key points or revisions from the 2020 guidelines have been briefly summarised below for information:
New groups submitting their first consolidated grant proposal or those considering a consortium proposal are advised to inform the office ahead of submitting to the closing date. If you have any queries please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..