We need your help to update the UKSP website

The UKSP council would like to update the UKSP website. Therefore, we would like to ask the community to help with the following:

1) Public Outreach page (https://www.uksolphys.org/outreach/)
This page would be the collection of public outreach activities in the UK related to solar physics. We would like to list outreach activities which are meant to engage a large audience and to bring knowledge and expertise on the Sun to the general public. These outreach activities can take several forms, such as school presentations, workshops, public talks, lab visits, etc…
If you would like to add information about your outreach activity, please contact the Deputy Chairperson directly.

2) Seminar Speaker page (https://www.uksolphys.org/resources/seminar-speaker-list/)
This page is dedicated to listing early career lecturers, postdoctoral researchers, and PhD students who would like to give seminars at institutes around the UK.
We would particularly like to encourage PhD students and early career researchers to consider this opportunity.
Please contact the Deputy Chair if you would like your name added (with a short description of your research).

3) Mentors page (https://www.uksolphys.org/mentors/)
The UKSP community has decided to put in place a mentoring scheme. The mentors cover a range of career stages and are available to provide advice on a range of issues, e.g. jobs (applying for post-docs, promotions), applying for grants, publishing, outreach, writing up the PhD etc.
We would like to invite more people to participate in our mentoring scheme.
If you are interested in this role, please contact the Deputy Chair directly.
We note this is not an attempt to replace University mentoring schemes but should be used as an additional resource.

4) Institutions page (https://www.uksolphys.org/about-uksp/institutions/)
The page includes links to the UK institutions and their associated research groups currently undertaking and contributing to solar physics research.
We would like to add those groups which are not listed on the website yet.… continue to the full article

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The UKSP council offer free zoom licence access to the UKSP community so that PhD students to senior researchers can host their own meetings, short workshops and summer schools. We would particularly like to encourage PhD students and early career researchers to consider organising such events. The UKSP council can provide support in organising and advertising your event.

If you are interested in using the UKSP Zoom licence, then please contact Karen Meyer (kmeyer001@dundee.ac.uk) with details of your prospective meeting:
• What type of meeting, who it is aimed at.
• When the zoom licence will be required (date: from… to…).
• Details of the person who will host the meeting (name, position, institute, department, and email address).

The UKSP zoom licence is supported by a Royal Astronomical Society Grant.… continue to the full article

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Dear Colleagues,

The Commons SIT Committee has announced an inquiry into UK Astronomy with a deadline of October 27.

https://committees.parliament.uk/call-for-evidence/3238/

However, the RAS are collating information for their own submission, and if you would like your points to be included within that submission, please email Robert Massey (rmassey@ras.ac.uk) directly by September 27 (we apologise for the short deadline).

However, if you miss this, information can still be submitted by individuals until October 27.

Kind regards,

UKSP Council… continue to the full article

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The SunPy Project is looking for new community members to become maintainers of a new magnetic field extrapolation package.
SunPy will provide mentorship in how to maintain a SunPy package.
Ideally anyone interested in the role would be familiar with the magnetic extrapolation algorithms.
If you are interested in taking on this role please comment on the SunPy discourse.

More details

The pfsspy project has recently been archived by David Stansby, it’s lead author and maintainer.
We want to thank him for his work on pfsspy and a variety of other heliophysics Python projects.

The pfsspy package is now widely used throughout the solar physics community for computing potential field extrapolations, including in several high-profile publications.
Given its wide usage, the SunPy Project believes it is important to continue to provide this functionality within the SunPy ecosystem to ensure it’s longevity.

To that end we are creating a new package within the SunPy ecosystem which, initially, will be a fork of the pfsspy package.

In the longer term, this package may expand to cover other extrapolation techniques the community has an interest in contributing.

To achieve this, we need someone who can bring some expertise on magnetic field extrapolation algorithms and who has time to dedicate to creating and maintaining this package.

The SunPy Project will provide the required package infrastructure and mentorship on package maintenance for anyone interested.
Additionally, this new package will be housed under the SunPy organization on GitHub, similar to existing affiliated packages maintained by the Project.

If you are interested in becoming a maintainer or have more questions, please post on the SunPy discourse thread linked here, or email me.… continue to the full article

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Dear Colleagues

Please be advised we are now accepting expressions of interest for the astronomy large awards scheme. All details, guidance and contact information can be found on the funding funder page here: https://www.ukri.org/opportunity/astronomy-large-awards/

The deadline for expression of interests is Tuesday 31st October by 4pm. Applications (by email) received after this time will not be accepted. Applications found not to have followed the guidance and process detailed in the link above will not be considered.

Kind regards
The Astronomy Awards Team… continue to the full article

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The Call for Applications to new STFC Science Board (PPAN) and Science Board (Facilities and Laboratories)

Science Board (PPAN): https://www.ukri.org/who-we-are/work-for-us/join-an-advisory-committee-panel-or-network/stfc-science-board-ppan-members-2/
• Science Board (PPAN) is seeking two new members in astronomy only.
• All members of Science Board (PPAN) must be based at UK-based institutions.

The deadline for applications is Monday 23 October 2023.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact joanna.bromley@stfc.ac.uk or rachel.leader@stfc.ukri.org (Science Board (PPAN))… continue to the full article

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The journals Solar Physics & Living Reviews in Solar Physics have opened a joined Topical Collection on “Applications of Machine Learning in Solar Physics”, which aims to include review articles and original research:

https://www.springer.com/journal/11207/updates/25899446

While the Living Review “Machine learning in solar physics” serves as a general introduction to the topic, we encourage authors to submit their work on specific applications of machine learning methods, neural networks, and deep learning techniques in solar and heliophysics to the journal Solar Physics.… continue to the full article

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ISRO’s Aditya-L1 spacecraft is due to launch on Saturday 2nd September at 11:50 IST (07:50 UK time).

ISRO will livestream the Aditya L1 launch event on its website and YouTube channel:
https://www.isro.gov.in
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCw5hEVOTfz_AfzsNFWyNlNg

Best of luck to our Indian colleagues and we look forward to seeing the data!… continue to the full article

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During the UKSP ECR Workshop held in April, an idea was proposed to create a dedicated webpage on the UKSP website providing information about available funding opportunities for Early Career Researchers (ECRs).

Now, we have successfully implemented this page on our website: https://www.uksolphys.org/resources/fellowships/

However, it’s possible that the list of available funding may not be exhaustive. Therefore, we kindly request your assistance in reviewing the page. If you are aware of additional opportunities that could be included in the funding list, please do not hesitate to reach out directly to the Deputy Chair via email at m.korsos@sheffield.ac.uk.

Best Regards,

UKSP Council… continue to the full article

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Dear Colleagues

We are happy to announce the 2023 contest for the International Space Weather and Space Climate Medals. The medal recipients will be announced during the Medal Ceremony on 20th November 2023 at the European Space Weather Week. Each winner will be invited to give a 20-minute lecture on their research in a dedicated session.

All three prizes are prestigious recognitions of the recipients’ major contributions in the field of space weather and space climate. Medal recipients’ achievements must have been documented in peer-review journals or book chapters, or must be a technological contribution that has led to a fully implemented and documented new space weather or space climate capability. Medal recipients’ work must be relevant to space weather and space climate. The work must also be internationally recognized.

In addition to the above common criteria, there are the following specific requirements for each of the three medals:

The Kristian Birkeland Medal for Space Weather and Space Climate
The recipient of the Kristian Birkeland Medal must have demonstrated an ability to combine basic and applied research to develop useful space weather and/or space climate products used outside the research community, and/or across scientific research disciplines. The work must have led to a better physical comprehension of solar-terrestrial phenomena related to space weather and/or space climate, to a significant improvement of space weather and/or space climate modeling, or to a new generation of instruments or tools.

The Baron Marcel Nicolet Medal for Space Weather and Space Climate
The recipient of the Baron Marcel Nicolet Medal must have demonstrated an ability to bind the space weather and space climate community in a spirit of peace and friendship, to educate the younger generations within and outside the space weather and space climate community, to go beyond the research community and address larger audiences, and/or to serve the space weather and space climate community.

The Alexander Chizhevsky Medal for Space Weather and Space Climate
The Alexander Chizhevsky Medal is awarded to an early-career scientist in recognition of outstanding achievements in space weather and space climate with innovative approaches. The nominee must be an early-career scientist within eight years of receiving their PhD (or equivalent) degree at the time of nomination. This 8-year period may be increased at the discretion of the Awards Committee to include the duration of any career breaks (such as parental leave) after obtaining the PhD degree.

How to nominate?
In order to nominate a person for one of the International Space Weather and Space Climate Medals, please send one single pdf document which includes:

• Your full name and professional address.
• The full name and professional address of the person that you nominate.
• Which of the three medals you nominate the person for (only one medal type is allowed for each nominee).
• Reasons for the nomination (two pages maximum). Please make sure that these reasons relate to space weather and space climate and fulfil the criteria listed above.
• A full CV of the nominee
• Letters of support from two colleagues, preferably outside your own or the candidate’s institution. You may also include those two colleagues as co-signatories on the nomination proposal. For the Chizhevsky prize, a recommendation letter from the PhD advisor (in case the PhD supervisor is not the person submitting the nomination) is recommended.
• Up to five references (journal articles, prizes, patents, etc.) of the nominee’s work.

Self-nominations are not allowed. Any individual can only nominate one person for a medal. The medal committee members cannot nominate or be nominated.

Send the documents by email to: medals@lists.eswan.eu

The deadline for the nominations: 5th September 2023.

Composition of the Medal Committee in 2023
Previous winners:
Bruce T. Tsurutani (2019 Birkeland)
Delores Knipp (2019 Nicolet)
Jiajia Liu (2019 Chizhevsky): vice-chair
Richard Horne (2020 Birkeland)
Madhulika Guhathakurta (2020 Nicolet)
Mateja Dumbovic (2020 Chizhevsky)
Kazunari Shibata (2021 Birkeland)
Maria Kusnetsova (2021 Nicolet)
Martin A. Reiss (2021 Chizhevsky)

Ex-officio members:
Ronald van der Linden: Representative of E-SWAN.
Mario M. Bisi: Representative of the ESWW Programme Committee.
Ilya Usoskin: Representative of the Journal of Space Weather and Space Climate.

The Medal Committee is chaired by Andrea Opitz.… continue to the full article

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