Dear colleagues.

Please save the date for the “UK Space Weather and Space Environment (UKSWSE) II: Celebrating 10-years of 24/7 space-weather operational forecasting in the UK” Meeting, 09-12 September 2024, at Sandy Park, Exeter, UK. This is the second of a series of UKSWSE Meetings and the focus of this meeting will be around the 10-year celebration of 24/7 space-weather forecasting in the UK with more details to follow in due course. We apologise that this clashes with the European Solar Physics Meeting 17, but logistics around the timing and availability of suitable venues in the Exeter area provided extremely-limited options – hence also the delay in advertising the dates openly to the community.

In addition, this is also an open call for applications for membership of the Scientific Organising Committee (SOC) of UKSWSE II. The organisation of the meeting is expected to be conducted jointly by the Local Organising Committee (LOC – members, thus far are named below) and the newly-formed SOC for the 2024 occurrence. A dedicated discussion will take place in Exeter between all the participants with regards to what the community prefers going forward for any future UKSWSE Meetings.

The LOC will be responsible for all logistical issues, such as the organisation at the meeting venue, arrangements for conference rooms, accommodation, catering, audio-visual provision, exploring the potential options for hybrid capabilities, etc… It will also be responsible for meeting announcements, press releases, and other outreach.

The SOC will be responsible for the content of the UKSWSE II Meeting, including session titles and timetables, selection of invited and contributed speakers (although, there will be several key organisational/sector-specific invitees as provided by the LOC given the nature of the meeting), appointment of session chairs and assignment of poster submissions. The SOC will also undertake the necessary communications with all session contributors, working within the context of the logistical arrangements made by the LOC. Consideration will be given to having one cross-member of both the LOC and SOC, in order to ensure that the two are appropriately coordinated.

It is anticipated that the SOC will have between six and eight members, with a sufficient diversity of expertise to cover the full range of policy, end-user, scientific, engineering, and technical issues which fall within the remit of the UKSWSE II Meeting. The SOC Chair will be self-selected from within. We expect the SOC to be appropriately diverse and gender-balanced and to ensure the same in respect of the meeting programme. Note that members of the SOC will not be expected to assume any financial risk related to the costs of the meeting, while members of the LOC are assumed to be willing to accept a share of such risk. SOC Members also forfeit any option to have an invited abstract at the meeting. For this year, preference will be given to those submitting from UK-based establishments until the discussion on potential future meetings is had at Exeter later this year.

Applications for membership of the SOC should include 2-3 paragraphs of motivation and relevant past experience related to organising national/international meetings (no more than 350 words) and sent via E-Mail to Simon Machin at the Met Office (simon.machin@metoffice.gov.uk), ensuring copies are also sent to Mario Bisi at UKRI STFC RAL Space (mario.bisi@stfc.ac.uk) and Claire Garland at the Institute of Physics (claire.garland@iop.org); please use the subject line: “Interest in joining the SOC of the UKSWSE II Meeting”. The deadline for receipt of these applications is Thursday 29 February 2024 at 16:00UT; there will be no extension. Should there be too few suitable candidates, the LOC reserves the right to co-opt additional members at its discretion. The SOC outcomes are expected to be announced by the end of March 2024 at the latest.

Many thanks in advance and we look forward to seeing you in Exeter in September for another energetic and exciting UKSWSE Meeting…

UKSWSE II LOC:
Mario M. Bisi (UKRI STFC RAL Space)
Claire Garland (IOP)
Mark Gibbs (Met Office)
Vivien Thomas (IOP)
Simon Machin (Met Office)
Ian McCrea (UKRI STFC RAL Space)
Krista Hammond (Met Office)
Elise Allthorpe-Mullis (UKRI STFC RAL Space)