DECEMBER 2016 - TOPICS

Short News New President at the National Observatory of Athens Directory of Greek Astronomy PhDs 45 PhD Scholarships for International Students at the University of Edinburgh Postdoctoral Researcher Position at the International Space Science Institute, Bern Senior Researcher (Researcher B') Position at IAASARS/NOA REMINDER: Hel.A.S. Travel Grant for Junior and Recent Ordinary Members Upcoming Astronomy Meetings in Greece About this Newsletter

1. Short News

The Society would like to congratulate its Ordinary Member, Dr. Angelos Vourlidas of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, USA, for receiving a Citation for Excellence in Scientific Refereeing by the Editors of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Journals for 2015. The distinction was announced on October 19. More information is available here. The Society would like to congratulate its Ordinary Member, Dr. John Antoniadis of the Dunlap Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Toronto, Canada, for receiving a prestigious 2016 Polanyi Prize for his work on the understanding of neutron stars. Polanyi Prizes are awarded annually to young researchers in the Ontario area who have demonstrated top-level innovative thinking in their areas of research. More information about this year's awardees can be found here. The 2016 Ministerial Council (CMIN16) of the European Space Agency (ESA) has commenced today in Lucerne, Switzerland, and will conclude tomorrow, December 2. Ministerial Councils are the highest-level ESA meetings, held on a triennial or quadrennial basis, and determining ESA's budget until the next such event. Hel.A.S. sincerely hopes that CMIN16 will meaningfully signify Greece's return in ESA's Optional Programmes, from which the country withdrew support in 2013.Streaming CMIN2016 information can be found in Twitter's #ESACM16.

2. New President at the National Observatory of Athens

The Society wishes to inform its members that a new President for the National Observatory of Athens (NOA) was elected on November 11, 2016. Former NOA President Prof. Kanaris Tsinganos of the University of Athens was succeeded by Prof. Emmanouil Plionis of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Thanking the former President for his contributions, the Society expresses congratulations to the new NOA President and extends its best wishes to him for a successful and productive service to the benefit of the entire Hellenic astronomy and astrophysics community.

3. Directory of Greek Astronomy PhDs

We are pleased to inform the Society's members that we have just compiled and made publicly available via the Hel.A.S. web page a comprehensive directory of Greeks who have obtained a PhD in Astrophysics, Dynamical Astronomy, and Space Physics, either in Greece or abroad. The directory can be found here. For each individual we provide information regarding the PhD awarding institution and supervisor(s), the thesis title and a link to the thesis manuscript (where available), as well as the last known position and affiliation of the author. In some cases we also include brief biographical information of the PhD holder. This archive has been prepared and is maintained by Prof. V. Charmandaris. It was based on information on Greek astronomers, collected and presented by Prof. P. Laskarides in the 2009 Greek Astronomers Yearbook. For updates or corrections, please contact Prof. V. Charmandaris.

4. 45 PhD Scholarships for International Students at the University of Edinburgh

The University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom, is offering up to 45 PhD scholarships for international students. These awards are open to UK, EU and overseas students applying to start their first year of study for a research degree in 2017-2018. Award applicants should contact the School with whom they intend to study before applying for the award to ascertain whether the funding is available for the discipline involved. More information about the call can be found here. General information about scholarships and student funding at the University of Edinburgh is available here, while specific information about postgraduate studies at the University's Institute for Astronomy is available here. The deadline for applications is February 1, 2017.

5. Postdoctoral Researcher Position at the International Space Science Institute, Bern

The International Space Science Institute (ISSI) in Bern, Switzerland, is seeking to appoint a post-doctoral researcher for 2 years primarily to work on a Horizon 2020 project, MiARD, the Multi Instrument Analysis of Rosetta Data. ISSI is an Institute of Advanced Study where scientists from all over the world meet in a multi- and interdisciplinary setting to reach out for new scientific horizons. The specific call for the position can be found at ISSI's main website, under "Post Doc MIARD Project". The application deadline is January 31, 2017.

6. Senior Researcher (Researcher B') Position at IAASARS/NOA

The Institute for Astronomy, Astrophysics, Space Applications and Remote Sensing (IAASARS) of the National Observatory of Athens (NOA), announces the opening of a promotion-related permanent position at the level of "Senior Researcher (Researcher B')" in the field of "Observational Astrophysics in the Optical”. More information and the call for applications (in greek) are available at IAASARS job openings website (first entry). The application deadline is December 4, 2016.

7. REMINDER: Hel.A.S. Travel Grant for Junior and Recent Ordinary Members

In Newsletter 225 (November 2016) the Society announced its second 2016 call for applications for financial support to graduate-student (i.e. junior) members in order to attend meetings taking place within the first half of 2017. Following a Society's Council decision dated July 20, 2016, the Society pledged to exceptionally (i.e., contingent to funding availability) consider travel grant applications submitted by young PhD holders, as well, fulfilling both criteria below: (a) the grant application is submitted within twelve (12) months from the applicant's successful PhD defense. (b) the applicant does not possess an active postdoc position at the time of the application submission. The Society wishes to remind its Junior and recent Ordinary Members that the deadline for applications is approaching: December 15, 2016. The application form is available here.

8. Upcoming Astronomy Meetings in Greece

CIDM 2016 Special Session - Mining the Sky: Knowledge Discovery in Big and Complex Astronomical Data Sets and Data Streams, Athens, December 6 - 9, 2016 Polarised Emission from Astrophysical Jets Ierapetra, Crete, June 12-16, 2017 13th Hellenic Astronomical Conference Heraklion, Crete, July 2-6, 2017

9. About this Newsletter

This Newsletter was sent to all members of Hel.A.S. who have e-mail access. The next edition of the Newsletter will be mailed around January 1st, 2017. Please send your announcements (e.g., appointments/departures, job openings, research opportunities, awards, conferences in Greece) or comments before December 26, 2016. If you do not wish to receive future issues of this Newsletter or the e-mail address to which it was sent is not your preferred one, please inform the Secretary of Hel.A.S. at secretary@helas.gr.