DECEMBER 2018 - TOPICS

Short News 3rd HEL.A.S. Summer School IAU 100 activities IAU junior membership (deadline 31 December) Student and Postdoctoral Research Opportunities Abroad Upcoming Astronomy Meetings in Greece About this Newsletter

1. Short News

A new science magazine. We are happy to announce that the National Observatory of Athens (NOA) created its own on-line magazine, named “Κοsμος” for science and research, with news from the international scientific community and topics related to the activities of NOA's institutes. The magazine is available at the following link: http://magazine.noa.gr The Society would like to congratulate Prof. V. Charmandaris who was selected by ESA to become a member of its Astronomy Working Group (AWG) for the 2019-2022 term. The role of the AWG is to provide ESA with advice on all scientific aspects of astronomy missions. This includes advice on which missions are selected, the composition of payload and data centre teams and which missions are extended. The society extends its best wishes to Prof. Charmandaris for further successes in his professional pursuits. The Society would like to congratulate Dr. Antonis Manoussakis who recently was appointed as assistant professor at the University of Sharjah (UAE). The society extend its best wishes to Dr. Manoussakis for further successes in his scientific endeavors. The Society would like to congratulate our member, Dr. Georgios Magdis, who was recently promoted to an Associate Professor of Observational Astrophysics at the Cosmic Dawn Center, a new international basic research center supported by the Danish National Research Foundation, located at the Niels Bohr Institute of the University of Copenhagen (Denmark). The Society extends its best wishes to Dr. Magdis for further successes in his career pursuits.

2. 3rd Hel.A.S. Summer School

The 3rd Hel.A.S. Summer School was organized by the gravitational-waves group at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and it was co-sponsored by the University of Tuebingen, through a DAAD grant. It took place during October 8-12, 2018 and it was attended by 72 students (a significant fraction coming from outside Greece). The theme of this year's school was "Neutron Stars and Gravitational Waves". More details can be found at the main website. All lectures have been recorded and are available for viewing here.

3. IAU100 activities

You are invited to visit http://www.helas.gr/gr/IAU.php for information about the activities organized in the framework of IAU100 in Greece and worldwide. You will also find a link for the international writing contest "Under the Sky" where PhD, Master and Bachelor students are invited to submit short stories on the theme of "Under the Sky" and "Inspiring Stars". Information on "Celebrate IAU100 Women and Girls in Astronomy Day" is also available.

4. IAU junior membership (deadline: 31 December)

The IAU recently decided to provide to junior scientists, who have completed their PhD studies in astronomy between 2013 and 2018, the opportunity to be admitted to the IAU as a Junior Member for up to 6 years. The deadline for applications is 31 December 2018. Candidates must submit an application to the President of the Greek National Committee for Astronomy, Spyros Basilakos (sbasil at noa.gr, svasil at academyofathens.gr, gnca at astro.noa.gr). The application must include: Name, surname place and date of birth postal address, e-mail current position PhD title, defense date and university where the thesis was completed Two recommendation letters attesting that the candidate can become a professional astronomer Candidates must indicate at least one Division they wish to join. More details can be found here

5. Student and Postdoctoral Research Opportunities Abroad

The list below may be refreshed or updated with further established lists: IAU PhD prize. Once a year, each IAU Division has the opportunity to award its own prize to the candidate it feels has carried out the most remarkable work in the previous year (i.e. a PhD Thesis which has been defended between December 16 of the previous year and December 15 this year). The IAU PhD prize is open to candidates from all countries, regardless of whether the country has an IAU National Membership. The deadline for applications for the 2018 IAU PhD prize is December 15, 2018. The application form is available here https://www.iau.org/submissions/phd-prize The conditions and details for the applications are available in the IAU webpage https://www.iau.org/science/grants_prizes/phd_prize/ Any Member of the Society who wishes to contribute another credible link with opportunities, or individual opportunities that will, however, be shown in a single-liner format as above, is encouraged to contact the Secretary of the Society.

6. Upcoming Astronomy Meetings in Greece

Exploring the Infrared Universe: The Promise of SPICA 20th-23th May 2019, Hersonissos, Crete, Greece Supernova Remnants II, and odyssey in space after stellar death 3th-8th June 2019, Chania, Crete, Greece Feedback and its role in Galaxy formation 25th-29th June 2019, AKSS, Spetses, Greece,

7. 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 1, 2018.  Please send your announcements (e.g., appointments / departures, job openings, research opportunities, awards, conferences in Greece) or comments before December 25, 2018. 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.