APRIL  2023 - TOPICS
Short News Job Opportunities in Greece ESA Archival Research Programme Collaboration Opportunities with CFHT The 16th Conference of Hel.A.S. Emilios Harlaftis Best PhD Prize Monthly Colloquium of Hel.A.S. Upcoming Astronomy Meetings in Greece About this Newsletter
1. Short News
We would like to congratulate Dr. Ioannis Liodakis who was recently awarded a NASA Postdoctoral Fellowship. Dr. Liodakis will be moving to the Marshall Space Flight Center in the coming September. The Society extends its best wishes for further success in his professional pursuits. We would like to congratulate Dr. Manos Zapartas on receiving funding by the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (HFRI) to support his postdoctoral research. The Society extends its best wishes for further success in his professional pursuits.
2. Job Opportunities in Greece
1. The Department of Physics, Section of Astrophysics, Astronomy and Mechanics of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) offers one (1) PhD position about "Revisiting the asymptotic giant branch phase with Gaia and other data" . The position will be part of the Milky Way Gaia Doctoral Network "Revealing the Milky Way with Gaia" (PI for Greece, Prof. Despina Hatzidimitriou). The Doctoral Network consists of 10 academic partners across Europe at which 12 PhD students will be researching a range of topics based on Gaia and other data. Application deadline: April 28th, 2023 For more information, please contact: Prof. Hatzidimitriou (deshatzi@phys.uoa.gr) 2. One Post-Doctoral or alternatively PhD position on population synthesis of stellar binary systems at the Institute of Astrophysics in Herackleion (IA-FORTH) will be announced in the upcoming months. The position will be funded by the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (HFRI) scheme under the grant entitled "SFERICSS" with PI Dr. Emmanouil (Manos) Zapartas. The selected candidate will work on topics related to the energetical and mechanical feedback of binary stellar populations to their surroundings, both during the binary phase and/or during their X-ray binary phase. For that the selected candidate will use the new-generation binary population synthesis code, POSYDON, which is based on MESA stellar and binary models. The candidate will be a member of the POSYDON team, with many options for close international research collaborations. Applicants with experience in the fields of stellar and binary evolution modeling, binary and spectral population synthesis, populations of X-ray binaries and/or stellar feedback at stellar host environments and galaxies are particularly encouraged to apply. The opening will be for a postdoctoral position, but depending on the available candidates, the position can be alternatively offered to a PhD candidate. Expected starting date is in fall 2023, for a duration of up to 24 months. For the alternative case of a PhD position, a 3rd year of a paid secondment either at the University of Geneva (Switzerland) or NorthWestern University (Chicago, USA) is possible. Interested parties should contact Dr. Emmanouil (Manos) Zapartas (zapartas@noa.gr) for more details.
3. ESA Archival Research Visitor Programme
To increase the scientific return from its space science missions, the European Space Agency (ESA) welcomes applications from scientists interested in pursuing research projects based on data publicly available in the ESA Space Science Archives (https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/esdc). The ESA Archival Research Visitor Programme is open to scientists, at all career levels, affiliated with institutes in ESA Member States and Collaborating States. Early-career scientists (within 10 years of the PhD) are particularly encouraged to apply. Applications by PhD students are also welcome. During their stay, visiting scientists will have access to archives and mission specialists for help with the retrieval, calibration, and analysis of archival data. In principle, all areas of space research covered by ESA science missions can be supported. Residence lasts typically between one and three months, also distributed over multiple visits. Research projects can be carried out at ESAC (Madrid, Spain) and at ESTEC (Noordwijk, Netherlands). To offset the expenses incurred by visitors, ESA covers travel costs from and to the home institution and provides support for lodging expenses and meals. Applications received before 1 May 2023 will be considered for visits in autumn 2023 and winter 2024. For further details, including areas of research and contact information, please refer to: https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/esdc/visitor-programme or write to the programme coordinators at arvp@cosmos.esa.in
4. Collaboration Opportunities with CFHT
The Canada-France-Hawai‘i Telescope (CFHT) invites expressions of interest in collaboration as it seeks to broaden its global community of partners. First, CFHT invites participation in its Associate Partnership Program, utilizing its current suite of instruments spanning ultraviolet to near-infrared wavelengths with wide-field imaging and high-resolution spectroscopy capabilities. Second, CFHT is seeking Letters of Interest to participate in the development of the Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer (MSE) through either the: Design and fabrication of MSE-Pathfinder, an instrument for CFHT Design of the Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer (MSE) The purpose of this call is to identify institutes/organizations interested in participating in the above opportunities. Letters of Interest are solicited by May 1st. The full text of the call is available on the CFHT website.
5. The 16th Conference of Hel.A.S.
We would like to inform all members that the registration and abstract submission for the 16th Conference of HelAS is open. All members are encouraged to visit the web site of the conference at: https://helas.gr/conf/2023
6. Emilios Harlaftis best PhD prize The Governing Council (GC) studied carefully the applications of the candidates and select Raphael Skalidis (PhD 2022 University of Crete) for the "Emilos Harlaftis Best PhD award of 2023".  His PhD thesis was entitled " Estimating of the magnetic field strength in the interstellar medium" and conducted under the supervision of Prof. K. Tassis.  Raphael is currently a postdoctoral scholar research associate at the Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy at Caltech (USA). The GC was very pleased to notice the high quality of the research conducted by all candidates and it would like to congratulate all of them for the scientific results they obtained during the short amount time of a PhD thesis.
7. Monthly Colloquium of Hel.A.S.
We are happy to announce that the April 2023 colloquium speaker is Prof. Maxim Lyutikov. As usual, videos of all past colloquia are available in the Youtube channel of the Society. Details of the upcoming colloquium follow: 25th Monthly Colloquium of Hel.A.S. - 11 April 2023 "Fast Radio Burst: whence and how" by Prof. Maxim Lyutikov, (Purdue University, USA) Tuesday, 14 March 2023 at 15:00 Athens time (UTC + 3:00) Click for ZOOM link (Meeting ID: 865 9769 4610 and Passcode: 602015) Abstract: Fast Radio Burst (FRBs) - mysterious millisecond-long radio pulses coming halfway across the Universe - put exceptional constraints on their loci and our models of coherent emission generation. I will first describe dynamics within the “Magnetars' Solar Flare” paradigm - the ultra-relativistic analogs of Solar flares and Coronal Mass Ejections, originating in magnetospheres of highly magnetized neutron stars, magnetars. The coherent emission is generated via the cosmic analog of the Free Electron Laser mechanism.
8. Upcoming Astronomy Meetings in Greece
Escape of Lyman radiation from galactic labyrinths 18-21 April 2023, Island of Crete The 10th Microquasar Workshop: the various facets of extreme gravity 22-25 May 2023, Island of Crete The Olympian Symposium 2023: Star formation in the era of JWST 29 May - 2 June 2023, beach of Katerini The X-ray Universe - 2023 13-16 June 2023, Athens 16th Hellenic Astronomical Conference 25-28 June 2023, Athens
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 May 1, 2023. Please send your announcements (e.g., appointments / departures, job openings, research opportunities, awards, conferences in Greece) or comments before April 25, 2023. 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.