June 2026 - TOPICS
Short News Elections of Hel.A.S. The 45th General Assembly of Hel.A.S. 12th Announcement of Opportunity for “Science Planners” Call for Expressions of Interest (ESA) EAS Early Career Researchers Advisory Committee Upcoming Astronomy Meetings and Schools in Greece About this Newsletter
1. Short News
The Society would like to congratulate Prof. Vasiliki Pavlidou who has been recently unanimously elected Director of the Institute of Astrophysics of FORTH (link). The Society extends its best wishes for further success in her professional pursuits. The Society would like to congratulate Dr. Kostas Antoniadis, former PhD student at the University of Athens and the Institute for Astronomy, Astrophysics, Space Applications, and Remote Sensing (IAASARS/NOA), on being awarded a two-year Humboldt Research Fellowship in Germany, beginning on December 1st. The grant supports his proposed research project entitled "Tracing the Mass Loss of Red Supergiants: Metallicity Dependence, Pulsations, and Implications on Stellar Evolution".
2. Elections of Hel.A.S.
The Governing Council of the Hel.A.S. informs all members that the next elections for the Council of the Society for 2026-2028 term will take place on Friday 26 June 2026, along with the 45th General Assembly (GA).  The deadline for nominations ended on April 30, 2026 and on May 4, 2026 the Governing Council (GC) approved all nominations received. These were (in alphabetical order): Candidate for President of the GC: Prof. Despina Hatzidimitriou (Univ. of Athens) Candidates for Members of the GC: Prof. Vassilis Archontis (Univ. of Ioannina), Dr. Alceste Bonanos (IAASARS/NOA), Prof. Ioannis Gkolias (Univ. of Thessaloniki), Dr. Ioannis Liodakis (IA/FORTH), Dr. Athanasios Tzemos (Academy of Athens), Prof. Nektarios Vlahakis (Univ. of Athens) Candidates for Auditors: Dr. Antonis Georgakakis (IAASARS/NOA), Prof. Konstantinos N. Gourgouliatos (Univ. of Patras), Prof. Iossif Papadakis (Univ. of Crete) Brief CVs of all candidates are available here. We would like to remind all members that in order to participate in the upcoming elections all Ordinary and Junior members must have paid their 2025 annual membership fee by June 12, 2026. After this date, the e-mails of the eligible voters will be submitted to the electronic voting system for processing. The electronic voting will be performed through the ZEUS platform and will be coordinated by the three member committee: Dr. A. Anastasiadis (Chair), Dr. S. Boula and Dr. E. Zapartas.
3. The 45th General Assembly of Hel.A.S.
The agenda of the 45th General Assembly of the Society, which will take place on Friday June 26 2026, is available here. At noon, Prof. Ioannis Daglis,  will deliver an invited lecture to all participants.
4. 12th Announcement of Opportunity for "Science Planners"
We would like to inform our members about the 12th Announcement of Opportunity for “Science Planners” in the NASA-led IRIS mission. The Announcement of Opportunity, containing the necessary information about the IRIS mission, the tasks of the Science Planners and the information needed by proposers, can be found here: https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/iris-2026 The Announcement of Opportunity will close on 23 June 2026 at 12:00 hrs (noon) CEST.
5. Call for Expressions of Interest (ESA)
We would like to inform our members about the Call for Expressions of Interest to become a member of the Space Science Advisory Committee (SSAC), the Astronomy Working Group (AWG), and the Solar System and Exploration Working Group (SSEWG). The Call, containing the necessary information about the SSAC, AWG and SSEWG, the tasks of the members of each committee/group, and the information needed by proposers, can be found at this link. The Call will close on 1 July 2026 at 12:00 hrs (noon) CEST.
6. EAS Early Career Researchers Advisory Committee
We would like to invite our members to express their interest in joining the EAS Early Career Researchers Advisory Committee (ECR AC). The main goal of the AC is to advise the EAS Council on ECR needs, challenges, and future topics of relevance to ECRs working in astronomy and astrophysics.  Interested parties should fill in the following form. Please note that candidate members must be PhDs or ECRs (i.e., within 10 years of PhD graduation).
7. Upcoming Astronomy Meetings and Schools in Greece
16th Quadrennial Solar-Terrestrial Physics Symposium 1-5 June 2026, Thessaloniki Note: The weekend before the conference a school for young scientists will be held. Complexity in Heliophysics: Celebrating the Career and Works of Loukas Vlahos 8-10 June 2026, Thessaloniki Summer School in Observational Astrophysics 7-11 July 2026, Kryoneri Observatory, Corinth 6th Hel.A.S. Astrophysics Summer School on "Multi-messenger Astronomy" 24 - 28 August 2026, Athens, Physics Department Tidal Disruption Events and Nuclear Transients in Crete vol. 2 24-28 August 2026, Heraklion, Crete Star Formation Fields (Crete IV) 21-25 September 2026, Rethymno, Crete
8. 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 July 1, 2026. Please send your announcements (e.g., appointments / departures, job openings, research opportunities, awards, conferences in Greece) or comments before June 25, 2026. 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.