November 2026

TOPICS

• Short News
• 2027 “Best PhD thesis Prize – Emilios Harlaftis”
• Travel Grants
• Astronomy & Astrophysics Awards 2027
• Call for Applications: IAU-Shaw PhD Prize
• Call for Community Input: LOFAR 2.0 Greece
• Upcoming Astronomy Meetings and Schools in Greece
• About this Newsletter

 1. Short News

The Society would like to offer congratulations to:

• Dr. Athena Coustenis, CNRS Research Director and member of LIRA, for being selected by the American Geophysical Union (AGU) to receive the prestigious 2026 Charles A. Whitten Medal. This new international distinction recognizes her major contributions to the study of planets and their satellites. The awards ceremony will take place during the AGU Annual Meeting, held in San Francisco from 7 to 11 December 2026. Earlier this year she was elected to the Academia Europaea, one of Europe’s most prestigious scholarly academies.
• Dr. Stamatios Krimigis for being awarded an honorary doctorate from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) on October 12, 2026.
• Dr. Thomas Bisbas for receiving an AHEPA Hellas 2026 Award for Cutting-Edge Research & Astrophysics.
• Dr. Raphael Skalidis for starting a faculty position at Sabanci University, in Istanbul, Turkey.
• Dr. Sofia Savvidou for starting a postdoctoral position at Space Telescope Science Institute in November 2025.
• Dr. Charis Tsakonas for successfully completing his PhD thesis titled “Study of the recent interaction history of the Andromeda galaxy (M31) through a gas-rich major (1:4) merger simulation” at the Department of Physics of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens under the supervision of Prof. Despina Hatzidimitriou.
• Dr. Grigoris Maravelias for starting a new position at ETIA | Causal AI.

The Society extends its best wishes for further success in their professional pursuits.

2. 2027 “Best PhD thesis Prize – Emilios Harlaftis”

Applications for the “2027 Best PhD thesis Prize – Emilios Harlaftis” are now open. The prize is restricted to Junior members of the Society, who have successfully defended their PhD thesis between January 1, 2025 and December 31, 2026. The application deadline is January 31, 2027. Additional information is available here.

This prize was originally awarded by the Society every two years under the name “Best PhD thesis Prize.” In 2020, following a generous offer from the family of Dr. Emilios Harlaftis, an active member of the Society who passed away prematurely in 2005, the prize was renamed the “Best PhD thesis Prize – Emilios Harlaftis.” The award’s statutes and application procedure remain unchanged.

3. Travel Grants

We would like to inform the Junior members of our Society that we are accepting applications for financial support for meetings occurring during the second half of the calendar year (January – June 2027). Priority will be given to Junior members who have no access to other sources of funding for their participation in conferences or workshops. The deadline for submitting the application is December 15, 2026. The application form is available here.

In addition to the application form, which is submitted by the junior members themselves, the PhD supervisor should also send an endorsement letter via email to the Secretary supporting the application (for more details, see here). A unique identification number will be assigned to each application. The results of each cycle will be announced in the newsletter after the evaluation is completed.

4. Astronomy & Astrophysics Awards 2027

The Board of Directors of A&A presents two annual awards recognizing outstanding research published in A&A by individuals in the initial stages of their careers, namely the “Outstanding PhD Article Award” and the “Outstanding Early Career Researcher Article”. The Awards aim to recognize and encourage talented young astronomers and their contributions to the field. More information is available here. The deadline for submission of applications is December 1, 2026.

5. Call for Applications: IAU-Shaw PhD Prize

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has announced that applications for the 2026 IAU-Shaw PhD Prize are open.

Each of the nine IAU Divisions awards a prize to the candidate who has carried out the most remarkable PhD thesis research in their respective field. Additionally, a PhD Prize at Large may be awarded jointly across all Divisions to an applicant who completed their research under exceptionally challenging circumstances

Eligible candidates must have successfully defended their PhD thesis between 16 December 2025 and 15 December 2026. Their research must fall within the scientific scope of one of the nine IAU Divisions. The application deadline is 15 January 2027.

6. Call for Community Input: LOFAR 2.0 Greece

The Greek LOFAR 2.0 committee is assessing community interest in hosting a LOFAR station in Greece as part of the LOFAR 2.0 upgrade of the International LOFAR Telescope (ILT). LOFAR 2.0 is expected to bring, among other things, simultaneous use of the low-band and high-band antennas, improved sensitivity and station electronics, and better timing capabilities.

The committee invites interested members of the community to complete a short survey (10 minutes) to help assess the level of interest in hosting a LOFAR 2.0 station in Greece. Results will be reported in aggregate in a white paper.

7. Upcoming Astronomy Meetings and Schools in Greece

• From Gaia to GaiaNIR – Science from Precision Astrometry Across the Universe and Beyond the Extinction Barrier
  11-15 January 2027, Athens (Eugenides Foundation)
• 18th Hellenic Astronomical Conference
  28 June – 1 July 2027, Thessaloniki (Aristotle University Research Dissemination Center)

8. About this Newsletter

This Newsletter was sent to all members of Hel.A.S. The next edition of the Newsletter will be mailed on December 1, 2026. Please send your announcements (e.g., appointments / departures, job openings, research opportunities, awards, conferences in Greece) or comments before November 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.