European Radio Astronomy Consortium

Newsletter Issue 05/2024

New calibration technique circumvents Earth’s ionosphere

An international team of researchers has developed a new calibration technique to circumvent disturbances of Earth’s ionosphere. Using this technique with the LOFAR telescope, the researchers have already made some new discoveries about the distribution of radio emissions.

The new calibration technique allowed the researchers to produce the first sharp radio maps of the universe at low frequencies (16-30 MHz).

According to the researchers, the new calibration technique makes it possible to study phenomena that were previously hidden. It might be used to detect exoplanets orbiting small stars. More information about the findings of the research team can be found here.

Opticon RadioNet Pilot new series: Science talk

On 3 April 2024, ORP launched the first episode of the online series "ORP science talk". This series allows scientists from the optical and radio spectrum to present their work and scientific results.

In the first episode Zsofia Nagy talked about young stellar objects and Cosimo Inserra about supernovas. Rob Beswick from the University of Manchester and leader of the ORP joint activity “Seamless performance” gave a short introduction on the ORP Multi Facility call for proposals, which was open until 9 April 2024.

Next episode: 5 June 2024, with L. Wyrzykowsky (Uni Warsaw) and G. Jozsa (MPIfR)

The videos of the event can be found here.

Next episode: 5 June, 11am CEST

Professor Michael Garrett elected as Fellow of the Royal Society

Professor Michael Garrett, Director of Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, has been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society - the UK’s national academy of sciences.

Professor Garrett holds the prestigious Sir Bernard Lovell Chair of Astrophysics and is a leading figure in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). He currently serves as the chair of the International Academy of Astronautics SETI Permanent Committee. In addition, he has held significant roles, including RadioNet Coordinator, and remains an active member of the RadioNet Consortium.

We extend our heartfelt congratulations to Professor Garrett on this distinguished recognition.

Inspiring era project

Inspiring ERA is a project funded by the Horizon Europe program aimed at breathing new life into the European Research Area (ERA). Goal is to raise awareness, share best practices and speed up the adoption of advancements made under the umbrella of the ERA to benefit researchers and citizens across the countries involved. See here the project page.

POLICY NEWS

Horizon Europe: fully annotated version of the Model Grant Agreement

See here the European Commission´s fully annotated version of the Model Grant Agreement in the Funding & Tenders Portal.

Report on research assessment published

The report addresses the contributions of projects funded by Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe to the reform of research assessment practices. It is part of a series of three reports, produced in parallel, that take stock of the progress and promising practices generated by a selection of EU-funded projects on skills, research assessment reform and by the research and innovation (R&I) activities of the Horizon 2020 ‘Science with and for Society’ (SwafS) projects supporting the European University Alliances (hereafter alliances).

EC report Improving access to and reuse of research results, publications and data for scientific purposes

This report supports ERA Policy Agenda 2022-2024, aiming at an EU framework for copyright and data fit for research. It analyses barriers to accessing and reusing publicly funded research, evaluating EU copyright and data legislation, along with regulatory frameworks and offers a comprehensive overview for policymakers, researchers, and research organisations. Read more.

Council adopts a recommendation to enhance research security

The European Council has adopted a Council recommendation on enhancing research security. The main objective of the recommendation is to support the Commission and member states to address research security risks deriving from international cooperation.

Commission receives scientific advice on Artificial Intelligence uptake in research and innovation

The Scientific Advice Mechanism (SAM) released its independent policy recommendations on how to facilitate the uptake of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in research and innovation across the EU. The advice is non-binding but may feed into the overall Commission strategy for AI in research and innovation. Read more here.

ACCESS OPPORTUNITIES

EVN VLBI Call for proposals open

Observing proposals are invited for the European VLBI Network (EVN). Travel support could be accessed through the ORP. Check details of the call for proposals here.

Submission Deadline: 1 June 2024 at 16:00 UTC.

100-m Effelsberg radio telescope: Open call for proposals

The call for proposals of the 100-m radio telescope (Effelsberg/DE) of the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy is open.

Access/funding is offered through the ORP project.

Submission deadline: 30 May 2024 (15:00 UT)

Image: © N. Tacken (MPIfR)

European ALMA Regional Centre

The European ALMA Regional Centre (ARC) provides the interface between the ALMA project and the European science community. The ARC is staffed by scientists with expertise in radio astronomy and interferometry and it supports its users throughout the lifetime of a project, from proposal preparation to data analysis. Users that want to visit an ARC node for a face-to-face visit can apply for funding through the ORP project.

Westerbork Apertif Long Term Archive

ALTA offers to the world-wide astronomical community free virtual access to data and scientific products produced from all sky surveys of the Northern sky that will be conducted with the new Apertif frontend of the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT), as well as tools to query, further exploit and perform data mining of these products adaptable to diverse research goals. The access/funding offered through the ORP project.

LOFAR Long Term Archive

LTA is a long-established archive and access facility supporting the international LOFAR telescope. It is currently the largest radio astronomical archive in the world already exceeding 45 PB from LOFAR’s past 10 years of operations. The LTA provides a central and key resource for all observed LOFAR astronomical science programs where the data become public within 12 months of first creation. The access/funding is offered through the ORP project.