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Newsletter Issue 4/2019

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Astronomers Capture First Image of a Black Hole

Astronomers Capture First Image of a Black Hole

The announcement on April 10, 2019 in Brussels of the first results from the Event Horizon Telescope was also an opportunity and forum for RadioNet to speak out on the importance of European funding for astronomy in general but also for the radio astronomy infrastructures.

The contribution of RadioNet to the EHT in Europe is not direct but it is still very relevant. RadioNet has been contributing to technological developments for mm telescopes and telescope arrays, upgrading equipment, development of technology, software and training users. Infrastructures like ours are fundamental for scientific discoveries. The EC has accepted this and invested so far well over 30M€ to the European radio astronomical infrastructures under RadioNet alone. Congratulations to all who contributed! Read more.

Image © EHT

RadioNet campaign for visibility of EC / H2020 funding

RadioNet campaign for visibility of EC / H2020 funding

RadioNet has produced a plaque that will make visible to the general public the EC/H2020 support of the RadioNet partners´ infrastructures. Already the plaques are installed at the e-MERLIN (UK), at the Torun 32m telescope (PL), at the Yebes 40m telescope (ES), and at the MPIfR 100m telescope (DE). At prominent and visible places!

© RadioNet

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YERAC 2019 in Dublin

YERAC 2019 in Dublin

The Young European Radio Astronomers Conference 2019 (YERAC2019) will be held August 26-29 in Dublin, Ireland, and hosted by the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) on the campus of the Trinity College Dublin (TCD). YERAC is funded by RadioNet and it is a conference that aims to promote the work and professional development of young radio astronomers in Europe and beyond. The meeting will take place over 3 days and will include talks by ~30 early career researchers as well as invited talks from astronomers working on LOFAR, the SKA and a variety of other radio instruments. There will also be a science communications workshop as part of the conference.

The YERAC organisers invite applications from early career researchers (PhDs and early stage postdocs) from across all radio astronomy disciplines. There is no registration fee and accommodation and lunch will be provided free of charge to the successful applicants. See the meeting website.

2019 NEON Observing School

2019 NEON Observing School

The 2019 NEON Observing School is hosted by the Rozhen Observatory in Bulgaria and will be held September 15-29. During the second week of the school, which will take place in Sofia, also a Hot Topics Conference will  take place. The NEON observing school will provide lectures on observing techniques and hands-on observing experience on professional telescopes.

Deadline for applications on  May 3, 2019. Read more.

2019 European Radio Interferometry School

This is the second announcement for the Eighth European Radio Interferometry School (ERIS), which will take place October 7-11 in Gothenburg, Sweden. The school will be hosted by the Onsala Space Observatory at the Chalmers University of Technology and is supported by the RadioNet project.

ERIS will provide a week of lectures and tutorials on how to achieve scientific results from radio interferometry.

The registration is open until May 3, 2019. More

News on the Saint Croix VLBA station

News on the Saint Croix VLBA station

Update on the effort to restore the Saint Croix VLBA station to pre-hurricane conditions. The upcoming effort to perform corrosion mitigation and painting of the 25m antenna will commence with an NRAO team visiting the station for structural repair work. It is envisaged that the station will be returned to service after 3.5 months. More

Credit: NRAO/AUI/NSF

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POLICY NEWS

EU agreement on future research and innovation programme

The Horizon Europe framework programme is taking shape and will base on 3 pillars: excellent science, global challenges, European industrial competitiveness and an innovative Europe. In addition, there are provisions to improve the programme's delivery for widening participation and strengthening the European Research Area. The common understanding between the Council and the European Parliament contains a number of improvements compared to the Commission´s proposal. The future negotiations will take place with the new Parliament and will also need to take into account the future overall agreement on the multiannual financial framework for 2021-2027. More.

III RICH Symposium, European Research Infrastructures: from WP 2020 calls to Horizon Europe

A third RICH Symposium on European Infrastructures will take place in Brussels on May 14, 2019. It will address the strategic Positioning of Research Infrastructures in a new Framework Programme Horizon Europe and the transition of ongoing projects into a new programme. Jan HRUŠÁK (ESFRI Chair) und Philippe Froissard (EC, DG RTD) will be among the speakers. More.

European Research and Innovation Days

An annual policy event will take place in Brussels on September 24-26, 2019. It will bring together world leaders from industry, finance, academia and business to debate and shape the future research and innovation landscape. Among the speakers will be ministers, commissioners, members of the European Parliament, researchers, as well as surprise guests each day. At the same time, the event aims to mobilise EU citizens and to increase awareness and understanding of the importance of research and innovation addressing the social challenges. 

Call for applications for the selection of members of the Commission Expert Group “EIC Pilot Advisory Board”

The next EU framework programme for research and innovation (2021 - 2027) includes the legal establishment of the European Innovation Council (EIC). The goal of the EIC initiative is to put Europe at the forefront of the next wave of breakthrough and disruptive innovation that creates new markets in particular through combinations of the physical and the digital, of products and services, of technologies and business models. In order to support the various pilot activities and to prepare the future EIC, the Commission intends to establish an ‘EIC Pilot Advisory Board’. The Board is expected to consist of 15 to 20 high level experts, from various domains of Europe's innovation ecosystem, who will be appointed in a personal capacity, acting independently and in the public interest. Applications can be submitted until May 10, 2019.

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ACCESS OPPORTUNITIES

RadioNet's Transnational Access programme ensures free of charge access to the best European radio astronomical research infrastructures. This opportunity is open to all European researchers and to some extent to researchers from non-EU countries. More

APEX Call for proposals

APEX, the Atacama Pathfinder EXperiment, is a 12 m diameter submillimetre telescope at 5100 m altitude on Llano Chajnantor in Chile. The telescope is operated by the Onsala Space Observatory, the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR), and the European Southern Observatory (ESO).

This Call for proposals is for Swedish time on APEX in the period of July – October 2019. It is expected that Swedish observations will be carried out in early July and mid-October; see the APEX Science schedule.

Deadline: May 10, 2019 

Image © ESO

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JOB OPPORTUNITIES

- AALTO Postdoctoral researcher or Research Fellow in VLBI

Check also EURAXESS

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UPCOMING EVENTS

supported by RadioNet

• Multi-messenger astronomy with SKA precursors and pathfinders, a capacity building workshop on May 12, 2019

• Zooming in on star formation on June 10, 2019

• New Perspectives on Galactic Magnetism on June 10, 2019

• Astrochemistry: From Micrometers to Megaparsecs on June 24, 2019

• EWASS 2019 on June 24, 2019

• EVN TOG meeting on June 26, 2019

• A centenary of astrophysical jets: observation, theory and future prospects on July 23, 2019

Links to these and to other related events are in our Calendar.

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EDITORS:

RadioNet Management
Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie
Auf dem Hügel 69  //  DE 53121 Bonn

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RadioNet has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 730562, and contribution from the partner organisations