Newsletter Issue 7/2019

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.

In July, the plaques have just been installed at a prominent and visible place at the 32-m telescope EVN-Noto (Noto/IT) and at the main quarter of IRAM (Grenoble/FR), which is visited by most of the observers for the data reduction (pictures from the top to the bottom left). The APEX plaque was installed on the telescope site at 5000m altitude next to the control room container, so it can be seen by all visitors to the site (right).

Images © T. Venturi (INAF), K. Zacher (IRAM), L. A. Nyman (OSO)

RadioNet co-sponsored the LOFAR Science 2019, 20-23 May 2019 in Leiden

New Perspectives on Galactic Magnetism

More than 60 participants attended the conference on “New Perspectives on Galactic Magnetism” in Newcastle, United Kingdom on June 10-14, 2019. Science working groups from the RadioNet institutions and projects using RadioNet infrastructures have been formed to study astrophysical magnetic fields using the broadband polarization capabilities of the new generation of radio telescopes (e.g. the LOFAR Magnetism Key Science Project). The event maximised the scientific output of these and of other projects. The conference provided a platform to facilitate effective communication between observers, theorists and simulators to foster new collaborations and advance our field in new directions. This event received RadioNet support.

Image© A. Fletcher

Zooming in on star formation

The prime event in the field of star formation in 2019 took place in Nafplio, Greece on June 10-14, hosting 118 participants. Among some of the most debated issues were: the origin and universality of the stellar initial mass function and its connection to the mass function of dense cores in molecular clouds, the formation, evolution, and characteristics of protostellar disks, and origin of turbulent motions in the interstellar medium and in molecular clouds.

The European and international radio astronomy community using the RadioNet facilities (IRAM-30m, NOEMA, APEX, Effelsberg) along with other facilities such as ALMA and the VLA, is playing a pivotal role in regard of the key debate subjects. This conference received support from RadioNet and brought together experts in the field of star formation (radio and optical astronomers as well as theorists) in order to present their newest results and to draft new directions.

Image© Dr. D. Polychroni

RadioNet@EWASS2019

The European Week of Astronomy and Space Science (EWASS, formerly JENAM) took place in Lyon, France, June 24-28, 2019. It was attended by more than 1000 astrophysicists from Europe and even beyond.

RadioNet as in the years before was a proud sponsor of the EWASS2019. The RadioNet manager Dr. Izabela Rottmann has been invited to the Special Session SS38 European Forum of Astronomical Communities and gave a talk on the RadioNet impact on radio astronomy in Europe addressing the free of charge access to the world-class European radio infrastructures, user support, technical developments, and the scientific and technological impact of RadioNet on European radio astronomy. More

Astrochemistry from nanometres to megaparsecs

This cross disciplinary event took place in Gothenburg, Sweden, June 24-28, 2019, It brought together 75 observers, theorists, laboratory chemists/physicists, and spectroscopists.

This RadioNet-supported symposium highlighted the fundamental connection between the theory of microscopic processes studied on Earth and the understanding of phenomena in a wide range of space environments. The development of astrochemistry is due to growing inventory of molecular species in many types of environments, enabled by the increasing capabilities at RadioNet facilities.

Image © S. König, Chalmers

SKA Headquarters officially opened

On July 10, 2019 the official inauguration of the global headquarters of the SKA, the largest radio telescope, took place. The SKA Headquarters is the home of a new intergovernmental organization created to facilitate global collaboration in radio astronomy. The Headquarters is located at Jodrell Bank Observatory in the UK, recently awarded with UNESCO World Heritage status. The £16.5 million new SKA GHQ was funded by the UK Government’s Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (£9.8M) via UKRI, the University of Manchester (£5.7M) and Cheshire East Council (£1M). The opening ceremony was attended by 200 international guests and dignitaries and was followed online. Prof. Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell delivered the commemorative lecture. More in the SKA press release.

Image © RadioNet

POLICY NEWS

Online Consultation to Horizon Europe

The European Commission is preparing the next EU research and innovation programme – Horizon Europe. The EC invites everybody to participate in the online consultation to give input, which will help identifying impacts, spark debates and new ideas. The suggested budget for infrastructures remains at €2.4 bn.

The consultation is open to anyone with an interest in future EU research and innovation priorities, anywhere in the world, to participate and it will close on September 8, 2019.

The EIC Advisory Board appointed

The European Commission has advertised 22 exceptional innovators to the European Innovation Council (EIC) Board, which will provide strategic leadership to the EC. The EIC members are experts from entrepreneurship, venture capital, science and technology. The EIC has been introduced to turn science into new business and accelerate the scale-up of innovative companies. This is a novelty under Horizon Europe and will become a full-fledged reality from 2021 with a proposed € 10 billion budget.

Final Work Programme for H2020 published

The European Commission today announced how it will spend the last and biggest annual tranche - €11 billion - of the EU research and innovation funding programme Horizon 2020 in the final year of the programme. The upcoming calls will also address European research infrastructures for starting and advanced communities, including e-Infrastructures. The EC plans to invest 15M€ for research Infrastructures for advanced optical/IR and radio astronomy. The goal is to provide integrated access to the key research infrastructures in Europe for optical/infrared astronomy and advanced radio astronomy (including Very Long Baseline), and also to improve the services (including on-line services) of Interferometry. Find the Work Programme 2018-2020 for European research infrastructures here.

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

JOB OPPORTUNITIES

- OSO - Postdoctoral position in Luminous infrared galaxies and galaxy evolution

- UMAN - Research Associate in Data Processing for Radio Astronomy

Check also EURAXESS

UPCOMING EVENTS

supported by RadioNet

• YERAC 2019 on August 25, 2019 - Dublin/IR

• 9th IRAM 30m Summer School on September 6, 2019 - Pradollano/ES

• The 3C Radio Sky: Legacy of the Third Cambridge Catalogue on September 15, 2019 - Turin/IT

• Phased Array Feed Workshop on September 16, 2019 - Bad Honnef/DE

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

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