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Newsletter Issue 05/2020

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                  Stay healthy and safe!

Coronavirus COVID-19

Operation of the RadioNet office, the RadioNet partners and collaborators (SKA, ALMA) is slowly recovering. Most of the telescopes are operational. However, the visits and events are still affected by the travel restrictions. Please follow the links to the events and to our calendar:

• 15th European VLBI Network Symposium and User´s meeting -  6-10.7.20 => 12-16.7.2021

• 43rd COSPAR Scientific Assembly - 15-23.8.2020 => 2-3.2.2021

• 50th YERAC - 18-21.8.2020 => summer 2021

• CASPER 2020 September 2020 => September 2021

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15th EVN Symposium and Users Meeting in Cork: New date July 12-16, 2021

15th EVN Symposium and Users Meeting in Cork postponed to 2021

The 15th European VLBI Network (EVN) Symposium and the EVN Users Meeting: Providing the Sharpest View of the Universe originally planned for July 6-10, 2020, has been postponed to July 12-16, 2021. The symposium will be hosted by University College Cork/IRL on behalf of the EVN Consortium Board of Directors. The meeting registration has been closed, but will be opened again later this year. More

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50th YERAC postponed until Summer 2021

50th YERAC postponed until Summer 2021

The 50th edition of the Young European Radio Astronomers Conference (YERAC) has been postponed until the summer of 2021. The YERAC is a real opportunity for undergraduate, graduate and young post-doctoral students to meet together, present their work, tap into different radio astronomical subjects, and discuss research done by others. More information here.

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Synthesis Imaging Workshop  - virtual

The Synthesis Imaging Workshop, in its 17th year running, goes virtual for the first time! It will be held on 29 June – 17 July 2020 and will be broadcast from NRAO, Socorro, New Mexico. The workshop will comprise of lectures on aperture synthesis theory and techniques, a set of practical tutorials demonstrating data collection, calibration, and imaging of various types of data, including new data from the Jansky VLA, ALMA and the VLBA, and extensive discussion sessions between participants and the lecturers. The workshop will be delivered at a level appropriate for graduate students in astrophysics. More.

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Public statement on the status of the SKA project

Public statement on the status of the SKA project

Read a statement on the status of the SKA Project, written by the SKA DG Prof. Phil Diamond to provide an update to the community on the continued progress of the project throughout the pandemic. Read more.

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POLICY NEWS

Gender Equality & COVID-19

The European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) published a webpage to raise awareness about some of the gendered impacts that Covid-19 is having on our society. The information draws on EIGE’s existing research and gender statistics to highlight the different realities that women and men could be facing in light of this pandemic.

H2020 projects and COVID-19: FAQ

The EC published in the FAQs section of the Funding & Tenders Opportunities Portal two new articles on the interpretation of the rules of the Grant Agreement of H2020 projects during the COVID-19 crisis:

• Contribution on salaries of researchers for the time they could not work due to the COVID-19 confinement measures;

• How may beneficiaries address potential delays in finalising the action tasks at the last reporting period in order for the consortium to be able to submit the final report and to be paid?

IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY FOR HORIZON EUROPE – ver 1.0

As part of the preparation for the new Framework Programme Horizon Europe, the EC has published on April 30, 2020 the first version of the Implementation Strategy for Horizon Europe. Horizon Europe’s Implementation Strategy provides the framework for carefully designed rules and efficient processes across the entire programme and project life cycle. It outlines how the programme will be managed in practice to achieve its ambitious objectives, the desired impact of the programme and the implementation of the strategy. EC press release here.

Publication of ESFRI White Paper 2020

The strategy paper “MAKING SCIENCE HAPPEN – A new ambition for Research Infrastructures in the European Research Area” was elaborated and adopted by the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI). This document represents the outcomes of the reflection process over the last 15 months of ESFRI, working on its vision of an integrated ecosystem of research infrastructures, enabling the generation of scientific knowledge underpinning the capacity to respond to major societal challenges of the European Research Area (ERA).

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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

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Virtual Access to ALTA

The Westerbork Apertif Long Term Archive (ALTA) is a brand new facility offering 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.

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EVN - Call for Proposals

Observing proposals are invited for the EVN. The EVN is a Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) network of radio telescopes operated by an international consortium of institutes. It is located primarily in Europe and Asia, with additional antennas in South Africa and Puerto Rico. The EVN facility is open to all astronomers. Astronomers with limited or no VLBI experience are particularly encouraged to apply for observing time. Student proposals are judged favorably. More

Deadline: June 1, 2020 (23:59:59 UTC)

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Effelsberg - Call for Proposals

The 100-m radio telescope of the Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie and the data reduction facilities are available to all qualified scientists. The present policy allows the allocation of up to 40% of available observing time to external astronomers. The directors of the institute make observing time available to applicants based on the recommendations of the Program Committee for Effelsberg (PKE), which judges the scientific merit (and technical feasibility) of the observing proposals. More

Deadline: June 3, 2020 (15:00 UT)

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JOB OPPORTUNITIES

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UPCOMING EVENTS

supported by RadioNet

• LOFAR POLARIZATION BUSY DAYS – virtual meeting on June 24, 2020

• CESRA2020 Summer School – Prague/CZ - August 24, 2020

• New Trends in Radio Astronomy Instrumentation - virtual or Bonn/DE - September 21, 2020

• CASA-VLBI workshop – Dwingeloo/NL - November 2, 2020

• ADASS2020 – Granada/ES - November 8, 2020

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