SGAA/SSAA News No 14 – 26/01/2011
_________________________________________________________________________
1. Saas-Fee course 2011: From Planets to Life (3rd announcement)
2. Conference “Assembling the Puzzle of the Milky Way” 18-22 April,
Le Grand-Bornand, France
3. Joint meeting of Swiss and Austrian Physics, Astrophysics & Astronomy
Societies, June 15-17, 2011, in Lausanne
4. Alpbach Summer School, July 2011, “Star Formation across the
Universe”
5. Travel support SSAA – invitation to apply for grants
6. Travel support CSR – invitation to apply for grants
7. Call for “Astronomy Outreach” projects
8. General Assembly 2010 material on the Web
9. Wishes for 2011
_________________________________________________________________________
1. Saas-Fee course 2011: From Planets to Life (3rd announcement)
41st “Saas-Fee Advanced Course” of the SSAA, “From Planets to Life”
3-9 April 2011, Villars-sur-Ollon, Switzerland
This astrobiology course consists of 28 lectures organized in three
parts as follow:
– Astrophysical conditions for development of life
Prof. Jonathan Lunine (University of Arizona)
– Earth geology and climatology history
Prof. James Kasting (Pennsylvania State University)
– Origin and critical steps of life development on Earth
Prof. John Baross (University of Washington)
In addition to the formal course, the setting of this event provides ample
time for informal discussions during the meals and other social events.
We are approaching our maximum hosting capacity, however, we can still
accommodate for about a dozen additional participants.
The regular registration deadline is JANUARY 28th, 2011. After this date
the registration fee will raise from CHF450.- to CHF500.-.
Please visit http://www.isdc.unige.ch/sf2011/ for more information.
Pierre Dubath (ISDC), for the organizing committee
_________________________________________________________________________
2. Conference “Assembling the Puzzle of the Milky Way” 18-22 April,
Le Grand-Bornand, France
The conference “Assembling the Puzzle of the Milky Way” will take
place in Le Grand-Bornand, France (near Geneva) 18-22 April 2011.
The topics of this conference span a wide range from the Halo of the
Milky Way, the thin and the thick disc, the galactic Bulge, star
formation and interstellar medium and will cover also large scale
and/or dedicated observations of our Galaxy as well as different
approaches of Galaxy models. This meeting will be a starting point
to assemble the international community already preparing and
required for the exploitation of the Gaia data.
The registration is now opened. For more information see
http://mw2011.obs-besancon.fr
Céline Reylé, on behalf of the SOC
_________________________________________________________________________
3. Joint meeting of Swiss and Austrian Physics, Astrophysics & Astronomy
Societies, June 15-17, 2011, in Lausanne
A joint meeting of the Swiss Physical Society, the Austrian Physical
Society, the Austrian Society for Astronomy and Astrophysics, and the
SSAA will take place June 15-17, 2011 at the EPFL in Lausanne.
The program consists of plenary speeches, topical sessions, and additional
events. A special session on “Computational Astrophysics” will be held
Friday, 17 June. We look forward to see many of you there!
For more information consult the meeting website:
http://www.sps.ch/en/events/gemeinsame_jahrestagung_2011/
Submission deadline for abstracts: march 15, 2011
Registration deadline: June 1, 2011
Daniel Schaerer (for the SSAA)
_________________________________________________________________________
4. 2011 Alpbach Summer School, “Star Formation across the Universe”
The 2011 Alpbach Summer School, co-organised by ESA, ISSI and other
institutions, will be held July 19-28, 2011 in Alpbach/Tyrol, Austria on
“Star Formation across the Universe”.
For more information consult
http://www.summerschoolalpbach.at/
Some grants are available from the CSR for Swiss students (see below).
Registration deadline: march 31, 2011
Daniel Schaerer (for the Programme Committee)
_________________________________________________________________________
5. Travel support SSAA – invitation to apply for grants
In 2011 the SSAA (Swiss Society for Astrophysics and Astronomy) will
have some money from the sc|nat available for travel grants.
The SSAA now invites applicants to apply until February 25, 2011
to daniel.schaerer∂unige.ch (Daniel Schaerer, Observatoire de Geneve).
The request should provide the date, place, and the reason for the
travel, as well as the cost to be covered by the SSAA. There are two
types of travel grants:
(a) international collaboration (CHF 6000.-)
Travel money for international collaboration is preferentially given for
travels to meetings where Swiss participation is considered to be
useful, for visits at other institutions (for research projects), and
observing runs. The person should be a SGAA member and an active
researcher in astrophysics.
(b) support for young scientists (CHF 5000.-)
Travel money for young scientists is given preferentially to Ph.D.
students but also young Post-Docs, whereby the money may be used for
observing runs, visits to other institutions, conferences, research
schools etc. In the application it should be clarified in a few words
why this travel is important for the research project of the applicant.
Particularly encouraged to apply are young researchers who are in a
situation where it is not so easy to get the money from other
institutions.
_________________________________________________________________________
6. Travel support CSR – invitation to apply for grants
The sc|nat Committee on Space Research (CSR) invites at this time only
applications for support of students to attend the Alpbach school.
Later this year, there will be also a call for CSR grant application
for space science related travels in general.
The 2011 Alpbach Summer School will focus on
“Star Formation across the Universe”.
See http://www.summerschoolalpbach.at/
Students are requested to submit their Alpbach applications online on
the Alpbach website until March 31, 2011. The CSR then receives the
names of the Swiss students and communicates end of April the amount of
CSR support for each student.
_________________________________________________________________________
7. Call for “Astronomy Outreach” projects
In 2011, the SSAA offers financial support of up to 9000 CHF for
projects on Astronomy Outreach.
Funding is possible for diverse outreach projects, including support for
exhibitions, the preparation of material for schools, the organisation
of events, and alike.
SSAA members, researchers from the Swiss astronomical institutes,
or institutional members can apply. Projects will be funded on a
competitive basis.
Please send a brief project description and your budget request
to daniel.schaerer∂unige.ch.
The deadline for the call is: March 31, 2011.
Requests may also be supported outside this call, if funding permits.
_________________________________________________________________________
8. General Assembly 2010 material on the Web
The Minutes of the 2010 General Assembly of the SSAA, held 22 Oct 2010
in Bern, as well as all the usual reports and presentations are
available on the SSAA website:
http://obswww.unige.ch/SSAA/index.php?page=assemblee-2010&hl=eng
_________________________________________________________________________
9. Wishes for 2011
The SSAA committee wishes you a happy and fruitful new year 2011!
We hope that many of you will participate at the upcoming “events”,
such as the Saas-Fee course, the joint meeting with Swiss and Austrian
physicists and astronomers, and others.
We also encourage you to provide your inputs to this mailing list, and
to contact us for any suggestions on matters concerning the SSAA and
all your Swiss colleagues.
Daniel Schaerer, Michael Meyer, Thomas Schildknecht, Werner Schmutz
_________________________________________________________________________
We encourage you to provide your inputs to this mailing list, and to
contact us for any suggestions on matters concerning the SSAA and all
Swiss astronomers/astrophysicists.
SGAA/SSAA—-SGAA/SSAA—-SGAA/SSAA—-SGAA/SSAA—-SGAA/SSAA
For more information concerning the SGAA/SSAA, astronomy in
Switzerland, and related topics visit our Website
http://obswww.unige.ch/ssaa.
For any information and messages to be circulated via the
SGAA/SSAA mailing list please e-mail your text to the secretary
(thomas.schildknechtATaiub.unibe.ch) in plain ASCII. Thank you !
SGAA/SSAA—-SGAA/SSAA—-SGAA/SSAA—-SGAA/SSAA—-SGAA/SSAA