MIST

Magnetosphere, Ionosphere and Solar-Terrestrial

Latest news

RAS Awards

The Royal Astronomical Society announced their award recipients last week, and MIST Council would like to congratulate all that received an award. In particular, we would like to highlight the following members of the MIST Community, whose work has been recognised:
  • Professor Nick Achilleos (University College London) - Chapman Medal
  • Dr Oliver Allanson (University of Birmingham) - Fowler Award
  • Dr Ravindra Desai (University of Warwick) - Winton Award & RAS Higher Education Award
  • Professor Marina Galand (Imperial College London) - James Dungey Lecture

New MIST Council 2021-

There have been some recent ingoings and outgoings at MIST Council - please see below our current composition!:

  • Oliver Allanson, Exeter (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), to 2024 -- Chair
  • Beatriz Sánchez-Cano, Leicester (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), to 2024
  • Mathew Owens, Reading (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), to 2023
  • Jasmine Sandhu, Northumbria (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), to 2023 -- Vice-Chair
  • Maria-Theresia Walach, Lancaster (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), to 2022
  • Sarah Badman, Lancaster (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), to 2022
    (co-opted in 2021 in lieu of outgoing councillor Greg Hunt)

Charter amendment and MIST Council elections open

Nominations for MIST Council open today and run through to 8 August 2021! Please feel free to put yourself forward for election – the voting will open shortly after the deadline and run through to the end of August. The positions available are:

  • 2 members of MIST Council
  • 1 student representative (pending the amendment below passing)

Please email nominations to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by 8 August 2021. Thank you!

Charter amendment

We also move to amend the following articles of the MIST Charter as demonstrated below. Bold type indicates additions and struck text indicates deletions. Please respond to the email on the MIST mailing list before 8 August 2021 if you would like to object to the amendment; MIST Charter provides that it will pass if less than 10% of the mailing list opposes its passing. 

4.1  MIST council is the collective term for the officers of MIST and consists of six individuals and one student representative from the MIST community.

5.1 Members of MIST council serve terms of three years, except for the student representative who serves a term of one year.

5.2 Elections will be announced at the Spring MIST meeting and voting must begin within two months of the Spring MIST meeting. Two slots on MIST council will be open in a given normal election year, alongside the student representative.

5.10 Candidates for student representative must not have submitted their PhD thesis at the time that nominations close.

SSAP roadmap update

The STFC Solar System Advisory Panel (SSAP) is undertaking a review of the "Roadmap for Solar System Research", to be presented to STFC Science Board later this year. This is expected to be a substantial update of the Roadmap, as the last full review was carried out in 2012, with a light-touch update in 2015.

The current version of the SSAP Roadmap can be found here.

In carrying out this review, we will take into account changes in the international landscape, and advances in instrumentation, technology, theory, and modelling work. 

As such, we solicit your input and comments on the existing roadmap and any material we should consider in this revision. This consultation will close on Wednesday 14 July 2021 and SSAP will try to give a preliminary assessment of findings at NAM.

This consultation is seeking the view of all members of our community and we particularly encourage early career researchers to respond. Specifically, we invite:

Comments and input on the current "Roadmap for Solar System Research" via the survey by clicking here.

Short "white papers" on science investigations (including space missions, ground-based experimental facilities, or computing infrastructure) and impact and knowledge exchange (e.g. societal and community impact, technology development). Please use the pro-forma sent to the MIST mailing list and send your response to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Quo vadis interim board

 

A white paper called "Quo vadis, European space weather community" has been published in J. Space Weather Space Clim. which outlines plans for the creation of an organisation to represent the European space weather community.
Since it was published, an online event of the same name was organised on 17 March 2021. A “Quo Vadis Interim Board” was then set up, to establish a mechanism for this discussion, which will go on until June 21st.

The Interim Board is composed of volunteers from the community in Europe. Its role is to coordinate the efforts so that the space weather (and including space climate) European community can:

  1. Organise itself
  2. Elect people to represent them

To reach this goal, the Interim Board is inviting anyone interested in and outside Europe to join the “Quo Vadis European Space Weather Community ” discussion forum.

Eligible European Space Weather Community members should register to the “Electoral Census” to be able to vote in June for the final choice of organisation.

This effort will be achieved through different actions indicated on the Quo Vadis webpage and special Slack workspace.

Previous award winners

This table is a list of those MIST physicists who have won awards in the field since 2006. If any names or accolades are omitted, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Year Institution Award Winner
 2023 International Space Science Institute  Johannes Geiss Fellow  Sandra Chapman 
2023 Royal Astronomical Society Chapman Medal Nicholas Achilleos
Fowler Award Oliver Allanson
Winton Award Ravindra Desai
James Dungey Lecture Marina Galand
Higher Education Award Ravindra Desai
2022 British Science Association British Science Association Award Maria-Theresia Walach
2022 Institute of Physics Henry Moseley Medal William Dunn
 2022 Royal Astronomical Society   Gold Medal Richard Horne 
Chapman Medal Sandra Chapman
Service Award Farideh Honary
Fowler Award Beatriz Sánchez-Cano
James Dungey Lecture Licia Ray
2022 European Geosciences Union David Bates Medal Emma Bunce
Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award  Greg Hunt
2021 European Geosciences Union Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award William Dunn

2021

Royal Astronomical Society Caroline Herschel Lectureship Jennifer Carter
Winton Award Julia Stawarz
2020 American Geophysical Union Ed Lorenz Lectureship Sandra Chapman
2020 European Space Weather Week Kristian Birkeland Medal Richard Horne
2020 L'Oréal-UNESCO Women In Science Rising Talents UK & Ireland Award Jennifer Carter
2020 International Union of Radio Science Appleton Prize Richard Horne
2020   Royal Astronomical Society   Chapman Medal Cathryn Mitchell
Group Achievement Award The STEREO Heliospheric Imager Team
Service Award Kim Burchell
2020 European Geosciences Union Arne Richter Award for Outstanding Early Career Scientists Beatriz Sánchez-Cano
2019 Royal Astronomical Society Gold Award Margaret Kivelson
    Chapman Medal Tom Stallard
    Group Achievement Award The Cluster Science and Operations Team
    James Dungey Lectureship Mark Clilverd
2019 Institute of Physics Edward Appleton Medal Cathryn Mitchell
2018 American Geophysical Union  Basu U.S. Early Career Award for Research Excellence Julia Stawarz
  European Space Weather Week Baron Marcel Nicolet Medal Hermann Opgenoorth
  Institute of Physics Richard Glazebrook Medal Michele Dougherty
  Royal Astronomical Society Chapman Medal Emma Bunce
    Service Award Matt Taylor
    James Dungey Lectureship James Wild
2017 Institute of Physics Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin Medal Steven Schwartz
  Royal Astronomical Society Gold Medal Michele Dougherty
    Chapman Medal Mervyn Freeman
    Price Medal Richard Holme
    Fowler Prize Christopher Chen
    Winton Capital Award Zhonghua Yao
    Group Achievement Award The Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN)
    Service Award Richard Harrison
    James Dungey Lectureship Christopher Owen
2016 European Space Weather Week Baron Marcel Nicolet Medal Mike Hapgood
  Royal Astronomical Society Fowler Prize Sarah Badman
    Group Achievement Award The European Incoherent Scatter Scientific Association (EISCAT)
    James Dungey Lectureship Betty Lanchester
    Keith Runcorn Thesis Prize Rishi Mistry
2015 Royal Astronomical Society Gold Medal Michael Lockwood
2014 Royal Astronomical Society Group Achievement Award The Cassini magnetometer team
    Service Award Mark Lester
2013 Royal Astronomical Society Chapman Medal Stephen Milan
    Service Award Michael Hapgood
2012 European Geosciences Union Julius Bartels Medal Michael Lockwood
  Royal Astronomical Society Chapman Medal Andrew Fazakerley
    Fowler Award Mathew Owens
2011 Royal Astronomical Society Winton Capital Award Leigh Fletcher
2009 Royal Astronomical Society Harold Jeffreys Lectureship Emma Bunce
2007 Institute of Physics Chree Medal Michele Dougherty
2006 European Geosciences Union Julius Bartels Medal Stanley Cowley
  Royal Astronomical Society Fowler Prize Duncan Mackay