MIST/UKSP Business Lunch (Monday 19th July)
John Coxon, Sarah Matthews
The UKSP-MIST business lunch is a meeting of the UK Solar Physics and Magnetosphere Ionosphere Solar Terrestrial communities. The business lunch will include reports from the UKSP and MIST Councils, and representatives of STFC will be present to discuss issues raised by members of both communities. Brief updates on potential future missions may also be provided followed by a discussion of our future plans.
New approaches to astronomy and geophysics education and outreach (Monday & Tuesday 19-20th July)
Joanne Pledger, Sheila Kanani, Paul Roche, Becky Parker
Astronomers and geophysicists are often asked to contribute to education, outreach or engagement activities in a variety of different environments, but training on how to do these can vary immensely from one institution to another. This session aims to attract teachers and students (both from school and higher education) to allow them to tell us what they want and need, rather than letting the academic research dictate what we can offer.
The session will include a CPD session workshop incorporating a focus group and open discussion about what is really needed in terms of resources, training, information and best practices to achieve the requirements of each particular audience.
We will also offer workshops and hands on sessions to showcase new approaches to astronomy and geophysics education and outreach. This will include areas such as virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR), working with a variety of audiences, working towards equality and diversity, and working with unusual groups and in unusual circumstances (e.g. the Covid-19 pandemic).
Academic researchers, outreach professionals, teachers, students and STEM ambassadors are all invited to contribute to this session.
Careers Lunch (Tuesday 20th July)
Robert Massey, Aine O'Brien, Heidi Thiemann
The National Astronomy Meeting attracts a significant number of early career researchers, the majority of whom will move on to roles outside of astronomy and space science. As a service to this group, the RAS has run lunchtime workshops at NAMs in recent years to give constructive advice on different career paths.
The session will emphasise that a move to private industry is as much a success as a position in a university or research facility, and that there are some fantastic opportunities for highly qualified doctoral graduates. Using RAS contacts and related networks, we will invite speakers from different companies, ideally with PhDs in astronomy or space science themselves, as well as an academic early in their career but in a substantive post. With short presentations and plenty of time for discussion, speakers will form a panel to describe their career paths and to give advice to delegates considering similar roles.
Past NAMs have seen a high turnout at this event, with around 150 conference delegates attending the lunch in Lancaster in 2019. An in-person meeting works well for this, but there is no reason to believe we will not see a similar attendance and a high level of engagement in a virtual event. We will promote the event through routes such as the RAS Jobs list, our social media accounts, the RAS Early Career Network, and in collaboration with the Science and Technology Facilities Council, and the UK Space Agency.
In past events we were able to ensure a gender-balanced and diverse panel, and we expect this to be the same in NAM this coming July. The demographic composition of attendees reflects that of typically younger delegates at the conference, so for example has a higher proportion of women than astronomy and space science researchers as a whole.
The fragility of the labour market during and probably in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic makes the need for advice and guidance for early career researchers particularly important. We would therefore welcome the opportunity to give additional support to this cohort.
Our invited speakers are the following four representatives from industry and academia:
Stephanie Kellett
Ophelia Crawford
Craig Brown
Alice Mills
Going green: making astronomy sustainable for future generations (Wednesday 21st July)
Hannah Dalgleish, Manisha Shrestha, Abigail Frost, Heidi Thiemann, Elena González Egea
Goal 13 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals requires urgent action to reverse anthropogenic climate change and mitigate its impacts. If humanity is to survive the climate emergency, we are all obliged to play our part, whether through reducing our own emissions as astronomers or inciting the public to act via our outreach activities.
Building on the momentum of recent years – for which the newly established RAS Sustainability committee is a part – this session aims to bring the necessary dialogue on climate action to NAM for the first time. As shown by Nature Astronomy’s recent climate issue (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-020-01216-9), the average astronomer emits ~24 tonnes of CO_2 per year – more than twice the emissions of the average person in the UK. This is in large part due to frequent flying, and the intensive use of fossil fuels for the operation of telescopes and supercomputers.
Here, we will draw on the experience of astronomers (and other relevant academics/organisations) who have been proactive in sustainability thus far, to see how we as individuals and institutions can reduce the carbon emissions of the UK astronomy community without detriment to our research. There will also be the opportunity to explore ideas for how to incorporate the topic of climate change into our outreach activities from an astronomical perspective – there is no Planet B after all. Together, we can use this session to plan our vision for the future, and determine action. We will ensure that the session is delivered by a balanced and diverse range of speakers.
Large area spectroscopic surveys in the 2030s: the case for the Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer (Wednesday 21st July)
Ruben Sanchez-Janssen, Nic Walton, Aprajita Verma, Graham Murray, Peter Doel, Gavin Dalton
Highly multiplexed, wide-field spectroscopy on a dedicated 10-12m facility has been recognised by communities worldwide as essential to the landscape of astronomical discoveries in the 2030s. The most advanced of such concepts is the Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer (MSE), and the UK is actively involved in its development. We propose a NAM2021 session to bring together the UK Science Team members and all other interested astronomers to discuss the scientific roadmap of MSE, including (but not limited to) synergies with the final data release of Gaia, the Rubin observatory, the SKA, the ELT, and ATHENA. We will also provide an update on UK MSE activities during the upcoming Preliminary Design Phase.
Publishing lunch for authors and referees (Friday 23rd July)
Kim Clube, David Flower
A lunch for early-career researchers looking to publish their research and to review papers. The Editor-in-Chief of MNRAS and MNRAS journal staff will explain how the review process works, how long it takes, and give advice on how to write a good paper, respond to referee reports and complete your first reviewer report. Q&A will be encouraged.
Pro-Am collaborations in support of space missions (Friday 23rd July)
Angelo Tsiaras, Anastasia Kokori, Billy Edwards
Despite the huge progress that has been achieved in increasing the numbers and the sizes of telescopes available to professional astronomers, today, observing systems owed and run by amateur astronomers are far more sophisticated than the past and can contribute significantly to the efforts of different communities. The large number and widespread location of the amateur systems can provide a valuable source of data, reducing the pressure on larger facilities. One of the areas of research where amateurs are contributing with high quality measurements is planetary sciences and, in particular, solar system bodies and exoplanets.
In this session, we will showcase projects that are built on the collaboration between amateur and professional astronomers, with the interest of supporting space missions. The limited lifetime of such missions makes the contribution from amateur astronomers even more important, as timing and availability of observations become very critical factors. Through the presentations we would like to spread the lessons learnt from previous experiences, to raise any issues identified and to initiate a community-wide discussion on the necessary steps towards opening the scientific research to a much wider audience.
Webb UK - connecting communities for engagement (Friday 23rd July)
Olivia Johnson, Stephen Wilkins, Olivia Jones
This year's launch, commissioning and early science of the James Webb Space Telescope offer a powerful springboard for public engagement with astronomy in the UK. There is already keen public interest in the telescope and its science goals, and the mission can provide an inspiring context for curriculum-based learning and exploration of STEM careers within schools. People at dozens of organisations across the UK have helped to make Webb and will use it for early science, making it a local story for communities across the country.
To make the most of this opportunity, partnerships and networks have formed over the past three years to develop and deliver public engagement and education projects which aim to inspire and involve schools and public audiences with Webb. Many of these projects concurrently seek to prioritise traditionally underserved audiences and promote best practice for inclusion. Reaching over 115,000 people to date, projects have drawn on the shared expertise of engineers and scientists, students and educators, science engagement professionals, and community groups.
This session aims to strengthen links between the Webb research community and the broader communities involved in Webb-related public engagement and education in the run-up to launch. A key purpose is to give early Webb observers the opportunity to connect with educators and engagement specialists already providing meaningful engagement with the mission, and vice versa. The session will include a mission status update and structured networking and will invite contributions from:
• Academics involved in Webb research areas who are interested in engaging the public or schools with their work
• Teachers, students and/or education specialists engaging with Webb science and engineering within schools
• Science engagement professionals and others engaging public audiences with the Webb mission