News

Notable events in the Solar Theory Group in recent years:

2021

Congratulations to Professor Ineke De Moortel who has been awarded the Royal Astronomical Society 2021 Chapman medal for her seminal work on the nature of waves in the solar atmosphere. Her unique contributions to the topic of coronal waves stand out from the field, resting on her rare combination of both theoretical and observational expertise. Her work has bridged the gap between idealised MHD models and observations, revealing the fundamental properties of coronal oscillations, quantifying their role in heating the solar corona and demonstrating their power as a diagnostic tool.

2020

Congratulations to Alan Hood on winning the Royal Society of Edinburgh Lord Kelvin Medal for his internationally commended work in theoretical and computational solar physics which has helped to enhance understanding of the solar atmosphere. Alan’s award of what is the Senior RSE prize for Physical, Engineering and Informatics Sciences was officially announced today..

2019

The group successfully hosted the 9th Coronal Loops Workshop in St Andrews from 11-14th June 2019, with 80 international participants, 46 contributed and invited talks and 34 posters. Well done to all the local organisers for a vibrant and interested scientific and social porgram!

2018

A warm welcome to Mr Callum Fairbairn and Ms Lianne Fyfe who join the group as PhD students.

Three of our former PhD students have successfully undertaken an oral defence of their thesis: many contratulations to Dr Craig Johnston and Dr Ben Williams, who will remain with the group as postdoctoral research assistants, while Dr Alexei Borissov has already taken up a postdoctoral research position at the University of Edinburgh.

2017

  • We welcome Ms Teri Love, Mr Callan Noble and Mr Alexander Prokopyszyn, who have all joined the group as PhD students.
  • We are pleased to announce that Prof Duncan Mackay will lead an RAS Specialist Discussion Meeting on Friday 10th November 2017 in London, entitled “Solar Orbiter: Synergy Between Theory and Observations”. More details of the meeting can be found here.
  • We congratulate another of our former PhD students, Oliver Allanson, who successfully defended his PhD. Dr Allanson will shortly join the Earth Observation and Space Research Division of the University of Reading.
  • Another warm welcome to the group, this time to Mr Daniel Chambers, who has joined the group as a PhD student, working with Prof Clare Parnell.
  • The group welcomes new PhD students Jack Reid, Henrik-Jan Van Damme and Mats Wallberg into the fold.

2016

  • The group offers a warm welcome to Ms Stephanie Yardley, who joins the group as a postdoctoral fellow from MSSL, working with Dr Duncan Mackay.
  • The group welcomes new PhD students Jack Reid, Henrik-Jan Van Damme and Mats Wallberg into the fold.
  • In addition to attending and presenting pieces of work at the National Astronomy Meeting in Nottingham (which included a plenary talk outlining “Our 21st Century Sun: Coronal Heating Revisited” by our very own Ineke de Moortel), members of the group shocked the astronomy community by clinching the prestigious football tournament trophy at the conference. The team, including friends from the Universities of Warwick and Northumbria, won every game they played despite a punishing training regime of fantastic science and lots of coffee.
  • Congratulations to our very own Jonathan Hodgson, who has successfully defended his Phd thesis, entitled “On the theory of symmetric MHD equilibria with anisotropic pressure”. Dr Hodgson will remain with the group as a postdoctoral research assistant.
  • The group offers a warm welcome to Petros Syntelis, who joins the group as a postdoctoral fellow from the University of Athens, working on Magnetic Flux Emergence with Dr Vasilis Archontis.
  • Congratulations to our very own Jenny O’Hara, who has successfully defended her Phd thesis, entitled “Numerical Simulations of Footpoint Driven Coronal Heating”. Jenny intends to continue as a postdoctoral researcher within the group.
  • Congratulations to our very own Tom Elsden, who has successfully defended his Phd thesis, entitled “Numerical Modelling of Ultra Low Frequency Waves in Earth’s Magnetosphere”. Tom will continue as a postdoctoral researcher within the group, working with Dr Andrew Wright on low frequency magnetospheric waves.
  • Welcome to Dr Patrick Antolin who has joined the group as a Research Fellow, and who will be working with Prof. Ineke De Moortel on modelling and wave observations in the solar corona.

2015

  • Welcome to Marian Lazar who joined the group for three months as a Postdoctoral Research Assistant.
  • Welcome to Erin Goldstraw and Tom Howson who have joined the group as PhD students.
  • Congratulations to Dr Gordon Gibb on being awarded a PhD for his work on the temporal evolution of magnetic field structures within the solar atmosphere. Gordon now joins the group as a postdoctoral research assistant.
  • Congratulations to Dr Julie Stevenson on being awarded a PhD for her work on separator reconnection. Julie has now joined the group as a postdoctoral research assistant.
  • Welcome to Dr Thomas Conlon who has joined the group as a postdoc. He will be working with Prof. Ineke De Moortel on wave observations in the solar corona.
  • Congratulations to Prof. Alan Hood on being awarded the 2015 Chapman Medal from the Royal Astronomical Society. The Chapman Medal is awarded for single investigations of outstanding merit in solar-terrestrial physics, geomagnetism and aeronomy.
  • Prof. Alan Hood organised an RAS discussion meeting “The dynamical chromosphere and its role in energy transfer through the solar atmosphere: Results from IRIS” on the 9th January.

2014

  • Welcome to Alexei Borissov, Craig Johnston and Ben Williams who have joined the group as PhD students.
  • Welcome to two summer students: Craig McNeill, who will working with Prof. Alan Hood on the rotation of sunspots, and Noelle Goh who will be working with Dr James Threlfall and Prof. Thomas Neukirch on the relativistic motion of particles in electromagnetic fields.
  • Congratulations to Dr Greg Kiddie on being awarded a PhD for his work on propagating disturbances in coronal loops.
  • Congratulations to Dr Kuan Tam on being awarded a PhD for his work on the energy release associated with collections
    of kink-unstable coronal loops.
  • Congratulations to Dr Solmaz Oskoui on being awarded a PhD for her work on particle acceleration in collapsing magnetic traps.
  • Welcome to Dr Stan Gunár who has joined the group as a postdoc. He will be working with Dr Duncan Mackay on quiescent prominences and radiative transfer.
  • Ineke De Moortel presented the Lord Kelvin Award Lecture with a talk entitled “Our Dynamical Sun: A 21st Century View” at the British Science Festival in Birmingham which took place from the 6th to the 11th September.

2013

2012

2011

  • Welcome to Michael Bareford who has joined the group as a postdoc having completed his PhD at Manchester University. He will be working with Prof. Alan Hood on aspects of coronal heating.
  • Congratulations to Clare Parnell on her recent promotion to Professor.
  • Welcome to Gordon Gibb, Julie Stevenson and Sarah Platten who have joined the group this year as a PhD students.
  • Welcome to our new postdoc Dr Paolo Pagano who is working with Duncan Mackay as part of the EU funded SWIFF project. Also welcome to Dr Ian Whittaker who is the groups new observational prostdoc.
  • Congratulations to Drs Anna Lisa Restante , Ruth Bowness and Cicely Macnamara who have all passed their PhD vivas. Dr Anna Lisa Restante has left and taken up a postdoc at K.U. Leuven, Dr Ruth Bowness is teaching a private secondary school in England and Dr Cicely Macnamara is currently working in St Andrews for ELT.
  • Congratulations to Drs Lynsey Thornton, Jorge Fuentes Fernandez and Graeme Cook who have all passed their PhD vivas. Dr Lynsey Thornton has left to work for the consultancy firm Business and Decision in Edinburgh, Dr Jorge Fuentes Fernandez has started as a postdoc with the group and Dr Graeme Cook is undertaking a teacher training course.

2010

  • Congratulations to Dr Nasser Al Salti on his successful defence of his PhD thesis.
    Nasser has a lectureship at Sultan Qaboos University in Muscat, Oman.
  • Congratulations to Drs Alex Russell and David MacTaggart who have both just passed their PhD vivas. Dr Alex Russell has a Fellowship from the Royal Commission of 1851 which he will be taking up at Glasgow University, whilst Dr David MacTaggart has a postdoctoral position at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen. We wish them well in their postdoctoral careers.
  • Welcome also to Greg Kiddie who has joined the group as a PhD student.
  • Welcome to Solmaz Oskoui who has joined the group as a PhD student.
  • Congratulations to Alex Russell on gaining a Fellowship from the Royal Commission of 1851. He will be holding his Fellowship at Glasgow University.
  • Clare Parnell and Thomas Neukirch held the 7th International Cambridge Workshop on Magnetic Reconnection from 16th-20th August 2010.
  • Alan Hood, Ineke De Moortel and Stephane Regnier organised the BUKS2010 conference on Waves from 9th-11th June 2010.
  • Congratulations to Bernard Roberts who has been awarded the 2010 RAS Chapman Medal for investigations of outstanding merit in solar-terrestrial physics.
  • Congratulations to Ineke De Moortel on being awarded the 2010 RAS Fowler award in Geophysics which is given to researchers who have made a particularly noteworthy contribution to geophysical sciences at an early stage in their career.
  • Clare Parnell, Ineke De Moortel, Alan Hood and Stephane Regnier organised the 4th Solaire Postgraduate School on Solar MHD, Magnetic Reconnection, Flares and CMEs which was held on 11th-14th January 2010.

2009

  • Welcome to our new PhD student Kuan Vai Tam and Mag Selwa a new Solaire European Network funded postdoc.
  • Congratulations to Ineke De Moortel on being awarded a Phillip Leverhulme Prize in Astronomy and Astrophysics.
  • Ineke De Moortel, Alan Hood and Clare Parnell are organising an RAS Discussion Meeting: “Solar Magnetic Fields And The Dynamic Sun: Celebrating the Career of Prof E.R. Priest” on 13th November 2009 in London. If you’d like to submit an abstract please follow this link
  • Congratulations to Duncan Mackay on being promoted to Reader.
  • This years Edinburgh International Science Festival will be held from 6th to 18th April. If you are interested in learning more about the Sun, its effects on the Earth and Space Travel then come along to Edinburgh Zoo on Saturday 18th April at 11am or 2pm where Clare Parnell and Ineke De Moortel will be revealing amazing facts about the Sun.
  • Congratulations to Eric Priest on being awarded the RAS Gold Medal for Geophysics He is honoured in recognition of both his distinguished research work and his key role in nurturing future generations of scientists.

2008

  • Welcome to all our new PhD students! Jorge Fuentes Fernandez and Aimilia Smyrli, who are both funded by the Solaire European Network, are both in the second year of their PhDs and are joining us from Budapest and Catania, respectively. We also welcome three new students who are just starting their PhDs this September: Karen Meyer, James Threlfall and Fiona Wilson. Welcome also to Dr Craig Stark who has recently joined the group as our new Magnetospheric postdoc.
  • The 5th Magnetic Tracking Workshop was held in St Andrews from the 1st-5th September organised by Clare Parnell.
  • Congratulations to Clare Parnell and Ineke De Moortel on being promoted to Reader.

2007

  • Congratulations to Clare Parnell on being awarded a Leverhulme Prize in Astronomy and Astrophysics.
  • Public Lecture Tour New Horizons: The Sun and its Effects on the Earth and Space Travel. The group are organising a series of lectures across Scotland in aid of International Heliophysical Year. The first of these will take place on Wednesday 14th November in Dundee with the second on Wednesday 28th November in St Andrews. Each evening will consist of three mini lectures suitable for secondary school children and above.
  • Welcome to all our new PhD students! Ruth Carr, Keith Grady, Cicely Macnamara, David MacTaggart, Anna Lisa Restante and Alexander Russell have all just started their PhDs in September 2007.
  • Welcome also to Neil Symington who has recently joined us as the UK MHD Consortium Supercomputer Advisor.
  • This years STFC Advanced Summer School in Solar Physics was held in St Andrews from the 2nd-7th September.
  • Vasilis Archontis and Prof Alan Hood organised a International Flux Emergence Workshop from the 12th-15th June.
  • Congratulations to Prof. Alan Hood on being invited to give the Royal Astronomical Society’s Harold Jeffrey’s Lecture for 2007. Also congratulations to Duncan Mackay on gaining the Royal Astronomical Society’s Fowler Prize for 2007.

2006

  • Clare Parnell and Prof Ineke De Moortel organised an RAS Discussion Meeting on Solar Terrestrial Magnetic Fields and Reconnection on 13th October in London.
  • Welcome to Graeme Cook, Nick Owen and Lynsey Thornton, who have all recently joined the group as PhD students.
  • The group hosted the annual UK MHD meeting from 8th-9th June.
  • Welcome to Vasilis Archontis, who has joined the group as a postdoctoral research assistant and to Peng Fei Chen, who is a long term visitor.
  • Congratulations to Clare Parnell on gaining the Royal Astronomical Society’s Fowler Prize for 2006.

2005

  • Congratulations to our long-term visitor Gunnar Hornig on gaining a lectureship at Dundee University.
  • Congratulations to Duncan Mackay and Ineke De Moortel who have been appointed to lectureships at St Andrews on completion of their fellowships.
  • Welcome to Stephane Regnier who has joined us as a postdoctoral research assistant, to Chris Brady who is the UK MHD consortium’s new computing officer, and to Mike Harrison, Dee McDougall and Anthony Yeates who have all recently started their PhDs with the group.
  • Congratulations and good luck to Daniel Brown on his move to the University of Wales Aberystwyth to take up a lectureship there in the Institute of Mathematical and Physical Sciences.
2004
  • Welcome to Fiona McFarlane, the group’s new secretary, to Antonio Diaz, who has joined us as a postdoctoral research assistant, and to Antonia Wilmot-Smith, Andrew Haynes and Michelle Murray, who have all recently started their PhDs with the group.
  • The group hosted SOHO 15, a major international conference on coronal heating. It took place in September 2004 and was a great success with over 140 delegates attending.
  • Eric Priest ran a 1-month programme on Magnetic Reconnection Theory in Cambridge, August 2004.
2003
  • The group hosted a conference on Magnetic Reconnection and the Dynamic Sun in honour of the 60th birthday of Eric Priest. The meeting took place on 8-10th September 2003.
  • Find out about International Sun-Earth Day and what the Solar Group did.

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