Professor Sandra Chapman has been awarded the 2023 Johannes Geiss Fellowship of the International Space Science Institute.

The International Space Science Institute at Bern, Switzerland is an Institute of Advanced Study where scientists from all over the world meet in a multi- and interdisciplinary setting to reach out for new scientific horizons. The main function is to contribute to the achievement of a deeper understanding of the results from different space missions, ground based observations and laboratory experiments.

Chapman's research at ISSI during the fellowship will focus on the fundamental physics of plasma turbulence with particular emphasis on recently launched missions - NASA's Parker Solar Probe and ESA'a Solar Orbiter - which will explore the sun's expanding atmosphere- the solar wind - close to the sun, to within the orbit of Mercury, for the first time. Plasma turbulence may provide the answer to one of the outstanding mysteries of the solar system, how the solar wind is heated and accelerated.

One Johannes Geiss Fellowship is awarded each year. The fellowship is named for the founder of ISSI, a distinguished space plasma physicist who pioneered interdisciplinarity.   

The 1st issue of the "Poincare" magazine, written by a team of Maths & Physics UG students, has recently been printed and is now also available online. A wide variety of articles has been included, from knots and topology to an introduction to quantum electrodynamics. Several pages of puzzles and problems are also scattered throughout, including a set of chess puzzles, and a cryptographic cipher for readers to crack.

We are proud to announce our Athena SWAN Silver Award has been renewed for another five years. We would like to thank everyone who has helped with the progress we have made advancing gender equality in the department, with our Women in Physics group highlighted as an example of good practice.

Read our submission.

We would like to congratulate all of our new undergraduate and postgraduate students who are due to join us this academic year, as well as welcoming back all of our returning students. We are also looking forward to welcoming our new members of staff that will be joining us throughout the year.