• Unix and unix-like operating systems
• Python
• Virtual observatory tools
• Databases and SQL
• TOPCAT and PyRAF
• MPI Programming and HPC

The summer school is open to all advanced undergraduate, honours and PhD students as well as active Astronomy and Astrophysics researchers within Australia and New Zealand. However, numbers are limited and so when allocating spaces priority will be given to students. There is a 110 AUD fee to attend the school for salaried researchers, which is waived for students.

The closing date for registration is 15th January 2013. For details and registration see the workshop website.
http://www.smp.uq.edu.au/anitaworkshop2013/

Professor Lawrence Krauss has been invited, and will be giving the opening address. All other talks will be contributed by the attendees, with 15-20 minutes given for each. Talks will be allotted by the organisers, with preference given to students and those that request talks early.

The closing date for registration is 15th January 2013. For details and registration see the workshop website
http://www.smp.uq.edu.au/anitaworkshop2013/

ASA/ANITA Astroinformatics summer school

The ANITA meeting will be preceded by a 3 day astroinformatics summer school, from the 18th-20th Feb. (This is the inverse of the usual arrangement, where the school had previously followed the Workshop). The school with cover techniques and resources for use in astrophysics. Topics covered will be similar to the last school, which included:

• Unix and unix-like operating systems
• Python
• Virtual observatory tools
• Databases and SQL
• TOPCAT and PyRAF
• MPI Programming and HPC

The summer school is open to all advanced undergraduate, honours and PhD students as well as active Astronomy and Astrophysics researchers within Australia and New Zealand. However, numbers are limited and so when allocating spaces priority will be given to students. Registration and website will be available soon.

Looking foward to seeing you there.

On behalf of the SOC
(Tamara Davis, David Parkinson, Holger Baumgardt and Signe Reimer-Sorensen)
and the ANITA steering committee

For further details please see:
http://astronomyaustralia.org.au/astac.html

This Strategic Plan makes the following key recommendations to the astronomy theory community as we move towards the next Astronomy Decadal Plan.

• Priority 1: The theory community should pursue the development of a named Theory Postdoctoral Fellowship program to attract the best and brightest young international theorists to Australian shores, and retain the best already in Australia.
• Priority 2: The theory community should explore building a National Centre for Theoretical Astrophysics, which could be a virtual institute comprised of numerous distributed theory groups from around the nation, and sharing many common resources and funding.
• Priority 3: The theory community should work to increase active linkages with the observational community on projects of common interest, especially those that enhance theory’s influence in priority areas of Australian science.

In addition, we also recommend the following:

• ANITA should engage in the development of theory related student education to better equip pre- and current PhD students for the rigours of research.
• ANITA should consider an early career researcher mentoring program for junior theorists and include this as part of its yearly mission.
• ANITA should encourage interaction between local theory groups through the sharing of colloquium speakers, visitor and student exchanges, and joint organisation of local workshops.
• Where appropriate, Australian theory should explore opportunities to form closer ties with our Asian counterparts given the growing importance of Asia to Australia’s broader national interests.
• Australian theory groups should be encouraged to seek out international projects for collaboration, to build linkages and create long-term opportunities.
• ANITA should work to raise awareness of gender and work/life balance issues, and coordinate with the Women in Astronomy Chapter of the ASA in this task.

The Strategic Plan can be downloaded here (34MB, or here for a lores version 1.7MB).

• News and upcoming events.
• The Strategic Plan for Theoretical Astrophysics 2012-2015
• Early science from gSTAR.
• This quarter’s crossword theme: Computers!

ASTAC set a deadline of 8 June for the latest round of supercomputing proposals. However, the conjunction of this date with the ARC DP rejoinder round, which closes on 14 June with varying local deadlines, was unforeseen and a number of people have requested an extension of the ASTAC deadline. Since there is likely to be a significant overlap between DP and ASTAC applicants we are extending the ASTAC deadline to 5 pm, Monday 18 June.

We would like to draw your attention to the following key points:

1. The time available for computational astrophysics on internationally competitive facilities has increased markedly over the last year. This is a good time to be working in this area.

2. The GPU facility gSTAR, located at Swinburne, offers users an opportunity for very high performance computational power for appropriately written code.

3. Fornax, the second supercomputer installed as part of the Pawsey Centre project, is also a GPU facility and is now available for general access.

4. The deadline for this current round of proposals is 8 June, 2012 so that there is adequate time to prepare a good proposal.

5. ASTAC is particularly keen to encourage graduate students and early career researchers to become involved in this rapidly developing field, which offers the capacity to perform simulations of numerous astrophysical situations at high resolution and in three dimensions. Advisers are available to assist people in getting started in this area.

Puerto de La Cruz, Tenerife, Spain, 4th-16th November 2012

http://www.iac.es/winterschool/2012/

Outline:

The primary aim of the XXIV Winter School is to provide a wide-ranging and

up-to-date overview of different aspects of gravitational lensing and its
application to several fields of Astrophysics (Dark Matter, Galaxies structure,
Quasar accretion disks, Exoplanets, etc) and Cosmology. The School is
particularly designed to introduce young researchers to the use of gravitational
lensing as a tool in their current work.

Topics and Lecturers:

- Lensing Basics

Sherry Suyu (University of California, Santa Bárbara, USA)

- Dark Matter in Clusters and Large Scale Structure
Peter Schneider (Universitat Bonn, Germany)

- AGN and Quasars
Joaquim Wambsganss (Zentrum für Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg, Germany)

- Galaxies and Cosmology
Emilio Falco (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, USA)

- Exoplanets
Andy Gould (Ohio State University, USA)

- The Future of Lensing
Chris Fassnacht (University of California, Davis, USA)

- Tutorial for Lens Modeling
Chuck Keeton (Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, USA)

- Tutorial for Inverse Ray Shooting
Jorge Jiménez-Vicente (Universidad de Granada, Spain)

School Venue:

The sessions will take place at the Hotel Beatriz Atlantis & Spa **** in Puerto

de la Cruz, where the participants will also be accommodated. Hotel reservations
and special requests will be handled by the organizers.

http://www.beatrizhoteles.com/en/hotel-atlantis.html

The hotel is a modern hotel located at the sea front and very close to the
centre of Puerto de la Cruz. In the surroundings you find the commercial area
with shops, boutiques, bars and restaurants.

Registration:

The school is primarily intended for doctoral students and recent postdocs in

any field of research in Astronomy. Those interested in attending the Winter
School should register using the online form in our web page:

http://www.iac.es/winterschool/2012/

The registration fee is Euro 1500.-, which covers the Conference Fee, half-board
accommodation for thirteen days (from Sunday 4th to Saturday 17th, on the basis
of shared rooms), all excursions and social activities including visits to the
observatories on La Palma and Tenerife, and a copy of the proceedings. Hotel
bookings are handled directly by the organization. Those participants wanting to
share a room with a specific person should indicate it by email to winter@iac.es.

Financial Support:

A limited number of grants may be provided by the organization to partially

cover registration costs. Those applicants requiring partial support to attend
the School may fill in the corresponding form in the personal area once
registered.

Social Events:

There will be a number of social events during the School. The following is a

first approximation to the social activities that we intend to include:

* A Welcome Cocktail on Sunday, November 4th.
* Visit to a local winery (Dinner included).
* Visit to the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory in La Palma (Lunch included).
* Visit to the IAC’s Headquarter in La Laguna (Tenerife) (Dinner included).
* Visit to the Teide Observatory in Tenerife (Lunch included).
* Closing Dinner.

School Deadlines:

* June 15th, 2011 – Deadline for both the Registration and Applications.

* July 1st, 2011 – Selected candidates will be informed.

School Web Page:

http://www.iac.es/winterschool/2012/

Contact:

Organizing Committee

* Evencio Mediavilla Gradolph
* José Antonio Muñoz Lozano
* Francisco Garzón López
* Francisco Sánchez Martínez

Secretariat

Lourdes González
XXIV Canary Islands Winter School of Astrophysics
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
C/ Vía Láctea, s/n
38200 La Laguna – Tenerife
SPAIN
Phone: +34-922-605271
Fax: +34-922-605210
e-mail: winter@iac.es