########################################## Table of Contents ########################################### 1. Conferences 1.1. Conference on the Philosophical Foundations of Quantum Gravity, Geneva, Switzerland 1.2. Astrophysics with gravitational-wave detections, Copenhagen, Denmark 1.3. Grav17, Cordoba, Argentina 1.4. Gravity and Black Holes, Cambridge, UK 1.5. 29th meeting of the Indian Association for General Relativity and Gravitation, Assam, India 1.6. Inhomogeneous Cosmologies, Torun, Poland 1.7. The Era of Gravitational-Wave Astronomy, XXXIIIth International Colloquium of the IAP (1st announcement) 1.8. Progress on Old and New Themes in Cosmology, Avignon, France 1.9. NewCompStar Annual Conference 2017, Warsaw, Poland 1.10. 7th Iberian Gravitational Wave Meeting (IGWM2017), Bilbao, Spain 1.11. Do Black Holes Exist? - The Physics and Philosophy of Black Holes, Bad Honnef, Germany 2. Jobs 2.1. Faculty position in Quantum Gravity at Radboud, Nijmegen, The Netherlands 2.2. Research Associates in Cosmology and in Gravitation at the University of Cambridge, UK 2.3. University Lecturer in Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge, UK 2.4. Three postdoctoral positions in Gravitation, Astrophysics, Cosmology and Fundamental Interactions at CBPF, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 2.5. Tenure track position at University of Vienna 2.6. Postdoc in Nottingham, UK 2.7. Postdoctoral position in Theoretical Cosmology, Bilbao, Spain 2.8. Two postdoctoral positions in gravitational-wave physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China 3. News 3.1. 2017 Awards for Essays on Gravitation 3.2. GRTensorIII for Maple has been released 3.3. In memory of Marcus Ansorg (12/18/1970 - 12/02/2016) 3.4. Recently Formed PhD Program at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth 3.5. Recent articles from Computational Astrophysics and Cosmology 3.6. New publication of Eddington's "The Mathematical Theory of Relativity" 3.7. GWIC Thesis Prize and Stefano Braccini Thesis Prize for 2016: Call for Nominations 3.8. Call for nominations. The 2017 Bronstein Prize in Loop Quantum Gravity ============================================== 1. Conferences ============================================== 1.1. Conference on the Philosophical Foundations of Quantum Gravity, Geneva, Switzerland --------------------------------------------------------------- Announcement on Hyperspace@GU: http://hyperspace.uni-frankfurt.de/2016/12/02/conference-on-the-philosophica... Starting: 2017-06-27 to 2017-06-30 Location: Château de Bossey, near Geneva, Switzerland Additional Information: https://beyondspacetime.net/2017conference/ Contact: Baptiste.LeBihan[AT]unige.ch Call for Papers: Conference on the Philosophical Foundations of Quantum Gravity Hosted by the University of Geneva-University of Illinois at Chicago Space and Time After Quantum Gravity project Château de Bossey, near Geneva, 27-30 June 2017 https://www.bossey.ch/en Invited keynote speakers: To be announced The investigation of quantum gravity has been central to theoretical physics for at least two decades, but philosophy has only begun to systematically engage with this field in the past few years. The purpose of this meeting is bring together people with research agendas in the philosophy of quantum gravity, to provide a venue to review and develop a common understanding of the state of the field: questions, approaches, solutions and, especially, novel insights and avenues of investigation. We intend that some talks will engage directly with philosophy and philosophers thus-far outside of quantum gravity. We solicit papers on any topic in the philosophical foundations of quantum gravity. We are particularly (but not exclusively) interested in work that addresses the foci of the ‘Space and Time After Quantum Gravity’ project: Does quantum gravity eliminate spacetime as fundamental structure? How does quantum gravity explain the appearance of spacetime? What are the broader implications of quantum gravity for metaphysical (and other) accounts of the world. Paper presentations should be suitable for presentations in 30 minutes (not including discussion period). Please submit an extended abstract of up to 500 words, together with the title of the talk. The abstract should be anonymized for blind refereeing. Advanced PhD students or recent PhDs are particularly invited to submit abstracts, as are women and underrepresented minorities. All sessions will be videoed for public distribution after the meeting. Deadline: 31 January 2017 (we will try to communicate decisions end of February 2017) Abstracts should be submitted to https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=cpqg2017. Organizing Committee: Nick Huggett Baptiste Le Bihan Keizo Matsubara Christian Wuthrich All selected participants will have board and lodging (but no travel) paid for by the conference. Please direct correspondence to: Baptiste.LeBihan[AT]unige.ch. Support for this conference is provided by the John Templeton Foundation. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1.2. Astrophysics with gravitational-wave detections, Copenhagen, Denmark --------------------------------------------------------------- Announcement on Hyperspace@GU: http://hyperspace.uni-frankfurt.de/2016/12/09/astrophysics-with-gravitationa... Starting: 2017-07-10 to 2017-08-18 Location: Copenhagen, Denmark Additional Information: https://kspa.soe.ucsc.edu/2017 Contact: imandel[AT]star.sr.bham.ac.uk Dear Colleagues: The 2017 Kavli Summer Program in Astrophysics will be held at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen from July 10th to August 18th next summer on the topic of "Astrophysics with gravitational wave detections". The program is directed by Ilya Mandel and Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz, and the program lecturers are Will Farr, Cole Miller, and Deirdre Shoemaker. For more information about the program, including details about its format and application forms, please see the program website. The program will consist of a first week of pedagogical lectures and state-of-the-art seminars by senior participants (faculty and postdocs), followed by 5 weeks dedicated to collaborative and multidisciplinary research, with graduate students working on projects proposed by the long-term participants of the program. This program is an outstanding venue for students to learn about a field in depth, and have the opportunity to work with leading faculty in the field. The students are chosen among the best applicants from all over the world. This is also an incredible opportunity for faculty and postdocs to meet the best of the next generation, and have the chance to mentor them. Many research projects lead to a publication. The program is inviting applications from graduate students, postdocs and faculty to attend. Applications are competitive, as successful applicants will receive funding to enable them to participate. The deadline for student applications is February 1, 2017. Faculty/postdoc applications are reviewed on a monthly basis, until March 31st. Sincerely yours, Ilya Mandel and Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1.3. Grav17, Cordoba, Argentina --------------------------------------------------------------- Announcement on Hyperspace@GU: http://hyperspace.uni-frankfurt.de/2016/12/09/grav17/ Starting: 2017-04-03 to 2017-04-07 Location: Cordoba, Argentine Additional Information: http://www.famaf.unc.edu.ar/~ortiz/grav17/ Contact: gravconference[AT]gmail.com We are pleased to announce that the conference Grav17 will be held in La Falda, Cordoba (ARGENTINA), from April 3rd through April 7th, 2017 Grav17 is the seventh in a series of conferences organized by the General Relativity and Gravitation Group at FaMAF (Universidad Nacional de Cordoba) since the year 2006. The conference is intended to bring together specialists working on gravitation and closely related topics, including classical and quantum gravity, mathematical relativity, numerical relativity, gravity in arbitrary dimensions, astrophysics and astro-particle physics. Graduate students and advanced undergraduate students are encouraged to apply, limited funds will be available to pay partial living expenses for students. A list of confirmed invited speakers includes: Abhay Ashtekar, Penn State University, USA. Florian Beyer, University of Otago, New Zeland. Andrea Costa, Observatorio Nacional de Cordoba y IAFE, Argentina. Joerg Frauendiener, University of Otago, New Zeland. Helmut Friedrich, Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics, Germany. Gabriela Gonzalez, Louisiana State University and LIGO, USA. Philippe Le Floch, Universite' Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC, Paris 6), France. Luis Lehner, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Canada. Alejandro Perez, Universite' de Marseille, France. Jorge Pullin, Lousiana State University, USA. Martin Reiris, Universidad de Montevideo, Uruguay. Manuel Tiglio, San Diego Supercomputer Center, USA. Gabriela Vila, Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomia, Argentina. Robert Wald, The University of Chicago, USA. For registration, information on hotel reservation and rates, and updates on the Grav17 meeting please check the conference's web page. Applications should be filed through the Conference webform before March 1st, 2017. The deadline for abstract submissions is March 10th, 2017. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1.4. Gravity and Black Holes, Cambridge, UK --------------------------------------------------------------- Announcement on Hyperspace@GU: http://hyperspace.uni-frankfurt.de/?p=12577 Starting: 2017-07-02 to 2017-07-05 Location: Cambridge, UK Additional Information: http://www.ctc.cam.ac.uk/activities/stephen75/ Contact: gr-secretary[AT]damtp.cam.ac.uk We are pleased to announce that registration for “Gravity and Black Holes” is now open. This conference is being held in DAMTP, Cambridge, July 2-5, to mark the 75th birthday of Stephen Hawking. The conference speakers will be: Bruce Allen (Max Planck Institute) Raphael Bousso (Berkeley) Mihalis Dafermos (Cambridge) Jo Dunkley (Princeton) Gary Gibbons (Cambridge) Gabriela Gonzalez (LSU) James Hartle (UCSB) Thomas Hertog (Leuven) Gary Horowitz (UCSB) Theodore Jacobson (Maryland) Renata Kallosh (Stanford) Eiichiro Komatsu (Max Planck Institute) Pablo Laguna (Georgia Tech) Andrei Linde (Stanford) Viatcheslav Mukhanov (Munich) Harald Pfeiffer (Toronto) Frans Pretorius (Princeton) Douglas Stanford (IAS) Jeff Steinhauer (Technion) Andy Strominger (Harvard) For more information, and to register, please visit the conference webpage. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1.5. 29th meeting of the Indian Association for General Relativity and Gravitation, Assam, India --------------------------------------------------------------- Announcement on Hyperspace@GU: http://hyperspace.uni-frankfurt.de/2016/12/14/29th-meeting-of-the-indian-ass... Starting: 2017-05-18 to 2017-05-20 Location: IIT Guwahati, Assam, India Additional Information: http://www.iitg.ernet.in/iagrg29/ Contact: iagrg2017[AT]iitg.ernet.in The Indian Association for General Relativity and Gravitation (IAGRG) was first constituted in 1969 and has been active ever since in fostering general relativity related activities in the country. In particular, at the national level the IAGRG meeting is organised every two years, at various locations in the country. The Department of Physics at IIT Guwahati will be organising the 29th meeting of IAGRG during 18 -20 May, 2017. The recent detection of gravitational waves from stellar mass binary black holes with the twin LIGO detectors has posed interesting questions in the field of Black Holes, Cosmology, Astrophysics and Gravity and opened a new era of gravitational wave astronomy. The theme of this meeting is "The Era of Gravitational Waves". The aim is to bring together researchers working on Gravity, Relativistic Astrophysics, Cosmology and Gravitational Waves. The meeting will have plenary talks from experts in the field, parallel sessions in the form of workshops featuring developments and advances in the following areas: Gravitational Waves and Relativistic Astrophysics, Cosmology, Classical gravity and Quantum gravity. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1.6. Inhomogeneous Cosmologies, Torun, Poland --------------------------------------------------------------- Announcement on Hyperspace@GU: http://hyperspace.uni-frankfurt.de/2016/12/14/inhomogeneous-cosmologies/ Starting: 2017-07-02 to 2017-07-07 Location: Torun, Poland Additional Information: http://cosmo.torun.pl/CosmoTorun17 Contact: cosmotorun17[at]cosmo.torun.pl During 2-7 July 2017 we are gathering experts in inhomogeneous cosmology for a small workshop of about 30 participants at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, the town where Copernicus was born. We wish to map out the most promising directions for analytical, numerical and observational investigations aimed to take into account both structure formation and cosmological expansion within the constraints of general relativity. A key motivating theme will be to discuss the claim, already investigated in numerous peer-reviewed papers, that "dark energy" as inferred from observations is an artefact of assuming an average Friedmannian expansion. New techniques in numerical relativity are beginning to open new perspectives on these questions. We expect vigorous, constructive debate between "one-percenters" and "order-unity" proponents, and practical hands-on sessions of free-licensed inhomogeneous cosmology software packages. We will post a formal announcement and registration details by early 2017 at http://cosmo.torun.pl/CosmoTorun17. Contact: cosmotorun17 at cosmo.torun.pl Organising committee: Boud Roukema, Thomas Buchert, Krzysztof Bolejko, Mikolaj Korzynski, Jan Ostrowski, Sebastian Szybka, David Wiltshire +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1.7. The Era of Gravitational-Wave Astronomy, XXXIIIth International Colloquium of the IAP (1st announcement) --------------------------------------------------------------- Announcement on Hyperspace@GU: http://hyperspace.uni-frankfurt.de/?p=12602 Starting: 2017-06-26 to 2017-06-30 Location: Paris, France Additional Information: http://www.iap.fr/vie_scientifique/colloques/Colloque_IAP/2017/ Contact: faye[AT]iap.fr The XXXIIIth international colloquium of the Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris on The Era of Gravitational-Wave Astronomy (TEGRAW) will be held in the amphitheater of the institute, in Paris, 98bis boulevard Arago, from June 26th to June 30th 2017. The conference will focus on the most recent developments regarding observations and theory of gravitational waves. Those include experimental works and future detectors (on ground and in space), data analysis issues, black hole astrophysics, theoretical works on the two-body problem, effective theories, numerical relativity, and tests of gravity theories. Each day will be dedicated to one of those topics and comprise plenary talks as well as oral contributions selected by the scientific organizing committee. The invited speakers are: Bruce Allen (Albert-Einstein-Institut, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee) Luc Blanchet (Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, CNRS) Krzysztof Belczynski (Warsaw University) Neil J. Cornish (Montana State University) Thibault Damour (Institut des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques) Lawrence E. Kidder (Cornell University) Sergey Klimenko (University of Florida) Luis Lehner (Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics) Selma E. de Mink (Astronomical Institute Anton Pannekoek) Gijs Nelemans (Radboud University Nijmegen, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) Tsvi Piran (Racah Institute of Physics) David H. Reitze (LIGO, California Institute of Technology, University of Florida) Alberto Sesana (University of Birmingham) Masaru Shibata (Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics) Xavier Siemens (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee) James Ira Thorpe (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center) Maarten Van de Meent (University of Southampton) Chris Van den Broeck (Nationaal instituut voor subatomaire fysica, Nikhef) Jean-Yves Vinet (Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur, CNRS) Registration and abstract submission for the meeting will open soon. Please visit the registration part of the conference website for further information on the conference calender. The other sections provide additional details regarding the general organization of this event. On behalf of the organizing committee, I am looking forward to welcoming you in Paris in June, Guillaume Faye Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1.8. Progress on Old and New Themes in Cosmology, Avignon, France --------------------------------------------------------------- Announcement on Hyperspace@GU: http://hyperspace.uni-frankfurt.de/?p=12610 Starting: 2017-04-24 to 2017-04-28 Location: Avignon, France Additional Information: https://indico.cern.ch/e/PONT2017 Contact: pont.avignon.2017[AT]gmail.com Dear Colleague, we would like to bring to your attention the fourth edition of the international conference Progress on Old and New Themes in cosmology - PONT 2017 https://indico.cern.ch/e/PONT2017 to be held in the rooms of the Popes' Palace in Avignon (France) on 24-28 April 2017. The aim of the conference is to gather scientists working in cosmology and particle physics to address the cardinal issues of the dark universe today, in the inspiring and monumental setting of Avignon. The format will consist of a limited number of talks by leading experts in the field, with the aim of encouraging debate and discussion. Typically, each morning will be devoted to a particular theme, with three or four key-speakers reviewing the state of the art, and will serve as an introduction to the topical discussions. There will be time allocated to (we hope) lively and thorough debates on the issues introduced during the review sessions. A limited number of shorter contributed talks will take place in the afternoons as well: we invite you to submit an abstract for your contribution. The abstract submission deadline is the 12th of March. The registration deadline is the 2nd of April 2017. There will be a moderate registration fee (precise amount to be decided, pending funding requests, but in any case no higher than 200 Euros). Avignon is only 2.5 hours from Paris by high-speed TGV train and is also easily reached by train from Lyon and Marseille. The town boasts an exceptional number of historical monuments, including the Popes' Palace, and beautiful surroundings which are known world-wide for their gastronomic and wine making tradition. A banquet is included in the registration fee for all participants. Looking forward to meeting you in Avignon! Please encourage all your collaborators to join us. PS apologies for cross-posting. Philippe Brax, Chiara Caprini, Marco Cirelli, Christian Marinoni, Geraldine Servant and Nicola Tamanini (Local Organizing Committee: Institut de Physique Theorique CEA Saclay, APC Paris, LPTHE Jussieu Paris, CPT Marseille and DESY Hamburg) +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1.9. NewCompStar Annual Conference 2017, Warsaw, Poland --------------------------------------------------------------- Announcement on Hyperspace@GU: http://hyperspace.uni-frankfurt.de/?p=12621 Starting: 2017-03-27 to 2017-03-31 Location: Warsaw, Poland Additional Information: http://compstar17.camk.edu.pl Contact: compstar17[AT]camk.edu.pl It is a pleasure to announce that the Annual NewCompStar conference 2017 will take place in Warsaw, Poland from the 27th to the 31st of March 2017. This international meeting is devoted to all aspects of compact stars and related fields, such as the physics of dense matter, relativistic nuclear astrophysics, pulsars and binary neutron stars, gravitational waves, and multi-messenger astronomy. This year the event is organized by the Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences. The scientific program includes plenary talks from invited speakers, discussion sessions as well as contributed talks and poster presentations. The conference will take place in Palac Staszic, the seat of the Polish Academy of Sciences, on Nowy Swiat 72 in the heart of Warsaw, one of Europe's most vibrant capitals, rich in history and with a modern and active cultural scene. On behalf of the Local Organising Committee I would like to invite you to attend the conference and contribute to the meeting. We particularly encourage postgraduate students and early career researchers to submit an abstract. We look forward to welcoming you to Warsaw! Best Regards Brynmor Haskell and the LOC: Leszek Zdunik Michal Bejger Pawel Haensel Morgane Fortin +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1.10. 7th Iberian Gravitational Wave Meeting (IGWM2017), Bilbao, Spain --------------------------------------------------------------- Announcement on Hyperspace@GU: http://hyperspace.uni-frankfurt.de/2016/12/22/7th-iberian-gravitational-wave... Starting: 2017-05-15 to 2017-05-17 Location: Bilbao, Spain Additional Information: http://tp.lc.ehu.es/IGWM2017/ Contact: josejuan.blanco[AT]ehu.es We are happy to announce the 7th Iberian Gravitational Wave Meeting 2017 (IGWM2017), which this time will be hosted by the Early Universe Cosmology Group in Bilbao, Spain, from the 15th to the 17th of May 2017. The aim of the meeting is to bring together researchers working in Gravitational Wave Science, as well as related areas of Astrophysics, Cosmology, Numerical Relativity and Fundamental Physics. The meeting will consist of plenary sessions with talks by invited speakers in the morning and contributed talks in the afternoon sessions. The invited speakers include: - Enrico Barausse, IAP/CNRS, France. - Marica Branchesi, Universita degli Studi di Urbino, Italy. - Roberto Emparan, ICREA & Universitat de Barcelona, Spain. - Sascha Husa, Universitat de les Illes Balears, Spain. - Ian Jones, University of Southampton, UK. - Enrique Martinez-Gonzalez, Instituto de Física de Cantabria, Spain. - Xavier Siemens, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, US. - Alicia Sintes, Universitat de les Illes Balears, Spain. - Carlos Sopuerta, IEEC-CSIC, Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya, Spain. - Alexander Vilenkin, Tufts University, US. Registration and abstract submission are now open at the conference website at: http://tp.lc.ehu.es/IGWM2017/ Looking forward to seeing you in Bilbao next year. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1.11. Do Black Holes Exist? - The Physics and Philosophy of Black Holes, Bad Honnef, Germany --------------------------------------------------------------- Announcement on Hyperspace@GU: http://hyperspace.uni-frankfurt.de/2017/01/01/do-black-holes-exist-the-physi... Starting: 2017-04-24 to 2017-04-28 Location: Bad Honnef, Germany Additional Information: https://www.zarm.uni-bremen.de/bh2017/ Contact: claus.laemmerzahl[AT]zarm.uni-bremen.de The evidence for the existence of Black Holes received a strong boost with the direct detection of gravitational waves which perfectly fits to the simulation of the merger of two Black Holes with masses of around 30 to 40 Solar masses. Further evidence for their existence is given by the observation of stars around the Sagittarius A*, the center of our galaxy, the observation of radiation from accretion disks around many massive galactic Black Holes, and high energetic jets emerging from the near vicinity of Black Holes. We are also waiting for further evidence based on the Event Horizon Telescope and the Black Hole Cam. However, despite these overwhelming observations there is still the question of the interpretation: How shall we deal with the situation that no Black Hole can be observed directly? This question will be discussed by experts from the observations, from the mathematical and theoretical aspects of Black Holes, as well as from the philosophy of sciences. The program consists of invited as well as contributed talks and posters. For young scientists we will award the best poster with a prize. The program invites graduate students, postdocs as well as faculty members. The number of participants is limited. Successful applicants will receive funding for their stay. For more information, please check our web page. The organizers: Silke Britzen, Claus Laemmerzahl, Manfred Stoeckler The conference is supported by the WE-Heraeus Foundation. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ============================================== 2. Jobs ============================================== 2.1. Faculty position in Quantum Gravity at Radboud, Nijmegen, The Netherlands ------------------------------------------------------------- Announcement on Hyperspace@GU: http://hyperspace.uni-frankfurt.de/?p=12548 Deadline: 2017-01-22 Location: Nijmegen, The Netherlands Additional Information: http://www.hef.ru.nl/~rloll/Web/jobs/jobs.html Contact: r.loll[AT]science.ru.nl There is an opening at Radboud for a faculty position in Quantum Gravity, in the group headed by R. Loll at the Institute for Mathematics, Astrophysics and Particle Physics (IMAPP). See URL for more information and instructions on how to apply. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2.2. Research Associates in Cosmology and in Gravitation at the University of Cambridge, UK ------------------------------------------------------------- Announcement on Hyperspace@GU: http://hyperspace.uni-frankfurt.de/2016/12/06/research-associates-in-cosmolo... Deadline: 2017-01-04 Location: Cambridge, UK Additional Information: http://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/12331/ Contact: LE10920[AT]maths.cam.ac.uk Applications are invited for two Postdoctoral Research Associate positions in the Relativity and Gravitation Group and the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology within the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics. The successful candidates will work with academic staff (John Barrow, Anthony Challinor, Mihalis Dafermos, Anne Davis, James Fergusson, Gary Gibbons, Stephen Hawking, Harvey Reall, Jorge Santos, Paul Shellard, and Ulrich Sperhake) and research staff (Tobias Baldauf, David Marsh, and Ewald Puchwein) on theoretical and computational projects related to CMB observations and inflation, scalar fields, and black holes and gravitational physics. The specific projects are: The first position focuses on advancing the confrontation between observational CMB and large-scale structure data and the standard inflationary paradigm. The research programme includes developing robust predictions from inflationary models for the distribution of galaxies through quantitative developments in gravitational perturbation theory, as well as obtaining insights in inflationary theory, in light of observational information about higher-order correlators and tensor modes. The second post will study black holes and gravitational physics. The purpose is to model the dynamics of astrophysical system containing black holes and neutron stars and their gravitational wave emission in the framework of Einstein's general relativity and generalizations of the theory. The positions are expected to be available from 1 April 2017, but the start date is flexible and can be delayed until October 2017. Applicants should have, or be about to obtain, a PhD in a relevant area of theoretical physics, and have an established track record of original research and experience of working in collaboration. Duties will include developing and conducting individual and collaborative research objectives, proposals and projects. The role holders will be expected to plan and manage their own research and administration, with guidance if required, and to assist in the preparation of proposals and applications to external bodies. The successful candidates must be able to communicate material of a technical nature and be able to build internal and external contacts. They may be asked to assist in the supervision of student projects, the development of student research skills, provide instruction or plan/deliver seminars relating to the research area. Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available for up to 3 years in the first instance. Further information about the Relativity and Gravitation Group can be found at http://damtp.cam.ac.uk/research/gr/ Informal enquiries may be made to Paul Shellard (LE10920[AT]maths.cam.ac.uk). To apply, please go to http://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/12331/ Please indicate the contact details of three academic referees on the online application form and upload a full curriculum vitae and a description of your recent research (not to exceed three pages). Please ensure that at least one of your referees is contactable at any time during the selection process, and is made aware that they will be contacted by the Mathematics HR Office Administrator to request that they upload a reference for you to our Web Recruitment System; and please encourage them to do so promptly. Please quote reference LE10920 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy. The University values diversity and is committed to equality of opportunity. The Department would particularly welcome applications from women, since women are, and have historically been, underrepresented on our research staff. The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2.3. University Lecturer in Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge, UK ------------------------------------------------------------- Announcement on Hyperspace@GU: http://hyperspace.uni-frankfurt.de/2016/12/06/university-lecturer-in-theoret... Deadline: 2017-01-30 Location: Cambridge, UK Additional Information: http://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/12052/ Contact: LE10674[AT]maths.cam.ac.uk Applications are invited for a University Lectureship in Theoretical Cosmology to commence on 1st October 2017 or as soon as possible thereafter. Appointment will be made at an appropriate point on the scale for University Lecturers and will be for a probationary period of five years with appointment to the retiring age thereafter, subject to satisfactory performance. The successful candidate will have a PhD in Mathematics, Physics or equivalent and have an outstanding record of research in theoretical cosmology, to be interpreted in the broadest sense. For more information about the research of the department see: http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/research. This position is linked to the Relativity and Gravitation (GR) Group, which is associated with the Stephen Hawking Centre for Theoretical Cosmology (CTC). The GR group is supported by an STFC Consolidated grant and other funding to pursue research in cosmology, CMB and large-scale structure, inflation and the early universe, numerical relativity, black holes, quantum gravity and unified fundamental theories. The CTC (www.ctc.cam.ac.uk), funded through endowments, supports a topical programme in these research areas with visiting fellows, postdoctoral fellowships, workshops and conferences intended to attract the world's leading theorists and most promising young researchers. The group hosts the COSMOS Intel Parallel Computing Centre, which pioneers provision of research programming support on the latest HPC architectures, and it operates the COSMOS supercomputer (www.cosmos.damtp.cam.ac.uk), part of the national STFC DiRAC Facility. The group enjoys close and collaborative links with astrophysics and cosmology groups at the Institute of Astronomy and the Cavendish Laboratory, which are strengthened through full participation in the interdepartmental Kavli Institute for Cosmology (www.kicc.cam.ac.uk). The successful candidate's duties will include contributing to teaching seminars and tutorials, writing and adapting lecture material, taking feedback from students and providing them with career or pastoral advice. They must be able to investigate new areas of research, identify research topics, determine, adapt and apply appropriate methodologies and write up progress reports and papers for publication. They will be required to write and mark examination papers, dissertation reports and provide references. They will need to be able to actively investigate funding opportunities, submit research grant applications, attend conferences, network with national/international colleagues, give presentations and participate in working groups. In exceptional circumstances, it may be possible to offer a supplement to the salary range stated for this role of up to GBP10,000. Any such supplement would be awarded on the basis of a demonstrable history of exceptional achievement and is entirely at the discretion of the University. Informal enquiries about this post may be made to LE10674[AT]maths.cam.ac.uk To apply online for this vacancy, please go to http://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/12052/ You will need to upload a letter of application, a full curriculum vitae, a list of publications and one page of A4 detailing research interests and future plans. You should also include the contact details of three academic referees. Please ensure that at least one of your referees is contactable at any time during the selection process, and is made aware that they will be contacted by the Mathematics HR Office Administrator to request that they upload a reference for you to our Web Recruitment System; and please encourage them to do so promptly. Further particulars of this position can be found at: http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/vacancy/. Further general information regarding the Department can be found at: http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk. The deadline for applications is midnight 30 January 2017. Please quote reference LE10674 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy. The University of Cambridge values diversity and is committed to equality of opportunity. The Department would particularly welcome applications from women, since women are, and have historically been, underrepresented on our academic staff. The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2.4. Three postdoctoral positions in Gravitation, Astrophysics, Cosmology and Fundamental Interactions at CBPF, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil ------------------------------------------------------------- Announcement on Hyperspace@GU: http://hyperspace.uni-frankfurt.de/?p=12579 Deadline: 2017-02-07 Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Additional Information: http://www.cbpf.br/~mcasals/Postdoc.html Contact: mcasals[AT]cbpf.br A call is now open for postdoctoral researchers at the Brazilian Center for Physics Research / Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas (CBPF) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Rio de Janeiro has a dynamic scientific atmosphere, with several research-intensive Universities and independent centres, among which CBPF, which is one of the top research institutions in Physics in South America. In particular, CBPF has recently created a new department of Astrophysics, Cosmology and Fundamental Interactions - COSMO, with 10 faculty members carrying out research comprising (but not limited to) the following areas: gravitational waves; gravitational lensing; theoretical and observational cosmology (dark matter and dark energy, early Universe, quantum cosmology, alternative models); black hole physics; quantum field theory and supersymmetry; nuclear astrophysics. We particularly encourage candidates with research interests in the above fields to apply for one of the three postdoctoral positions available at COSMO: one "senior" (with a monthly stipend of Brazilian R$5,200 net), for candidates who finished a Ph.D. at least 2 years ago, and two “junior" ones (with a monthly stipend of R$4,160 net). Each position is to start some time between April and May, 2017 and its length is up to 2 years, subject to renewal every 6 months. The selection procedure consists of: (i) an email by February 7, 2017, to the address pci2016[AT]cbpf.br containing a C.V., a letter of support from a CBPF professor as potential advisor and a research project of at most 5 pages, and (ii) a 30-minute presentation of the research project (which can be done by videoconference) some time to be arranged between March 13 and 17, 2017. For further information, please see: http://www.cbpf.br/~mcasals/index.html http://portal.cbpf.br/chamada-publica-pci-2016 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2.5. Tenure track position at University of Vienna ------------------------------------------------------------- Announcement on Hyperspace@GU: http://hyperspace.uni-frankfurt.de/2016/12/14/tenure-track-position-at-unive... Deadline: 2017-02-28 Location: Vienna, Austria Additional Information: https://univis.univie.ac.at/ausschreibungstellensuche/flow/bew_ausschreibung-flow?_flowExecutionKey=_cC4FD061E-1C4B-6C90-82B2-81D9D2638CEA_k51D82A0F-7BF4-AD08-0502-C45CE61CBE70&tid=60670.28 Contact: piotr.chrusciel[AT]univie.ac.at The Faculty of Physics plans to strengthen the research area "Particle Physics, Gravitational Physics and Mathematical Physics" by a Tenure Track position in Theoretical Physics, with particular focus on Gravitational Physics. Preference will be given to research directions that provide synergy with the existing expertise in mathematical relativity, but all especially qualified candidates from the fields of particle physics, gravitational physics and mathematical physics will be considered. For details, see the job-center page of the University of Vienna, position number 7208 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2.6. Postdoc in Nottingham, UK ------------------------------------------------------------- Announcement on Hyperspace@GU: http://hyperspace.uni-frankfurt.de/?p=12605 Deadline: 2017-02-01 Location: Nottingham Additional Information: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/jobs/currentvacancies/ref/SCI432416 Contact: Thomas.Sotiriou[AT]nottingham.ac.uk The University of Nottingham invites applications for three Research Associate/Fellows within the Particle Theory group at the School of Physics & Astronomy and the Quantum Gravity group in the School of Mathematical Sciences. One of the positions is funded by an STFC consolidated grant. The person appointed will be expected to work with members from either of the two groups on aspects of late universe cosmology which can include; dark matter, dark energy, modified gravity, approaches to solving the cosmological constant problem, strong gravity and black holes. The other two positions are to work with Dr Clare Burrage, and form part of the research project “New Searches for Dark Energy” funded by the Leverhulme Trust. An important aspect of these positions will be proposing and developing new ways to test theories of dark energy and modified gravity against observations from cosmological to subatomic scales. The post holders will also be encouraged to interact with the other members of the two groups. The Particle Theory group is headed by Ed Copeland, and includes Tasos Avgoustidis, Clare Burrage, Anne Green, Adam Moss, Tony Padilla and Paul Saffin. The Quantum Gravity group is headed by John Barrett, and includes Kirill Krasnov, Jorma Louko, Thomas Sotiriou and Silke Weinfurtner. Members of the groups participate in DES, Planck, Euclid and LISA. Candidates for all three positions are expected to have, or be working towards, a PhD in theoretical physics or a related field. The STFC position is available from October 2017, and the Leverhulme funded positions are available from March 2017 and will be available for a period of three years. Interested candidates should submit pdf files of their CV, a list of publications and a research proposal which includes a summary of their research accomplishments through the online application system: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/jobs/currentvacancies/ref/SCI432416 Informal enquiries may be addressed to Dr Clare Burrage, tel: 0115 9567903 and Prof Ed Copeland, tel: 0115 9515164 or email clare.burrage[AT]nottingham.ac.uk and ed.copeland[AT]nottingham.ac.uk Please note that applications sent directly to these email addresses will not be accepted. The University of Nottingham is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all sections of the community. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2.7. Postdoctoral position in Theoretical Cosmology, Bilbao, Spain ------------------------------------------------------------- Announcement on Hyperspace@GU: http://hyperspace.uni-frankfurt.de/2016/12/20/postdoctoral-position-in-theor... Deadline: 2017-01-31 Location: Bilbao, Spain Additional Information: http://tp.lc.ehu.es/earlyuniverse/ Contact: josejuan.blanco[AT]ehu.es Applications are invited for a Postdoctoral position in the area of Theoretical Cosmology beginning in September 2017. The position will be held in the Department of Theoretical Physics at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Bilbao, Spain. The successful candidates are required to hold a PhD at the starting date of the position. Our group includes Ana Achucarro, Igor Bandos, Jose Juan Blanco-Pillado, Sugumi Kanno, Juan Luis Manes, Eugenio Megias, Jon Urrestilla, Manuel Valle as well as several graduate students. The group also benefits from close ties with other faculty members of the department which includes, Mariam Bouhmadi-Lopez, Inigo Egusquiza, Alexander Feinstein, Jesus Ibanez, Ruth Lazkoz, Jose M. M. Senovilla and Raul Vera. Our research interests focus on inflationary cosmology, topological defects and other applications to cosmology within field theory as well as String Theory. For more information on the group see (http://tp.lc.ehu.es/earlyuniverse/ ). The appointment will be for two years. Interested candidates should send a CV, statement of research interests and publication list, and arrange for at least three letters of recommendation to be submitted to: early-universe-cosmo[AT]ehu.es Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. Review of completed applications will begin on January 31st, 2017. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2.8. Two postdoctoral positions in gravitational-wave physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China ------------------------------------------------------------- Announcement on Hyperspace@GU: http://hyperspace.uni-frankfurt.de/?p=12640 Deadline: 2017-04-15 Location: Beijing, China Additional Information: http://gc.itp.ac.cn/opportunities Contact: syn[AT]itp.ac.cn Two postdoctoral positions are available in the gravitation and cosmology group at the Institute of Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. These two positions are open for candidates who are working in the area of gravitational-wave physics, supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NNSFC). Excellent applicants with a PhD in theoretical physics or other related fields are welcome to apply for the positions. For application, one should submit: 1) a curriculum vitae including a list of publications; 2) two recommendation letters should be sent directly by the referees; 3) a research plan. All application materials should be submitted electronically as PDF files to Ms. Yaning Sun at syn[AT]itp.ac.cn. The deadline of the application is April 15, 2017. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ============================================== 3. News ============================================== 3.1. 2017 Awards for Essays on Gravitation ------------------------------------------------------------ Announcement on Hyperspace@GU: http://hyperspace.uni-frankfurt.de/2016/12/03/2017-awards-for-essays-on-grav... Additional Information: http://www.gravityresearchfoundation.org/competition.html In 2017, for our sixty-eighth competition, the trustees of the Gravity Research Foundation are offering five awards for short essays for the purpose of stimulating thought and encouraging work on gravitation. The stipulations follow. (1) We will make these Awards on May 15, 2017 for the best well-written essays, 1500 words or fewer (excluding abstracts and excluding a small number of equations, diagrams, figures, references and tables), on the subject of gravitation, its theory, applications, or effects. Essay ideas should be self-contained and understandable - not dependent on reading other documents. (2) The First Award will be $4000.00 The Second Award will be 1250.00 The Third Award will be 1000.00 The Fourth Award will be 750.00 The Fifth Award will be 500.00 (3) Essay must be in English and e-mailed in a single PDF file before April 1, 2017. One essay only will be accepted from each author. Notify us within 24 hours if you do not receive an e-mail confirmation of your submission. (4) Title page should include essay title; authorsﾕ names (specify corresponding author), e-mail and mailing addresses; submission date; an abstract of 125 words or fewer; and the statement: Essay written for the Gravity Research Foundation 2017 Awards for Essays on Gravitation. Pages should be numbered. (5) The decision of the judges will be final and no reviews or comments will be provided. (6) Please check the winnersﾕ announcement to be posted on our website: www.gravityresearchfoundation.org around May 15, 2017. We will also attempt to send all participants a general e-mail notification. (7) The five award-winning essays will be published in a special issue of the International Journal of Modern Physics D (IJMPD). Authors of essays designated Honorable Mention will be invited to submit their essays to the IJMPD where these may undergo additional refereeing at editorial discretion for possible publication. Authors of all other essays are free and encouraged to publish their essays after May 15th. Submission e-mail address: George M. Rideout, Jr., President, grideoutjr[AT]aol.com Recent First Award Winners: 2016 - Stephen L. Adler, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey 2015 - Gerard ﾕt Hooft, Utrecht University and Spinoza Institute, the Netherlands 2014 - Lawrence M. Krauss, Arizona State University and Frank Wilczek, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) 2013 - Baocheng Zhang, Qing-yu Cai, Ming-sheng Zhan, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan and Li You, Tsinghua University, Bejing, PR China 2012 - Claus Kiefer and Manuel Kraemer, University of Cologne, Koeln, Germany 2011 - Ivan Agullo, Penn State and Leonard Parker, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee 2010 - Mark Van Raamsdonk, University of British Columbia, Vancouver 2009 - Alexander Burinskii, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia 2008 - T. Padmanabhan, IUCAA, Pune, India 2007 - S. Carlip, University of California at Davis 2006 - Vijay Balasubramanian, University of Pennsylvania; Donald Marolf, University of California at Santa Barbara and Moshe Rozali, University of British Columbia 2005 - John Ellis, CERN; N. E. Mavromatos, Kingﾕs College London and D. V. Nanopoulos, Texas AandM University 2004 - Maulik Parikh, Columbia University, New York 2003 - Martin Bojowald, The Pennsylvania State University 2002 - Steven B. Giddings, University of California at Santa Barbara and Stanford University ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 3.2. GRTensorIII for Maple has been released ------------------------------------------------------------ Announcement on Hyperspace@GU: http://hyperspace.uni-frankfurt.de/2016/12/07/grtensoriii-for-maple-has-been... Additional Information: GRTensorIII is a Maple package for component calculations in General Relativity. It is now available for free download from https://gitlab.com/grtensor/grtensor/wikis/home. It provides a number of useful features: - interactive entry of spacetime metrics (including basis and NP formats) - large number of standard tensor definitions (curvature tensors, vector field expansion/shear, scalar invariants) - a powerful mechanism to define new tensor objects (grdef) without programming - commands to simplify and extract component values GRTensorIII is provided as a standard Maple package. It has been tested with Maple 2015 and 2016. GRTensorIII is an update of the package GRTensorII developed by Peter Musgrave, Denis Pollney and Kayll Lake in the 1990s. GRTensorII has continued to be used by relativists and this update brings the package in line with "modern" Maple versions and fixes some platform-specific issues on MacOS. Most of the original code has been retained, with changes to allow it be released as a Maple module in a single package. Peter Musgrave would like to thank Maple Software for the donation of Maple licenses. Thanks also to Eric Poisson for beta testing. Peter Musgrave Denis Pollney Kayll Lake Support: grtensor3[AT]gmail.com ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 3.3. In memory of Marcus Ansorg (12/18/1970 - 12/02/2016) ------------------------------------------------------------ Announcement on Hyperspace@GU: http://hyperspace.uni-frankfurt.de/2016/12/12/in-memory-of-marcus-ansorg-121... Additional Information: http://www.tpi.uni-jena.de Marcus Ansorg was born in Arnstadt, Thuringia (Germany). After studying physics at the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena (1990-1994), he obtained a Master of Science in Applied Mathematics at the Queen Mary University in London (1995) and was awarded the "Lionel Cooper Prize in Mathematics". He completed his Ph.D. work with Gernot Neugebauer in Jena on "Timelike geodesic motions in the general-relativistic gravitational field of a rigidly rotating disk of dust" (1998), for which he received the dissertation prize of the Friedrich Schiller University. The following years Marcus Ansorg spent at the Institute of Theoretical Physics (Jena, Germany), at the Center for Gravitational Physics and Geometry at The Pennsylvania State University (USA), at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute, Potsdam, Germany), and at the Helmholtz Center (Munich, Germany). While still in Jena, he developed novel numerical methods for the solution of the Einstein field equations with applications to rotating neutron stars. Marcus Ansorg's spectral methods involving clever coordinate transformations improved the achievable accuracy by several orders of magnitude over previous methods. A further highlight during these years was his work on initial data for black holes, resulting in one of the most used data sets of its kind in numerical general relativity. In 2010, Marcus Ansorg returned to the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena as Professor of Theoretical Physics / Theory of Gravitation. He was an enthusiastic lecturer and advisor, and his love of science and his productivity in general relativity remained undiminished. In recent years he successfully applied his numerical methods also in quantum field theory and quantum gravity. Marcus Ansorg died after a severe illness, which prematurely ended his remarkable life and career. We mourn with his family the loss of a wonderful person and will honor and cherish his memory. Bernd Bruegmann and Reinhard Meinel ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 3.4. Recently Formed PhD Program at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth ------------------------------------------------------------ Announcement on Hyperspace@GU: http://hyperspace.uni-frankfurt.de/?p=12581 Additional Information: http://www.umassd.edu/engineering/graduate/doctoraldegreeprograms/egrandappl... We would like to raise awareness of UMass Dartmouth's recently formed Computational Science and Engineering (CSE) PhD program. The CSE PhD program offers an excellent opportunity for students interested in an interdisciplinary program spanning applied mathematics, astrophysics, gravitational physics, large-scale simulation, and high-performance computing. Participating departments include Physics, Mathematics, Computer and Information Science, and Engineering. The CSE PhD program was created in 2011 and last year graduated its first class. We are committed to growing our PhD program with excellent students seeking an interdisciplinary, computationally-based research and educational experience. Gravitational physics and computational astrophysics groups include faculty members Scott Field, Dana Fine, Robert Fisher, Jong-Ping Hsu, David Kagan, Gaurav Khanna, and Richard Price. Funding is available on a competitive basis via university fellowships, research and teaching assistantships. Deadline for full consideration for Fall 2017 admission is February 15th. Interested students are encouraged to contact Gaurav Khanna (gkhanna[AT]umassd.edu) for more information. To learn more about CSE faculty members, PhD students, and ongoing research projects please see: http://cscvr.umassd.edu/ To learn more about the UMass Dartmouth gravity and astrophysics groups please see: http://gravity.phy.umassd.edu/ https://sites.google.com/site/fishercompgroup/ To learn more about the CSE program please see: http://www.umassd.edu/engineering/graduate/doctoraldegreeprograms/egrandappl... ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 3.5. Recent articles from Computational Astrophysics and Cosmology ------------------------------------------------------------ Announcement on Hyperspace@GU: http://hyperspace.uni-frankfurt.de/2016/12/19/recent-articles-from-computati... Additional Information: http://comp-astrophys-cosmol.springeropen.com/ I'm writing to let you know about some of the recent articles we've published in Computational Astrophysics and Cosmology (CompAC). With this open-access journal we hope to make the connection between the computational science and the astrophysics communities. In that respect I hope that you will enjoy reading these pioneering papers as much as I have enjoyed them. The following list of publications reflects only a small part of the range in scientific topics we seek for in this journal. Recent articles: - "Riemann solvers and Alfven waves in black hole magnetospheres" by B Punsly, D Balsara, J Kim and S Garain - "In situ and in-transit analysis of cosmological simulations" by B Friesen, A Almgren, Z Lukic, G Weber, D Morozov, V Beckner and M Day - "Achieving convergence in galaxy formation models by augmenting N-body merger trees" by A J Benson, C Cannella and S Cole - "Simulations of stripped core-collapse supernovae in close binaries" by A Rimoldi, S Portegies Zwart and E M Rossi If you are interested in submitting your own work to CompAC, you'll find all the submission guidelines at the journal’s home page: http://comp-astrophys-cosmol.springeropen.com/ I look forward to reading your work. Kind regards, Simon Portegies Zwart Editor-in-Chief Computational Astrophysics and Cosmology ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 3.6. New publication of Eddington's "The Mathematical Theory of Relativity" ------------------------------------------------------------ Announcement on Hyperspace@GU: http://hyperspace.uni-frankfurt.de/2016/12/20/new-publication-of-eddingtons-... Additional Information: http://www.minkowskiinstitute.org/mip/books/ase-mtr.html New publication of the historic monograph: Arthur S. Eddington, "The Mathematical Theory of Relativity," with a Foreword by Abhay Ashtekar: http://www.minkowskiinstitute.org/mip/books/ase-mtr.html ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 3.7. GWIC Thesis Prize and Stefano Braccini Thesis Prize for 2016: Call for Nominations ------------------------------------------------------------ Announcement on Hyperspace@GU: http://hyperspace.uni-frankfurt.de/2016/12/29/gwic-thesis-prize-and-stefano-... Additional Information: https://gwic.ligo.org/thesisprize/ PLEASE NOTE: The nomination deadline has been extended to 31 January 2017. The Gravitational Wave International Committee is pleased to announce that nominations for the 2016 GWIC Thesis Prize and for the 2016 Stefano Braccini Thesis Prize are now open. Both prizes recognize outstanding PhD theses in the general area of gravitational waves. To better serve the community, GWIC and the Friends of Stefano Braccini have moved to coordinate the two Prizes. There is a common call for nominations, and all theses submitted will be considered for both awards by a joint selection committee. Two winners will be selected, with the GWIC Thesis Prize emphasizing the impact of the research on the field of gravitational wave science, while the Braccini Thesis Prize will be awarded with an emphasis on innovation. Members of the gravitational wave community are invited to nominate students who have performed notable research on any aspect of gravitational wave science. Theses will be judged on 1) originality and creativity of the research, 2) importance to the field of gravitational waves and gravitational wave detection, broadly interpreted, and 3) clarity of presentation. Each winner will receive a certificate of recognition and a prize of US$ 1,000. GWIC is privileged to nominate both thesis prize winners for publication in the book series Springer Theses. Subject to certain qualifications, Springer Theses publishes exceptional Ph.D. theses in the physical sciences in their entirety. If accepted, each winner will receive an additional 500 Euros from Springer upon publication. Eligibility: Both prizes are awarded on a calendar year basis. Theses should have been accepted by their institutions between 1 January 2016 and 31 December 2016. It is expected that many of the nominations will come from the member projects of GWIC, but this is not a requirement. Nominated theses may be in any language. A committee selected from the gravitational wave community will evaluate the nominations and select the winner. The selection committee will make all determinations about eligibility. Nominations: Nominations should be submitted by 31 January 2017. The nomination package consists of (i) the thesis, (ii) a letter of nomination, preferably from the thesis advisor, and (iii) a supporting letter from another scientist familiar with the work. The nomination and supporting letters should describe the importance and novelty of the research and the student’s particular contribution. Electronic submission of the thesis and letters is strongly preferred, with the thesis and the letters in separate pdf files. Electronic copies of the nomination materials may be sent to the Stan Whitcomb (stan[AT]ligo.caltech.edu). All submissions will be acknowledged; if an acknowledgement is not received shortly after the deadline, please contact the GWIC Secretary (gwic-exsec[AT]gravity.psu.edu). If electronic submission is impossible, please contact the GWIC Secretary (gwic-exsec[AT]gravity.psu.edu) for instructions concerning paper submission. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 3.8. Call for nominations. The 2017 Bronstein Prize in Loop Quantum Gravity ------------------------------------------------------------ Announcement on Hyperspace@GU: http://hyperspace.uni-frankfurt.de/2017/01/01/call-for-nominations-the-2017-... Additional Information: http://bronsteinprize.org During the celebration of 25 years of Loop Quantum Gravity at Madrid, a new prize for post-doctoral scholars in Loop Quantum gravity was created. It is named after Matvei Petrovich Bronstein, who was the first to emphasize that quantum gravity requires a deep revision of classical space-time concepts. He wrote his Ph.D. thesis on Quantization of Gravitational Waves in 1935. He clearly understood the limitation of applying the Bohr-Rosenfeld QED measurement analysis to gravity. He derived the quantum analog of Einstein's quadrupole formula but emphasized the need to go beyond linearized gravity. He was considered by many as the brightest of the young Soviet physicists in the mid-1930's. He was arrested on trumped-up charges in 1937 and executed in 1938. An account appears in http://www.chukfamily.ru/Lidia/Biblio/House.htm Nominations for the 2017 Bronstein Prize are invited. The nominee should hold a (non-faculty) post-doctoral position at the time of the nomination deadline. The primary criterion will be high quality of scientific results in loop quantum gravity, interpreted in the broadest sense, creativity and originality, and the significance of results to the field as a whole. The 2013 and 2015 winners of the prize were Drs. Eugenio Bianchi and Edward Wilson-Ewing, respectively The nomination packet should consist of: i) A ~1 page nomination letter summarizing the specific achievements to date of the nominee; ii) A complete CV and a publication list of the nominee; iii) 2 letters of support from experts emphasizing the broad significance of all research contributions to date of the nominee; and, iv) A proposed citation. Self nominations will not be considered. The entire packet should be bundled into a single PDF file and e-mailed to Ms. Randi Neshteruk (rxh1[AT]psu.edu) by Tuesday, January 30th 2017. The prize consisting of a certificate and a monetary reward will be presented during the Loops 2017 conference, which will be held at the University of Warsaw from July 3rd to 7th, 2017. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++