News

15 May 2024

Final circular (Click to expand)

            Final Announcement
            
            Cosmic Magnetism in the Pre-SKA Era
            http://ska-jp.org/ws/SKAJP_MAGWS2024
            Kagoshima Japan, 27-31 May 2024
            
            Dear Colleagues,
            
            This is the final announcement of the international conference "Cosmic Magnetism in the Pre-SKA Era”.
            
            (1) Final program and the list of participants
            The final conference program and the list of participants can be found on the website within a few days. The zoom link for online participants is announced in a separate mail.
            
            (2) Payment
            The registration fee is 20,000 JPY. Students can obtain a 50% discount, thus 10,000 JPY. Payment will be made on site and accepted by cash in Japanese currency only.
            
            (3) Young research awards
            The SOC is organizing young research awards to reward excellent talks/posters by young researchers as well as to invite more attention from senior researchers. Students or young researchers within 5 years of receiving his/her Ph.D degree can register for nomination. Oral speakers should be marked in the program and poster speakers should be marked on their posters to clarify that they are the subjects. The evaluators will decide on the score according to pre-defined scoring rules and will report the results to the SOC by the time of the discussion on the final day. The SOC will tabulate the results and the top 10% will receive oral awards and poster awards at the end of the meeting. Winners will receive a certificate and a gift. The registration form is here
            https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScSXlVBBlCHvXVCy-TUqln69KH1uvjQ1U645dXmLz78-_pzNQ/viewform
            The registration deadline is UT 20:00 Thursday 23th May.
            
            (4) Proceedings
            We would like to inform you about the proceedings for our conference. Please take note of the following guidelines:
            - Summarize your presentation content in a 2-3 page document.
            - If you are pressed for time, you may submit your presentation slides instead.
            - A DOI will be assigned to ensure your work can be cited in future papers and research.
            - The proceedings will be published on the workshop's website.
            The latex format will be provided later. Submissions are expected to be due approximately 2-3 months after the meeting. Thank you for your cooperation.
            
            (5) SKA Magnetism SWG meeting
            We will have a SKA Magnetism SWG meeting at the conference room in UT 04:15-05:15 (JST 13:15-14:15) after lunch on Tuesday, 28th May. This is a hybrid meeting and the zoom link is https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83155922554?pwd=TjFWdnRRQXNZeVd3QnV2eW5NMVVydz09
            Anyone can attend this meeting. An agenda is
            - Update on SKA progress and upcoming tasks
            - Magnetism science data challenge discussion
            - Science motivations to support extending SKA-LOW beyond the baseline design (AA4).
            
            (5) POSSUM busy days
            The ASKAP POSSUM busy days will be held at Mitaka Tokyo in the following week during the 3rd to 5th of June 2024. The busy days will focus on exploring the POSSUM data, and are open to everyone (including non-POSSUM members). The registration form for the POSSUM busy days is here:
            https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScI3OGw9v7Dw2v7TDZAqJRN2TUVEdDgalSIKkj8pLbgPBpwSw/viewform?usp=sf_link
            
            Please contact the LOC (skamagconf2024 _at _ ml.nao.ac.jp) if you need any assistance.
            We are very much looking forward to seeing you at Kagoshima soon!
            
            Best regards,
            
            Scientific Organizing Committee:
            Takuya Akahori (Chair), Aritra Basu, Shane O’Sullivan, Chris Riseley, Keitaro Takahashi, Tessa Vernstrom, Aline Vidotto, Jennifer West
            
            Local Organizing Committee:
            Haruka Sakemi (Chair), Shinsuke Ideguchi, Yuki Kudoh, Kohei Kurahara, Mami Machida, Hiroyuki Nakanishi
          

7 May 2024

Second LOC announcement (Click to expand)

            Dear participants of Cosmic Magnetism in the Pre-SKA Era,
            (sent by BCC)
            
            We would like to provide you with some important information regarding the excursion and banquet.
            
            (1) Excursion Information
            Date: Wednesday, May 29, 2024 (Day 3)
            Departure Time: 13:30 Departure at Conference Venue "Inamori Kaikan"
            Dispersal Time: 18:30 at "Kagoshima Chuo Station"
            Transportation: Bus
            Participants will be divided into two groups, with about 40 people per group.
            The order of visits varies, but both groups will visit the following locations:
            SENGAN-EN (60 minutes) (https://www.senganen.jp/en/)
            KOMASA Jyozo (Shochu Sake Brewery) (60 minutes)
            Both locations will be accompanied by guides,
            and participants will have the opportunity to enjoy alcohol tastings at KOMASA Jyozo.
            
            (2) Banquet Information
            Date: Thursday, May 30, 2024 (Day 4)
            Location: Dinner Cruise aboard Sakurajima Ferry
            Format: Buffet Dinner Cruise with Entertainment
            Transportation: Charter Bus from Conference Venue to Ferry Terminal
            Post-Banquet Transportation: Bus from Ferry Terminal to "Tenmonkan"
            There is no dress code, so please feel free to wear casual clothes.
            The banquet is sponsored by the Japan Tourism Agency, which is a government agency responsible
            for promoting tourism within Japan and abroad.
            We kindly request your cooperation with the following:
            Permission for photography and videography during the event.
            Participation in a post-event survey.
            Your feedback will be valuable for reporting to the Japan Tourism Agency.
            All expenses for the above programs are included in the participation fee.
            
            If you have any questions or need further assistance,
            please feel free to contact us (skamagconf2024@ml.nao.ac.jp).
            
            Best regards,
            Haruka Sakemi (LOC Chair)
          

26 April 2024

First LOC announcement (Click to expand)

            Dear participants of Cosmic Magnetism in the Pre-SKA Era,
            (sent by BCC)
            
            Thank you for your registration of Cosmic Magnetism in the Pre-SKA Era.
            We have already closed the registration form, and the total number of participants, including a few online speakers, is 92.
            
            This is the LOC announcement.
            
            (1) Registration fee 
            The LOC has set the registration fee for local participants at 20,000 JPY (10,000 JPY for students). Unfortunately, we can only accept cash payments for the registration fee due to technical reasons. Please prepare cash in advance. We apologize for this inconvenience and appreciate your understanding. 
            
            (2) Companion
            If you will come to Kagoshima with companions, please let us (skamagconf2024@ml.nao.ac.jp) know in advance their full names and whether they will attend the excursion and banquet by email.
            We will collect the additional registration fee if they attend the excursion and banquet.
            
            (3) Poster talk
            We do not accept digital posters. Please print them in advance and bring them (size: A0). 
            
            (4) Access to the venue
            The conference venue is Inamori Kaikan of Kagoshima University in Kagoshima city. 
            You can come to Kagoshima by bus from the Kagoshima airport without pre-booking (https://nangoku-kotsu.com/ashuttle/kagoshima-city-line/). 
            In Kagoshima city, buses and trams are available. Trams are a more convenient way to get to the venue.
            You can see the tram routes and fares from the following link.
            https://www.kotsu-city-kagoshima.jp/en/e-howto/
            Please take the Tram line 2 to get to the conference venue.
            You can pay your fare with credit cards (VISA, JCB, AMERICAN EXPRESS, Diners Club, DISCOVER, 銀聯).
            Please see the venue information from the conference website (http://ska-jp.org/ws/SKAJP_MAGWS2024/venue.html).
            
            (5) Payment method
            In Japan, cash is accepted at most stores. However, some stores do not accept credit cards.
            We recommend preparing cash as well.
            
            (6) Weather
            The mean temperature in Kagoshima during the conference season is around 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit). By this time, it may already be the rainy season. 
            
            (7) Slack 
            We share the invitation link to Slack as follows. 
            https://join.slack.com/t/cosmicmagneti-b445874/shared_invite/zt-2gafmp2j9-~4iRJid_hYLf1mNKsU4j_w
            Please join it, and we will contact you via email and Slack. We will also share helpful information with you on Slack.
            
            Please see the conference website (http://ska-jp.org/ws/SKAJP_MAGWS2024) for more information. 
            If you have questions or problems, please contact us (skamagconf2024@ml.nao.ac.jp). 
            
            We look forward to meeting you all in Kagoshima! 
            
            Regards, 
            
            Haruka Sakemi (LOC chair)
          

24 April 2024

Update on the payment methods of the registration fee: The LOC decided that we only accept cash payment for the registration fee on site. The credit card payment is not allowed, due to technical reasons. We apologize for this inconvenience. Please bring Japanese Yen. There are also a lot of ATM machines in the city with which you can obtain Japanese currency by your credit card cashing.

22 April 2024

Registration is closed

9 April 2024

Update on the registration fee: ~20,000 JPY (~10,000 JPY for students)

9 April 2024

Fifth circular (Click to expand)

            5th Announcement (registration deadline)

            Cosmic Magnetism in the Pre-SKA Era
            http://ska-jp.org/ws/SKAJP_MAGWS2024
            Kagoshima Japan, 27-31 May 2024
            
            Dear Colleagues,
            
            The registration of the international conference "Cosmic Magnetism in the Pre-SKA Era" will be closed at the end of 22 April 2024. If you intend to attend the conference, please make sure that you register on the conference website:
            http://ska-jp.org/ws/SKAJP_MAGWS2024/registration.html
            Reminder that all invited, oral, and poster presenters are also asked to register through the website above.
            
            The conference program can be found on the same website:
            http://ska-jp.org/ws/SKAJP_MAGWS2024/program.html
            
            No remote participation is provided. However, the organizers will accept a small number of Zoom participants who have reasons such as travel restrictions or special circumstances (subject to approval by the LOC). Please contact the LOC (skamagconf2024 _at _ ml.nao.ac.jp) if you need this assistance.
            
            The registration fee is almost fixed. The organizers have already obtained several budgets, so that the fee will be reduced from the initial estimate of 40,000 JPY and will likely be around 20,000 JPY. We will announce the fee after the deadline of registration. Payment will be made on site and accepted by cash in Japanese currency or by credit card (card brand under confirmation).
            
            Finally, the ASKAP POSSUM busy days will be held at Mitaka Tokyo in the following week during the 3rd to 5th of June 2024. The registration form for the POSSUM busy days is here:
            https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScI3OGw9v7Dw2v7TDZAqJRN2TUVEdDgalSIKkj8pLbgPBpwSw/viewform?usp=sf_link
            
            Please feel free to forward this announcement to interested colleagues. We are very much looking forward to seeing you at Kagoshima in May 2024.
            
            Best regards,
            
            Scientific Organizing Committee:
            Takuya Akahori (Chair), Aritra Basu, Shane O’Sullivan, Chris Riseley, Keitaro Takahashi, Tessa Vernstrom, Aline Vidotto, Jennifer West
            
            Local Organizing Committee:
            Haruka Sakemi (Chair), Shinsuke Ideguchi, Yuki Kudoh, Kohei Kurahara, Mami Machida, Hiroyuki Nakanishi
          

29 February 2024

Fourth circular (Click to expand)

            4th Announcement (Program Fixed and POSSUM Busy Days)

            Cosmic Magnetism in the Pre-SKA Era
            http://ska-jp.org/ws/SKAJP_MAGWS2024
            Kagoshima Japan, 27-31 May 2024
            
            Dear Colleagues,
            
            We are pleased to announce the international conference "Cosmic Magnetism in the Pre-SKA Era" to be held in Kagoshima, Japan during 27-31 May 2024. This is the announcement about the conference program and the POSSUM busy days following the conference.
            
            The organizers would like to thank all the applicants for their submissions (the number of which were beyond our expectations).. The Scientific Organizing Committee (SOC) has selected the oral presentations, after a thorough review of the submitted abstracts, considering the balance of the fields. As a result, there will be 14 invited talks, 52 contributed talks, and 11 poster presentations. The conference program can be found on the conference website:
            http://ska-jp.org/ws/SKAJP_MAGWS2024/program.html
            
            As already announced, the conference will be held on-site and in-person only, with some exceptions for special circumstances. The registration is open until 22 April 2024 at the conference website:
            http://ska-jp.org/ws/SKAJP_MAGWS2024/registration.html
            
            The registration fee is expected to be around 30,000 JPY which includes a welcome party, excursion, and conference banquet, at the end of the 1st, 3rd, and 4th days of the program, respectively, as well as tea/coffee/snacks at the venue, etc. Discounts will be given to students. Once the fee and the payment method are decided, they will be announced on the conference webpage.
            
            Finally, the ASKAP POSSUM team has decided to organize a meeting at Mitaka Tokyo during the 3rd to 5th of June 2024. The meeting is open to everyone. Therefore, if you are interested in joining the meeting, please consider it in your travel schedule. The meeting will consist of reviews of the project and data products, scientific and technical discussions, and an opportunity to get familiar with the data. Detailed information for the meeting will be available from the same conference webpage. The registration form for the POSSUM busy days is here:
            https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScI3OGw9v7Dw2v7TDZAqJRN2TUVEdDgalSIKkj8pLbgPBpwSw/viewform?usp=sf_link
            
            Please feel free to forward this announcement to interested colleagues. We are very much looking forward to seeing you at Kagoshima in May 2024.
            
            Best regards,
            
            Scientific Organizing Committee:
            Takuya Akahori (Chair), Aritra Basu, Shane O’Sullivan, Chris Riseley, Keitaro Takahashi, Tessa Vernstrom, Aline Vidotto, Jennifer West
            
            Local Organizing Committee:
            Haruka Sakemi (Chair), Shinsuke Ideguchi, Yuki Kudoh, Kohei Kurahara, Mami Machida, Hiroyuki Nakanishi
          

29 February 2024

Program is announced

29 February 2024

About ASKAP-POSSUM busyweek following this conference (3-5 June 2024@Tokyo)

12 February 2024

Registration of oral/poster presentation is closed

29 January 2024

Registration of oral presentation is closed

4 December 2023

Registration is open

4 December 2023

Third circular (Click to expand)

            3rd Announcement (Registration open, call for proposal)

            Cosmic Magnetism in the Pre-SKA Era
            http://ska-jp.org/ws/SKAJP_MAGWS2024
            Kagoshima Japan, 27-31 May 2024
            
            Dear Colleagues,
            
            We are pleased to announce the international conference "Cosmic Magnetism in the Pre-SKA Era" to be held in Kagoshima, Japan during 27-31 May 2024. This is the third announcement of the conference. The first and second announcements, including the rationale, important dates, and invited speakers, can be seen on our website.
            
            The conference will be a collection of keynote invited talks and focused contributed talks. Research-progress reports from young scientists are very welcomed. The conference topics include:
                • Roles of magnetic fields in astrophysics and cosmology, theory, simulation, and modeling,
                • Continuum, polarimetry, and time-domain observations, from on-going and near future surveys, and
                • Technical development and data reduction/analysis in these research fields.
            The registration is now open at the conference website. The deadline for the registration is 22nd of April 2024. If circumstances do not change, the conference will be held on-site and in-person, mainly for the purpose of encouraging interactions among participants. Please note that the registration fee will be charged at a later date. The maximum registration fee is expected to be up to 40,000 JPY which includes conference banquet, excursion, drinks at the venue, etc. However, depending on the budget situation in the future, the fee may be reduced. Discounts will be given to students. The payment methods will be announced in a later circular and on the website. Due to limitations in the network environment, online participation would not be available.
            
            We invite abstract submission for oral and poster presentations. The deadlines for oral and poster presentations are 29th of January 2024 and 12th of February 2024, respectively. Currently, we expect ~30 oral presentations. If the oral applications exceed the capacity, the SOC will select the talks and then ask the other oral requests to submit for poster presentations instead. The abstract submission should be made from the conference website.
            
            Please feel free to forward this announcement to interested colleagues. We are very much looking forward to seeing you at Kagoshima in May 2024.
            
            Best regards,
            
            Scientific Organizing Committee:
            Takuya Akahori (Chair), Aritra Basu, Shane O’Sullivan, Chris Riseley, Keitaro Takahashi, Tessa Vernstrom, Aline Vidotto, Jennifer West
            
            Local Organizing Committee:
            Haruka Sakemi (Chair), Shinsuke Ideguchi, Yuki Kudoh, Kohei Kurahara, Mami Machida, Hiroyuki Nakanishi            
          

7 November 2023

Second circular (Click to expand)

          2nd Announcement (important dates and invited speakers)
    
          Cosmic Magnetism in the Pre-SKA Era
          http://ska-jp.org/ws/SKAJP_MAGWS2024
          Kagoshima Japan, 27-31 May 2024
          
          Dear Colleagues,
          
          We are pleased to announce the international conference "Cosmic Magnetism in the Pre-SKA Era" to be held in Kagoshima, Japan during 27-31 May 2024. This is the second announcement of the conference. The first announcement, including the rationale, can be seen on our website.
          
          The organizers have chosen Inamori Hall at Kagoshima University, which is a well-equipped facility, as the venue for the conference. The organizers will open the registration and call for oral and poster presentations on 4th of December 2023. The other important dates are as follows.
          
          Important dates:
          4 December: Registration and call for oral/poster open.
          29 January: Deadline of oral presentation.
          12 February: Deadline of poster presentation.
          26 February: Program and timetable are fixed and announced.
          22 April: Deadline for registration.
          13 May: Logistics.
          25-31 May: Conference days
          
          The conference will be a 5-day program with sufficient breaks for refreshment and discussion. As options, we will have a conference banquet and a half-day break for excursions during the period. A list of confirmed invited speakers are as follows.
          
          Invited speakers:
          Alec Thomson, CSIRO, Australia
          Anna Ordog, DRAO, Canada
          Bryan Gaensler, University of California Santa Cruz, USA
          Dongsu Ryu, UNIST, South Korea
          Francesca Loi, INAF, Italy
          Harish Vedantham, ASTRON, the Netherlands
          Hiroyuki Nakanishi, Kagoshima Univeristy, Japan
          Kazuhiro Nakazawa, Nagoya University, Japan
          Lerato Baidoo, University of Toronto, Canada
          Marijke Haverkorn, Radboud University, the Netherlands
          Naomi MacClure-Griffiths, Australian National University, Australia
          Simona Vegetti, MPA, Germany
          Thushara Pilai, MIT, USA
          
          Please feel free to forward this announcement to anyone who might be interested. We are very much looking forward to seeing you at Kagoshima in May 2024.
          
          Best regards,
          
          Scientific Organizing Committee:
          Takuya Akahori (Chair), Aritra Basu, Shane O’Sullivan, Chris Riseley, Keitaro Takahashi, Tessa Vernstrom, Aline Vidotto, Jennifar West
          
          Local Organizing Committee:
          Haruka Sakemi (Chair), Shinsuke Ideguchi, Yuki Kudoh, Kohei Kurahara, Mami Machida, Hiroyuki Nakanishi
          

1 August 2023

First circular (Click to expand)

            1st Announcement (save the date)
    
            Cosmic Magnetism in the Pre-SKA Era
            http://ska-jp.org/ws/SKAJP_MAGWS2024
            Japan, 27-31 May 2024
            
            Dear Colleagues,
            
            We are pleased to announce the international conference "Cosmic Magnetism in the Pre-SKA Era" to be held in Japan during 27-31 May 2024. Please share this announcement with anyone interested.
            
            Magnetic fields play crucial roles in astrophysics and cosmology, yet their origin and evolution are largely unknown. The pathfinder and precursor radio interferometers of the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO) have seen a glimpse of their origin and evolution of magnetic fields by revealing a variety of magnetic-field features in and around stars, the interstellar medium, the Milky Way, galaxies, AGN, galaxy clusters, and even beyond. Single-dish, VLBI, and space-based surveys provide complementary observations of not only persistent radio sources but also fast and slow radio transients. Meanwhile, more work needs to be done to solve the technical and algorithmic challenges, such as polarization calibration for wide-field imaging, Faraday tomography for wide-band spectro-polarimetry, and maximise the use of the SKA regional centre (SRC) for SKA-scale big data.
            
            Here, we hold a conference to review the current status and future prospects of cosmic magnetism. The conference topics includes:
            • Roles of magnetic fields in astrophysics and cosmology, theory, simulation, and modeling,
            • Continuum, polarimetry, and time-domain observations, from on-going and near future surveys, and
            • Technical development and data reduction/analysis in these research fields.
            The conference will be a collection of keynote invited talks and focused contributed talks. Research-progress reports from young scientists are very welcomed. The conference dates are fixed for 27-31 May 2024. If circumstances do not change, the conference will be held on-site and in-person, mainly for the purpose of encouraging interactions among participants (limited online participation options are also being considered). We plan to announce the registration open and important dates as soon as possible once we confirm the venue and the registration system.
            
            We are very much looking forward to seeing you in Japan in 2024.
            
            Best regards,
            
            Scientific Organizing Committee:
            Takuya Akahori (Chair)
            Aritra Basu
            Shane O’Sullivan
            Chris Riseley
            Keitaro Takahashi
            Tessa Vernstrom
            Aline Vidotto
            Jennifer West
            
            Local Organizing Committee:
            Haruka Sakemi (Chair)
            Shinsuke Ideguchi
            Yuki Kudoh
            Kohei Kurahara
            Mami Machida
            Hiroyuki Nakanishi