Three million euros to train future researchers in Space Weather and Solar Physics

Eight European universities and companies have come together to create a unique PhD programme in Space Weather in Europe, as part of the SWANET - Space Weather Awareness Training Network - project, which has just received three million euros in funding from the H2020 (Marie Sklodowska-Curie Innovative Training Newtworks) programme.

The University of Coimbra (UC) is the Portuguese higher education institution involved in the consortium, through the Departments of Physics (DF) and Mathematics (DM) and the Earth and Space Research Centre (CITEUC) of the Faculty of Sciences and Technology (FCTUC).

The 4-year SWANET programme will focus on training the next generation of researchers in space weather and solar physics, combining research and knowledge transfer for the benefit of society, taking into account that space weather has a strong impact on economic sectors such as aviation, GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems) signals, electrical networks, among others.

The young researchers will follow a doctoral programme at the university to which they apply, but the research for the doctoral thesis will include exchanges between the universities and the companies involved in the consortium.

In addition to participating in the doctoral programme, the FCTUC team will also be responsible for "developing new methods of solar activity analysis that can be used to monitor solar activity, which can benefit certain economic sectors," says Teresa Barata, coordinator of the project in Portugal.

The researcher from the Earth and Space Research Centre of the FCTUC stresses that "for about eight years, our research has focused on space weather and its impact on society. This research is obviously a consequence of UC's vast collection of solar and magnetic observations. This is a new area of research, especially in Portugal, and this project is of great importance to us, not only because we will have funding for young researchers to attend a UC doctoral programme, but also because it allows us, as researchers, to integrate a team of scientists of international merit".

In addition to the University of Coimbra, the consortium includes the Universities of Helsinki and Turku in Finland, the University of Eotvos Lorand in Hungary, the University of Leuven in Belgium, the University of Di Roma Tor Vergata in Italy, the Marie Curie University in Poland and the Academy of Athens in Greece. The Portuguese company involved in the consortium is the technology company "Present Technologies" (https://www.present-technologies.com/).

^{Translation by Diana Taborda}