The European Space Agency (ESA) and UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) will be opening the 2nd round of HyperGES tomorrow, 1 September 2021. HyperGES is an opportunity to conduct hypergravity experiments with the Large Diameter Centrifuge facility at the ESA. In addition, the programme aims at providing opportunities for scientists and researchers with particular attention to developing countries to conduct their hypergravity experiment series at the LDC facility. The facility is located at ESTEC in Noordwijk, the Netherlands.
The HyperGES fellowship programme is open to research teams from entities in UN member states, particularly developing countries. Each team should consist of one academic supervisor (Team Leader – Prof./PhD, not a student) and several Bachelor, Master and/or PhD students. The proposed experiment must be an integral part of the students’ syllabuses. Thus, it should be part of a Bachelor thesis, a Master thesis, a PhD thesis, or another research project associated with the applicants’ studies at their respective universities.
The final number of team members to participate in the experiment at the LDC facility depends strictly on the requirements of the experiment. Furthermore, the HyperGES Fellowship Programme’s selection board’s approval is a condition precedent; therefore, the Board reserves the right to change or limit the team size if considered necessary. In addition, teams cannot alter their combination once they have submitted their applications. However, If, for exceptional reasons, changes are necessary, they will be subject to the approval of the Selection Board. Additionally, teams that have not previously participated in an experiment at the LDC facility will receive priority. Likewise, research projects that have never been conducted at the LDC facility will also receive priority status.
The applying academic supervisors (Team Leader) will supervise the work of the students. Thus, this person must belong to the same entity as at least one of the students. The organisers expect such a person to endorse the entire application (including the experiment proposal and team composition). The endorsement will be by signing the application. Furthermore, the team lead shall take care of the team’s development process and bear responsibility for the execution of the experiment.
In addition to the endorsement of the application form by the Team Leader, each Team Member must be able to show that they have their respective institutions’ support. The support will be through a Letter of Endorsement from their respective institutions. Consequently, teams shall submit the complete application forms to their institutions when seeking the Letter of Endorsement. Team Members belonging to the same institution may provide one Letter of Endorsement from that institution.
UNOOSA will announce the opportunity tomorrow, Wednesday, 1 September 2021, at 14:45-15:00CEST. The announcement will occur along the margins of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS)’s 64th session. Thus, interested persons can follow the announcement via this link.
In addition, UNOOSA will organise a webinar to explain the programme and how to fill the application form. The webinar will take place on Thursday, 16 September by10:30-12:00CEST and 16:30-18:00CEST. Interested persons can register for the webinar here. Registration to the webinar closes on 15 September at 23:59 UTC. In addition, only persons who register will receive a link to the webinar.
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 and UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) will be opening the 2nd round of HyperGES on 1 September 2021.){kind=link}