The STFC Introductory Course in Solar and Solar -Terrestrial Physics for 2025 will be held at the University of Birmingham from Sunday 31st August to Friday 5th September 2025. The course will be hosted by Dr Oliver Allanson and the SERENE research group in the School of Engineering.

The course is primarily intended for students who have either started their PhD since the last summer school in 2024, or those who will begin their PhD this year in September/October 2025. Additionally there could be students who are in later years of their PhD studies but would still find this course helpful. 

Attendance of the Course is free for STFC-funded students, but we also offer places for non-STFC-funded students at cost. Please visit the below registration forms to register your interest in attending. The deadline for registration is the 25th of July 2025.

Registration includes all meals, the icebreaker on evening of Sunday 31st August, all lectures and summer school sessions, the social dinner and excursion on the afternoon/evening of Wednesday 3rd September.

Note that for the purposes of this form an "STFC student" is one of the following
1. Students with STFC training grants 
2. Students doing STFC-related PhDs who pay their own fees, and are not receiving a stipend
3. CDT students whose funding is at least 50% from STFC and 50% from another source

For STFC-funded students, expenses for valid travel and subsistence items will be claimed from STFC after the summer school according to the following guidance, and provided valid receipts are kept
(https://www.ukri.org/publications/ukri-travel-subsistence-and-expenses-policy/ukri-business-expense-claims-business-travel-and-subsistence-policy/)

STFC-funded PhD Student Registration 

If you are an STFC-funded PhD student please complete the below registration form. 

https://forms.office.com/e/aR78Za75CA 

There are 25 places available for STFC students and they will be awarded on a first-come-first-served basis for all valid applications. 

Non-STFC Student Registration

If you are not an STFC-funded PhD student please complete the below registration form. 

https://forms.office.com/e/q6d7ZQgvhP 

Note that there are 10 places for non-STFC students. These will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis (for valid applications). The standard cost for non-STFC students is £690. This includes all items as described above. 
If you do not require accommodation then this cost is reduced to £315. We request that all payments are made within 2 weeks of your confirmed place.

Some of the 10 places are reserved for students from under-represented groups and/or those students who have no travel funds available through their supervisory team. These students will pay no fee, subject to a decision by the organisers as according to the criteria below and available (limited) funds. If you feel that this applies to you then please explain your circumstances in the text box at the end of the form. 

We will make decisions in light of
1. context provided by the Royal Astronomical Society's Demographic Survey in 2023 (https://ras.ac.uk/ras-policy/community-demographics/demographic-survey-2023)
2. and/or financial need as explained by the applicant

Travel Information

Please visit the following page for information on travelling to the University of Birmingham.

Getting here - Edgbaston Campus - University of Birmingham

Location

The accommodation for the Course is Peter Scott House - Edgbaston Park Hotel and Conference Centre and the Course lecture rooms will be announced in due course.

Timetable 

A preliminary programme is outlined below and the lectures will be delivered by experts in these fields from across the UK.

Sunday 31st August: 

1500 - 1800: Arrival Desk 

1800 onwards: Icebreaker

Monday

0915-1015 : Introduction to Plasma Physics - Oliver Allanson (Birmingham)

1045-1145 : Introduction to the Solar Atmosphere – Lyndsay Fletcher (Glasgow)

1330-1630 : Programming & computing skills – Warrick Ball, University of Birmingham Advanced Research Computing Team

Tuesday

0915-1015 : Introduction to MHD – Anthony Yeates (Durham)

1045-1145 : EDI and Mental Health During Your PhD – Sheila Kanani (Lancaster)

1330-1430 : MHD Waves and Instabilities – Andrew Hillier (Exeter)

1500-1600 : Magnetic Reconnection – Imogen Gingell (Southampton)

Wednesday

0915-1015: The Ionosphere, Thermosphere, and Mesosphere – Ben Reid (Birmingham)

1045-1145 : The Magnetosphere – John Coxon (Northumbria)

1330-1430 : Solar Interior and Helioseismology – Yvonne Elsworth (Birmingham)

Evening: Conference dinner and excursion (Time to be confirmed)

Thursday 

1045-1145 : Impacts of Space Weather – Sean Elvidge (Birmingham)

1330-1430 : CMEs, the Solar Wind and the Heliosphere – Huw Morgan (Aberystwyth)

1500-1600 : The Solar-Terrestrial Interaction - Julia Stawarz (Northumbria)

Friday

0915-1015 : Careers – Ravindra Desai (Warwick) + A N Other(s) TBC

1045-1145 : Planetary Plasma Environments – Beatriz Sanchez-Cano (Leicester)

1330-1430 : Outreach – Michaela Mooney (Leicester)

Organisers:

Dr Oliver Allanson - o.d.allanson@bham.ac.uk 

Hannah Chambers (Administrative support) - h.chambers@bham.ac.uk 

Charlotte Frank (Administrative support) -  c.frank@bham.ac.uk