National Astronomy Meeting

National Astronomy Meeting
Simon White addressing the 2012 National Astronomy Meeting
Genre	Academic conference
Frequency	Annual
Venue	Varies, usually within the British Isles
Years active	68
Inaugurated	1948 (1948)
Previous event	July 2015, Venue Cymru
Next event	June 2016, University of Nottingham[1]
Participants	approx. 600
Activity	Astronomy, solar physics and related fields
Organised by	Royal Astronomical Society
Website
www.ras.org.uk/events-and-meetings/ras-meetings

The National Astronomy Meeting (NAM) is an annual scientific conference of astronomers, usually held in the British Isles. It is sponsored and coordinated by the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), and functions as the primary annual meeting of the society. NAM is one of the largest professional astronomy conferences in Europe,^[2] with typically around 600 delegates attending.^[3]

The meetings began when the RAS decided to hold some of its scientific meetings outside London, where the society is based. The first such 'out of town' meeting was held in 1948. The meetings ran in most years until 1966, when the series was discontinued.^{[note 1]} It was resurrected in 1976 and has been held every year since (except 2000).^[4] They assumed the National Astronomy Meeting name during the 1990s.

Each NAM includes a variety of plenary and parallel sessions discussing the latest research in astronomy (and related fields), public lectures, community sessions and a press office to promote the results presented at the meeting to journalists and the public.^[3]

History

The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) was formed in 1820, and from the very beginning one of its major activities was to host scientific meetings. Typically eight meetings each year were held at its headquarters in London. The growth of astronomical research throughout the UK and concurrent increase in the number of Fellows beyond the London area lead to a demand for meetings outside the capital. Although occasional meetings were held in other locations to mark special occasions, no regular programme of meetings outside London was instituted until after the major disruption to RAS activities caused by the Second World War.

The solution was to move one of the society's meetings outside London each year, terming them 'out of town' meetings. The first of these was held in Edinburgh in 1948.^[4] There was reluctance to move any of the regular eight annual meetings, which ran from October to May, so the 'out of town' meetings were held as an additional ninth meeting during the summer break. They were held in the summer or early autumn in most years until 1966, when the RAS Council decided to stop asking groups to host them.^[4] The subsequent lack of meetings outside London^{[note 1]} was unpopular with Fellows, so the meetings were reintroduced in 1976, but moved to April.^[4] They replaced the usual monthly RAS meeting for that month,^[5] and were usually held during universities' Easter holidays.

The meetings were originally held over a single day, but during the 1960s some lasted three days.^[4] They were expanded to four days during the 1990s, at the same time as being renamed "National Astronomy Meeting" (NAM).^[6] The meetings continued to be held around Easter until 2012; from 2013 NAM has been held in late June or early July.^[5]

Attendance is typically around 600, but the 2009 event (which was combined with the annual meeting of the European Astronomical Society) drew a record of 1100 delegates.^[7]

Format

The meeting normally consists of:^[3][2]

• Plenary talks every day on topics of broad interest to astronomy.
• Parallel sessions on specialised areas of research every day, with several running concurrently. Fellows of the RAS can propose topics for the sessions held at each meeting, in exchange for the proposer chairing the session.
• The annual meetings of the UK Solar Physics (UKSP) and Magnetosphere Ionosphere and Solar-Terrestrial physics group (MIST), usually running as parallel sessions.
• A 'town hall meeting' to discuss science policy and funding issues with the Royal Astronomical Society, STFC and the UK Space Agency.
• Public lectures aimed at local members of the public.
• Presentations of the annual awards of the Royal Astronomical Society.
• A 'teachers day' for school and/or university educators.
• Various community discussion sessions or networking lunches on topics such as careers, diversity etc.
• A social programme for delegates, including a formal conference dinner.
• A press office and media relations team for journalists.

Meetings are usually held in a UK university or research institute active in astronomy, who organise and host the meeting.^[3] The RAS provides financial sponsorship, advertising, media relations etc. and run some sessions within the meeting.^[3] However in some recent years (e.g. 2011, 2015) the RAS has taken on the full organisation of the whole meeting itself, which is then held at a conference centre rather than a university.

Meetings

See also

• General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union

Notes & references

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Notes

References