I got this – an example of what my Dad used to call a “Stiff Ticket” – via email today.
I suppose I’m supposed to show it to my superiors to prove that I wasn’t just on holiday in Cork last week. I think I’ll print it out and put in on the wall of my office, alongside the certificate for my Cycling Proficiency Award (Bronze).
I’m on an early-morning train from Cork to Dublin, missing the final day of EAS 2025. I’d like to thank the organisers and all the contributors for an extremely successful meeting. I’m looking forward to EAS 2026, which will be held in Lausanne (Switzerland).
Yesterday was another busy day, during which I attended – among other things – sessions on gravitational lensing and a plenary talk by Andy Fabian. The latter event reminded me that in my final year as an undergraduate I took a “Minor Option” on High-Energy Astrophysics lectured by Andy Fabian. That was 40 years ago…
After the scientific programme for the day was over, participants were bussed to Páirc Ui Chaoimh, Cork’s main GAA Stadium, for the conference dinner. Some of the participants had the chance to try their hands at hurling before the food.
After the food, there was traditional Irish music, with the audience joining in the singing and dancing. A good time was had by all.
Incidentally, Cork play Dublin next weekend in the semi-finals of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship. To the surprise of many, Dublin knocked out Limerick in the quarter-finals. The other semi-final is between Kilkenny and Tipperary. Those people who attempted to put hurley to sliotar last night will be even more amazed at the level skill on display in those games.
I spent most of today at the EAS 2025 sessions about Euclid. These were mainly about the Q1 data release I blogged about here, although there were some talks about what to expect about the first full data release (DR1), which is due towards the end of next year (2026), before I retire.
There were three Euclid sessions, one in the morning and two in the afternoon; I’m writing this during the last of these.
I was reminded this morning that the word “plenary” is derived from the Latin plenus, meaning “full”. This explains why there are no free seats for the plenary session, so I had to watch the stream in one of the overflow theatres.
I also attended a lunchtime session about the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO). This was interesting, though the first full data release from SKAO will not happen until after I’ve retired.
And, to end the day, I’m at a reception and meeting of SKA Ireland, a group campaigning for Ireland to join the SKAO.. There’s win.
Today was my first day at EAS 2025 on the nice campus of University College Cork. I managed to register before the first session and found my way around what is clearly a very well organised meeting. They have a very useful app to help attendees navigate both space and time.
I spent a large part of today at a session about the future of scientific publishing, which was split in two, either side of the morning’s plenary. The first half started with a talk by Selina La Barbera, a representative of EDP Sciences, the publisher of the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics:
It also featured a talk by João Alves, Letters Editor of Astronomy and Astrophysics, and Uta Grothkopf, librarian of the European Southern Observatory. The last talk was full of insights and information. The Q&A was very lively. I was expecting that I might be the one to inject some controversy into the discussion, but I didn’t need to. Issues about the cost of APCs, etc, were raised by others before I got the chance.
Before the plenary, there was time for a group photograph of staff and students from Maynooth:
The highlight of the plenary was seeing Licia Verde collect the Jocelyn Bell Burnell Medal on behalf of arXiv, together with Ralph Wijers. They both gave interesting presentations about arXiv too.
Back in the special session about publishing, I participated in a panel discussion, which was very lively. On a Zoom call last week in preparation for this, we were a bit worried that not many people would take part, but in the event the room was full and many people asked questions, including many about OJAp, and the discussion went on outside after the session was finished. I think it was a very successful session.
Now that the session I was directly involved in is over, I can relax a bit and be free tomorrow to attend more science sessions, including a couple about Euclid…
Tomorrow I’ll be travelling to the fine city of Cork, where I shall be for most of next week, attending the 2025 Annual Meeting of the European Astronomical Society I was planing to travel today, but I have some things to attend to at home tomorrow morning so I won’t get to Cork until late afternoon.
The EAS Annual Meeting is a very large meeting with well over a thousand participants expected. It is held each year in a different European city but, according to tradition, never a capital. Last year it was in Padova (Italy) and the year before that in Kraków (Poland).
I usually enjoy smaller-scale meetings and workshops over these mega-conferences, but I’m looking forward to this one. There will be a strong Maynooth contingent there but I also hope to see some old friends from elsewhere, as well as catching up on some exciting science results.
Talking of science, I am on the Scientific Organizing Committee for this meeting. The programme is very large and diverse and there were a few headaches on the way, but nothing compared to the logistical challenges facing the local organizers; they will probably reach peak stress levels ahead of the opening of the meeting, but I’m sure everything will go well. The Irish National Astronomy Meeting (INAM) was actually held in Cork in 2023. Although a much smaller meeting than EAS, the experience of running that will probably have helped the organizers.
I’m not actually giving a talk at EAS but I will be participating in a panel discussion in a special session on The Future of Scientific Publishing: Strategies and Challenges for Astronomy on Tuesday 24th June. When I saw the initial announcement for this special session, I was was concerned that it would be entirely dominated by representatives of the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics and their publisher EDP Sciences. The first session (9.00 to 10.30) titled “SCIENCE PUBLISHING TODAY AND TOMORROW” is still like that, but the panel discussion in the second session (13.15 to 14.45) “SCIENCE PUBLISHING: A COMMUNITY’S VIEW” is a bit more balanced than that, with a representatives of NASA/ADS and the European Southern Observatory (among others). If I’m given an opportunity to get a word in, I’ll be arguing that traditional journals are unnecessary and obsolete.
In the Dark 