IBERIAN COSMOLOGY MEETING (II)

U. País Vasco, Bilbao, 13-14th April 2007 




 
  This is the second -- the first took place in Porto and was a great success  thanks to Carlos Martins -- in a series of meetings which aim to encourage interactions and collaborations between researchers working in Cosmology and related areas (Particle Physics and Astronomy) in Portugal and Spain. Portuguese and Spanish researchers working abroad will also be most welcome. At each meeting the local organizers should secure sufficient funds to help cover the expenses of the participants, particularly the students and those travelling from another country. 

The format of the meetings is broadly inspired by the highly successful UK cosmology meetings, which have been running for more than a decade, and the Journees des Lacs Alpins held in the French and Swiss Alps. The meetings are informal, and there is no registration fee. There are also no invited speakers. All participants wishing to speak can do so, by naming a topic when they register. Should there be excessive demand, preference will be given to younger participants. Blackboard talks are encouraged, but not compulsory. All the time slots are of equal length (typically 20 to 30 minutes), and there are also no parallel sessions or posters. The local organizer of each workshop will be in charge of setting up the program. In addition to the talks there can also be time for guided discussions, particularly if there are several requests for talks on a common 'hot' topic.

Unlike most conferences and workshops, where speakers typically present finished pieces of work, these meetings are designed to encourage the presentation of work in progress (or even being started or planned). In this way the opportunities for constructive feedback and suggestions are enhanced, and in the long term this will lead to the development of productive synergies and collaborations. In this same spirit the meetings will not be restricted to a single focused topic, but are open to cosmologists in the broadest sense, from theoretical particle physics to observational astrophysics. Stimulating interactions between theorists and observers is a particular concern of the organizers, and will be the key factor for the success of the meetings.

This second Meeting will take place in Bilbao, Spain, in April 2007. It is piggy-backed on the wider BICOS meeting, see the web page: http://www.ehu.es/bicos/  whose organisers have kindly offered us the infrastructure for the organization of our 2nd Iberian Cosmology Meeting right after BICOS. I urge you to register there as soon as possible in order to ensure financial support. This year the funds are scarce and we will work on a first come first served basis.

It is envisaged that in the future there will be an average of two such meetings per year (broadly speaking in the winter and summer), which will be organized in rotation by the various participating institutions. Occasionally these meetings can also be organized simultaneously with relevant international conferences being held in Spain or Portugal, or with meetings of the respective national Astronomical or Physical Societies.

It is also possible that other countries in the Mediterranean area, like Morocco, Italy or Greece, might wish to join these Cosmology Meetings by offering themselves as hosts of one of them. We encourage participants to think about all these possibilities and bring new ideas into discussion next Meeting in Bilbao.



List of participants and Programme
                                                                             

Organising Committee


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