Khagol issue_116

SITARE: Introductory Workshop on Astrophysics Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University (PRSU), Raipur SITARE (Southampton IUCAA Training for Astronomical Research and Education): Introductory Workshop on Astrophysics was organized at the School of Studies in Physics and Astrophysics, Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University (PRSU), Raipur, in association with IUCAA and the University of Southampton (UoS), UK, during August 17 - 19, 2018. Theworkshopwas sponsored and funded by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), UK. The objective was to motivate enthusiastic students to pursue research career in Astronomy and Astrophysics, and the plan was to arrange workshops at various places in India and Nepal, and to select ten promising students from each workshop for an advanced workshop at IUCAA in January 2019. Further, the selected students will get the opportunity to visit UoS for a short period. The programme became very popular at the beginning itself. There were 170 outstation applicants, out of which, 60 were selected representing different parts of India. In addition to this, there were 90 local participants from PRSU. The resource persons were: Poshak Gandhi (UoS), Gulab Chand Dewangan, Ranjeev Misra, Sonali Sachdeva (all from IUCAA), Sudhanshu Barway (IIA, Bengaluru), Nand K. Chakradhari, Laxmi Kant Chaware, and S.K. Pandey (all from PRSU). The programme covered a broad area in Astrophysics, starting from very basics like, Physics of Stars to Galaxies, Virtual Observatories and to the advanced topics like, Black Holes, Relativistic Jets, Accretion Disc, and Radiative Processes inAstrophysics.Apart from the lectures, therewere question-answer, and general discussion sessions. At the end of every lecture and various sessions, there were enough interactions between the lecturers andparticipants. The contents of the workshop were very much to the tune of the participants. Below are a few lines from the feedback by one of the participants: "The SITARE workshop was very helpful for me. I express my gratitude for organizing the workshop. I definitely got clues on where to go and what research topics to focus on, thanks to the talks and discussions, with lecturers and other students during the workshop. I felt that the workshop was beneficial for me, as it openedmy eyes to the different fields available and has given enough materials to think regarding my career plans”, Chittatosh Karewar (Central University of Karnataka, Kalaburagi). In summary, the SITARE workshop was very successful. Ajit Kembhavi, RanjeevMisra, and S.K. Pandeywere the coordinators. | KHAG L | No. 116 - OCTOBER 2018 | 09