CEDAR email: Meeting Announcement: COSPAr-IRI-2024 Workshop in Kenya, Sep 2-13, 2024

[Dieter Bilitza]

MEETING: IRI-2024 a COSPAR Capacity-Building Workshop, Pwani University, Kilifi, Kenya, September 2-13, 2024.

From: Dieter Bilitza <dbilitza at gmu.edu> and Joseph Olwendo <j.olwendo at pu.ac.ke>

The 2024 International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) Workshop will take place in Kilifi, Kenya from September 2 to 13, 2024. The 2-week workshop is supported under the COSPAR Capacity-Building Workshop program and consists of student-oriented lectures and tutorials during the first week followed by the IRI science meeting in the second week. The first week activities will introduce graduate students and young researchers to the basics of ionospheric monitoring and modeling and related online resources. The students will work on specific modeling problems in small groups and report their results at the end of the second week to the full IRI workshop audience. The second week (9-13 September) will be organized as a regular IRI workshop with oral and poster presentations on the topic of ‘Modeling the Ionosphere over Africa and Improvements of the International Reference Ionosphere’. Presentations on general IRI-related topics are also welcome including new data sources and improvements and new additions for the IRI model. Of special interest are applications of the IRI model in all areas of technology, science and education. 

Kilifi is located on the Indian ocean coast (Pwani is Swahili for Coast) between the bigger cities of Mombasa (2nd largest in Kenya) in the South and Malindi in the North. The workshop participants can either fly directly to Mombasa from European hubs or via Nairobi. There are flights with Kenyan Airways almost every hour from Narobi to Mombasa. The LOC will work with a local company to arrange the pick-up of participants from the Mombasa airport once or twice a day. The drive to Kilifi is about 1.5 hours.

The workshop is supported by COSPAR, the Kenya Space Agency (KSA), Pwani University, URSI, and SCOSTEP. Organizing Committee: Joseph Olwendo (Pwani University), Andrew Nyawade (Kenya Space Agency), Dieter Bilitza (George Mason University), Paul Baki (Technical University, Nairobi), Antony Kiroe (Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya), John Bosco Habarulema (South African National Space Agency), Rose Gigathi (Pwani University), Makhoha Were (Kenya Space Agency).
DEADLINE for submission of ABSTRACTS is May 15, 2024.

Students and Young Researchers are encouraged to apply for financial support. Living expenses and partial travel support will be provided for up to 35 competitively selected students and young researchers. DEADLINE for FINANCIAL SUPPORT APPLICATIONS is April 30, 2024.
The workshop website is at https://iri2024.pu.ac.ke/sources/. If you have questions, please contact Dieter Bilitza <dbilitza at gmu.edu> or Joseph Olwendo <j.olwendo at pu.ac.ke>.
The IRI homepage is at http://irimodel.org.