Dates and Venue
11–29 May 2026 - Nordita, AlbaNova, Hannes Alfvéns väg 12, 114 19 Stockholm, Sweden
Scope
This interdisciplinary Nordita Scientific Program will bring together world-leading experts in astrophysical and laboratory plasma physics to explore and discuss the synergies among the different research strands and scientific communities.
Due to the breadth of the realm of plasma physics, these communities operate very independently and with limited interaction across discipline borders. However, our common interest in the discovery and understanding of fundamental processes in complex plasma systems offers great opportunities for cross-fertilisation and bi-directional exchange of ideas, as well as the exploration of common themes and concepts.
The central goal of this Scientific Program is to break the community barriers and to open a pathway towards more detailed and larger-scale, synergistic follow-on research projects and collaborations.
Themes and preliminary program schedule
We will have three one-week workshops focusing on three scientific themes that cut across the discipline boundaries in terms of their relevance:
Week 1 (11-15 May): Transition from collisional to collisionless regimes;
Week 2 (18-22 May): Energy conversion through magnetic reconnection; and
Week 3 (25-29 May): Turbulence and wave-particle interactions.
The three Workshops will be back-to-back. Participants are welcome to join the program for one single week, but we encourage attendance to more than one week.
Each week we will have a fixed format, including plenary talks on the four involved disciplines (Monday), individual short, discussion-based contributions (Tuesday), interactive and inter-disciplinary collaboration (Wednesday and Thursday), and consolidation of the discussions and planning for follow-up collaborations and publications (Friday).
Wednesday afternoon will be dedicated to free time and/or social activities (TBD).
Invited speakers
There will be 12 plenary talk, one for each topic/week and per each community. The following list will be updated in the upcoming weeks.
Week 1 (collisions)
Week 2 (reconnection)
- Space: Yuri Khotyaintsev (IRF Uppsala, Sweden)
Week 3 (turbulence and wave-particle interactions)
- Space: Julia Stawarz (Northumbria University, UK)
Accommodation
For suggestions on accommodation possibilities see the Nordita webpage on accommodation here.
Nordita may provide a limited number of rooms at the Stockholm apartment hotel Biz Apartment free of charge for participants that need support (e.g. younger researchers, see below), which will be allocated after application evaluation.
Accommodation for families is possible upon request and depends on availability. No family rooms have been booked in advance.
Travel and accommodation support
There will be a (very) limited number of partial or full travel grants available, mostly intended for PhD students and young Postdoc fellows. If you are interested in such a support, please contact the organizers, and provide a rough estimate of your expenses (travel and/or accommodation).
Application/Registration
If you want to participate in the program, please fill in the registration/application form.
Registration deadline to be considered for on-site participation will be April 5, 2026. Registrants will receive a participation confirmation from the organizers after this date.
There is no registration fee.
Organizing Committee
Luca Sorriso-Valvo (CNR/ISTP, Bari, Italy, and KTH, Stockholm, Sweden)
Sanja Danilovic (Stockholm University, Sweden)
Fatima Ebrahimi (Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, USA)
Aurora Simionescu (Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Leiden, Netherlands)
Daniel Verscharen (MSSL, University College, London, UK)
Matteo Zuin (CNR/ISTP and Consorzio RFX, Padova, Italy)
Sponsored by:
