EASN Newsletter - August 2020

EASN Newsletter - August 2020

August 31st, 2020

The second EASN periodic Newsletter for 2020 is now published.

Before giving a brief overview on this second EASN periodic Newsletter for 2020, please allow me to share with you some thoughts on the ongoing pandemic crisis. First of all, I hope that you and your families have made it well through this difficult lockdown period, which has dramatically turned our ways of life upside down. Universities had to close their doors and many of us have experienced the first virtual semester in their lives. We have progressively learned how to make best use of digital tools in this context, but miss the direct contact and exchange with colleagues and students. The global airline industry, and with it the whole aviation sector, currently is facing the most severe cutback in its history. The economic impact is huge and this will not least also affect our research agenda in the coming months if not years. One of the challenges will be to further mitigate the disruption to our activities, such as teaching, research projects and conferences.


Soon after the outbreak of the pandemic we had to decide to turn our 10th EASN International Conference, initially planned to take place in sunny Salerno in the first week of September, into a fully virtual event which will take place from the 2nd until the 4th of September. The conference has attracted about 350 participants and I would like to seize the opportunity to cordially thank all those who have contributed in making this virtual gathering a success. As we are now only a couple of days before this major event of our Association for this year, this edition contains the final agenda and latest updates regarding the forthcoming 10th EASN International Conference. In particular the final agenda includes 9 Keynote Lectures, to be provided by distinguished personalities of the European Aeronautics and Space Community, as well as 323 technical presentations distributed in approximately 47 sessions.


This second issue of the EASN Newsletter for 2020 also contains two very interesting and exploratory interviews with two of the keynote speakers of the 10th EASN International Conference: The first interview is given by the Executive Director of Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU), Mr. Bart Biebuyck who introduces his views regarding the challenges and the scopes of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU) as well as his perspective regarding the role of Academia in the frame of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking. The second interview is given by the Policy Officer in the Space research, innovation and start-ups of DG Defence Industry and Space (DEFIS), Dr. Remy Denos, who describes the objectives and challenges of the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) for Space as well as his perspective regarding the involvement of Academia in shaping SRIA for Space research and its prospective role on implementing SRIA.


As usually, also this issue disseminates the latest achievements and results of several EU-funded research projects and informs about the latest news of members of the EASN Association. The second EASN periodic Newsletter for 2020 is available for online viewing here.


On behalf of the EASN B.o.D.

Prof. Andreas Strohmayer

EASN Chairman