On 4th October, another meeting of the BoT of the EST Foundation was held. During this meeting, the requests from the Portuguese Space Agency and the University of Oslo to participate as observers on the Foundation's Board were approved.
Official logos of the University of Oslo and the Portuguese Space Agency
In a letter of intent addressed to Manuel Collados, president of the EST Foundation, the University of Oslo, through its Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (ITA), and the Portuguese Space Agency expressed their interest in joining the Foundation as observers. Both institutions highlight the benefits that such collaboration would bring to their scientific communities and leave open the possibility of applying for full membership in the future. These entities will be able to attend the meetings of the Board of Trustees to stay informed of the project's progress and developments, although they will not have voting rights like founding members.
ITA is already a member of the European Association for Solar Telescopes (EAST), with Mats Carlsson, professor at ITA since 1993, serving as its president. Moreover, ITA is also part of the EST consortium and has participated in all EU-funded EST projects to date. ITA was previously a member of the EST Board of Directors, a body that was dissolved at the conclusion of the PRE-EST project to make way for the EST Foundation Board of Trustees.
Similarly, the Portuguese Space Agency, which was also part of the former EST Board of Directors, has demonstrated a continued interest in the European Solar Telescope, driven primarily by the project's scientific value. The Agency will periodically assess its position with regard to a future full membership request.
During the meeting, the names of the representatives chosen by each institution to attend the BoT meetings were also announced. The University of Oslo will be represented by Luc Rouppe van der Voort, professor at ITA whose professional career is closely linked to high-resolution observations of the solar atmosphere from both ground- and space-based observatories. The Portuguese Space Agency will be represented at the BoT meetings by Marta Gonçalves, Science and Education officer at the Agency who has contributed to initiatives such as the European Rocketry Challenge and Astronaut for a Day.
The EST Foundation, formed by 10 research institutions from 8 different countries, was created in 2023 and sets an appropriate framework for the development of EST and the legal entity that will be responsible for the construction and operation of the telescope.
EST Foundation members: https://est-east.eu/institutions