January 17th, 2024 – The second MASS Winter School “From Stars to Cosmic Explosions: Bridging Scales in Astrophysical Data Analysys” is hosted this week, 15th to 19th January, 2024 by the Physics Department of the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”. The school features several hands-on sessions on the application of differing techniques for the analysis of a variety of astrophysical data. MASS students from both ongoing editions are present and special sessions are dedicated to Edition-1-student presentations of their ongoing projects. Two alumnae of the EMJMD AstroMundus are participating as invited speakers. MASS 2nd Winter School program.

October 17th, 2023 – The Call for Applications for admission to the third edition of the MASS master course (starting in September 2024) opens on October 17th, 2023. Applications must be submitted through this website (see the Application menu). The application deadline is February 15th, 2024 at 23:59 CET (UTC+1). Reference letters must be uploaded directly by recommenders upon receipt of the email invitation during the period November 20th, 2023 – February 22nd, 2024.

September 22nd, 2023 – The official Welcome Days of the second MASS course edition will be hosted by the University of Rome “Tor Vergata” at Villa Mondragone on September 25th and 26th, 2023 and at the Physics Department on September 27th, 2023. Representatives of all MASS Consortium Universities will welcome the new batch of students, will introduce the main research fields of the Consortium in connection with the MASS course offer and are looking forward to the short presentations with which the incoming MASS students will introduce themselves. MASS Edition-2 Welcome Days program.

July 16th, 2023 – The first MASS Summer School will be hosted by the University of Bremen from 17th to 21st July, 2023. It will focus on the “Foundations and Applications of General Relativity” and will include visits to the space and technology company OHB, the German Aerospace Center DLR and the Center for Applied Space Technology and Microgravity ZARM. The preliminary program is available here.

May 22nd, 2023 – An Agreement between the Physics Department of the University of Rome “Tor Vergata” and the Italian Space Agency (ASI) has been closed. In the framework of this agreement, ASI will finance a full scholarship, equivalent to an EMJM scholarship, for each of the forthcoming MASS editions, Editions 2, 3 and 4. The ASI scholarship for Edition 2 has been awarded to the highest ranked reserve-list candidate. In addition, ASI will make available each year a few internship / summer project positions for MASS students.

April 24th, 2023 – The student selection for MASS 2nd Edition has been finalized. Out of a total of 289 applications, 173 fulfilled the general eligibility criteria and were evaluated by the MASS Selection Committee. As a result, 58 applicants were selected for admission. Scholarships were offered to the 23 highest ranked applicants (main list). The remaining candidates were placed in a reserve list, the top 5 of which were offered a Fee Waiver. Main list, reserve list and non-selected applicants were notified via email.  Applicants whose applications did not fulfill the general eligibility criteria will be informed via email, too.

April 3rd, 2023 – The student selection process is currently ongoing for the 2023 course edition of MASS. In total, 289 applications have been received. Because of the large number of applications, the outcome of the selection will become available in the second half of April 2023, about two weeks later than originally expected.

March 5th, 2023 – The 2023 application period is now closed. Applications for admission to the second edition of the MASS master course (starting in September 2023) were accepted until March 3rd , 2023. The outcome of the student selection is expected to be known in the first week of April, 2023. A new call for applications will be issued in autumn 2023 for the course starting in September 2024.

January 19th, 2022The first MASS Winter School took place in Rome with a focus on Astrostatistics and Big Data Approaches from 16th to 18th January, 2022. The first two days of the school were hosted by the Italian Space Agency and featured lectures on the use of data from state-of-the-art and upcoming facilities across various Astrophysics and Space Science research areas. The final day was hosted by the Physics Department of the University of Rome “Tor Vergata” and was dedicated to hands-on sessions on the application of data analysis techniques. MASS 1st Winter School program.

December 22nd, 2022 – The Call for Applications for admission to the second edition of the MASS master course (starting in September 2023) opens on December 22nd, 2022. Applications must be submitted through this website (see the Application menu). The application deadline is March 3rd, 2023 at 23:59 CET (UTC+1).

October 1st, 2022Edition-1 Welcome Days took place on September 28th – 30th at Villa Mondragone in Frascati with the participation of representatives of all MASS Consortium Universities. Students were welcomed by the Rectors/Presidents of the four Universities, the Director of the Physics Department of the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, the Project Officer at EACEA and the Program Coordinator. Two alumni from the AstroMundus program were invited to talk about their experience as former Erasmus Mundus students. Edition-1 students gave short presentations to introduce themselves. Presentations were given by all Partners and there was ample time for questions and informal discussions.  MASS Edition-1 Welcome Days program.

May 17th, 2022Extension of limiting date for eligible applicants to obtain their Bachelor’s degree: applications for admission to the first edition of the MASS master course can be accepted from applicants who obtain a Bachelor’s (or equivalent) degree at latest by June 6th, 2022, i.e. before the application deadline.  

April 4th, 2022 – The Call for Applications for admission to the first edition of the MASS master course (starting in September 2022) opens on April 4th, 2022. Applications must be submitted through this website. The application deadline is June 6th, 2022 at 23:59 CEST (UTC+2).

January 24th, 2022 – The kick-off meeting between the Consortium Partners marked the official start of the MASS program.

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