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Heliophysics is a broad discipline studying the Sun, its sphere of influence, and how it affects the bodies in the solar system – our space environment. Heliophysics is inherently cross-disciplinary, and includes components of solar physics, space plasma physics, ionosphere-thermosphere physics, magnetospheric physics, planetary physics, small body physics, and space weather. The physics of ionized and partially ionised plasmas is common across these components.

Space plasma physicists at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) are playing key roles in a community-building effort to foster strategic coordination, collaboration, and growth within the European Heliophysics Community (EHC). A white paper presenting a vision for the future of Heliophysics in Europe and outlining the initial steps towards establishing the EHC has just been published in Annales Geophysicae.

Dr H. Hietala, Senior Lecturer in Space Plasma Physics at QMUL and one of the authors of the paper, was also interviewed for the blog of the European Geosciences Union (EGU), for her motivation and ambitions in driving Europe's heliophysics efforts.

She said: "Heliophysics is both a science of connections and a science that connects. The EHC embodies this spirit by bringing people together across specialties, career stages, and geographical boundaries."

QMUL Marie Skłodowska-Curie postdoctoral fellow Dr F. Koller gave the first presentation in the new EHC online seminar series HelioMeet on "Connecting Solar Wind Drivers to Heliospheric and Magnetospheric Physics".