The third VIRGO-EGO-SIGRAV School on Gravitational Waves is organized by the Virgo Project and the Italian Society of General Relativity and Gravitation (SIGRAV).

The European Gravitational Observatory (EGO) consortium will sponsor the school.

Date and place - The third VIRGO-EGO-SIGRAV School on Gravitational Waves will be held at the European Gravitational Observatory, site of the VIRGO Project in Cascina (PI), Italy, from Monday May 24th to Friday May 28th 2004.

Partecipation - The School is designed to teach young physicists and engineers on gravitational waves their astrophysical sources and on the technologies involved in their detection. The School is open to students searching for a degree thesis argument, to PhD students and to post-docs. The number of participants will be around 40 students.

Accomodation - Participants will be accommodated in hotels in Pisa downtown. A list of hotels is provided. Hotel rooms have to be reserved by the participants themselves. The lodging cost will be paid by the participants.

Language - The working language of the School will be English. There will be no simultaneous translation. Participants should therefore have sufficient understanding of English to enable them to benefit from the School.

Travel - The travel expenses will be paid by the participants themselves. A shuttle bus is provided to reach the Virgo Project site where lessons are held, to reach the restaurant for lunch, and come back to Pisa downtown at the end of lessons, every day. The meeting point in the morning will be communicated.

Insurance - Participants should ensure that they are adequately insured for health and accidents for the duration of the School and during your travel.

Cost - No conference fee is asked. All participants will be provided with lunch and two coffee breaks starting from the morning of May 26th, 2003, and ending in the afternoon of May 30th , 2003, and with the use of the shuttle bus from Pisa downtown to Virgo Project site in Cascina and back. Dinner is not provided, except for a social dinner (the date is to be decided). No reimbursement for travel or other kind of expenses is foreseen.

Financial support - It is expected that funding to cover travel and other expenses will be provided by the student’s institution. However financial support can be asked together with a declaration from the Head/Director of the student’s institution he is not given financial support from his own local sources. A very limited amount of funds can be devoted for supporting travel and/or accommodation.

Application - An application form is enclosed with this Bulletin, or the application form can be downloaded here;

The completed application form, together with a (or more) formal letter(s) of reference from their professor or supervisor, a brief curriculum vitae, and a summary of their present work, should reach the School Secretariat (the Scientific Secretariat) by April 15th , 2004, at the latest. Applications received after this date will not be considered. Admission to the School will be decided by the Organizing and Program Committee and students will be informed of the outcome of their application during April 2003.

Cancellation - In all cases of withdrawal or cancellation, the choice of a replacement, if any, will lie entirely with the Organizing and Program Committee.

Organizing and program committee:



Enquiries and correspondence

Virgo-Ego-Sigrav School c/o EGO – Virgo Project, Via Edoardo Amaldi Loc. S. Stefano a Macerata - 56021 Cascina (PI) Italy
                 Tel.: +39 050 752 325 / 511    Fax: +39 050 752 356    E-mail: virgo-ego-sigrav@ego-gw.it