The ESO research studentship programme provides an outstanding opportunity for PhD students to experience the exciting scientific environment at one of the world's leading observatories for a period of up to two years.

The deadline for proposal submission for Period 102 (1 October 2018 - 1 April 2019) was 28 March, 2018. 916 valid proposals were submitted, including 23 Large Programmes, of which four are GTO Large Programmes. The number of proposals for P102 is very similar to that of Periods 91 (893), 92 (892), 93 (898), 94 (901), 98 (901), 99 (887), 100 (895) and 101 (899). This confirms the levelling off observed after the peak of Periods 95 (934), 96 (960) and 97 (1024).

Warsaw University Library, Warsaw, Poland, 3–7 September 2018

The era of Gaia-enabled revolutions in almost all areas of astrophysics has started. In particular, and crucially, Gaia's exquisite astrometry and photometry combined with data from other large stellar surveys (ground- and space-based) will allow major progress in our understanding of stellar physics. The workshop will focus on the advances in our understanding of stellar physical processes made possible by combining the astrometry and photometry of Gaia with data from other large photometric, spectroscopic, and asteroseismic stellar surveys. Asteroseismology, in particular, has been essential to probe the interiors of stars. These combined data will permit detailed studies of stellar physics to a level that is unprecedented in the history of stellar astrophysics. More details are available on the workshop page or by email. The registration and abstract submission deadline has recently been extended to 5 May 2018.

The ESO Telescope Bibliography, telbib, connects ESO data papers with observations in the Science Archive and provides a variety of publication statistics. Search results can be visualised in various ways, resulting in "on-the-fly" graphs. In addition, telbib also provides a set of predefined charts. Following requests from telbib users, the underlying data tables of all charts are now also available for download via the web. This new download option gives users more flexibility to process data according to their needs. Note that all telbib charts are interactive and the data exported into CSV or XLS tables will correspond to the selection made by the user.

A data release has been published containing science data products from all science observations using the VIMOS instrument in imaging mode, from the beginning of regular operations in April 2003 until August 2015. The remaining data will be added in the near future. All image products were produced at the observing block level and no attempt was made to stack data between observing blocks. The image products come with a variance map that was propagated through the complete reduction cycle. These science products are now published via the ESO Science Archive Facility.

The Eclipsing Reflection Effect Binaries from the OGLE Survey (EREBOS) project investigates the interaction of low-mass and sub-stellar companions of low-mass stars (Large Programme 196.D-0214, PI Veronika Schaffenroth). Several post-common envelope eclipsing binaries, with a hot sub-dwarf primary and a cool low mass companion were selected using the photometric results of the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE) and observed with FORS2 in long-slit mode.

The Call for Proposals for observations at ESO telescopes in Period 102 (1 October 2018 – 31 March 2019) has been released. Please consult the Period 102 document for the main news items and policies related to applying for time on ESO telescopes. All technical information about the offered instruments and facilities is contained on ESO webpages that are linked from the Call. The proposal submission deadline is 12:00 CEST 28 March 2018.

Starting from Period 104, Large Programmes will only be offered in even periods, i.e., periods with a proposal submission deadline in March or April. ESO encourages the community to submit Large Programmes that do not extend over a number of periods larger than that required scientifically. From Period 104 onwards, ESO will strive to execute Large Programmes over shorter periods of time (aiming at two semesters by default) while maintaining the ceiling set by Council of the observing time allocated to Large Programmes (i.e., 30% of the available time on the VLT/VLTI). These measures follow the recommendations of ESO's Time Allocation Working Group, reviewed by the Scientific Technical Committee and Users Committee, and aim to increase the scientific impact of ESO's telescopes.

Science workshops are an essential component of ESO's programmes and represent a unique opportunity to promote and foster ideas and collaborations within the scientific community. Every year, through the Directorate for Science, ESO provides support and funding to organise two workshops in Santiago and four in Garching, as well as co-funding some external workshops (see ESO Workshops calendar).

A new Call has been issued inviting community astronomers to team up with ESO staff and fellows in Chile and/or in Germany to submit proposals for ESO workshops to be held in 2019. Note that ESO has recently implemented a Code of Conduct for Workshops and Conferences, which applies to all meetings held at ESO premises. ESO-funded workshops that are held outside ESO premises are required to adopt their own codes of conduct.

The Users Committee (UC) represents ESO's astronomical community at large and acts as an advisory body to the ESO Director General on matters related to the performance, scientific access, operation and user interfaces to the La Silla Paranal Observatory and ALMA. The annual meeting of the UC is scheduled at ESO Headquarters on 26-27 April 2018. During the UC meeting updates from ESO and feedback from the user community are exchanged and openly discussed. Each year, the UC meeting has one session dedicated to a special topic – in 2018 the special topic is the future of ALMA User Support.