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Header image showing the group picture of the first ever ISSI Workshop in 1995 with Eberhard Möbius, and superposed an image of him again 31 years later together with Emma Davies.

The first ever ISSI Workshop (on the left; can you spot the younger Prof. Möbius?) and a more recent image of Professor Eberhard Möbius and first-time ISSI attendant Dr Emma Davies, 31 years later.

Published: 21 January 2026

From First Steps to New Frontiers

by Fabio Crameri

Highlights

Workshop Report

Heliophysics

ISSI

Heliosphere

Science Across Generations at ISSI

When the International Space Science Institute (ISSI) hosted its very first workshop in 1995, cross-disciplinary international collaboration was far less commonplace. Yet, heliospheric science was already thriving, and among the participants was a young scientist named Eberhard Möbius. Nearly three decades later, as ISSI hosts the workshop “Multi-Spacecraft Observations and their Importance for Understanding Particle Dynamics in the Inner Heliosphere”, Möbius is back — this time alongside Dr Emma Davies, a first-time ISSI participant representing the next generation of space scientists.

Their shared presence offers a natural bridge between the past and the future of space science. It is a living example of how careers, ideas, and collaborations evolve shaped by the ISSI ecosystem.

A workshop built for a multi-mission era

This year’s ISSI Workshop focuses on one of the central challenges of modern heliophysics: understanding particle dynamics in the inner heliosphere using multi-spacecraft observations. With missions such as Parker Solar Probe, Solar Orbiter, and a range of near-Earth spacecraft operating simultaneously, scientists now have unprecedented opportunities, and challenges, in combining in-situ measurements across different locations, timescales, and instruments.

The workshop participants are tackling questions such as how energetic particles are accelerated and transported, how solar transients evolve as they propagate through interplanetary space, and how coordinated observations can improve both fundamental understanding and space-weather forecasting. The discussions deliberately span disciplines, bringing together experts in plasma physics, solar physics, particle instrumentation, modelling, and space weather applications: exactly the kind of cross-fertilisation ISSI was created to foster.

A career shaped by collaboration

For Professor emeritus Eberhard Möbius (University of New Hampshire), ISSI is not just a venue but a constant companion throughout his career. He participated in ISSI’s very first workshop in 1995 together with Johannes Geiss, the founding father of ISSI. A moment captured in a team photo showing, as Möbius jokes, “significantly less white hair”.

Since then, he has led two ISSI International Teams, held a sabbatical at ISSI, and returned for multiple visiting scientist stays. His own career path mirrors ISSI’s international spirit: beginning in Bochum, Germany, moving to the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in 1978, and then, after a family discussion weighing life in Europe versus the US, relocating to the University of New Hampshire in 1990.

Across the pond but not off the table, Möbius continued long-standing collaborations with Johannes Geiss and colleagues around the world that began in the mid 1980s, bridging heliospheric physics and astrophysics. Over the past 30 years, he has witnessed — and helped drive — progress in understanding the heliosphere, the interstellar medium, and the interconnected shields formed by the heliosphere, Earth’s magnetosphere, and the atmosphere.

Today, his work within the IMAP mission (and passion for it: he is wearing an IMAP-branded shirt) continues to address fundamental questions about where we come from and how cosmic radiation has shaped Earth’s history. These are questions that now sit alongside the growing societal importance of space weather, as modern technological systems vulnerable to solar storms become ever more present.

Asked about his favourite part of ISSI, Möbius does not hesitate: the coffee machine. It is there, he says, that conversations begun in the Johannes Geiss Meeting Room are refined, challenged, and transformed into new scientific ideas; a reminder that progress often happens between sessions as much as during them.

His advice to early-career scientists is simple but profound: specialise deeply, but never stop looking beyond your own plate. “In the space between disciplines,” he says, “there is a lot of room for progress.” Making mistakes, and asking difficult questions – even those likely to lead to negative results – are all part of doing science properly.

First-time at ISSI, looking ahead

For Dr Emma Davies, a postdoctoral researcher at the Austrian Space Weather Office in Graz, this week marks her first ISSI workshop. Her journey into space science began early, inspired by reading her younger brother’s space (and dinosaur) books. After completing her PhD in the UK, she moved to the University of New Hampshire for a postdoctoral position, where she met Eberhard Möbius, closing a generational loop now continued in Bern.

Davies describes the workshop as “intense”: scientists from different disciplines, each bringing their own perspectives and methods, but united by a shared fascination with the heliosphere. Her research focuses on coronal mass ejections, their propagation and evolution, and how multi-point in-situ observations can improve understanding of both their fundamental physics and their effects on Earth.

Auroras may be the most visible manifestation, but Davies is equally interested in the less visible impacts on ground-based technologies, and in extending warning times through improved science. At ISSI, she values the freedom for scientists to disagree, debate, and learn from one another, particularly during the informal discussions that unfold throughout the week.

She is keenly aware of the privilege of learning from more senior scientists, absorbing insights shaped by years, sometimes decades, of experience. And when asked for her favourite spot at ISSI, she nominates the kettle and tea selection, a fitting (and somewhat blatantly British) counterpart to Möbius’ coffee machine.

Science as a shared continuum

Together, Möbius and Davies embody what ISSI has championed since its founding: science as a shared, evolving endeavour, enriched by diversity of experience, discipline, and generation. From the first workshop in 1995 to today’s multi-spacecraft era, ISSI remains a place where careers intersect, ideas mature, and the future of space science is shaped — one conversation at a time.

Team picture of the 2026 ISSI Workshop on Multi-Spacecraft Observations and their Importance for Understanding Particle Dynamics in the Inner Heliosphere

Team picture of the 2026 ISSI Workshop on Multi-Spacecraft Observations and their Importance for Understanding Particle Dynamics in the Inner Heliosphere.