European Low Gravity Research Association


The European Low Gravity Research Association is a non-profit international society devoted to the promotion of scientific research under various gravity conditions in Europe. The organization, established in 1979, provides a networking platform for all scientists interested in life and physical sciences and technology in space or on ground. ELGRA aims at representing and strengthening the scientific community of gravity-related research and helping young scientists and engineers get involved in low- and hyper-gravity research through educational programs.

Goals

Since its creation, ELGRA has continuously encouraged and promoted low gravity research in both life and physical sciences within Europe with the permanent support of the European Space Agency. For several years ELGRA was a study group of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and contributed to a better visibility of Low Gravity research at the highest European spheres. However, its main action remains the improvement of the scientific collaboration between scientists from all over Europe in the field of low gravity research. In that effort, ELGRA has organized meetings and symposia resulting in 2019 in the 25th ELGRA symposium which gathered more than 150 scientists from all over the world. ELGRA also supports young researchers and students via grants and educational programs from ESA. The ELGRA community counts not less than 200 active members. The success of ELGRA reflects the increasing interest of the European scientific community for low gravity.
Since the 80s, ELGRA's scientists have been using new research facilities either on the ground, as the 133m drop tower at ZARM or centrifuges, but also in Parabolic flight, or in space with the European Columbus aboard the International Space Station dedicated to low gravity research. Nowadays, low gravity space research involves more and more scientists from all over Europe and space experiments require more preparation and especially a strong collaboration between the different partners. A collaboration platform dedicated to low gravity research as ELGRA remains crucial to facilitate this collaboration. Additionally, ELGRA joins both Physical as well as Life Sciences, what enhances translational research.

History

All started in the late 70s with the advent of Spacelab and the possibility of research in low gravity environment on other platforms for microgravity research such as Ariane and TEXUS rockets. These new space facilities have provided scientist with a low effective gravitational field for prolonged periods for research in Life and Materials Sciences and led to a widening European interest in this fundamental research. However, at that time most scientists were working in isolation and it was for them very difficult to plan and manage a low gravity experiment considering operational complexity and the fact that experimenters were widely dispersed geographically.
In 1979, a group of seven scientists recognized the need for the European scientists involved in low gravity research to form an association to foster the cooperation and the coordination between them and to provide the ground-based expert advisory service for low gravity experiments. On June 18, 1979 the "European Low Gravity Research Association" ELGRA was born.

ELGRA Symposium

The ELGRA Management Committee is elected every two years by ELGRA members during the Biennial Symposium and General Assembly.
It is composed of a President, a Vice-President, a Secretary, a Treasurer and three members. The President and Vice-President are chosen to represent the fields of physical and life science in gravity-related research.

Current ELGRA Management Committee

NameFunctionAffiliation
Ricard González-CincaPresidentDepartment of Applied Physics, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya-BarcelonaTechEd, Barcelona, Spain.
Carole LeguyVice-PresidentDepartment for Measurement and Sensor Technology, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany
Discipline: Health and medical technologies, regulatory affairs, cardiovascular space-physiology
Christian LockowandtSecretary and Selgra liaisonScience Services Division, Swedish Space Corporation, Solna, Sweden
Web: http://www.sscspace.com
Discipline: Microgravity Science Instrumentation
Kurt KemmerleTreasurerformerly Kayser-Threde GmbH, Munich, Germany
Discipline: Space Science Instrumentation
Eric FalconMemberMatter and Complex Systems Laboratory, CNRS - Université Paris Diderot, Paris, France
Web: http://www.msc.univ-paris-diderot.fr/~falcon/
Discipline: Nonlinear Physics, Fluid Dynamics, Wave Turbulence, Granular media, Ferrofluid
Philip CarvilMemberCentre for Human and Aerospace Physiological Sciences Guy’s Campus, King’s College London, UK
Discipline: Human Spaceflight Countermeasures, Human Factors, Physiology, Spinal Imaging, MRI
Marcel EgliMemberLucerne School of Engineering and Architecture, Institute of Medical Engineering, Competence Centre for Aerospace Biomedical Science and Technology, Hergiswil, Swiss

Former ELGRA Presidents

Monica Monici
Valentina Shevtsova
Jack van Loon
Daniel Beysens
Marianne Cogoli-Greuter
Manuel G. Velarde
Gerard Perbal
Yves Malméjac
Jan P.B. Vreeburg
Augusto Cogoli
Luigi G. Napolitano
Herbert Weiss

Educational activities