THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Department of Earth and Space Sciences of ISRO’s Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) at Valiamala offers a first-of-its-kind ‘Winter School’ programme from this year onwards to acquaint PG students with the advancements in various subjects.

This December, IIST is organising a 10-day residential programme on Astrophysics and Astronomy for select first and second year MSc Physics students from various colleges in the state.

There will be lectures on the fundamentals in Astrophysics and selected advanced topics, plus hands-on astronomical data analysis sessions, IIST officials said.

“We haven’t decided the number of seats yet. It won’t be too high, otherwise the personal touch will be lost,” IIST Director K S Dasgupta said.

“A winter programme is convenient as our students will be away for the holidays and the hostel facilities can be utilised,” he added.

In 2010, IIST had launched a similar programme for school students named ‘IIST@Schools’.