Department's top academics met concerning plasma core (5)
I believe the answer is:
areas
'department's top academics met concerning plasma core' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'top academics met concerning plasma core' is the wordplay.
'top' indicates taking the first letters (in a down clue, the first letter is top).
'met' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'concerning' becomes 're' (both can mean on a particular topic).
'core' indicates the central letters.
The centre of 'plasma' is 'as'.
The first letter of 'academics' is 'a'.
'a'+'re'+'as'='AREAS'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for areas that I've seen before include "Spaces covered by two-dimensional surfaces" , "Geographical regions" , "Localities" , "Places" , "Zones" .)