From Elisabete.daCunha at anu.edu.au Mon Nov 21 11:25:16 2016 From: Elisabete.daCunha at anu.edu.au (Elisabete Lima da Cunha) Date: Mon, 21 Nov 2016 00:25:16 +0000 Subject: [ASA] The Taipan survey is recruiting two post-doctoral researchers Message-ID: <2696BE1C-9C9D-4804-96A1-4E511CE441CD@uds.anu.edu.au> Dear ASA members, Profs. Matthew Colless and Chris Blake are recruiting two post-doctoral researchers to work on the Taipan survey (http://taipan-survey.org), funded by their ARC Discovery Project grant. The jobs will be advertised on the AAS job register in December, and more information can be found via the following links: - ANU job (Matthew Colless): http://jobs.anu.edu.au/cw/en/job/514766/postdoctoral-fellow - Swinburne job (Chris Blake): https://swinjobs.nga.net.au/?jati=26A5D4E2-AC67-9EA1-6AA2-928900E5F62F Please consider applying, or pass along to any suitable candidates you may know of! Cheers Elisabete --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Elisabete da Cunha ARC Future Fellow Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics (office D.011) The Australian National University Mt Stromlo Observatory Cotter Rd, Weston Creek, ACT 2611 Australia Elisabete.daCunha at anu.edu.au Phone: +61 (02) 6125 8049 Skype: elisabete.da.cunha --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From vkilborn at swin.edu.au Mon Nov 21 17:07:08 2016 From: vkilborn at swin.edu.au (Virginia Kilborn) Date: Mon, 21 Nov 2016 06:07:08 +0000 Subject: [ASA] ASA statement to the community Message-ID: The Astronomical Society of Australia (ASA) Council is concerned by the findings of misconduct at CSIRO's Astronomy and Space Sciences (CASS) Division, including bullying, sexual harassment and an allegation of sexual assault. First and foremost, we offer our sympathies and support to staff and students who have been the victims of this behaviour. The negative impact on their lives has been far reaching. We take this opportunity to reaffirm our Society's strong commitment to ensuring safe workplaces and ethical behaviour for our members. Australia is a world leader in radio astronomy - both in instrument development, and scientifically. CASS is a hub of Australian radio astronomy: astronomers and their students regularly visit CASS, to use the national facilities and work with staff. Prior to the revelations on Background Briefing, the astronomical community could not have been aware of instances of bullying, harassment and sexual assault - and it is a wider practice in academia to keep such instances confidential. As such, astronomers are unable to judge potential risks to themselves and their students when visiting CASS, or similar facilities. The misconduct at CSIRO is part of a broader problem that has been identified within the science community, within Australia and internationally. The ASA has implemented initiatives of the ASA's Inclusion, Diversity and Equity in Astronomy (IDEA) Chapter including a code of conduct for behaviour at ASA events, and all ASA members must also abide by the ASA's Code of Ethics. However, it is vital that individual institutions ensure a safe and supportive workplace for all their staff, students and visitors. This incident serves as a wake-up call to all Australian scientific departments and institutes to critically assess their workplace conditions. We also recommend that departments take time to reflect after reports of professional misconduct to ensure that the actions followed led to the safest outcomes for victims. Virginia Kilborn ASA president, on behalf of ASA council. Virginia Kilborn Chair, Department of Physics and Astronomy Centre for Astrophysics & Supercomputing Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology Swinburne University of Technology Ph (w) +61 (0)3 9214 4380 WWW: http://bit.ly/24vsqSR -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From sarah.brough at aao.gov.au Mon Nov 21 17:28:54 2016 From: sarah.brough at aao.gov.au (Sarah Brough) Date: Mon, 21 Nov 2016 17:28:54 +1100 Subject: [ASA] Melbourne based Women's Support Group for harassment & bullying Message-ID: <2fc7-58329400-9-f8b61a0@186786733> Dear ASA Members, particularly those in Melbourne, Adrienne O'Neil at The University of Melbourne (Senior Research Fellow & NHMRC ECR Fellow at the Centre for Mental Health) is launching a free group-based support program for women (staff and students) who have experienced sexual harassment or bullying in work or education. This confidential, weekly support group is open to all women (not just UoM) and will kick off on November 22 from 6-7pm at Ross House, 247 Flinders Lane (just near Flinders st station). If you or someone you know may be interested in participating, please RSVP to Adrienne (adrienne.oneil at unimelb.edu.au) and she will provide further details. Many regards, Sarah From yeshe.fenner at astronomyaustralia.org.au Mon Nov 21 16:56:13 2016 From: yeshe.fenner at astronomyaustralia.org.au (Yeshe Fenner) Date: Mon, 21 Nov 2016 16:56:13 +1100 Subject: [ASA] Call for nominations: Australian representative on the MWA Board. Applications due 24th Nov 2016 In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Dear ASA members, This is a reminder that applications to serve as an Australian representative on the MWA Board close at *5PM AEDT this Thursday 24th November 2016*. See advertisement below for more details. Cheers, Yeshe ______________________________ Dr Yeshe Fenner, PhD, PMP Chief Operating Officer Astronomy Australia Ltd T: +61 3 9214 5520 E: yeshe.fenner at astronomyaustralia.org.au W: astronomyaustralia.org.au P: P.O. Box 2100 Hawthorn VIC 3122 On Wed, Nov 9, 2016 at 3:48 PM, Yeshe Fenner < yeshe.fenner at astronomyaustralia.org.au> wrote: > Dear ASA members, > > On behalf of the Australian Murchison Widefield Array > (MWA) Consortium, Astronomy Australia Ltd > (AAL) is inviting applications from suitably qualified Australian-based > astronomers to represent Australia on the MWA Board. > > Australia currently has 4 positions on the MWA Board, one of which is > intended to be filled through this open call for nominations. The > successful applicant will be expected to work with the Australian MWA > Partners and AAL to understand Australian perspectives on, and represent > Australian interests in, the MWA project. > > Applications close at *5PM AEDT Thursday 24th November 2016*. > > Further details can be found in the attached flier and on the AAL website: > http://astronomyaustralia.org.au/advertisments/261-advertisements > > Feel free to circulate this email to your colleagues and suitable > candidates. > > > > Kind Regards, > Yeshe > > ______________________________ > Dr Yeshe Fenner, PhD, PMP > Chief Operating Officer > Astronomy Australia Ltd > T: +61 3 9214 5520 > M: 0430 708 995 > E: yeshe.fenner at astronomyaustralia.org.au > W: astronomyaustralia.org.au > > P: P.O. Box 2100 Hawthorn VIC 3122 > > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From yeshefenner at swin.edu.au Mon Nov 21 17:04:47 2016 From: yeshefenner at swin.edu.au (Yeshe Fenner) Date: Mon, 21 Nov 2016 06:04:47 +0000 Subject: [ASA] Announcement of AAL Board appointments Message-ID: Dear ASA members, At the Astronomy Australia Ltd (AAL) Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on Friday 18th Nov 2016, the AAL member representatives elected the following four nominees to the AAL Board: * Professor Karl Glazebrook, Swinburne University * Dr Ben Greene, CEO Electro Optic Systems * Professor Naomi McClure-Griffiths, ANU * Professor Chris Tinney, UNSW AAL is pleased to congratulate and welcome these Directors to our Board. We also sincerely thank the four Directors whose terms came to an end at the end of the AGM: Prof Lisa Kewley, Prof Ron Ekers, Dr Ian Chessell, and Prof Anne Green, with special thanks to Anne for her outstanding leadership of AAL over the past year in her capacity as AAL Chair. The new AAL Chair will be elected by the AAL Board, with that announcement expected to be made within the next two weeks. The current composition of the AAL Board is: * Professor Rachel Webster, University of Melbourne (until 2018 AGM) * Dr Rosalind Dubs, professional company director, AAL Deputy Chair (until 2018 AGM) * Professor Matthew Bailes, Swinburne University (until 2018 AGM) * Professor Karl Glazebrook, Swinburne University (until 2019 AGM) * Dr Ben Greene, CEO Electro Optic Systems (until 2019 AGM) * Professor Naomi McClure-Griffiths, ANU (until 2019 AGM) * Professor Chris Tinney, UNSW (until 2019 AGM) Please contact myself or Mark McAuley (AAL CEO, mark.mcauley at astronomyaustralia.org.au) with any questions. Kind regards, ______________________________ Dr Yeshe Fenner, PhD, PMP Chief Operating Officer Astronomy Australia Ltd T: +61 3 9214 5520 M: 0430 708 995 E: yeshe.fenner at astronomyaustralia.org.au W: astronomyaustralia.org.au P: P.O. Box 2100 Hawthorn VIC 3122 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ahassan at swin.edu.au Mon Nov 21 12:01:39 2016 From: ahassan at swin.edu.au (Amr Hassan) Date: Mon, 21 Nov 2016 01:01:39 +0000 Subject: [ASA] gSTAR Data Management and Collaboration Platform (gDMCP) Message-ID: <5B04BAC8-427E-4179-8B1B-B4DCCD1833AD@swin.edu.au> Dear ASA Members, The gSTAR Data Management and Collaboration Platform (gDMCP - https://data-portal.hpc.swin.edu.au) is a collaboration between Astronomy Australia Limited (AAL) and Swinburne University of Technology. It aims to provide Australian-based astronomers with a mechanism through which they can easily collaborate and share data while protecting their data access rights. It facilitates the process of data publishing and indeed encourages it. The platform provides three modes of data publishing. ? The first mode is managed data publishing. This mode aims mainly to help in publishing datasets associated with a publication. In this mode, the gSTAR data management team will assist the dataset owner to prepare and publish their dataset. ? The second mode is limited data publishing within a science team. In this mode, the system provides small- to moderate-size teams with a private data sharing platform, with the datasets only accessible to team members. ? The third mode is public data publishing, where the data is accessible to the wider astronomy community. The data products in this mode will be managed by the researcher. The platform offers features such as Google-style multi-criteria search, easy to use programmatical access to the data repository via RESTful APIs, and fast access from gSTAR as the preferred processing platform. To ensure the data quality in preparation for a public data release, the system enforces a standard metadata model on the added data products based on the standard TAPObs metadata model. The system also supports using digital object identifiers (DOIs) as a reference for the published data products. Astronomers from all Australian research institutions are eligible to apply for a storage allocation on gDMCP. Science teams can request an allocation of up to 50 GB in the limited data publishing mode at any time. Storage allocations for public datasets managed through the managed data publishing mode are partitioned into two tiers based on the size of the storage requested: ? Datasets up to 50 GB: Allocations up to 50 GB can be approved directly by the gDMCP admin team. The team will aim to process the allocation request within 1-3 business days. ? Datasets in excess of 50 GB: Allocations exceeding 50 GB will require the approval of the Swinburne Supercomputing Manager, potentially in consultation with the appropriate AAL advisory committee. The dataset owner in this case should provide additional information about the value of the dataset and work with the gDMCP admin team to ensure the data reusability and that an adequate level of metadata is available. Datasets in this category must be associated with a publication (paper or report). Datasets in the managed data publishing mode are eligible for digital object identifiers. To access this data publishing service, the dataset owner should send an email to: data-portal at astro.swin.edu.au which includes the required storage allocation, the name of the dataset, a paragraph or two to describe the purpose of publishing this dataset, paper title, and the journal where the paper has been accepted. The gSTAR data management team will work with the owner to prepare and publish his/her dataset. We note that the data publishing service is already available directly for PASA articles, through a current arrangement between gSTAR and PASA. Please let us know if you have any questions/comments. Best Regards, Dr. Amr H. Hassan gSTAR Projects and Engagement Support Leader Centre for Astrophysics & Supercomputing Swinburne University of Technology H29, PO Box 218, Hawthorn, VIC 3122, Australia Phone: +61-3-9214-8546 Fax: +61-3-9214-8797 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au Tue Nov 22 10:32:16 2016 From: john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au (John O'Byrne) Date: Mon, 21 Nov 2016 23:32:16 +0000 Subject: [ASA] Positions at Armagh Observatory and Planetarium Message-ID: <1F926733-E8B5-4A99-A32D-0F3B72048BD7@sydney.edu.au> Colleagues The position of Head of Corporate Services at the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium (AOP) in Northern Ireland is now being advertised. Further details are available via the NICS recruitment website at https://irecruit-ext.hrconnect.nigov.net. We are seeking an individual who can bring the right balance of strategic thinking, operational leadership and organisational change management and development skills to this position. The successful candidate will support the Director as we develop a programme to deliver alignment between the research, educational, outreach and heritage aims of the newly merged Observatory and Planetarium at Armagh. This is the first of three positions being advertised for the Senior Management Team at AOP. Two further positions, for the Head of Research and the Head of Education & Community Outreach, will hopefully be advertised early in the new year. These principally involve, respectively, the research conducted in the Observatory and the education & outreach conducted in the Planetarium arms of the AOP. Please note that any enquiries about this position should be directed to the Operations Manager, as specified in the candidate information booklet on the above website. Thank-you Regards Michael Professor Michael Burton Director, Armagh Observatory and Planetarium star.arm.ac.uk and armaghplanet.com Exploring the Cosmos since 1790 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From c.tinney at unsw.edu.au Tue Nov 22 10:31:06 2016 From: c.tinney at unsw.edu.au (c.tinney at unsw.edu.au) Date: Mon, 21 Nov 2016 23:31:06 +0000 Subject: [ASA] Post-doctoral position in Exoplanetary Science with Veloce Message-ID: Dear ASA Members, Exoplanetary Science at UNSW is recruiting a post-doctoral researcher to work on planetary research with Veloce, funded by an ARC Discovery Project grant. The position is advertised on the Jobs at UNSW site now, and will be advertised on the AAS job register from December 1. The deadline for applications is at the end of January 2017. More information can be found, and applicaitons can be submitted, via the Jobs at UNSW receuitment portal: Direct Link for Position 57294 or Jobs at UNSW (www.jobs.unsw.edu.au) then search for position 57294 Please either consider applying, or pass along to any suitable candidates you know. Regards Chris T. ______________________________________________________________________________ Professor Chris Tinney | +61 2 9385 5168 | skype:cgtinney | www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~cgt Associate Dean (Research), UNSW Science | adr.science at unsw.edu.au Exoplanetary Science at UNSW. School of Physics | c.tinney at unsw.edu.au -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Douglas.Bock at csiro.au Tue Nov 22 12:51:22 2016 From: Douglas.Bock at csiro.au (Douglas.Bock at csiro.au) Date: Tue, 22 Nov 2016 01:51:22 +0000 Subject: [ASA] CASS letter to ASA members Message-ID: Dear colleagues, Like many of you, I listened to the Background Briefing radio program on the ABC over the weekend. The story reported on allegations of misconduct in CASS and raised examples of bullying, sexual harassment, and sexual assault. I want to reiterate that none of these incidents is acceptable. I acknowledge the pain these incidents have caused individuals, and the impact on their careers, and I am sincerely sorry that this has occurred. As the incoming Director of CASS, I recognise that procedures and training are not sufficient safeguards alone, and I want to outline the steps we are taking to change culture and ensure that CASS is a safe and productive place to work. I also want to set out the facts to you, to the extent that I can without in any way diminishing the actions themselves, or their impact on those affected. We advised Background Briefing that there were 16 allegations of misconduct over eight years within the astronomy programs of CSIRO (around 200 staff, plus students). Thirteen of the allegations were of a non-sexual nature and were dealt with in accordance with established procedures based on the information provided at the time. Three other allegations between 2007 and 2012 of inappropriate workplace behaviour, including sexual harassment, were investigated by CSIRO-appointed independent investigators. In all cases, CASS accepted the recommendations of the investigator. In two of the three cases, the allegations were found to be proven. CSIRO has statutory obligations under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and I cannot, therefore, comment further on specific cases. Notwithstanding the above, new procedures were introduced following the 2014 inquiry into workplace bullying and harassment in CSIRO conducted by Professor Dennis Pearce. Improvements so far include compulsory code of conduct training for all staff and affiliates, additional confidential avenues for staff to raise issues without having to involve line management, and a clear statement that staff are obliged to report any issues they are aware of, even if they are themselves not involved. It is the responsibility of everyone to report concerns whenever and wherever they occur. Avenues include contacting me, CASS human resources and diversity officers, any senior executive or trusted colleague, or via the Public Interest Disclosure scheme (conductcomplaints at csiro.au). I would like particularly to commend the work of our CASS Diversity Committee over the past three years. The Committee has worked very hard to lead a range of initiatives to improve diversity and culture within CASS, including introducing a code of conduct for conferences and organising an anonymous all-staff culture survey to help guide our initiatives. In the coming weeks and months, I will: * Implement an externally facilitated program to help build a positive, supportive and safe culture within CASS, and help staff to set appropriate boundaries between work and personal lives * Enhance our existing program to train and support staff in CSIRO?s code of conduct, ensure all staff and affiliates understand what behaviour is expected of them, and how to safely report behaviours that are not aligned to this code * Support our staff and include them as we make decisions on how to improve our workplace * Expect our leaders to model exemplary workplace behaviours * Encourage all staff and collaborators to raise concerns at the time they occur * Continue to follow established procedures where allegations of inappropriate behaviour are raised, ensuring natural justice and procedural fairness to all parties * Report on the progress CASS is making in improving our responses and the outcomes to such issues. I will seek to meet with many of you in the Astronomy community between now and the end of December to gain your input into how we address the culture and ensure that CASS is a safe place for students, staff and visitors to work. I remain personally committed to providing a safe, diverse and productive workplace. Regards, Douglas Douglas Bock Director CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science E douglas.bock at csiro.au T +61 2 9372 4300 P.O. Box 76 Epping NSW 1710 Australia -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From andrew.hopkins at aao.gov.au Wed Nov 23 10:39:00 2016 From: andrew.hopkins at aao.gov.au (Andrew Hopkins) Date: Wed, 23 Nov 2016 10:39:00 +1100 Subject: [ASA] Call for EoIs: Taipan ancillary science Message-ID: Dear Colleagues, The Taipan Galaxy Survey (http://www.taipan-survey.org) team is inviting expressions of interest for Priority or Ancillary Science. The full background and context, including the details of the Taipan system, are available here: http://taipan-survey.org/content/ancillary-science If you are interested in this opportunity, please carefully review the information, and instructions for applications, at the link above, and send an expression of interest, limited to 1 page, to Andrew Hopkins (ahopkins at aao.gov.au) by *31 March 2017*. We expect Taipan survey observations to begin in mid-2017. Approved Priority Science fields can start being observed immediately, but most approved Ancillary Science observations will begin in 2018. The Taipan Executive will review EoIs during April 2017, contacting proposers with requests for more detail as needed. The Taipan Executive expects to inform proposers of outcomes by June 2017. Andrew Hopkins, for the Taipan Executive. -- Prof. Andrew Hopkins, Head of Research and Outreach Australian Astronomical Observatory P.O. Box 915, North Ryde, NSW 1670, Australia ph: +61 2 9372 4849 fax: +61 2 9372 4880 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From daniel.price at monash.edu Thu Nov 24 10:19:06 2016 From: daniel.price at monash.edu (Daniel Price) Date: Thu, 24 Nov 2016 10:19:06 +1100 Subject: [ASA] PASA update Message-ID: Dear ASA members, Just to let you know of four exciting new PASA features for the end of the year: 1) Overleaf trial 2) New PASA website (via Cambridge Core) 3) Free access to Galactic Bulge special issue until 19th December 4) New expanded datastore offering ???? 1. Overleaf trial We have a 12 month trial to seamlessly integrate PASA with Overleaf, an online collaborative tool for co-authoring LaTeX documents. You can author your paper in PASA style and submit with ?one click? instead of having to deal with the submission manually in ScholarOne. Just start here: https://www.overleaf.com/latex/templates/latex-template-for-publications-of-the-astronomical-society-of-australia-pasa/wqzkgssmppfm Please let us know if you make use of this functionality and provide feedback on how it works for you. 2. New PASA website We have migrated to the new ?Cambridge Core? platform which brings significant new functionality and a fresh, modern look to the journal home page. Check it out: http://journals.cambridge.org/PAS 3. We would like to offer complimentary access to The Galactic Bulge collection for two weeks! Access the collection here: http://bit.ly/2fsLLTu until 30th November 2016! This is one of our best special collections yet with a series of very nice review articles on the Galactic Bulge. 4. The PASA datastore continues to expand in both functionality and scope. In particular you can now interactively explore tabulated datasets in the datastore, and store datasets of up to several Tb in size (pending editorial approval): https://data-portal.hpc.swin.edu.au/institute/pasa ???? Yours in publishing, Daniel Price PASA Ed On behalf of the PASA Editorial Board From stanislav.shabala at utas.edu.au Thu Nov 24 11:45:01 2016 From: stanislav.shabala at utas.edu.au (Stas Shabala) Date: Thu, 24 Nov 2016 00:45:01 +0000 Subject: [ASA] 2017 ANITA theory workshop and Astroinformatics school References: <9AE1F5A3-E72F-41CC-84B1-22BCEF550D61@monash.edu> Message-ID: *** First announcement - save the date *** The 11th annual ANITA theory workshop will be held on 9th-10th February 2017 at the University of Tasmania in Hobart, Tasmania. It will be preceded by the Astroinformatics school on 6th-8th February 2017, also at UTas. The ANITA workshop covers all topics of theoretical and computational astrophysics and is open to all. The Astroinformatics school will cover: - A whole day of Python! Including introduction, numpy, scipy, plotting and interactive python notebooks - Introduction to sql databases and mysql - Usage of git, github and source control - Introduction to cloud computing, deep learning, high performance computing using MPI and GPUs - Visualisation techniques Registration and information to follow. Contact: stanislav.shabala at utas.edu.au University of Tasmania Electronic Communications Policy (December, 2014). This email is confidential, and is for the intended recipient only. Access, disclosure, copying, distribution, or reliance on any of it by anyone outside the intended recipient organisation is prohibited and may be a criminal offence. Please delete if obtained in error and email confirmation to the sender. The views expressed in this email are not necessarily the views of the University of Tasmania, unless clearly intended otherwise. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From chris.lidman at aao.gov.au Thu Nov 24 11:49:16 2016 From: chris.lidman at aao.gov.au (Chris Lidman) Date: Thu, 24 Nov 2016 11:49:16 +1100 Subject: [ASA] Australia-Japan workshop on collaborative science Message-ID: <5B5B67D5-4D37-43E4-90EE-C2175972BB51@aao.gov.au> Announcement Australia-Japan workshop on collaborative science AAO Offices, North Ryde December 15th, 2016 Dear ASA members, The AAO is glad to announce that it will be hosting a joint Japan-Australia workshop at the AAO offices in North Ryde on December 15th. The workshop is an opportunity for astronomers in the two communities to discuss science, to form collaborative links and to establish joint projects using instruments on the Subaru Telescope and facilities here in Australia. There are 14 invited talks, 7 from Australian astronomers and 7 from Japanese astronomers. A preliminary schedule is available at https://www.aao.gov.au/conference/JapanAustralia2016 Thanks to sponsorship from Astronomy Australia Ltd and the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, there is no registration fee and lunch and refreshments will be provided. If you are interested in attending, either remotely or in person, or would like further information about the workshop, then please reply to Chris Lidman >. Kind Regards Chris Lidman and Julia Bryant -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: