[ASA] Australia Astronmy Decadal Plan - Demographics Surveys

[Sarah Maddison]

Dear colleagues,

As you are likely aware, the Australian astronomical community carries out
a formal strategic planning process on a 10-year time scale run by the
National Committee for Astronomy (NCA). The Decadal Plan provides the
opportunity for Australian astronomy to conduct a stocktake of its
capabilities, assess its impact both nationally and internationally,
provide a vision for the future and to set priorities and develop
strategies on how that vision might be implemented.  The resultant Decadal
Plan can then be used as a highly influential document to present our
vision to key stakeholders, such as the Commonwealth Government  and
industrial and research partners.

The planning process for the 2016-2025 Decadal Plan has now begun. The
NCA's Demographics Working Group (WG3.1) is charged with collecting and
collating the information necessary to quantise and assess the total
astronomy effort within Australia. As per the previous Decadal Plan, this
involves conducting a census of Australian astronomers and astronomy
institutions.  The WG3.1 has designed two surveys: one for individuals
working in Australian astronomy and one for Australian institutions which
will be forwarded directly to heads of departments.  The aim of these
surveys is to understand the current state of the Australian
Astronomy workforce, including its diversity, and to assess its scientific
impact. An important aspect of the Decadal Plan is comparison with results
of demographics surveys from past Decadal Plans, allowing our community
to assess its strengths and more effectively plan for the future.

 On behalf of WG31 and the NCA, I invite you to take part in the first
survey, entitled 'Australian Astronomy Census 2014 - Individual'.  This
survey has five sections: (1) institutional affiliation, (2) personal
information, (3) education history, (4) role and time, which includes
information on the type of work you do and your area astronomy, and (5)
your employment/educational history specific to postgraduate student,
fixed-term and ongoing staff.

We ask that you answer the questions as of 31 January 2014 (so if you are
moving institutes or graduating in February, your answers should relate to
your status on 31/1/2014).  Graduate students on scholarships may wish to
consider themselves employed as PhD/MSc students (by their university or
the government), with their work potentially split between research and
tutoring etc.

The WG3.1 asks that individuals working in Australian astronomy kindly
*complete
their surveys by 1 March 2014. *The survey can be accessed here:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/AustraliaAstronomyCensus-INDIV

If you have any questions regarding the survey, or any concerns about your
privacy or the nature of the questions, please do not hesitate to contact
me.

Kind regards,
Sarah Maddison
on behalf of the NCA WG3.1
-- 
Prof Sarah Maddison
Professor of Astrophysics
Deputy Director, Centre for Astrophysics & Supercomputing
Chair, Department of Physics & Astronomy

Centre for Astrophysics & Supercomputing
Faculty of Science, Engineering & Technology
Swinburne University of Technology
H30, PO BOX 218, Hawthorn, VIC 3122,  AUSTRALIA
t: +61-3-9214 5971  f: +61-3-9214 8797
w: http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/maddison/
CRICOS Provider 00111D
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