[ASA] Call for nominations for the Chair of the Murchison Widefield Array Executive Board

[John O'Byrne]

Call for nominations for the Chair of the Murchison Widefield Array Executive Board

Applications close on Friday 1 December 3PM AEST

The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) is now seeking expressions of interest for the position of Chair of the Executive Board.

The Murchison Widefield Array
The MWA is a low-frequency radio telescope operating between 70 and 300 MHz. It is located at the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO) in Western Australia, about 350km northeast of Geraldton, Western Australia. The MWA is a pre-cursor to the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). The instrument is operated by a consortium of 21 institutions from Australia, Canada, China, Japan, New Zealand and the United States led by Curtin University in Australia.  The MWA Collaboration currently comprises some 230 individual scientists and engineers and spans a range of scientific and technical research programs in low frequency radio astronomy.
Further details of the project can be found at www.mwatelescope.org<https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/87W8BlU8ZZK8fV?domain=mwatelescope.org>

Governance
The MWA is governed by an Executive Board comprised of an independent Chair and 10 Board members drawn from the MWA member countries (4 from Australia, 2 from China, 1 each from Canada, Japan, New Zealand and the United States). The role of the Board is to oversee policy and provide strategic direction for the Collaboration. The Board, and in particular the Chair, have a close working relationship with the MWA Director, Program Manager, Principal Scientist and Principal Engineer.

Role of Chair of the Board
The Board is seeking a Chair to facilitate the operation of the MWA Collaboration for 2018. The appointment is for one year, with the possibility of annual renewal. Ideally the appointment will commence in January 2018, though flexibility in the start date might be required. As per the new MWA Phase II agreement, which is pending ratification, the Chair can either be drawn from the elected representatives of the Board, or as an independent Chair appointed externally from a member country.
The role of the Chair encompasses the following:

  1.  Providing high-level strategic guidance for the project, including leadership on the implementation or revision of collaboration policies.
  2.  Ensuring the smooth functioning of the MWA Collaboration by working with national consortia in MWA member countries on their institutional membership, internal policies and future engagement with the project.
  3.  Negotiating the MWA membership terms for new and renewing MWA members as the project continues to expand.
  4.  Arranging and chairing meetings of the Board. These include two full-day face-to-face meetings in June and December, as well as 1-hour teleconferences on a monthly basis. The Chair is required to attend the face-to-face meetings in person. The locations of these meetings will be in MWA member countries.
The role is approximately a 0.1 FTE time commitment, though the workload is variable and requires some flexibility. The position is not remunerated and has historically been filled largely by individuals whose current employer consider such positions as part of their workload.

Eligibility

Requirements:

  1.  Familiarity with international astronomical collaborations is essential.
  2.  The Chair must possess the ability to work with a culturally diverse collaboration of geographically distributed individuals.
  3.  The Chair must reside in one of the MWA member countries: Australia, Canada, China, Japan, New Zealand or the United States.
  4.  The Chair must not be an employee of Curtin University, but there are no other restrictions on employment status.

The MWA is a culturally diverse collaboration and the Board strongly encourages applications from minorities and women.



Nominations Process
Expressions of Interest and a brief CV outlining relevant experience (no more than 3 pages) should be sent to the current Chair, Melanie Johnston-Hollitt (Melanie at PeripetySci.com<mailto:Melanie at PeripetySci.com>), by 3PM AEST December 1, 2017. Late applications will not be accepted.

Questions regarding any aspect of the role may also be directed to the current Board Chair.



--
Melanie Johnston-Hollitt, PhD
CEO Peripety Scientific Ltd.
PO Box 11355 Manners Street,
Wellington, 6142, New Zealand
ph: +64 (0)22 430 3694


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"The standard you walk past is the standard you accept”
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ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR JOHN O’BYRNE
Associate Dean (Student Life), Faculty of Science
Secretary, Astronomical Society of Australia Inc.

Sydney Institute for Astronomy
School of Physics | Faculty of Science

THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY
Rm 205, Physics Building A28
Postal address: School of Physics | The University of Sydney | NSW | Australia | 2006
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E john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au<mailto:john.obyrne at sydney.edu.au>  | W  http://sydney.edu.au/science/people/john.obyrne

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