[ASA] Call for ESO-OPC Nominations - deadline 1 June

[Caroline Foster]

Good morning fellow astronomers,

Please forward the following to relevant people within and beyond your institute.

As the ESO Users Committee representative, it is my role to nominate suitable and willing Australian astronomers to serve as referees on the European Southern Observatory Observing Programme Committee (OPC, or ESO’s TAC). ESO has now issued its bi-annual call for nominees, with a deadline of 1 June to be considered for serving in periods P107-P108 (panel members) or P107-P110 (OPC panel chairs). While Australia has a very broad representation on the various panels, there is a clear dearth of certain demographics and scientific expertise. ESO has kindly provided the attached statistics table, although I note that this table is not entirely up to date as a total of 7 people (only 1 female) have since been nominated. In particular, ESO is asking for more (senior) female nominees and nominees with research expertise in category C to help balance Australia’s representation on the various panels. I note that both observers and theorists may serve on the OPC.

The terms of reference and rules of procedures for the OPC are available here<https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/JoEdCROND2uoBB67u9lQI0?domain=eso.org>.  The OPC meets twice a year (usually in Garching, Germany, but probably virtually for the foreseeable future). Travel, if applicable, is at ESO’s expense. Selected panel and committee members will need to carefully review several tens of proposals each and grade around 100 proposals at the meeting based on discussion. Serving on the OPC represents a significant amount of work and time. For this reason, people typically serve on the OPC for only 2 consecutive periods (1 year, so P107-P108), although more senior astronomers may be asked to serve for 2 years (P107-P110) as panel chairs.

If you/someone you know are/is qualified and available to serve on the OPC (ESO requests for 2nd postdoc of beyond), please contact me directly. Be sure to include in your email the OPC subcategory<https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/IFwOCVARKgCm99JOhzIIgv?domain=eso.org>. Additionally, ORCID, experience on ESO telescopes and the year of PhD award may optionally be included with the nomination (recommended). If you have been nominated recently, but haven’t been contacted by ESO yet, know that your name does stay in the current system indefinitely. While I may not remove names, I may update past nominations. If you are unsure, I am quite happy to check the database for your name.

It is in Australia’s best interest to have as many Australian astronomers on the various OPC panels, which cover a range of science topics. I am looking for a diverse (particularly in gender, expertise and seniority) pool of Australian astronomers who are in their second postdoc or beyond to nominate.

Clear Skies!

Caroline Foster
--
Dr Caroline Foster
ASTRO3D Fellow & ESO Users Committee Representative
Pronouns: she/her/hers
The University of Sydney
Faculty of Science, Sydney Institute for Astrophysics

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Available candidates from AU in our database (excluding currently serving)
[cid:image001.png at 01D621FA.B4002FA0]
AUSTRALIA
Panels (male)
Panels (female)
OPC (male)
OPC (female)
A
5
0
1
0
B
2
4
4
0
C
0
1
1
0
D
7
4
1
0
Total
14
9
7
0


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