[ASA] OzGrav2.0 Workshop, 15-16 December 2020

[Tamara Davis]

Dear ASA,
Thanks for the feedback and enthusiasm about the OzGrav2.0 workshops.  Based on everyone’s responses we have determined the first workshop will be held across two days on Tuesday the 15th December and Wednesday the 16th December 2020, for four hours each day (12pm-4pm AEDT).  It will be held virtually (over zoom).

We’d love your input so please register here if you are interested in attending: https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/9pyMCE8wmrtzPv7kiN0are?domain=ozgrav.org

We look forward to exciting discussions!
Best regards,
Tamara

:: Professor Tamara Davis AM | ARC Laureate Fellow<https://www.arc.gov.au/grants/discovery-program/australian-laureate-fellowships>
:: The University of Queensland, QLD 4072, Australia
:: tamarad at physics.uq.edu.au<mailto:tamarad at physics.uq.edu.au> | @tamarastro | +61432526989
:: I acknowledge the Australian Aboriginal peoples as the traditional custodians of the lands where I live, learn, and work.

Begin forwarded message:

From: Tamara Davis <tamarad at physics.uq.edu.au<mailto:tamarad at physics.uq.edu.au>>
Subject: [ASA] OzGrav2.0 Workshop, December 2020
Date: 16 November 2020 at 20:14:19 AEST
To: "asa at physics.usyd.edu.au<mailto:asa at physics.usyd.edu.au>" <asa at physics.usyd.edu.au<mailto:asa at physics.usyd.edu.au>>

Dear Astronomical Society of Australia Members,
The ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav) will be seeking renewal in the coming Centre of Excellence round scheduled for expressions of interest in mid-late 2021.

The purpose of this email is to solicit the involvement of the Australian astronomical and physics community in the science planning through a series of (virtual) workshops in December-February.

Professor Tamara Davis will be overseeing the process in close consultation with the current OzGrav Director Professor Matthew Bailes and current Instrumentation and Data theme leaders Professors McClelland and Thrane respectively.

In its first four years OzGrav has been part of a remarkable transformation in relativistic astrophysics made possible by the discovery of gravitational waves. This has led to a series of high impact papers that have been landmarks in physics and astrophysics, the awarding of the Nobel and Breakthrough prizes, and recently culminated in an OzGrav team winning the Prime Minister’s Prize for Science.

OzGrav “2.0” aims to capitalise on these tremendous advances whilst exploring new avenues of discovery consistent with the ARC’s oft-stated aims that Centre renewals should build upon their successes but not simply be more of the same.

The OzGrav Executive committee has endorsed our view that:

(i) The new Centre will retain the name OzGrav which has a strong national and international brand.
(ii) The goal of the Centre will be to make breakthroughs in fundamental physics that pertain to astronomy and focus on objects that allow us to explore gravity, nuclear matter, and magnetism at their most extreme.
(iii) The science/brainstorming workshops will be open to anyone in the community and we welcome the involvement of relevant experts in instrumentation, observation, and theory.
(iv) The Centre Director, Administering Organisation, member institutions and Chief Investigators will be decided upon once the science objectives of OzGrav 2.0 are determined.
(v) OzGrav 2.0 Chief Investigators will be able to be part of other astronomy and physics CoE bids subject to ARC eligibility rules provided there is no science overlap with OzGrav.


The first workshop will be held in mid-December 2020 and any potential Chief Investigators or Partner Investigators are invited to present a science case (this includes postdocs).  Focus topics will include 1. Black holes and tests of general relativity; 2. Neutron stars; 3. Cosmology using detections of gravitational waves and Fast Radio Bursts; 4. Instrumentation; and 5. Wild card ideas!  All interested parties (including more junior researchers) are welcome to see the talks and participate in the discussions.
Subsequent workshops will be restricted to potential CIs and PIs, and will be more focused on the specific ideas identified as most promising at the first workshop, and how they interrelate.

The format of the workshops will be a series of lightning talks with plenty of time for discussions and brainstorming. Due to COVID restrictions these are unlikely to be face to face although if travel and crowd restrictions ease we’d love to get together!

If you’re interested in attending, please fill out this short form so we can find the most suitable date and contact you with more information: https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/kvSJCGv0oyCPgD72S7j7sJ?domain=forms.gle

This is an exciting time in relativistic astrophysics and we encourage your participation in these events.

Yours sincerely,
Tamara and Matthew

:: Professor Tamara Davis AM | ARC Laureate Fellow<https://www.arc.gov.au/grants/discovery-program/australian-laureate-fellowships>
:: The University of Queensland, QLD 4072, Australia
:: tamarad at physics.uq.edu.au<mailto:tamarad at physics.uq.edu.au> | @tamarastro | +61432526989
:: I acknowledge the Australian Aboriginal peoples as the traditional custodians of the lands where I live, learn, and work.


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