[ASA] Call for ESO-OPC Nominations

[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 a call for nominees to be considered for serving in periods P109-P110 (panel members) or P109-P112 (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 is asking for more (senior) female nominees 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/08bmC1WLPxcQmA4kFLlw6K?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), although more senior astronomers may be asked to serve for 2 years 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/SjFYC2xMQziDG2YRF1LuHj?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, please confirm that you are still available (you should have already received an email).

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. Thanks everyone for your help!

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

360B, A28 | The University of Sydney | NSW |
+61 286 276 411 | +61 430 453 532
caroline.foster at sydney.edu.au<mailto:caroline.foster at sydney.edu.au>|www.carofoster.com<https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/rjouC3QNPBirMgkGi23yc0?domain=carofoster.com>

Usual office days: I am at the office most Thursdays. Otherwise, I work flexibly part-time 3 days over the week, mostly from home and/or the AAO.

I acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the lands on which I live (Darug people / Darug nation)
and work (Gadigal people /Eora nation) and pay my respect to Elders past, present and future.

INSPIRED – the Campaign to support the University of Sydney
sydney.edu.au/inspired<https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/IvvQC4QOPEiwW2VmFWJkcT?domain=sydney.edu.au>

CRICOS 00026A
This email plus any attachments to it are confidential. Any unauthorised use is strictly prohibited.
If you receive this email in error, please delete it and any attachments.

Please think of our environment and only print this email if necessary.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.sydney.edu.au/pipermail/asa/attachments/20210302/2469983b/attachment.html>