[ASA] An update from your ESO UC representative: 47th (2023) Users Committee meeting

[Sarah Sweet]

Dear Australian astronomers,

Please distribute this update to others as appropriate.

I’m writing as your ESO Users Committee (UC) representative. My role is to represent Australian ESO Users and act as a capillary link between ESO and the Australian community.

Firstly, many thanks to Devika Kamath, who expertly took on the UC representative role for the first half of the year while I was on parental leave, including attending the meeting in April.

ESO UC47

As you may recall, the UC conducted its annual poll earlier this year. Thank you to those who completed the poll, even amongst the busyness of proposal writing. We have raised the timing of the poll with ESO, but it is difficult to find an optimal time to conduct it. Nevertheless, ESO takes the responses seriously, so please do continue to provide feedback in future iterations. The 2023 report can be found at https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/lnDtCmO5glup7LlPDuGQuyi?domain=eso.org<https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/gV0iCnx1jniX1pD3jtJiffJ?domain=eso.org>, including a summary of the ESO community followed by a ‘fact sheet’ from each country. The report indicates high rates of satisfaction overall, with somewhat more positive reviews of OPC feedback and mixed views about the usefulness (and feasibility) of dual anonymous peer review.

The special topic this year was “Archive Science”. About half (54%) of respondents from the ESO community (10/14 from Australia) had used at least one archive. The community offered many suggestions for improving the archives, including the need to better promote awareness of the various services.

The ESO Users Committee met on 20-21 April in hybrid mode. The agenda, presentations and other documents are at https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/zgOECoV1kpfD1pYPZSVac01?domain=eso.org<https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/y9FSCp81lrt9JEoOKHGPoBi?domain=eso.org>, though not all files are publicly available. I draw your attention to the final document on that page containing the approved minutes of the meeting, and in particular the UC recommendations on pages 20-22. ESO has since verbally responded to the recommendations by teleconference in November. That response is not public, but ESO considered all recommendations and I am pleased to report that, as usual, all are being acted upon.

Best wishes for a happy Christmas and New Year ahead,

Regards,

Sarah

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Dr Sarah Sweet (she/her)
Senior Lecturer in Astrophysics
ARC DECRA Fellow
School of Mathematics and Physics
University of Queensland
CRICOS 00025B • TEQSA PRV12080
Mobile: +61 402 089 803
sarahsweet.com.au<https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/GiHRCq71mwf1x6NklSNgiyA?domain=sarahsweet.com.au>
s.sweet at uq.edu.au
sarah at sarahsweet.com.au

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