From richard.mcdermid at mq.edu.au Wed Dec 24 08:05:34 2025 From: richard.mcdermid at mq.edu.au (Richard McDermid) Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2025 21:05:34 +0000 Subject: [ASA] ASA end of year message Message-ID: <67423302-1744-43FE-B762-E823EBFA544A@mq.edu.au> Dear ASA Members, As the year draws to a close, I would like to take this opportunity to give a brief summary of activities driven by our Society this year. 2025 ASM and HWSA. It was a pleasure to see so many of you at the Annual Science Meeting in July, generously hosted by our colleagues at the University of Adelaide. I would like to thank the local organisers: Gavin Rowell (chair), Sabrina Einecke, Violet Harvey and the whole LOC for making everyone feel so welcome at the event, for putting together such a well-thought program of sessions and activities, and for making the meeting accessible for those in person and online. Many thanks also to Jemma Pilossof, Imogen Barnsley and the rest of the Harley Wood School for Astronomy organising committee for running a very successful event in Port Elliot. The whole week was filled with highlights, including prize talks, town halls, chapter meetings, and of course, plenty of exciting science talks and posters. We celebrated the formal launch of the new Astronomy Decadal Plan by the National Committee for Astronomy, concluding a major community consultation process. We also took the opportunity to celebrate an incredible 40 years of service to the ASA by outgoing Secretary, Marc Duldig. ASA Chapters. The Chapters are the engine room of the ASA, and are where the majority of our Society activities happen. 2025 was another busy year, with highlights including: * The ECR Chapter has continued its successful ECR symposium series this year, and established a new ?History and Mystery? series exploring aspects of astronomy (e.g., social, political, geographical, and historical perspectives) that are usually not covered in conventional scientific talks. The Chapter has also revived and updated the 'Astronomer in the Industry' list on the ECR Chapter webpage - a useful resource for ECRs considering alternate career paths to academia. * The EPOC Chapter welcomed its new chair, Fred Watson, and is undertaking a refresh of web pages, outreach resources, and engaging with preparations for the 2028 eclipse. * The ANITA Chapter held their 19th Summer School and workshop in February at Mount Stromlo Observatory, with support from the OzStar and ADACS teams. The event featured around 30 talks, with interactive hands-on sessions as well, receiving a lot of positive feedback. * The IDEA Chapter?s major effort this year was the delivery of the 2025 Pleiades Awards, which involved an extensive and carefully coordinated evaluation process. This year?s assessment included involvement of an external reviewer, Dr Jiao Jiao Li, whose contributions significantly strengthened the rigour and inclusivity of the review process. * The TDA Chapter has been busy with ongoing development of its website, aimed at creating opportunities for members (especially ECRs) to present their research, and post highlights of TDA news of interest to the community. * The GAP Chapter organised a special session at the 2025 Australian Institute of Physics summer meeting on "Combining astronomy and particle physics in the hunt for dark matter,? via Chapter AIP co-Chair, Martin White. * The 2025 AGM saw the creation of a brand new chapter - the History of Australian Astronomy Chapter (HAAC) - formed to explore, preserve, and share the history of astronomy in Australia, including Indigenous sky knowledge, technological developments, and key people and events in the evolution of Australian astronomy. PASA. Our Society journal continues to perform strongly, maintaining a high number of paper submissions, down on 2024 (which was a transition year in the astronomy community due to changes with MNRAS), but still 60% up on the previous 4-year trend. PASA were also pleased to introduce PASA Letters in mid-May, in response to community feedback indicating demand for a letters series for work which requires a quick turnaround to get high impact results to the community. So far PASA has received 4 Letters submissions with 2 accepted for publication. The 2024 journal impact factors (IFs) were released by Clarivate in late June. PASA?s latest IF is 4.6 - an increase of 0.1 from last year. PASA has had a steady increase since 2015 (and earlier), with a five-year impact factor of 6.0 - higher than ApJ, AJ and MNRAS. Research funding and policy reviews. 2025 saw a large number of sector-wide policy and funding reviews, including the far-reaching Strategic Examination of Research and Development (SERD), ARC National Competitive Grants Program review, 2026 National Research Infrastructure Roadmap development, and consideration of an association to Horizon Europe. ASA has engaged with these various consultations, either directly or in coordination with associated bodies like Science and Technology Australia (STA), the National Committee for Astronomy (NCA), and Astronomy Australia Limited (AAL), not to mention through submissions by individual members and research groups. While the full outcomes are yet to be seen, we are clearly in a period of change for how research will be funded and measured going forward, much of which should become clearer in 2026. As we head into the holiday period, I want to acknowledge that it is difficult to be in a celebratory mood given the atrocious antisemitic terrorist attack at Bondi Beach on December 14th ? an event that has deeply shaken our entire community. There is no place for racism, hatred, or discrimination in our community, and the ASA stands with our Jewish colleagues and friends, and the entire Australian community, in condemning this terrible act. This is a time for the ASA to come together, and I encourage you to reach out if you or someone you know needs support. It also underlines the important responsibility we all have in building and maintaining a safe, supportive, and respectful environment within our Society, our workplace, and our community overall. Wishing you all a safe and restful summer break, and hope to see you in the New Year. Richard ---- Professor Richard McDermid (he/him) Director, Australian Astronomical Optics (AAO) Director, Astrophysics and Space Technologies Research Centre President, Astronomical Society of Australia Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia T: +61 (0)2 9372 4811 / +61 (0)2 9850 4476 W: https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/YJ9zCmO5gluPykKLYTGfgFRb147?domain=bit.ly I acknowledge the traditional custodians of the Macquarie University Land, the Wallumattagal people of the Dharug nation, whose cultures and customs have nurtured, and continue to nurture, this land since the Dreamtime. [PastedGraphic-1.png][b6fce74e-a522-45ed-b077-a5baad0dc8a8.jpeg] Please consider the environment before printing this email. This message is intended for the addressee named and may contain confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete it and notify the sender. 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