[ASA] A message from your ESO Users Committee representative

[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.

Annual User Poll - closes 20 March

Please take a few minutes to complete the annual ESO User Poll: https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/WDUWCD1vlpTJ47KxLIWfNSjuswB?domain=eso.org.

This year's special focus is time domain astronomy and target of opportunity observations.

If you are a past, current, and future ESO user, you are encouraged to share your experiences regardless of research area. Responses are anonymous, and ESO genuinely reads every comment. Your input directly shapes recommendations on operations.

UC49 Meeting and 2025 poll report

The report from last year’s poll can be found at https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/-wGFCE8wmrt0EwJq8Uwh0S7VpDu?domain=eso.org, including a summary of the ESO community followed by a ‘fact sheet’ from each country. Amongst the Australian respondents (25) and the broader ESO community, the report indicates high rates of satisfaction overall, with mixed feeling about how helpful LPO distributed peer review feedback was to improve proposals.

The special topic was “Quality assurance and data quality.” Most users were satisfied with their data, with some suggestions for improvements to the process and documentation.

The UC met on 28-29 April 2025 in hybrid mode. The agenda, presentations and other documents are at https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/M-B5CGv0oyCOvrp8NhpiYSBGL2T?domain=eso.org. I draw your attention to the final document on that page containing the approved minutes of the meeting (https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/YMscCJyBrGfANkmnWsLsxSyfSig?domain=eso.org), and in particular the UC recommendations under Section 19 on pages 18-22, including:

  *
concerning the timing and communication of fast-track channel
  *
ongoing monitoring of the review process
  *
improvements to the quality assurance process and documentation

ESO has since verbally responded to each of 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.

Please feel welcome to contact me directly should you wish to provide further information to the UC about any ESO-relevant topics.

Best wishes,

Sarah

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Dr Sarah Sweet AFHEA (she/her)
Senior Lecturer in Astrophysics
School of Mathematics and Physics
University of Queensland
CRICOS 00025B • TEQSA PRV12080
Mobile: +61 402 089 803<tel:+61402089803>
sarahsweet.com.au
s.sweet at uq.edu.au<mailto:s.sweet at uq.edu.au>
sarah at sarahsweet.com.au<mailto:sarah at sarahsweet.com.au>

I am sending this message at a time that works for me. Please don’t feel obliged to attend to it outside of when you’re working.
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