Newsletter No 2
April 2013
This is the RadioNet3 Newsletter No.2, aiming to inform the 27 partners of the Consortium and the astronomical community on the progresses made since the distribution of Newsletter No.1. Newsletters No.2 covers the period from July 31st to March 31st.
News from the Management
RadioNet3 Board meetings
The RadioNet3 Board had is first teleconference on December 14th 2012, chaired by the Vice-Chairman P. Charlot. The Coordinator Anton Zensus and the Project Manager Izabela Rottmann updated on the project status. Changes in the Board membership and Amendments were announced.
The Board started discussing two important documents:
QueSERA - Task1 "RadioNet3 Study Group: Governance of Radio Astronomy in Europe" (M. Garrett), and WP2 QueSERA - Task2 "A plan for advertising RadioNet facilities to astronomers that
traditionally are less involved in Radio Astronomy" (H. van Langevelde). It was decided to continue the discussion on the Task 1 document at the next meeting. The Task 2 document was approved by the Board.
The next face-to-face Board meeting was held in Bologna, Italy on March 18th 2013, very well organized by Tiziana Venturi. TNA, JRA, and NA leaders presented the activities done since the teleconference. A revised version of the QueSERA Task 1 document was subject of discussion.
Comments will be incorporated in a up-to-date version which will be later voted by Board Members. During the meeting, Phil Diamond, SKA Director, presented the status of the SKA project, Micheal Grewing the ASTRONET activities, in particular those connected to radio astronomy, and Patricia Vogel illustrated the achievements of the GO-SKA project.
Board members changing
The following changes in the Board membership happened:
INAF: Tiziana Venturi
AALTO: Juha Kallunki
STFC: Brian Ellison
IRAM: Karl Schuster
Management Group Team
Jacqueline Casado-Iglesias is working as Project Assistant since nnnn, replacing Andrea Danzel who is in maternity leave.
EU Science: Global Challenge, Global Collaboration (ES:GC2)
The ES:GC2 took place at the European Parliament from the 4th to 8th of March 2013.
Two members of the MGT were representing RadioNet3 at the Conference. Main points of interest were the preparation of the next EC Programme Horizon2020 and the African - European Radio Astronomy Platform (AERAP) during which the AERAP Framework Programme for Cooperation document was discussed.
EU Framework Programmes
Mid 2012: Final calls under 7th Framework Programme for Research to bridge gap towards.
Horizon2020
Duration 2014 - 2020 (FP8). Final budget of 69,3 Milliard €, but not final yet
Timeline.
On-going: Parliament and Council negotiations on EU budget 2014-20 (including overall
budget for Horizon 2020)
By end 2013: Adoption of legislative acts by Parliament and Council on Horizon 2020
1/1/2014: Horizon 2020 starts; launch of first calls
Horizon 2020 will support:
New activities to support the implementation and operation of world-class infrastructures such
as ESFRI.
Continuation of the successful FP7 Integrating Activities.
Reinforcement o the support to e-infrastructures.
New objectives for better exploiting the innovation potential and human capital of
infrastructures
Annual Report due on August 29, 2013!
The call for report will be released in May, deadline for contribution is July 20, 2013.
The submission of the AR must be on time in order to make the MTR.
Mid Term Review
MTR will take place in Bonn on November 11 or 18, 2013. The Executive Committee will be present.
The expert from EC is still unknown.
Transnational Access (TNA)
TNA is offering 3000 hours (out of 1600 expected for the first 18 months) of access to the leading radio telescopes. More than 700 users have been hosted.
The Sardinia Radio Telescope, is now in the Technical Commissioning. SRT - First light from the first two receivers in June (22 GHz) and in November 2012 (7 GHz). The distribution of a Call for Proposals for observations in 2014 is expected by the end of 2013.
JCMT asked for withdrawal from the RadioNet3 project, with retroactive effect from January 1, 2012.
Join Research Activities highlights
Uniboard2: face-to-face meeting, end of May
AETHER
Hilado
DIVA
Networking Activities News
QueSERA
A Call for proposals for "Travel support for advertising RadioNet science" has been distributed.
The RadioNet work package QueSERA (addressing Questions on Structuring European Radio Astronomy, see www.radionet-eu.org) is providing opportunities for travel support in two categories. The aim of these is to entertain fellow astronomers who have typically not
used RadioNet facilities with the excitement of modern Radio Astronomy. This is implemented by supporting 2 possible actions:
1. Colloquia at astronomy institutes or national astronomy conferences in countries with little radio astronomy tradition.
2. Talks at conferences with astrophysics topics that have made limited use of radio astronomy techniques (so far).
NAs - SCIENCE WORKING GROUP (SWG) & New Skills for astronomers
Events 2012 Statistics
ALMA & SKA were the most frequently subjects of supported conferences. The majority of the participants came from European Institutes, however the popularity of the RadioNet3 events is growing world-wide. 40% of the participants were women.
Past meetings & events
YERAC in Russia 18th- 21th September 2012
EVN Symposium in Bordeaux, 10-12 October 2012
EVN CBD meeting in Madrid, November 2012
Future meetings & events
22-26 Apr. 2013, Bonn, DE, Conference: "The Modern Radio Universe"
6-10 May 2013, Amsterdam, NL, Conference 'Neutron Stars‘
13-17 May 2013, Leiden, NL, Workshop 'Locating Astrophysical Transients'
21.10-14 June 2013, Granada, ES, Workshop 'The Innermost Regions of Relativistic Jets and Their Magnetic Fields'
1-5 Jul. 2013, Leiden, NL, Workshop ' Radio Halos of Galaxies'
RadioNet at EWASS2013
RadioNet organizes a Special Session (Sp2) during the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science 2013 conference ( http://www.astro.utu.fi/EWASS2013/ ), which will be held in Logomo Centre in Turku, Finland, 8 - 12 July 2013. The RadioNet Special Session is entitled: "The role of modern radio observatories in black hole and jet studies"
RadioNet3 will organize a Special Session (Sp2) at the coming European Week of Astronomy and Space Science (EWASS2013) on 08 July 2013. The EWASS2013 Conference will be held in Turku, Finland, 08-12 July 2013 (http://www.astro.utu.fi/EWASS2013/)
Outreach material for conferences and general public
Outreach material for conferences and general public is available on request to
rn3 [at] mpifr-bonn [dot] mpg [dot] de.
For a view of this material and availability of items, see
http://www.radionet-eu.org/radionet3wiki/doku.php?id=na:outreach
