20 May 2009

Application Deadline: 15 July 2009

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

Within the framework of AIDA (Astronomical Infrastructure for Data Access), the European Virtual Observatory (EURO-VO) project is seeking proposals from teams carrying out archival astronomical research or projects that could benefit from the Virtual Observatory concept. The Virtual Observatory tools and applications allow seamless access to most of the world's large data archives such as ESO, ESA or HST. They also allow users to access a huge variety of reduced multiwavelength data and catalogues and to perform high-level analysis of images, spectra and large tabular datasets. Successful applicants will receive support from EURO-VO astronomers in using the VO facilities and software to complete their projects. No direct funding is awarded in this programme, but support for travel to VO centres may be available if justified by the project.

INTRODUCTION TO EuroVO-AIDA

The EURO-VO project "Astronomical Infrastructure for Data Access (AIDA)" is supported by the e-Infrastructure framework of the European FP7 Capacities programme. The project started on Feb. 1 2008, is fully operational and ensures the continuation of European-wide VO activities.

MOTIVATION AND APPLICATION PROCEDURE

This call for proposals aims at actively supporting research projects which require the unique capabilities offered by the Virtual Observatory in terms of accessing reduced data from archives world-wide as well as analysing images, spectra and tabular datasets. Any research group from EC Member and Associated States can submit a proposal. The primary goal of this call for proposals is to enhance the exploitation of the Virtual Observatory infrastructure and tools for scientific research.

Proposals should be submitted via the submission web site no later than July 15, 2009. The proposal should not exceed three pages and should clearly outline the science goals, the approach to be taken, and the estimated technical and scientific support required. They should also state the approximate end date of the project.

The proposals will be reviewed by the EURO-VO Science Advisory Committee and will be judged on the basis of science goals, technical feasibility, and their potential to lead to a refereed publication. It is anticipated that the results of the selection procedure will be known by the end of August.

Members of the selected teams will be invited immediately after the selection to a face-to-face meeting with EURO-VO scientists and developers in order to assess the needs of their projects. EURO-VO astronomers and developers will provide scientific and technical support for up to one year after the selected projects have been notified. The projects are expected to start immediately after this meeting. After completion, the teams will be invited to present their final results in a dedicated workshop. It is also expected that the selected projects will publish their results in refereed journals.

Additional information on the research initiative can be obtained via the EURO-VO Facility Centre or national contact points given below. For more information on the EURO-VO, and the VO tools and applications visit the EURO-VO web site. For more information about the current capabilities of the VO tools, see the newly released science workflows, or some easy step-by-step recipes.

CONTACT POINTS

EURO-VO Facility Centre:
Evanthia Hatziminaoglou

ehatzimi @ eso.org

tel: +49 89 3200 6560

France:
Mark Allen

allen @ newb6.u-strasbg.fr

tel: +33 (0)3 90 24 24 87

OR

Francoise Genova

genova @ newb6.u-strasbg.fr

tel: +33 (0)3 90 24 24 76

Germany:

Florian Freistetter
florian @ ari.uni-heidelberg.de

tel: +49 6221 541837

Spain:
Enrique Solano

esm @ laeff.inta.es

tel: +34 91 813 11 54

ESA-VO:
Deborah Baines

dbaines @ sciops.esa.int

tel: +34 91 813 11 46

UK:
Nicholas Walton

naw @ ast.cam.ac.uk

tel: +44 (0) 1223 337503

Netherlands:
Andrey Belikov

A.N.Belikov @ astro.rug.nl
tel: +31 50363 4057