Director's Message

Published in the RSAA Lunations
Vol1 Issue29 1–30 June 2022

I’m writing this while participating in my first proper face-to-face conference (the ASTRO 3D science meeting in Melbourne) in more than two years. It’s a great pleasure to be interacting with real rather than virtual humans and to be having those scientifically and personally rewarding chats around the margins that differentiate real from virtual meetings. The growth of ASTRO 3D over the pandemic years has been substantial, having added new institutions and lots of new people, and this is very apparent in the breadth and depth of research being presented at the meeting. Of course, Melbourne has turned on some spectacularly cold, wet, and miserable weather for the occasion, but you can’t have everything!

Congratulations to everyone who has submitted their ARC Discovery Projects (DP) and Large Infrastructure Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) proposals for 2023 over the last month. ARC funding is the essential fuel for much of the research done at RSAA, so it’s critical that we win plenty of grants. Given the significant degree of stochasticity in the ARC awards process, this means submitting as many proposals as possible. For 2023, RSAA is leading 14 DP proposals and 2 LIEF proposals (and partnering on 6 externally-led DPs and 2 LIEFs). This is a record number of DP proposals from the School, so we will cross our fingers and hope for a record number of grants! 

As the pandemic virus becomes an endemic virus (a somewhat subjective transformation), it is time for RSAA to look once again at opening up the Visitor Centre to the public. The essential ingredient for this is finding a suitable operator, which has in the past proved challenging. However, we are exploring the possibilities and hope to find a way to make the Visitor Centre an attractive venue for both locals and tourists to learn about astronomy while enjoying the views and some good coffee.

Matthew Colless