Astronomy Advisory Panel

The purpose of the Astronomy Advisory Panel (AAP) is to provide a link between Science Board and the astronomy community, and represent the needs of the community to the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). The remit of the panel includes technology development, theory, high performance computing and data curation issues within its area.

Members

  • Dr Aprajita Verma (Chair), University of Oxford
  • Professor James Bolton, University of Nottingham
  • Professor Poshak Gandhi, University of Southampton
  • Professor Christiane Helling, University of St Andrews
  • Professor Ben Stappers, The University of Manchester
  • Dr Noelia Noël, University of Surrey

Terms of reference

The advisory panel is tasked to:

  • maintain an overview of activities within the area
  • develop and maintain a science vision and long term strategy by assessing the merit of current and future science opportunities
  • develop and maintain a technology roadmap for their area of research
  • consult and interact with the community to ensure its views are canvassed and there is an appropriate and effective route for communication with STFC on strategic programmatic issues
  • provide advice to Science Board on specific questions as requested
  • liaise with other advisory panels when appropriate.

The advisory panel is required to report on these activities to Science Board on a regular basis. The science strategy developed by the advisory panel will be used by Science Board as input to ongoing strategy development and in future programmatic reviews.

Developing a world class research programme (STFC priority projects)

In June 2018, STFC launched the Developing a World Class Research Programme consultation to identify potential priorities for future investment. Following a wide consultation exercise, a full list of projects, together with their business cases, were reviewed by Science Board, Executive Board and Council. More information regarding this programme including a link to the full list of proposals selected for inclusion in the resulting portfolio is available at our research programmes page.

The AAP received a total of 47 project summaries in response to the 2018 Priority Projects exercise. Find out more about the AAP projects (where permission to publish has been given).

Last updated: 12 September 2023

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