Upcoming ALMA Cycle 8 2021 Call for Proposals deadline
The ALMA Cycle 8 2021 Call Proposal deadline of 1500UT (1600BST) on Wednesday 21 April 2021 is fast approaching. We hope your proposal preparations are going well, and the UK ARC Node is, as ever, available to assist the UK ALMA community with any proposal related queries you may have.
Important for this year's Call for Proposals: The UK ARC Node strongly recommends that all users check that their ALMA User account details are up to date. Specifically, users submitting proposals or expecting to be designated reviewers should inspect and update their science expertise areas, as these will inform the types of proposal you will be asked to review during the new distributed peer review process.
Changes to the ALMA antenna configuration schedule during Cycle 7
Because of the current COVID-19 situation in Chile, which is limiting the availability of ALMA staff to travel to and work at the ALMA site, the JAO has made the decision to delay scheduled changes to the ALMA array configuration for at least 20 days. ALMA observing will therefore continue in the current C43-5 configurations with no move to more extended configurations until at least early May.
This change has a potentially significant impact on the time spent in the more extended array configurations during the remainder of Cycle 7. Given this, the UK ARC Node are advising ALMA Cycle 7 PIs of Grade B and C proposals using the C43-6 to C43-10 array configurations to consider resubmitting their proposals in the current ALMA Cycle 8 2021 call for proposals. Please note that array configurations C43-9 and C43-10 will not be available in Cycle 8, so science goals may need to be modified prior to resubmission to accommodate this.
UK PIs should receive notification from their contact scientist via the ALMA Helpdesk advising which, if any, of their projects may be impacted by this change.
Further details can be found in the JAO's announcement. The planned ALMA Cycle 8 array configuration schedule is currently unaffected by this.
e-MERLIN Invitation for proposals: Cycle-12
Deadline: 23:59:59 UT on 13th May 2021
e-MERLIN requests proposals from the international astronomical community for observations to be made during Cycle-12. Proposals are competitively peer-reviewed under standard STFC rules by the PATT e-MERLIN Time Allocation Group. Allocation will be made on the basis of scientific merit and technical feasibility alone.
Full Details are available on the e-MERLIN website.