The Program Advisory Committee, which is chaired by Prof Tracy Rushmer (Macquarie University), has met to assess the scientific merit of beam-time and deuteration proposals submitted for time between July and December 2014.
In general, the impression was that the quality of both proposals and external reviewing has been maintained. 136 cold- and thermal-neutron experiments were recommended for approval, with beam time allocations as follows: 65 days on each of Echidna and Wombat, 51 days on Kowari, 93 days on Koala, 70 days on Taipan, 92 days on Platypus, 83 days on Quokka, 48 on Dingo (subject to getting its operating licence), and 58 on each of Pelican and Kookaburra (subject to getting their operating licences).
The variation is primarily due to time set aside for proprietary work, pre-approved programs of research from previous proposal rounds and time set aside for the mail-in service on Echidna. In addition, the new instruments (Dingo, Pelican and Kookaburra) will be scheduled more loosely as they work up to full performance, and therefore fewer days will be committed to users.
This committee meeting was the first for Tracy as chair, and we are also grateful to Prof Tim Wess (Charles Sturt University) for standing in as a replacement for Prof Rob Burford as one of AINSE's two representatives on the committee. Prof John Carver (Australian National University) also joined the panel for the first time, as AINSE's other representative.
Published: 02/05/2014