Plans and opportunities for European astronomy

Principal contact: M. Bode (mfb@astro.livjm.ac.uk )

Organisers: M. Bode (LJMU, UK), F. Molster (Leiden, The Netherlands)

Note: this 1.5-hr session consists of invited talks only.

Although astronomical research is often very international, the funding processes are largely nationally oriented. In Europe, the level of investment for future facilities and their instruments, both on the ground and in space, has reached a point where coordination on a European scale becomes essential. The European funding agencies therefore initiated the ASTRONET and ASPERA collaborative projects to produce the long-range plans to deliver the infrastructures required to address what are perceived to be some of the key science questions of our time.

Looking more widely, The IDEAS Programme is one within the "family" of the 7th Framework Programme to support targeted research: Co-operation, Ideas, People, Capacities. It has created the European Research Council - ERC - a pan-European funding organisation designed to encourage the highest quality research in Europe through support to investigator-initiated frontier research across all fields, on the basis of scientific excellence. ERC complements other funding schemes in Europe such as those of research funding agencies operating at the national level and those within the 7th Framework Programme.

Scientific Programme

Monday 20th April
11:00	The ASTRONET Science Vision and Joint Call	Frank Molster
11:23	The ASTRONET Infrastructure Roadmap	Mike Bode
11:45	The ASPERA Roadmap	Stavros Katsanevas
12:08	ERC - The New Opportunity for Fundamental Research in Europe	Teresa Lago