Aarhus Universitets segl

Instrument Center for Danish Astrophysics

IDA Board

IDA is to advise the Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation in matters relating to the Danish memberships of various international astrophysics organisations. An IDA Board has been set to ensure the complete representation of Danish interests.

The IDA Board is the top governing body of IDA

The IDA Board has the following tasks:

  • to establish an Executive Committee for IDA consisting of eight members from the Board.
  • to ensure that IDA is managed in accordance with the objective and the conditions of the grant.
  • to promote Danish astronomers’ access to international research facilities.
  • to discuss and approve the budget.
  • to advise the Danish Agency for Science and Higher Education and to be in an ongoing dialogue about the Danish memberships of e.g. ESO and NOT

 

 

 

IDA Board as of May 2024

AU

Hans Kjeldsen (Head of IDA)

Mai Korsbæk (Administrative manager of IDA)

Marcus Marcussen

Mia Sloth Lundkvist

Simon Albrecht

Steen Hannestad

DTU

Allan Hornstrup

Desiree D.M. Ferreira

Lars Buchhave

Thomas Greve

Selina Howalt Owe

Steven Gillman

Bitten Gullberg

KU

Christa Gall

Heidi Korhonen 

Jens Hjorth

Jes K. Jørgensen

Johan Fynbo

Kasper Elm Heintz

Lise Bech Christensen

Marianne Vestergaard

Joonas Viuho

Miranda Kiran Husted Andersen

SDU

Mads Toudal Frandsen

Roman Gold

Observers

Troels Haugbølle (KU), IDA WG 10 Chair

Birgitta Nordström (KU), IDA WG11 Chair


IDA Executive Commitee

The Executive Committee has the following tasks:

  • to support IDA's Center Leader in relation to the operation and the prioritization of IDA's activities.
  • to submit assessment and prioritization of projects to be supported through IDA to the IDA Board's final approval.
  • to prepare topics for discussion in the IDA Board
  • to prioritize funds from the IDA grant to individual activities according to the agreed budget and within the overall framework of IDA.
  • to ensure the reporting of the project to the Danish Agency for Science and Higher Education 

 

IDA Executive Committee as of May 2024

Lars Buchhave

Desiree D.M. Ferreira

Mia Sloth Lundkvist

Heidi Korhonen

Jes Jørgensen

Mads Toudal Frandsen

Marcus Marcussen

Lise Christensen


IDA Working groups

IDA have 12 distinct working groups (WG), each with a specific list of aims, goals, and actions. They are further divided into three categories.

IDA have three strategic Working Groups, WG 1, 2, and 3. These groups will prepare documents and reports and draft strategic plans with the aim of supporting and qualifying the IDA activities. A central part of the activities in the IDA Board is to advice on priorities and ensure optimum use of existing and future research facilities and this will require plans, actions and reports/studies. The aim of those three WG’s is to ensure coherent and fast decisions in relation to ESO, NOT, ESA, NASA etc.

IDA have five Working Groups that are dealing with specific activities that are initiated and/or supported by IDA: WG 4, 5, 6, 10 and 12. Those groups will not only deal with strategies and recommendations but also deal with implementation as well as coordination with the specific facilities.

IDA have four Working Groups that are dealing with organizing specific IDA activities: WG 7, 8, 9 and 11. Those groups will be in charge for planning, organizing and prioritizing the IDA budget that are linked to those activities.

IDA Working groups

Working group 1: Future ESO strategies

This WG will work on aspects of the way we use the ESO facilities and prioritize our access. This will relate to ELT, ALMA, VLT, La Silla etc. and also our use of the ESO student/postdoc programme.

This WG might collaborate and coordinate some of the activities with the IDA WG on ELT Instrumentation. The national representatives in the ESO committees should be members of this WG.

Working group 1

Chair: Lise Christensen

Working group 2: Future NOT strategies

This WG will have two main objectives as their focus. The first objective is to discuss the future structure of NOT as well as the Danish use of NOT in general. How will we ensure continued operations of the NOT?

The second objective is to support the NTE project development with a specific aim of recommending how IDA can support the development and use of this instrument. The Danish/IDA GTO time also needs attention. Danish development plans for NOT should also be discussed and the WG should recommend how we handle those projects. One question to consider is how the connection to NOT should be in the future – i.e. the Danish NOT funding contribution might be handled and prioritized by IDA. The national representatives in the NOT committees should be members of this WG.

Working group 2

Chair: Heidi Korhonen

Working group 3: Future Space Science strategies for astrophysics

This WG will deal with the ESA Science Programme. We need to define how future priorities within the ESA Science Programme might be coordinated with the Space Board activities also with the aim of ensuring a coordination between space and ground activities.

The WG might work on defining a structure that improves coordination and recommendations for long-term projects in space and on ground and should not be limited to ESA projects. Also NASA and CNES projects are relevant as well as strategies for how we might relate to space activities in China, Japan, and Russia etc. One important aspect is also to discuss how Danish astronomers can take part in specific space projects at a national level (e.g. missions under ESA and NASA). The national representatives in the relevant ESA committees should be members of this WG.

Working group 3

Chair: Desiree D.M. Ferreira

Working group 4: LSST

IDA (and KU and AU) have signed a MoA with the LSST Team which will need actions. There are many aspects of the Danish LSST collaboration; we need to select PI’s for LSST, start collaborating with the LSST Team and discuss the funding situation on a national level.

This WG will be responsible for leading the development of the Danish LSST activities and recommend to IDA how to support this. As a first action the WG will organize a workshop on LSST.

Working group 4

Chair: Christa Gall

Working group 5: ELT Instrumentation

Taking an active part in ELT instrumentation is difficult and contains a series of challenges. Besides scientific involvement one needs to be able to locate long-term funding at a significant level and it is not obvious how we should deal with this in general.

IDA will need to consider how we support those activities and more specifically how we act in relation to ANDES (formerly HIRES), where Denmark is already an active member. We need to develop a strategy for how we can take part in the ELT instrumentation projects in general.

Working group 5

Chair: Lise Christensen

Working group 6: Greenland Telescope (GLT)

IDA has started activities in relation to the Greenland Telescope. The aim of this WG is to develop those activities further as well as agreeing with the GLT team how to define our collaboration, especially in relation to scientific collaborations.

Working group 6

Chair: Jes K Jørgensen

Working group 7: ESO outreach and IDA webpage

Rethink the IDA webpage, the use of the webpage (announcements, information, feedback) and develop the interaction between IDA, the Danish astronomical community, and the public.

ESON and future development and coordination of the ESO outreach will be part of this WG.

Working group 7

Chair: Mai Korsbæk

Working group 8: The IDA Observing School

Organizing and developing the national observing school will be in the hands of this WG.

Working group 8

Chair: Johan Fynbo

Working group 9: The Annual Danish Astronomy Meeting

Organizing and developing the Annual Danish Astronomy Meeting will be in the hands of this WG.

Working group 9

Chair: Kasper Elm Heintz

Working group 10: Astronomical models and data analysis

The work of WG10 is to coordinate and improve the use of high-performance and high-throughput computing in Danish astrophysics. This includes education, training, and access to national and international facilities, especially through DeiC, PRACE, and EuroHPC.

Working group 10

Chair: Troels Haugbølle

Working group 11: International relations, specifically in regard to EAS and IAU

WG11 aim is to coordinate and communicate international relations and activities, specifically in regard to EAS (the European Astronomical Society) and IAU (the International Astronomical Union) to all Danish astronomers.

Working group 11

Chair: Birgitta Nordström

Working group 12: Instrumentation and operations of existing astronomical infrastructure

WG12 aim is to facilitate the exchange of expertise within the Danish astronomical community, focusing on hardware design, development, and implementation for astronomical instrumentation. The WG will focus on encouraging collaboration to improve operational efficiency and promote innovative solutions. This includes discussing the performance of existing astronomical infrastructure and identifying opportunities for enhancement. Furthermore WG12 will provide recommendations for upgrades or new implementations based on user feedback and technological advancements within the community.

Working group 12

Chair: Jacob Clasen