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Stromlo Distinguished Visitor Program (RSAA)

Application

The Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics (RSAA) at the Australian National University (ANU) offers a program to support Distinguished Visitors for longer-term visits to Mount Stromlo to work collaboratively on activities associated with RSAA’s astrophysics and technology research programs.

The requirements and application process for the Stromlo Distinguished Visitor program are as follows:

  1. Visitors will spend between one and six months at RSAA. The period at RSAA may be spread over a small number of visits within a one-year window.
  2. Visitors must be sponsored by, and work with, one or more RSAA scientific and/or technical staff.
  3. Visitors must give at least one colloquium at RSAA and are strongly encouraged to give colloquia at other Australian research organizations and talks to the general public (RSAA can assist in arranging public talks).
  4. The Distinguished Visitor program can contribute funding towards a round-trip economy air ticket and living expenses. Funding will be provided on the basis of reimbursement of expenses (receipts required). Visitors will usually require additional funding from other sources to cover their expenses.
  5. Visitors will be provided with office space, computing/internet services, and limited administrative support. They will also have full access to ANU’s telescope facilities during the period of their visit.
  6. Applications must include: (i) the Visitor's curriculum vitae (<2 pages); (ii) a statement, written by the applicant, regarding the purpose and period of the visit, the research and other activities to be undertaken during the visit, and the resulting benefits to RSAA’s programs (<2 pages); (iii) a supporting statement by the RSAA scientist sponsoring the visit (<1 page); and (iv) a budget with details of the requested funding and supporting funding from other sources (<1 page).
  7. Applications will be assessed by the Stromlo Distinguished Visitor Committee, which has two subcommittees: one for astronomy & astrophysics and one for instrumentation & technology. The available funding will be allocated based on (i) the benefit to RSAA’s research programs and status, (ii) the research record of the applicant, and (iii) the significance of the proposed research and other activities, and their alignment with RSAA research programs. The extent of additional funding from other sources will also be taken into account.
  8. If a Distinguished Visitor award is not taken up within 3 months of the end date for the visit as specified in the application, then the funding offer will lapse.
  9. The RSAA staff member sponsoring the visit will provide a report to the RSAA Director detailing the outcomes of the visit and the benefits to the RSAA within 1 month of the completion of the visit.
  10. Applications must be emailed to the RSAA Director (director.rsaa@anu.edu.au). There are two annual deadlines: 15 March for visits in the second half of any given year (i.e., July to December) and 15 September for visits in the first half of the following year (i.e., January to June).

ANU values diversity and inclusion and believes opportunities must not be limited by socio-economic background, race, religion or gender. Women are particularly encouraged to apply for the Stromlo Distinguished Visitor program. Questions about the program may be addressed to the RSAA Director.

Committee

Astronomy & Astrophysics

  • Gary Da Costa, Chair (Sept 2023)
  • Naomi McClure-Griffiths, Member (Sep 2023)
  • Christian Wolf, Member (Sep 2024)
  • Stefania Barsanti (Sep 2024)
  • Student Rep, Callum Lynn, Member (March 2024)

Instrumentation & technology

  • Doris Grosse, Chair (Sep 2023)
  • Trevor Mendel, Member (Sep 2024)
  • Dionne Haynes, Member (Sep 2023)
  • Joice Mathew, Member (Sep 2024)
  • Marcus Birch, Member (March 2023)

List of visitors

Year Visit dates Name Home institution
Stromlo Distinguished Visitors
2023 December Roland Bacon Centre de Recherche Astrophysique de Lyon
2023 December Chiaki Kobayashi University of Hertfordshire
2023 December Domenico Bonaccini Calia European Southern Obersvatory
2023 November Madga Arnboldi European Southern Observatory
2023 November Ortwin Gerhard Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics
2023 November Ulf Seemann European Souther Observatory
2023   Kate Barger Texas Christian University
2023   Aris Tritsis Ecole Polytechnique Lausanne
2022 December 2022 - February 2023 Paula Jofre University Deigo Portales
2022 09 May - 08 June Gilles Joncas Universite Laval
2022 September - October Ryan Leaman University of Vienna
2022 03 Aug - 31 Oct Stella Offner University of Texas at Austin
2022 17 Aug - 28 Dec Mario Mateo University of Michigan
2020   Ewan Schafer DLR German Aerospace Center
2020   Andy Bunker University of Oxford
2020   Chiaki Kobayashi University of Hertfordshire
2020   Michael S. Fall Space Telescope Science Institute
2020   Lars Hernquist Harvard University
2020   Ryan Leaman Max Planck Institute for Astronomy
2019   Magda Arnaboldi European Southern Observatory
2019   Ortwin Gerhard Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics
2019   Isabel Perez University of Granada
2019   Troels Haugølle University of Copenhagen
2019   Matthew Baring Rice University
2019   Andreas Burkert University of Munich
2019   Kimberley Venn University of Victoria, BC
2018   Elena D'Onghia University of Wisconsin
2018   Kaitlin Kratter University of Arizona
2018   Nicola Schneider University of Cologne
2018   John Tonry University of Hawaii
2018   Rene Kraan-Korteweg University of Cape Town
2018   Mike Hudson University of Waterloo
2017   Tomaz Zwitter University of Ljubljana
2017   Stuart Sim Queen's University Belfast
2017   Ralf Klessen University of Heidelberg
2017   Chris Gordon University of Canterbury
2017  

Tim de Zeeuw

Leiden University

2017

  Matthias Steinmetz

Leibniz Institute Potsdam

2017

  Lars Hernquist

Harvard University

2017

  Colin Norman

Johns Hopkins

2017

  Nicola Schneider

University of Cologne

2016

  Changbom Park

Korea Institute for Advanced Study

2016

  Parviz Ghavamian Towson University

2016

  David Rupke Rhodes College

2016

  Prajval Shastri Indian Institute of Astrophysics

2016

  Anna Frebel Massachusetts Institute of Technology

2016

  Robi Banerjee University of Hamburg

2016

  Matthias Steinmetz Leibniz Institute Potsdam

2016

  Stefan Wagner Landessternwarte Heidelberg

2016

  Chris Belczynski Warsaw University

2015

  Rosemary Wyse Johns Hopkins University

2015

  Phil Hopkins California Institute of Technology

2015

  Johan Richard Observatoire de Lyon

2015

  Peter Wizinowich Keck Observatory
2015   Anna Frebel Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2015   Albert Zijlstra University of Manchester
2015   Kim-Vy Tran Texas A&M University
2015   Jouni Kainulainen Max-Planck Institute of Astronomy

2014

  Bruno Leibundgut

European Southern Observatory

2014   David Sanders University of Hawaii
2014   Ravi Subrahmanyan Raman Institute
2014   Andy Bunker University of Oxford
2014   Chiaki Kobayashi University of Hertfordshire
2014   Ivan Hubeny University of Arizona
2014   Daniela Calzetti University of Massachusetts
2014   John Hillier University of Pittsburgh
2014   Kim Venn University of Victoria