REPORT  ON  THE  KICK-OFF  MEETING

  OF  THE  EURO3D RESEARCH  TRAINING  NETWORK


Held: 2-4 July 2002. Instituto Astrofisica de Canarias, La Laguna, Tenerife.

In attendance:
 Jose Acosta (IAC)              jap AT ll.iac.es
 Jeremy Allington-Smith (DUR)   j.r.allington-smith AT durham.ac.uk
 Roland Bacon (LYO)             bacon AT obs.univ-lyon1.fr
 Thomas Becker (AIP)            tbecker AT aip.de
 Petra Böhm (AIP)               pboehm AT aip.de
 Andrew Bunker (CAM)            bunker AT ast.cam.ac.uk
 Michele Cappellari (LEI)       cappellari AT strw.leidenuniv.nl
 Laurent Chemin (PAR)           Laurent.Chemin AT obspm.fr
 Lise Christensen (AIP)         lchristensen AT aip.de
 Yannick Copin (LYO)            y.copin AT ipnl.in2p3.fr
 Nicolas Cretton (ESO)          ncretton AT eso.org
 Eric Emsellem (LYO)            emsellem AT obs.univ-lyon1.fr
 Pierre Ferruit (LYO)           pierre AT obs.univ-lyon1.fr
 Bianca Garilli (MIL)           bianca AT ifctr.mi.cnr.it
 Begona Garcia-Lorenzo (IAC)    bgarcia AT ing.iac.es 
 Ramon Garcia (IAC)             rgl AT iac.es
 Markus Kissler-Patig (ESO)     mkissler AT eso.org 
 Markus Kuntschner (ESO)        hkuntsch AT eso.org
 Vincent le Brun (MAR)          vlebrun AT astrsp-mrs.fr
 Olivier Le Fevre (MAR)         Olivier.Lefevre AT astrsp-mrs.fr    
 Evencio Mediavilla (IAC)       emg AT ll.iac.es
 Emanuela Pompei (ESO)          epompei AT eso.org
 Arlette Rousset-Pecontal (LYO) rousset AT obs.univ.lyon1.fr
 Martin Roth (AIP)              mmroth AT aip.de
 Marco Scodeggio (MIL)          marcos AT ifctr.mi.cnr.it
 Jürgen Schmoll (DUR)           jurgen.schmoll AT durham.ac.uk
 Jürgen Schreiber (MPE)         schreib AT mpe.mpg.de
 Ray Sharples (DUR)             r.m.sharples AT durham.ac.uk
 Niranjan Thatte (MPE)          thatte AT mpe.mpg.de
 Jermey Walsh (ESO)             jwalsh AT eso.org
 Allesandra Zanichelli (MIL)    azanich AT ira.cnr.it
Group Photograph
Index :

Welcome
Presentations: Instrumentation
Presentations: Science with 3D
Contractual Issues
Postdocs
IAC Winter School
Work Plan
Work Package Manager Lunch Meeting
Open Discussion


WELCOME

Martin welcomed everyone to the meeting. The contract for the Euro3D Research Training Network has been approved and signed by the DG XII of the European Commission, thus coming into effect for an official duration period from July 1, 2002, until December 31, 2005. The contract will finally become effective only  when all participating institutes have signed their Membership Agreement and sent this document back to the coordinator who must countersign and forward the documents collectively to the EC.

The Kick-off Meeting was virtually the earliest opportunity to initiate the RTN activities through a first workshop with attendance from all participating institutes. It was intended to demonstrate the strong interest of all Euro3D RTN partners to make this collaborative effort a success. It was also meant to present the competitive edge of Integral Field Spectroscopy in Europe which is in essence completely accessible within the Euro3D Research Training Network. The RTN should be continued in the spirit of the OPTICON 3D Spectroscopy Working Group, which had been successful in preparing software standards and the Euro3D Integral Field Spectroscopy Data Format, both of which are forming an important foundation for the future RTN work.

Thus the Kick-off Meeting would make the RTN visible as an attractive objective for potential postdoc candidates, planning to start or continue their careers with a solid research and training programme and within the context  of a strong collaboration between 11 major European research institutes.

Markus distributed a printed copy of the Euro3D poster which had been edited and printed by ESO's graphical office. A large number of posters has been shipped to essentially all relevant astronomy-related institutions worldwide, using the standard ESO distribution list.
 

The meeting was organized as follows:
 

  • The first day was devoted to presentations discussing the current status of 3D instruments that are or will become available to the Euro3D RTN.
  • The second day was reserved for talks about Science with Integral Field Spectroscopy.
  • Finally, the third day was scheduled for an open discussion concerning items of vital interest to the RTN work, e.g. the recruitment of young researchers, organizing the Work Plan, etc.

  •  

    Presentations from Session I, II and III  can be downloaded in Powerpoint or HTML formats.
     

    Martin thanked Evencio Mediavilla and Eva Bejarano (IAC) for organizing the workshop, for providing the logistics, and for the hospitality of the IAC.

    The welcome was concluded with a small ceremony , during which the final approved version of the Euro3D contract was delivered to the representative of each participating institute and confirmed with a symbolic handshake.
     


    Tuesday, 02 July 9:00 - 16:10

    Martin Roth: Welcome

    Session I:   INSTRUMENTATION
    Chairman: Jeremy Walsh
     

  • Evencio Mediavilla: "INTEGRAL"
  • Yannick Copin: "The TIGER Instruments"
  • Olivier Le Fevre: "Integral Field Units developed at LAM"
  • Jeremy Allington-Smith: "IFU Projects in Durham"
  • Jürgen Schmoll: "The IMACS IFU"
  • Martin Roth "PMAS"
  • Andrew Bunker "CIRPASS"
  • Jürgen Schreiber : "SINFONI: An adaptive optics assisted near infrared integral field spectrometer for the ESO VLT."
  • Laurent Chemin: "GIRAFFE at the VLT: a deployable mode for 3D spectroscopy"
  • Roland Bacon:  "The primary scientific goals of MUSE/VLT, its capabilities and its current status"
  • Alessandra Zanichelli: "Automated Data Reduction for the VIMOS Integral Field Unit: (how) does it work?"
  • Jose Acosta: "Working with IDA: an INTEGRAL Data Analysis facility"
  • Thomas Becker: "Practicing Euro3D: Data Reduction and Analysis Tools"
  • Markus Kissler-Patig : "The Euro3D format and programming standard - a tutorial"

  •  

     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     


    Wednesday, 3 July  09:00 - 16:50

    Session IISCIENCE
    Chairman: Jeremy Allington-Smith
     

  • Martin Roth "Observing Point Sources with 3D ? "
  • Andrew Bunker: "Integral field spectroscopy of high redshift galaxies with Gemini"
  • Ray Sharples: "Science Case for Multiple-IFS and 3D Deep Fields"
  • Niranjan Thatte: "Studying the nuclear regions of nearby active galaxies with  near infrared integral field spectroscopy - a case study of NGC 1068"
  • Nicolas Cretton : "Dynamics and central black hole of NGC 3377 based on Sauron and Oasis 2D spectroscopic observations"
  • Harald Kuntschner : "Stellar populations with SAURON"
  • Michele Cappellari: "Dynamical models for galaxies observed with SAURON"
  • Eric Emsellem:  "Density waves probed with 2D spectrography"
  • Pierre Ferruit: "Active Galaxies in Lyon"
  • Emanuela Pompei: "EFFI: E.S.O. Fiber Fed Instrument"
  • Vincent Le Brun: "Science with VIMOS IFU"
  • Marco Scodeggio: "Studying galaxy clusters with IFUs"
  • Laurent Chemin: "3D observations at R~5000-20000: resolving kinematics of galaxies up to z~1"
  • Evencio Mediavilla: "INTEGRAL field spectroscopy of gravitational lenses"
  • Begonia Garcia-Lorenzo: "2D Spectroscopy of Seyfert Galaxies and BCDs"

  •  

     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     


    Thursday, 4 July 09:00 - 16:30

    Session III:  RUNNING THE RTN
     

    Contractual issues

    After having passed some bureaucratic hurdles, it had in the end been possible to obtain the EC approval for the contract and a copy of the signed document. The RTN is now legally existing. For the next necessary steps, Martin repeated some of the points that he had explained already during the previous Working Group meeting in Marseille. Most importantly, the contract will come fully into effect only after the participating institutes have signed a Membership Agreement. The Membership Agreement is a legally binding document between the principal contractor (coordinating institute, i.e. AIP) and the members, and as such part of the RTN contract. It must be signed by the authorized administrative official of each partner institute as indicated in the contract preparation form A5.1 (box 59) which had been submitted by all parties to the EC via the coordinator to prepare the contractual documents.
    Note that, according to the contract, money starts flowing only after all membership agreements have been collected, countersigned by the coordinator and then sent to the EC.  In addition, administrative delays must be taken into account.
    After this step, an advance payment will be made, followed by further periodic payments over the duration of the contract. A final payment of the remaining 15% of the total budget will be made only after the contract has been duly terminated and all contractual obligations have been met.

    Martin will distribute Membership Agreement forms by email.

    ACTION (local team leaders)  Provide signature for Membership Agreement, send back to Martin (ASAP)

    A summary of relevant rules and regulations, including the responsibilities of the principal contractor and the members, is available in PDF (EC presentation, given on January 15, 2002, Brussels).

    It is the responsibility of the RTN coordinator to collect the required documents for preparation of the contract, to send a database report to the EC, and to provide the EC with a copy of the membership agreements. During the lifetime of the RTN, the coordinator is furthermore responsible for the project management, contacts with the EC, periodic reporting to the EC, transfer of funds, and the reporting of any changes affecting the RTN.

    Responsibilities of the local team leaders include management of their team, financial issues, managing the RTN project according to  the Work Plan, implementing the local training programme, integration of the young researcher in the local team, instructing the local team about contractual obligations, informing the RTN coordinator about any problem, providing the RTN coordinator with reporting data.
     
     

    The Postdocs

    Martin pointed out that young researchers who have been hired as postdocs must be made aware of the RTN in general, and of the details of the Research and Training Programme in particular. It is the duty of the local team leader to inform the young researcher, that she/he is working in an EC funded network, to inform her/him about her/his rights and duties, and about the appointment conditions before signature of the contract (Articles 1 and 18 of RTN contract, see also  rules and regulations, p. 31-34 ).

    As for the status of recruitments, an advertisement had been posted at the AAS Job Register during the months of May and June. There had been several requests for information and formally three applications. Applications are being collected at AIP and forwarded to local teams according to the preferences indicated by the applicant. From the preliminary inquiries it is expected that a few more applications will be arriving shortly.

    Since generally the main season to look for postdoc positions is fall, it was decided to post another AAS  advertisement in October and November 2002, with deadline for applications on December 15. Markus proposed to use the the term "Euro3D Research Training Network" as an institution, which would appear more attractive than "AIP / Potsdam". Martin will attempt to submit a job advertisement in this form.

    ACTION (Martin)  Send Euro3D job advertisement to AAS Job Register (deadline 15-Sept-2002)

    The Euro3D poster which had been distributed in Session I was mentioned as another way to attract the attention of possible postdoc candidates.

    Jeremy was volunteering to write an ESO Messenger article about Euro3D, to be published around September.

    ACTION (Jeremy W.)  Write ESO Messenger article about Euro3D
     
     

    IAC Winter School

    On behalf of the IAC, Ramon Garcia gave an introduction to the now well-established IAC Winter School - in 2002 the 14th of its kind will be taking place. IAC Winter Schools are topical and will be published in a book after the school. They are organized for typically 70 students. A lot of interaction between the students and teachers is encouraged. There are usually 10-12 computers available to the participants, and if appropriate, training at one of the Canary Islands Observatories is part of the programme.

    Every year, the normal procedure to organize a Winter School is as follows:

    Call for Proposals - deadline September 15
    Research Committee and Graduate Studies Division make recommendation  - October 15
    Normally, there are 4-5 proposals out of which only one is selected.
     

    Proposals for an IAC Winter School must be submitted in the following form:


    In 2002, the IAC team had already submitted a proposal for the intended Integral Field Spectroscopy Winter School. Given the fact that there are at least 3 other known competing proposals, it was uncertain that this time the proposal would be successful. There was, however, nothing wrong with resubmitting it in the next round, and even another year later if necessary. Ramon pointed out that because of the competitive nature of  the selection procedure, there was no guarantee that the Euro3D Winter School would take place within the framework of the regular IAC Winter School programme.
    Nevertheless, even if in the worst case all possible proposals failed, the IAC would be willing to support an Integral Field Spectroscopy Winter School to be organized separately. The same infrastructure would be made available as for the regular programmes, however funding would have to be provided from elsewhere. According to experience, the typical cost of an IAC Winter School used to be around 12 to 13 million Ptas. Normally part of the funding is provided by the EC, and another part from Spanish grants, sponsors, and the local Cabildo.
     
     

    Work Plan

    In this session, the responsible task coordinators for Work Package 1 and 2 presented a short review of  each task to remind everyone of the details of the Work Plan, which is a fundamental part of the contract. It was now time to reconsider how every team will participate in the common Research and Training Programme, well before the postdocs will arrive. It is, in particular, extremely important to start planning for observing campaigns now because applications for observing time typically require considerable lead time, and the appointment of Euro3D postdocs will last only 2 years. Each presentation was discussed in some detail. It was decided to finalize the plan for each task under the responsibility of its task coordinator by the end of September 2002.

    Work Package 1

                1.1 Pre-main-sequence objects   (Jeremy W.)
                1.2  Resolved stellar populations   (Jeremy W.)
                ( 1.3  Normal galaxies - not presented )
                1.4  Active galaxies   (Pierre)
                1.5  Groups and clusters of galaxies   (Bianca)
                ( 1.6  High redshift galaxies - not presented )
                1.7  Gravitational lensing   (Evencio)

    Work Package 2

                2.1 Data format and software specifications    (Markus)
                2.2  3D visualization    (Martin)
                2.3  Line fitting tool    (Pierre)
                2.4  Crowded field spectroscopy   (Martin)
                2.5  3D mosaicing   (Jürgen Schreiber - for Lowell)
                2.6  Data cube exploration, data mining   (Vincent)
                2.7  3D deconvolution (Pierre)
                ( 2.8  3D cross correlation - not presented)

    ACTION (task coordinators)  Prepare task plan, timeline, milestones, and list of participants   (deadline: 30-Sept-2002)
     
     

    Work Package Manager Lunch Meeting

    participating:
    Jeremy W.       WP1  Science Projects
    Bianca              WP2  Data Analysis Tools
    Jeremy A.-S.   WP3  Collective Training Activities
    Martin              RTN Coordinator

    A Work Package Manager Meeting, which was held separately during lunch time, yielded the following recommendations and requests:

    REPORTS:

    ACTION (Martin)  set up webpage with reference to technology transfer
    ACTION (Martin)  contact Roland to initiate Public Outreach activities, create list of links to webpages
    ACTION (Martin)  create database of management activities, report to Jeremy A.-S.
    ACTION (Martin)  prepare template for report form
    ACTION (Martin)  clarify conditions of special request for 1 year advance payment for MIL team
     
     

    Open Discussion

    During the last session of the meeting, several topics of general interest were discussed in no particular order :
     

    Planning RTN  Meetings

    The sequence of RTN workshops was reviewed and discussed, considering that some dates must be adjusted due to external constraints :

    Science  Workshop -  Q2-2003  (according to plan)

    Mid-term Review - Q4-2004 (according to plan)

    Data Analysis Workshop - Spring 2005

    International Conference at ESO:
    Jeremy W. will submit proposal by May 2003 with target 2004. The Data Analysis Workshop, which originally was scheduled for Q3-2004, must be shifted accordingly.

    ACTION (Jeremy W.)  submit proposal for 3D Spectroscopy conference at ESO  (deadline: May-2003)
     

    Reports

    As required on the basis of the contract, the RTN coordinator must provide periodic progress reports to the EC, as well as immediate change records should any team have changed in a fundamental way. Experience has shown that it is notoriously difficult for network coordinators to obtain all the required information in time. Since delays may have the undesirable effect of subsequent delays in payments by the EC, the Euro3D RTN shall employ a simple and practical reporting scheme, allowing to respond to the EC quickly. To this end, the RTN coordinator will request every two months a progress report from local team leaders using a simple form, which can be filled-in as a matter of a few minutes. In addition to this, the Work Package Manager will request similar reports from task coordinators to monitor progress of the various Work Plan tasks. The Work Package Managers will then synthesize to provide input to the Euro3D Newsletter which will be published electronically twice a year.


    Webpage

    A discussion of the Euro3D webpage lead to the conclusion that no fundamental change was needed. However, it was suggested to improve the visibility of job announcements on the homepage. Regarding the repository of documents, to be mainted within the internal page, the following items were suggested to be included:

    Regarding the issue of how to organize software bug reports it was decided to leave this up to the responsibility of the author.
     

    Mailing List

    Bianca announced that the current mailing list will be updated and then sent to Petra to be posted in the internal section of the Euro3D webpage.
     

    Video Conferencing

    Video Conferencing was discussed as a possible way to organize future RTN-wide discussion without the need for travel.
    VRVS was mentioned as a useful implementation, see http://www.vrvs.org/. RTN members are encouraged to experiment.
     

    The meeting was closed at 16:30


    Summary of Action Items:

    ACTION (local team leaders)  Provide signature for Membership Agreement, send back to Martin (ASAP)
    ACTION (Martin)  Send Euro3D job advertisement to AAS Job Register (deadline 15-Sept-2002)
    ACTION (Jeremy W.)  Write ESO Messenger article about Euro3D
    ACTION (task coordinators)  Prepare task plan, timeline, milestones, and list of participants   (deadline: 30-Sept-2002)
    ACTION (Martin)  set up webpage with reference to technology transfer
    ACTION (Martin)  contact Roland to initiate Public Outreach activities, create list of links to webpages
    ACTION (Martin)  create database of management activities, report to Jeremy A.-S.
    ACTION (Martin)  prepare template for report form
    ACTION (Martin)  clarify conditions of special request for 1 year advance payment for MIL team
    ACTION (Jeremy W.)  submit proposal for 3D Spectroscopy conference at ESO  (deadline: May-2003)
     


    Prepared by M.M. Roth
    Last updated 04-Oct-2002