Enhancing UK engagement with LSST Science Collaborations

One of the principal goals of Phase A (2015-2019) of the STFC-funded programme in support of UK participation in LSST is for the UK community to become fully engaged in scientific preparation for LSST prior to the start of commissioning in late 2019. That goal will primarily be achieved through individual researchers becoming active in the relevant Science Collaboration and UK researchers willing to commit time now to engaging with LSST are strongly encouraged to apply for the PI status that is needed to join a Science Collaboration (SC).

The members of the LSST:UK Science Working Group (SWG) are responsible for stimulating and coordinating activity within the UK community in their science areas. That role will always include the dissemination of information from the SCs through the UK community (to the extent that is allowed by SC rules), but, at this early stage, it may also require helping UK researchers get up to speed on SC activities to the point that they can decide whether to seek PI status and SC membership.

To that end, the LUSC Exec Group would like to encourage SWG members to organize workshops for researchers in their science areas during 2017. These workshops must:

• Aim to increase the engagement of UK researchers with the relevant LSST Science Collaboration;
• Share information from/with the relevant SC – e.g. through the participation (remote or in person) by leaders of that SC; and
• Be advertised (e.g. through an email to the LUSC-ANNOUNNCE list) to researchers in all LSST:UK Consortium institutions.

Support available for science workshops

Three categories of support are available for these workshops:

1. Use of LSST:UK collaboration resources:
   1. The relevant section of the SWG space on this Confluence wiki site can be used to collect material for and from the workshop;
   2. The LSST:UK GotoMeeting videoconferencing system can be used to support remote attendance of the workshop by up to nine people; and
   3. A JISCMail emailing list can be set up to support the group, if one doesn't already exist.
2. Financial support from LSST:UK: The Phase A pool travel fund can provide support for the following key elements of a science workshop: catering and (with suitable justification) venue-hire; travel and subsistence for UK participants; and travel and subsistence for representation from the Science Collaboration Leadership, with the following restrictions:
   1. (As is usual for STFC research funding,) the pool travel fund can only cover 80% of actual costs. Therefore, alternative funding needs to be identified for the 20% shortfall.
   2. Any request for venue-hire costs should clearly justify why a paid-for venue is better than a free venue.
   3. An aggregate amount can be requested for travel and subsistence for UK participants (for example, N participants with typical, estimated expenses of £XXX), though the proposer is delegated responsible for the allocation of any funds that are awarded to individual participants.
   4. Participants, who have received approval from the proposer to claim support for their travel and subsistence, should claim back their expenses following the usual process for individual travel claims and complying with the travel-expense policy of their employing institution.
3. Financial support from LSST Corporation: LSSTC has recently issued its 2017 Enabling Science Call for "proposals for workshops, meetings, and other programs to prepare for LSST data." This source of funding is likely to be relevant only for workshops that are intended to have a significant non-UK attendance and, in particular, preference will "be given to proposals that include significant participation by LSSTC member institutions".

Applications for financial support

The deadline for applications for the LSSTC call is Monday, December 19, 2016 by midnight (2400 hours) PST - i.e. 08.00 GMT on Tuesday, December 20th 2016 - and applications should be emailed in PDF format, as described in the LSSTC call.

Applications for LSST:UK financial support should be made by 17.00 GMT on Friday, January 6th 2017. They should be submitted in PDF format (with a maximum of two pages) by email to the LSST:UK Project Manager, and must include the following information:

• Contact details of the proposer(s);
• Estimated date(s) and duration for the workshop and justification (e.g. where that fits in with other meetings, or development of Science Collaboration road-maps, etc.);
• Expected size and composition of audience;
• Anticipated outcomes from workshop;
• Planned involvement of leadership from relevant Science Collaboration(s);
• Estimated costs (catering and venue; support for UK-based participants; support for SC leadership involvement);
• Confirmation that the 20% shortfall in STFC funding can be addressed from another source; and
• Indication of what support (if any) has been sought from other sources. 

It is expected that the outcomes from applications to both the LSSTC and LSST:UK calls will be announced by the start of February 2017.