ALMA Proposal Preparation Day 2021
The Cycle 8 2021 ALMA Call for Proposals is expected to open on March 17th 2021, with a submission deadline on April 21, 2021.
The Allegro ARC Node would like to invite you to attend a proposal preparation workshop that will take place after the call for proposals opens. The aim of this workshop is to assist you in making the most out of ALMA’s new capabilities, getting an overview of the new modes offered, and proposal preparation through the ALMA Observing Tool (OT). We will also offer guidance with writing double-anonymous proposals and in the new stages of proposal writing and reviewing (the “distributed proposal review process”) that will be in use from Cycle 8 2021.
The format of our workshop will be virtual, and it will consist of three parts:
- online video tutorials that will be released starting March 19th
- a live online event with the Allegro team on March 29th with a few presentations and an extensive Q&A session
- individual 1-1 support from the 29th up to the deadline
Our online event will be used to address questions related to proposal submission and the distributed proposal review process that will be adopted from Cycle 8 2021 onwards. Since proposals will have to be written in a fully double-anonymous fashion this year, the Allegro team will provide advice on how this can be achieved, and explain how one can refer to unpublished data and previous ALMA projects without accidentally violating the double-anonymous guidelines.
You can register to attend the online event on March 29th using this registration form.
An overview of important dates and what’s offered in Cycle 8 2021 can be found in the pre-announcement. As a reminder, the Cycle 8 2021 will include configurations from C-1 up to C-8, with a special focus on high frequency observing. New capabilities that will be offered include Solar observations in Band 5, a passive-phasing mode for VLBI, high-frequency observations (Bands 9 and 10) with the stand-alone 7-m array, mosaicking of continuum line polarisation observations (Bands 3 to 7), spectral scans with the 7-m Array and up to 75 hours of full polarisation observations of a single field with the 7-m Array. No long baseline observations are offered in Cycle 8 2021.
We look forward to seeing many of you at the ALMA Proposal Preparation Day on March 29th! Meanwhile, don’t hesitate to e-mail us if you have questions, concerns, or need support. We would be happy to set up a remote meeting with you. PIs who are considering a Large Program are especially encouraged to contact Allegro early so we can explore the many ways we can support your project and help optimize your program.