ALMA Proposal Preparation Day 2021

The ALMA Cycle 8 2021 Call for Proposals is now open with a submission deadline on April 21, 2021

The Allegro ARC Node would like to invite you to attend a proposal preparation workshop. 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:

  1. a live online event with the Allegro team on March 29th with a few presentations and an extensive Q&A session
  2. online video tutorials that will be uploaded after the online event (watch last year’s video tutorials here)
  3. online drop-in sessions on Wednesdays 14-15 and Fridays 9-10
  4. individual 1-1 support that can be booked at any time (e-mail us)

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fashion this year, the Allegro team will provide advice on how this can be achieved, and explain how one can refer to unpublished data and previous ALMA projects without accidentally violating the double-anonymous guidelines.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 Call for Proposals. 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.

Program March 29, 2021
9:30 Welcome
9:35-9:50 Violette Impellizzeri ALMA Call for Proposals & Capabilities in Cycle 8 2021
9:50-10:10 Katharina Immer Distributed Peer Review
10:10-10:30 Aida Ahmadi Dual Anonymous Proposal Review
10:30-10:45 Break
10:45-11:20 Ashley Bemis & Andrés Pérez-Sánchez The ALMA Observing Tool
11:20-11:40 Alex Hygate Simulating ALMA Observations
11:40-12:00 Aida Ahmadi Archive Mining
12:00 Open Q&A Session
Registered participants: (Last update 25-03-2021)
Michiel Hogerheijde Leiden Observatory
Violette Impellizzeri Leiden Observatory
Alex Hygate Leiden Observatory
Andrés Pérez-Sánchez Leiden Observatory
Ashley Bemis Leiden Observatory
Aida Ahmadi Leiden Observatory
Katharina Immer Leiden Observatory
Pooneh Nazari Leiden Observatory
Marta Frias Castillo Leiden Observatory
Ian Roberts Leiden Observatory
Kirsty Butler Leiden Observatory
Leindert Boogaard Leiden Observatory & MPIA
Jakob van den Eijnden University of Oxford
Fernanda Roman de Oliveira Kapteyn Astronomical Institute
Matthew Kenworthy Leiden Observatory
Danial Rangavar Langeroodi Leiden Observatory
Belen Alcalde ESO
Maximilian Beyer VU Amsterdam
Martijn van Gelder Leiden Observatory
Cristina Garcia Leiden Observatory
Antonello Calabro INAF OAR
Jozsef Varga Leiden Observatory
Audrey Coutens IRAP
Dominika Itrich ESO
Di Wen Kapteyn Astronomical Institute
Daniele Aragao Ronso da Costa Lima Kapteyn Astronomical Institute
Lucas Stapper Leiden Observatory
Olga Bayandina Joint Institute for VLBI ERIC
Lisa Wölfer MPE Garching/Leiden Observatory
Elielson Soares Pereira IAG-USP (Brazil)
Heitor Ernandes USP
Joshua Butterworth Leiden Observatory
Louise Lamblin Leiden Observatory
Sicen Guo Leiden Observatory
Ko-Yun (Monica) Huang Leiden Observatory