The Program Advisory Committee, which is chaired by Prof Tracy Rushmer (Macquarie University), has met over the last two days to assess the scientific merit of beam-time and deuteration proposals submitted for time between July and December 2015.
249 cold- and thermal-neutron experiments (along with proposals to the National Deuteration Facility) were recommended for approval, with beam time allocations as follows: 76 days on ECHIDNA, 83 on WOMBAT, 97 on KOALA, 69 on KOWARI, 76 on TAIPAN, 101 on PLATYPUS, 104 on QUOKKA, 78 on DINGO, 94 on PELICAN, 92 on KOOKABURRA, and 51 on SIKA (subject to receiving its operating licence from ARPANSA). The variation is primarily due to time set aside for proprietary work, pre-approved programs of research from previous proposal rounds and time set aside for the mail-in service on ECHIDNA. One new committee members joined for the first time: Alice Vrielink (University of Western Australia); and we are also grateful to John Evans (Durham University, UK) and Clemens Ulrich (University of New South Wales) for standing in at short notice for two of the regular members, who were unable to attend. |