Artwork: Beabudai Design
The kick-off of the Astrophysics Centre for Multimessenger studies in Europe—ACME, an EU-funded project built by and for the astroparticle and the astronomy communities.
On the 16th and 17th of September was held in Paris the kick-off meeting for the Astrophysics Centre for Multimessenger studies in Europe-ACME. This HORIZON-INFRA-2023-SERV-01 EU-funded project coordinated by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) aims to realize an ambitious coordinated European-wide optimization of the accessibility and cohesion between multiple leading astroparticle and astronomy research infrastructures, offering access to instruments, data and expertise, focused on the new science of multi-messenger astrophysics.
With 40 world-class collaborating institutions from 15 countries, ACME brings together the astroparticle and astronomy communities in a joint effort to forge a basis for strengthened long-term collaboration between these research infrastructures irrespective of location and level up access opportunities across Europe and beyond.
ACME objectives are to implement the Astroparticle Physics European Consortium’s (APPEC) and the Planning and Advisory Network for European Astronomy’s (ASTRONET) roadmaps’ recommendations and act as a pathfinder to broaden and improve access to the respective research infrastructures services and data, assess and evaluate new models for better coordination and provision of at-scale services, provide harmonized trans-national and virtual access, develop centres of expertise, improve science data products management, improve interoperable systems for rapid identification of astrophysical candidate events and alert distribution to optimize follow-up observations, provide training for a new and broader generation of scientists and engineers, open the astrophysics and astroparticle physics data sets to other disciplines and increase citizen engagement.
The ACME project coordinator, Prof. Antoine Kouchner (CNRS/Université Paris Cité), and its co-coordinator, Paolo D’Avanzo (INAF), represent each community to ensure balance and drive cross-domain collaboration.
"We are excited to contribute to such a cutting-edge and highly promising project as ACME", says JIVE Director Agnieszka Slowikowska. "With our multifaceted role in the project—providing expertise to the European VLBI Network (EVN) and serving as the central node for the radio astronomy domain—JIVE’s contribution to ACME is both significant and ambitious. JIVE scientists, including Zsolt Paragi, who co-leads the work package for setting up the Joint Centres of Expertise in all domains, and experts from our R&D Group, who focus on improving access to the EVN JupyterHub and the Virtual Observatory interface to the EVN Archive, are working diligently to meet the challenges and expectations of this project”.
ACME’s kick-off meeting on September 16 in Paris.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or of the European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
Project page: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101131928
Contacts:
Antoine KOUCHNER, Scientific Coordinator (CNRS/UPCité): kouchner@apc.in2p3.fr
Paolo D’AVANZO, Scientific Co-coordinator (INAF): paolo.davanzo@inaf.it
Julie EPAS, Project Manager (CNRS): epas@apc.in2p3.fr
JIVE contacts:
Agnieszka Slowikowska, JIVE Director. Email: slowikowska@jive.eu
Zsolt Paragi, Head of User Support Group. Email: paragi@jive.eu
Ioanna Kazakou, Communications Officer. Email: kazakou@jive.eu
Additional information on JIVE:
The Joint Institute for VLBI ERIC (JIVE) has as its primary mission to operate and develop the European VLBI Network data processor, a powerful supercomputer that combines the signals from radio telescopes located across the planet. Founded in 1993, JIVE is since 2015 a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) with seven member countries: France, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Spain and Sweden; additional support is received from partner institutes in China, Germany and South Africa. JIVE is hosted at the offices of the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON) in the Netherlands.
The European VLBI Network (EVN) is an interferometric array of radio telescopes spread throughout Europe, Asia, South Africa and the Americas that conducts unique, high-resolution, radio astronomical observations of cosmic radio sources. Established in 1980, the EVN has grown into the most sensitive VLBI array in the world, including over 20 individual telescopes, among them some of the world's largest and most sensitive radio telescopes. The EVN is composed of 13 Full Member Institutes and 5 Associated Member Institutes.