GO-SKA: A proposal for coordinating & supporting policy development of the global organisation of the Square Kilometre Array (GO-SKA)

Framework: FP7 — Capacities
Programme: Research Infrastructures
Destination: Support to policy development and Programme implementation
Action type: Coordination and support actions
Countries involved: Netherlands,United Kingdom,Italy,Germany
Call:  (FP7-INFRASTRUCTURES-2011-1, 2011)
Start date: 2011-11-01
End date: 2015-01-31
Duration (months): 39.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1158310.0
EU funding (EUR): 899988.93
Participants: 4
Project status: CLOSED

The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is a revolutionary telescope programme that will address a broad range of key science areas in astronomy and fundamental physics. For the past 2.5 years, radio astronomers and funding agencies have joined forces to explore the legal, policy, and technical framework required for the SKA in a Preparatory Phase study called PrepSKA. The principal deliverable of the PrepSKA project is an implementation plan that forms the basis of a funding proposal to governments to start the construction of the SKA. The end of PrepSKA is now approaching, and a number of major decisions need to be made so that the international SKA project can progress to the Pre‐Construction Phase (2012‐15). These decisions include approval of funding for the Pre‐Construction activities, the establishment of a legal entity for the SKA Organisation, and the selection of the SKA site. The decisions and the ensuing developments will have significant impact on the organisation of the SKA project and raise new topics to be investigated, in order to narrow down and implement the governance, funding and procurement options delivered by the PrepSKA policy work packages. The purpose of this project, called a 'Global Organisation for the SKA' or GO-SKA, is to investigate and provide guidance at policy-level to the SKA Organisation, so that it will be optimally prepared for the construction and operation of the SKA in 2016. Whereas PrepSKA has assembled the best options for the SKA, GO-SKA will focus on the further development and implementation during the next stage of the SKA Project. GO-SKA will: • broaden and strengthen the involvement of funding agencies and governments around the globe; • establish world-wide partnerships between industry and the SKA; • prepare the establishment of global governance for the SKA organisation; and • develop strategies to further define the conditions by which non-scientific benefits from large scale research infrastructures can best be integrated into investment decision-making. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amendment (March 2014): In order to allow a full and effective execution of the GO-SKA project and its objectives, a good cooperation between the project and the SKA Organisation is essential. Due to the simultaneous start of the GO-SKA Project and the establishment of the SKA Organisation, the cooperation between the entities shaped up slowly. Both the appointment of Prof. Phil Diamond as the SKA Director General (September 2012) and the recent SKA Board decision to establish a Strategy and Business Development Commission (StratCom, April, 2013) allowed for a clear definition of the working arrangements between the SKA Organisation, the StratCom and the GO-SKA Project. As a result, GO-SKA has updated the Description of Work. Some of the deliverables and milestones of the work packages have been altered to better accommodate the needs of the SKA Organisation, but the overall GO-SKA objectives remain unchanged. GO-SKA will work towards one integrated final deliverable, which will, among others, form a contribution to the coordinated Business Case for SKA1 construction. The different Work Packages refer to this final deliverable in the following ways: Work Package 2 refers to a coordinated Business Case (D2.3); Work Package 3 refers to the integrated plan for SKA1 (D3.3); Work Package 4 focuses on their specific contribution and refers to the SKA1 Global Collaboration agreement (D4.3); and Work Package 5 refers to the business case (D5.3).

Keywords: radio astronomy,ska,global