For Semesters 08B-10A (i.e. up to the end of the AAT Agreement), the UK share of AAT time will be of ~20%. After allowing for commitments to existing Large Programs, the UK will have between 1-3 weeks each semester to allocate to other programs. In order to maintain a balance between the AAO's longstanding policy of open-access, while rewarding each partner country's investment in the AAO, the AAT Board has mandated changes to the current formulae for time accounting on the AAT, to take effect from the Semester 2008B time allocation meeting.
At present, time for each scheduled program is charged against both the Australian and UK shares of AAT time in proportion to number of applicants from Australia, the UK, the AAO, and Other nations. Once one of the partner shares is exhausted, proposals that are not led, and dominated by applicants from the other partner country are culled. Under the new arrangements, Other-nation applicants will have their own share of time which is top-sliced but capped. The purpose of this open-acess time is to encourage collaboration with other nations, and to allow high-quality proposals dominated by non-Australian or UK applicants to get time. Once this share is exhausted, any proposal which includes Other-nation applicants can only get time if they (a) are not the PI, and (b) comprise less than a specified fraction of the total number of investigators, in which case the time is then charged only to the Australian and UK shares. Similar rules apply to when the UK or Australian shares have been exhausted.
For Semester 2008B, 20% of the available nights on the AAT (after Director's Time and Service nights have been allocated) will be allocated to an open-access share, with the remainder shared as normal between the UK and Australia in proportion to shares of the Joint Program. After AATAC has ranked all proposals on the basis of scientific merit, time allocation will proceed as follows:
- A proposal that is awarded N nights, and has A Australians, B UK applicants, and O applicants from other countries will be charged NA = N * (A/A+B+O) nights from the Australian share; NB = N * (B/A+B+O) nights from the UK share; and NO = N * (O/A+B+O) nights from the Other-nation share.
- Once any one of the Australian, UK, or Other-nation share of nights is exhausted, any proposal involving one or more applicants from that category will be culled unless the remaining applicants on that proposal include the PI and constitute at least a 2/3 majority of all the applicants. In that case, the required time is charged only against the remaining partners. For instance, if the Other-nations share is exhausted first, then proposals involving applicants from Other-nations will only be allocated time if the PI is from the UK or Australia, and (O/A+B+O) <= 1/3, in which case time will be charged as NA = N * (A/A+B) nights from the Australian share and NB = N * (B/A+B) nights from the UK share.
- If the UK share is exhausted before the Other-nation share, then the UK applicants will all be considered as Other-nation, and counted against the Other-nation share until that share is exhausted. Similarly, if the Australian share is exhausted before the Other-nation share, then the Australian applicants will all be considered as Other-nation, and counted against the Other-nation share until that share is exhausted.
- Once two of the three shares are exhausted, any proposal involving one or more applicants from those categories will be culled unless the remaining applicants on that proposal include the PI, and constitute at least a 2/3 majority of all the applicants. In that case, the required time is charged only against the remaining partner. For instance, if both the UK and Other-nation shares have been exhausted, then only proposals having an Australian PI and (A/A+B+O) >= 2/3 will be allocated time, which will be charged entirely to the Australian share.
Some examples may make this process clearer. Let us assume that
the UK share has just been exhausted, but the Australian and
Other-nation shares have not. If the next highest rank proposal is by
Flintoff (PI: UK), Ponting (AU), and Tendulkar (Other) seeking 6
nights, then Flintoff is now treated as Other-nation, and 4 nights are
charged to Other-nation and 2 nights to Australia. Let us suppose that
this now exhausts the Other-nation share as well. The next highest
ranked proposal by Gilchrist (PI: AU), Hussey (AU), Collingwood (UK)
and Lara (Other) would be culled, as this proposal has < 2/3
Australian involvement. The next highest proposal by Symonds (PI: AU),
Lee (AU), Hayden (AU), and Laxman (Other) has an Australian PI and
meets the 2/3 majority requirement, and if scheduled would be charged
entirely to the Australian share.
Matthew Colless and Stuart Ryder 22 February 2008