The SKA Observatory will not provide data directly to individual astronomers. Rather, it will be sent to a worldwide network of SKA Regional Centres, which are collectively responsible for archiving the data, making it available to the astronomical community, and helping the community turn data into science. The development of the SKA Regional Centre Network is well underway: building on a successful requirements gathering exercise last year, a set of international teams is now prototyping some of the core systems. The Netherlands, through both ASTRON and SURF, is playing an active role in this effort.
The aim of this meeting is to foster engagement between the SRC construction effort and the NL scientific community. Members of the development team will introduce the SKA Regional Centre concept, describe the current status of design & construction, and discuss plans for the future. We also hope to hear from the potential users of the envisioned Dutch Regional Centre: how can we design the system to maximise its value to our local community? How can developers and astronomers best work with each other over the coming years? What specialist functionality should we look to provide in the Dutch centre that might not be available elsewhere in the SRC network?
We would especially like to hear from the students and postdocs who are likely to be the most active users of the completed SRC system in the second half of this decade, and we encourage them to use this meeting to describe their current workflows and their aspirations for how these can evolve into the SKA era.
This meeting will be hybrid: you are welcome to join us in person at ASTRON headquarters in Dwingeloo (space permitting), or to participate remotely. Registration is now closed, but feel free to drop us an e-mail to enquire about last-minute availability.
