The aim of the Italian LOFAR board is to optimize the scientific yield and international visibility of INAF. Within the Italian participation in the KPs, the board proposes 3 priority objectives:
- Participation of new scientific personnel in the KPs.
To optimize this phase, the Board intends to coordinate the inclusion in the KP of an adequate number of new members based on the responses to the Calls For Interest [link to the first call on the web].
The Board will carry out an exploratory phase with the PIs and with the KP Management and it will act as a contact and mediator between the staff and the KPs themselves.
Priority should be given to those having an evident possibility for a substantial and lasting commitment within the KPs themselves, having additional skills and proposing original ideas with respect to the current state of KP. - Enhancement of scientific personnel involved in KPs.
The Board will aim to contribute to the formation of critical mass both regards already consolidated research lines and possible new lines of strategic interest within the different KPS.
Furthermore, the Board's will is to put in place coordination and mediation actions with the PIs and with the KP Management to contribute to the enhancement of Italian researchers who have the possibility of establishing networks within the KPs and who have the scientific capabilities to lead research lines. - LOFAR upgrade at very low frequencies LOFAR 2.0, is a project to which LOFAR-IT participates from the beginning with an important technological contribution.
In the coming years LOFAR 2.0 will open important scientific perspectives in different areas of cosmology and astrophysics. The Board purpose - also under the direction of the Science Advisory Committee of LOFAR-IT - is to identify innovative scientific lines, possibly with Italian guidance, and to implement coordination actions to help form a critical mass around these lines and targeted political actions to maximize the scientific return and INAF visibility coming from these lines. In this phase an interaction with the INAF Scientific Council and possibly with other equivalent bodies of the Universities involved in the LOFAR-IT consortium is also envisaged.