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Review of Financial Year 2003/2004

The principal objectives for 2003/2004 were to:

• maintain existing high-quality research programmes;

• obtain grants and additional external funding to support new research projects;

• strengthen the Observatory's research capability in solar system and stellar astrophysics;

• restore and widen access to the heritage material in its possession;

• progress plans for a new Library, Archive and Historic Scientific Instruments Building; and

• improve the Observatory's access to necessary research infrastructure, such as computer facilities and high-bandwidth access to the internet through the Northern Ireland Metropolitan Area Network (NIMAN).

The key task for the year was to continue to work with the DCAL with the aim of widening the Observatory's access to research development funds and so strengthening the Observatory's research capability. This would have enabled the Observatory to recruit additional research astronomers, thereby maintaining (or even increasing) the number of active research staff to participate in the next Research Assessment Exercise (RAE). It is unfortunate that no funding could be obtained for new staff positions during the reporting year, but there remains a compelling argument to widen the Observatory's access to general research development funds. Moreover, the Observatory has participated in the RAE for more than a decade, but has never benefited from access to the performance related additional funding enjoyed by comparable research groups in the university sector. Indeed, it is recognized that the Observatory's position in this respect is doubly difficult owing to its small size: unlike larger institutions there are very limited opportunities to transfer resources within the organization. Lack of access to research development funds puts the Armagh Observatory at a considerable disadvantage so far as long-term developments are concerned.

The presence of additional research staff would provide the Observatory with an opportunity to play to its strengths and widen the base of its present activity. It would also provide a capacity to respond more flexibly to new research funding opportunities, thereby strengthening its ability to lever additional research income from the UK Research Councils and other grant-awarding bodies, so further increasing its output. Access to research development funds would enhance the Observatory's ability to operate effectively in an extremely competitive third-level research sector.

In addition to these high-level objectives, the Observatory has continued to play a major community role in astronomy (e.g. its involvement in the Astronomical Science Group of Ireland and in helping to organize the UK National Astronomy Meeting and UK Solar Physics Meeting 2003 in Dublin Castle in April 2003). The Observatory has also played a leading role in promoting the public awareness of astronomy and related sciences, especially through talks and public lectures, the release of media information sheets about its work, the appearance of staff or their work in various mass-media, and the provision of information through web-pages and links displayed on the Observatory's principal web-site (star.arm.ac.uk). The Observatory's commitment to the Southern African Large Telescope project has continued with the support of the DCAL, and the largely HLF and DCAL-funded project to restore the historic telescopes and telescope domes has progressed satisfactorily, with completion planned during 2004/2005.