Present: M. Lindroos, T. Nilsson, G. Huber, B. Jonson (chairman), P. Butler, O. Tengblad (replacing M. Garcia-Borge), J. Äystö, K. Heyde, A. Jokinen, A. Di Pietro,
G. Weyer
Excused: H. Ravn, N. Stone, D. Habs, P. Dessagne, S. Franchoo
The meeting starts at 09.00 h
1. Introductory remarks by the chairman
B. Jonson welcomes the ISCC members.
2. Approval of the minutes of the 37th meeting.
The minutes are approved after one change, suggested by G. Weyer, is made to point 8.
3. Fellowship opportunities at CERN
P. Butler informs the committee about the opportunities at ISOLDE for CERN fellowships; two fellows will soon be leaving ISOLDE so openings will occur. The opportunities for Marie-Curie fellowships are also discussed; CERN fellowships provide slightly better conditions of employment but are more difficult to be awarded due to the quota system employed by CERN. The committee members are urged to encourage good applications for both types of fellowships from candidates from their countries and P. Butler will inform the ISOLDE community of the opportunities.
4. Budget 2004
P.Butler shows the committee the draft budget for 2004 and the following points are discussed:
-The funding for the second REX technician post is still to be found.
- The probable delay of income from Eurons until 2006 which would cause cash flow problems; in this case certain things would have to be cut or postponed in order to keep the budget positive.
- The small amount assigned to engineering support which means user groups will have to supply their own engineering support.
B. Jonson informs the committee that there is now a possibility that Portugal and Norway could contribute something to the collaboration and that he will contact Poland to see if their situation regarding membership of the collaboration has changed.
5. News from the AB Division
M. Lindroos presents news from the AB Division including the following points:
- T. Sieber and F. Wenander have been hired to fill the two REX-physicist posts and a board has been held for the first of the technician posts.
- The HRS is now operational and confidence is high about its running next year.
- The 1st of February 2005 is the delivery date for the extension of building 170 so it should be useable during the important year 2005, when ISOLDE will receive all protons produced. However, construction work should not interfere with the running period in 2004.
6. Schedule
T. Nilsson covers the following points with regard to the ISOLDE schedule:
- The GPS has run well this year but, as the HRS has been out of action, the overall efficiency is lower.
- REX-ISOLDE has experienced some problems.
- All the places on the December separator courses have been filled.
- The number of radioactive shifts delivered in 2003 was 268.
- There is a backlog of 436 shifts which is due to several reasons. One of these being the 60 shifts waiting for the REX 3.1 upgrade.
7. INTC Matters
J. Äystö summarizes the previous day’s INTC meeting where six proposals were presented. Five of these were approved with small modifications and one was not. It is emphasized that the general scientific motivation of proposals should be made very clear so that they are understandable by particle physicists.
The division of protons in 2004 is discussed; NToF would like 30 to 40% of the protons produced but ISOLDE, which also has an ambitious programme for next year, needs to ensure that it receives an average of 2 µA during the running period. The committee is told that this matter will be discussed in the spring research board.
J. Äystö informs the committee that the September 2004 INTC meeting has been cancelled leaving the following three meetings in 2004:
February 23rd – 24th
May 24th – 25th
November 15th – 16th
The open meeting will be held on the Monday afternoon and the closed meeting on Tuesday morning. Hence the ISCC meetings will take place on the Monday morning before the INTC meetings.
J. Äystö explains that the scientific committees such as the INTC will continue under the new CERN management but the future of the Research Board is less certain.
The committee is informed that the SPSC is to organize an important meeting in September 2004.
8. Status of MoU
M. Lindroos reports that all member countries except Denmark have accepted the wording of the new MoU. G. Weyer explains the Danish situation; if funding is approved in early 2004 then K. Riisager will be able to sign the MoU.
The committee discusses the fact that nobody at government level in any of the member countries is willing to commit to paying for ISOLDE for a period of ten years. M. Lindroos reminds the committee that the MoU is not legally binding.
A. Di Pietro informs the committee that the Italian funding agency, INFN, does not see the need to pay towards ISOLDE if there is nobody from Italy working at ISOLDE. She goes on to say, however, that the INFN has agreed to pay the collaboration contribution on the understanding that the collaboration between Italian scientists and ISOLDE become stronger. Proof of this is required before the new MoU will be signed so P. Butler and A. Di Pietro will set up a meeting to discuss this matter.
9. The New Physics Coordinator
B. Jonson informs the committee that L. Fraile has been selected as the new ISOLDE Physics Coordinator and should take up the post on the 1st of February 2004.
10. ISCC Membership terms
B. Jonson puts forward the idea that ISCC member countries consider changing their representative every 3 years, with the possibility of a 3 year extension period.
He also informs the committee that J. Billowes will take over as the new U.K. representative in 2004.
11. The ISOLDE Workshop
P. Butler shows the programme for the ISOLDE workshop to be held at CERN from the 15th to 17th of December 2004.
12. A.O.B.
- The matter of where ISOLDE should be mentioned on published papers is discussed. It is decided that the ISOLDE collaboration should be mentioned in the acknowledgements but, however, the word ISOLDE should be seen somewhere on the first page.
- T. Nilsson is thanked for his six years as ISOLDE Physics Coordinator.
- B. Jonson tells the committee about the INPC2004 which is to be held in Goteborg in 2004. The local organizers are B. Jonson, G. Nyman and M.V. Zhukov.
- The committee is informed that a ‘Physics at SPL’ workshop will be organized in May 2004.
The meeting ends at 11:30h