Announcement

With a record of applications, the results of the ESO–Chile 2023 Joint Committee are announced

22 November 2023

The ESO–Government of Chile Joint Committee has announced the 20 winning projects of the 2023 call, which will distribute 563 million Chilean pesos.

The ESO–Government of Chile Joint Committee funds will be invested in initiatives dedicated to developing scientific and technological research and promoting cooperation in the astronomical field. Astronomy dissemination and education projects throughout Chile will also be financed.

This year, the Committee received 94 applications, a record number over the entire fund history, 45% more than in 2022. Of the total, 50% of the applications fall in scientific research, while 30% were proposals for the dissemination and education of astronomical science.

“We are very happy with the increase in applications; this means that astronomy, and particularly this fund, is consolidated as a development tool in the Chilean community”, said Luis Chavarría, ESO representative in Chile, after the results were delivered.

Since 1996, the ESO–Government of Chile Joint Committee has been one of the main funds for the development of the area as it supports postdoctoral programmes and academic positions in astronomy in Chilean institutions. In addition, it finances national and foreign scientific visits, technology demonstrators, and educational programs for teaching and disseminating this science in the country.

The Joint Committee of ESO–Government of Chile is made up of representatives of ESO and the Government of Chile through the Directorate of Energy, Science and Technology and Innovation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation and the Chilean Astronomy Society.

The winning projects of the ESO-Government of Chile 2023 Joint Committee are:

Institution / Institución	Person Responsible / Persona responsable	Name of the project / Nombre del proyecto	Type / Tipo*	Funds in pesos / Fondos en pesos	Duration in months / Duración en meses
Universidad Diego Portales	Evelyn Johnston	Characterisation of the stellar populations in the globular cluster systems of nearby galaxies	1	54.297.600	24
Universidad Católica del Norte	José G. Fernández Trincado	High-precision Multi-epoch Radial Velocity and K-band elemental abundances of Chemically Anomalous Giant Stars	1	54.297.600	24
Instituto de Astrofisica, Universidad Andres Bello	Laurent Chemin	Kinematics and structure of the Milky Way interstellar medium with Gaia	1	54.297.600	24
Universidad Andrés Bello	Macarena Lagos	Precision constraints of gravity with multi-messenger observations	1	54.297.600	24
Universidad de Atacama	Christopher Haines	Creating capabilities at the Universidad de Atacama to enable the 4MOST-CHANCES survey	1	54.297.600	24
Universidad de Chile	Laura Pérez	The Role of Gas and Solids in Young and Old Protoplanetary Disks: Insights from ALMA	1	54.297.600	24
Universidad de Santiago de Chile	Valeria Olivares	Advancing gender equality in USACH's pioneering astrophysics and data science degree	2	77.000.000	24
Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María	Rory Smith & Antonio Montero	Bringing Astronomy & Physics closer together at USM San Joaquin	2	72.000.000	24
Universidad de Valparaíso	Alfredo Vega	Taller de Pintura Cósmica	3	5.000.000	12
Universidad de Talca	Caddy Cortés	Escuela para Futuras Científicas	3	6.500.000	24
Sociedad Chilena de Astronomía	Vania Rodríguez	"Expedición Los Lagos 2024: llevando la astronomía a todos los rincones"	3	5.600.000	18
Corporación Privada para la Divulgación de la Ciencia y Tecnología	María Constanza Silva Troncoso	“Revisión y actualización del contenido educativo y museográfico del Salón de Astronomía del Museo de Ciencia y Tecnología”	3	18.505.550	12
Universidad Central de Chile	Juan Aldebarán Magaña Zapata	Astronomía en el Espectro	3	3.250.000	12
Universidad de Santiago de Chile	Carla Hernández Silva	Equipo Pedagógico CIRAS: cerrando brechas entre la astronomía y el aula III	3	6.600.000	12
Museo Interactivo Mirador	Sergio Vásquez Godoy	Observatorio de difusión de la astronomía en Chile	3	7.130.000	13
Universidad de Concepción	Pablo Solano	The Cosmic Dust Experiment: improving the optical system for astrochemical desorption studies	4	15.000.000	24
Sociedad Chilena de Astronomía (SOCHIAS)	Jeremy Tregloan-Reed	Chilean Representation to the Astronomy & Astrophysics journal	5	3.000.000	12
Sociedad Chilena de Astronomía (SOCHIAS)	Virginia Cuomo	SOCHIAS grant “BECA ADELINA” for student participation at conferences and short period visits	5	6.000.000	12
Universidad de Chile	Patricio Rojo	First Chilean Astrobiology Workshop	5	8.000.000	12
Universidad de Atacama	Lorenzo Morelli	BARS IN INTERACTING GALAXIES THROUGH HALPHA FILTER VIEW	6	4.500.000	1

Type*

Postdoctoral programs in astronomy (Maximum annual salary per researcher $24.240.000 (Chilean pesos). Additional expenses such as travel, equipment, health insurance or others)
Strengthen academic institutions by financing positions of full professors, associate professors or assistant professors.
Pilot training programs for the teaching and dissemination of astronomy in Chile
Programmes for the development and construction of technological instrumental systems for astronomy
Other programmes
Support for extended scientific visits of one to three months for postdocs, researchers or senior academics (budget may include per-diem and partial or total help with air tickets)