Astrophysics Division homepage http://astro.estec.esa.nl
In the reporting period, the staff of the Division were located at four centres:
The project and study scientists in the Division proper report directly to the Head of Division, as do the Heads of the ISO, IUE, ECF, XMM and INTEGRAL teams (who carry the full day-to-day responsibility for their teams) and the senior staff member at the STScI.
The structure of the Division proper at ESTEC, introduced in early 1992, has remained unchanged. With a matrix-like structure rather than a pyramidal hierarchy, the research activities of astronomy, laboratory research and development, and data analysis and archiving are grouped under three senior staff members, cutting across wavelength domains, while maintaining individual research programmes under a 'principal investigator'. Experience over the last 5 years has shown this arrangement to be efficient and conducive to the interchange of ideas, and has led to a high scientific output and good team spirit.
Staff of the Division proper hold posts within the overall ESA complement and are funded from the SSD budget. Staff associated with the Observatory teams hold supernumerary positions (i.e. they fall outside the formal staff complement) and are funded from the budgets allocated to these programmes. The turnover of staff and fellows has been more modest in the last 2 years, with 18 people leaving, 15 taking up positions and four internal transfers.
The continuing publication of the Astronews newsletter (issued three times a year on paper and on the WWW), the newsletters from the Science Operations teams, and the expanding use of the WWW at all sites are very helpful in featuring the work of the Division and thus advertising the opportunities for young scientists to work in Astrophysics in ESA.
With the rapid turnover of information, it would be perhaps inappropriate to cite all WWW pages in connection with the activities described in this report, but a starting point would be http://astro.estec.esa.nl
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