AAL is very pleased to announce the launch of its Science Advisory and Project Oversight Committees.

In order to make informed decisions about the best way to invest in astronomy infrastructure, the AAL Board relies upon strategic and technical advice from its advisory committees. AAL has adopted a new structure for these committees, with effect from July 2018. Four pre-existing advisory committees were dissolved, and two new committees created.

The AAL Science Advisory Committee (ASAC), to be chaired by Professor John Lattanzio of Monash University, will be responsible for providing strategic advice to the board on questions surrounding the infrastructure required to answer the key science questions in the decadal plan. Further details on the committee and its membership can be found here.

​The AAL Project Oversight Committee (APOC), to be chaired by Dr Katrina Sealey of AAO-Macquarie, has responsibility for undertaking regular evaluations of AAL funded projects. Further details on the committee and its membership can be found here.

AAL is delighted to be partnering with Macquarie University, the Australian National University and the University of Sydney, to form Australian Astronomical Optics (AAO) - a collaborative national capability in optical instrumentation. The combined capability will strengthen Australia's bids for large international contracts at leading observatories world-wide. AAL will support the new AAO through a $20million commitment of astronomy NCRIS funds over 4 years.

From the 1st July 2018, Macquarie University has taken on the capability of the Australian Astronomical Observatory's instrumentation group, which previously sat within the Australian Government Department of Industry, Innovation and Science. For further details of the transfer of the old AAO instrumentation capability to Macquarie, and the newly established national AAO capability, see the Macquarie media release.

These new arrangements, along with those for operations of the AAT, are part of an Australian Government package announced in the May 2017 Federal Budget: Maintaining Australia's Optical Astronomy Capability. This package includes a 10-year strategic partnership with the European Southern Observatory (ESO), which gives Australian astronomers access to ESO facilities in Chile, including the four 8.2m-diameter telescopes of the Very Large Telescope.