Max Planck Institute for Astronomy - Annual Report 2005

distracted by everyday affairs. In a rigorous two-day program,
matters of scientific projects and goals, teaching,
instrumental developments, as well as organizational
structures were explored. At first, different aspects of the
work at the Institute were examined in a kind of status
report. Goal of the intensive discussions was to then develop
strategies for both the immediate and the long-term
future and to initiate decisions. One final result of this
productive and for all participants very helpful event was
a detailed action-item list.
An obvious side-benefit of such a retreat is that the
participants working in different fields are able to keep
one another informed. The internal symposium, held on
December 8 th and 9 th at the MPIA lecture hall had a similar
goal, at least with respect to the informative character.
PhD students, post-docs and staff members presented
their scientific projects in roughly 30 talks. The program
was literally a mixed one, as was the intention from the
outset to avoid forming thematic blocks. So the whole
range of the MPIA's main working fields – planet and
star formation, galaxies and cosmology, instrumentation,
theory and observations – was presented.
Incidentally, the term »internal« only referred to the
lecturers. The symposium actually was open to visitors
from all other Heidelberg astronomical institutes and had
been announced accordingly. Thus several colleagues
Fig. V.3.2: The internal symposium was a successful event,
which was also open to guests from the other astronomical
institutes in Heidelberg.
from neighboring institutes used the opportunity to participate
in this event.
Furthermore, on May 30 th to June 2 nd , the first Planet
and Star Formation Group Workshop took place in
Buchenbach (Black Forest). The idea of the group workshop
was to get to know each other scientifically and
personally within the PSF department. Presentations
were given by the participants on their own work or, e.g.,
on particular publications for group-wide discussions of
scientific topics.
Board of Trustees Meeting
V.3 Further Events and Activities 115
On September 15 th , the annual meeting of the MPIA
Board of Trustees took place in the Institute's multi-purpose
room. Besides the members of the board,
Hermann-Friedrich Wagner (chairman), Klaus Tschira,
Ranga Yogeshwar, and Mathias Schenek (standing in
for Wolfgang Fröhlich), we were also able to welcome
Hardo Braun, Deputy Secretary General of the MPG,
and Christoph Ettl, MPIA’s institute liason at the MPG
Central Administration.
One mission of the board is to support the MPIA in
establishing relations and contacts to the general public
and politics, and to sponsoring institutions. It acts as a
consultant and may also contact the MPG leadership
directly.
At the meeting, the board was provided with an overview
of current research and instrumentation projects
in several talks; ideas for future perspectives were also