Cornerstone agreements signed for telescope operations

BY MATTHEW TAYLOR (SKAO)

Hot on the heels of on-site construction ceremonies, 2023 has already seen another crucial SKAO milestone reached.

The signing of an Agreement of Bilateral Collaboration (ABC) with the SARAO on 17 January signalled the end of a two-year process to legally define the SKAO’s working relationships with our key collaborators in the telescope host countries.

Together with the ABC finalised with CSIRO in December, this completes the two foundational documents that underpin the staffing arrangements to deliver the SKA in Australia and South Africa.

They are legal contracts that capture the specifics of how those close relationships work and they have been written to stand for the 50-year lifespan of the Observatory.

The ABCs are central to establishing how the SKAO will source the team of roughly 150 people in each host country who will operate our telescopes, highlighting shared strategic goals that each party is working toward for the benefit of the SKA project.

The negotiations to finalise the ABCs were led by Director of Operations Dr Lewis Ball (photo above), alongside Legal Manager Decker and SKA-Low and SKA-Mid Telescope Directors Dr Sarah Pearce and Dr Lindsay Magnus, respectively.

Dr Ball said: “These are the contracts that will underpin almost two thirds of the staff who will work to deliver the SKA in the long term.

“They are significant agreements and, frankly, it’s terrific to be able to put a tick next to them on the to-do list”.

SKAO Director of Operations Dr Lewis Ball with the signed ABCs.

SKAO