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MINUTES OF THE EIGHTY SIXTH MEETING OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE OF ARMAGH OBSERVATORY AND PLANETARIUM HELD ON 21 JUNE 2012 AT 10.30 A.M. IN THE CASSINI ROOM, ARMAGH PLANETARIUM Present: Apologies: His Grace, The Most Reverend A.E.T. Harper (Chairman), Mr B. Hannam, Professor A. Hibbert, Professor T. Ray and Mrs P. Wilson Mr E. Donnelly, Archdeacon R. Hoey, Dr M. McKay, Professor M. Merrifield, Professor R. Oudmaijer, Mr A Peoples, Mr S. Shields and Mr M. Cory (DCAL) Professor M. Bailey, Dr T. Mason, Mr A. Hughes (DCAL observer) and Mr J. Copeland

In attendance:

1. CONFLICTS OF INTEREST Members declared no conflicts of interest. 2. MINUTES OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON 9 FEBRUARY 2012 2.1. The minutes of the meeting of 9 February 2012 were approved by members and signed by the Chairman as a correct record of the meeting. 3. MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES The Chairman referred to the following matters: 3.1. Minute 3.1, 5.14.4 and 6.3 ­ The personnel matter was dealt with in the report of ARMC and in Dr Mason's interim report and is now closed. 3.2. Minute 3.3 ­ The issue of whether the equal pay compensatory sum applied to Observatory and Planetarium staff remains unresolved. 3.3. Minute 3.4 ­ Professor Bailey updated members on the problems of sourcing expert advice on the maintenance of the Grade A Observatory building. Mr Copeland tabled a draft tender to procure specialist services to maintain and protect the Observatory building. This was to be progressed as soon as possible. 3.4. Minute 3.5 ­ The issue of the Meridian Markers was raised and Professor Bailey was asked to work with Mrs Wilson to identify the owner of the southern Meridian Marker with a view to determining whether the marker could be taken into guardianship of NIEA. 3.5. Minute 3.7 ­ Insurance Survey ­ One of the ten recommendations from the insurance survey remains outstanding. This related to a guardrail on the mezzanine floor of the Planetarium administration building, which is too expensive to implement. In the interim staff access to this part of the building is restricted. 3.6. Minute 3.8 and 5.7.5 ­ Professor Bailey was still investigating the whether QUB­accredited staff and students might be able to access online journals via the QUB portal. On the issue of the Memorandum of Agreement with QUB, this was still being considered by the University. 3.7. Minute 3.12 ­ Dr Mason advised members that he had not completed his review of all Planetarium job descriptions and job titles for referral to the Employment Conditions and Remuneration Committee. 3.8. Minute 3.13 ­ An update on the matter of the subsidised pension contributions issue was dealt with in the report of the Chairman of ARMC. 3.9. Minute 3.15 ­ Mrs Wilson and Professor Bailey had held a preliminary meeting with the HLF with a view to progressing an outline application for the new library building as soon as possible. 3.10. Minute 5.4 2, 6.13 and 6.15 ­ Mr Copeland advised that (a) fraud awareness training took place on 12 and 26 March 2012 and (b) a one-page summary of the implications of the Bribery Act had been produced. 3.11. Minute 5.15.1 ­ Dr Mason advised members that he had ordered iPad 3 touchpads instead of older iPad 2 equipment and that these were about to be installed in the Planetarium display areas.


MINUTES OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE OF ARMAGH OBSERVATORY AND PLANETARIUM 21 June 2012 Page 2 3.12. Minute 6.4 (a) ­ The proposed Internal Audit Plan was included in the report of ARMC. 3.13. Minute 6.5 ­ The revaluation of corporation land and buildings was included in the report of the Chairman of ARMC. 3.14. Minute 6.6 ­ Professor Hibbert advised members that he would be meeting staff from the Observatory and Planetarium after the Management Committee meeting to address the anonymous complaint received by a member of the Management Committee about communications between Directors and staff. 3.15. Minute 6.8 ­ Members had advised of no conflicts of interest with the provision of external audit services by Miscampbell and Co. 3.16. Minute 6.9 (c) ­ Review of Internal Audit Provision ­ Members and staff had accepted the report's recommendations. 3.17. Minute 6.15 ­ Extension of ASM Accountants contract for provision of Internal Audit services ­ this has been extended by one year to 31 March 2013. 4. CHAIRMAN'S BUSINESS 4.1. The Chairman advised that that he was to retire as Archbishop of Armagh on 30 September 2012 and the Council of Bishops will elect his successor. He had enjoyed his tenure as Chairman of Board of Governors and thanked members, Directors and staff for their efforts in promoting the work of the Observatory and Planetarium. 4.2. Professor Hibbert, on behalf of the Management Committee, expressed regret on the announcement of the Archbishop's retirement and thanks for his services and advice to the Board of Governors, Management Committee and staff. Professor Hibbert advised members that he would write on behalf of the Management Committee to formally thank him for his services to the corporation. 4.3. Professor Hibbert advised that he would not be in the UK in November 2012 and an acting Deputy Chairman may be required for the November 2012 meeting if the new Archbishop is not available. 5. DIRECTORS' INTERIM REPORTS Professor Bailey referred to the following matters in the Observatory interim report: 5.1. Key Performance Indicators - Details of the Observatory's Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and a comprehensive summary of the Observatory's 2011 and 2011/2012 annual performance outturn as well as an in-year summary of results so far for 2012 and 2012/2013 were provided. 5.2. DCAL Funding - Details of the Observatory's income and expenditure up to 2012 May 31 were provided as were the in-year spend to date compared with the 2012/2013 Business Plan projections. 5.3. Research, Conferences, Training and Meteorology 5.3.1. Advances in Astronomy and Astrophysics ­ (a) Biosignatures Revealed by Spectropolarimetry of Earthshine: Stefano Bagnulo played a key role in the work of a small international team of astronomers who developed a novel approach to study the surfaces and atmospheres of planets orbiting stars other than the Sun using the technique of spectropolarimetry, (b) Evolution of Halley-type Comets: PhD student Aswin Sekhar has modelled the evolution of comet 1P/Halley over more than 12,000 years in the past and 15,000 years into the future with a view to determining the dynamical evolution and distribution of the dust or meteoroids (around the orbit) released by the comet at successive perihelion passages, (c) X-Ray Observations of Helium-Accreting Binary System KL Dra: Gavin Ramsay reports on the most sensitive X-ray observations ever made of a helium accreting binary system during an outburst cycle. KL Dra has a binary orbital period of 25mins and undergoes outbursts every two months. Since the times of the eruptions are relatively predictable, it was possible to schedule observations of KL Dra using the X-ray satellite XMM-Newton several weeks in advance of the next expected outburst, (d) Conference Talks: Gavin Ramsay and Simon Jeffery both gave presentations at the third


MINUTES OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE OF ARMAGH OBSERVATORY AND PLANETARIUM 21 June 2012 Page 3 international workshop on AM CVn binaries held at the University of Warwick in April. Ramsay's talk was titled `Outbursts in AM CVn Binaries' and Jeffery's was titled `White Dwarf Merger Outcomes', (e) Observing Time: The Lindsay Scholar, GrÀinne Costigan, reports that she obtained 17 nights observing time on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at La Silla Paranal Observatory, Chile, to undertake photometric monitoring of young stellar objects in the star-forming region Cha I. (f) Fraud Awareness Training - The majority of Observatory staff and students attended the mandatory Fraud Awareness training on 2012 March 12, provided by the head of DARD Central Investigation Services (CIS), and (g) Graduate Course on `Imaging and Data' - The majority of the Observatory's PhD students attended by telecom the graduate physics course `Imaging and Data' over the period 2012 June 12­15. The course is part of the UCD-TCD Dublin Graduate Physics Programme, developed as part of Ireland's PRTLI 5 programme. Visitors ­ (a) Research visitors ­ In addition to visitors coming to Armagh as part of the seminar programme or for specific workshops or conferences, The Director detailed the steady flow of research visitors who come to Armagh every year to collaborate with staff at the Observatory on joint research projects and (b) Other Visitors - Sir John and Lady Sheila Houghton, 2012 May 16, associated with the inaugural lecture of the Armagh Faith and Science Partnership. Technical Equipment ­ High-Performance Computing ­ As a result of additional Capital funding provided by the Department towards the end of 2011/2012, the Observatory has been able to procure two high-performance workstations, a Dell PowerEdge R815 system and a Dell PowerEdge R810 system. These have been separately configured specifically for computationally intensive spectral synthesis codes, first to enable rapid turnround of grids of stellar atmosphere models in the field of stellar spectropolarimetry, and secondly to compute detailed stellar radiative transfer models in the outflowing winds from the most massive stars in the Universe, driven by radiation pressure. m , L ib r a r y , A r c h iv e s a n d D o n a tio n s Archives ­ As a result of the ongoing collaboration with the Armagh Public Library, during the first half of 2012 the archivist has focused mainly on post-1917 material in the Archives Room, specifically property related papers, Boyden Observatory papers and Armagh Observatory administrative papers. These elements of the Observatory's archives had previously only partly been catalogued and numbered, and none of their locations were registered. Approximately 1125 items were worked on in this way during the first quarter of 2012. Widening Access ­ The Computer Systems Manager, Martin Murphy, has continued to develop the Observatory's web sites so as to improve access to many of the Observatory's facilities, especially to some of the most interesting areas of the historic main building and the Observatory Grounds, Telescope Domes, Human Orrery and Astropark. Historic Instruments ­ (a) Loan of Six-Inch Reflector, by Thomas Short, London, 1768/1769: This historic telescope from the George III collection was collected by the National Maritime Museum's couriers on 2012 March 22 for display as part of the National Maritime Museum exhibition "Royal River: Power, Pageantry and the Thames", an exhibition which celebrates a number of significant anniversaries, including the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. Donations ­ The Observatory received donations of books and other materials from former staff, authors or editors of books and other bodies as follows: (a) `Risk' (L. Skinns, M. Scott, Cox, T., 2011, Cambridge University Press), donated by Mark Bailey, (b) `The European Southern Observatory and Czech Astronomy' (Hadrava, P., 2006, Academia, Praha, Czech Republic), donated by Oldich VlasÀk, (c) `The Great Melbourne Telescope' (Gillespie, R., 2011, Museum Victoria Publishing, Melbourne, Australia), donated by Richard Gillespie, (d) CD from Mati Morel (Variable Stars South Section, Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand) containing various historic lists and catalogues of Galactic objects, namely: Dark Nebulae; Galactic OB Associations; LMC OB Stars; the Magellanic Clouds; the Orion Nebula Region; the Reed Areas (in Puppis); and the Sharov

5.3.2.

5.3.3.

5.4. Museu 5.4.1.

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MINUTES OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE OF ARMAGH OBSERVATORY AND PLANETARIUM 21 June 2012 Page 4 Sequence Catalogue (1953­ 1968). This includes his monumental revision of former Research Astronomer David Andrews's catalogue of stars around the Orion Nebula region, M42, and (e) `Royal River: Power, Pageantry and the Thames' (Starkey, D, Doran, S, Blyth, R., 2012), donated by Kara Green, Royal Museums Greenwich. Collaboration with Armagh Public Library ­ As a result of the very successful collaboration between the Armagh Observatory and the Armagh Public Library during the past several years, further applications led by the Assistant Keeper and Archivist of the Armagh Public Library have now been made for external grant aid to extend this joint work. in th e C o m m u n ity , B u ild in g s , G r o u n d s a n d A s tr o p a r k Science in the Community ­ (a) School Work-Experience and Summer Programme ­ A list of school work-experience students supervised by Armagh Observatory staff during 2012 was provided, (b) Staff at the Observatory, led by Simon Jeffery, will continue to support the Nuffield Sentinus programme during 2012, with the aim of supervising four school work-experience students on advanced research projects associated with the Nuffield STEM Bursary Scheme, (c) Undergraduate/Graduate Work-Experience and Summer Programme - One IAESTE student (Takuya Fujiki, Kyushu University, Higashi-Ku, Fukuoka, Japan) was recruited on to the IAESTE undergraduate exchange programme for a six-week summer research project and will work at the Observatory from 2012 July 9 to August 10 on a meteor astronomy project supervised by Apostolos Christou, (d) In addition, Observatory staff have supervised (or will supervise) a further four undergraduates from QUB, the University of Cambridge and Universities in France and Turkey. Lifetime Opportunities ­ (a) Targeting Social Need: The Librarian, John McFarland continues to supervise a young adult with complex needs for 3­4 hours per week on library and archives duties, (b) During late 2011 a second such person joined the Observatory for a similar amount of time one day a week. He is currently being supervised by the Grounds and Meteorological Officer, Shane Kelly, on a project to improve documentation of the flora and fauna in the Observatory Grounds and the Phenology Garden, and (c) As part of the Observatory's contribution to support one of the Northern Ireland Executive's key Programme for Government commitments to support young people not in work by the provision of skills and training, the Observatory is providing an eight-week summer workexperience placement for an individual under the Department of Employment and Learning (DEL) programme `Steps to Work', in partnership with Wade Training. Northern Ireland Children's University (NICU) ­ The National Children's University (CU) was founded in 2007 with the aim of encouraging young children to develop new knowledge, skills and habits of learning by undertaking a variety of `extramural' courses at nearby accredited institutions or `Learning Destinations'. The concept of the NICU aligns closely with the philosophy of lifelong learning underpinning the Observatory's involvement in Universe Awareness (UNAWE), and with EU-UNAWE and the NI Executive's Stem Strategy. It is intended that the Observatory will become involved in the NICU as a Learning Destination. Faulkes Telescope ­ (a) David Asher reported that the Observatory's Faulkes Telescope programme in collaboration with secondary schools has continued using observing time kindly provided by the Faulkes Telescope Project (Cardiff) and the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network, and (b) David Asher also supervised three students from St. Patrick's Grammar School, Armagh, on Faulkes Telescope projects in early 2012 April, and in this case they not only observed a newly discovered kilometrediameter Near-Earth Object, providing the first accurate determination of its orbit (reported under observations of 2012 FM52 in the Minor Planet Electronic Circular MPEC 2012G19, dated 2012 April 3), but also made photometric measurements of the unusual eclipsing binary HWVirginis, an Algol-type variable `star'. Changes in the precise timing of the two minima of this eclipsing binary can be used to constrain the properties of the

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5.5. Science 5.5.1.

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MINUTES OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE OF ARMAGH OBSERVATORY AND PLANETARIUM 21 June 2012 Page 5 system's two sub-stellar companions, believed to have masses of the order of 10 to 20 times that of Jupiter, orbiting the binary with respective orbital periods of several years and approximately a decade. 5.5.5. Universe Awareness (UNAWE) ­ (a) Libby McKearney and Mark Bailey delivered two one-day primary-sector teacher cross-border training courses during 2012 March, one in the Donegal Education Centre and one in the Monaghan Education Centre, reaching a total of 24 teachers, and through them up to approximately 1,800 children per year, (b) They provided a further one-day course in the South Eastern Education and Library Board (SEELB) Headquarters at Dundonald, Belfast, accommodating a further 13 teachers and through them up to another approximately 745 children per year, and (c) A follow-up course for teachers from the first two of these workshops took place at the Observatory on the afternoon of 2012 May 1. 5.5.6. Public Lectures, Special Events and Other Activities ­ (a) St. Patrick's Day Public Lectures and Tours, `Discovering the Universe': The Observatory organized two back-to-back public lectures on the morning of St. Patrick's Day 2012 March 17, and a programme of afternoon tours of the Observatory Grounds, Human Orrery and Astropark, as well as an exhibition in the Boardroom to display the Short Reflecting Telescope used by King George III and other artefacts from the Observatory's Library, Archives and Museum Collection, concerning the 1769 Transit of Venus. Approximately 55 people attended the two public lectures. The first lecture, `The Science of Armageddon: An Update', was given by Jay Tate (Spaceguard Centre, Knighton, Wales); and the second, `Measuring the Solar System: The Eighteenth-Century Transits of Venus', was by Emeritus Research Astronomy, John Butler. A further approximately 35 people attended the afternoon tours of the Observatory Grounds and Astropark and the Transit of Venus exhibition. Funding to support both these St. Patrick's Day events was provided by the DCAL as part of Creativity Month 2012, (b) Transit of Venus, 2012 June 5/6: John McFarland organized a special exhibition during the period 2012 June 1 to June 12 to mark the 2012 June 5/6 Transit of Venus. Although the weather was cloudy and wet around dawn in Northern Ireland when the transit might in principle have been visible, Apostolos Christou reports that he was able to observe the event from the town of Lavrion, approximately 30 km south-east of Athens, Greece, and (c) From Earth To The Universe (FETTU) - The posters created as part of the 2009 International Year of Astronomy Cornerstone project `From Earth To The Universe' (FETTU) remain available for public use and towards the end of 2011 and early 2012 were loaned to the Irish Astronomical Association (IAA) for use in several of the IAA's well supported outreach events. Towards the end of March 2012 a number of FETTU posters were reprinted and installed on the East wall of the Library. This provides a very attractive outdoor display of a set of attractive and inspiring astronomical images for visitors who may walk up the path from the Planetarium to the Human Orrery (or vice versa). Ms Joan Thompson and colleagues (LibrariesNI) facilitated the display of these posters at various Library locations within Northern Ireland. Libby McKearney presented a short talk about the posters and the associated virtual journey `From Earth To The Universe' to an audience of 45 primary school students and their teachers. It is intended that the posters will subsequently be displayed in the `Gap Room' of the newly refurbished library. This represents a very positive collaboration between the Observatory and LibrariesNI, working together as part of DCAL's Learning Strategy. 5.5.7. Group Visits and Guided Tours ­ Observatory staff and students continue to host a wide range of group visits and guided tours of the Observatory, Astropark and Human Orrery, involving both formal and informal visiting groups, and covering people of all ages and backgrounds. The largest tours were visits by the Ballygawley Mothers' Union on 2012 May 5; approximately 40 Year 11 students (KS4, ages c.15­16) from St. Patrick's Grammar School, Armagh, who visited the Observatory over the two days 2012 January 25 and January 31 to learn about the meteorological station, its instruments and the methods used to record the daily weather parameters and the long-term climate archive; a further visit by 22 such GCSE students studying Geography 2012 March 5; and approximately 35


MINUTES OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE OF ARMAGH OBSERVATORY AND PLANETARIUM 21 June 2012 Page 6 members of the public, families and children who participated in the Observatory's St. Patrick's Day afternoon programme of a guided tour of the Observatory Grounds and Astropark followed by a tour of the Observatory and an exhibition of the Transit of Venus in the Boardroom. 5.5.8. Observatory Buildings, Grounds and Astropark ­ (a) Improving Interpretation in Observatory Grounds and Astropark: A set of eight new interpretation panels was installed on the east wall of the Library towards the end of 2012 March. The new panels, part of the Observatory's `From Earth To The Universe' (FETTU) exhibition, (b) Using funding provided from DCAL, the opportunity was provided to update and reprint a set of six RAS leaflets to support the Observatory's programme of education and public outreach as well as two Observatory leaflets (`A Tour of Armagh Observatory' and `The Armagh Observatory Astropark') the supply of which had almost run out. (c) The repair of the historic broken pane of glass in the Staffroom, broken by a window cleaner employed by CPD, has proved to be very much more problematic than was first imagined. The Librarian, John McFarland, has been liaising with a glass conservator, Ms Claire Magill, in order to get the work done, and it is hoped that it will be able to complete the necessary work during summer 2012, (d) Anti-Social Behaviour in Observatory Grounds and Astropark: Although approximately 50,000 people every year use the Observatory Grounds and Astropark perfectly peacefully and for the main purpose of education and leisure, a small minority of people cause physical damage. During 2011/2012 such incidents occurred roughly once a month during the summer and autumn periods. The total cost of repairs and maintenance to the fixtures and exhibits in the Grounds and Astropark owing to vandalism and related anti-social behaviour was approximately ¸2k during 2011/2012, and (e) SELB had to remove two mature Horse Chestnut trees, affected by Pseudomonas Syringae, in the Observatory Grounds leased to the Armstrong Primary School and replace these with two new oak trees. 5.5.9. Press Releases, Media Citations and Media Coverage ­ (a) 12 press releases were issued during the calendar year 2012 up to 2012 May 31, all of which were picked up and published at least once. There were also approximately 154 identified media citations in the same period, highlighting the Observatory's continuing high public profile on the UK and international stage and (b) Public Queries and Correspondence: John McFarland reports that he dealt with approximately 90 caller, e-mail, letter and telephone enquiries during the calendar year 2012 up to 2012 May 31, including some that have required significant further research and follow-up correspondence. Other members of staff also frequently provide responses to press and other public enquiries on astronomy and/or what has been seen in the night sky, but these are not centrally recorded. 5.5.10. Other Outreach Activities ­ (a) Great British Railways, BBC2: John McFarland reported that the visit by Michael Portillo to the Observatory on 2011 August 31, in which he was interviewed for an episode of the BBC2 programme `Great British Railways' (c.5 million viewers), was broadcast on 2012 Wednesday February 1, (b) CBBC Television: The film clip flowing from the Children's BBC television visit to the Observatory and Planetarium on 2011 July 30 was broadcast as part of the CBBC programme `All Over the Place' on 2012 February 8. This single film clip is estimated to have reached more than a million children, (c) Great British Story: A People's History, BBC2: John McFarland reports that he hosted a visit and was interviewed on 2012 January 14 for MayaVision International, a television company who are making a documentary for BBC2 on the history of the British people. The programme was broadcast on BBC2 on 2012 May 20, (d) Faith and Science Partnership: Mark Bailey has served on the steering committee of the newly established Faith and Science Partnership, an initiative of the Armagh Branch of U3A, the University of the Third Age. The first public event organized by this body, largely supported by the Armagh City and District Council and the North-South Ministerial Council, was a Schools Lecture `God, Science and Global Warming' on the morning of 2012 May 15 by Sir John Houghton, former Director of the UK Meteorology Office and former co-chair of the Scientific Assessment Working Group of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate


MINUTES OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE OF ARMAGH OBSERVATORY AND PLANETARIUM 21 June 2012 Page 7 Change (IPCC). Approximately 80 children aged 14­16 from three local schools attended this event in the Market Place Theatre. The Schools event was followed by an evening public lecture on the same subject by Sir John Houghton, followed by a panel discussion and questions. The evening lecture, which was introduced by Archbishop Alan Harper and chaired by the BBC's presenter Mark Carruthers, attracted much publicity and an audience of approximately 250 people and stimulated lively discussion and debate, (e) `Celestial Sphere' and `Turning Point': Research Astronomer Stefano Bagnulo and Mark Bailey had worked over a period of time with a subcommittee of the Armagh City and District Council to help select and advise on the location of new public art in the city. A new piece, `Turning Point', had previously been installed in St. Anne's Square, Belfast, but was later moved and damaged in the process. For many years it lay in a state of disrepair in a quarry near Belfast. However, as a result of Bagnulo's initiative in drawing attention to this piece, it has now been refurbished and brought to Armagh for installation in a new location at the south end of the Mall. Armagh City and District Council organized a simple ceremony for 2012 May 28 to mark the installation of the newly refurbished `Turning Point'. Future Events ­ (a) Beaghmore Summer Solstice Events: The Armagh Observatory is working in partnership with the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) to provide a series of free public events at Beaghmore Stone Circles, Co. Tyrone, for the day of the civic summer solstice, 2012 June 21. The events include (i) a cycle of archaeological and astronomical activities directed at primary school children as part of the Observatory's EUUNAWE programme led by Libby McKearney with the support of Observatory students and NIEA facilitators; (ii) astro-archaeological tours of the site led by NIEA archaeologist Claire Foley and Mark Bailey; and (iii) activities including solar observing with members of the Irish Astronomical Association and bog probing to search for further examples of stones or stone rows that may still be hidden under the peat and remain to be found, and (b) Robinson Lecture: The next Robinson lecture is scheduled for Thursday 22nd November. The Robinson Lecturer is Professor David Southwood, President of the Royal Astronomical Society, who will speak on the subject "To Mars, Titan and the Universe Beyond! Europe's Arrival on the Space Frontier". The 2012 Robinson Lecture will be preceded by a Robinson Schools Lecture, also by David Southwood, which will be held in the Royal School Armagh on the afternoon of Wednesday 21 November 2012. The subject of this lecture is "What is Space Exploration About?" ance and Accountability Staff and Staff Movements ­ (a) PhD Student Update: Shenghua Yu, registered at Queen's University Belfast, was examined on 2012 March 20 and recommended for the degree of PhD. His PhD is entitled "Radio Emission from Ultra Cool Dwarfs and the Relevant Radiation Mechanisms", (b) Naslim Neelamkodan, registered at Queen's University Belfast, was examined on 2012 March 27 and recommended for the degree of PhD. Her PhD is entitled "Abundance Analysis of Helium-Rich sdB Stars", (c) Geert Barentsen, registered at Queen's University Belfast, submitted his thesis on 2012 May 24 and will be examined later in the year. His PhD is entitled "Star Formation in the Northern Galactic Plane Using the IPHAS Survey". He has obtained a 3-year postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Hertfordshire, to work with Professor Janet Drew on the project "The Multiwavelength View of Dust in the Galactic Plane", (d) Colin Folsom, who had his registration at Queen's University Belfast suspended owing to a chronic illness, has been re-registered with effect from 2012 June 1. He is now beginning to write up his thesis, (e) Mark Bailey's position as Honorary Professor at Queen's University Belfast has been extended for a further three-year period to 2015 March 28 and (f) In response to a question from DCAL on 2012 May 15, it has been confirmed that the Administrator, Joe Copeland, is the Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) for Procurement. Risk Register ­ The most recent version of the Observatory's risk register, last updated 2012 March 20, was appended to this report for information and comment as appropriate, as too was a copy of the Director's most recent Quarterly Assurance Statement for the period 2012 January 1 to March 31, last updated 2012 May 3.

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5.6. Govern 5.6.1.

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MINUTES OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE OF ARMAGH OBSERVATORY AND PLANETARIUM 21 June 2012 Page 8 5.6.3. DCAL Media Communications Protocol ­ The Director responded to consultation concerning the Department's draft Media Communications Protocol (MCP), which was circulated for comment to all DCAL Arms-Length Bodies (ALBs) during 2011 September. 5.6.4. Reducing Running Costs ­ The Observatory and Planetarium were included in a government tender for electricity supply which was awarded to Airtricity Energy Supply for the Observatory and Power NI for the Planetarium. 5.6.5. Complaints and Positive Comments ­ There has been one complaint since the last meeting of the Management Committee that was dealt with through an e-mail response from the Director. 5.6.6. Freedom of Information (FoI) ­ There have been no FoI requests since the last meeting of the Management Committee. The Director emphasized that in addition to formal FOI requests the Observatory is subject to many information requests about material held in its library and archives and on its websites, especially concerning the meteorological records, and to a continuous stream of requests concerning the history and heritage of astronomy in Armagh and about recent advances in this rapidly developing subject. Most of these information requests are answered by individual astronomers in the course of their daily work, or passed on to others with the necessary specialized knowledge or authority to provide a prompt response. 5.6.7. Charity Commission Northern Ireland ­ There has been no movement on this issue since the last meeting of the Management Committee. 5.6.8. Changes in Employment and Related Legislation ­ New duties have fallen on employers with effect from 2012 April 1 t