Guidelines for submission and organization of programs

The Erwin Schrödinger Institute is a programme and invitation oriented research center in mathematics, physics and mathematical physics. As a rule, there are 4-5 major programmes each year. An important aspect for the selection and scheduling of programmes is the fruitful interaction between mathematicians and physicists.

The extent of financial support for individual programmes by ESI will typically be in the range of EUR 36.000 - 84.000 (corresponding to 15 - 35 person-months). In addition to this, the Institute encourages visits by qualified scientists who wish to collaborate with participants of the research programmes and/or Austrian scientists.

ESI supports visitors with a per diem of up to EUR 80. The Institute pays travel expenses only under exceptional circumstances (e.g. for programme organizers who cannot obtain financial support from other sources). The Scientific Directors have to approve of any payment of travel expenses.

1.) Submission of programme proposals

The deadline for a program submission at ESI in the year n is January 15 of the year n-2.

A proposal should contain:

The names of the organizers including a local organizer
A suggested time slot (usually 2 - 4 months)
A short but clearly focussed description of the scientific aims of the programme, about 2 - 3 pages in length
A list of scientists to be invited including some key contributors that should have expressed their intention to participate
A description of possible interactions with Austrian scientists and/or programmes at other institutes
An indication of any additional sources of funding for participants and post-docs

The proposals will be presented to the members of the International Scientific Advisory Committee of ESI and will be discussed by the Committee at its annual meeting (usually in early April of the year n-2). The two Scientific Directors of ESI will communicate the decisions on the programme proposals in question to the applicants in May of the year n-2. At the same time they will allocate a time slot to the programmes accepted and inform the applicants about the corresponding funding.

2.) Guidelines for programme proposals

Applicants should initially concentrate on identifying a representative group of leading experts in the field as prospective participants. This will help to give scientific direction and focus to the programme. They should pay attention to invite younger scientists, with special emphasis on qualified participants from Eastern Europe.

Applicants are encouraged to look for additional external financial sources for their programme. In particular, they should indicate which contributions from other sources they expect, which scientists are willing to participate on their own funds and what kind of support for post-docs or graduate students they expect.

Programmes may include one or more periods of special activities ("workshops", "conferences", typically 1 - 3 weeks). The applicants should indicate preferred dates for such activities. Upon final acceptance of a programme proposal, the Scientific Directors will coordinate the dates of such specific activities of various programmes and inform the applicants accordingly.

The scientific community measures the ultimate success of a programme by the impact it has on the subject. However, a preliminary indicator is the quality and number of preprints and later publications by visiting scientists related to their work at the Institute.

3.) Organization of the programme

3.1. Preliminary organization

Once a programme has been accepted and a time slot has been allocated, programme organizers should discuss with potential participants possible periods of stay, in particular, in view of workshops or other periods of intense activities of the programme.

One year before the start of the programme, the organizers should submit a written progress report to the Scientific Directors of ESI. It should describe the status of the organization of the programme.

The organizers should provide a web page for their scientific programme at ESI. Upon approval by the Scientific Directors and the administration of ESI this web page will be linked to the official ESI web page.

With regard to the actual organization of the programme, organizers should send a list of participants, who have agreed to come, to the ESI administration. This list should contain the following information:
-- name of the participant
-- full mailing and e-mail address
-- duration or exact dates of her/his stay
-- information on support: fully ESI supported, partly ESI supported (number of days/weeks), no ESI support

This list should be sent to the ESI administration shortly after the progress report, not later than 8 months before the start of the programme.

Official invitations and offers of support can only be sent out by the ESI administration. The official invitation letter also contains information about housing.

3.2. Organization during the programme

At any time during a programme at least one of the organizers must be present at ESI. Regular communication with the administration is necessary in order to guarantee the smooth running of the programme.

As a service to the local scientific community it is highly desirable to have a series of introductory lectures at the beginning of the programme. Announcements of lectures should be made early (usually one week in advance) in order to enable interested scientists from the surrounding academic institutions to attend and in order to avoid possible clashes with other scientific activities.

Upon arrival an account on the ESI computer network is provided for each guest. The administration officer will pay out the financial support -if granted- to the guests on the second day of their stay.

3.3. Report after the end of the programme

A scientific report on the programme (3-5 pages) should reach the Scientific Directors not later than two months after the end of the programme. It should contain a description of the scientific activities and of any important results obtained. Lists of contributed preprints and lectures will be added by the Scientific Directors to each programme report. It is expected that the organizers of the programmes urge the participants to contribute preprints of work related to their stay at ESI to the ESI preprint series following the submission guidelines.

All unused funds remain with ESI. Subject to further decision the Institute may, however, provide support for follow-up activities. The organizers should send enquiries and applications for such activities to the following address: director(at)esi.ac.at.