BRAVO-Brazilian Virtual Observatory

About BRAVO
The Brazilian Virtual Observatory (BRAVO) is an initiative which formally started by means of a Declaration of Intentions signed on 2006, August 18, by the legal representatives of six Brazilian research institutes plus the Brazilian Astronomical Society (a facsimile of the declaration is attached to the document). After initial difficulties to create a suitable organizational structure, the BRAVO is now embedded in the recently founded National Institute for Science and Technology in Astrophysics (INCT-A). It aggregates efforts of several groups working on Virtual Observatory related issues in various universities and scientific institutes in different parts of Brazil and is meant to provide a common organizational structure for these groups to work in and to ensure basic financing.

The superstructure: INCT-A
Recently, the Brazilian Federal Government initiated a new program entitled “Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia (INCT)” in order to establish and consolidate networks of working groups and laboratories on an internationally competitive level, dedicated to long term research in selected fields. These National Institutes are thus “virtual” structures, anchored in an existing major research institute or university, but extending to research teams based in other institutions all over the country.
In the context of this program the INCT-A4 was created in late 2008. It unites a significant fraction of the Brazilian astronomical community (144 members, more than half of all Brazilian astronomers with PhD.), rooted in 32 different institutes and universities. It is the aim of the INCT-A to plan and to implement a series of actions having in mind the future of Brazilian astronomy. To this end,
the INCT-A will formulate and pursue a collective strategy, creating the conditions of Brazil to maintain and consolidate its respectable position gained during the past decades within the international astronomical research community, and providing the next generation of scientists with the necessary conditions to perform frontier research.

The INCT-A is structured in a way such that different lines of activities are pursued in parallel. One of the major items is the consolidation of the Brazilian Virtual Observatory. The BRAVO as part of the INCT-A Virtual Observatory related activities are going on in various places in Brazil for several years. Attempts have been undertaken in the past to create a common platform for the involved research groups to work on. These have met difficulties because of the lack of a suitable superstructure and insecure funding. With the creation of the INCT-A the superstructure is in place and funding is secured. As part of the INCT-A, the BRAVO has the explicit charge to (citing from the original INCT-A proposal):

a) coordinate the various proposals and VO projects already in place in the Brazilian research institutions, and
b) coordinate a combined effort within the Brazilian community aiming to develop a VO expertise, and to exchange knowledge and experience by identifying potentially cooperative projects capable of sharing hardware and/or software infrastructure.

Many details of the formal organization of the BRAVO as part of the INCT-A are still being discussed. However, it is consensus among the members of the participating working groups that the BRAVO should operate, in the environment of the local VO projects, much the same way as the IVOA does on an international level. That is, the BRAVO should stimulate and encourage the projects of the different local groups, facilitating the coordination and collaboration necessary for the development and deployment of the tools, systems, and organizational structures. The BRAVO should organize international workshops and schools aiming at the dissemination of the VO concepts and the qualification of people capable to work on the development of new VO services and tools. The BRAVO should, moreover, act as partner of the IVOA and intermediate between the IVOA and the various Brazilian working groups.

As part of its governance structure the INCT-A has formed a provisional committee to deal with BRAVO related issues. It is composed of the following persons:
Albert Bruch (Chair; LNA/MCT)
Laerte Sodré Jr. (IAG/USP)
Reinaldo de Carvalho (INPE/MCT)
Roberto Cid Fernandes (DF/UFSC)
Iranderly Fernandes de Fernandes (LNA/MCT)

The budget of the INCT-A foresees funding of the BRAVO at a level of about R$ 1,000,000 (currently equivalent to approximately € 330,000) for the next three years, to be used for fellowships, travels, equipment and services. Additional funding is expected (and in part confirmed) to come from the institutions hosting the research groups and the BRAVO administrative structure.

Administratively, the BRAVO will be attached to LNA as an institute which does not only host one of the ongoing Brazilian VO projects but which, as a National Laboratory and thus a service institute for the national astronomical community is institutionally committed to the BRAVO through several corresponding lines of action mentioned in its Master Plan.