Public Discussion of the draft Grand Challenge Proposals

Welcome to this open discussion of Grand Challenges for computing research. If you have read the report of the Workshop and our proposed next steps then you will know what the discussion is for, and the kind of contribution you are encouraged to make. When contributing, please bear in mind the tough criteria of maturity for a Grand Challenge.

The discussion process is simple. But the success of the Grand Challenges Exercise depends crucially on full participation of the UK computing research community. This will lead not only to a small number of proposals that have been deeply debated, but also to a sense that the proposals truly represent the community's expertise and aspirations.

UKCRC hopes to resume this Exercise at suitable intervals of five years or less. This first run is vital, and its success lies in your hands.

Discussion Groups

There will be one Discussion Group for each currently proposed Grand Challenge, and a Master Discussion Group for general purposes (like initiating a new proposal, merging two existing ones, analysing the concept of a Grand Challenge, ...).

How it Works

Discussion is by email. Every contribution is automatically archived on a web page accessible from the list of proposals. Everyone can read these archived discussions. To contribute to a discussion you should join a Group; this lets the Moderator know of your interest in the topic of the Group.

Phasing

Discussion will be in two phases:

Phase 1: 17 January to 26 March
Phase 2: 26 March to 26 May

During each phase the drafts will remain unchanged on the web site, but tentative re-drafts may circulate among Group members. Coordinated by its Moderator, each proposal's Group will generate a new version at the end of each phase. The first of these is a re-draft to be installed on the web page on 26 March. The second will be a final proposal of not more than 5000 words, supplied with ample references to any necessary supporting material. This will be incorporated in the Programme Committee's report to UKCRC at its meeting on 2 June 2003.