The HSF’s mission is to encourage cooperation and common projects between all parts of the high-energy physics community concerned with software. We span regions and experiments and we strive to to make our community’s software development more effective. To that end, the HSF will happily cooperate with any project that shares similar goals.

The HSF will usually give a letter of cooperation for any projects and proposals that are aligned with the general goals of developing collaborative software for particle physics. This will particularly apply when there may be multiple applications for a funding stream which are well aligned with the HSF. Letters of support are usually reserved for specific calls where there is one clearly identified proposal from HEP.

Letters of Cooperation

We will be happy to provide a letter of cooperation that can be used for any software project or funding application, including, e.g., individual fellowships, stating that the HSF will work with the proposer(s) if they receive funding. The HSF can also put in this letter a statement stating that the goals of the project are well aligned with the Community White Paper and other similar documents. To ask us for this please:

• Send a request to the HSF Steering Group
• Include an outline of your project’s goals and indicate where you believe that the HSF can usefully cooperate and work with you
  • We strongly encourage you do discuss with the working group conveners of the working groups where you think this would happen
  • As we will circulate this outline to the whole of the HSF be aware that this will, de facto, become a public document
• Please make this request at least two weeks before you need the letter

Letters of Support

If you would like a letter of support for your project, you are asking the HSF to endorse your project specifically. This is usually reserved for a targeted call where there is one application from the HEP community. Projects should be able to demonstrate specific aims to tackle the challenges set out in the Community White Paper.

• Send a request to HSF Steering Group
• Include an outline of your project’s goals and indicate in what way this helps the high-energy physics community to meet the software challenges of the future
  • Outline in which way you would with in and with the HSF during the project
  • As we will circulate this outline to the whole of the HSF be aware that this will, de facto, become a public document
• Please make this request at least three weeks before you need the letter

Procedure

In both cases the HSF Steering Group and the HSF Working Group Conveners will discuss the request and, if approved, circulate a draft letter and the project outline to the whole of the HSF community for any comments. We will then approve the request in an HSF Coordination meeting (or, exceptionally, just by email, should deadlines not fit with the meeting schedule).

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