There are many opportunities for scientists to work on Roman data, both through NASA funding calls and Calls for Proposals, and to participate in the Roman mission through Science Teams and Working Groups. 

Calls for Proposals 

In addition to the Core Community Surveys (High Latitude Time Domain Survey, High Latitude Wide Area Survey, Galactic Bulge Time Domain Survey), 25% of the 5-year prime mission will be reserved for General Astrophysics Survey proposals. These will be selected through a peer-reviewed Call for Proposals. The Call for Proposals will be an opportunity to apply for new observing programs, as well as the possibility to apply for funding for data-driven investigations using already-planned observations.

The first Call for Proposals for Roman is expected to occur in late 2025, deadline expected to be in March 2026. For more information, see Observations.

Science Teams and Committees

Three categories of Science Teams support the Roman project. These are the Project Infrastructure Teams (PITs), the Wide Field Science (WFS) teams, and the Coronagraph Community Participation Program (CPP). Two of the PITs are based at Caltech/IPAC: The Roman Galaxy Redshift Survey PIT, led by PI Yun Wang (Caltech/IPAC) and the Roman Alerts Promptly from Image Differencing (RAPID) PIT, led by PI Mansi Kasliwal (Caltech), with pipeline development and management at IPAC. There is also Caltech/IPAC participation in the Roman HLIS Cosmology PIT, led by Olivier Dore (JPL). A number of scientists at Caltech/IPAC are participants in WFS teams. Community engagement with all of these teams is key to the successful accomplishment of their support goals.

The current NASA Call for Proposals, ROMAN-24, is soliciting proposals for additional WFS teams and participation in the CPP.

Scientists from around the world have also been participating in the Core Community Surveys definition committees, as well as the definition committee for the Early-Definition Galactic Plane Survey. The Roman Observatory Time Allocation Committee (ROTAC) also included astronomers from various subdisciplines and expertise.

Roman Working Groups

A number of Roman Science and Technical Working Groups are available for scientists to volunteer to participate in and help guide the Roman mission, including on topics such as Calibration, External Synergies, Observation Strategies, Photometric Redshift, Time Domain, Simulations, and Software. To sign up to join a Working Group, visit this page (a MyST login at STScI is required).