The semester 2013B proposal deadline for proposals led by Gemini staff is April 2 Tuesday morning at 00:01 a.m. Hawaii time. In 2013B up to 57 hours are available for staff use at Gemini North, and up to 49 hours at Gemini South.

The Gemini staff apply for time to a Time Allocation Committee via a competitive process:

• Starting in Semester 2012A, in agreement with Gemini Board resolution 2011.A.9, there is no longer a Gemini Staff time allocation, instead 7% of the time is allocated as Director's Discretionary Time. Of the Director's Discretionary Time, the Director has made 5% available for staff use via the call for proposals, while 2% will be available to all astronomers through the Director's Discretionary Time proposal process throughout the semester. The 5% of time available to Gemini staff is still open for joint proposals.


• The typical deadline for Staff proposals is similar to the other partners, on or around 31 March and 30 September.


• The Staff TAC consists of two Gemini Observatory representatives and four external members appointed by the Director.  The TAC is chaired by one of the external members. The current TAC members are listed on the Gemini Observatory governance page.


• The Staff TAC conducts scientific and technical assessments of each proposal and assigns an overall grade.


• The Staff TAC forwards the proposal with the overall grade and any technical comments to the International Time Allocation Committee, ITAC.


• The draft schedule and queue are assembled by the ITAC using the NTAC and Staff TAC ranked lists. The staff proposals are inserted into the queue/schedule using a merging sequence which includes GeminiStaff (effectively as another 'partner').


• The Director reviews the ITAC's recommended schedule of programs for each semester.