Discussion Panelists

Proposals reviewed by the Discussion panels are subject to a two-stage review process: 1) asynchronous preliminary grading; and 2) the virtual review meeting.

Discussion panelists will read and grade all proposals that they are assigned, and write feedback comments for a subset of those. They also advise their Panel Chair and Vice Chair on a subset of the Large, Treasury, and Pure Parallel proposals assigned for review to the Executive Committee.

Prep Work & General Info

Preliminary GradingPre-MeetingDiscussion MeetingPost-Meeting
Before April 25, 2025April 25 - May 30, 2025May 30-June 22, 2025June 23-26, 2025June 26-27, 2025
Before getting started, familiarise yourself with the review process, Hubble and its instruments, the types of proposals you will be reviewing, and who to ask for help!

During this phase, you will:

  • Be assigned as Primary Reviewer, Secondary Reviewer or Grader for a subset of the proposals assigned to your panel.
  • Read all of your assigned proposals.
  • Enter numerical scores as preliminary grades for all of your assigned proposals.

Each proposal will receive up to 6 grades. STScI will use the grades to rank and triage the panel so that only the top proposals are discussed in the panel meeting.

During this phase, you will:

  • Prepare for the panel meeting.
  • Review all proposals listed for discussion, especially those you did not read for preliminary grading.
  • Consider whether you wish to raise a triaged proposal for discussion.

We strongly encourage you to use the SPIRIT tool to enter notes summarizing the strengths and weaknesses for your primary/secondary assignments.


The panel meets for 4 days. During this phase, you will:

  • Discuss proposals in turn and enter numerical scores as grades after each discussion.
  • Assess the final ranking of proposals for science balance.
  • Discuss (but not grade) a subset of Large, Treasury, and Pure Parallel programs to provide feedback to your panel Chair and Vice Chair.

During this phase, you will:

  • Write comments for every primary assignment (including triaged proposals).
  • Assist the primary reviewer with comments for every secondary assignment.

Please remember to remove review materials from your computer after the review.

Learn more about:

Learn more about:

Useful topics from previous phases:

Learn more about:

Useful topics from previous phases:

Learn more about:

Useful topics from previous phases:


Learn more about:

Useful topics from previous phases:


Important Dates and Deadlines:

  • Thursday April 10: HST proposal deadline

Important Dates and Deadlines:

  • Friday April 25: SPD to release proposals and assignments
  • Monday April 28, 12pm-2pm EDT: Discussion Panelists Orientation
  • Friday May 2: Deadline for additional conflicts of interest
  • Friday May 30: Deadline for preliminary grades

Important Dates and Deadlines:

  • Friday June 6: SPD to release lists of which proposals will be discussed by the panels

Important Dates and Deadlines:

  • Monday June 23, 10am-4pm EDT: Meeting Day 1
  • Tuesday June 24, 10am-4pm EDT: Meeting Day 2
  • Wednesday June 25, 10am-4pm EDT: Meeting Day 3
  • Thursday June 26, 10am-4pm EDT:    Meeting Day 4

Important Dates and Deadlines:

  • Friday June 27: Deadline for Discussion proposal comments
  • Monday July 7: Deadline for EC sign-off of Discussion comments
  • Late July: STScI releases Cycle 32 Science Program.