Regional Offices Activities: JUL-SEP 2021

Andean

• The Office is involved in the organization of the 2nd Workshop on Astronomy Beyond the Common Senses for Accessibility and Inclusion.

Arab

• The office organized, with the Jordanian Astronomical Society (JAS), the Arab Union for Astronomy and Space Science (AUASS) and some other Jordanian & Arab institutions, several public lectures, seminars, and courses via Zoom

East Africa

• Dr.Solomon Belay, previous Director of Ethiopian Space Science and Technology Institute, was elected as an IAU vice president and Dr. Mirjana Povic from ESSTI as a member of special nominating committee from East Africa.
• Ethiopian Space kids club summer camp was held from 15 July to 26 August. lead and supervised by East African Office.
• The office, together with ESSTI, is coordinating and organizing ‘The belt and road youth space maker camp 2021’ and ‘NASA space app challenge.

East Asia

• Public outreach in Guangzhou: visit to high schools and give a series of lectures

Europe

• A Train the Trainer event was organised in Rotterdam, the Netherlands under the H2020 project SKIES
• A session on Astronomy’s Contribution Towards the SDGs was organized at the online UNGA76 Science Summit.
• Michelle Willebrands from the European Office participated and chaired in the online Lorentz workshop ‘The Audible Universe’ about sonification in research and education for blind and visually impaired persons..

North America

• The NA-ROAD continues to have biweekly meetings and in the process of seating an Advisory Board that is representative of its focus areas and regions.

Portuguese Language

• Several presentations made by PLOAD at the European Astronomical Society Annual meeting – “Astronomy for Development” by Gustavo Rojas and Sara Anjos and “Astronomy in Brazil: is science racialized?” by Alan Brito
• “OruMbya” project (supported by OAD) featured at the UN Science Summit

South East Asia

• NARIT, as the hub of SEA-ROAD, co-organized with the Institute Technology od Bandung (ITB), Indonesia the International Virtual Conference (IVC) on “Astro-statistics and Machine Learning” during 2-13 August 2021.
• A webinar on the title of “The History of Southeast Asian Astronomy (focused on Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand)”, which was organized by the National Planetarium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
• SEA-ROAD also acts, currently, as a node for creating an “IAU Pro-Am Relations Program” in the Southeast Asia region which aims to link some joint astronomical activities between professional and amateur astronomers

South West And Central Asia

• The office contributed to the Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory 75th anniversary works – BAO-75 book, BAO-75 Expo, 7th Byurakan Science Camp (7BSC), International Symposium.
• Astronomy Day was organized in Armenia with public events, mass visits at BAO, public lectures, observations, etc.

Southern Africa

• The Pan African School of Emerging Astronomers (PASEA) which was planned for this year November has been pushed to October 2022 due to COVID-19.
• The SAROAD Steering Committee is being expanded from 7 to 9 members.

West Africa

• New countries joined the West African Regional Office – Benin, Sierra Leone, Chad and Togo.
• Astronomy Discovery Days online event was organized in Togo with the theme  “Astronomy, education and sustainable development.”
• NASE teacher training program on basic astronomy was held in Benin.
• Development of Africa through Radio Astronomy (DARA) practical training took place at the Ghana Radio Astronomy Observatory for participants from Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, Zambia and Botswana.
• Hands-On Astronomy Curriculum Training for Primary and Secondary School Teachers (HOACTS) was organized in Ondo State, Nigeria in July 2021.