Regional Offices Activities: OCt – DEC 2025

Andean

  • The Andean region have an updated website, please visit: https://andean.astro4dev.org
  • The office has worked on the inclusion of associate countries as full members of the Andean Office.
  • Invitation of the Central America and Caribbean Region countries to be associate members of the Andean Office has been extended.
  • Permanent Programs of the Andean ROAD are (more information in the website):
    • NASE-America
    • Astronomy for inclusion
    • Light Pollution protection of dark skies in América
    • Andean Light – Astrotourism Training program

Arab World and Arabic Language

  • 7th Middle East and African Regional IAU Meeting (MEARIM 7): Held in Amman, Jordan, this event was a major success, featuring over 130 research papers and more than 30 posters. It was attended by over 500 people from more than 35 countries. The full conference program, including the schedule of talks, can be viewed https://mearim7.auass.com/en/conference-program/ .
  • 9th Arab Conference on Astronomy & Geophysics (ACAG 9): Hosted in Cairo, Egypt, this conference provided a critical forum for experts and scientists from the Arab world and beyond to present research in astronomy and geophysics. The Arab Union for Astronomy and Space Sciences was officially represented by its Secretary General, Prof. Dr. Awni Mohammad Al-Khasawneh, highlighting the Union’s high-level engagement in regional scientific discourse.
  • MARASE Workshop: Participation in the Middle East and Africa Regional Astronomy Summer School demonstrates the commitment of the AUASS and OAD to developing the next generation of regional astronomers and researchers.
  • International Representation: Dr. Mashhoor Ahmad Salameh Al-Wardat represented the Union at the 3rd International Symposium of the UNESCO Chair on Science Diplomacy and Scientific Heritage in Istanbul, Türkiye (November 26-28). His participation, with an accepted abstract, highlights the Union’s engagement in international forums on science diplomacy and the historical legacies of scientific collaboration.

East Africa

  • The Office welcomes Ms. Meklit Wogeyahehu (SSGI) as the new Director of the EA ROAD effective February 2026
  • SciGirls Program
    • The 3rd edition of SciGirls: Empowering Girls and Female Teachers in Science Through Astronomy, an OAD-funded project, has finalized all necessary preparations and is scheduled to be conducted in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in January 2026.
  • East Africa Astronomical Society (EAAS). The EAAS ad hoc Steering Committee has successfully secured OAD-supported funding to conduct postgraduate and early-career training programs.

North America

  • WGAP’25 Cohort done with their projects (Regional Distribution: 1 Puerto Rico, 1 Jamaica, 4 USA, 3 México and 1 Canadá)
  • Zooniverse Train the Trainer program – from Adler Planetarium, 1st cohort Educators& Researchers Ambassador program completed.
  • Current programs at the NA ROAD (more information on their website):
    • Women and Girls in Astronomy Program (WGAP)
    • Accessible Astronomy for All
    • Zooniverse

Portuguese Language

  • Celebrating 10 years of PLOAD. A total of 150 postcards were received so far in response to the Mail Art call, which had the theme ‘Astronomy for Development’ and was held in celebration of PLOAD’s 10th anniversary. All of the postcards are available to view on Facebook and Instagram. (Complete  information is available here, including a photo gallery, in Portuguese.) The final result will be available on 5th May (World Portuguese Language Day).
  • 7th Shaw-IAU Workshop on Astronomy for Education. On November 19, PLOAD took part in the Portuguese Language Section at the 7th Shaw-IAU Workshop on Astronomy for Education (https://astro4edu.org/…/portuguese-language-community…/, https://astro4edu.org/shaw-iau/talk/477/). The presentation was given by Ivanilda Cabral, Lourenço Kucula and Rodolfo Langhi. The presentation of Rodolfo Langhi are available, in Portuguese here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1bHbnqSEdtXOE6s781gX9R5ZKSB-T5aY_/edit?slide=id.p1#slide=id.p1. 
  • PLOAD Newsletter. PLOAD has a newsletter to keep members and other interested people informed about the latest developments in each member country. Like many other PLOAD contents, the newsletter is available in Portuguese. A mailing list was also created.

South East Asia

  • ThaiPASS2025: October 6-10, 2025 in Chiang Mai. Python workshop for students
  • Three months internship from Botswana. Fellowship for two BIUST Engineer and Astronomer.
  • Student Research workshop: October 27-30, 2025. 20 Student astronomical research project workshop
  • Starry Night over Chiang Mai 3-12 November: 5,000 participants
  • Super Full Moon 5 November 2025: 305 participants
  • Night at the Museum Festival, 27-28 December 2025: 2,989 participants
  • Geminids Meteor Shower, 14 December 2025: 765 participants
  • Teacher Training Workshop Ubonrachathani & Lampang: 212 teachers
  • Astroguide application opens
  • AstroFest: 34,982 participants
  • The 15th SEAAN meeting Indonesia: October 13-16, 2025. SEA Regional meeting in Astronomy and conference

Upcoming

  • ITCA Teacher Training Workshop Philippines 19-22 January 2026
  • ASEAN Astronomy Camp 2026, 10-13 March 2026: 206 applicants
  • Willy Benz, IAU president visiting 2-6 February 2026

South West and Central Asia

  • Office to host the IAU Division C Communicating Astronomy with the Public Conference 2026 (CAP-2026) – 25-29 May 2026 
  • The Office participated in the following meetings:

    • XVII Joint Armenian-Georgian (Byurakan-Abastumani) Colloquium, 05-09 May 2025, BAO, Armenia

    • European Astronomical Society Annual Meeting 2025 (EAS 2025), 23-27 June 2025, Cork, Ireland 

    • 2nd UNESCO Supported International Conference Astronomical Heritage of the Middle East (AHME-2), 06-10 October 2025, Yerevan, Armenia

    • 7th Middle East and African Regional IAU Meeting (MEARIM 7), 11-13 November 2025, Amman, Jordan

West Africa

WAROAD 4th Quarter Report, 2025

  • Mobile Planetarium Outreach for Primary School Pupils: WAROAD organized an educational outreach at the University of Nigeria Primary School, Nsukka, on the 23rd of October, 2025. The planetarium show had in attendance over 140 pupils and 15 staff members of the school. The planetarium show had a total of six sessions; five sessions were for the pupils, while one session was for the staff.  Prior to each session, the visitors were lectured on the workings of the planetarium and its use.
  • World Space Week 2025: WAROAD, in collaboration with OAO and the Centre for Basic Space Science and Astronomy Nsukka, organised astronomy outreaches and an open day from the 2nd to the 5th of October, 2025. The event had in attendance over 350 students from primary, secondary and tertiary institutions.  
  • Space Science Teachers’ Training and Students Outreach: This event was organized at the Umuhu Autonomous Community, Ngor Okpala, Imo State, from the 4th to the 5th of November, 2025. WAROAD collaborated with the community’s Think Tank Group. The event reached out to 380 participants, including teachers and students from five secondary and three primary schools. The event’s teachers’ training workshop and student outreach educated the teachers and students on astronomy and cosmology; the solar system and planetary scaling; and physics curriculum topics such as satellites, Kepler’s law, and eclipses.
  • Astro-Christmas Planetarium Show:  The event was a community outreach for children organized on the 24th of December 2025 at Edem-Ani, Nsukka, Enugu State. The event had in attendance 400 children from different schools. The show centered on the solar system planets, stars, eclipses, and types of telescopes. 
  • Astronomy for the Elderly and Planetarium Show: The WAROAD, in collaboration with the Edem community, Nsukka, Enugu State organized a rural astronomy outreach for the elderly and children on the 27th of December, 2025.  The event helped to raise mental health awareness and the role of astronomy in mental wellbeing.  The event had 140 elderly persons and 120 children in attendance.