The applications submitted to the OAD Annual Call for Proposals are evaluated by an independent review panel. The panel consists of experts who give their time voluntarily. They are selected, as far as possible, on the basis of their skills, prior knowledge, experience, geographic locations, gender and cultural diversity. In addition, the OAD invites external experts where necessary to serve on the review panel.
The current members of the review panel are listed here.
Adaiah Lilenstein, South Africa
Amelia Ortiz-Gil, Spain
Brooke Simmons, UK
Claudio De Figueiredo Melo, Chile/Portugal
Claudio Melo is an astronomer at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and holds a PhD in Astrophysics from the University of Geneva, Switzerland. Claudio joined ESO in Chile in 2002 as a science fellow, and since 2006 he has been part of the permanent staff of the Organization. He is currently the ESO Representative in Chile and takes pride in promoting the wonders of the Universe and the educational potential of astronomy as a source of inspiration for youngsters around the world and especially in Chile. Claudio strongly believes in the virtuous circle that science creates in society and in the collaborative roots on which ESO is founded.
Coryn Bailer-Jones, Germany
Coryn Bailer-Jones is a senior staff scientist at the Max Planck Institute forAstronomy in Heidelberg, Germany where he leads a research group involved in various projects, in particular the data processing for the Gaia Galaxy survey. He is very interested in applying his expertise and experience to enhancing science education and access across the world, in particular at the university and upper school class levels. He serves on the Steering Committee of the IAU’s Office of Astronomyfor Education (OAE).
David Olusegun Sotola, South Africa
Edward Gomez, UK
Edward Guinan, USA
Edward Jurua, Uganda
Eleni Thomai Chatzichristou, Belgium
Eleni works at the European Research Council Executive Agency, EC, Belgium as a Policy Analyst, with emphasis on designing and conducting quantitative and qualitative monitoring studies on the impact of ERC funding.
Fraser Lewis, UK
Fraser Lewis is the Research Director for the Faulkes Telescope Project where he links the project to researchers, amateur astronomers and users (mostly schools and teachers in the UK and ROI). He helps to run teacher training and CPD (Continuing Professional Development) events. He is also the Operations Officer for the National Schools’ Observatory, developing online IBSE (Inquiry Based Science Education) activities and a distance learning tutor in astronomy with The Open University.
Galina Motorina, Czech Republic
Galina Motorina is a solar ALMA scientist working for the EU ARC node at the Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Ondřejov, Czech Republic. She is also a researcher at the Pulkovo Observatory, St.Petersburg, Russia.
German Puerta, Colombia
Hakim Malasan, Indonesia
Hilary Bberinya, Uganda
Hilary Bberinya has a master’s degree in Economics, a B.A. in Development Economics, Master of Arts in Financial management, and Master of Arts in Economics. He is also certified in Monitoring and Evaluation.
Indulekha Kavila, India
Indulekha Kavila teaches and researches Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Mahatma Gandhi University in Kerala, India. She also works on water security as part of academic social responsibility. She believes that empowerment of women through education will do a lot of good to the world and humanity and that astronomy is a great vehicle for delivering knowledge and perspective. She was Director and Chair of Research of the School of Pure and Applied Physics at the university.
Jean-Pierre de Greve, Belgium
Jen Gupta, UK
Jiajia Liu, China/UK
Jiajia Liu obtained his PhD degree at University of Science and Technology of China in 2015 and is currently a Research Fellow at Queen’s University Belfast. He was the first Chinese recipient of the International Alexander Chizhevsky medal in 2019. He now serves as a member of the UK Solar Physics Council of the Royal Astronomical Society, a panel member of the European Space Week medal committee, and a co-founder of the UK-based Solar Online Seminar Series
John Zarnecki, UK/Poland
John Zarnecki has a PhD in astrophysics from University College London. He was President of the Royal Astronomical Society 2016-2018 and was Chair of the UK Space Agency Science Programme Advisory Committee. Retired from the Open University, he chaired the European Space Agency’s Space Science Advisory Committee 2017-2019 and was a Director at the International Space Science Institute in Switzerland 2013-2016.
Kimberly Arcand, USA
Leonard Burtscher, Netherlands
Leo Burtscher got his PhD from the Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy Heidelberg. Since 2017, he is a staff scientist at Leiden Observatory, The Netherlands, and Calibration Scientist for ELT/METIS. He is a founding member of the global Astronomers for Planet Earth movement and co-chair of the European Astronomical Society working group on sustainability.
Linda Strubbe, Canada/USA
Martin Mwale, South Africa
Megan Argo, IAU Commission 55/UK
Michele Gerbaldi, France
Mirjana Povic, Serbia/Spain/Ethiopia
Mirjana Pović is an assistant professor at the Ethiopian Space Science and Technology Institute (ESSTI), an associate researcher at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía in Spain, and a honorary lecturer at Mbarara University of Science and Technology in Uganda. In 2018 she received the inaugural Nature Research Award for Inspiring Science dedicated to young women for their scientific achievements and contributions to the society. She believes that through education, science, and technology we can fight poverty in the long-term and make our world to be a better place for everyone.
Niall Deacon, OAE/Germany
Nic Bonne, Aus/UK
Originally from Australia, Nic Bonne is a vision impaired astronomer with a background in galaxy research. He currently works in the UK as a Public Engagement and Outreach Fellow at the University of Portsmouth’s Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation. Dr Bonne is a co-founder of, and currently leads the Tactile Universe public engagement project, which is developing resources and activities to help vision impaired students across the UK and internationally.
Nicole van der Bliek, Chile/Netherlands
Ofodum Chukwujekwu Nworah, Nigeria
Orrarujee Muanwong, Thailand
Orrarujee Muanwong is a lecturer in astronomy at Khon Kaen University, Thailand. Apart from teaching and research, her main public outreach activity is running the Thai Astronomy Olympiad on the regional and national levels. The main aim of the activity is to introduce astronomy and astrophysics to young school students. She believe that activities through astronomy are instrumental to pushing the frontiers of science.
Osama Shalabiea, Egypt
Osama Shalabiea is a professor of Astrophysics and Space Science, Faculty of Science, Cairo University. He serves as the director of the Space Science Center at Cairo University, and dean of the Faculty of Navigation Sciences and Space Technology – Beni Suef University, Egypt. He has more than 25 years of experience in teaching, research and serving the community in the fields of Astronomy, Astrophysics, and Space Science. He was awarded the State Medal with a knight degree from the French government.
Peter Kretschmar, Spain
Peter Kretschmar’s research activities are related to accreting X-ray binaries, mostly accreting X-ray pulsars. Using data from various high-energy missions (INTEGRAL, RXTE, XMM-Newton, Suzaku, Swift and others) he stidues different aspects of these systems: mechanisms of accretion, period evolution, lightcurves, pulse profiles and spectra.
Priya Hasan, India
Priya Hasan is an assistant professor in Physics at the Maulana Azad National Urdu University in Hyderabad, India. She recently visited The Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, USA on a Summer Internship Program of the International Astronomical Union. Priya is the Secretary of the Public Outreach and Education Committee, Astronomical Society of India and actively involved in olympiads, public outreach and science popularization programs for children and adults.
Ravi Sheth, ICTP/Italy
Robert Hollow, Australia
Roger Hajjar, Lebanon
Shengbang Qian, China
Stella Kafka, USA
Themiya Nanayakkara, Australia
Themiya Nanayakkara is the Laureate Postdoctoral Astronomer at the Centre of Astrophysics and Supercomputing in Swinburne University of Technology. His work mainly involves studying galaxies in the early Universe to understand how they regulated the evolution of the Universe. He is also the point of contact for James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) User Support at the James Webb Australian Data Centre and develops softwares tools to aid the community in exploring JWST data.
Thilina Heenatigala, Sri Lanka/Japan
Tsolmon Renchin, Mongolia
Vuyiswa Mkhabela, South Africa
Vuyiswa Mkhabela is a masters student at the School of Economics at the University of Cape Town specialising in Economic Development. He is also a Research Fellow at the UCT Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance, working as part of the AfCFTA and Transformative Industrialisation research team. He previously worked as a Development Economist, specialising in primary and secondary research, feasibility studies and business plans, socio-economic impact assessment, value chain analysis, policy review and analysis, strategic advisory and drafting or contributing inputs towards business and research proposals.
PAST REVIEWERS
Thanks to the previous review panel members for contributing to the mission of the OAD
Tomita Akihiko (Japan)
Sze-leung Cheung (HK/Thailand)
Kumiko Usuda (Japan)
Carolina Odman South Africa/EU
Richard de Grijs, Australia
Lina Canas, OAO/Japan
Dana Ficut-Vicas, Romania
Roderik Adriaan Overzier, Brazil
Roderik has a PhD in astrophysics from Leiden University in The Netherlands, and works as a senior staff scientist at the Observatório Nacional in Brazil. His current professional responsibilities include being Project Scientist for a large optical survey led by the Brazilian community and scientific advisor for the Giant Magellan Telescope. He is passionate about research, teaching and working with students, and is interested in outreach, education and development efforts in astronomy around the world.
Michael West, USA
Michael West is Deputy Director for Science at Lowell Observatory. He has been a professional astronomer for more than three decades and has held research, teaching and leadership positions at universities and observatories on four continents. Michael is passionate about sharing the wonders of the universe with people of all ages. He is a 2021-2022 U.S. Fulbright Scholar, which will give him an opportunity to teach a university course on Communicating Science with the Public in Finland, and also to research Finnish methods of science communication.
The IAU OAD has reached more than 2 million people in 112 countries globally, impacting the lives of communities through astronomy. With your support, we will be able to sustain and expand our impact. Donations are accepted through the International Astronomical Union, a not-for-profit organisation registered in France.
