© 2023 IAU General Assembly 2024 – Cape Town
Forum on Astronomy in Africa 2022
In preparation for the IAU-GA2024, it is essential to bring together the African astronomical community to discuss how the continent can maximally benefit from the opportunity of hosting this event, as well as follow up on discussions from previous meetings on how best to facilitate participation by countries in Africa. The 2022 Forum on Astronomy in Africa took place on 25 October 2022. The forum was fully virtual and brought together members of our community of astronomers, enthusiasts, outreach and education specialists, and policymakers. The purpose of the Forum was to maintain momentum towards GA2024, building on the work of the last forum (held in October 2021) and to allow updates on preparations, Vision 2024 and other projects.
Participants were welcome to view the presentations from the last forum and to get in touch if they wished to update their previous contributions with new information or anything they might have missed last year. The links to those recorded presentations are on last year’s programme.
Format: Virtual Forum for African astronomy community via Zoom
Date: 25 October 2022
Venue: Online on Zoom (the Stream is now available to catch-up on Youtube)
Programme:
This is an up-to-date version of the progamme.
| Time | Agenda Item | Speaker |
| 09:00 | Welcome and Overview | Charles Takalana |
| 09:05 | Special guest welcome remarks – Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) – National Research Foundation (NRF) |
Takalani Nemaungani Clifford Nxomani |
| 09:15 | Message from the International Astronomical Union (IAU) | Debra Meloy Elmegreen |
| 09:30 | Update on Vision 2024 | Vanessa McBride |
| 09:45 | Status of Astronomy in Africa | Thebe Medupe |
| 10:00 | Reflections on Busan | Sally Macfarlane |
| 10:10 | Expectations for Cape Town (Tourvest – IME) | Thembi Kunene-Msimang |
| 10:20 | Discussion | |
| 10:30 | Break/informal networking/gather.town | |
| 11:00 | Vision 2024-funded projects – Anna Aikohi, Space in Africa – Chukwujekwu Nworah, Astro Prison in Nigeria – Doreen Agaba, African Astronomer for a Day – Melvin Hoare, DARA projects – Miracle Chibuzor, Searching for Asteroids through Citizen Science – Pide Aristide Ahanhanzo, Bénin Astro – Proven Emmanuel, Unearthing rich cultural astronomy in Ghana – Solohery Randriamampandry, Malagasy Astronomers Conference – Tolu Biressa, Jimma Outreach programme for Science Education – Wathela Hassan, Zamzam refugee camp outreach programme – The Future of Meetings, What If? – Prospery Simpemba, Copperbelt University – James Chibueze, Hands-on radio interferometry – Olayinka Fagbemiro, NARSDA – Benard Nsamba, Small and affordable radio telescopes in schools |
|
| 11:55 | Remote/robotic observing in Africa | Michele Gerbaldi |
| 12:00 | Science flagship/activities | Bradley Frank Bonita de Swardt David Buckley |
| 12:30 | Outreach flagship/activities | Sally Macfarlane Duduzile Kubheka |
| 13:00 | Break/informal networking/gather.town | |
| 14:00 | Working session: achieving Vision 2024 | Vanessa McBride |
| 16:00 | Closing remarks and thoughts from the participants | |
| 16:30 | End |
Click Here To Register!
Announcement: 6th Oukaimeden International School for Astrophysics (OISA)
Sixth Oukaimeden International School for Astrophysics (OISA) will take place in Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakech, Morocco from Friday, July 1 to Thursday, July 7, 2022. OISA is the Laboratory of High EnergyPhysics and Astrophysics (LPHEA) and the Oukaimeden Observatory propose a thematic doctoral school. This edition will be organizein the framework of VIRL-UOS project, a cooperation program between Antrewp University (Belgium) and Cadi AyyadUniversity (Morocco). hool covers
the following fields:
● Spectroscopy of variable stars
● Near Earth Objects spectroscopy
● Radial Velocity for exoplanets
● Spectroscopy instrumentation
● Workshops of data processing
Pre-registration is now open:
Important Dates & deadlines:
Pre-registration: 15 May 2022
Registration: 15 June 2022
Venue:
OISA2022 will be held at Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakech, Morocco
More details will follow on our next
announcement.
Fees:
The summer school fee is 300 EUR per participant. The fee covers registration, school material, lunches and coffee breaks during the winter school days, shuttle bus services. The fee does not cover accommodation, telecommunications usage, private transport, or any other personal expenses. Registration will not be confirmed until payment is received.
Financial Support:
There will be a limited number of support grants available for participants attending
OISA. They will be assigned based on the financial need and scientific merit of the candidates
In order to qualify for financial support, the applicant must provide and submit the following information:
– A full CV (Education, Professional experience, and Selected publications if any)
– Short motivation statement (explain your expectations from attending OISA)
– At least two signed recommendation letters
– Any evidence of partial support to cover travel and/or accommodation expenses. VISA: Check the following website for VISA requirements to enter Morocco https://www.consulat.ma/fr/types-de-visas-octroyes
Contact:
Prof. Abdelmajid Benhida at: a.benhida@uca.ac.ma
Pr. Benkhaldoun Zouhair: zouhair@uca.ac.ma