The International Astronomical Union, which has been in existence for over 100 years, is the world’s largest body of professional astronomers. Every three years it holds a General Assembly, bringing together astronomers from around the world. This meeting will take place for the first time on the African continent in 2024. Cape Town has been selected to host the meeting, and the National Research Foundation (NRF) is the official host organisation. In preparation for this event, it is essential to bring together the African astronomical community to discuss how the continent can maximally benefit from this unique opportunity as well as how best to facilitate participation by countries in Africa.
Format: Virtual Forum for African astronomy community via Zoom
Date/Duration: 27 – 29 October 2021 (3 days)
Venue: Online on Zoom and live on Youtube
Contributions: Contributions were in the form of short recorded talks about ideas or initiatives related to the IAU GA 2024, and then real-time (during the Forum) proposals for discussion in the “unconference” session.
Purpose: Engage the African Astronomy community, including astronomers, amateur astronomers, education and outreach community, to obtain commitment on participation and appoint country ambassadors.
Spirit: The October Forum should be based on the principle of shared ownership. Different stakeholder groups (e.g. astronomers, amateurs, science centres, outreach professionals, etc) should drive activities agreed upon at the forum.
Who should attend: Astronomers, amateur astronomers, education and outreach community or anyone with an interest in astronomy research, infrastructures, education, outreach, development; amateur astronomy, astrotourism, astronomy arts & culture, etc. In particular, those interested in proposing an IAU Symposium or Focus meeting at the 2024 GA were encouraged to express their interest during the Science session on Day 3.
Participants list: View the full list of 430 registered participants at this link.
Essential reading: In preparation for participation in the Forum, everyone was asked to please read through the 2024 Vision document which one can find info about at this link or access directly as a Google doc where one could leave comments. This document formed the core of the discussions at the Forum and includes actions needed. Participants of the Forum would ideally take on some of these actions.
Unconference: On Day 2 the discussions were in the form of an “unconference” – this means that the topics of discussion were based on the participants’ interests. If there was a topic that interested someone, they were able to propose it or, if someone else had already proposed it, vote for it. Most popular proposals were given a time slot on Day 2.
Slack channel: A Slack channel was set up for the Forum for participants to engage with each other. Participants could join via this link and start chatting with fellow participants prior to, during and after the Forum.
Gather.town: Participants were welcome to meet and network during the breaks in Gather.town.
Outcome: By the end of the Forum there was an updated vision document with specific actions and people/organisations volunteering to drive those actions. Thanks to the South African Department of Science and Innovation we have funds available to support these actions towards 2024.
Recordings: Each day’s discussions were broadcast live on Youtube, where it remains as a recording of the discussions (see links below)
Summary of links:
1. Latest programme and information about the Forum (this page)
2. Zoom link to connect to the meeting (same for all days – now expired)
3. Live stream on Youtube (see recordings below)
4. Slack channel for chatting with fellow participants
5. Gather.town link for networking during the breaks (same link for all breaks – now expired)
6. List of registered participants (430 in total)
7. The latest 2024 Vision Document on which you can leave comments/suggestions
8. The Unconference document where you could propose/view/vote for Day 2 topics
9. Recording from Day 1
10. Recording from Day 2
11. Recording from Day 3 Science Parallel Session
12. Recording from Day 3 Outreach Parallel Session
11. Recording from Day 3 plenary
Programme
Where pre-recorded videos are available, you can click on the title link to view it, then click “back” on your browser to return.
| Day 1: 27 October 2021 | All times in Central African Time (CAT) | |
| 09:30 | Optional Gather.town and Zoom networking | |
| 10:00 | Welcome messages from key stakeholders | |
| International Astronomical Union | José Miguel Rodriguez | |
| Department of Science and Innovation | Takalani Nemaungani | |
| National Research Foundation | Kurt van der Heyden | |
| African Astronomical Society | Jamal Mimouni | |
| 10:10 | Overview of GA2024, Vision and expected outcomes of workshop | Vanessa McBride and Kevin Govender |
| 10:30 | Science flagship intro | Bradley Frank and Bonita de Swart |
| 10:40 | Outreach Flagship intro | Carolina Odman and Niruj Mohan |
| 10:50 | Possibility of AfAS astronomy hubs to implement flagships | Kevin Govender |
| 11:00 | Current and proposed astronomy research activities on the continent | |
| South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) and MeerKAT | Khulu Phasiwe | |
| Oukaimeden Observatory | Benkhaldoun Zouhair | |
| Hydrogen Intensity and Real-Time Analysis eXperiment (HIRAX) | Kavilan Moodley | |
| Astronomy Development in Egypt: New Facilities and Frontiers | Somaya Saad | |
| South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) | Petri Vaisanen | |
| The South African Gamma-Ray Astronomy Programme (SA-GAMMA) | Markus Böttcher | |
| Stellar Occultations in Africa in Support of NASA Missions | Anne Verbiscer | |
| Overview of research done at UCT Astronomy | Patrick Woudt | |
| In-field identification of Moroccan meteorites using Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) handheld instrumentation | Giorgio Senesi | |
| Ionised bubbles before the epoch of reionisation | José Miguel Rodriguez | |
| African VLBI Network (AVN) | Carla Sharpe | |
| South African National Space Agency (SANSA) | Martin Snow | |
| Spectroscopy of variables stars at Oukaimeden Observatory | BENHIDA Abdelmajid | |
| Post-forum submission: Kenya Optical Telescope Initiative | Nadir Omar Hashim | |
| Current and proposed astronomy outreach activities on the continent | ||
| Women in Astronomy and activities at the IAU | Mamta Pommier | |
| Inspiration and Engagement with Astronomy Through Khoi and San Starlore | Daniel Cunnama | |
| The Travelling Telescope | Susan Murabana Owen | |
| African Science Stars (ASSAP) | Unathi Kondile | |
| Astronomy outreach and development in Benin | Prudence AYIVI | |
| The Wits Digital Dome | Roger Deane | |
| CosmoLAb Magazine | Thierry Martial Tchangole | |
| Affordable Radio Telescopes for Education and Outreach | Ikechukwu Obi | |
| Astronomy in developing countries using Virtual Observatories | Khadija El Bouchefry | |
| THE ACTIVITIES OF OUR ASSOCIATIONS (الجمعية الموريتانيه لعلم الفلك Mauritanian Association of Astronomy) | ELY CHEIKH Ould Mohamed Navee | |
| Pan-African School for Emerging Astronomers (PASEA) | Chukwujekwu Ofodum | |
| Astronomy Outreach in Libya | Amjed Khurwat | |
| Astronomy Outreach in Ethiopia | Kirubel Menberu | |
| Astronomy Outreach in Egypt | Somaya Saad | |
| Astronomy Outreach in Botswana | Molly Kgobathe | |
| Current and proposed collaborative initiatives on the continent | ||
| African Astronomical Society | Charles Takalana | |
| African Planetarium Association | Lucia Marchetti | |
| Arab Astronomical Society | Raid Suleiman | |
| African Initiative for Planetary and Space Science (AFIPS) | David Baratoux | |
| East African Astronomy Research Network | Simon Anguma | |
| South African Institute of Physics | Makaiko Chithambo | |
| IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach | Lina Canas | |
| IAU Office of Astronomy for Education | Tshiamiso Makwela | |
| IAU Office of Astronomy for Development | Kevin Govender | |
| Development in Africa with Radio Astronomy (DARA) | Melvin Hoare | |
| DARA Big Data | Anna Scaife | |
| Development of astronomy in East Africa and focus areas to invest in the region | Alemiye Mamo | |
| National Astrophysics and Space Science Programme (NASSP) | Ros Skelton | |
| IAU Office for Young Astronomers and International School for Young Astronomers (ISYA) | David Mota | |
| ISYA South Africa | Moses Mogotsi | |
| Astrotourism | Stelios Tryfon | |
| African Network for Women in Astronomy (AfNWA) | Mirjana Povic | |
| Creating international support groups to build and sustain local capacity and build local expertise | Noorali Jiwaji | |
| Using Big Data for Scientific (Astronomical) Data Computing and Management | Tsegazeab Hailegebriel | |
| A Platform of collaboration for research and education across Africa | Tolu Biressa | |
| GA2024 – An engineering point of view | Yosry Azzam | |
| Infrastructure and collaboration | Solomon Tessema | |
| African Radio Astronomy Network | James Chibueze | |
| West African Regional Office of Astronomy for Development (WAROAD) | Nnaemeka Dom Onyeuwaoma | |
| Portuguese Language Centre of the OAD (PLOAD) | Gustavo Rojas | |
| Lessons learned from “The Future of Meetings” | Vanessa Moss | |
| 13:30 | Break (Optional Gather.town and Zoom networking) | |
| 14:00 | Working session: achieving the vision (walk through vision doc, identify gaps, assign actions) | |
| Unconference instructions and determination of programme for Day 2 | ||
| 15:00 | Optional Gather.town and Zoom networking | |
| Day 2: 28 October 2021 | All times in Central African Time (CAT) | |
| 09:30 | Optional Gather.town and Zoom networking | |
| 10:00 | Reflections on Day 1 | |
| 10:15 | Vision discussion/unconference #1 (see topics, propose, and vote at this link) | |
| The AfAS survey | Charles Takalana | |
| Amateur community in Africa | Paul Ludick | |
| Benefits for African school children from GA2024; Astronomy education in Africa | Ruth Taju; Zakaria Belhaj | |
| Data archiving from telescopes on the continent | Vanessa McBride; David Buckley | |
| Recording, preserving, and sharing astronomy heritage data (perhaps via a digital repository) | Auke; Somaya | |
| Possibility for any African countries to join large projects such as SKA | Ange Cynthia Umuhire | |
| Astronomy at universities for undergraduates | Michele Gerbaldi | |
| Why should every physicist (and chemist) and even citizens be astronomy literate! Making a case for it. | Jamal Mimouni | |
| Using Virtual Observatories for Astronomical Research and for Education and Outreach | Khadija El-Bouchefry | |
| A brief introduction to Gather. town (and the future of meetings); barriers and challenges for online | Vanessa Moss | |
| 12:30 | Break (Optional Gather.town and Zoom networking) | |
| 13:00 | Vision discussion/unconference #2 (see topics, propose, and vote at this link) | |
| Possible Programs for Women in Astronomy WG | Priya Hasan | |
| Planetary (Solar system, Asteroids, Fireball, meteoroids, comets, … ) | Jean-Baptiste Kikwaya | |
| Globalization of Astronomy terminologies and descriptions | Noorali Jiwaji | |
| Initiating departments for “Astronomy Engineering” at the colleges of engineering in the continent | Yosry Azzam | |
| Dark sky conservation and Astro-tourism initiatives in Africa | Alemiye Mamo Yacob | |
| Making the IAU GA multilingual | Thierry Martial Tchangole | |
| Facilitate the exchange of African students and researchers | Abdelmajid Benhida, Noorali Jiwaji | |
| 14:00 | Determination of additional parallel sessions for Day 3 (no additional parallel sessions – only Science and Outreach) | |
| 14:30 | Optional Gather.town and Zoom networking | |
| Day 3: 29 October 2021 | All times in Central African Time (CAT) | |
| 09:30 | Optional Gather.town and Zoom networking | |
| 09:45 | Reflections on Day 2 | |
| 10:00 | Parallel sessions: | |
| Parallel Session 1: Science | ||
| 10:00 | Intro to Session | Brad/Bonita |
| 10:10 | Flagship Projects | David |
| 10:20 | I-How Meetings | Brad |
| 10:30 | IAU Symposia & Focus Meetings: Previous Meetings in Africa | Mirjana |
| 10:50 | IAU Symposia & Focus Meetings: The proposal evaluation process | Renee |
| 11:00 | Discussion | With Mirjana/Renee, Chaired by Brad & Bonita |
| 11:15 | Short break, depending on length of discussion | |
| 11:20 | Intro & Disclaimer to session on Symposia | Brad/Bonita |
| 11:25 | Symposium: Inclusive AGN | Sarah & Sthabile |
| 11:35 | Symposium: Pulsars and Radio Transients | Marisa |
| 11:45 | Symposium: Gravitational Waves | Paul |
| 11:55 | Symposium: Galactic Plane | James |
| 12:05 | Symposium: Radio Astronomy | Patrick |
| 12:15 | Symposium: X-Ray Binaries | Itumeleng |
| 12:25 | Discussion | |
| 12:40 | Focus Meeting: High Energy | Michael |
| 12:50 | Focus Meeting: Gas in Galaxies | Sarah & DJ |
| 13:00 | Discussion & Closing Remarks | SSC |
| Parallel Session 2: Communications, Education and Outreach | ||
| 10:00 | Welcome & Introduction to the programme | Carolina and Niruj |
| 10:10 | Flagship project discussion | Led by Niruj |
| 10:40 | Planetaria discussion | Led by Lucia |
| 10:55 | Science Centers discussion | Led by MJ |
| 11:10 | Education and African NAEC network discussion | Led by Sally |
| 11:25 | Schools discussion | Led by Sivuyile |
| 11:40 | Amateur Astronomers discussion | Led by Daniel |
| 11:55 | Astrotourism discussion | Led by Anthony |
| 12:10 | Industry discussion | Led by Anton |
| 12:25 | Wild ideas discussion | Carolina |
| 12:40 | Pan-African coordination | Niruj |
| 12:55 | Consolidation | Carolina |
| 13:00 | Close | |
| 13:00 | Break (Optional Gather.town and Zoom networking) | |
| 13:30 | Plenary (Report back from parallel sessions and discussion) | |
| 14:00 | Action items, summary and way forward | |
| 15:00 | Close |
Poster
Download the poster here:
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High-resolution image
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