Thank You Message From the Chair
Thank You Message From the Chair
It has taken me some time to gather my thoughts and emotions after this huge event and I write to you now mainly to say thank you. Thank you for being part of this incredible journey that ended up being so much more than a scientific meeting. It is always primarily the participants that make a meeting possible and we are hugely grateful to all of you. Informal feedback has been overwhelmingly positive thus far but a reminder that we have a more structured feedback form that we would very much appreciate you completing by end September. Of course you are still most welcome to send me any informal feedback directly by email if you prefer (positive or negative, all will be appreciated).
Numbers are still being checked but in the end we had 2648 participants (2045 in person and 603 virtual) from 107 countries, with 647 of these students (500 in person and 147 virtual). 911 grants were awarded with significant African participation achieved. There were 211 science sessions (including plenaries) and 16 poster sessions (all hybrid) plus many social and side events including 16 online-first. There were 20 sponsors and 43 exhibitors. The immersive platform Spatial had over 4200 views, and there were over 1100 active members on Slack with 21733 messages sent throughout the event (these networking platforms are still available until end September by the way). The open access streams on YouTube had 20.2k views and 374 subscribers. There were 8.2k unique viewers and over 300 returning viewers. Media coverage was extensive with media monitoring services reporting total media circulation of 87,993,115. The extensive outreach and education activities during the GA reached around 28,000 school learners, 85 educators and around 3,800 general public. Thank you for all your contributions towards these statistics!
• This was the first ever open access IAU GA (sessions were streamed live on YouTube for free and are still available).
• We successfully carried out the first ever hybrid poster session in a meeting of this sort, with 100 Raspberry Pis running with webcams on 40” screens, allowing poster presenters to be online on Zoom or in person. The equipment will be donated to various schools and centres in underserved communities.
• It was the first time any VR-compatible immersive platform (Spatial) was used for an IAU GA. This featured 15 custom Spatial spaces, including a Virtual Cosmic Echoes exhibition mirroring the physical exhibition.
• For the first time ever we had a live radio broadcast (Radio Astro) for 8 hours per day on every day of the GA, using it also as a training platform for aspiring radio journalists, and generating content for community radio stations globally to use for free.
• Yet another first was the establishment of an African craft market within the venue itself, engaging local small business and allowing participants to meet and support South African entrepreneurs.
• The conference provided free child care at the venue for all participants who wished to make use of it, in partnership with a local school.
• In partnership with Wesgro (part of local government) there was a Space Industry networking reception which brought together local tech companies involved in the Space sector together with international organisations attending the GA such as NASA, NAOJ, ESA, etc.
• A Special Breakfast Briefing was held as a cultivation event with funding prospects to discuss the future of African astronomy and sponsored by the British High Commission.
• High profile speakers included Nobel Prize Winner Prof Brian Schmidt; the first African American Woman in Space Dr Mae Jemison; and the first African American Woman to Pilot a Spacecraft Dr Sian Proctor.
• In celebration of Women’s Day on 9th August, we had a live link to the International Space Station where school learners got to speak to astronaut Sunita Willams, while having both Dr Mae Jemison and Dr Sian Proctor in the room.
• The extensive programme of social events ensured that participants were exposed to African culture (not just South Africa) as well as what can only be described as the humanity of scientists. This human touch was a highlight mentioned by many participants.
The conference website (www.astronomy2024.org) will live on with info about proceedings, pictures, recordings, etc but I’d like to specifically draw your attention to this collection of amazing photos from our photographer Bradley Urion who I think did an amazing job of capturing GA memories.
Several people have said to me that one of the most memorable parts of this event was how much it recognised and celebrated scientists as people first. That beyond the science, it was about our humanity. Perhaps this could be one of the legacy aspects of this meeting. Perhaps this human spirit that defined the GA could be sustained within our respective work environments all around the world. Perhaps we can all spread the idea, through our actions, that we are able to build stronger collaborations and do better science if our interactions with each other were driven by kindness, humility and respect, recognizing and celebrating each other as people first.
I could not be more proud of our incredible team who have worked so hard but always with such passion, friendliness and a steadfast dedication to serve both you the participants and the various communities we impacted. They deserve all credit for pulling this off. I will be the first to acknowledge from an organisational side that not everything went exactly according to plan and we had our share of bumps along the way, but I do sincerely hope that the overall experience for all participants was a positive one.
As the African astronomy community we had always wanted to use the first GA on the continent to do more than any other science meeting. We wanted it to make an impact, to showcase our scientific and technological abilities and to change how the world saw Africa. We pushed ourselves to innovate, to dream big, and to deliver. Our guiding quote through many really challenging times was Nelson Mandela’s “it always seems impossible until it is done”. The very positive outcome of this GA – with all the daring innovations, principled decisions and calculated risks coming to fruition – did most certainly seem impossible at many points along the way. But the team persevered, and now it is done! We hope that you as participants will help carry the legacy of this GA forward through more collaborations, more scientific discovery, and more kindness within academia!
A side note: For me this has been a very significant life event, both professionally and personally. I have tried to document my own thoughts containing some of the history and context leading up to this GA; some specific acknowledgements for the many people involved along the way; and some deeply personal reflections regarding my own family, especially the connection between this GA and my wife Dr Carolina Ödman. If you are interested in that (very personal) side of the GA, you can find it here.
Thank you once again and all the best to you and your families!
Kevin
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Kevin Govender
Director: IAU Office of Astronomy for Development (www.astro4dev.org)
Chair: IAU General Assembly 2024 National Organising Committee (www.astronomy2024.org)
