Every year, the OAD receives numerous, good quality proposals that we are unable to support. We compile these projects on to a ‘Recommended List’, which is shared here for the benefit of potential funders. The 2017 Recommended List has 59 projects across the three Task Forces. Read the project summaries below.

To know more about a project or to support/collaborate on project(s), contact the OAD staff. The map below is interactive, click for details. Use the search box in the map and Zoom in to view all projects in a single location

Project Title Location Summary
Unlock Africa’s Cultural Astronomy East Africa, West Africa, Central Africa and Southern Africa Africa with diverse setting has rich but unexplored cultural astronomic practices which are connected with day to day activities of the people. Nonetheless without exploring their essence and significance in relationship with modern astronomic practices people often considered the cultural astronomical practices as mythical and only rarer astronomers had the chance to visit and know the astronomic practices in Africa. Then, to unlock the mysteries one must know the wisdom of the practice, the societal values attached to such practices, its relation with modern astronomic practices, etc.
In Africa there are elderly people who forecast rainfall patterns, drought and famine using star constellations, and some communities do have their own calendar based on the movement of stars. These culturally enriched practices should be known to larger global community and the only means to unlock such mystery is first to understand the practice and correctly interpret its relationship with contemporary astronomic practices and second properly document the practice with scientific methods.
Andean Astronomy School and SPH+Photoionization School All countries in Central and South America.
With a greater emphasis on the participation of the member countries of the Andean ROAD (Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Perú, Bolivia, Chile).
One of the goals of our project is to organize two schools of astronomy in one city (Lima – Perú) incorporating themes of stellar astronomy and  Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH).
The Andean Astronomy School:
This school aims to bring together local South American undergraduate and graduate students of physics/mathematics/engineering, with professional astronomers from astronomical institutions from around the world. The school will have a focus on stellar astrophysics/planetary astronomy. The school will present current methods and research problems in each area mentioned. In addition, this school is one of the key projects (TF1) of the Andean Regional Office of Astronomy for Development (ROAD).
The main objective of this school is contribute to create a group of professional astronomers in the region along with the conditions needed for research,The SPH+Photoionization School:
The SPH has gained quite special attention of the astronomy community for its role in simulation of astrophysical objects like: accretion disk around supermassive black holes, galaxy evolution and evolution of the Large Scale of the Universe.
We intend to mix these two areas in a single context using pre-computed radiation and photoionization grids in SPH simulations, and teaching advanced students involved in simulation of astronomical objects how this combination may be a powerful tool for the understanding of these systems.
In our schools the topics will be both basic and advanced.The entry registration is free.The school will be held at the campus of Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria (UNI), in Lima. The UNI is located about 30 – 40 minutes by public transport from Lima downtown. Auditorium (Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería, Perú) is provided at no cost.
fna Andean Region (Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Perú, Venezuela) We would like to give the opportunity to two Physics/Astronomy undergraduate students (one of them female) from the Andean region to come to Caltech (either to NASA-JPL or to IPAC) for a summer internship. The project would be performed within the framework of the well-established SURF (https://sfp.caltech.edu/programs/surf) program at Caltech. Caltech/JPL/IPAC researchers would mentor the students, and they would work on a project relevant to JPL/IPAC, in accordance with the research lines of the investigators (such as WFIRST). They will write a proposal of the project to SURF. We request funds for one student, and we will support the other one with WFIRST funds.The students also would be mentored on the path to become professional researchers in Astronomy (drawing from the experience of the mentors and other researchers that are constantly visiting).They would be encouraged to participate in the various astronomy outreach programs that Caltech and JPL offer (e.g., http://www.astro.caltech.edu/outreach, and the JPL Open House), to gain experience and draw ideas to implement public outreach in their home countries.In addition to the requirements by the SURF program (e.g., reports, talks, etc.), they’d be required to document their experience (through adequate means such as  documents/blogs/videos, both in Spanish and English), to be shared with the public, and to serve as a reference to future projects.This project builds on this year’s experience, where we brought a student from Universidad de los Andes (Bogotá) to JPL for a SURF internship, with the help of JPL and Uniandes. As a natural next gradual step, we’d like to extend the call to two students of the Andean region with this project, with the help of the Andean ROAD and their WG’s. This type of experiences create precedence for future iterations, and call could be extended to other regions (e.g., Latin American countries).
CENTRAL AMERICAN COSMOVISIONS THROUGH INDIGENOUS ART Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras The aim of this project is to study, understand and promote astronomical indigenous knowledge and cosmovisions present in Central America (Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras), using the methodologies germain to Cultural Astronomy, particularly Ethnoastronomy. To achieve this aim, the project is divided in two main parts. The first part is mainly oriented to academical research of the indigenous peoples -in the mentioned countries- and their cultural expressions related to skylore through their vast diversity of artistic expressions. The second part consists on delivering this traditional knowledge to the public. That purpose will be served by creating social awareness about that traditional knowledge, as well as using said knowledge to create activities and products increase economic development within indigenous communities. The social and economic inclusion of these impoverished and culturally excluded communities is the main objective of this second part of the project. It aims at developing different communicative strategies such as: children games and books, art exhibitions, public talks and workshops, and so on. Organizing art exhibitions may impact directly in their
home economies opening their manufactured products to a wider range of potential costumers, making possible a higher level of social and economic development.
Characterising Kilimanjaro Mountain for Astronomy Research Tanzania and South Africa but the data will benefit all of Africa The international astronomy community requires a millimeter telescope in Southern Africa; Mount Kilimanjaro is a leading candidates. A network of automated geodetic facilities are being installed throughout Southern African; including a site proposed for Mount Kilimanjaro that includes a GPS, weather, and seismometry station. We propose adding an all sky camera on Mount Kilimanjaro. This equipment will provide data necessary to characterise the site and ultimately the establishment of astronomy facilities on Mount Kilimanjaro.The all sky camera will be used to monitor cloud cover and capture images of meteors, transient phenomena and near Earth asteroids. It will also be used to develop research & technical skills and logistics experience for setting up and running an observatory at high altitude on an ecologically protected mountain. The data will be made freely available to Tanzanian and international researchers and meteorologists. Aviation and agriculture will benefit from better weather monitoring and prediction. Also the data will be used for teaching, training and outreach purposes.Our South African partners are in the final stages of installing the state-of-the-art GPS, seismometer and weather station on Mount Kilimanjaro. This equipment will be automatically linked to a Southern African and Global network of stations as part of the African Reference Frame (ARF) and International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF) projects. Tanzanian and international students and researchers will have access to this research quality data. This data will be used to demonstrate the suitability of the site for  optical and millimetric astronomy.This facility atop Mount Kilimanjaro will greatly enhance research & development in Tanzania and offer new local tools of discovery for learners. Lastly preliminary data, satellite weather data etc., suggests sites above 5,100 meters on Mount Kilimanjaro are the best in Africa for astronomy. A telescope on this mountain can increase tourism in the longer term.
Adaptive Optics in Undergraduate Lab for Astronomy Education India is the main target area. Astronomy is observation driven and hence depends mostly on modern telescopes and related advanced technologies. It is important to educate and provide an early exposure to undergraduate and graduate level students to such technologies to prepare and motivate them to do future research in astronomy including astronomical instrumentation activities such as building of advanced telescopes.  Adaptive optics is one such important experimental technique in astronomy. It helps to remove atmospheric turbulence induced degradation of images captured by ground based optical telescopes. This widely used technique enables astronomers to get a clearer and brighter view of a star. India is a member of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) international consortium which will also involve adaptive optics systems. Though there are a few national labs in India that are active members of the TMT consortium, it is equally important from the perspective of teaching and training undergraduate and master students in such a way that would get them interested in astronomy and various aspects of adaptive optics. A typical university undergraduate laboratory does not involve any experiments on adaptive optics. Keeping in mind this present day scenario in India, we want to develop an advanced optics laboratory in our physics department that will conduct many experiments on various aspects of adaptive optics keeping in view of its application in astronomy and standard optics experiments. Besides enriching experimental astronomy teaching, such a hands-on synergy can be an effective educational methodology in imparting instructions in various aspects of basic optical science such as fourier optics, imaging, lasers and electro-optics. Adaptive optics techniques is an interdisciplinary subject and this synergy can enhance physics and astronomy education in a university setting could provide an enabling step to get students involved with future research in adaptive optics and astronomy and other areas of physics involving advanced optics.
Pan-African School of Planetary Science and Astronomy Botswana and Morocco. The Summer school will be open to students from all the African institutions interested in astronomy and planetary science. Astronomy and planetary sciences are rising to the forefront of the research interest in Africa. A number of African countries have moved towards the establishment of centers of excellence in these disciplines.
In this process southern Africa has a strategic position hosting extreme environments for astrobiological research and areas where the lack of anthropic impact allows the construction of ambitious infrastructures such as the Square Kilometer Arrays (SKA). Botswana appears to be a fertile ground for such research having excellent infrastructures (i.e. Botswana International University of Science and Technology, BIUST) and pristine natural environments.
This project falls into the area of “Astronomy for University and Research”. Implementation of post-graduate level education is one of the main development goals for Botswana that is seeking to change from resource-based to knowledge-based economy. Evidence of this change is the participation in international projects such as the SKA and the recent installation of two 2 meter radio-telescopes in the BIUST Campus.
The aim of the project is to build the base for the first generation of astronomers and planetary scientists in Botswana through workshops and summer schools involving a Pan-African group of students/scientists. This goal will be achieved thanks to the establishment of collaborations starting with the Ibn Battuta Center, Marrakech (Morocco). The Center has a proven capacity to link European and African scientists and it is active in European project such as Europlanet. The vision is to link all the African research institutions with interests in formation of a new generation of astronomer and planetary scientists. As Ibn Battuta Centre has demonstrated, the strengthening of Pan-African Planetary Science community is achieved through a network of shared facilities and collaborations. Following this example we are seeking to create a Pan-African shared platform for post-graduate students.
NEBULATOM 3: A school for Latin American astronomers on emission-line objects in the Universe This project will focus on all of the Latin American countries. Like in the previous schools, we expect students not only from the hosting country, but from other places with or without tradition in emission line Astrophysics. The objective of the proposed intensive two-week school is to provide a high level training for young astrophysicists from Latin American countries covering all the aspects related to the physics of emission-line nebulae. The aim is to bring the students to such a level that they will able to work independently and reliably on those topics. Particular attention is given to atomic data, which are the basis of any quantitative interpretation of emission line observations.This school is an effort by leading experts in the field of emission line physics to correct the somewhat paradoxical situation of contemporary astrophysics whereby an unprecedentedly rich scenario in terms of observational material and computing resources contrasts with an increasingly poor power of physical interpretation. This is especially true for emission line physics, with which most astronomers have to deal in one way or another during their career.By targetting a Latin American audience, we wish to encourage synergies between communities which already have many things in common but which often seek collaborations in other parts of the world while overlooking their closest neighbours.NEBULATOM 3 will follow two successful editions of this project, one in Venezuela (2013, http://www.redclara.net/indico/evento/nebulatom) and the other in Mexico (2015, http://www.redclara.net/indico/evento/nebulatom2). This is the first edition in Brazil. We have chosen to host the school in the city of Baia Formosa in 2017, in the North-East region of Brazil, which is quite distant from the main scientific poles in the country.

As in our former NEBULATOM schools, we will have outreach activities. This is important for our hosts as well as for the students. We plan an open public conference in Baia Formosa, followed by discussions and sky-gazing activities with the NEBULATOM students. We also plan activities in schools of Baia Formosa organized by the students themselves.

ADeLA is the acronym for “Astronomía Dinámica en Latinoamérica” (Dynamical Astronomy in Latin America). Nicaragua, all Latin America regional ADeLA will bring together researchers from all Latin American countries, and beyond, to share their recent research and discoveries, to evaluate the state of-the-art, and to seek possible collaborative and funding opportunities in the areas of Astrometry and Dynamical Astronomy, including ground and space-based astrometric techniques (trigonometric parallaxes, proper-motions, reference systems, catalogues, time keeping), radio & optical interferometry techniques, Galactic structure, Solar System studies, etc.
ProgressivelY Towards Hellenic Invisible Astronomy Greece We see the world around us because our eyes detect visible light, which is only a small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. However objects on Earth and in space also emit other types of electromagnetic radiation that cannot be seen by the human eye, such as radio waves, X-rays and γ-rays. In fact there is a whole world hidden from optical light. The multi-wavelength study of celestial objects is necessary to complete our knowledge of the Universe.
X-rays and Gamma-rays are signatures of high- and extremely high-energy phenomena in the Universe. They can be detected only above the atmosphere. Radio astronomy involves the study of the Universe in the radio portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Stand-alone radio information from galactic and extragalactic objects can reveal the phenomena and the mechanisms behind them, which could not have been comprehended otherwise. The radio part is observable from earth with the help of single antennas, as well as a set of antennas forming interferometers.
Most scientists in Greece, students and the general public are familiar with the optical astronomy. Radio astronomy is ignored, or obscured in the best of cases. With the current proposal we aim to familiarize them with the field, with the vision of establishing it in Greece in the long run. We propose the completion of the transformation of a 2m S-band satellite dish into an antenna capable to detect radio flux at 2.8GHz. The expertise obtained will be applied to a 30m telecommunication antenna of the Hellenic Telecommunication Company. The 2m dish is going to be used for recording the 10.7cm solar radio flux. We intent to study the climate change in Greece in relation with the solar activity. The antenna will also be used as an educational instrument for students, amateur  astronomers and the public.
Emergence of Modern Astronomy in Senegal Main Senegal, with collaboration with other french-speaking (Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast) and english-speaking countries (Ghana, Nigeria) in West Africa. We will also closely collaborate with the Observatory of Cadi Ayyad in Morocco for general astronomy and University Hassan II of Casablanca for planetary sciences. The project’s objective is to create the best conditions for the emergence of higher education and research programs in Astronomy in Senegal. Our partnership involves the Ministry of Research and Higher Education of Senegal, the French embassy in Dakar, the University Cheikh Anta Diop (UCAD, Dakar), the Cadi Ayyad and Hassan II Universities in Morocco, the Association Sénégalaise pour la Promotion de l’Astronomie (ASPA), the Observatory of Paris and IRD (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement). Our project consists in:
– Coordination with faculty members for the introduction of astronomy in master programs at UCAD
– Installation of a new observatory, equipped with a 350 mm (C14) telescope and  equipment dedicated to impact flashes monitoring of the Moon and Jupiter.
– Training of several Ph.D. students in Senegal, Morocco and France (1/years during the next 3 – 4 years), who will be co-supervised in Europe (first Ph.D. will be co-supervised by a French team, with access to the 1-m telescope of the Pic du Midi observatory)
– The observatory will be also used by ASPA for public outreach and communication of research achievements.
Our project address some aspects of the “Plan Senegal Emergent” (http://www.gouv.sn/IMG/pdf/PSE.pdf, pages 77-78) which lists the objectives of development for the country: it contributes to the strengthening of fundamental knowledge in mathematics, physics and engineering from elementary school to higher education. It contributes to the diversification of the higher education offer, which promotes the label “study in Senegal”. It contributes to the development process through application of sciences and technology and popularization of local research outcomes. The cost of the project (scholarships, transport of equipment, observatory building, C14 telescope, Ph.D. travel costs) are being submitted for co-funding to MESR/UCAD, French embassy in Senegal, IRD, and the foundation SONATEL in Senegal, and the Office of Astronomy for Development.
VII School on Cosmic Rays and Astrophysics Latin American Countries The VII School on Cosmic Rays and Astrophysics is part of a series of schools held in Latinamerica since 2004. The schools have the aim to provide a comprehensive overview of the theoretical and experimental aspects of cosmic ray physics and astrophysics to the Latin American community. It is open to late-term undergraduate, graduate students, and to researchers interested in learning the essentials of these fields. The list of lecture topics includes: experimental techniques, primary spectrum and composition of cosmic rays; high-energy interactions; gamma ray astronomy and GRBs; neutrino astrophysics; cosmic ray detectors; dark matter and present status of the development and results from several present-day observatories such as the Pierre Auger, HAWC, CTA, etc. These introductory lectures will provide students with a common background, while specialized seminars will give them an updated panorama.
Second Arab Winter School for Astrophysics Bahrain
Iraq
Jordan
Kuwait
Lebanon
Oman
Palestine, State of
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Syrian Arab Republic
United Arab Emirates
Yemen
Algeria
Comoros
Djibouti
Egypt
Eritrea
Libya/Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
Mauritania
Morocco
Somalia
Sudan
Tunisia
Interest in astronomy and astrophysics in the Arab countries is growing rapidly. The region has finally installed a regional office for OAD in Jordan. The UAE is venturing into space with a program of its own to study Mars. Furthermore, the recent development of Oukaimeden Observatory in Morocco with installation of five domes and several other observational facilities also constitutes an important asset for the region.
These developments provide great opportunities for regional students and researchers to get involved in as well as to initiate their astronomy research projects.
Building on what they learn at the Arab Winter Schools for Astrophysics, Arab students will be able to make valuable contributions to astrophysics with the existing hardware resources available at their home institutions. They will be able to apply advanced data analysis and existing analysis packages to the numerous astronomical data sets, which are available  for public reach.
So far, we are working deliberately according to the First Arab Winter School for Astrophysics (FAWSA) plans. Successful outcomes are certainly foreseen. International contributions/participation and the high number of physics students made our FAWSA not only renowned, but a promising leading Arab winter school as well.
In this proposal we propose to organize the Second Arab Winter School for Astrophysics (SAWSA) in Jordan. SAWSA will follow the strategies of FAWSA in terms of recruitment, selection, curriculum and accountability.
The school will present the theoretical concepts of the main astrophysical fields. Collaboration is already in place with many regional and international institutions.
We believe that this will set an important foundation for the establishment of long-term expertise in astrophysics, foster collaboration as well as strengthen the graduate programs of astrophysics in the Arab world.
Our target is students at the advanced under and postgraduate levels from Arab countries.
NEBULATOM 3: A school for Latin American astronomers on emission-line objects in the Universe All of the Latin American countries. The objective of the proposed intensive two-week school is to provide a high level training for young astrophysicists from Latin American countries covering all the aspects related to the physics of emission-line nebulae. The aim is to bring the students to such a level that they will able to work independently and reliably on those topics. Particular attention is given to atomic data, which are the basis of any quantitative interpretation of emission line observations.This school is an effort by leading experts in the field of emission line physics to correct the somewhat paradoxical situation of contemporary astrophysics whereby an unprecedentedly rich scenario in terms of observational material and computing resources contrasts with an increasingly poor power of physical interpretation. This is especially true for emission line physics, with which most astronomers have to deal in one way or another during their career.By targetting a Latin American audience, we wish to encourage synergies between communities which already have many things in common but which often seek collaborations in other parts of the world while overlooking their closest neighbours.NEBULATOM 3 will follow two successful editions of this project, one in Venezuela (2013, http://www.redclara.net/indico/evento/nebulatom) and the other in Mexico (2015, http://www.redclara.net/indico/evento/nebulatom2). This is the first edition in Brazil. We have chosen to host the school in the city of Baia Formosa in 2017, in the North-East region of Brazil, which is quite distant from the main scientific poles in the country.

As in our former NEBULATOM schools, we will have outreach activities. This is important for our hosts as well as for the students. We plan an open public conference in Baia Formosa, followed by discussions and sky-gazing activities with the NEBULATOM students. We also plan activities in schools of Baia Formosa organized by the students themselves.

West Africa Asteroid Search Campaign Benin, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo This project will work with the International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC)(an educational outreach program for schools). This project will provide high quality astronomical data to students around the West African Region. Students will able to make original astronomical discoveries and participate in hands-on astronomy.
Empowering intelligent minds for Africa’s future: African Science Olympiad East Africa, West Africa, central Africa, and southern Africa The ever growing completions across sectors for quality products and services have forced nations to look for solutions which are amicable, adaptable and sustainable. However, embarking quickly on such solutions has not been easy for nations that have been inundated with political incorrectness, economic dismay, and intellectual deficits. On the other hand to resist and win the stiff global competition and share its economic values African heads of government and state have adopted science and technology as the vanguard of their development.
The unwavering support and perseverance extended from African leaders for the new frontier of science and technology are impetuses to open up empowering mechanisms of the intellectual minds for Africa’s future. Astronomy is one of the emerging sciences in Africa with a compelling and inspiring power to stimulate students to make astronomy their future career. And, this entry point can further expand and integrate the spirit of togetherness for better product and service delivery systems that will finally lead to marvelous achievements in the continent’s vision. The African Union vision for 2063 will merely be achieved through shaping the intellectual mindsets of the young generation using the state-of-the art science, of course guided by a well-developed culture of education, research and innovation.
Promoting Interest in Science and Technology through Astronomy Mauritius mainly at first.Following our experience here, efforts will be made to disseminate relevant outcomes for the benefit of other developping countries.   This can be through the production of a manual and/or a CD and/or a website. To be implemented by short Practical Workshops/Activities (1-2 days during vacation) for school teachers, upper  secondary students and undergraduates attachments to MRT on themes like:1. Making & using a low-cost telescope for observing the sun.
2. Night Sky Star Gazing (Naked Eyes + through a telescope)
3. Astrophotography
4. Radioastronomy Techniques.These will be supplemented by Seminars on various Astronomy Topics:
Both Popular & Specialised Topics to be presented at an appropriate level.
Izinkanyezi Youth Empowerment Programme South Africa The main objective of our project will be to promote astronomy to the general public, mostly to young children and students. Our project will aim to teach high school students programming using Python which is a free and open source software.
The programming tutorials will consist of basic astronomy related topics which will also involve the mathematics that they would have learnt at school. Some topics will be new but will be basic for students to understand.The project will focus more on schools with the poor performance in science subjects, schools that have no science labs, libraries and/ or computer labs.
We will make use of mid-term holidays or Saturdays to travel to the schools to conduct the project for teaching the learners and even school teachers.
To promote astronomy will host monthly public talks and invite children from primary and high schools to come to the talks near their schools.
The talks will be given by postgraduate students who are conducting research in astronomy.Grade 12 learners will be invited to the University of KwaZulu-Natal for extra lessons in maths, physics and computer science classes from a few selected disadvantaged schools with low pass rates.In order to reach out to a bigger community of learners, we will develop an eLearning website and invite interested students to make use of it.The page will have courses such as mathematics, physics, computer science and introduction to astronomy.We will also open a facebook page where regular updates will be posted with regards to any of the events we will be conducting, such as astronomy public talks, events related to astronomy.We will also host annual academic competitions for students involved in Izinkanyezi Youth Empowerment Programme to do mini project so that we track if the project has positive results.
Ad Astra Academy Brazil Ad Astra Academy is a unique education, outreach, and development project that brings the excitement of exploration to students in some of the most underserved regions of the world. Curiosity is one of the most essential of human traits – a constant need to understand the world around us through uncertain tinkering and wandering journeys. We exploit this hard-wired trait to promote self-directed and inquiry-based learning, tapping into students’ natural curiosity to re-calibrate their relationship with the unknown and unlock their boundless potential.Through a dynamic, two-week curriculum, participants develop evidence-based reasoning skills, perform experiments, and learn about their place in the universe. Ultimately, the students join the front lines of exploration as they choose targets on Mars for imaging by a NASA mission. By exposing portions of the martian surface in never-before-seen  resolution, students contribute to cutting-edge science and gain a dramatic demonstration of their potential to create new knowledge. Armed with empirical skills and a sense of empowerment, graduates will embark on a lifelong journey of discovery that will benefit their home communities in unpredictable ways, and promote social mobility through education.
Museu Antares de Ciências e Tecnologia – Observatório Astronômico Antares Brazil We propose the construction of a scientific exhibition “The origins of humankind: primitive cultures and the first civilizations” that is part of the biggest project “Earth Planet: Eras and Ages” at the Antares Museum of Science and Tecnology (MACT). This project aims to contribute with the Astronomy Outreach by involving teachers, students and the general public in academic and extension activities at Feira de Santana and region, Bahia State, Brazil.
My first small step in astronomy Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Chile, Bolivia, Costa Rica, and others… It is a project that aims to give initial notions of astronomy and the environment, according to the curriculum of primary education, for the second grade. This will be done through five complementary activities: paintings, drawings, songs, theater and a virtual journey through the solar system in order to contribute to the academic training of students.
5 activities should be conducted in 4 learning sessions, making a total of 2 hours, plus two interventions of 15 minutes each one; 4 classrooms serving per day.
The people in charge will be at 3 locations to develop independently, but coordinated these activities. Teachers will have participatory role in each of them, so that they can be replicated.
We could attend one school per month. This project will benefit the institutions that have no chance to go to the National Planetarium.
Astronomía Para La Paz The target country is Colombia, in its first stage specifically three towns of the state of Risaralda: Mistrato, Quinchia and Pueblo Rico, which are located northwest of the city Pereira. By the end of the project the total impact of its development in these communities will be estimated with the permanent feedback, which will allow improvements to the project in a way that in a near future it could be taken to other regions of the country that have gone through the internal war situation. This way, the impact level on society will be more significant and global. Colombia has suffered an armed internal conflict that has spread for over 50 years, which has derived in forced and coerced population displacement, extreme poverty and a sharp inequality that grows more evident in the settlements away from the cities, in which the state’s abandonment related to education and science is seen. However, the Peace Treaty between the national government and terrorist group FARC, which has been consolidated recently at the Havana negotiations, opens up the opportunity to boost these communities and link them to the development of the country. Therefore it is necessary to establish strategies that, from science and culture allow a positive effective impact on the inclusion process of this vulnerable population to society. Considering this, the current project, named “As-Paz”, proposes the application of didactic and academic activities about astronomy, encouraging the community’s insertion to society and generating a positive change in its lifestyle. The activities will be performed within 12 visits during 2017 in the most vulnerable settlements of the towns Mistrato, Pueblo Rico and Quinchia; areas of the Risaralda State that have been highly affected by violence. To execute this project, the Astronomy Group Orion, with headquarters in Pereira (the state’s capital), has qualified staff and over two years of experience working with general public, which has allowed the development and consolidation of strategies that from ludics and game propitiate the development of culture and astronomy outreach. Finally, in order to get feedback of the project, a week after each workshop visit a second visit will be performed, in which the impact of the applied strategy will be evaluated.
Using “Journey to the Stars” as an Educational Tool Ghana Using the video “Journey to the Stars”, we will use the show and related extension activities to respond to the aims of the IAU Strategic Plan 2010-2020, (https://www.iau.org/static/education/strategicplan_2010-2020.pdf ) which in Section 2.1 (pages 19-20) describes the Elements of Astronomy for Development.
The descriptions at 2.1.1 – Primary Education (ages 4-10), and 2.1.2. – Secondary Education (ages 11-18), are sources to link the educational materials and activities in “Journey To the Stars”.
Children’s motivation to learn about science can be inspired by shows such as “Journey to the Stars”. The creators of the video have produced an Educator’s Guide and follow-up Activities for each of three age groups, as well as Guiding Questions and suggested answers. We will use the activities as starting points for teaching topics in Maths, Science, Technology, Engineering and Environment. Teaching of concepts is enriched by practical activities and demonstrations. So, for example, we will use Science-in-a Suitcase to demonstrate concepts in Physics, using readily available materials, and engage children in practical activities in Maths related to measurement of celestial bodies and distances. Children will model the movements and relationships between sun, moon and earth and relate these to our experience of day and night, time, and eclipses. Craft activities and hands-on exercises related to astronomy lead to greater engagement in topics such as robots, telescopes and space exploration, for both girls and boys.
The magic of science demonstrations and activities, demonstrate that science, maths and technology are not boring subjects in books, but that they relate to everyday life.
The main Sustainable Development Goal for this project is G4 (Education), but it also relates to G10 (Inequality), G15 (Environmental Preservation), G16 (Sense of Common Humanity for Peace and Security), G8 (Employment and Economic Growth), G12 (Production and Consumption), G9 (Infrastructure and Innovation) and G17 (Implementation).
STARRY BRIDGES Cyprus The KITION PLANETARIUM & OBSERVATORY introduces the “Starry Bridges” project, conducted by scientists, amateur astronomers, artists and educators, through educational programs, workshops, lectures, planetarium shows, science cafe, telescope observations, astronomy courses, activities in Cyprus geology and fossils exhibition, to promote astronomy and science from kindergartens to universities, to organized groups, mass media, tourists and the general public, by using astronomy as a tool for development. Cyprus played an important role in human civilization. Until today, it unites people and epochs as bridges unite and connect people and cultures, worldwide. This project establishes bridges from antiquity to modernity; from Venus, the goddess of Love who was born in Cyprus, to modern exploration of the planet Venus, from philosophical heritage of Aristotle, whose 2500 years birthday anniversary will be celebrated in 2017 to modern outlook on the place of Humanity in Universe, from interweaving of total solar eclipses in culture of ancient and medieval times to cultural achievements of Cyprus, where in 2017 Pafos, the ancient capital of Venus, will become the Cultural Capital of the whole Europe. One more important event to be celebrated in 2017 is the 2350th birthday anniversary of Zeno of Citium.  It is of great meaning for us to emphasize this event in this project since our organization was permitted to use the UNESCO protected landmark KITION (=Citium) as its name which is the modern city of Larnaca.
Multilingual Galileoscope Optics-Activities & Observing Guides ESO member states: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. Also other countries working with ESO: Albania, Chile, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Serbia, Turkey, and Ukraine. Also other countries whose citizens speak the same languages as people in any of the foregoing countries, including many in Latin America and Africa. The goal of this project is to translate the free Galileoscope optics-activities and observing guides from English into multiple languages for distribution worldwide.The Galileoscope is a high-quality telescope kit available at low cost to support science education and public outreach worldwide. More than 240,000 kits have been distributed in more than 100 countries since 2009, with thousands more distributed each year. While assembling the kit, which requires no tools or adhesives, children and adults learn basic optical concepts, including how lenses form images. With the completed 2-inch-diameter, 25- to 50-power telescope, they enjoy inspiring views of celestial objects such as lunar craters and mountains, Jupiter’s cloud belts and moons, and Saturn’s rings.The kit is augmented with free, standards-based optics-activities and observing guides. Whereas the kit’s assembly instructions have been translated (by volunteers) into more than a half dozen languages, the optics-activities and observing guides are available only in English. We propose to remedy this situation using the translation services of the European Southern Observatory (ESO), which has a system in place to make key ESO communications available in the languages used in all the member states and several additional partner countries.The translated guides will be made available as free PDFs downloadable from the Galileoscope and ESO websites and will be distributed to, and used by, a large network of astronomy educators at the ESO Supernova Planetarium & Visitor Centre in Germany. Other ESO member states will be encouraged to distribute and use the guides in their astronomy-education efforts too.

Note that the Galileoscope optics-activity and observing guides are adapted from the U.S. National Optical Astronomy Observatory’s Hands-On Optics program, which has been used in both formal and informal education settings for many years and has been fine-tuned through many cycles of both formative and summative evaluation.

Namibia Geosciences information for Teachers African countries! With the help of European countries that i have been communicating with workshops they invited me. The project is proposed following an inspiring Geosciences Information for Teachers, GIFT, which I attended in Vienna, Austria in April 2016. During this workshop I had presented a poster on teaching methods in the Science classroom of Grade seven at Elementary school, Van Rhyn Primary School. Since I was the first ever fortunate Namibian teacher who attended this type of workshop recommended by one of our geologists, Ms Kombada Mhopjeni at ministry of mines and energy, I was so fascinated with the whole workshop which i never met in Namibia before and it created a burning desire in me to have something similar in Namibia. The aim is to create a platform where namibian teachers will have an opportunities to exchange ideas in teaching geosciences and astronomy in classrooms. To include schools in remote areas that have not even a wall built classrooms using trees as a classroom. The primary aim of this project is to provide first hand scientific information and scientific materials to teachers of secondary and elementary schools through workshops. Thus my proposal is primarily on the following SGGs: Goal 4: Education and Goal 10: Inequality
To promote IAU strategic plan! To help and promote training of teachers in Astronomy and Geosciences areas.
Potential risks for the project can be the following:
Number of teachers – there will be a possiblity of a huge number of application.
Materials for the workshops – this i have experienced when i presented a mini workshop when i returned from Vienna. Materials are expensive and schools targeted are more at disadvantage when it comes to teaching materials,  therefore the project should be able to provide teachers with basic teaching materials useful for the classroom.Transport and accomondation costs for invited scientists who will share their expertise with the participants.
Saturday Research Academy Puerto Rico The proposal will target economically disadvantage high school students in Puerto Rico for the Saturday Research Academy and institutions in the US mainland for the summer pre-college program. The Saturday Research Academy (SRA) is a project designed to impact (40) pre-college and (4) science teachers from Puerto Rico (PR) using project based learning in astronomical sciences. The Director implemented a pipeline for minority students from PR in science, mathematics and engineering using early research experiences.  The program has two components, one on Saturdays for 16 weeks in PR, and a second eight weeks components during the summer in US mainland research institutions. Participants will be introduced to research methodology and they will develop posters and oral presentations to be presented in a Pre-College Research Symposium.
Astronomy boxes for teachers in the Andean node built on international best practices Country members of the Andean ROAD: Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Perú, Venezuela, Chile plus Argentina. Several high-quality, peer reviewed, open source ‘astronomy kits’ for teachers have been developed by prestigious astronomical organizations and shared with science educators in many places. Important resources have been invested to bring some of those kits to Andean countries and to train science teachers to use them. Experts involved in those training campaigns (some are members of this project), have realized that for any given astronomy kit there is alway some material ready to be use in classrooms while others need to be adapted to the language, concepts and cultural background of the different communities. Adapting astronomy kits to local needs appears as an ambitious challenge that institutions can rarely undertake on their own.
Unprecedentedly, international observatories in Chile, as well as governmental agencies and teacher networks in the region, has agreed to join efforts to bring international best practices in astronomy kits to countries in the Andean ROAD, to give science teachers in each country the opportunity to test them, all at once, and decide what works best for them and their students. The target group of the project is science teachers affiliated to local networks such as AstroMAE (Medellín), Semilleros de Astronomía (Bogotá), Red de Maestros (Chile), to promote collaboration and networking among them. A team of international astronomy kits developers and experts in science education in each country, will work with the teachers to identify the materials that better tackles the national science curriculum and cultural context. The selected material will serve to shape a custom made ‘astronomy kit’ for the country, built on internationally validated, low cost, open source material. This adaptation aims to enhance the sustainability of several past initiatives, and will be presented to educational authorities as a contribution of the Andean ROAD and international astronomical institutions to science education in the country.
Motivation of the Learners towards the Scientific and technical Sectors by the Astronomy Mali in West Africa. Give taste to the sciences and show that the study of the universe is fascinating, that the sciences are a great factor of intellectual and economic development, are some reasons for being of the Initiative MAFSTA.
At the high school we note a drastic reduction in the level in sciences and a disaffection in 80 % of the scientific and technical sectors. In the superior approximately 60 % of the holders of high school diploma in sciences join in series economy.
In front of challenges of development of the country this situation worries the authorities and calls out to us as teachers where from the Initiative Motivation of the Learners towards the Scientific and Technical Sectors by the Astronomy (MAFSTA).
To use the opportunities of popularization of the astronomy to motivate the pupils towards the scientific and technical sectors to reverse the current trend of more than 80 % of the pupils in the literary and economic sectors, work to invert this trend it is to work in the sense of the governmental objectives at 80 % of school scientists.
So we intend to proceed this year and the following ones in the days of animation and training in 10 institutes of teacher educations (IFM). These young teachers will serve in the primary education and the middle school where they can introduce astronomical and scientific animations with their pupils and better perpetuate our activities within the framework of UNAWE. The same approach will be begun to the superior teachers’ training college where from the professors of high schools go out. We shall follow and will accompany their initiatives to prepare well our future national Olympiads of astronomy and astrophysics, frame of selection of our Olympic team which will make its first participation for the IOAA on 2016.
Astronomy speaks Portuguese Language The Portuguese Speaking Countries (in portuguese, PLP – Países de Língua Portuguesa) are Angola, Brazil, Cape-Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé e Príncipe, East Timor – spread through 4 continents. In most Portuguese Speaking countries (PSc) involved in the PLOAD there is a lack of opportunities for teachers to attend training events, such as summer schools in Portuguese Language. These events play an important role in upgrading teachers´ knowledge and modernization of pedagogical teaching practices. It is also an opportunity to share innovative methods and resources. To provide such opportunity for teachers in the PLOAD region, NUCLIO aims to organize a training course on a format of a summerschool. The course aim to equip them on using astronomy to inspire and stimulate education. It will introduce astronomy in schools where there is little or no astronomy and ensure that the subject is used to positively influence the level of education development.
The event will be held in Portugal, considering a more effective cost, with the support from local entities.
Will use educational resources and practices from the EUSPACE project (NUCLIO is a project partner) adapting the model of the summerschool held in Greece (http://space-awareness.ea.gr/). The course will strengthen a social cohesive dimension by inviting participants to be part of a community of practice to share ideas, experiences, concerns and educational resources with fellow teachers.
In this project we propose to support at least 3 teachers of each PSc on the attendance of the summerschool. Will aim strategically teachers from countries that are already involved on the network, which will have further support from the local PLOAD within their own regions.  It is also open to all PSc, including those who may be able to cover their own costs.
In the end of the event it is expected that each group of teachers will develop an astronomy activity related to some particular aspect of their community and work closely with PLOAD in their region.The trainers will be astronomers and astronomy educators.
Arksa Robotic Observatory The telescope will be installed in India and any one around the world will have access. Sky has always been fascinating to mankind, yet very less explored. Although astronomy being one of the oldest science it still remains inaccessible to the public and students. Some of the schools and colleges in Indian cities have telescopes, but due to light pollution and bad sky conditions stars are not visible and hence hardly used. In rural villages even though the skies are good they do not have facilities to observe night sky.
Arksa Research Labs intend to make astronomy more accessible to public and amateur astronomers. This will help in improving science awareness among youngsters, thereby bring about an equality among the younger generations.
“Arksa Robotic Observatory” is aimed to establish professional quality telescopes at premier astronomy sites in India. This project is targeted for amateur astronomers and students. Together with providing them the access to country’s finest night skies, this will give them a chance to study the cosmos.
Telescope will be equipped with precision tracking mount, high quality optical tubes, auto-guider and auto-alignment facility and scientific grade CCD camera. Various filters for imaging the targeted Deep-Sky-Objects (DSO) in different wavelength bands will be implemented.
Priority users for the telescope will be students. Amateurs also can use the telescope for science as well as DSO imaging. The access to the instrument will be based on a proposal submission based system. A small amount of usage fee to meet the maintenance of the equipments will be collected from the amateurs while it will be free for students.
Arksa Research Lab will manage the maintenance of the instruments and will be ensuring the data security and credit will be given to the observer.
An Astronomical Educational Kit for the Blind and Vision Impaired (BVI) Community in South America Any Spanish, Portuguese, or English-speaking country in Central or South America. The aim of the project is to make astronomy in general and galaxies in particular more accessible to children with visual impairments. To do so, we plan to create educational kits composed of tactile maps of galaxies using 3D printers. These maps will be based on some of the most impressive images of nearby galaxies taken by modern instruments from the far-ultraviolet to the radio domains. Each set of maps will be accompanied by a manual explaining how to interpret them. In order to be accessible to children in most of South America, the instruction manual will be written in braille and in Spanish, Portuguese, and English. Experts in the field, based on Chile and UK, will train educators and communicators through local outreach activities and an international online workshop.The conception of the workshop, the creation of the manual and eLearning lessons, and the printing of the maps, will be mainly carried out by the Astronomy Unit of the University of Antofagasta (Chile) in collaboration with the University of Concepción (Chile), the Institute of Gravitation and Cosmology in the University of Portsmouth (UK), the Galileo Teaching Trainning Program (GTTP) project, and the MaNGA EPO group (http://www.sdss.org/education/). The project will build upon the foundations laid out by past projects funded by the OAD and aiming at reaching visually impaired populations (Touching Space, Astronomy with all Senses, and Astronomical kit for the visually impaired – Touch of the Universe).
STudents Appreciating Rural Stars through Quality Lighting The countries for which we would like to target our project are Chile, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Argentina, Bolivia and Brazil. Through the efforts of the Education and Public Outreach (EPO) Department at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, successful in-roads have been established in the school systems of the rural areas of northern Chile. The Observatory’s EPO personnel are committed to outreach to the rural areas where poverty exists and inclusive, equitable quality education promoting life-long learning in STEM subjects does not. Similarly, through the endorsement of the Andean ROAD, our project partners at Parque Explora-Planetario de Medellín (Colombia), Red de Maestros (Chile), Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cientificas (Venezuela), Universidad del Norte (Perú), Proyecto Miradas (Argentina) Universidade Federal de Uberlândia (Brazil) and others are in contact with a wide range of middle and high school teachers in their regions. We are proposing to use in those communities a recently developed and well-vetted program on light pollution reduction through quality lighting solutions that was born out of a proposal opportunity from IAU during the International Year of Light.As an example, many people in the rural areas in northern Chile are concerned with the protection of their night skies, in part because of economical support provided by the observatories and astro-tourism. Rural areas in the north of Chile produce small quantities of light pollution, and many of these areas are still pristine, but the growth of urban areas into the rural areas, new mining projects, lights from produce packing companies working 24 hour/day, and wind farms are contributing to an increase in light pollution. Light pollution is having an impact as well on national parks and reserves located near the rural areas. By educating the next generation on quality lighting in regions like these in Chile, Colombia, Venezuela, Perú, Argentina, Bolivia and Brazil, we hope to bring inclusive, equitable quality education promoting life-long learning in the STEM fields into poor, rural classrooms.
Starry Nights in Cape Verde –  Astronomy reaches out West Africa Inlands The targets of the project will be four islands of Cape Verde: two of the Barlavento group, São Vicente and Sal, and two of Sotavento, Santiago and Fogo. To some extent, Brazil and Portugal are also involved in our actions, since there will be invited speakers from those countries in our actions, but no practical activities are planned. Cape Verde is an archipelago located off the western coast of Africa. The country is made up of 10 islands, 9 of which inhabited, and several uninhabited islets, divided in two groups; to the north, the Barlavento islands: Santo Antão, São Vicente, Santa Luzia (uninhabited), São Nicolau, Sal and Boa Vista; to the south, the Sotavento islands: Maio, Santiago, Fogo and Brava. The population of the country numbers a little over 500 000 people. Education has been a priority to the government, and a considerable part of the budget and percentage of spending has been applied in this area. Schooling comprises basic, secondary, medium and higher education, but also special modalities (basic education for adults, special education, education for overachieving children, and teaching at distance). Astronomy is a fundamental science for the development of reasoning in all areas of knowledge. In Cape Verde there is no in-place structure for education on Astronomy; this project intends to begin the development of scientific culture based on Astronomy resources, betting initially on teacher qualification followed by outreach actions in schools, at the University or even for the general public. The project calls for the realization of workshops on Astronomy for teachers in four of the islands, and then, the promotion of practical activities in schools and public star parties. This “initiation” of the community into Astronomy is based on three opportunities: (1) the investment in education by the Ministry of Education; (2) the recently created Cape Verdean node of the Portuguese Language Expertise Centre for the OAD (PLOAD) at Praia, which provides the structure for the development of this type of activities; and (3) the presentation of the first monograph of course completion in Teaching of Mathematics applied to Astronomy, in a first collaboration between Cape Verde and Brazil.
Space Science and Astronomy Outreach 2017 NIGERIA This is a Space Science and Astronomy Outreach program that will capture
selected secondary schools offering science subjects of five (5) different
states of the federation. This program will involve the commissioners for
science and technology in each of the states together with at least 2 astronomers
(PhD) and 6 Astrophysicists (MSc). we intend to make use of materials and teaching
kits provided by UNAWE with the idea of inspiring young children and encourage them
to develop an interest in science and technology. The program also aims to introduce
children to the idea of global citizenship and tolerance at a crucial stage of their
development – to show them that they are part of an international community and that
we are one, in these ways using astronomy to preach peace and unity.
Cities at Night for Schools The didactical unit and the apps will be released trough the website www.citiesatnight.org so all the contents will be accessible worldwide. Cities at Night is a citizen science project whose aim is to create a Google maps style map of the world using night photographs taken by astronauts onboard the ISS. Captured by astronauts, these are the first color and the highest quality night time Earth pictures that exist.
The project maps light pollution worldwide using high resolution images. The colour and the intensity of the light pollution sources allow us to study their impact on the environment.
The project will improve an existing successful citizen science program. With the help of over 19,000 volunteers, more than 170,000 pictures have been already classified.
Since light pollution affects us all. We aim to increase awareness of its impact by reaching out young girls and boys. To make the information accessible to students and teachers we will be writing a didactic unit aimed at 8 to 14 year old girls and boys.
These units will aim to engage young girls and boys by letting them classify images, explore the Earth at night from an astronaut’s perspective while learning about geography through interactive maps and games.
Other activities and exercises will focus on the impacts of light pollution in their close environment and the whole Earth.
By letting young girls and boys make connections between lighted places in their familiar surrounding with the sky view recorded by astronauts we hope to provide them with a new perspective on artificial lighting at night.
Astronomy Programme in community of Tanahu and Lamjung Districts The target country is Nepal We are running a Astronomy Group in Nepal. There is a small group that includes astronomers, teachers and graduate students. This group is volunteering to increase the awareness in astronomy in Nepal, basically in remote districts. This group is organizing star watching programs frequently.  On the occasion of astronomical events like eclipse or when the comets appears  in the sky, we write articles in the news papers, press release and coordinating to the local media to increase the awareness in astronomy.The project will be focused on two different schools of Thanau and Lamjung Districts. teachers of these districts don’t have sufficient knowledge of astronomy.  Students and locals are not aware about eclipse and transit and even about telescope and solar filters and other tools.Teachers, students and amateurs should be encouraged and supported to participate in this astronomical workshop/ activities as much as possible. Schools, government, NGOs and the private sector may play a part in this project,
Education materials like posters, books, CDs, Sun fliers will be used while training the astronomy.  Simple techniques like measuring the angles of the stars or planets with using the hand and fingers will be used.  Monthly sky maps, books and tools will be distributed. Methods of finding some popular stars and planets in the sky will be elaborated.
An astronomers project for all people Belgium, the Netherlands and surrounding European countries, different countries in Africa The main goal of our project is to enable everyone to look at the sky through a telescope and to learn about the wonders of our universe.
We already have a similar project, ‘Stars shine for Everyone’, where our target audiences are disabled people and children that need special education (http://www.vvs.be/subsite/sterren-schitteren-voor-iedereen/stars-shine-for-everyone).
In this new project we want to go further, by involving also children/youngsters in regular education. On the one hand, we want to draw special attention to those who normally don’t have the opportunity to come in contact with astronomy or with sciences in general. More specifically, we aim at children in African schools (with the help from Astronomers without Borders) and at disadvantaged groups in Belgium and the Netherlands (with the help from Universe Awareness and local astronomical organizations and individuals). On the other hand, especially in Belgium and the Netherlands, we want the telescopes to be used in high schools to enhance the pupils’ awareness for light pollution.
We will provide 50 low budget home built telescopes on a Dobson mount, lesson materials and teacher training. For a detailed description of the telescopes, we refer to point 17 of this application form.
Telescopes are provided together with training for the teachers/educators. We will inform them  on how to use telescope and solar filter correctly. We also provide lists with easy-to-find objects at the sky.They can also ask for feedback and follow-up. Local astronomical organizations can help by organizing observation training/workshops.
Lesson material on light pollution will be developed and made available.
Thanks to UNAWE, lesson material on astronomy and space exploration is provided for young children in 23 different languages. They have a worldwide network of astronomers, teachers and educators, that can provide a platform for exchange of materials in many countries.
Asian Student Astronomy Conference All Asian countries are eligible to apply and participate.
The target group is divided into 3 groups:
1. Project presenters from across Asia: 96 people (32 project/ 3 people each)
2. Academic audience: 104 people (school teachers/students)
3. Public audience mainly from Thailand: 250 people Total: 450 people
As Astronomy is thriving rapidly in Asia among young students in schools, in the consequence of an effort to develop STEM education across the region, we yet lack the supporting platform that would create sustainable public space to nurture their works. The National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (Public Organization) – NARIT, thus proposes to host the very first of its kind “Asian Student Astronomy Conference” in 2017 in order to oblige to the aforementioned need. The conference is intended to create a solid and constructive platform for students across Asia with opportunities to present, discuss, and debut their ideas and works in astronomy and related fields to the peers. The exchange of knowledge transfer will flow through simplified research methods called “Youth Astronomy Researchers” in which NARIT has been committing to foster and possesses of expertise. The A-SAC 2017 will also concentrate on training and simultaneously encourage astronomical project learning and implementation in schools. Given bestowed qualified teachers from NARIT’s wide range of networks in Thailand through the teacher training programs, these teachers will play vital roles in shaping the importance of astronomy as school counselors in astronomical education and its ubiquitous popularity in the future.
Astronomy for Students with Disabilities in Nepal Nepal There are few Special Schools for disabled and rehabilitation centers in Nepal. Most of such schools are in Kathmandu and are under the nongovernmental and nonprofit making type in Nepal.
We believe that imagination and creativity is the most important for exploring and finding out great ides. That is the idea behind the project Astronomy for Students with Disabilities in Nepal (ASDIKN) and the main objective is initiate interest to the young but physically challenged students in the field of astronomy.
Workshop of Astronomy and Astrophysics for teachers of normal schools and universities that teach Astronomy topics in their respective institutions Provide participating teachers knowledge and practices for teaching academic subjects of Astronomy and Astrophysics under: 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 10th grade. The scope is to train 50 from teachers in rural schools, high School and universities offering astronomy topics at their respective institutions. It is conducting a curriculum transformation in primary, secondary and normal school subjects significantly incorporating Astronomy and Astrophysics. The vast majority of the issues are relatively “new” in the sense that teachers do not studied during their training. No training designed to overcome these deficiencies. This activity is for these teachers. The workshop content is based on the themes of astronomy curricula of primary and secondary education
Camiguin Nightscape Project Philippines/Mindanao/Camiguin Camiguin Island, in north Mindanao, is a unique center of biodiversity in the Philippine archipelago, which, at the same time, is one of the 18 mega diverse places on planet earth.  The Mt Timpong and Mt Hibok-Hibok ASEAN Heritage Park in Camiguin represents “one of the smallest but most distinctive centers of biodiversity in the Philippines and should be a priority site for conservation” (Lawrence R. Heaney, 2006). Sadly, this unique environment is currently under serious threats given the lack of environment awareness of camiguenons. Education is the reason behind. Local curricula remain decontextualized and irrelevant to locals while the way science modules approach environment challenges are misleading.
The Camiguin Nightscape project is an initiative led by Kilaha (Local NGO), which aims to eco educate students of the Island using astronomy as tool. The project brings astronomy sessions to all schools of the island. Session sequence goes from Universe, Milky Way, Solar System and Planet Earth to Climate Change causes and effects in The Philippines. The session ends up describing the unique biodiversity living in Camiguin and how it represents a hope in order to heal planet earth. The nature of this learning experience, based on an alternative cognitive stimulation (from lectures on astronomy through interactive I Pad applications, screen projections, videos/documentaries as well as telescope observations and games) has shown to be very effective.  Last year we covered 62 schools (all villages of the island) reaching more than 8 thousand kids. On weekends, at the Mt Timpong and Mt Hibok-Hibok ASEAN Heritage Park (run by local government), sessions are delivered to adults (local families and visitors). Through astronomy, CNP is an attempt to increase the quality of science education, turning its modules into context based and relevant subjects to locals while facing immediate environment challenges.
Remote Observations from Chilean Schools – Empowering Students in Science Education We will target schools in Chile in particular, but will also partner with other national organizations to expand our program to other countries in South America. Depending on our experiences we will aim to expand dour program to other continents. Chile is worldwide recognized for having worldwide the clearest and darkest skies and will soon be hosting more than 70% of the astronomical telescope surfaces in the world – along with a tremendous investment in local infrastructure and the national labor market. Today one of the main goals in many countries is to enhance astronomy outreach activities and bring the wonder of the universe closer to the public, thereby stimulating the production of more scientifically educated specialists in the labor force. The Institute of Astrophysics at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile is committed to disseminate the research activities, methods, and results to the general public, in particular students at various stages of their education. As part of these activities and with the availability of our own Santa Martina Observatory and its instrumentation (imaging cameras and spectrographs) we began an astronomy workshop program geared towards middle-school students. Using direct VPN-links to connect the schools with the telescopes at the Santa Martina Observatory allows us to not only demonstrate the activities involved in the professional observations of the night sky, but also provide students with the understanding of the scientific method, tools for observations with the naked eye and telescopes, as well as basic training in the use of astronomical software and data analysis.
LIGHT POLLUTION (defend the Ifrane National Park against light pollution) Morocco This project against light pollution aims to raise awareness, to regulate and convert external illumination
(In neighboring cities of national park Ifrane Morocco.)To preserve the biological balance of flora and fauna in the vicinity of national park Ifrane MoroccoTo preserve the night sky at the center and around the park national of IfraneTo fight against waste of energy: At least a significant amount of energy now used is wasted because the light produced unnecessarily illuminating the sky.Light at night is bad for health and the environment,
AuStroQuest: aboriginal astronomy adventure game Australia and Italy Realisation of a interactive role-playing game to be played in a classroom with the active participation of all students (with their own smartphones). The main goal of the adventure is to teach Astronomy, Culture, Mythology and History of Australian Aboriginal folks.
Gaming allows a full participation of students.
We have done experiments on other topics (Geology) with very good results.
Australian indigenous used the sky to: find directions, weather forecast, calendar for seasons, create fascinating stories on stars and planets; furthermore, it’s useful to learn Aboriginal laws, diversity of Indigenous peoples in Australia.
The main goal of the game is full inclusion of Aboriginals matching with STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) mainly through Astronomy.Cultural Astronomy, which combines the disciplines of Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy, seeks to understand the role of the night sky in various cultures and societies of the past (archaeoastronomy) and present (ethnoastronomy). This interdisciplinary subject draws from the fields of archaeology, anthropology, astronomy, physics, geology, sociology, and history.
The game we propose is a perfect vehicle for this.Since the game is realized with a software engine which allows to realise many adventures, an automatic outcomes will be to realise further adventures on other indigenous cultures with Astronomy as the main driver.
Community Development Around Timor Observatory II Indonesia This is the second stage of the community development project which constructs a
mutualistic symbiosis between a prospective astronomical observatory in Timor,
Indonesia, and its surrounding community.The goal is thriving villages together with a successful observatory. The project consists of: (1) Human Capacity Building with programs on empowering human resources primarily by strengthening school (e.g. teachers and students training); and (2) Managing Sustainable Resources with programs on assisting in the fulfillment of primary needs (water and energy), by education of STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Arts Mathematics) knowledge and skill.The project is conducted by astronomers of Institut Teknologi Bandung (Bosscha Observatory) and community development experts of Indonesian Institute for Energy Economics, and benefits collaboration with relevant expertise of faculty staff and students of Universitas Nusa Cendana (the largest university in the local region).At this second stage we plan more work with teachers and other educators to
strengthen schools as well as to drive more public involvement in the effort of
developing their community. Survey finding and preliminary result of our work in the first year direct us to this priority of building local human capacity. The STEAM content that will be embedded in the training material covers ideas for solving the energy and water needs with more exploratory attitude and simple workable examples. The aim of this stage is to induce interest and trust in education by exposing its benefit in real life problems.
Stargazing for Burmese Children Refugees Thailand Despite decades of experience with hosting millions of refugees, Thailand has yet to adopt refugee laws or asylum procedures. The lack of a legal framework leaves refugees in Thailand with a stark choice: either stay in their refugee camps relatively protected but without freedom to move or work, or live and work outside the camps but at the risk of arrest and deportation.Several humanitarian organisations are present in the many refugee camps that are dotted along the border between Thailand and Myanmar, including many that provide education to children in these camps. A good education is clearly important for boosting with their chances to integrate in the Thai society, and in this respect creating an interest in science and technology in these Burmese children may also prove very important. Indeed skilled young people in the STEM subject will certainly be on demand in Thailand just like they are needed in other emerging countries in the world.In this context, little else works better than Astronomy for enthusing kids into science. Given the experience that the PI gained in UK schools during his STFC Public Engagement fellowship and supported by the OaD regional office at the NARIT of Chiang Mai (and drawing in particular from their Teachers training program), we intend to mount a series of stargazing events in schools in the Mae Sot border area, targeting both children and parents as well as providing basic training to teachers. Indeed, at each school we intend to a) organise a stargazing evening event for children and their families, with telescopes and simple hands-on activities, b) deliver lectures of Astronomy to English-speaking adolescent pupils and c) run a training session for teachers on some basic Astronomical concepts and the use of telescopes, thus providing a key legacy value to this project.
Traveling Sky Laboratory Burundi The goal of the Traveling Sky Laboratory (TSL) is to spark enthusiasm for science at early age, especially for students at high schools who are preparing to choose their orientation either in basic sciences  or in other domains. Beside this goal, TSL intends at changing the mentality and at increasing knowledge in astronomy in the region where that sector is almost blank.
In fact, young students show nowadays disinterestedness for basic sciences; preferring especially  sectors that bring quickly money or sectors that do not require great efforts in learning. Thus, recognizing that the development of the science in a country is the basis of the development, most of the students from high school would have to choose  basic science courses or engineering sectors. Therefore , they have to be motivated and this project is for this purpose.
Since earlier times, telescopes were used and thanks to its use, scientists have managed to explain and describe many astounding objects discovered in the sky, and accordingly, making us understand our place in the universe.
However, the absence of such scientific tools at basis schools is very unlucky, insofar as looking through it and, accordingly, contemplating the beauty of the sky should make science bearable.   For this reason,  this project is of paramount importance in the science vulgarization.
Astronomy Public Talk Back Up Haiti Strengthen public astronomical rendez vous for Young Haitians. The project aims to visit schools (primary and high), public rooms and even radio or TV to present basic astronomy subjects and raise awarness about astronomy as a science.
SCIENCE, ART, AND TECHNOLOGY IN RADIOASTRONOMY Maritza Arias in Chile and Fredy Oropeza from Venezuela had already shown interest in replicate the SATA experience.
Right now we are establishing communication with:
Colombia (Nayibe Rodríguez)
Perú ( Jose Ishitsuka)
Bolivia (Angel Carranza)
Argentina (Beatriz García)
This project seeks to integrate art, science and technology through the creation, implementation and execution of educational experiences, having radio astronomy as a drive shaft to address different themes through theoretical and practical sessions, which aims to generate high ownership and integration concepts in participants. All this in order to contribute to reduce social gaps through education in communities of children and young people. The experiences are designed in a way that will generate knowledge and promote scientific culture through the integration of technological tools (ICTs), scientific knowledge and artistic practices that help build and identify participants, context and their own interests, learning through radio astronomy as a observational technique in astronomy.
Aroused curiosity in children and young astronomy and everything related to science in general, is the main advantage in formulating this project. The impact of some particular issues, encourage them to constantly challenged by the environment around them, to seek alternative solutions to simple problems that test their skills, allowing them to take an active role in the process of building your own knowledge.
The importance of use of alternative teaching techniques is recognized. The proyect encourage: formulation of problems, questions, use of experimentation, reflection, analysis, confrontation of ideas, collective argumentation, communication and interpretation of information as well as data, intervention and impact of their social environment, dissemination of knowledge gained among others .
That is why we have the challenge of designing and preparing experiences in order to allow a positive and enjoyable approach to science. It is clear that the aim is not to train scientists, but to give a social and human meaning to science, generating a constant reflection on the importance of knowing the natural dynamics of all those phenomena that are part of daily life, and how these affect everyone.
International Astronomical Summer Camp Croatia (IASC Cro) Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, Serbia, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Bosnia and Herzegovina IASC Cro will include students of primary and secondary schools, from middle and south-eastern European region. IASC Cro consist of different educational activities: solving theoretical and practical problems, observations, lectures, data processing and presentations in various fields of astronomy. The program will be organised by the Zagreb Astronomical Observatory. IASC Cro will be held from the 17th to 24th July 2017 in the central part of Croatia. Experts in the field of astronomy will teach lectures, and group leaders will be experienced teachers. Lectures about general astronomy will be held every day during morning sessions.  In the afternoon, the special sessions will be taught by a wide range of invited experts. Participants will be separated in at least five working groups according to their interest in astronomy and age. All students are welcome to participate in IASC Cro. We will send out notices of organising the summer camp to all astronomical observatories and astronomical societies in the targeted regions, so they can put notices and send our invitation to interested children and their families. The children will fill a form of their area of interest in astronomy and according to their age also, will be grouped with their peers. There will be also a group of students that participated in national competitions and Astronomy Olympiads, who will form an advanced study group where they will be doing exercises (among other things) to prepare them for such competitions in the future or for the requirements of college based education.
Group workshops will be realized in three sessions during the day. Observations of the sky will take part in the backyard of the hotel. At the end of the program, students from each group will give presentations about their works and results. All astronomical equipment will be provided by Zagreb Observatory.
School Astronomy: Building Students Capacities for Science Development The Project target is located in Nicaragua The subject of Astronomy in schools in Nicaragua has been studied in a superficial manner, students are not aware about the importance of having a better comprehension about the Universe.Moreover, teacher schools do not have the training to teach this matter and schools do not have the equipment such as telescopes to encourage to students to study Astronomy in a deeper way.As a consequence, students lose their interest on these issues. Additionally, Nicaragua is a country with a lot of myths and legends, lots of people still believe in old stories from their ancestors, related the night skies giving bad omens to natural events such as lunar eclipses.The goal of this project is not to tear down myths and legends of the country because they are part of Nicaraguan Culture. The goal is that students gain the science to understand the Universe, strengthening their knowledge that was taught in their regular classes in their schools with a transition from the theory to practice.

In Nicaragua there are Association of Amateur Astronomers, who members work as volunteers to give talks in schools and doing free outreaches in public places promoting Astronomy. However, these tasks are not financially supported from local public authorities or private companies; therefore they must to perform their activities with financial contribution of their own members which limits the scope of the tasks.

With this project, amateur astronomers would expand their labours in schools of the pacific region of the country, train teachers how to teach astronomy and reinforce the science knowledge to students, in accordance with a work-plan of visits to schools in the cities of León, Ciudad Sandino and Jinotepe. The total numbers of schools to be visited are 30, distributed in the 3 cities.

Astronomie et Sciences de l’Espace pour la promotion des sciences BURKINA FASO Burkina Faso has a predominantly female population. This part of the population is less educated  and underrepresented  in sciences. A claim to a development without this part of the population, at this stage, would be difficult.
The ASEPS project aims to promote science with a particular emphasis on girls education. It will initially consist of conducting a survey among students to determine their favourite science courses, along with the proportion of young girls interested in science. Based on the survey data, we will organise different science outreach activities and give lectures in selected schools during school years.
We will use astronomy and space science to give more dynamics to the pupils and motivate them to contribute to the development of their society; because development starts with education. Science at school can be useful for that. Astronomy can take up this challenge, as it allows, with little means, to attract the curiosity of the youth.
We will have a week of Astronomy and Space Science based at the Université OuagaI.
ASEPS will cover high school classrooms, but the survey will be administered to pupils in the 3 final years of high school. We will make a report at the beginning of the second year (project’s end), to see at what level we must emphasize, in order to interest more girls to science; keep young people at school, popularise science and demistify long studies to the youg people who live in poor areas or away from the big cities
The data analysis at the end of the project will reveal the essential points, which will be further strengthened, reproduced in the whole country. ASEPS success will allow us to repeat our actions in order to have a significant impact on education policies and the choices of study of bright students in science.
Astro-Malawi Outreach Project Malawi Current levels of astronomy awareness in Malawi are extremely dire and warrant immediate intervention, primarily because astronomy is not recognised as a priority by the education system, which focuses on the core curriculum. In order to address this challenge, our project will supply a mobile planetarium with its base at Chancellor College, University of Malawi, thus enabling school and college students as well as the general public to participate in astronomy events and wider learning. This will create opportunities for access to basic astronomy by delivering lectures and workshops – the mobility of the planetarium being beneficial in that it is a more flexible, wide ranging and cost effective option. As well as being a focus for public events at the University, this equipment can be transported to outlying regions and schools in more rural locations where science education is minimal, thereby increasing accessibility especially amongst those people in deprived areas. Also, since there exists a definite gender imbalance particularly in these areas, we will actively encourage the inclusion and participation of women and girls to give them equal opportunities to access this education and thus aid in improvement of their future life chances. The project will be run and managed by Chancellor College, with the aid of student volunteers, who already have a keen interest in astronomy and who will also collaborate with schools and colleges in the area to enable as wide an access as possible. The aim is to elevate the overall level of understanding of astronomy within Malawian society. The project will provide the following equipment: 5m portable planetarium dome and computerised projector.
Astro-Zambia outreach project Zambia Current levels of astronomy awareness in Zambia are extremely dire and warrant immediate intervention, primarily because astronomy is not recognised as a priority by the education system, which focuses on the core curriculum. In order to address this challenge, our project will supply a mobile planetarium with its base at Copperbelt University in Kitwe, thus enabling school students and the general public to participate in astronomy events and wider learning. This will create opportunities for access to basic astronomy by delivering lectures and workshops – the mobility of the planetarium being beneficial in that it is a more flexible, wide ranging and cost effective option. As well as being a focus for public events at the University, this equipment can be transported to outlying regions and schools in more rural locations where science education is minimal, thereby increasing accessibility especially among those people in deprived areas. Also, since there exists a definite gender imbalance in these areas, we will actively encourage the inclusion and participation of women and girls to give them equal opportunities to access this education and thus aid in improvement of their future life chances. The project will be run and managed by CBU with the aid of student volunteers, who already have a keen interest in astronomy and who will also collaborate with schools and colleges in the area to enable as wide an access as possible. The aim is to elevate the overall level of understanding of astronomy within Zambian society. This project will provide the following equipment: 5m portable planetarium dome and computerised projector. Please note that this has been amended from the original EOI after evaluating the scope and potential of the revised scheme against the original and evaluating the cost benefit analysis.
CAPACITY BUILDING FOR SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA Sub-Saharan African countries -all countries as much as will be possible Astronomy is one of the emerging sciences in Africa with a compelling and inspiring power to stimulate students to make astronomy their future career. This can further expand and integrate the spirit of togetherness for better product and service delivery systems that finally lead to marvelously achieve the continent’s vision. The African Union vision for 2063 will merely be achieved through shaping the intellectual mind sets of the young generation using the state-of-the art science, guided by well-developed culture of education, research and innovation. The project will be tackled in three stages: 1. Conducting astronomy olympiads at country, regional and continental levels to search for most promising young, upcoming scientists. 2. To provide guided career progression to the selected candidates and to usher them into posgraduate studies in the field of astronomy.
Five stories around four stars – Full dome show Southamerica is the main region where the show will be propoted, but the show will be available for any digital planetarium around the world In outreach and education processes the identification and right contextualization of the content have a strong impact in the engagement and significative learning. Based on the paradigm of intercultural education, we are proposing to create a Fulldome show based in the different cultural views around the stars in the crux constellation in South America.The original script will be written by people of at least four countries in the region and produced by Planetarium of Medellín, Colombia and the Planetarium of Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais in Brazil, guaranteeing that the traditions and heritage process will be correctly presented.The fulldome show will be distributed for free under creative commons license for planetariums around the world in Spanish, Portuguese and English language
Ubuntu Astronomy The project will target countries of the whole world This distribution is designed for the astronomy amateurs that are familiar with OS Ubuntu (Linux). It is free to download and utilize. It includes different types of programs: planetariums, reception and edition of astronomical images, telescopes’ and other equipment’s control through the library and the INDI server. In order to get familiar with the content in Live DVD mode, you only have to download the *.iso image format and run it with a virtual machine. You can also create an installation DVD or USB flash drive.