The Arab Regional Office and Arabic Language Expertise Center officially joined the IAU-Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD) network this week. The inauguration, which was held in Amman, Jordan on December 02 and 03, 2015, marked the commencement of activities for the first Regional Office in the Middle East and the associated Language Expertise Center.
It was attended by the IAU General Secretary, Director of the OAD, representatives from the host institution and from Arab states in the region. The meeting had individual sessions focusing on the Office of Astronomy for Development and Astronomical projects and capacity building in the Arab states, in addition to a round table discussion. A meeting of the Regional Office Steering Committee was also convened during this time.
The Arab Regional Office (Arab-ROAD) and Arabic Language Expertise Center (Arabic-LOAD) is hosted by the Arab Union for Astronomy and Space Sciences (AUASS) which is located at the Royal Jordanian Geographical Centre (RJGC) in Amman, Jordan. In addition the RJGC hosts the Regional Centre for Space Science and Technology Education which is affiliated to the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA).
Remote attendance: We invited all interested parties to join the meeting via Skype. In order to join, participants simply connected to the OAD Skype account (user name: astro4dev). We were online for the entire duration of the programme. So participants from around the world joined us all or part of the discussions. Broadcast started at 09 am local time (UTC+2)
Read the announcement in Arabic
Download the meeting program in Arabic
Read the complete minutes of the meeting here
Contacts:
Kevin Govender
Director, IAU Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD)
Tel: +27 21 460 9350
Cell: +27 82 487 8466
Email: kg@astro4dev.org
Dr.Awni Moh’d Al-khasawneh
Director General, Royal Jordanian Geographic Center (RJGC)
Secretary General, Arab Union for Astronomy & Space Science (AUASS)
Email: kawni@yahoo.com