The 2nd Regional Workshop of IAU South West and Central Asian Regional Office of Astronomy for Development was held on 20 September 2018 in Byurakan. Representatives from the IAU, Armenia, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Turkey were present. Scientific talks were given during the Conference on Sep 17-20.
Among the participants of the workshop were IAU SWCA ROAD Director, IAU SWCA ROAD Coordinator, IAU SWCA ROAD Steering Committee Chair, IAU SWCA ROAD TF1, TF2 Programme Coordinators, IAU SWCA ROAD Webmaster, Georgian IAU NOC, General Secretary of Turkish Astronomical Society (TAS), IAU SWCA ROAD Steering Committee members, Former Director of IAU East Asian ROAD, Georgian IAU OAO coordinator and others.
During the Workshop, IAU SWCA ROAD activities, Astronomy in regional countries (Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Turkey) Cultural Astronomy as a tool for Development, Astronomy Outreach, Regional Steering Committee meeting, and Planning of forthcoming activities were discussed. The workshop was organized by the collaboration of Armenian, Georgian, Iranian, Turkish, Tajik and Kazakh astronomers.
The Regional Workshop has contributed to the following:
- Introduction of IAU South West and Central Asian ROAD Activities
- Astronomical research and public outreach in Georgia
- Numerical studies of astrophysical objects at Fesenkov Astrophysical Institute
- Astrophysical Studies in Tajikistan: from Traditional Approach over Modeling to Empirical Properties
- Outreach Activities and Teacher Training Programs in Turkey
- Professional and Informal Education in Iran
- Promotion of Science Communication through Regional Office of Astronomy for Development
Participants of the Workshop also were invited to participate to the VI Byurakan International Summer School for Young Astronomers (6BISS) and International Conference “Instability Phenomena and Evolution of the Universe” both held at the Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory. The 6BISS had 32 participants and 21 of them were young astronomers from regional countries. The International Conference intitled “Instability Phenomena and Evolution of the Universe” had 62 participants and 42 of them are young and professional astronomers from the region.
The following regional scientific institutions were involved during the summer school, international conference and regional workshop: Abastumani Astrophysical Observatory, Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory, Ege University, Fesenkov Astrophysical Institute, Institute of Applied Problems in Physics, Tajik Institute of Astrophysics, Institute of Science, Istanbul University, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul University, RIAAM, Samtskhe-Javakheti State University, The Research Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics of Maragha, University of Tehran and Yerevan State University.
The workshop was structured in invited, contributed talks and poster sessions. Due to the round table discussions people, with similar and various roles and interests, met and shared their ideas on solutions to common challenges that regional researchers face. The proceedings of the meeting will be published at the Byurakan Communications peer reviewed journal. The workshop confirmed the importance of Astronomy for Development idea. By accomplishing the project, we have widely contributed to the fostration of the cooperation between astronomers of the region.
IAU SWCA ROAD Workshop was the second edition, following the previous successful workshop held on 2015 by the inauguration ceremony of the IAU South West and Asian ROAD.
