Author Archives: Ram Venugopal

“Let Us Put Our Minds & Hearts Together to Serve Society”: OAD Director at IAU General Assembly

IAU General Assembly Business Sessions

While the XXXI IAU General Assembly has been postponed to 2022, the Business sessions were organized virtually on August 23 and 26 this week. A pre-meeting session was held before the business session on each day with short talks by each of the IAU Offices, Executive Committee Working Groups, and several prize winners.   In […]

UN GA76 Science Summit: Astronomy to Advance SDGs

Astronomy to advance SDGs at UN GA76 science summit

The Office of Astronomy for Development, led by its European Regional Office, organized a session on Astronomy to Advance SDGs at the United Nations General Assembly Science Summit. The UN GA76 Science Summit, held online from September 14-30, aimed to raise awareness of the role and contribution of science to the attainment of the United […]

Cultural Astronomy Study in Ugandan Refugee Settlements: Feasibility Report

Possible venue for focus group discussions

The “Knowledge Access and Sharing Through Cultural Astronomy” project has concluded its feasibility study on gathering indigenous astronomy knowledge from people at the Bidi Bidi refugee settlement in Uganda. The Space Technology Agency in Uganda has received a grant from the OAD through the annual call for proposals. The grant was approved for its project […]

Astro-STEM Workshops Show Promise of Improvement in Girls’ Enrolment

EMEJA astro STEM workshops in Kenya

In Kenya, although 70.4% of girls (15-19yrs) achieve some sort of primary education, only 4.5% complete secondary education (WB, 2012). Only 3.5% of women (aged 15+) have completed tertiary education (WB, 2015). This is due to various socio-economic challenges such as teenage pregnancies, early marriages, FGM, poverty and lack of mentorship. Rural areas lack outreach, […]

OAD Project Launches Code Learning Program

Codelastro training workshop

The IAU Office of Astronomy for Development is supporting the Planetário – Casa da Ciência de Braga, Portugal to develop a code learning program with the Portuguese School of Mozambique and the Portuguese School of Dili Ruy Cinatti in Timor-Leste. The CODELASTRO project is a code learning program based on microbits and astronomical topics. The […]