From this page, you will be able to enter into the collaboration process that we hope will help translate astronomy knowledge and skills, with the guidance of development partners, into positive outcomes for society. Whether you are from the astronomy or development communities, we hope you will find a way to get involved in a simple yet meaningful way.
Look at the flowchart below: start by browsing potential collaboration opportunities (research collaborations; optimisation of implementation; small business support; skills transfer; on-the-ground support; or even something completely different). You then have two options: either initiate or engage in a collaboration. To initiate a collaboration: if you have an idea that you would like to develop further into an opportunity, get in touch with the OAD to explore feasibility. Thereafter, the necessary onboarding material should be prepared and advertised through the collaboration gateway, so that the OAD can seek potential partners for you. To engage in collaboration: if you find an opportunity that interests you, then the first step would be to review the onboarding material. Should you then still wish to embark on the collaboration, get in touch with the OAD, who will connect you with the relevant partners for a joint discussion. At that point, if all parties wish to proceed, the OAD will provide support in terms of technical assistance and funding wherever possible, in order to realise the development outcomes envisaged by the collaboration.
OAD Collaboration Gateway Flowchart
Definition of Astronomy Community:
This refers to anyone from the astronomy community possessing knowledge and skills from astronomy. This could include researchers, students, education specialists, outreach professionals, astronomy enthusiasts, etc.
Definition of Development Community:
This refers to anyone involved in development activities or with a good understanding of development needs in a particular community or in a non-astronomical field of study. This could include researchers and students from non-astronomy fields, non-profit organizations, social enterprises, humanitarian workers, community leaders, volunteers, etc.
Browse collaboration opportunities (non-exhaustive and flexible):
- Research collaborations
- There may be ways in which the research tools and techniques from astronomy could potentially be applied to enhance another area of research related to development. This could be related to climate change (e.g. planetary fluid dynamics applied to ocean science); social science (e.g. impact of astronomical perspectives on culture or mental well being); medical science (e.g. applying telescope image processing techniques to medical scans); development economics (e.g. effect of dark-skies tourism on local economies); etc.
- [INITIATE] Do you have an idea for a collaboration that you could initiate? Get in touch!
- [ENGAGE] There are currently no available opportunities in this area on the collaboration gateway.
- Optimisation of implementation
- The implementation of some development programmes may benefit from skills or methods from the astronomy community. This could be related to service delivery (e.g. apply data skills to optimise local government services); humanitarian logistics (e.g. use machine learning algorithms to optimise resource allocation after disasters); engineering challenges (e.g. apply astronomy instrumentation skills to medical equipment)
- [INITIATE] Do you have an idea for a collaboration that you could initiate? Get in touch!
- [ENGAGE] There are currently no available opportunities in this area on the collaboration gateway.
- Small business support
- Small businesses could benefit from support provided by the astronomy community. This could be in the form of hardware product development (e.g. solar panels); software product development (e.g. mobile apps); consultancy services development/support (e.g. data analysis services)
- [INITIATE] Do you have an idea for a collaboration that you could initiate? Get in touch!
- [ENGAGE] There are currently no available opportunities in this area on the collaboration gateway.
- Skills transfer
- Astronomy skills could be transferred in meaningful ways to contribute to the development of people in any field. This could be in the form of data science training (e.g. hackathons, schools, workshops); training of tour guides (e.g. to enhance/support dark skies tourism); student support (providing assistance/mentoring for Physics/STEM students);
- [INITIATE] Do you have an idea for a collaboration that you could initiate? Get in touch!
- [ENGAGE] There are currently no available opportunities in this area on the collaboration gateway.
- On-the-ground support
- There are many activities taking place “on the ground” which could be enhanced through engagements between the astronomy and development communities. These could include teacher training and support (e.g. to enhance STEM teaching in schools); schools interventions (e.g. career talks); public talks (e.g. using astronomy to enhance public understanding/appreciation of science); community engagements (e.g. benefits to local communities around observatories). All these activities could have a significant impact on society with the right partnerships and interdisciplinary collaborations.
- [INITIATE] Do you have an idea for a collaboration that you could initiate? Get in touch!
- [ENGAGE] There are currently no available opportunities in this area on the collaboration gateway.
- Something completely different
- There is no way for the OAD to know what is needed in every part of the world. So we always allow space to learn and to bring in completely new or different ideas which may be outside of our preconceptions. This is such a space. Let us know what ideas you may have that doesn’t quite fit into any of the other areas.
- [INITIATE] Do you have an idea for a collaboration that you could initiate? Get in touch!
- [ENGAGE] There are currently no available opportunities in this area on the collaboration gateway.
[INITIATE] Prepare Onboarding Material:
Once we have discussed and mutually agreed on the feasibility of an idea, the relevant onboarding material needs to be prepared. This material will be the first point of reference for anyone interested in your proposed collaboration. It should be clear and sufficiently detailed in order to inform any potential collaborator, and should include at least some of the following:
- Background and context
- Infrastructure required or offered (e.g. access to high performance computing; mechanical workshop; etc)
- Skills required or offered (e.g. machine learning; satellite image processing; community surveys; etc)
- Time required or offered (e.g. days per week; hours per day; total duration; etc)
- Technical details and references (e.g. sample data sets; relevant videos/images; applicable research papers; etc)
- Ideal outcome expected of the collaboration
- Short (2 minute) video overview of all of the above
Do get in touch with us at info@astro4dev.org should you require any further guidance or assistance in preparing this material. You may use a template (docx or pdf) to prepare and submit your material by email, or, if you prefer you can submit directly via this online form.
[INITIATE] Advertise the opportunity and actively seek collaborators:
Once the Onboarding Materials have been prepared they will be placed onto the OAD’s Flagship 3 Collaboration Gateway and publicised via the OAD’s international communication channels. Proposers will also be able to publicise the opportunities directly using their own networks. Importantly, the OAD will actively seek collaborators through direct approaches to individuals or organisations relevant to the respective opportunities (identified either through the OAD networks or desktop studies).
[ENGAGE] Onboarding:
Once a potential collaborator from either the astronomy or development communities have identified a collaboration opportunity that interests them, they would then enter the Onboarding stage. This stage is to help them determine whether or not they would be capable and willing to participate in that collaboration. The Onboarding stage consists of two sequential parts: (i) review onboarding materials online; and (ii) make contact with the OAD and proposer. The second part is only necessary if more clarification is needed or if the potential collaborator becomes interested in working with the proposer. The outcome of the Onboarding should be a mutually agreed decision as to whether to proceed with the collaboration or not.
[ENGAGE] Project implementation:
At the end of the Onboarding, should the mutually agreed decision, between the proposer and the potential collaborator, be to proceed with the collaboration, then the project can begin implementation. The OAD would then become more closely involved, providing both technical and financial support wherever possible, in order to help see the project through to completion and thus achieve the ultimate goal of astronomy for development.
Get in touch with the OAD:
So you have an idea you would like to explore or have identified an opportunity you are interested in. Excellent! Please do get in touch with the OAD and we will set up a conversation between your team and ours, involving other relevant partners where necessary, to explore the feasibility and next steps. Please email info@astro4dev.org with basic information about your idea or interest and we will get in touch with you within 48 hours!