Volunteers

The greatest resource that will enable the OAD to achieve the vision of “Astronomy for a Better World” is the volunteers. We welcome volunteers from all parts of the world and with differing backgrounds (you do not need to have an astronomy or science background).

There is a substantial amount of goodwill and excitement around the work of the Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD), with many new offers of time and energy from potential volunteers. The philosophy of the volunteer portal is to provide a central place where tasks related to the offices of the IAU offices (OAD, OAO, OAE and OYA) can be advertised and allocated. Tasks on this portal can be advertised through a monthly email digest sent to all volunteers who have signed up to the mailing list. Potential volunteers can also visit the site directly to browse tasks, sign-up for specific tasks or subscribe to the volunteer mailing list (below).

1. Request a volunteer 

If you need volunteers for your project, please submit a request to the OAD Regional Office.
1. Find your nearest Regional Office – List of Regional Offices and Regional Offices Contacts
2. If there is no Regional Office covering your country, contact the OAD at info(at)astro4dev.org
3. Send the following information: Task Name, Description, Estimated Time Required (# hours), Volunteer By (date), Skills Required, Comments
4. The Regional Office (or the OAD) will post this task on the portal and advertise to volunteers.
5. If a volunteer indicates interest in the task, you will receive an email with the details of the volunteer (name, email, contributions they are able to make).
6. You may then choose to assign your task to the volunteer. We encourage you to wait until the ‘Volunteer By’ date in case there are other volunteers.
7. Once assigned to a volunteer, please inform the OAD by replying to the email sent in Step 5. Please let us know once the task is complete.

2. Contribute your skills as a volunteer 

If you want to volunteer your time and skills, check out current volunteer opportunities at the Volunteer Portal.
1. Browse through the tasks listed on the Volunteer Portal
2. You can sort the tasks by Name, Location, Time Required, Skills Required, Volunteer by (Date)
3. Click on a task name for more information
4. If you are interested in a task, fill out the form underneath that task to express interest. This information will be sent to the owner of the task.
5. The task owner may then reach out to you over email to request additional information or assign the task to you. From this point, you may interact with the task owner by email.
6. If you wish to be notified of future tasks, simply sign up to the OAD volunteers list below.

Volunteer Portal

The IAU is committed to preventing any incident of harassment that may occur during any activity in which the IAU has or shares responsibility. More information in the IAU anti-harrasment policy. To report any issues or feedback on the portal, please write to vanessa(at)astro4dev.org.

Acknowledgements: The Volunteer Portal was developed and is hosted by IUCAA, one of the partners of the OAD