The newly founded IAU Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE) has released a call for institutions and individuals interested in supporting the office’s mission to foster astronomy education. In particular, the call is addressed to institutions willing to host  OAE Centres or OAE Nodes — additional offices of the OAE that are active internationally.

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) is the worldwide organisation of professional astronomers and a key component of its activities is the use of astronomy in furthering education — both in astronomy itself and in the STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) in general.  To this end, the IAU recently created the Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE), a joint venture with the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany. The OAE is based at Haus der Astronomie in Heidelberg.

The OAE’s mission is to support and coordinate astronomy education by astronomy researchers and educators, aimed at primary or secondary schools worldwide. The OAE organises an international network of astronomy education stakeholders and organises groups of scientists to collaborate on creating specific educational resources. It will facilitate and undertake a systematic evaluation of existing resources, and will work towards establishing international standards of quality control and evaluation in astronomy education. Additional information can be found on the OAE’s website.

Call for hosting OAE Centres or OAE Nodes

The first call is for hosting OAE Centres or OAE Nodes and is aimed at institutions that are willing to commit appropriate resources to our mission by hosting part of the OAE at their own institution. You can find more information about this here.

The deadline for this call is June 10, 2020. The next call of this kind will be in 2021.

If your institution does not intend to host an OAE Centre or OAE Node, but would like to register interest in collaborating with the OAE, please send us an e-mail under oae@astro4edu.org. 

National Astronomy Education Coordinator (NAEC) Teams

On 13 February 2020, we sent out a call to the IAU National Committees for Astronomy (and, for IAU member countries without NCA, to the National Member institutions) to nominate NAEC teams for their countries. We have already received a number of nominations, but by no means from all countries.

If you are interested in becoming part of the NAEC team for your country, you can also nominate yourself; please find more information here.

More information

The IAU is the international astronomical organisation that brings together more than 13 500 professional astronomers from more than 100 countries worldwide. Its mission is to promote and safeguard astronomy in all its aspects, including research, communication, education and development, through international cooperation. The IAU also serves as the internationally recognised authority for assigning designations to celestial bodies and the surface features on them. Founded in 1919, the IAU is the world's largest professional body for astronomers.

The IAU Office of Astronomy for Education is hosted at Haus der Astronomie (HdA), managed by the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy. The OAE’s mission is to support and coordinate astronomy education by astronomy researchers and educators, aimed at primary or secondary schools worldwide. HdA’s hosting the OAE was made possible through the support of the German foundations Klaus Tschira Stiftung and Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung.

Contacts

Gwen Sanderson
OAE Organisational Assistant
Haus der Astronomie, Heidelberg
Email: sanderson@astro4edu.org

Lars Lindberg Christensen
IAU Press Officer
Garching bei München, Germany
Tel: +49 89 320 06 761
Cell: +49 173 38 72 621
Email: lars@eso.org