Subject: IAU Executive Committee Working Group Astronomy for Equity and Inclusion Newsletter #7 November 2020
IAU Executive Committee Working Group
Astronomy for Equity and Inclusion Newsletter
#7 November 2020
1) Space & Astronomy Research Accessibility (SARA2020)
2) Project to Help Vision Impaired People Engage with Astronomy Wins Award
3) Stars for All Resources & Best Practices: English Translation
4) Call for proposals – LGBTQI rights in Southern Africa
5) IAU100 awarded with Dutch Communication Award
6) Zero Project
7) Call to Action: Inclusive Online Resources and Activities
8) Sub Groups Established
9) Subscribe to our Basecamp and join the discussion
10) Share your News!
Dear friends,
We want to give you a warm welcome to our seventh newsletter of the IAU Executive Working Group on Astronomy for Equity and Inclusion.
In this issue, we want to highlight the Space & Astronomy Research Accessibility (SARA2020) meeting, congratulate our colleague Nicolas Bonne for the recognition of the project “The Tactile Universe” in an international competition and once again, encourage all our members to join our sub-working groups.
Wishing you all our best,
Lina Canas & Amelia Ortiz-Gil
1) Space & Astronomy Research Accessibility (SARA2020)
On November 30, December 2 and 4, European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) is hosting the on-line event “Space & Astronomy Research Accessibility (SARA2020)”.
You can read more about the meeting here: https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/sara2020/home
2) Project to Help Vision Impaired People Engage with Astronomy Wins Award
“The Tactile Universe” makes astronomy research accessible to the blind and vision impaired community. This University of Portsmouth project helps blind and vision impaired people ‘see’ the universe has been chosen as one of the breakthroughs of the year projects in an international competition.
You can read the full press release here.
3) Stars for All Resources & Best Practices: English Translation
The first version (2019) of the “Good practices for astronomy inclusive outreach activities” document, developed by the “Divulgazione Inclusiva“ (Inclusive Outreach) workgroup of the “Unione Astrofili Italiani” (UAI – Italian amateur astronomers union) is now available for download in English:
Additionally, you can also find two introductory videos with English caption on
a course for the blind and low vision people:
and the project “STELLE PER TUTTI” – what amateur astronomers think:
https://www.uai.it/stellepertutti/project-stelle-per-tutti-what-amateur-astronomers-think-english-caption/(We want to thank our colleague Cesare Pagano, leader of our Inclusive Outreach SubWG for sharing the news)
4) Call for proposals – LGBTQI rights in Southern Africa
Call for applications for grants from individuals or organizations in thirteen eligible southern African countries to support work that advances or defends the freedom, equality, and social inclusion of homosexual and bisexual women and men, and transgender and intersex people. In addition, a small number of grants will be made available to prevent the reversal of gains in LGBTI organizing, visibility, and advocacy as a result of the impact of the COVID-19 crisis.
The deadline is January 15, 2021.
You can find more information here: http://theotherfoundation.org/general-grants/
5) IAU100 awarded with Dutch Communication Award
The NWO Domain Science (ENW) presented five new Science Awards, including the Communication Award. The winners — including the IAU 100 years global celebrations implemented in 2019 — are seen by the jury as an inspiration in the fields of social impact, team science, role model, diversity and communication.
Read more about the award here.
6) Zero ProjectThe Zero Project was initiated by the Essl Foundation in 2008, with its mission on supporting the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) of the United Nations and to work for a world without barriers.
Learn more about the Zero Project:https://zeroproject.org/about-us/
7) Call to Action: Inclusive Online Resources and Activities
In this global crisis that is strongly limiting the opportunities to meet face-to-face, and implement activities together, many of us, professional and amateurs, have very quickly turned online to deliver free and open contents to their communities, as our contribution in these difficult times. Although there are exceptions of fully accessible and inclusive online events and resources, these generous and spontaneous efforts, with a little extra effort, can be extended to include everyone, including people with disabilities.
If you are interested in contributing to this community effort, please write to “IAU-InclusiveOutreach@uai.it”
(We want to thank our colleague Cesare Pagano, leader of our Inclusive Outreach SubWG for leading this effort.)
8) Sub Groups Established
The IAU EC WG on Astronomy for Equity and Inclusion sub-groups are subsets of the working group created to focus, both discussions and actions, on the different fields across inclusion.
The sub-groups
- Intend to build upon specific networks within IAU and bring in external expertise, with their members steering and informing the WGs global actions.
- Identify specific needs in the community and draft courses of action and guidelines, aligned with both the IAU Strategic Plan 2020-2030 and the Springboard of Action leveraging all dimensions of inclusion on research, outreach, education and development.
- Are in contact and close collaboration with each other through email, basecamp or online meetings, accessing the intersectionality aspects inherent to the field, avoiding duplication of the efforts carried.
We would like to invite all of you to join one or more of the subWGs according to your particular interests and expertise. Further information about the subWGs can be found here.
9) Subscribe to our Basecamp and join the discussion
We have set up a common Basecamp dedicated to all communications. As we understand that not all tools are 100% accessible we want to offer various channels tailored to our different needs. As all the actions carried by the WG, our suggestions are open for discussion and we intend to involve our members as much as possible. Therefore if you identify any tool that would suit you please kindly let us know and we will try to implement it.
You can subscribe to our Basecamp by sending a message to Amelia Ortiz-Gil and Lina Canas with the subject: Inclusion WG Basecamp at astro4inclusion [at] oao.iau.org.
10) Share your News!
Reach out to us and share news, activities, articles, resources and events from the astronomy community for inclusion around the world. We are looking forward to reading your contributions!
Follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Astro4Inclusion/