IAU Executive Committee Working GroupAstronomy for Equity and Inclusion Newsletter
#8 December 2020
1) Women Who Made Nuclear Astrophysics: 2021 Calendar2) Teachers Need Training on Inclusion: Report
3) Eclipse Activities from Chile
4) STSCI Newsletter: Latest Articles on Recent Diversity and Inclusion Efforts
5) Inclusive Outreach Initiatives 2021
6) “Touch the Universe” Exhibition Awarded Grant in Japan
7) 9th ELSI International Symposium: Science in Society
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 newsletter of the IAU Executive Working Group on Astronomy for Equity and Inclusion. This is the eighth edition of the newsletter and, even if already reaching you in early 2021, this is the last issue of 2020. We want to thank you all that contributed with news and valuable information to this newsletter that started this year. We want to send a warm thank you to all of you that kept us connected throughout a strange year. All was better because we were connected and even far away, we were not alone. Thank you for taking this journey with us and we hope we can continue to support each other throughout 2021.
In this issue, we want to highlight the Women Who Made Nuclear Astrophysics: 2021 Calendar, congratulate our colleague Kumiko Usuda-Sato and her group for winning a grant from the JAPAN Science Museum Association (JSMA) and to encourage you to join the IAU-led inclusive outreach initiatives for 2021.
Wishing you all our best for 2021, Lina Canas & Amelia Ortiz-Gil
1) Women Who Made Nuclear Astrophysics: 2021 Calendar
To celebrate the achievements of women scientists in the development of Nuclear Astrophysics throughout the next year 2021, ChETEC Action has prepared a beautiful calendar with the profiles of twelve outstanding, inspiring women and translated it into about 25 languages.
You can download and print your language version from here:http://www.chetec.eu/news/calendar-of-women-scientists-who-made-nuclear-astrophysics-many-language-versions-available
The authors would like our help to distribute the calendar in as many countries as possible, to schools, universities, visitor centres, and other networks.
We would like to thank Maria Lugaro and Christine Hampton for sharing the news with us.
2) Teachers Need Training on Inclusion: Report
Even where there are strong policies for inclusion, not enough teachers are trained in providing inclusive learning environments. You can read this relevant article from the Global Education Monitoring Report in UNESCO, with links to the full report and many examples here: https://gemreportunesco.wordpress.com/2020/10/05/teachers-need-training-on-inclusion/
We would like to thank Mike Simmons for sharing the news with us.
3) Eclipse Activities from Chile
Chile has an extremely active inclusive astronomy group from different institutions committed to making the 2020 December solar eclipse a multisensory experience. Several Chilean institutions worked diligently towards making this eclipse a truly inclusive experience. Below you can find several initiatives and other resources from Chilean institutions:
Inclusive Eclipse streamingStreaming of the total Solar eclipse including sonification through the LightSound device, with the participation of the astronomer Wanda Diaz-Merced. Accessible for people with visual and hearing disabilities.Website (Spanish): http://www.cecs.cl/eclipseinclusivo/
Inclusive Eclipse outreach resourcesAstroNaranja: Short video with instructions to learn about eclipses and celestial motions, using oranges and elements easy to find at home. Accessible for people with visual and hearing disabilities.Video (Spanish): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yFVqwHvu_Y Videos con Lengua de Señas Chilena para esperar y disfrutar el Eclipse Solar: Short videos with information about the Eclipse, for children. Accessible for people with visual and hearing disabilities. https://especial.mineduc.cl/nuevo-videos-con-lengua-de-senas-chilena-para-esperar-y-disfrutar-del-eclipse/
Universidad de ValparaísoThe Youtube Channel “Difusión IFA” has resources (of science and eye care) for all ages (in Spanish):https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUkQFhZn5QQ2uSUoLtT3-3w?view_as=subscriber
Universidad de ConcepciónSeveral resources for the eclipse in Spanish, interactive maps, videos about the Mapuche culture and their relationship with eclipses, safety and more. Website (Spanish): planificatueclipse.cl
Universidad de la FronteraResources for the solar eclipse, including a MOOC on basic astronomy, a downloadable book on micro-stories related to the eclipse, links to online talks (some with Chilean Sign Language interpretation), and more. Website (Spanish): https://eclipse2020.ufro.cl/
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso#EclipseConCiencia: Citizen Science project that aims at studying the shadow strips produced right before and after the eclipse’s totality. Website (Spanish): https://fis.ucv.cl/eclipse-2020/
We would like to thank María Fernanda Durán, from the Sociedad Chilena de Astronomía (SOCHIAS), for sharing the news with us.
4) STSCI Newsletter: Latest Articles on Recent Diversity and Inclusion Efforts
Demographics of recent symposia held at STSCI this year (virtual of course) titled:STScI-Organized Fall 2020 Symposium and Conference: Diversity Statisticshttps://www.stsci.edu/contents/newsletters/2020-volume-37-issue-02/stsci-organized-fall-2020-symposium-and-conference–diversity-statistics?page=2&filterUUID=7b401d2c-07c2-4980-b769-77bc6ebf33ae&filterPage=newsletters&filterName=filter-articles
The Women in Astronomy Forum at STScI: Affecting Change in the Local and Global Astronomical Communitieshttps://www.stsci.edu/contents/newsletters/2020-volume-37-issue-02/stsci-organized-fall-2020-symposium-and-conference–diversity-statistics?page=2&filterUUID=7b401d2c-07c2-4980-b769-77bc6ebf33ae&filterPage=newsletters&filterName=filter-articles
The URL for the newsletters: https://www.stsci.edu/news/newsletters. (articles for the most recent issue appear first.)
We would like to thank Susana Deustua for sharing the news with us.
5) Inclusive Outreach Initiatives for 2021
The IAU outreach initiatives are IAU-driven outreach programmes that engage the public in astronomy through access to astronomical information and communication. These initiatives strive to include anyone from different backgrounds and abilities to participate and learn about the science of astronomy. For 2021, there are several initiatives planned, including Women and Girls in Astronomy, Telescopes for All and Inspiring Stars.
You can find more information about the IAU outreach initiatives and how to participate here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qzuA4lejjgQRAUMBeDQD-QqRl0QnWqO4/view?usp=sharing
6) “Touch the Universe” Exhibition Awarded Grant in Japan
Akashi Municipal Planetarium in collaboration with National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), Japan Braille Library, and Sendai Astronomical Observatory won a grant from the JAPAN Science Museum Association (JSMA) to create a whole set of the “Touch the Universe” tactile exhibition for science museums and planetariums. Our warm congratulations to our colleagues in Japan, that through this project, will expand the national networks and increase awareness of astronomy for inclusion.
We would like to thank Kumiko Usuda-Sato for sharing the news with us.
7) 9th ELSI International Symposium: Science in Society
ELSI: Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan will host the ELSI’s 9th International Symposium with the theme “Science in Society”. Our colleague Kumiko Usuda-Sato is an invited keynote speaker and will present “How to Make a Conference Inclusive” based on her experiences of the IAU Symposium on Astronomy for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion held at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) in November 2019 (https://iau-oao.nao.ac.jp/iaus358).
This will be an online symposium with three slots (Japan/Europe/US) and you can register at https://symposium2021.elsi.jp (free registration)
We would like to thank Kumiko Usuda-Sato for sharing the news with us.
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!
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