Newsletter #9 January 2021 – Astronomy for Equity and Inclusion

IAU Executive Committee Working Group Astronomy for Equity and Inclusion Newsletter #9 January 2021

1) IAU Kickstarts Action on Equity, Inclusion and Diversity2) Data Sonification: A New Cosmic Triad of Sound
3) Outreach Initiative at the School for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing in Benin
4) Largest-ever survey exposes career obstacles for LGBTQ scientists
5) Celebrating Women and Girls in Astronomy and Science
6) Establishment of the African Network of Women in Astronomy (AfNWA)
7) Inclusive Outreach subgroup updates
8) Join our Sub Groups
9) Subscribe to our Basecamp and join the discussion
10) Share your News!

Dear friends,

Welcome to the ninth issue of the monthly newsletter of the IAU Executive Committee Working Group Astronomy for Equity and Inclusion.

We wanted to highlight the launch of the IAU Springboard to Action: Recommendations for improving equity, inclusion and diversity in Astronomy, and encourage you to join the celebrations altogether with our colleagues from the IAU EC Working Group of Women in Astronomy highlighting the role of women scientists in the advancement of science and inspiring girls into studying Astronomy.

Wishing you all our best,

Lina Canas & Amelia Ortiz-Gil

1) IAU Kickstarts Action on Equity, Inclusion and Diversity

The IAU has today published the document Springboard to Action, which outlines concrete actions that can be taken by individuals, national members, and national organisations to improve equity, inclusion and diversity in Astronomy.

Read the full Press Release here: https://www.iau.org/news/pressreleases/detail/iau2101/

2) Data Sonification: A New Cosmic Triad of Sound

Our Chandra colleagues have published new and exciting sonifications of astronomical data.

A new trio of examples of ‘data sonification’ from NASA missions provides a new method to enjoy an arrangement of cosmic objects. Data sonification translates information collected by various NASA missions — such as the Chandra X-ray Observatory, Hubble Space Telescope, and Spitzer Space Telescope — into sounds.

Read the Chandra Press Release here: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2020/sonify2/

3) Outreach Initiative at the School for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing in Benin

On December 18, the School of the Deaf in the City of Porto-Novo received the science dissemination team from the Orion-Benin Astronomical Club. Several activities were carried including documentary screening, discovering the solar system using Stellarium, telescope observations and a brief explanation of the conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn that took place on December 21. The activity was accompanied by sign language.

We would like to thank Pide Aristide Ahanhanzo for sharing the news with us.

4) Largest-ever survey exposes career obstacles for LGBTQ scientists

Scientists who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ) are more likely to experience harassment and career obstacles than their non-LGBTQ colleagues. A survey of more than 25,000 US-based researchers, including more than 1,000 who identify as LGBTQ, found that LGBTQ scientists also experience some health and well-being problems more often than their non-LGBTQ peers. “The idea that ‘scientists only care about the science’ is nothing but a fairy tale we tell each other to avoid confronting the dark realities of academia,” says science journalist Alfredo Carpineti, who co-founded the UK organization Pride in STEM. Read the full article in Nature here: https://nature.us17.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2c6057c528fdc6f73fa196d9d&id=79464c0107&e=68cfbbac18

5) Celebrating Women and Girls in Astronomy and Science

We encourage you to join the celebrations between and around February 11 and March 8, together with our colleagues from the IAU EC Working Group of Women in Astronomy highlighting the role of women scientists in the advancement of science and inspiring girls into studying and pursuing a career in Astronomy.

Here we list some examples of activities being carried from the community for the community and shared with us:

i) Conference “Women in Astronomy” held on February 11 at the headquarters of the Société Haïtienne d’Astronomie with protective measures against COVID-19 applied. The conference will be held in Haitian Creole.

Links: https://haitiastronomie.blogspot.com/2020/03/la-societe-haitienne-dastronomie.html

ii) “Reach Across the Stars: Meet Your Female Space & Science Heroes (virtually!)” webinar was held on January 27, 2021, at 11:00 AM Pacific / 2:00 PM Eastern.

You can find the webinar recording, slide deck, chat transcript, and any additional resources here:

https://ngcproject.org/reach-across-the-stars-meet-your-female-space-science-heroes-virtually

iii) Legendary astronomer Jocelyn Bell Burnell spoke with Galician astrophysicist Ana Ulla about her career in a recent conversation organised by Agrupación Astronómica Coruñesa Ío.

English with Galician, Spanish subtitles: http://ow.ly/2hlt50D6Ppu

Spanish dub: http://ow.ly/X5zD50D6Ppt

iv) Chatea con una astrónoma (Chat with a female astronomer)
On February 18th, from 10h to 22h (UT+1) he Women in Astronomy Commission of the Spanish Astronomical Society will organize the 4th edition of “Chatea con una Astrónoma” (Chat with a female astronomer). During this 12 hour-long activity anyone can connect to the online chat to talk with a female professional astronomer. The chat will be conducted mainly in Spanish.More details: https://www.sea-astronomia.es/comision-mujer-y-astronomia-11-de-febrero#chat

We want to thank the IAU National Outreach Coordinator for Haiti Rulx Narcisse and the IAU National Outreach Coordinator for Bahrain Myriam Al-qashab for sharing the news

6) Establishment of the African Network of Women in Astronomy (AfNWA)

The establishment of the African Network of Women in Astronomy (AfNWA) under the African Astronomical Society (AfAS). Astronomy and space sciences are experiencing significant growth in Africa. For the benefit of all, the AfNWA initiative would like to guarantee female participation at all levels of these new and important developments, to improve the status of women in science in Africa where currently in most of the countries the number of female researchers is < 25% (see UNESCO 2019 Women in Science report), and to use astronomy to inspire more girls to do STEM.

For more information about AfNWA objectives and activities please see:

https://www.africanastronomicalsociety.org/afnwa/.

The AfNWA aims to connect and give more visibility to all women working in astronomy and related fields in Africa. If you identify yourself as such, please join the Network and become a member by filling AfNWA Membership Form at: https://www.africanastronomicalsociety.org/

We wish to thank the AfNWA team, Mirjana Povic, Vanessa McBride, Somaya Saad, Priscilla Muheki, Carolina Odman-Govender, and Nana Ama Browne Klutse for sharing the news.

7) Inclusive Outreach subgroup updates

The Inclusive Outreach (Inspiring Stars) subgroup is completing its first deliverable: a “starter set” to help people active in the outreach field get started with inclusive practices so that also public with sensor and motor impairment can benefit of their outreach efforts. The set will include an introductory section to inclusive outreach, a basic good practices document, a set of simple activities with detailed instructions, and a contact to get assistance if needed. The intent is to encourage people and provide practical assistance as they are starting their activities in the field. The team is targeting the month of March to have this initial material finalized and published, at which time it will be announced through the IAU WG and IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach channels. For more information please contact iau-inclusiveoutreach@uai.it

We would like to thank Cesare Pagano, coordinator of the Inclusive Outreach subgroup for sharing the news with us.

8) Join our Sub Groups

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!