IAU Commission 46 The work of the Program Group for the

1. IAU Commission 46 The work of the Program Group for the World-wide Development of Astronomy PGWWDA John Hearnshaw PGWWDA Chair University of Canterbury New Zealand Presented to the 1st OAD Workshop Cape Town, South Africa 12 December2011

2. Some definitions: • IAU Commission 46: • One of the administrative groupings of the IAU that deals • with Astronomy Education and Development • PGWWDA: • Program Group for the World-wide Development of Astronomy • The IAU Comm. 46 committee that is charged with promoting • astronomy education and research in the developing world. • 19 members, chair John Hearnshaw (since 2003). • Other Comm. 46 program groups: • TAD: Teaching for astronomy development • NASE: Network for astronomy school education • ISYA: International school for young astronomers

3. Our mission • PGWWDA visits developing countries interested in increasing • contact with the IAU and reports back to the IAU executive and • to the Commission 46 president. • Visits are typically one to two weeks. • Maintaining contact after a visit is an important aspect. Follow-up • visits and organizing schools for UG and PG students is one such • follow-up activity. • A typical visit comprises lectures to students at all levels, possibly • high school visits, public lectures, media interviews, contact with • senior university officials (deans, vice-chancellors), contact with • Academy of Sciences (president), contact with government officials • in science, education.

4. Countries visited by PGWWDA since 2004 2004 Mongolia Kenya Iraq 2008 Sri Lanka Ethiopia Peru Ecuador Uzbekistan 2009 Cambodia Mauritius Paraguay 2005 Cuba Trinidad & Tobago 2011 Angola Fiji Nepal Guatemala Nicaragua Kazakhstan Bolivia Columbia Brunei 2010 Senegal Tajikistan Philippines Panama Costa Rica Ghana Ethiopia 2007 Thailand Laos Bangladesh Uruguay Mozambique Countries in italics visited by JBH

5. PGWWDA visits by JBH Planned future visits by JBH PGWWDA visits other committee members Planned future visits by others

6. Current PGWWDA membership • The membership of PGWWDA is as follows: • John Hearnshaw – New Zealand (chair) • AthemAlsabti – UK and Iraq • Allen Batten – Canada (honorary member and past chair) • Beatriz García – Argentina * • Kevin Govender – South Africa * • Ed Guinan – USA (ex officio TAD) • KatrienKolenberg – Austria * • ThijsKouwenhoven – China, Netherlands * • Hugo Levato – Argentina • HakimMalasan - Indonesia • Larry Marschall – USA (ex officio TAD) • Peter Martinez – South Africa • José Osorio – Portugal • JayPasachoff – USA • KazSekiguchi – Japan * • El ArbiSiher – Morocco * • BoonrucksarSoonthornthum – Thailand * • PetriVaisanen – South Africa * • JinZhu – China • New members appointed August 2009 are indicated by *.

7. Activities on PGWWDA visits • Lectures to undergraduate students • Lectures to postgraduate students • Lectures to high school students • Lectures to high school teachers • Lectures to the public • Interactions with amateur astronomers • Meetings with university officials • Meetings with government academy • officials • 9. Visits to astronomical observatories (for • training and education) • 10. Visits to astronomical observatories (for • research)

8. The work of PGWWDA: Which countries do we interact with? Group 1: IAU members GDP < $15k p.a. < 60 IAU individual members Armenia Bolivia Bulgaria Chile Croatia Cuba Egypt Indonesia Iran Latvia Lebanon Lithuania Malaysia Mongolia Morocco Nigeria Peru Philippines Romania Saudi Arabia Serbia Tajikistan Thailand Turkey Venezuela Countries visited or to be visited by PGWWDA in italics

9. The work of PGWWDA: Which countries do we interact with? Group 2: Non-IAU members GDP < $15k p.a. At least some IAU individual members Albania Algeria Azerbaijan Columbia Ecuador Ethiopia Georgia Honduras Iraq Kazakhstan Korea DPR Macedonia Mauritius Sri Lanka Pakistan Uzbekistan Vietnam

10. The work of PGWWDA: Which countries do we interact with? Group 3: Non-IAU members GDP > $2000 p.a.; <$15k p.a. No IAU individual members Angola Bosnia Burma Cambodia Fiji Ghana Guatemala Jamaica Jordan Kenya Kyrgyzstan Laos Libya Madagascar Moldova Mozambique Namibia Nepal Nicaragua Oman Panama Paraguay Samoa Tunisia Turkmenistan Uganda Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe

11. The work of PGWWDA: Which countries do we interact with? Group 4: Non-IAU members GDP > $15,000 p.a. No IAU individual members Bahrein Barbados Brunei Kuwait Malta Qatar Trinidad

12. The future of PGWWDA and IAU Comm 46 • From 2011, the IAU is implementing a new Strategic Plan for • astronomical development. • Establishment of the IAU Office for Astronomy Development • in Cape Town, South Africa (director Kevin Govender). • The activities of IAU Comm 46 and its Program Groups and also • IAU Comm 51 (Communicating astronomy to the public) are • likely to increase significantly under the OAD and Strategic Plan. • The C46 PGs may be restructured into three Task Forces for • (i) astronomy in the universities, (ii) astronomy in high schools and • (iii) astronomy for public outreach and education. • Whatever structure is adopted for delivery of these programs, we • look forward to working with Kevin and the IAU Executive in the • future on these exciting new developments.

13. Conclusions • The International Astronomical Union is engaged in a major • program of reaching out to developing countries, through the • work of PGWWDA and several other program groups that • organize courses and workshops for students and teachers. • These activities have been very successful in attracting new • member countries to join the IAU (eg Mongolia, Thailand, • Honduras in recent years) and attracting students with • scientific aptitudes to study astronomy. • In addition to PGWWDA, we have TAD (Teaching for Astronomy • Development), ISYA (International Schools for Young Astronomers) • and NASE (Network for Astronomy School Education), which are • IAU Commission 46 programs which follow up from PGWWDA. • Above all, after eight years as PGWWDA chairperson, I have visited • about a dozen developing countries in all parts of the world, made • many new friends and had great adventures and rewarding • experiences.

14. The End