The African Astronomical Society (AfAS) is a pan-African professional society of astronomers, with multiple committees set up to implement its objectives. The Outreach Committee is tasked with enhancing the interest in astronomy amongst the public and facilitating the development of outreach practitioners across Africa. The Outreach Committee currently has 6 members, listed later in this document.
Deadline for nominations extended till 15 October 2020!
AfAS would like to expand the Outreach Committee by inducting new members into it. This is an open call for nominations to the Outreach Committee, according to the following guidelines.
- Nominations are invited for experienced and motivated outreach practitioners currently living in Africa (the nominee).
- Nominations can be made by anyone (the nominator) who is involved in astronomy in any capacity, from anywhere in the world. Self nominations are also invited from the nominees themselves.
- Apart from self nominations, it is the responsibility of the nominator to ensure that they have the consent of the nominee, and that all documents submitted are valid.
- The nomination should describe the outreach work of the nominee in detail. In particular, it should discuss the specific programs that the nominee has been a part of and their role in them, programs that have been collaborative either regionally, nationally or internationally, and the impact these programs have had.
- The nomination should also be accompanied by the CV of the nominee, which includes details of their academic and outreach background, a list of online or published links to their outreach work if applicable, the various outreach networks that they are a part of, and the languages they are comfortable with.
- The nominator should mention in what capacity they are familiar with the work of the nominee, if it is not a self-nomination.
- All documents should be in English. If that is not possible, please contact us ahead of the deadline to arrive at alternative solutions.
- The Outreach Committee will shortlist candidates from the submissions and forward them to the Executive Committee of AfAS for final selection.
- The decision of the Executive Committee will be final, and will be taken keeping in mind diversity of experience, skills, geographical representation and gender diversity.
- The last date for nominations is 15 October 2020 and should be sent to niruj@africanastronomicalsociety.org following which, an acknowledgement will be made.
- The final decision will be made about a month after this deadline.
Additional information
(A) Current members of the Outreach Committee (LINK)
Niruj Mohan Ramanujam (South Africa, Chairperson)
Jamal Mimouni (Algeria, member)
Sarah Abotsi-Masters (Ghana, member)
Olayinka Fagbemiro (Nigeria, member)
Etsegenet Getachew (Ethiopia, member)
Kevin Govender (South Africa, Advisor)
(B) Ongoing programs of the Outreach Committee
- Annular Solar Eclipse (done as of 21 June 2020)
- Working Groups on
- Affordable Mobile Planetaria
- Amatur Radio Telescopes
- Pan-African Events Calendar
- Facilitating network of Amateur Astronomy Associations
- African Astronomy Map project
- African Astronomy Video Project
(C) Programs in the pipeline
- Language based networks and webinar series
- Working Groups on
- Contests and challenges
- Hands-on experiments for school students
- Translations and transcreation of astronomy resources
- Cultural and historic astronomy
