Many in the EAS community will already be aware of sensitivities around the building and development of facilities on sites that have cultural and spiritual significance for local communities. Some will have followed the issues currently being experienced by the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope on Maunakea, Hawai?i, and the great steps to ensure that due respect is paid to local peoples during the construction of the Square Kilometre Array on the lands of the Wajarri Yamatji People, in Australia, and the Karoo Hoogland Municipality, in South Africa. Many of our community members have started to use land acknowledgements as a form of respect to the Indigenous peoples.

A joint working group with the International Astronomical Union Division C Working Group on Archeoastronomy and Astronomy in Culture and the UK?s Royal Astronomical Society has been set up, and work is underway to make the astronomy community more aware of the issues concerned. The aim of this session is to familiarise the EAS community with the Working Group and its work, to solicit ideas and resources that might be useful, and to raise general awareness of the need to respect and account for local issues when using facilities and exploiting the data they generate. It will start with a workshop and be followed by general discussion.

Programme

Invited speakers

Dr Megan Argo, RAS Vice President, University of Central Lancashire Professor Steven R. Gullberg FRAS Chair, IAU Working Group for Archaeoastronomy and Astronomy in Culture; Lead Faculty School of Integrative and Cultural Studies/Director for Archaeoastronomy and Astronomy in Culture, University of Oklahoma Dr. Jarita Holbrook, President, International Society for Archaeoastronomy & Astronomy in Culture (ISAAC); MSCA Fellow in Science, Technology & Innovation Studies, University of Edinburgh Professor Steve Miller, RAS Vice President, University College London

Scientific organisers

Professor Steven R. Gullberg FRAS Chair, IAU Working Group for Archaeoastronomy and Astronomy in Culture; Lead Faculty School of Integrative and Cultural Studies/Director for Archaeoastronomy and Astronomy in Culture, University of Oklahoma Dr. Jarita Holbrook, President, International Society for Archaeoastronomy & Astronomy in Culture (ISAAC); MSCA Fellow in Science, Technology & Innovation Studies, University of Edinburgh Professor Steve Miller, RAS Vice President, University College London

Contact

Professor Steven R. Gullberg, PhD, FRAS srgullberg @ ou.edu