Special Session (incl. Lunch) SS38  27 June 2022

Africa-Europe collaborations: current status and the road to 2024

Aims and scope

This special session builds on two previous highly successful sessions at EAS2018 (SS23: Reflection on European - African research collaborations in astronomy and space science: opportunities, achievements, challenges, and needs) and EAS2020 (SS15: Africa-European collaborations in astronomy and space science: room to grow).

Astronomy is one of the emerging fields in Africa that experienced amazing developments over the last 10 years (see e.g., McBride et al. 2018, Povic et al. 2018). Collaborations with different European research centres, universities, societies, etc., played an important role in that. Over the last two years, many new initiatives and collaborations arose: the African Astronomical Society (AfAS) became one of the vibrant and dynamic societies, South Africa won the bid to host the IAU General Assembly (GA) in 2024, the African Network of Women in Astronomy (AfNWA) was established, the Development in Africa with Radio Astronomy (DARA) and Africa Initiative for Planetary and Space Sciences (AFIPS) carried out many activities through close collaboration between Africa and Europe, new research initiatives arose between the two continents such are the Pan-Africa Planetary and Space Science Network (PAPSSN), Mobility in Africa for Training, Education and Research: Network for Astrophysics (MATERNA), Astronomy and Astrophysics Arising Across Africa (5A), and many others. In addition to this, strong collaborations between the two continents in terms of the development of infrastructure in observational astronomy and with site testing experienced also important developments.

With this special session, we aim to have a general reflection about the current status of Africa-Europe collaborations in astronomy by highlighting the current activities and initiatives, but also opportunities, achievements, challenges, and needs, and to use this bi-annual meeting to strengthen the links between the two continents for the benefit of all. This is especially important for together building the road to 2024 IAU GA, the first one to be held in Africa. For bringing a deeper discussion on the IAU GA 2024, we will host a lunch session, in addition to the special session.

Programme

Program (list of topics): SS38 duration will be 3 x 1.5-hour blocks. Three blocks will be dedicated to invited talks, contributed talks, and poster presentations. The list of topics is as follows:

  • Block 1: Large initiatives and research collaborations
  • Block 2: Infrastructure development and site testing
  • Block 3: Education, outreach, and public awareness
During the lunch session, a deeper discussion on Africa-Europe collaborations will be organised in line with the coming very first IAU GA in Africa in 2024.

The full program is now available here: http://www.africanastronomicalsociety.org/information-and-programme-africa-europe-collaborations-current-status-and-the-road-to-2024/

Invited speakers

  • We are happy to announce that our session will be opened by the invited speaker Ms. María Teresa Fernández de la Vega Sanz, President of the Spanish Council of State since 2018, and President of the Women for Africa (Mujeres por África) Foundation.
  • We are also happy to announce that another invited talk will be given by Mr. Takalani Nemaungani, the Acting Chief Director for the Astronomy portfolio at the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) in South Africa.
    Other invited talks include:
  • Emmanuel Proven-Adzri (Ghana Radio Astronomy Observatory, Ghana)
  • Mirjana Povic (ESSTI/Ethiopia; IAA-CSIC/Spain; MUST/Uganda)
  • Katrien Kolenberg (Institute of Astronomy, KU Leuven, Belgium)
  • Petri Vaisanen (South African Astronomical Observatory, South Africa)
  • Michael Backes (University of Namibia, Namibia)
  • Tyler Bourke (SKA Observatory, UK)
  • Zouhair Benkhaldou (Oukaïmeden Observatory, Morocco)
  • Susan Murabana (African Planetarium Association, Kenya)
    Opening remarks will be given by Thebe Medupe, President of the African Astronomical Society, Roger Davis, President of the European Astronomical Society, Declan Kirrane, Coordinator of the Africa-Europe Radio Astronomy Platform (AERAP), and Michelle Willebrands, Coordinator of the E-ROAD. In addition, 11 contributed talks will be given during the 3 sessions.
    Finally, the lunch session will host 2 invited talks by Jamal Mimouni (University of Constantine, Algeria) and Babatunde Rabiu (NSRDA, Nigeria), and several short interventions.
The full program is available here: http://www.africanastronomicalsociety.org/information-and-programme-africa-europe-collaborations-current-status-and-the-road-to-2024/

Scientific organisers

  • Mirjana Povic, F (ESSTI, Ethiopia; IAA-CSIC, Spain; MUST, Uganda), chair
  • Vanessa McBride, F (IAU-OAD, SAAO/IAUGA2024, South Africa), co-chair
  • David Baratoux, M (National Research Institute for Sustainable Development, France)
  • Zouhair Benkhaldoun, M (Oukaimeden Observatory and UCA, Morocco)
  • Kevin Govender, M (IAU-OAD, South Africa)
  • Declan Kirrane, M (AERAP, Belgium)
  • Priscila Muheki, F (MUST, Uganda)
  • Bonaventure Okere, M (Center for Basic Space Science (CBSS) and WA-ROAD, Nigeria)
  • Carla Puglia, F (ISP, Sweden)
  • Anna Scaife, F (DARA Big Data, UK)
  • Charles Takalana, M (AfAS, South Africa)
  • Michelle Willebrands, F (E-ROAD, The Netherlands)

Contact

Mirjana Povic (mpovic @ iaa.es) and Vanessa McBride (vanessa @ astro4dev.org)

Updated on Thu Jun 23 15:49:20 CEST 2022