Call for new Centers and Nodes

The IAU Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE) is seeking applications for new OAE branch offices, which are known as OAE Centers and OAE Nodes. To this end, we seek partners at institutes across the globe who wish to contribute to the OAE’s mission to support astronomy education in primary and secondary schools world-wide.

The OAE is the IAU’s office dedicated to supporting education through astronomy, and in particular to the role of astronomy in primary and secondary education globally. As well as the OAE’s main office in Heidelberg, Germany, the OAE comprises a network of Centers and Nodes in different countries around the world: the OAE Centers in China-Nanjing, Egypt, India & Italy and the OAE Nodes France-CY Cergy Paris University, Nepal and Republic of Korea.

All OAE Centers and OAE Nodes have an international scope, and are encouraged to collaborate with astronomy educators worldwide, including the OAE’s network of National Astronomy Education Coordinators (NAECs) as well as the other OAE Centers and OAE Nodes. Centers and Nodes typically choose their own specialisations focussing on specific topics in astronomy education, and/or working with particular regional or linguistic astronomy education communities. The difference between a Center and a Node is the size of the contribution to OAE work. Centers typically contribute three or more FTEs (full-time equivalent staff) to OAE work, while Nodes typically contribute around one FTE.

We are seeking applications from institutes across the globe who are interested in founding new Centers or Nodes. These could be universities or other educational institutes; museums, planetariums or science education centers; or national astronomy bodies such as the IAU National Members.

The formal call for applications can be found in the link below. Letters of intent should be sent to oaeatastro4edu.org. If you are interested in applying and have any questions about the OAE, Centers and Nodes or the application process then please get in touch at oaeatastro4edu.org

The ideal OAE Center would:

Contribute at total of 3 FTE staff working on OAE tasks
Coordinate its work closely with the OAE Main Office in Heidelberg
Have staff members participate productively in OAE Working Groups, including the organisational support group
Have staff participate actively in the organisation of the Shaw-IAU Workshops
Contribute considerable funding to OAE projects such as the Teacher Training Program
Be active in organising meetings with NAECs and other stakeholders from their area of speciality
Contribute to the production of educational resources for the OAE website
Lead translations of educational materials into one or more languages

The ideal OAE Node would:

Contribute a at least total of one FTE staff working on OAE tasks
Coordinate its work closely with the OAE Main Office in Heidelberg
Have staff members participate productively in OAE Working Groups
Have staff participate actively in the organisation of the Shaw-IAU Workshops
Be active in organising meetings with NAECs and other stakeholders from their area of speciality
Contribute to the production of educational resources for the OAE website
Lead translations of educational materials into one languages