Applications are now open for new Individual Members and Junior Members of the IAU. The timelines for application submission, review and admission run concurrently for Individual and Junior Members.

IAU Individual Membership

Eligible candidates for IAU Individual Membership are professional scientists conducting research that is directly related to astronomy.  Those researchers admitted as IAU Members by the Executive Committee will be affiliated with at least one of the IAU's nine Divisions:

• Division A Fundamental Astronomy
• Division B Facilities, Technologies and Data Science
• Division C Education, Outreach and Heritage
• Division D High Energy Phenomena and Fundamental Physics
• Division E Sun and Heliosphere
• Division F Planetary Systems and Astrobiology
• Division G Stars and Stellar Physics
• Division H Interstellar Matter and Local Universe
• Division J Galaxies and Cosmology

IAU Junior Membership

Eligible candidates for IAU Junior Membership are scientists in the initial phase of a research career with the prospect of becoming a professional researcher in astronomy. For this round of applications, candidates must have completed their PhD studies in any field of astronomy between 2019 and 2024. Admission by the Executive Committee as a Junior Member will be for a maximum period of six years.

Junior Members must indicate at least one Division they wish to join. They can join Commissions and Working Groups according to the same rules as Individual Members. Junior Members can take up any role in any Working Group and can hold office in the Organising Committee of any Commission. However, Junior Members cannot take roles as Commission President or Vice President, except in Commissions specifically established for Junior Members.

Given the expected high mobility of Junior Members, a proposal to become an Individual Member may be submitted to a National Member that is different from the Junior Member country. We would like to remind all Junior Members who joined the IAU in 2019 that junior membership is temporary and that they should apply as Individual Members in this call.

The timeline for the 2025 admission and application review of Individual and Junior Membership is as follows:

• October 2024: invitation to the Presidents of the IAU National Committee for Astronomy (NCA) or Adhering Organisation (AO) (whichever applies) and Division Presidents (whenever there is no NCA or AO) to contact their national community or prospective candidates asking them to submit applications for IAU Membership.
• 15 December 2024: deadline to accept applications for IAU Membership. Late proposals will not be taken into consideration.
• 15 February 2025: deadline for the respective NCAs and Adhering Organisations to review applications 
• 31 March 2025: deadline for the Membership Committee to review the lists of proposed candidate IAU Members 
• April 2025: the final list of proposed IAU Members will be submitted to the Executive Committee for approval during its meeting in May 2025.
• May 2025: accepted IAU Individual and Junior Members are announced.

More information

The IAU is the international astronomical organisation that brings together more than 12 000 active professional astronomers from more than 100 countries worldwide. Its mission is to promote and safeguard astronomy in all its aspects, including research, communication, education and development, through international cooperation. The IAU also serves as the internationally recognised authority for assigning designations to celestial bodies and the surface features on them. Founded in 1919, the IAU is the world's largest professional body for astronomers.

Links

• Qualification for Individual and Junior Membership and Application Procedure
• Working Rules on IAU Membership
• IAU Brochure (2023)
• IAU Membership Overview Brochure (2023)

Contacts

Diana Worrall
IAU General Secretary
Email: IAU-general.secretary@iap.fr 

Lina Canas
IAU Membership Coordinator
Email: lina.canas@iau.org / iaupressoffice@iau.org