Dear IAU members and colleagues,
Since the last editorial, many things have happened that are worth bringing to your attention.
In May, the IAU Executive Committee (EC) met in Pune (India), hosted by the IUCAA (Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics), along with most of the Division Presidents, who participated using their own resources. Several important decisions were taken during the meeting:
- The final list of Symposia and Focus Meetings to be held in 2018 was approved (see https://www.iau.org/news/announcements/detail/ann17021/). It should be noted that at the XXXth General Assembly (Vienna, 20 – 31 August) there will be 7 Symposia instead of the usual 6; the additional one — IAU S349 “Under one sky: the IAU Centenary Symposium” — will begin the celebrations to mark the first 100 years of the Union.
- The winners of the first IAU PhD Prize were approved (see https://www.iau.org/news/announcements/detail/ann17024/). The winners will each receive a grant to participate in the GA in Vienna and will have the opportunity to present their research during the Division Days.
- A number of amendments to the IAU Statues, Bye-laws and Working Rules were approved. The most relevant one concerns the introduction of the Junior Member Category, which will allow researchers who have just completed their PhD studies and begun their post-doc career path to join the Union. Junior Members can be proposed by National Members (NM) every year and may become regular Individual Members when they meet the relevant requirements. The proposed amendments have been distributed to the NM for comments and they will be presented for approval at the GA. Having sought the opinions of the majority of the NM, it is expected that they will be approved. Therefore, we have invited the NM to propose a list of Junior Members who will join the IAU in Vienna. We are looking forward to a massive injection of fresh blood! The full text of the proposed amendments is available here.
- The draft of the new IAU Strategic Plan was discussed; a preliminary version will be distributed to all Members in the autumn for comments. The final Plan will be presented for approval to the GA in Vienna.
- The activities for celebrating the 100 anniversary of the IAU (2019) were discussed; it was decided to appoint a coordinator of all the initiatives who will be based in Leiden and will work closely with the President elect and with the OAO and OAD.
- During the meeting we enjoyed the “zero-shadow” instant, with the Sun exactly at the Zenith; below is a picture of the Executive Committee “without shadow” ! Some of the EC members also enjoyed experimenting with the tools of the IUCAA outreach department…
An Executive Committee with no shadow
EC experimenting with the tools of the IUCAA outreach department
The Working Group on Global Coordination of Ground and Space Astrophysics, with the generous support of the Kavli Foundation, organised a Workshop on “Future Space-Based Ultraviolet-Optical-Infrared Telescopes,”. The 3-day meeting took place at Kasteel Oud Poelgeest in Leiden, the Netherlands between 17 and 19 July 2017 and attracted 40 invited participants from 17 countries (Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States). Participants from universities, observatories, research organisations, and space agencies included science community leaders and experts on various aspects of relevant science and technology. A report of the workshop will soon be available and the theme will be further discussed during a dedicated Focus Meeting in Vienna.
The organisation of the XXXth General Assembly is proceeding very well; the registration page is now open along with the forms for the submission of abstracts and requests for IAU grants (see http://astronomy2018.univie.ac.at/registration/). The GA Local Organising Committee agreed to accept “Early-Bird” registrations by those participants who are applying for an IAU travel grant without requiring payment of the registration fee until they know the result of the grant allocation (mid-April 2018).
The National Members and the Division Presidents have been invited to inform their communities about the possibility of submitting proposals to become either an Individual or a Junior Member of the IAU. With the introduction of the Junior Member Category, the submission forms have been revised. The most important change is the introduction of keywords that describe the main research interests of the applicant (previously the field was a free-text one); we will now ask all the IAU Individual Members to complete their personal profile by indicating up to 10 keywords that describe their research interests. The keywords will be searchable fields in the IAU database and will become a very useful tool, beyond affiliation to an IAU Division, to look for more specific expertise among the Members.
Up to now 10 Countries have each submitted a Letter of Interest to become an IAU National Member. Some of them are rejoining the Union after a period during which they were unable to pay their annual contributions, but many others are new, emerging Countries. We are looking forward to receiving their full proposals and to welcoming them into the great IAU family that knows no borders!
Piero Benvenuti
IAU General Secretary
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22 May 2017: Khaled Said, of the University of Cape Town, has been awarded The Gruber Foundation Fellowship.
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