1) IAU PhD Prize

The International Astronomical Union has announced a new prize, the IAU PhD Prize, to recognize outstanding scientific achievement in astronomy around the world. Anyone who has completed a PhD in the last year can submit an application for the prize by 15 December. Applications can be within any of the IAU’s nine divisions, one of which is the Division of Education, Outreach, and Heritage. Each year we will have an award in one of the fields of astronomy education, astronomy communication or astronomy history/heritage.

Please read the official announcement of the Prize here: http://www.iau.org/news/announcements/detail/ann16044/ 

2) IAU Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD) Newsletter #14

The IAU OAD Newsletter #14 is now online. It is issued quarterly by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD), and there you can learn about the latest activities of the OAD. Highlights of this issue include the OAD being represented at a White House Conference and OAD Visitors Projects.

Learn more here: http://bit.ly/2fk8YWD.  

The newsletter is also available in pdf form on the IAU Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD) website at www.astro4dev.org/media/newsletters/.  

3) National Outreach Contact (NOC) Corner: News from Indonesia

a) Astronomy essay competition - LEAP  
langitselatan is an Indonesian astronomy outreach and education group that uses online media to communicate astronomy and implements teaching of, and training in, astronomy in the field. langitselatan (LS) invites the Indonesian public to participate in “Lomba Esai Astronomi Populer” or LEAP, an Astronomy Essay Competition. The goal of this competition is to raise  awareness of astronomy among the general public in Indonesia and to inspire them to share their knowledge, dreams or opinions about Astronomy. The competition will be open until 20 November 2016, and the result will be announced on 5 December 2016.

All information regarding this activity can be found (in Indonesian) at: http://langitselatan.com/leap 

4) European Astro Pi challenge: code your International Space Station (ISS) experiment

Astro Pi is the name of a small computer developed by the Raspberry Pi Foundation, in collaboration with the UK Space Agency and the European Space Agency (ESA). Two of these computers are on board the ISS for students to use. The European Astro Pi challenge invites school students to design a scientific experiment that can be run using Astro Pi’s sensors and to write the computer code to program the Astro Pi to execute the experiment on the ISS. The deadline for registration is 13 November 2016. 


Learn more about this challenge here: http://bit.ly/2f7VQ97 

5) Europlanet Public Engagement Funding Scheme

Europlanet is a project that links together research institutions and companies active in planetary science research in Europe and around the world. A call for applications for Europlanet’s 2017 Public Engagement Funding Scheme has recently opened. It will award grants of between 5000 and 15 000 euros to fund projects to engage the public with planetary science. Through this funding scheme, Europlanet aims to encourage new ways of bringing planetary science to audiences across Europe and inspiring the next generation of scientists and engineers. Applications will be open until 31 January 2017.

Learn more: http://www.europlanet-eu.org/outreach/funding-scheme/  

6) Open Source Free Astronomy Introductory book

A new introductory textbook called Astronomy has just been published by OpenStax, an international, non-profit project which develops high-quality introductory textbooks that are free to students. The publisher is supported by several major foundations (including the Gates and Hewlett Foundations) and the textbook benefits from the help of over 75 astronomers and astronomy educators, ensuring that the text is up-to-date, authoritative, and educationally sound. 

The book is free to students and teachers in its electronic version and can be found here: https://openstax.org/details/astronomy.  

7) The American Astronomical Society (AAS) WorldWide Telescope Competition

The American Astronomical Society is promoting a competition to create the best visual experiences using the American Astronomical Society’s WorldWide Telescope (AAS-WWT) system. Whether you are an experienced WWT user and have created a tour, interactive or video, or if you are new to WWT but have an astronomy story to tell, submit your entry in any of the three categories: Research, Education or Planetarium. The competition is open to everyone and applications will be accepted until 5 pm Eastern Time on 16 December.

Learn more about the contest here: http://worldwidetelescope.org/news/2016wwtprize 

8) The European Southern Observatory (ESO) Recruitment Portal

ESO notifies job openings on its recruitment portal. These provides the opportunity to work in a truly international environment, with access to cutting-edge technology and front-line scientific research. ESO strives to attract and appoint exceptional talent to support its development as a world leader in Astronomy, recruiting individuals who demonstrate a range of far-reaching skills including integrity, academic excellence, initiative, problem solving and leadership. There are currently seven ESO job positions open, one of them being for an Outreach Astronomer and another for a Science Journalism Internship. 

Learn more about ESO’s job opportunities here: https://recruitment.eso.org/

9) Meetings & global events

Here you can find a list of astronomy outreach & education conferences and events around the world.

a) Recently Added
10th International Meeting of Astronomy and Astronautics 
Date: 6–8 April 2017
Location: Campos, RJ, Brazil
More Information: http://bit.ly/2e3Gj5k   

b) Upcoming

a) IX International Conference on Oriental Astronomy
Date: 15–18 November 2016
Location: Pune, India
More Information: icoa2016.tifr.res.in

b) Southeast Asia Astronomical Network (SEAAN) 
Date: 12 and 13 November 2016
Location: Hanoi, Vietnam
More Information: https://vnsc.org.vn/seaan2016 

c) ESO Astronomy Camp
Date: 26 December 2016 to 1 January 2017
Location: Aosta Valley, Italy.
More information: http://www.eso.org/public/announcements/ann16031/

d) 7th International Festival of Science Visualization - Dome Fest
Date: 5–7 March 2017
Location: Tokyo, Japan
More Information: http://ifsv.org/en/index.html

e) 10th International Meeting of Astronomy and Astronautics 
Date: 6–8 April 2017
Location: Campos, RJ, Brazil
More Information: http://bit.ly/2e3Gj5k 

f) International Planetarium Society 2017
Date: 1–6 July 2017
Location: Toulouse, France
More Information: http://www.ips-planetarium.org/page/IPS2018Toulouse 

g) 13th Asian-Pacific Regional IAU Meeting (APRIM 2017)
Date: 3–7 July 2017
Location: Taipei, Taiwan
More Information: http://www.aprim2017.tw/ 

h) International Symposium on Astronomy and Astrobiology Education
Date: 3–8 July 2017
Location: Utrecht, Netherlands
More Information: http://ise2a.uu.nl/

Have we missed something? Then share your astronomy outreach and education international meetings or events with us via outreach@iau.org.

10) IAU Astronomy Outreach Newsletter in other languages

a) Translations into Serbian are available, by Dr. Liliana Gracanin from Serbia: https://twitter.com/IAU_srpski;

b) Translations into Spanish are available, by the Association of Amateur Astronomers from León, Nicaragua: http://asafile.blogspot.jp/p/blog-page_12.html;

[older issues only] In Spanish, by the Astronomical Spanish Society : http://www.sea-astronomia.es/drupal/content/newsletter-iau-noc;

c) If you want to receive the Japanese newsletter translation, please subscribe to the Japanese Amateur Astronomers Association here: http://www.jaaa-astro.jp/jaaa-ml.html;  

If you are interested in translating our newsletter to your language, please let us know via outreach@iau.org.