Welcome to CAP2022
Sydney and Online
September 12-16, 2022
Programme Details
Full Schedule | Presenter Instructions | Register for workshops
CAP 2022 will be organized in hybrid more, in-person in Sydney, Australia and online.
- In-person participants and speakers will join the conference at Macquarie University in Sydney.
- Virtual participants will join online via the conferencing platform of Macquarie University (links will be emailed to registered participants a few days before the conference).
- Virtual speakers will deliver their presentations on Zoom (links will be emailed to speakers a few days before the conference).
- Recordings will be made available after the conference.
Full Programme Schedule
(Please scroll down the table for tabs below that show various days. Any numbers under session names indicate Building and Room numbers of the session venue.)
Presenter Instructions
Time allocation is as follows :
- Keynote speakers – 25 minutes presentation + 05 minutes Q&A
- Plenary speakers – 15 minutes presentation + 5 minutes Q&A
- Parallel session speakers – 10 minutes presentation + Q&A at end of session common to all presenters
- Panel Discussions – 60 minutes
- Workshops – 60 or 90 minutes
All sessions will be recorded, except workshops.
Oral Presenters
Please prepare a Microsoft Powerpoint or PDF or other presentation format (PDF is preferred)
- In-person speakers – There will be one computer with Windows OS in each room that will play the presentation. Supported format – Microsoft Powerpoint and Adobe pdf. (pdf is preferred)
- All presenters are required to transfer presentation files to the computer in the allocated room before the session starts
- If your presentation has audio or video, please test them on the central computer well beforehand
- The projectors are optimized with 16×9 aspect ratios
- Remote speakers – speakers to join by Zoom and share their screen. Zoom links will be emailed to registered speakers.
- Remote speakers are requested to submit video of your talk to cap2022@oao.iau.org by September 05, 2022. The video will be played in case of poor internet connectivity for the speaker.
- Please name the video file with the title of your presentation and your name [TITLE_AUTHOR NAME]
- The session Chair will coordinate the Q&A (both in person and Zoom)
- Tech support will be provided by the local organizers.
- The presentation file will be uploaded to the CAP 2022 website at a later stage. If you do not want to share or want to update your presentation, please contact the SOC.
Workshop Presenters
- Workshop organizers must write to cap2022@oao.iau.org by Aug 25 to discuss final requirements for the workshop.
- We will open up participant registrations for workshops closer to the conference dates. Spots will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis with others on a waiting list.
- Workshops will be 60 to 90 minutes long.
- We will share the participant list with the workshop organizers a few days before the session. We ask that the workshop presenter helps to check that the workshop participants are in the right workshop according to the workshop allocation.
Poster Presenters
The maximum size for the poster is A1 (59.4 cm width x 84.1 cm height). Portrait orientation is suggested.
- In person poster authors are required to print the poster and bring the physical poster to CAP conference
- In person poster authors are also required to send the digital version of their poster to cap2022@oao.iau.org by September 05, 2022. Please send them as
- A1 PDF poster OR
- 3 minute video OR
- 5 slides
- Please name the file with the poster title and your name [TITLE_AUTHOR NAME]
- Virtual poster authors are requested to provide the poster in a virtual format. Please send your poster to cap2022@oao.iau.org by September 05, 2022.
- A1 PDF poster OR
- 3 minute video OR
- 5 slides
- Please name the file with the poster title and your name [TITLE_AUTHOR NAME]
- All posters will be displayed throughout the conference.
- Physical posters
- The organizers are not responsible for printing or storing the posters. Authors should arrange by themselves.
- Authors are responsible for mounting and dismounting their own posters.
- Please check your poster IDs and mount your posters according to your poster ID.
- Posters can be mounted from September 12 (Monday) and should be unmounted before Sept 16 (Friday) 5pm.
- All unmounted posters after the above time will be removed by the organizers, and automatically be discarded.
Panel Organizers
Panel discussion organizers must send the final list of panelists to cap2022@oao.iau.org by September 05, 2022.
Register for Workshops
CAP 2022 participants are invited to register for one or more workshops that will be organized from September 12 to 16, 2022. Please complete the form at the bottom of this page by 12pm UTC, Thursday, September 08, 2022.
Link to form: https://forms.gle/MZ2HKyymUpDhJ79H7
If you cannot access the form, please email us at cap2022@oao.iau.org.
| Date, time (Sydney) | Workshop title | Summary |
| day 0, Sep 12, 10:30-12:00 |
The Astrophysical Cody Maze Participants join in-person or online |
The Astrophysical Cody Maze is a virtual labyrinth in the real world which proposes coding challenges and quizzes about astronomy, astrophysics and space exploration. The Cody Maze helps participants develop computational thinking and problem-solving skills while promoting scientific dissemination. It guarantees the public engagement of a very wide audience, from children to adults. Players can move on a 5 x 5 board whose cells contain large-scale QR codes printed on beautiful astronomical images. Apparently participants can move freely across the board; however, interacting with the QR codes via a Telegram bot, they receive challenges to move and follow different paths through the maze. The game starts by scanning any of the QR codes at the board edge. The player physically moves on the board following the instructions of the bot and scanning the QR code on which they arrive at each stage, to verify that he/she has correctly executed the sequence of instructions. During the various stages of the game, different instruction sequences of increasing complexity are proposed, which introduce all the basic concepts of programming. Cody Maze is a “square coding tool” that challenges visitors to move like robots on a chessboard, interpreting and executing instructions. Inaf, the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics, has made it an even more powerful educational tool and a more appealing game, combining coding with the charm of astrophysics. To receive the sequence of instructions leading to the next QR code, participants must correctly answer an astronomy quiz with different themes depending on each box in the maze. In total, 250 astronomy quizzes have been prepared. The game is freely available and downloadable here: English version, Italian version |
| day 0, Sep 12, 10:30-12:00 |
ASTRO DIGITAL LIBRARY (ADL) Participants join online (in-person participants will be allocated a room and can join with their laptops) |
Astro Digital Library (ADL), by Open Space Foundation is a decentralized, community-owned digital library, which is loaded with curated astronomy contents that can be accessed without internet. ADL act as an off-grid technology platform targeted at geographically/ socially/ economically underserved communities with limited or no internet access. It is designed inline with the idea of community owned second chance education platforms – a feasible solution to bridge the inaccessibility of quality educational resources. ADL implemented in diverse local communities has proven to create an inclusive platform for effective astronomy outreach. ADL consist of the local wireless mesh network constructed using the wireless router which are connected to the centralized server. The server will deliver the astronomy and STEAM contents within the digital hotspot range. The content specifications are up to the communicator to decide, allowing for support to text/audio/visual modes without any linguistic barriers. The network range can also be customised based on population density and other community requirements. ADL thus tries to address the challenges of high cost of internet and inaccessibility of quality astronomy educational resources through the community lens. Astronomy, is an ever-evolving, but culture bound science. If the medium of astronomy communication does not consider the local flavour, the learning curve continues to exist. It is also a subject directly linked with technology and instrumentation, which are structurally unaffordable for the majority of the global population. Exposure to digitalised astronomy boost participation in scientific learning process and invoke curiosity among learners, who are historically deprived of educational resources. Thus, by interlinking decentralised technology and localised astronomy communication practices, ADL empowers local actors and communicators to lead the change. For more details – https://minkeni.com/ |
| day 0, Sep 12, 10:30-12:00 |
Interactive Virtual and Mixed Reality for Astronomy Outreach Participants join in-person |
Immersive technologies such as virtual, augmented, and mixed reality (XR, collectively) offer promise when used for outreach and education delivery. In this workshop, we introduce developing and implementing highly successful virtual and mixed reality astronomy outreach programs. Participants will step through the different experiences and engage with outreach experts who develop the programs, discussing the choices made in both content and hardware to ensure the experiences are engaging and relevant for participants and cost effective for all involved. Then after a review of results from studies on participant engagement with these programs, we will introduce a proposed conceptual framework for engagement with VR at public outreach events, focusing on four components of participant activity: immersion, facilitation, collaboration, and visualisation. Participants will be guided in using this framework to create ideas to optimise their existing immersive outreach content or to incorporate our freely available content to meet their outreach goals. OzGrav and The Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing at Swinburne University are dedicated to bringing inspiration to diverse audiences. Through the efforts of both teams multiple VR and MR astronomy outreach tools have been developed. We will highlight a free interactive VR app developed to allow users to explore and interact with the universe as well as a guided VR group tour and MR science museum display focusing on the detection of gravitational waves. Additionally, we will introduce newly developed no-touch interactive projections developed in response to Covid safety concerns. By combining our experiences in scientific knowledge, cutting-edge visualisation, and meaningful patron engagement, this workshop will give participants the tools needed to thoughtfully explore immersive technologies for astronomy outreach. |
| day 0, Sep 12, 10:30-12:00 |
SciComm Design Workshop: General tips and tricks to producing your own in-house designs Participants join in-person or online |
With tight communications budgets globally, we have to constantly look further at how we can optimise our own costs, especially when it comes to producing content for public communications. This workshop designed for sole communicators will be a hands on approach on where to start and how best to produce your own graphic design content, with a series of tips and tricks that SKAO has developed over many years, whilst looking at how to reduce costs, improve in-house capabilities, and even reduce our overall carbon footprint! |
| day 0, Sep 12, 10:30-12:00 |
Cultivating Your Online Platform Participants join in-person or online |
Want to tackle more social media with your scicomm? Come along to this interactive workshop with Kirsten Banks (aka AstroKirsten) to learn about some of the ways you can grow your social media platform to get you more opportunities in scicomm. A TikTok account is not necessary but encouraged to get involved in the workshop! |
| day 1, Sep 13, 16:00-17:30 |
Biocosmography: linking personal stories with astronomical phenomena through theater. Participants join in-person |
The objective of the workshop is to use the concept of biocosmography, the story that is formed by accessing a memory of an astronomical phenomenon of the past, in order to recognize that there is a link between our biography and the astronomical phenomena we have observed. This workshop proposes theater as an activating mechanism through a dramatic expression session, a methodology derived from theatrical pedagogy that uses play (“innate way of learning and the capacity of human beings to experience and appropriate what surrounds them in a pleasant way”, Boquete (2011)), to achieve educational objectives in a didactic and entertaining way. The dramatic expression session will be divided into four stages: preliminary, sensitization, experimentation and evaluation. These stages allow a progressive dynamic of play that allows access to a collective and collaborative social space. The main activity is experimentation, which through dramatic play the groups will write and socialize their biocosmographies, to be later represented. This biocosmography inextricably intertwined with personal history. This story is of a personal nature and, being produced from the activation of memory, it is constructed from the following axes: emotion (what it produced in the spectator), space (where it was) and narrative (how the story is constructed, which is related to its context and culture). From that place, the action of observing the sky is recognized as a cultural process linked to our life and culture. The socialization of these biocosmographies allows the recognition of individuality in a larger and collective context where, although the contexts, the ways of telling, the emotions, the places, etc., are diverse, the phenomena are common and the action of looking at the sky is present. |
| day 2, Sep 14, 14:00-15:30 |
Creating Astronomy Videos For YouTube Participants join in-person |
Video is a powerful medium. We are now surrounded by screens that can provide access to hundreds of millions of videos. Similarly, creating a video is now as easy as ever. As a result, more than 300 hundred hours of videos are uploaded to YouTube (the most popular video platform) every minute and more than a few billion videos are watched each day. In this crowded environment, how can you stand out without compromising your science?
In this workshop, we will focus on some of the basics required to create and sustain a successful astronomy/science YouTube channel. We will look at some successful astronomy channels on YouTube and discuss various styles of presentation styles and associated promises and challenges. We will assume that the participants are not video professionals, but are somewhat familiar with really basic video editing skills, such as using editing tools on their phones or using iMovie. We will start with science story-telling on videos and the ability to tailor your topic for a specific audience. In particular, how do we incorporate local cultural elements to enrich a video for the target audience. We will then learn basic story-boarding and incorporate the use of green screen effects (if appropriate) and simple animations. The participants may be asked to create a 1-2 minute video and upload it on YouTube. The last part of the workshop will focus on strategies to create and maintain a successful YouTube channel. This will include guidance on the creation of thumbnails, style and frequency of videos, and suggestions for audience engagement. |
| day 2, Sep 14, 16:00-17:30 |
Dedoscopio’s Book: Fun and Easy Hand-made Material for Astronomic Tactile Talks Participants join in-person or online |
Since 2018, Dedoscopio has been developing tactile talks around Chile. During the pandemic there was a hard time for in-person talks so we had to change to online version modality and continue with our inclusive project. We have done more than 50 talks during the past 5 years and participated in multiple stands explaining different astronomical phenomena through hand-made tactile models reaching Blind and Visually Impaired (BVI) participants and no BVI audience of all ages. We prove that our material is a good way to bring astronomy closer to everyone. Thus, to share our experience and reach every corner of the country, we write an instructive book with 4 talks explaining the models we had created. This book is available in Spanish and English for every person who wants to recreate them to work with the BVI community, children at school or to participate in a scientific fair in a fun way. During the workshop we would present this book, show the participants the models of the AGN, the trojan asteroids and put our hands on to build a tactile part of the sky model where an asteroid is passing. The main goal is that the participants learn how to create this specific model but using very low cost material, and also that they can transform it and use it in as many ways as possible. At the end of the workshop we would show that with a little bit of ingenuity and passion to innovate the way of doing outreach, can generate great changes in the community, to finally incorporate a real inclusion within the planned activities. |
| day 2, Sep 14, 16:00-17:30 |
Let’s light up the constellations! Participants join in-person or online |
The proposed maker experience brings students closer to Electronics using Astronomy as a common thread to create a final product with a great visual impact: a paper circuit in which the constellations light up, reproducing the brightness of the stars in the sky. By creating a paper circuit, students will learn easily and intuitively the basics of electricity and how circuits work. In the first part of the laboratory, students will familiarise themselves with the constellations. In the second part of the lesson, they will create their paper circuit, that is a low-voltage electronic circuit created on a sheet of paper using a conductive copper tape, LEDs and a small 3V button battery. The description of the lab is outlined here: https://play.inaf.it/en/light-up-the-constellations/ |
| day 3, Sep 15, 14:00-15:30 |
Pivoting PULSE@Parkes to the Public and Online, Live Radio Astronomy Participants join in-person or online |
PULSE@Parkes https://research.csiro.au/pulseatparkes/ is a successful education program run by CSIRO’s Space and Astronomy unit in Australia. Participants use the the CSIRO 64m Parkes radio telescope, Murriyang live but remotely to observe pulsars then analyse their data whilst interacting with our staff. Initially an education program designed for high school students in-person over recent years it has expanded its reach with the public through events such as Perth Astrofest and observatory open days. As such it gives the public a unique opportunity to experience a live observing experience with an iconic scientific instrument and learn about radio astronomy. The introduction of COVID19 lockdowns in Australia in March 2020 meant that almost overnight we had to modify our program to run fully online instead of in-person. Whilst potentially a major problem we explain how, due to recent changes to telescope operations and control interfaces combined with the spread of video conferencing tools, we were successfully able to pivot to a fully online delivery mode. Benefits included a much greater reach, allowing participants from across Australia, including those in regional and remote locations to actively participate. We can also include many more participants in a typical session. Special sessions have been run for external partners and events. We discuss the challenges and what we have learnt from these changes and outline possibilities for future developments. We will also discuss common issues encountered when engaging the public in radio astronomy and observing. In this workshop we have been allocated telescope time so participants will be able to control the telescope and participate in a live, remote session. We encourage discussion from participants as to how we can improve our program whilst also considering how they may be able to develop their own programs using their facilities. The workshop is suitable for in-person and online participants. |
| day 3, Sep 15, 14:00-15:30 |
Identifying Indigenous Astronomy Knowledge Systems in “westernised” indigenous communities Participants join in-person or online |
This workshop will be aimed at Communication and Science Engagement professionals working in indigenous communities. Some indigenous communities like the San decedents living in the towns surrounding the SKA observatory site in South Africa is no longer organised as a specific San group. These San Decedents form part of a larger group referred to by the South African Government as “Coloured” people. These communities are westernised to a large extent. Therefore, the Indigenous Knowledge systems on Astronomy and Cosmology is not clear and to most people from outside these communities it might seem that the Indigenous Astronomy and Cosmology is forgotten. When working in and with these communities it quickly becomes apparent that this is not the case. Community members have a very unique way of interacting with Knowledge provided during the construction of Scientific infrastructure development, like that of the SKA. If one is not sensitive towards Indigenous Knowledge systems It might be perceived as strange. The more isolated the communities the more apparent this becomes. The reason for this is that these communities have very strong oral and cultural practices that has been developed over thousands of years, stories of the stars, mythical creatures and the birth of the cosmos are shared through Art, Song Dance and storytelling.
This workshop will demonstrate a possible method to: 1. Show participants a possible way to sensitize themselves as communication professionals to worldviews and Indigenous Knowledge systems. |
| day 3, Sep 15, 16:00-17:30 |
Astronomy Communication for development Participants join online (in-person participants will be allocated a room and can join with their laptops) |
The relevance, or, importance of astronomy in relation to the community at large is often questioned. It is therefore important to identify the role that astronomy communication can play in development. The aim of this workshop is thus to apply the skills of astronomers and astronomy communicators toward contributing to development. The workshop will focus on how astronomy communication can be used as an economic driver within communities, groups, or by individuals. The workshop will consist of introductory talks on development, as well as the presentation of various case studies detailing projects which have been able to successfully make use of astronomy communication to promote economic growth amongst groups / communities. During the second half of the workshop, participants will be split into groups and will take part in a design thinking task around projects which would have social impact. With the aid of facilitators, as well as resource materials, groups will build a project / business model which makes use of astronomy communication for development. As an outcome of the workshop, participants should be able to identify opportunities for development projects involving astronomy communication and have the resource materials necessary to go about implementing such projects. |
| day 3, Sep 15, 16:00-17:30 |
Re-imagining community engagement for astronomical observatories with the Maunakea Community Engagement program leads Participants join in-person |
The Maunakea Observatories (MKO) – the collection of observatories with existing facilities – directly employ more than 500 members of the Hawaiʻi Island community. Their 50-year history of innovation and discovery has led global astronomy and created a long-standing presence for the sector in Hawaiʻi. The relationships that connect these institutions to the communities they are a part of have been, in some cases, complicated. Astronomy was invited to Maunakea as an economic engine and an unparalleled opportunity to bring academic prestige to the state of Hawaiʻi, both of which continue to flourish today. But with few exceptions, benefit to the general public on the level of personal impact is not commonly felt.
The MKOs are in the midst of a deep reset of community relations strategy and implementation, based on the understanding that a broad, near-term shift toward a more collaborative dynamic on the ground in Hawaiʻi — one of mutual investment in the community’s interests — is of critical importance to ensuring a healthy future for astronomy on Maunakea. Additionally, the release of long range plans in the United States and Canada emphasize the need for community based astronomy models and authentic engagement with Indigenous communities. Priorities for this work include: ● Dedicating concerted effort to authentic, personal engagement at all levels of community, leading with relationship-building and listening. |
