All over bar the accounting: IAU GA25
Organizational aspects of the General Assembly
The Sydney meeting of the 25th General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union is now well and truly over, and what a meeting it turned out to be! Held during the period 13 - 26 July at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre in Darling Harbour, even the Gods were on-side the weather was superb and Sydney and its Harbour could hardly have been more inviting.
The National Organizing Committee (NOC) now has the difficult task of taking stock of the meeting and its organization, in particular establishing what should have been done better. As NOC Co-Chairs we are in the process of producing a final report of the General Assembly (GA), and will send copies to the organizers of the 2006, 26th General Assembly in Prague in the hope that they can benefit from our experiences and avoid our mistakes.
It is amazing that the our complex General Assembly occurred with so few problems - with its six Symposia, 21 Joint Discussions, four Special Sessions, three Invited Discourses, and Working Group, Division/Commission and ad-hoc meetings, not to mention an Astro Expo, and set of daily and longer tours. Added to this were a spectacular evening reception and opening in the Sydney Opera House, a final General Assembly "Party", a "Festival of Astronomy" for the public (public talks, a "Schools Day" and "Astronomy on the Go" activities organized by the University of NSW, "Science in the Pub" [Figure 1], and other events), and a special Industry Day.
Figure 1: One of the "Science in the Pub" sessions associated with the GA. The picture shows Fred Watson playing the guitar. The other speaker for the event was David Malin.
The final meeting statistics are still being put together, but they appear to be extremely pleasing. The participant list included:
1830 IAU members and invited participants;
263 registered guests and children;
94 student-volunteers assisted with the organization;
68 media and exhibitors;
24 teachers attending a special session on education;
21 lighting engineers attending a working group meeting on light pollution; and
125 attendees at a special Industry Day meeting.
Countries with over 100 participants were USA (632), Australia (388), Japan (145), China (136), UK (131), Germany (117) and France (104). In all, 66 countries plus autonomous regions of China were represented.
A satisfactory financial outcome was possible with the generous support from the Australian Federal Government, and by the two major sponsors CSIRO and Connell Wagner. In addition, AARNeT and GrangeNet provided support for the internet traffic, Gruber Foundation for the Opening Ceremony, and Sydney's Lord Mayor for a reception. The UNSW, Donovan Trust and British Council provided support for the associated events. Significant travel grant support for participants was provided by the European Southern Observatory and NASA in addition to the IAU travel grants.
Some other general features of interest were:
The GA Opening Ceremony was held in the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House on 15 July. The ceremony included an organ recital by Australia's chief scientist Robin Batterham, the first formal presentation of the Gruber cosmology prize (to Rasheed Sunyaev) as part of the IAU GA and other events (Figure 2).
Figure 2: The Descendance dance group performing in the Opera House at the Opening Ceremony of the IAU GA25
At the Closing Ceremony on 24 July , Ron Ekers of ATNF became IAU President for the period 2003 2006.
A student-volunteer program was established in which university students participated in the GA operation. In return for assistance equivalent to five days' work 94 students participated in the GA for a reduced registration fee.
A Conference Centre exhibition hall was used as a communal area for the GA participants. It also contained the Astro Expo, poster presentations, internet café, 150-seat theatrette, café and childcare centre.
No restriction was put on the number of poster presentations approved by the scientific organizing committees of the various meetings, and the final number exceeded 1360. This was more than originally planned, and some posters had to be displayed in foyers outside Convention Centre meeting rooms.
Childcare facilities: for children younger than five years a "creche" was provided in the exhibition hall; older children were looked after by a group of student childcare teachers from the University of Technology Sydney, who took them on various tours around Sydney etc.
Internet access was provided by an internet café including 40 PCs and 48 laptop connection points. Extensive wireless internet access was provided throughout the Convention Centre by CSIRO staff from Telecommunications and the ATNF.
An Astro Expo was organized for the benefit of both participants and the general public; it contained 45 individual displays. Part of the exhibition was an "Australia Pavilion", aimed at presenting Australian science to an international audience. It was funded by a grant for international showcasing from the Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training.
An "Industry Day" was funded by the Commonwealth Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources, consisting of a one-day workshop held in the Exhibition Hall theatrette on 23 July; the attendance included 125 representatives from 75 organizations. Presentations on the needs for future astronomical instrumentation, and opportunities for industry were made by an international group of IAU participants.
Daily issues of a newspaper "The Magellanic Times" edited by Seth Shostack from The SETI institute were published during the GA. Some copies of the newspaper are still available from Helen Sim at ATNF (Helen.Sim@csiro.au).
A media campaign was launched for the GA and the Festival of Astronomy on 19 June at Sydney Observatory.
Helen Sim (ATNF and Anglo-Australian Observatory [AAO]) ran a very active press office throughout the GA.
Several matters kept us extremely nervous during the last year of organization. One concerned a prolonged international unrest that threatened to limit the number of participants from overseas, following the September 11 disaster and subsequent terrorist alarms, October 2002 Bali bombing, Iraq war and SARS outbreak. Another was the impact of registration fees (AUD 880 including GST) higher than for previous GAs, required to balance the high venue costs. With costs of international travel also taken into account, and the increasing value of the Australian dollar against many other currencies over the last year, many astronomers were concerned at the high cost of attending the Sydney meeting. Up until the last few weeks before the meeting the budget was a major concern.
Remarks on the early General Assembly organization
It is appropriate to reflect on the early history of the GA organization. The gestation time was almost a decade. In the early 1990s, Don Mathewson, then a member of the IAU Executive, spearheaded a move for an Australian IAU GA. It was initially proposed that the meeting be held just prior to the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000, but fortunately commonsense prevailed and a 2003 date was subsequently proposed. Following strong initiative from Jeremy Mould, at that stage recently appointed Director of Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories (MSSSO), and major input from Sandra Harrison (then at the AAO), a bid was developed and submitted to the IAU Executive in 1995. The success of the bid was announced at the Kyoto IAU General Assembly in 1997.
John Norris (MSSSO) convened the first meeting of an organizing committee. A number of different people held the Chair of the NOC leading up to the GA: John Norris, MSSSO; Lawrence Cram, Sydney University; Raymond Haynes, ATNF; and Harry Hyland, James Cook University. In April 2002, John Whiteoak of ATNF joined Harry as Co-Chairs of the local organizing committee. The Astronomical Society of Australia (ASA) agreed to take on the financial responsibility for the GA with the National Committee for Astronomy as the formal adhering body to the IAU.
Epilogue
Hosting the GA in Australia has required a considerable effort and huge financial cost. To estimate the true cost to the astronomy community account must be taken of the loss of scientific productivity over several years for many people who have been involved in the organization, plus the associated salary costs of these people, and the other costs absorbed by institutions travel to GA-associated meetings, cost of meeting support (e.g. cost of teleconference calls, secretarial support etc).
So what have been the benefits to Australia apart from the obvious financial benefit of having some 2000 visitors spending two weeks in Sydney? Prestige of being chosen as hosts? We have managed to take advantage of having the world's astronomers on our doorsteps to publicise Australian astronomy more than usual through the exhibition displays (Australia Pavilion), Industry Day, Observatories Tour and sessions on the history of Australian radio astronomy. The events have brought the attention of the Federal Government to the place of Astronomy in Australian and international science. One important bonus was the opportunity provided for Australian astronomy students to participate in a GA. The Australian public had the opportunity to learn more about astronomy via the Astro Expo, public talks, other associated events, and increased media publicity. Free or discounted participation was provided to non-astronomers with particular interest in some of the sessions. These included Australian lighting engineers and the Commission-50 working group meeting on controlling light pollution, teachers and people with a special interest in the Australian history sessions (e.g. grandchildren of pioneer radio astronomer, J. L. Pawsey).
In all, could we have done better? Maybe.
John Whiteoak
ATNF Honorary Fellow & Co-Chair, NOC
Harry Hyland
Deputy Vice-Chancellor James Cook University & Co-Chair, NOC
Ron Ekers
Federation Fellow & IAU President
(John.Whiteoak@csiro.au)
(Harry.Hyland@jcu.edu.au)
(Ron.Ekers@csiro.au)