Better Inclusion, Better Science, Building Impact in MW-GAIA

This 3 day school will cover topics related to improving inclusion in the science process, how this leads to better science, and more impactful science. In the school the MW-Gaia community will discuss, with the help of professionals from several scientific and social disciplines, current best practice in inclusion and impact and learn about possible new initiatives and solutions. Speakers will show how their Equality/Diversity/Inclusion commitment is fundamental in underpinning their research.  Topics for the School include:  public engagement with researchpractical skills on engagement with different audiences (including policy-makers)practical development of a public engagement project about Gaia. training in social innovationapplying scientific knowledge to tackle social issuesgender and diversity trainingcontribute to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals
Day one will focus on EDI – what is equity, diversity and inclusion? Participants will consider how they identify. How improving diversity, inclusion, in a project can increase the science impact of the project.Day two will consider the application to the case of Gaia. A distributed, Pan European project, with science impact across astronomy, across domains. How the project culture within Gaia aims to promote greater understanding between the team, leading to better science outputs.Day three will provide training in communication of ideas, and how this can help reinforce students ability to actively participate in and promote the development of a positive and inclusive culture within the MW-Gaia network. 
The meeting is part of the project “Revealing the Milky Way with Gaia” (MW-Gaia) funded by a COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) Union action. MW-Gaia’s main purpose is to provide a better understanding of the Galaxy, its stars and planets, to enhance the potential of the community in its scientific exploitation of the observations of more than a billion stars with the European Space Agency’s Gaia satellite, and to enhance the development of the next steps in astrometry and space astrometry missions. The meeting is especially aimed at WG5 members of the project, who will discuss the current state of their work and discuss the future decisions to be taken. Participants are mainly expected from countries that are part of the COST MW-Gaia Action, but the workshop is open to scientists from all over the world, an international participation that we want to encourage. Researchers who are in the early stages of their careers and those from underrepresented countries will play a key role. The presence of some of the leads of the MW Gaia project, scientists of recognized international prestige, is also expected; as well as high-level astronomers as guest speakers. In order to enable participation by people who might be unable to attend physically due to travel or time zone constraints or through a wish to reduce the carbon footprint of the event, the school will happen in hybrid format.  The financial support can be awarded for Early Carrier researchers and researchers from ITC countries. You can apply for it in registration form.  

Registration deadline for grant requests participants 30 of April
Registration deadline for on site participants 2 of JuneRegistration deadline for online participants 1 of July
  Link to Registration   Scientific

Organizing Committee

Carlos Viscasillas Vázquez, Vilnius University, Lithuania
Lola Balaguer University of Barcelona, Spain
Josefina F. Ling, University of de Santiago de Compostela, Spain
(CHAIR) Elsa Moreira, Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences, Portugal
Gražina Tautvaišienė, Vilnius University, Lithuania
Guillaume Guiglion, Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Königstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg

Local Organizing Committee
(CHAIR) Šarūnas Mikolaitis, Vilnius University, Lithuania
Carlos Viscasillas Vázquez, Vilnius University, Lithuania
Edita Stonkutė, Vilnius University, Lithuania
Arnas Drazdauskas, Vilnius University, Lithuania
Gražina Tautvaišienė, Vilnius University, Lithuania
Renata Minkevičiūtė, Vilnius University, Lithuania
Markus Ambrosch, Vilnius University, Lithuania

Invited Speakers and Lecturers

Sara García Alonso, Researcher, Astronaut, ESA, Spain
Amelia Bayo, Professor, ESO, Germany Josefina F. Ling Ling, Proffesor, Universidade Santiago de Compostela Observatorio Astronomico RM Aller Avda de las Ciencias, Spain  Enrique Pérez Montero, Researcher, Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, Spain
Erika Pakštienė, Researcher, Vilnius University, Lithuania
Gražina Tautvaišienė, Professor, Vilnius University, Lithuania  Elena Sacchi, Researcher, Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam, Germany
Edita Stonkutė, Researcher, Vilnius University, Lithuania


More information and registration on the website http://mao.tfai.vu.lt/mwimpact/