A team of four Universe Awareness Student Ambassadors from Leiden University developed a project to implement a series education and public outreach activities in Timor-Leste on the occasion of a rare astronomical event: the transit of Venus 2012, the last in our life time. This project aimed to start an on-going collaboration between EU-UNAWE and Timor-Leste and to engage the Timor-Leste children with science and technology and broaden their horizons. The 5-day long programme included children’s activities, teachers training workshop, public talks, public exhibition and a massive public observing event of the transit of Venus. This experience brought to light many lessons on organising such event of this scale in a developing country, and we present the funding experience during this talk.

1. A Universe Awareness Student
Ambassador Project
Ainil Abdullah, Cindy Gunwan, Carla Natario,
Jaya Ramchandani, and Pedro Russo

3. What can a student ambassador do?

4. What can a student ambassador do?
Workshops

5. What can a student ambassador do?
Workshops
Educational
Resources

6. What can a student ambassador do?
Workshops
Educational
Resources
Online
Communication

7. What can a student ambassador do?
Workshops
Educational
Resources
Online
Communication
National and
Global Projects

8. What can a student ambassador do?
Workshops
Educational
Resources
Online
Communication
National and
Global Projects

9. Global Visibility of 2012 Transit of Venus

10. Global Visibility of 2012 Transit of Venus

11. Global Visibility of 2012 Transit of Venus

12. Use the occasion of the Transit of Venus
2012 to start an on-going collaboration
between UNAWE and Timor-Leste for
inspiring children with our wonderful
cosmos.

13. Use the occasion of the Transit of Venus
2012 to start an on-going collaboration
between UNAWE and Timor-Leste for
inspiring children with our wonderful
cosmos.
Dates: May 31 to June 8, 2012

14. The experience of organizing from far and
how we raised funds

15. The LU Team in Timor-Leste

16. The LU Team in Timor-Leste
Children’s activities +
Assisting whoever
needs it

17. The LU Team in Timor-Leste
PR, Logistics,
Administrative, Media,
Advertisement
Children’s activities +
Assisting whoever
needs it

18. The LU Team in Timor-Leste
University exhibition
+ talks
PR, Logistics,
Administrative, Media,
Advertisement
Children’s activities +
Assisting whoever
needs it

19. The LU Team in Timor-Leste
University exhibition
+ talks
PR, Logistics,
Administrative, Media,
Advertisement
Children’s activities +
Assisting whoever
needs it
Funding +
Resources +
Teacher training

20. The LU Team in Timor-Leste
Overall PM +
Public Event
University exhibition
+ talks
PR, Logistics,
Administrative, Media,
Advertisement
Children’s activities +
Assisting whoever
needs it
Funding +
Resources +
Teacher training

21. May 31
Getting Organized

22. June 1
Astronomy Activities

23. June 2
Teacher Training Workshop

24. June 3
More Preparations

25. June 4
University Exhibition on Astronomy

26. June 4
…followed by talks

27. June 4
…and demonstrations

28. June 5
More Astronomy Activities

29. June 6
Transit of Venus Observations

33. June 7
Discussing the Future

34. Engagement
Developing
A
Informal
Contact
Understanding
B
Connect
C
Practice
Identifying
D
E
Passive
Active
Collectors
Participation Participation & Analysts
Amateur
Researchers
Russo & van den Broek, Engagement levels in astronomy communication, CAP2013, Warsaw

35. Engagement
Developing
A
Informal
Contact
Understanding
B
Connect
C
Practice
Identifying
D
E
Passive
Active
Collectors
Participation Participation & Analysts
Amateur
Researchers
Hard to
estimate
Russo & van den Broek, Engagement levels in astronomy communication, CAP2013, Warsaw

36. Engagement
Developing
A
Informal
Contact
Hard to
estimate
Understanding
B
Connect
C
Practice
Identifying
D
E
Passive
Active
Collectors
Participation Participation & Analysts
Amateur
Researchers
3800
Public
Russo & van den Broek, Engagement levels in astronomy communication, CAP2013, Warsaw

37. Engagement
Developing
A
Informal
Contact
Hard to
estimate
Understanding
B
Connect
C
Practice
Identifying
D
E
Passive
Active
Collectors
Participation Participation & Analysts
3800
Public
Amateur
Researchers
800 Children
30 Teachers
Russo & van den Broek, Engagement levels in astronomy communication, CAP2013, Warsaw

38. Behind the scenes…

39. Government Level Contacts
• Cabinet of the Minister of Education
• Cooperation Affairs Adviser, National University of
Timor-Leste
• Portuguese Embassy
• Ministry of Tourism
• European Delegation

40. Contacting the Local Teachers
• School: Science Teacher, Ana Bessa, from Escola
Portuguesa de Díli shows interest
• University: Teresinha Soares, Head of Physics
Department, happy to include us

41. Funding Sources
• LKBF (Travel Grant): €2000
• HE Space: €1000
• Astron: €400
• Crowdfunding: €888
• EU-UNAWE: €3072
About €7,500

42. Expenses
• Tickets: €4,745.39
• Lodging (hotel in Jakarta): €455.20
• Others (food, visa, airport tax): €1,050.06
• Solar googles + activities materials: €447.61
• Printing costs: €662.42
About €7,500

43. Plenty In-Kind Contributions
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Escola Portuguesa de Díli
University of Timor-Lorosae
Camões Institute
Foundation Oriente
Portuguese Astronomical Society
Baader Planetarium
IAU Office of Astronomy for Development
EurAstro
AstroBook Drive/ Boston University
PCs4kids
NASA Sun-Earth Connections
Berkeley Science Education Centre
ESO
Bosscha Observatory, Bandung Institute of Technology
Art Sorrisus -Dental Implant Institute, Alverca, Portugal.
Sália Pharmacy, Setúbal, Portugal
Alola Foundation, Timor-Leste
UN Peacekeeping programme

44. Plenty In-Kind Contributions
•
•
•
Escola Portuguesa de Díli
University of Timor-Lorosae
Camões Institute
•
Foundation Oriente
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Portuguese Astronomical Society
Baader Planetarium
IAU Office of Astronomy for Development
EurAstro
AstroBook Drive/ Boston University
PCs4kids
NASA Sun-Earth Connections
Berkeley Science Education Centre
ESO
Bosscha Observatory, Bandung Institute of Technology
Art Sorrisus -Dental Implant Institute, Alverca, Portugal.
Sália Pharmacy, Setúbal, Portugal
Alola Foundation, Timor-Leste
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Telescopes
Books
Accommodation
Transportation
Educational material
Laptops
Solar Glasses
Time
People

45. Logistical Arrangements
• Escola Portuguesa de Díli
• University of Timor-Lorosae
• UN Peacekeeping Programme

46. Ongoing Collaboration
• Skype Teleconference
• Universe in a Box Localisation and Teacher Training
starts in November

47. Take Home Messages

48. Take Home Messages
• Students can contribute a lot to outreach

49. Take Home Messages
• Students can contribute a lot to outreach
• Focus on people, not resources

50. Take Home Messages
• Students can contribute a lot to outreach
• Focus on people, not resources
• More local contact beforehand

51. Take Home Messages
• Students can contribute a lot to outreach
• Focus on people, not resources
• More local contact beforehand
• Crowdfunding is a great idea for small projects

52. Take Home Messages
• Students can contribute a lot to outreach
• Focus on people, not resources
• More local contact beforehand
• Crowdfunding is a great idea for small projects
• In-kind contributions can take you a long way