The Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD) and the International Virtual Observatory Alliance (IVOA) have a partnership that aims to bring together the complementary resources and expertise of these institutions to advance the application of astronomical data and/or technology in different areas of society, most notably for education, development and public outreach. To this end, we will offer a special grant to support the development of Virtual Observatory (VO) tools in an undergraduate teaching context.
Deliverables
The successful grant holder will deliver on the following
- A desktop survey of learning outcomes for undergraduate astronomy/physics curricula in South Africa and Africa;
- Identify where existing VO tutorials and/or resources map onto learning outcomes in those curricula;
- Write up minimum requirements for running those tutorials, e.g. computing, internet speed, lab hours required;
- Work with the relevant stakeholders to make South African data available in VO tools, and create (or adapt existing) VO tutorials using SA data; and
- Present those tutorials to course convenors in one-on-one sessions.
Application
Proposals should not exceed two pages (minimum font size 11) and include the following:
- Name and contact details of the proposer;
- Team members’ profiles (who will be involved and what are their roles/skills/experience);
- Plans to deliver on the above requirements;
- Detailed timelines and milestones;
- Detailed Budget (for professional costs, rates and time estimates should be provided); and
- Any additional motivation.
Selection
A selection panel, comprising representatives from the OAD and the SAAO VO team will assess the proposals based on the following criteria:
- The capability of the project leader and team (score out of 10);
- Feasibility of project plan (score out of 10, based on plans and timelines);
- Cost-effectiveness (score out of 10, based on budget and timelines); and
- Additional considerations (score out of 5, based on motivation).
Deadline
Proposals should be sent as a pdf to vanessa@astro4dev.org by 15th April 2022.
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