Press Releases

7 November 2018: HundrED, a global education nonprofit organisation, researches inspiring innovations in education from around the world and annually selects the most inspiring 100 initiatives. Educational practices had to meet the criteria of being innovative, impactful and scalable to make it onto the list. For the 2019 list, HundrED has recognized IAU astroEDU among the top 100 innovations.

5 April 2018:

17 January 2018:

5 October 2017: On 4 October at the HundrED Innovation Summit, Universe Awareness (UNAWE) was officially announced as one of the HundrED's 100 Global Inspiring Innovations in Education.

16 December 2016: Space Scoop website selected as one of the Great Websites for Kids by the American Library Association.

30 March 2016: The 2016 Edinburgh Medal will be jointly awarded to Kevin Govender from the Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD) and the International Astronomical Union (IAU). This prestigious medal is given in recognition of their wide reaching contribution to science and will be presented during the 2016 Edinburgh International Science Festival on 30 March. The medal celebrates the creation and practical establishment of the IAU Office of Astronomy for Development, hosted at the South African Astronomical Observatory and led by Kevin Govender and the International Astronomical Union. Previous medal winners include four Nobel Prize laureates. This is only the second time that the Edinburgh Medal has been jointly awarded to an individual and an organisation; in 2013 Professor Peter Higgs and CERN received the medal.

16 December 2015:

4 May 2015: Universe Awareness is one of fifteen projects chosen by WISE for providing compelling and innovative solutions to today’s most pressing challenges in education.

9 December 2014:

9 May 2014: Leiden University’s Universe Awareness educational programme has launched an innovative Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign this week at the 13th International Conference on Public Communication of Science and Technology (PCST 2014) in Brazil. The campaign will support the efforts of Universe Awareness to share the educational toolkit, Universe in a Box, with underprivileged communities around the world.

29 November 2013:

27 May 2013: Leiden Observatory is hosting the Astronomy, Radio Sources and Society, The Wonderful Century symposium on 10-13 June 2013. The event will bring together some of today's top research astronomers, science, policy makers, science communicators and educators and members of the media to discuss several topics on astronomy, radio sources and society and celebrate Professor George Miley’s achievements in the different domains of astronomy.

31 May 2012:

26 March 2012: Chairs and coordinators of committees from parliaments of Europe, South Africa and the Netherlands spoke during the opening of a workshop on “Astronomy to Inspire and Educate Young Children” at Leiden University in the Netherlands. The workshop brings together experts in astronomy education, teachers, astronomers, politicians, artists, diplomats and members of the EU Universe Awareness global network.

25 August 2011:

8 February 2011: The European Union (EU) has granted 1.9 million euros to support the 6-country educational programme EUNAWE, based on Universe Awareness (UNAWE). UNAWE is, an IAU-endorsed programme that uses the beauty and grandeur of the Universe to encourage young children, particularly those from an underprivileged background, to have an interest in science and technology and foster their sense of global citizenship from the earliest age. Although UNAWE was only founded five years ago, it is already active in 40 countries and comprises a global network of almost 500 astronomers, teachers and other educators.

24 August 2006: A new educational initiative in astronomy was officially launched at a press briefing at the General Assembly on Tuesday. Universe Awareness (UNAWE) is an international project that will expose underprivileged young children, aged between 4 and 10 years, to the inspirational aspects of astronomy. The team overseeing the development of UNAWE has representatives from 15 countries on 5 continents.