The Andy Thomas Space Foundation will conduct the First Australian Space Education Forum in Perth in conjunction with APRSAF on Monday 25th November 2024.

This event, focused on Space and STEM Education, will aim to inspire today’s students to become tomorrow’s space workforce leaders.

In the first session, primary and secondary teachers will have access to accredited professional training to improve their knowledge of space industry opportunities, as well as examining how to use the teaching of space topics as a tool to inspire students and prepare them for exciting careers in space and other STEM fields.

The second and third session will focus on students from primary school through to university level and will provide them with the opportunity to learn about career pathways in the space industry.

Join the Foundation and our passionate partner organisations to learn more about the opportunities in Australia’s growing space industry.

Join CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, in conjunction with the Australian Centre for Space Governance (ACSG), to find out more about AquaWatch Australia and the proposed concept for AquaWatch Regional ASEAN Alliance (AQWRAA) at a virtual webinar, and a follow-on in person workshop at APRSAF-30 in Perth, Australia.

Currently 2.2 billion people do not have access to clean water and sanitation and 3 billion don’t have access to water quality data. The scale of this impact cannot be solved through incremental change – it requires systems transformation, like AquaWatch.

Integrating data from space and on the ground, AquaWatch will empower decision making through accessibility to actionable water quality data. Improving access to accurate water quality data will increase the resilience of communities who depend on water, as well as improve the outcomes for our natural environment, economies reliant on water systems. The proposed AQWRAA concept will look to establish AquaWatch for the Asia Pacific region through partnerships and co-design.

The AQWRAA webinar will include an introduction to CSIRO’s AquaWatch program, highlighting its success to date and its ambition as a ‘weather service’ for water quality monitoring. The webinar will showcase current AquaWatch demonstration sites and introduce the proposed regional approach to water quality management for the Asia Pacific region: AQWRAA. It is proposed that the AQWRAA will provide an open and flexible framework to improve accessibility to water quality data across the Asia Pacific region.

The in-person AQWRAA workshop will provide participants with an opportunity to hear more about the AQWRAA concept. It will support the exchange of ideas and encourage participants to share how we can collectively build on expertise and partnerships across the region, from space applications and technological capabilities, to on ground sensors and community engagement.

It is CSIRO and ACSG’s vision that AQWRAA will be a co-designed water monitoring system that utilised space applications for on-ground benefits water quality benefits for the Asia Pacific region.

AQWRAA Webinar:
13 November 2024
2.00PM TO 3.00PM AWST (6.00AM TO 7.00AM GMT)

AQWRAA In Person Workshop:
27 November 2024
4.00PM TO 6PM (AWST)
Perth, Australia.
Specific location details to be provided post registering

Supporting human health in space is a free workshop designed to engage students’ interest in STEM via running their own, guided experiments and interacting with physicists, botanists and other scientists from La Trobe University and Plants for Space.

This workshop is focused on secondary students (yr 7-10). They will learn about food for space and perform online radiation experiments. Students' will also conduct a design sprint focused on human health in Space and will design Moon bases and Martian gardens, presenting their creations to experts both in person and online via Zoom at the end of the day.

This workshop has been created and mapped to the Australian Curriculum: lower to middle secondary. The complexity of the sessions is adjusted by staff, to meet the needs of the cohort.

This workshop will be offered as a hybrid event where students can participate online or in-person at the university of Western Australia. Travel funding is available for schools who wish to apply. Contact Dr Connie Darmanin for further information.

It is generally agreed sustainability and responsibility are key to the preservation of space as a commons for the benefit of all humankind. Yet, it must be acknowledged there exist important differences in how the terms “sustainability” and “responsibility” are understood. Cross-national differences are evident, but so too are cross-sectoral differences across civil, military, and commercial space. Understanding the reasons behind such differences is important to promote greater dialogue and understanding. More crucially, a mapping of these diverse perspectives will be helpful in identifying commonalities that may serve as foundations for greater cross-national and sectoral collaboration enhancing sustainable and responsible norms and behaviors in space. This online Side Event will bring together a range of Asia-Pacific expert speakers from military, civil and commercial space to exchange perspectives on (i) cross-national and sectoral views on sustainability and responsibility in space, (ii) points of contrast among these, but more importantly, areas of commonality that may be harnessed for collaborative pursuits, and (iii) examples and best practices in cross-national and sectoral collaborative approaches promoting sustainable and responsible norms and behaviors in space. Through perspective exchange and interactive discussion, attendees will gain insights into diverse cross-national and sectoral perspectives on space sustainability and responsibility; commonalities that may be harnessed to build collaborative interfaces; and real-world examples and best practices that may inspire future collaborative initiatives.