ODAA2

The Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA) is the largest Astronomy Institute of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC). The creation of the Institute's Gender Equality Commission and the annual elaboration and approval of the Gender Equality Plan (GEP) of the IAA-CSIC since 2017 confirm the IAA support for inclusive initiatives in gender equality. In this presentation, I will show the effectiveness of the different GEPs over time, by analyzing the statistics segregated by gender of the main activities of the last years at IAA.

How to cite: Passas-Varo, M.: The effectiveness of Gender Equality Plans in public research centers: the example of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, Europlanet Science Congress 2022, Granada, Spain, 18–23 Sep 2022, EPSC2022-1238, https://doi.org/10.5194/epsc2022-1238, 2022.

'A Touch of Space Weather' is a project that brings space weather science into the hands of blind and visually impaired high-school students. This project was awarded an EGU Public Engagement Grant in 2021.

We address three challenges: 

• There is a high demand for educational material addressing STEM topics for blind and visually impaired students (B&VI).
• During the covid pandemic, teachers and supporters of B&VI students required audio educational material.
• Tactile images that translate visual content for B&VI students are needed. The challenge is to create them so that everyone can easily reproduce them.

Why space weather?

This project wants to highlight the importance of space weather, as it influences nearly every aspect of our modern life ranging from banking, navigation, and telecommunications to the power supply. It is an interdisciplinary subject and, therefore, ideal for explaining complex scientific topics. 

All topics addressed in this project are main points in science high-school education, such as the Sun, Earth's atmosphere, Earth's magnetic field, Radiation dose, and others. The explanation of these topics is done through the 'space weather lenses' to assure that the students understand the effects of cosmic radiation, solar wind and other phenomena on the human body, technology and infrastructure.

What do we develop?

• Audio booklets that address specific topics related to space weather while being relevant to high school education 
• Tactile images that help blind and visually impaired students to feel visual content relevant to the audio booklets

1) Audio booklets

The audio booklets will cover 12 topics:

• Sun
• Solar storm
• Earth's atmosphere
• Earth's magnetic field
• Radiation dose
• Aurora
• Moon exploration
• Space flight
• Mars
• Animal's magnetoreception

After receiving feedback from a group of six educators and teaching supporters for B&VI students, we have found out high priority topics that will be prepared first.

The audio booklets will be provided in three languages:

• Dutch
• French
• English.

2) Tactile images and 3D models

Transformation of visual content into tactile content is not easy and needs plenty of tryouts. We developed nine tactile images that help to envision content from the audio booklets:

• The Sun
• Earth's atmosphere
• Earth's magnetic field
• Formation of aurora
• Aurora
• Radio communication
• Geomagnetically induced electrical currents
• Space weather effects
• Radiation belts

All tactile images are made from easy-to-get materials from hobby shops. This way, everyone can reproduce the tactile images, not only the teacher but also family members & friends of B&VI students.

We have selected 11 models for 3D printing relevant to the project's topics. These models are public, and anyone with a 3D printer can print them out.