Student opportunity for the International Astronautical Congress 2011: African Astronaissance
ESA’s Education Office offers European students the opportunity to attend the International Astronautical Congress (IAC). This year’s IAC will be held on 3 to 7 October 2011 in Cape Town, South Africa.
The theme of the 62nd IAC is “African Astronaissance”.
The annual congress is the main annual meeting point for space professionals and provides participating students with a once in a lifetime opportunity to create many valuable contacts with both professionals and like-minded students from all over the world.
Throughout the congress students can interact with experts, listen to their views on the future of space and learn about the latest developments in the space industry. Various social events will also provide a congenial atmosphere for meeting other students and an opportunity to make valuable contacts and friendships.
At the same time students are encouraged to actively contribute to the congress by presenting their own research to the space community. Some will have the opportunity to give presentations in the official technical sessions of the congress, alongside leading space experts who can often provide valuable feedback and guidance.
Students selected by ESA will be sponsored to cover their registration fees and a contribution towards travel and accommodation expenses.
Eligibility criteria
The student participation programme attracts mainly science and engineering students, often specialising in space studies. However, space is a truly interdisciplinary field. Therefore the programme admits a significant number of students who are studying related subjects, such as business, law or medicine. As such there are no requirements as to the subject of the degree studied.
To check your eligibility, as well as the conditions of sponsorship, please refer to the terms and conditions of sponsorship.
How to apply
In order to be considered for selection, you are requested to:
Register and submit an abstract at the IAC website by 2 March 2011 (20:00 GMT). Please refer to the IAC 2011 call for papers for the relevant instructions.
Apply for ESA sponsorship under the Student Participation Programme by 25 April 2011 (midnight CET). To do so please:
1. Register for ESA Education projects. You will receive an email confirmation with a username and password for your login.
2. Log in and select IAC 2011 under the list of ESA Education projects.
3. In the ‘Motivation’ field, please provide details on the abstract/paper you have submitted to IAC including the name of the primary author, title of the paper and session number (as indicated in the IAC Call for Papers).
4.In the ‘Document 1’ field, upload a Cover Letter detailing why you would like to attend IAC (including why your paper is of importance), what you hope to learn there and why you consider yourself a good candidate to be sponsored by the ESA Education Office. (PDF)
5. In the ‘Document 2’ field, upload your CV (PDF, maximum 2 pages, no images)
6. In the ‘Document 3’ field, upload a copy of your Abstract (PDF, as submitted to IAC) Authors whose abstracts have been accepted will be notified by the IAF mid-April, after which they will be requested to upload a full manuscript of the paper they are planning to present. On the basis of these results ESA will select several students for the sponsored student participation programme. Successful applicants will be notified by ESA by mid-May with further details on travel arrangements.
Background
The IAC student participation programme is an initiative of the International Space Education Board (ISEB). Launched in 1999 by ESA, NASA, JAXA, CNES and CSA, the programme is now well established and it offers students interested in space a unique combination of special talks, discussions and networking opportunities in addition to the many technical sessions of the IAC itself.
To date, more than 2000 students have taken part in this programme, facilitating a generation handover of space expertise from experienced professionals to the enthusiastic youth.
