Speaker on Irish membership of ESO

Hi all,

In a bid to publicise the benefits of membership of the ESO to members of the general public, we at DCU Astrosoc are hoping to run a talk on the issue, and possible a debate (with the aid of DCU DebateSoc).

DCU is the home to a new degree course (as of last year) in astronomy and all around the country there are a number of such courses. Over the next few years Ireland will spawn a growing contingent of talented astronomers and astrophysicists. However, as Ireland is not a member of ESO, these new professionals will have limited access to ESO observatories (such as VLT, ALMA, and the future OWL), and will only have proper use of them if they travel to different countries.

Aside from the astronomers, membership of ESO will will also provide employment and research opportunities to people in other sciences, computers, mathematics etc...

I feel that the Irish government will only seriously consider joining ESO if the public press them to make the move. But as far as the public are concerned, it will cost a fortune and will have no benefit for them. In reality, Ireland has the money, and it will be a benefit to lots of people, not just astronomers.

So, in order to start this public campaign, I'm looking for someone who'll volunteer to give a talk to students (astronomers and non-astronomers alike!) here in DCU, hosted by the DCU Astronomy Society. The talk should look at the sort of options Ireland has now, and the options she'd have if we joined ESO, and what career and research opportunities the actual audience will have when they graduate.

If anyone's interested in taking this on, please email me at astrosoc@redbrick.dcu.ie or conor.farrell8@mail.dcu.ie.

Regards,
Conor Farrell
Chairperson, DCU Astronomy Society

Hey Conor,

Welcome to the boards. Can you give us a few more details about what you're looking for here. General details on dates and so forth. Are you looking for a team of speakers or just one? I'm sure that plenty of people would like to help out, but it could be pretty intimidating to get up there and speak if the "opposition" in a debate are greater experts. It sounds good though, and I'd like to help out if I can.

Er, excuse my ignorance, but what is ESO?

Er, excuse my ignorance, but what is ESO?

the european southern observatory.
stephen.

the european southern observatory.

www.eso.org

We also benefited a lot from their help during the venus transit through their www.vt-2004.org (cf www.vt-2004.org/vt-net/vt-net-ireland.html ) outreach project.

The government reluctance is understandable, is the membership of the ESO still EUR100 million per year? I would suggest getting a respected professional astronomer to propose the motion, possibly Mike Redfern? A college bean counter would be the best person to oppose it, someone from the debating or commerce and economics societies perhaps?

Cheers,
~Al

We'd like to get the talk going within the next couple of weeks (only three weeks left in the semester) and the debate itself sometime in the following few days.

There are a number of astronomers in DCU, and I'm sure that any of them would be happy to be on the proposition. There is an Accounting and Finance Society, as well as commerce professionals in DCU, that could take the opposition. I've been in contact with DebatSoc and the committee seems interested in taking it on.

For the talk, we'd like someone who has a good knowledge of ESO, and who can present the merits of being a member in an accessible way to both scientists and non-scientists.

Conor