International
Academy of
Astronautics
I have had an association with the International Astronautical Congress since 1996, and a number of my papers have been presented there. My key link has been via the International Academy of Astronautics' SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Permanent Study Group, where I have contributed in various capacities including education, media and outreach, serving as secretary and co-chair, and in membership of several of its working groups.
The latter includes the SETI Post-Detection Taskgroup, of which I am Deputy Chair with the Chair being Dr Paul Davies. We held a meeting of the Taskgroup at Arizona State University early in 2008 to plan future efforts. In addition there was a special workshop "The Sound of Silence" just prior to the Taskgroup meeting. The Task Group is due to meet again at the International Astronautical Congress in Prague late September, 2010.
I have also represented Australia in the Global Exploration Strategy planning meeting at the 2006 International Astronautical Congress in Valencia, Spain. I presented the concept of a media and public document to the group and interacted with colleagues from NASA, the European Space Agency, the Canadian Space Agency, ISRO (Indian Space Agency), JAXA (Japanese Space Agency), BNSC (British Space Agency), DLR (German Space Agency), ASI (Italian Space Agency), CNES (French Space Agency), and the RKA (Russian Space Agency). Education, media and outreach became a cornerstone of the the resulting GES document.
In 2002 I was elected a corresponding member of the invitation-only IAA. In 2006 I was elected to full member status and took up membership of Commission VI, the group for the social sciences (including education, media and outreach) of the IAA.
Paul Davies (Chair of the SETI Post-Detection Taskgroup), myself, and one of the members of the Taskgroup, science fiction author Stephen Baxter. We were having a relaxing afternoon at the Desert Botantical Gardens near Phoenix after a meeting of the Taskgroup at Arizona State University in the first week of February, 2008.