Universe Awareness

Use the beauty and enormity of the Universe to interest young children in science and stimulate sense of world citizenship.

UNAWE tackles two global challenges:

1.         The shortage of scientists and engineers, particularly women.

2.         The increase of extremism, nationalism, fanaticism and intolerance that threatens world peace.

Universe Awareness (www.unawe.org) uses the beauty and grandeur of the Universe to inspire young children. The excitement of the Universe interests them in science and technology and the vastness of the Universe helps broaden young minds and stimulate tolerance at a critical age. Combining these two goals makes UNAWE a unique global educational program.

UNAWE targets children from age 4, particularly from underprivileged backgrounds. Initiated by professional astronomers in 2005, UNAWE developed a thriving international community of educators, implemented activities in > 60 countries, developed > 200 educational resources and reached > 10000 teachers and >500 000 children worldwide.

Because it embodies a unique combination of science, technology and culture, astronomy is a powerful educational tool. Large optical and radio telescopes are incredibly sophisticated technologically and provide humankind with a window on the Universe. Space is a gateway to physics, chemistry and biology, to cutting-edge technology and to profound philosophical questions about our roots. The need to observe the faintest objects in the Universe has driven many technological developments. The astronomer is the ultimate historian who delves into our deepest past.  Above all, the Universe is exciting and inspirational. 

Inspiring young children is crucial to holistic education. Inspiring children is crucial to motivating them. Once they are motivated, the Universe can be used to illustrate the power of rational thought and as a holistic educational tool. The exciting Universe can be used to  encourage reading or math skills by means of space-based stories and problems.

Recent world developments have increased the need for global educational programs with the UNAWE philosophy. Our long-term vision is that ultimately every child will learn about our Universe, the excitement of science and the enormity of our Universe. To quote Carl Sagan: “Fanatic ethnic, religious or national identifications are difficult to support when we see our planet as a fragile, blue crescent fading to become an inconspicuous point of light against the bastion and citadel of the stars.”

Universe Awareness (www.unawe.org) uses the beauty and grandeur of the Universe to inspire young children. The excitement of the Universe interests them in science and technology and the vastness of the Universe helps broaden young minds and stimulate tolerance at a critical age. Combining these two goals makes UNAWE a unique global educational program.

UNAWE targets children from age 4, particularly from underprivileged backgrounds. Initiated by professional astronomers in 2005, UNAWE developed a thriving international community of educators, implemented activities in > 60 countries, developed > 200 educational resources and reached > 10000 teachers and >500 000 children worldwide.

Because it embodies a unique combination of science, technology and culture, astronomy is a powerful educational tool. Large optical and radio telescopes are sophisticated technologically and provide humankind with a window on the Universe. Space is a gateway to physics, chemistry and biology, to cutting-edge technology and to profound philosophical questions about our roots. Large optical and radio telescopes and space probes are among the most sophisticated technological achievements of our civilisation and the need to observe the faintest objects in the Universe has driven many technological developments. The astronomer is the ultimate historian who delves into our deepest past.  

During 2018-2019 our goal is to raise sufficient funds to deliver UNAWE to migrant children and help integrate migrant and indigenous communities. 

UNAWE is a bottom-up programme that depends on multi-disciplinary groups of dedicated professionals and volunteers throughout the world. Although this simplifies the scalability, the International UNAWE Office is the essential “glue” that keeps the regional programmes viable. It is essential to secure finance to support and sustain it. 

As part of this effort we shall develop our UNAWE global network as a multidisciplinary "research infrastructure" to study the effect of early child interventions in different countries and environments. In particular we regard it as essential to investigate the long-term economic benefits of such programmes, following the famous Perry Preschool Study 

The ingredients of UNAWE are 1. teacher training, 2. the development of inspirational education resources and 3. the maintenance of a worldwide multidisciplinary network for exchange of ideas, best practices and communication.

> 60,000 children reached, majority in developing countries.

63 countries

> 20,000 teachers trained.

> 2000 volunteers involved.

36,000 events at schools.

5 international conferences.

215 STEAM online educational resources.

48,000 Open education resources distributed globally.

10,000 Earth Balls without borders distributed globally.

This depends on the available resources. Because UNAWE is a "bottom-up" network "owned" by dedicated participants in countries around the world and embedded in several other professional networks (e.g. International Astronomical Union Office of Astronomy for Development), it is readily scalable. Our ambition is that every child in the world be inspired by our beautiful and enormous Universe and look at the sky with a sense of wonder.

Multidisciplinary skills that include professional expertise in science engineering, education, child development and anthropology, and a global network that includes other civil society organisations, i.e. children's rights.  

We are a non-profit organisation that depend for our existence on donations and hosting by astronomical organisations worldwide. We are bottom-up, readily scalable, but dependant for our existence on the small efficient International UNAWE Office at the Leiden University Astronomy Department. This provides the "glue" and leadership for the global network, but it cannot be funded by astronomy research projects. To sustain the programme we need structural funding for 2 experts to coordinate the worldwide program.  

Support from Solve can advance our work for several reasons. The financial support would help sustain the International UNAWE Office and our associated global network for the next year. Perhaps more important, the Solve Award would bring UNAWE to the attention of several prestigious foundations. We believe that the inspirational UNAWE two-fold mission, coupled with professional multidisciplinary expertise, global reach and bottom up  effectiveness is unique and can be extremely attractive for philanthropic foundations. For these reasons we would be grateful for Solve support.

The most pressing problem for UNAWE at the moment is securing the funds to sustain the coordination of the program. That cannot be done properly without the support of a small number of dedicated staff.