It has been four years since the 2015 Nashville Inclusive Astronomy meeting, an event that brought astronomers together with sociologists, policy makers, and leaders in the field to discuss issues affecting underrepresented groups in astronomy. The Nashville Recommendations, which emphasize equity and intersectionality, build upon a rich history of work to broaden participation and improve climates.
We now have the opportunity to bring together the astronomy community to discuss the current state of the profession and make recommendations for the 2020s and beyond. Specifically, we will discuss community expectations on inclusivity and representation, evaluate our progress towards meeting equity goals, and address the needs of marginalized groups in the workforce. We will advance these broad goals by focusing on barriers in professional development (e.g., training, jobs, promotion, tenure) and barriers to accessing resources (e.g., funding, telescopes, facilities, data).
We invite the community to present their work towards identifying and removing these barriers and to participate in the next steps towards making astronomy fully inclusive.
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We are aware that the timing of IA2 falls within a busy season of meetings - namely the National Society of Black Physicists (Providence, Rhode Island, Nov. 14-17), International Astronomical Union (Tokyo, Nov. 12-15), and Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in STEM (Honolulu, Hawaii, Oct. 31-Nov. 2). We support the important work being done at each of these conferences, and apologize for any conflicts that might arise due to the close scheduling of them all.
Additionally, we acknowledge that IA2 overlaps with the Jewish festival of Sukkot (Oct. 13-20). We apologize for this inconvenience, and we are collaborating with the local Jewish community to ensure that practicing attendees will have access to sukkot on the Johns Hopkins campus.
If for any reason you are unable to attend, please see our page on remote participation options (coming ASAP).