Dr Francesca Fragkoudi
Astrophysicist
I founded and coordinate an astronomy outreach project called “Columba-Hypatia: Astronomy for Peace”, which is a joint endeavour between GalileoMobile and the Association for Historical Dialogue and Research (AHDR), mainly funded by the International Astronomical Union's Office of Astronomy for Development while it has also received funding from the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) as well as from the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics. The project takes place on the divided island of Cyprus and aims to inspire young people, through astronomy, to be curious about the world we live in, about science and the cosmos, while also using astronomy as a tool for promoting meaningful communication and a culture of peace and non-violence on the island. Our goal is to inspire a sense of global citizenship "under the same sky" by carrying out educational astronomy activities and exploring the cosmos with children and the public from the various communities of Cyprus.
You can see below a short documentary of the project as well as some snaps from our pilot project in 2016. You can find out more at www.columbahypatia-project.org
As part of Columba-Hypatia's pilot run in October 2016 we carried out Solar observations at the Home for Cooperation in Nicosia