Join us at a virtual, worldwide conference ‘Argo Navis – Follow the Stars’ on the 4th and 5th of October to celebrate Anglesey and Gwynedd’s Dark Sky.
The event organized by Menter Môn in conjunction with Dark Sky Wales and in partnership with Austria, Lithuania, and Estonia to celebrate our Dark Sky will be jam packed with interesting speakers such as Apollo legend Jerry Bostock, Katie King from Cambridge University, Dr John Banantine of the International Dark Sky Association & many more including local speakers from Anglesey County Council and our European partner regions.
Over these two days we will be covering many different topics such as climate change, tourism, astronomy, biodiversity, light pollution and women in space. The 14 speakers taking part will be speaking from all around the world about these interesting topics.
One of the many knowledgeable speakers taking part is Apollo Legend Jerry Bostock who will be talking about many interesting things including the work of Anglesey native Tec Roberts, the original NASA Mission Control Dynamics Officer. Jerry Bostick joined NASA in 1962 and served as Retrofire Officer and Flight Dynamics Officer during the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Skylab programs. He served as Executive Assistant to the NASA Administrator and Special Assistant for Programs, Office of Energy Programs at NASA Headquarters.
Another speaker is Katie King from Cambridge University who will be joining us for an inspirational talk about her career and how you can have an impact on the future of space exploration. Katie is very passionate about inspiring and educating young girls and women to get into tech careers and hopes to help change the gender ratio across technology sectors.
This is Menter Môn’s first transnational project. LEADER programmes Arloesi Môn and Arloesi Gwynedd Wledig have worked incredibly hard to develop a strong bond with European partners in Lithuania, Estonia and Austria to make this project come to life.
Jackie Lewis, Senior Officer at Arloesi Môn explains “This is a truly exciting opportunity to work with our partners to deliver our 1st joint event which will highlight and celebrate our Dark Sky. The Argo Navis Conference is the start of a programme of projects and events in all regions, between now and June 2023. We wish to thank the organisers of the Link Conference of 2018 (Finland) for bringing us together as partners, and enabling us to share opportunities and learn from each other about the importance of Dark Sky, and how it impacts on all our lives and environment”
Following on from this conference Arloesi Môn and AGW are hoping to offer more events linked to Dark Sky in Anglesey and Gwynedd in the future. Rhian Hughes, Senior Project Officer at AGW explains “Our aim was to organise public events raising awareness of Dark Skies in both counties last year, but with the restrictions of Covid they were obviously not able to take place. However, we are now really looking forward to organising exciting events in 2022, so watch this space!”
The conference will be taking place on October the 4th and 5th, and is completely free and available virtually so anyone can attend. To see all the speakers and to reserve your place for free at the conference go to the Eventbrite page www. eventbrite.co.uk/o/dark-sky-wales-training-services-8576408537
For further information please visit mentermon.com/argo-navis or email Jackie@mentermon.com
The project has received funding through the Welsh Government Rural Communities – Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, which is funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the Welsh Government. It’s also part funded by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), Gwynedd Council and the Isle of Anglesey Charitable Trust.
