Education

Since 1986, our biennial Vatican Observatory Summer Schools (VOSS) have brought more than 400 postgraduate astronomy students, many from the developing world, to Castel Gandolfo for intense four week courses in astrophysics. Alumni/ae include key scientists at the European Southern Observatory and the Event Horizon Telescope, and teach at universities around the world. The next summer school is scheduled to take place in 2023. Applications will open in the fall of 2022.

The Astronomy for Catholic Ministers and Educators (ACME) workshops bring parish priests and educators from K-12 Catholic schools to Tucson for an immersion into the world of astronomy and ongoing conversations on how to present science in the setting of Catholic schools and parishes. The next ACME program will take place on January 10-14, 2022. Applications will open in September 2021.

Since their arrival in Tucson in the 1980s, Vatican astronomers have taught a series of astronomy courses both for undergraduates and graduate students in the Astronomy Department of the University of Arizona.

Vatican astronomers are regular speakers, both in person and on-line, to high school science and religion classes in North and South America, Europe, Africa, India, Australia, and New Zealand.

A good citizen in the local Tucson community, the Vatican Observatory Foundation sponsors science fair awards for students in Southern Arizona.