Next Generation Plenary Announcement

-THE NEXT GENERATION PLENARY-

International Space Station as the Gateway for Humankind’s Future in Space and on Earth

INTERNATIONAL ASTRONAUTICAL CONGRESS

Jerusalem, Israel

12 – 16 October, 2015 

Students and Young Professionals, we want your input!

Is your work found in Kibo, Columbus, Destiny, or another ISS module? Have you been a key player in an experiment, research project, or other hardware on the station? How has your work with the station benefited humankind in space or on Earth?

We want to hear what you are actively doing on or through the ISS that will change the future for humans in space and on Earth. As today’s 21- to 35-year-olds, you will be the senior engineers, principal investigators, and mission managers who will be carrying out and leading the exploration of space in the future. Why wait 10 years to be heard?! We want your input now! We invite you to share your ideas in plenary panel with an audience of senior space leaders in government, industry and academia at the International Astronautical Congress in Jerusalem, Israel 12 – 16 October 2015!

This is a wonderful opportunity for you to address and influence the international space community. We are proposing a plenary event with a panel of six 21- to 35-year-olds in a discussion of their innovative utilization of the International Space Station.

“Space – The Gateway for Mankind’s Future” is the theme of the 2015 Congress, and research on the International Space Station is a key to our future both in space and on Earth. In the “Next Generation Plenary — International Space Station as the Gateway for Humankind’s Future in Space and on Earth,” selected student and young professional panelists will discuss their past, current, and future research and work on the International Space Station. They will share their experiences of working with the International Space Station, why they need to conduct their work in space, and the resulting benefits to humanity.

Panelists will be selected to highlight their successful efforts in international research and engineering projects on the International Space Station and how they have contributing to the future of humankind.

If approved, this event will take place the week of 12 – 16 October, 2015, in Jerusalem, Israel, at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) (www.iac2015.org). The plenary participants will engage in a panel discussion with other students and young professionals from around the world and interact with the audience while discussing their research, experiments, and engineering contributions to the future of humankind through the International Space Station. The plenary will be moderated in a format similar to a talk show, interweaving clips from the panelists’ audition videos with questions and comments from the moderator, other panelists, and the audience. The video clips will be used to enhance the audience’s understanding of the ideas of the plenary participants. This is an exciting opportunity that you do not want to miss!

This sounds great! What do I need to do to participate?

QUALIFICATION: Work of the applicants must meet the two criteria below

• The work must have already flown to ISS, currently be on ISS, or have a confirmed flight to ISS
• The applicant must be a key player directly involved (for example, the lead engineer, systems engineer, principal investigator, co-investigator, or project manager)

ROUND ONE: 15 Seconds of Fame!

By January 15, 2015 (11:59 pm GMT), create a 15-second video telling us very briefly the subject of the innovative ISS research you are actively conducting or currently working on that you would speak about on the panel and why you should be chosen to address the IAC. The video must be posted on http://www.youtube.com. You must be on screen and be speaking for the full 15 seconds. We will only watch/listen for 15 seconds, so be sure to watch the time of your video! Then complete the application at http://tinyurl.com/NextGenPlenary2015

ROUND TWO: Three Minutes!

The IAF will select the Round Two subset of candidates from the above and notify all entrants by February 1, 2015. Specific details of Round Two requirements will be sent to the candidates in the notification. Selected candidates will be asked to create and post a three-minute video on a specified YouTube site by 1 March, 2015 (11:59 pm GMT).

VIDEO DETAILS:

Please record your video in a high quality audio and video format. If you are selected as a panelist, segments of your videos will be used during the plenary and leading up to it to promote the plenary. Please limit special effects and no music. The video is about you, not your video editing skills. Please do not use copyrighted video, images, or music.

FINAL SELECTION:

The IAF will select the finalists from these entries based on their creativity, efficacy of messages and relevance to the plenary topics. We will be looking for concrete ideas on what you are actively doing on the ISS that will change the way humans explore and how it will impact life on Earth, and why this idea is important as well as your expertise in this area.

The IAF will make the final selection of plenaries for the IAC in Jerusalem the week of 23 March 2015 and will notify the finalists of its decision by 3 April 2015.

Who Will Sponsor Me to Travel to Jerusalem?

Plenary participants will be responsible for finding their own sponsor or sponsors for their travel to and accommodations at the IAC. In addition to the obvious sources of sponsorship – yourself and your family, employer or school, and industry contacts – we want to share with you some great programs for students and young professionals that occur in conjunction with the 2015 Jerusalem IAC. The following are all distinct programs related to the IAC but are not directly related to this plenary opportunity.

• IAF Emerging Space Leaders Grant Programme. See: http://www.iafastro.org/emerging-space-leaders-esl-grant-programme-announcement/ 
• Space Generation Congress (SGC). Candidates are encouraged to contact the Space Generation Advisory Committee concerning the plans for the SGC event prior to the IAC in Jerusalem and associated sponsorship opportunities. Visit www.spacegeneration.org for more information.
• Space agency education programmes. Students in Europe, Japan and the United States are encouraged to contact ESA, JAXA, and NASA respectively to apply to their space agencies’ student programmes at the IAC in Jerusalem.
•  The Future Space Leaders Foundation offers grants to students and young professionals in the United States.  More information can be found athttp://www.futurespaceleaders.org/about.html
• Be innovative! Previous Next Generation Plenary panelists have been successful in raising funding through other means such as crowd funding and local community organizations.

For questions, contact youthplenary@iafastro.org

For more information, visit http://www.iafastro.org/next-generation-plenary-announcement/

Per Ardua, Ad Astra