SAO Funding Drive

Following the suggestion by SAO alumnist Gregg Koumbis, the Swinburne Alumni Association in conjunction with SAO launched a funding drive in January 2007. The funding drive aims to raise at least AU$20,000 to help fund two main projects: "AstroFest", an annual mini-conference open to all SAO students, alumni and teaching staff, and research projects headed by Swinburne astronomers.

To date the SAO alumni fund has raised $10,126 and we thank all our donors for their generous support. Of these donations, $5,741 was spent to support AstroFest 2007. We hope that donations will continue so that we can support AstroFest 2008, which is tentatively planned for 18-20 October 2008 in Melbourne and the Yarra Valley.

SAO alumni and students have also expressed an interest in helping fund fundamental astronomy research and so, depending on how much money is raised in the funding drive, we could also support various research projects by, for example, helping to pay for observing trips or journal page changes. All SAO supported research projects would be fully acknowledged in any publications and results would naturally be disseminated back to the SAO community.

If you would like to donate to the SAO funding drive, please contact Swinburne Alumni.