Dear Colleague,
The Astronomical Society of India (ASI) invites proposals for hosting the annual meeting of the ASI for the year 2026.
As you're aware, the 2025 meeting is planned as an in-person meeting which is scheduled between 15-19 February 2025. In the past many years, the format of the meeting has stabilised to a day devoted to topical workshops just prior to the four day main meeting. The main meeting is split between plenary and parallel sessions, and also includes poster sessions. Schedules of recent meetings, available at the ASI website, can be used as a basic template for the structure of the meeting and the number of parallel sessions and workshops.
As in the past, ASI invites letters of intent to host the ASI Annual meeting of 2026 in the following format from the proposers.
1) Name of the proposed host Institution(s)/University/Department
2) Primary coordinator and point of contact
3) Venue, infrastructure facilities including audio-video facilities: capacity of the main auditorium, capacity and number of halls to be used for the parallel sessions and workshops, Poster area, Dining area. Please include relevant photographs.
4) Support and facilities that the host institution will be able to provide. As in the case of past few ASI meetings, the host institution(s) is/are expected to acquire funds for covering the majority of the expenditure of the meeting.
5) How many participants will your site/guest house be able to accommodate? Of these, how many guest houses / rooms will be available for free (these will be used to host the participants who are offered accommodation support by ASI)?
6) Are there good hotels in the vicinity that can cater to student / postdoc / faculty requirements? Please give an estimate of the cost of hotel rooms.
7) Adequate WiFi connectivity and if there will be costs involved.
8) What is the prior conference hosting experience of the host?
9) Are there specific dates you would like to propose?
10) Childcare facilities available in the campus or in vicinity that can be made available for the meeting.
Proposals should be sent to secretary@astron-soc.in duly forwarded by the head of the Institution. If the proposal is from a University it should be signed and approved by the Vice-Chancellor of the University. The deadline for submission of proposals is 03 January 2025, to allow the ASI Executive Council Committee an opportunity to evaluate them before being presented at the ASI General Body Meeting in Feb 2025.
If you have any questions or need more information, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Best regards,
Sarita Vig