Student opportunities for IAC 2016
ESA's Education Office offers European students the opportunity to attend the International Astronautical Congress (IAC). This year’s IAC will be held from 26 - 30 September in Guadalajara, Mexico.
The congress is the main annual meeting point for space professionals and provides participating students with a once in a lifetime opportunity to create many valuable contacts with both professionals and like-minded students from all over the world.
Throughout the congress, students can interact with experts, listen to their views on the future of space, and learn about the latest developments in the space industry. At the same time, students are encouraged to actively contribute to the congress by presenting their own research to the space community. Some will have the opportunity to give presentations in the official technical sessions of the congress, alongside leading space experts who can often provide valuable feedback and guidance.
Students selected by ESA will be sponsored in order to cover their registration fees and a contribution towards travel and accommodation expenses will be given.
Eligibility criteria
The student participation programme mainly attracts science and engineering students, often specialising in space studies. However, space is a truly interdisciplinary field. The programme therefore admits a significant number of students who are studying related subjects, such as business, law, or medicine. As such, there are no requirements regarding the subject of the degree studied.
To check your eligibility, as well as the conditions of sponsorship, please refer to the sponsorship terms and conditions link.
How to apply
In order to be considered for selection, students must have submitted an abstract to the IAC. The deadline for ESA's sponsorship application is 1 May 2016.
For full application instructions please refer to the ‘IAC - how to apply’ link.
Background
The IAC student participation programme is an initiative of the International Space Education Board (ISEB). Launched in 1999, the ISEB is now federating educational efforts from AEM, CNES, CSA, ESA, JAXA, KARI, NASA, SANSA and VSSEC. The ISEB IAC student programme is well established and it offers students interested in space a unique combination of special talks, discussions and networking opportunities in addition to the many technical sessions of the IAC itself.
