Global Astronomy Survey : Portugal

First submission : Pedro Rodrigues [see human resources section] 18 July 2009
SPoC Approval : No

1. Professional (Research) Astronomy:

(i) Number of universities offering Astronomy (and their names)

 Universidade do Porto (Astronomy - Undergraduate Degree)

(ii) Number of universities offering Physics (and their names)

 Universidade de Aveiro (Physics, Physics Engineering - Undergraduate Degree)
 Universidade de Coimbra (Physics, Physics Engineering - Undergraduate Degree)
 Universidade de Lisboa (Physics - Undergraduate Degree)
 Universidade Técnica de Lisboa (Physics Engineering - MSc)
 Universidade Nova de Lisboa (Physics Engineering - MSc)
 Universidade do Minho (Physics - Undergraduate Degree)
 Universidade do Porto (Physics - Undergraduate Degree, Physics Engineering - MSc)

(iii) Number of academics who have been trained in Astronomy (ideally
with their names and levels of qualification)

 Between 40 and 50, of which around 60% have PhDs.

(iv) Number of astronomical facilities (observatories, telescopes, etc)
and as much detail about each as possible (websites/contact details)

 Observatorio Astronomico de Lisboa (OAL)
  http://www.oal.ul.pt/
 Observatorio Astronomico da Universidade do Porto
  http://www.fc.up.pt/fcup/contents/php/transform.php?opt=estdependentes&id=4
 Observatorio Astronomico da Universidade de Coimbra
  http://www.astro.mat.uc.pt/novo/observatorio/site/index.html
 Observatorio Astronomico do Marao
  http://www.cienciaviva.pt/veraocv/astronomia/astro2002/index.asp?accao=showentidade&id_entidade=51
 Observatorio Solar de Constancia
  http://constancia.cienciaviva.pt/home/
 Observatorio Astronomico de Fronteira
  (No contact found)
 Amateur observatories and telescopes
  http://www.astrosurf.com/re/amateur.html

(v) Self evaluation (according to the different phases above, how would
you rate your country in terms of Professional Astronomy? Please include
any other relevant information to motivate your choice.)

 It terms of infrastructures it should be more developed, as most of the observatories
 are more of research centers than actually telescopes providing huge amounts of data.
 In terms of manpower, portuguese astronomers, researching in Portugal or abroad, are
 well qualified and very well seen among the community.

2. Public Understanding of Astronomy:

(i) What governmental astronomy/science outreach programmes for the
public take place (co-ordinated either by government departments or
national facilities)

 Ciencia Viva - Astronomia no Verao (Astronomy in Summer)
  Promotes astronomical observations in different cities during summer
  http://www.cienciaviva.pt/veraocv/2009/
 Universities in General
  Whenever there is an important ephemerid, universities organize observations and talks

(ii) What non-governmental astronomy/science outreach programmes for the
public take place (NGO activities or international programmes that your
country is involved in)

 Portugal is a member state of the European Southern Observatory (ESO).
  Several astronomers doing research in Germany and Chile.
  http://www.eso.org
 Portugal is represented in the Space Generation Advisory Council (United Nations) 
  No activities planned regarding astronomy.
  http://www.spacegeneration.org/portugal

(iii) Comment on the presence of astronomy in the media (TV, radio,
newspapers). Is it very prominent? Are there specific programmes on
astronomy? Is the media generally willing to publish news on astronomy?

 When there is a relevant event or ephemerid taking place, TV covers it and shows it
 though normally not with extreme relevance (unless there is an extremely popular
 event, like an eclipse). Some newspapers have a dedicated science section, which
 many times has articles about astronomical discoveries or events. In general,
 astronomy has a good acceptance from the public side, so media give it quite a good
 coverage.

(iv) Comment on the presence of astronomy/science in the general culture
of the people. Are there any specific challenges or setbacks? Is
astronomy a welcome subject of conversation?

 Astronomy is not normally a subject of casual conversation, unless there is something
 relevant happening. It is mainly dictated by the media. If they give coverage to a
 certain event, people will talk about it the next day. People are enthusiast about
 the subject, but do not talk naturally about it, in general.

(v) Self evaluation (according to the different phases above, how would
you rate your country in terms of Public Understanding of Astronomy?
Please include any other relevant information to motivate your choice.)

 General culture is satisfactory, but outreach activities should be more frequent.

3. Astronomy in Schools:

(i) What governmental astronomy/science education and outreach
programmes for schools take place (co-ordinated either by government
departments or national facilities)

 I am not aware of any.

(ii) What non-governmental astronomy/science education and outreach
programmes for schools take place (NGO activities or international
programmes that your country is involved in)

 There are no organized outreach programmes for schools, I would say. There is the will
 and dedication of the professors in contacting astronomers or scientists to go to a
 class and give a talk about a certain subject.

(iii) Comment on the presence of astronomy in the school curriculum. Is
it part of the school curriculum? Is it very prominent? What age groups?

 Primary school (6-9 yo)
  First contact with space, planets and solar system.
 7th year (12-13 yo)
  Advanced concepts, orbits, parameters, simple orbital mechanics.

(iv) Comment on the status of astronomy/science in schools. Are there
any specific challenges or setbacks? Sufficient number of students
studying maths and science? General interest in maths/science/astronomy
in schools?

 There has been a governmental effort to incentivate students to science and engineering,
 but in general students don't like maths and avoid these fields unless they have good
 grades at it. In the last years, some progress has been made, but it is far from good.

(v) Self evaluation (according to the different phases above, how would
you rate your country in terms of Astronomy in Schools? Please include
any other relevant information to motivate your choice.)

 Just basic knowledge is provided. Students at young ages are fascinated about space
 and people should take advantage of this to provide more contact with space issues to
 children and young students. Should definitely be improved!