Astronomy/astrophysics is one of the most attractive and advanced branches of science today. The main problem of today's physics, the reconciliation of gravity and quantum physics at the Planck scale, governs the birth of the Universe and major puzzles, such as the nature of dark energy, inflation and dark matter reside in astronomy/astrophysics. In the past fifty years, a Nobel prize has been awarded to astronomy/astrophysics every third year on average. With its multidisciplinary nature, astronomy/astrophysics is an effective way to teach and attract young minds to science.
In spite of its importance, astronomy/astrophysics is underdeveloped in many countries in particular developing countries where priorities are given to applied sciences. Astronomy/astrophysics is not sufficiently taught in these countries. As an effort to react to such weakness, the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (Public Organization), abbreviated as NARIT, together with the Vietnam National Space Center (VNSC) are jointly organising “ITCA Colloquium 2018”, through the International Training Centre in Astronomy under the auspices of UNESCO (ITCA), hosted by NARIT. The aim of the colloquium is to equip young university lecturers with updated knowledge and skills necessary for their astronomy/astrophysics teaching. Through the close interaction between participants at the colloquium we hope for strengthening the community of astronomy/astrophysics lecturers within each SEA country and across the region. They will be the main communicators to promote astronomy/astrophysics teaching in the SEA region. The lectures of the colloquium are divided in two parts: morning sessions will be devoted to lectures on hot topics of astronomy/astrophysics; afternoon and night sessions to hands-on, practice and observation. Participants will have opportunities to learn and practice with the VNSC planetarium and 0.5 m optical telescope at Nha Trang Observatory.
