Inaf’s initiatives for the 2026/2027 academic year

Once again this academic year, the National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) is offering a wide range of initiatives for schools of all levels, both in person and online: competitions, visits to its facilities, training courses for teachers, school-work training projects, and much more.

From the Italian Astronomy Championships, now in their 25th edition, to competitions that combine writing, art and science (To Gianni Rodari, the Milky Way quaraquarinci; ‘Look at the Sky and Draw Your Emotions’), as well as coding (‘Post for E.T.’), artificial intelligence (‘DialogAI’) and the planning of a real astronomical observation (‘Young Astronomers at the TNG’).

Subject to booking, schools can visit INAF observatories and centres throughout the country. A range of workshops, both in person and online, are available on request. INAF’s immersive exhibition ‘Macchine del Tempo’, which has been shown in Rome and Turin in recent years, is open to visitors all year round at the SPARKme Space Academy in Matera.

INAF centres host school-to-work training programmes for upper secondary school pupils, to give young people first-hand experience of working within a research organisation.

The INAF, in collaboration with various scientific and academic bodies, offers a wide range of free, accredited training courses for teachers at all levels. The courses range from innovative teaching methods using SPRITZ and ‘Coding among the Stars’ in Bologna, to international experiences such as the Galileo programme in the Canary Islands and the activities of the Office of Astronomy for Education Centre Italy in Greece. An annual refresher course in astronomy and astrophysics is also available, which can be attended either in person in Turin or online.