The Tactile Universe is an award-winning public engagement project based at the University of Portsmouth's Institute of Cosmolgy and Gravitation that is empowering and raising the aspirations of students with vision impairments (VI) by making current astrophysics research topics accessible to them. To date, the project has developed and used its tactile resources to help VI children experience the size and scale of our solar system and understand what gives every galaxy in the Universe its own unique colour and shape. With the support of the STFC, the project now has the chance to expand to cover even more exciting topics, and ensure its legacy in the coming years. Predicted by Albert Einstein in 1916, as part of his theory of general relativity, gravitational waves were not detected until 2015, when the merging of two black holes in a distant galaxy (one of the most cataclysmic and energetic events that can occur in the Universe) caused ripples in space-time that were detected by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) instrument. Working with LIGO scientists at the University of Portsmouth and around the UK, the Tactile Universe team will develop resources and activities suitable for VI students aged 14-16, covering the detection of, and science behind, gravitational-waves. To make sure that the project's resources, old and new, reach everybody that they can, the Tactile Universe is working to train and grow a network of presenters who will deliver activities to VI students wherever they are based. The resources that the Tactile Universe will develop during this STFC Legacy Award will also be made available online through www.tactileuniverse.org, alongside our existing tactile resources, lesson plans and guides currently shared on the website. With access to a 3D printer, anybody will be able to download and make their own set of tactile resources to feel the awe inspiring shapes and structures of galaxies and understand gravitational-waves, one of the most exciting areas in astrophysics today.

There are three aims for this project: 1. to survey public engagement activity by astronomy societies in the Southern Area region. 2. to develop a new mechanism to support astronomy societies in delivery of high quality public engagement activities. 3. showcasing James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) science to the public, highlighting the UK involvement. 1. Survey public engagement activity To the knowledge of the Project Team (including the Vice President of the Southern Area Group of Astronomical Socieities, SAGAS), and that of the President of the Federation of Astronomical Societies (FAS), there has been no such survey carried out to date, regionally or nationally. By collecting information on current activities, it will be possible to identify the reach of the societies to better understand their impact and potential as science communicators. This will aid funding decisions on future projects supporting these activities. The survey will also better determine the variety of motivations, aspirations and barriers encountered by the societies, to understand how best they may be supported by future projects, and to gauge the potential for improvement and extension of activities. 2. Develop mechanism for support The project will demonstrate a mechanism for provision of resources to astronomy societies to drive communication of a specific topic (in this case, JWST), and a strategy for engaging societies in public engagement training. A list of general resource requirements and needs will be produced, with the intent of this feeding into future projects. 3. Showcasing JWST The current JWST launch date of late spring 2019 allows the delivery of these activities to build awareness before the launch, increasing the number of people able to understand the importance and enjoy the excitement of that event. The project will bring the excitement of JWST science, highlighting UK involvement, to an audience of over 3000. Activities will include the chance for the public to have one-to-one conversation with amateur astronomers and ask questions about JWST. Audiences will include those attending general community events and passers-by at 'Sidewalk Astronomy' events, who had not specifically been seeking out this information. Resources will be designed to be robust with the intention that they should outlast the project span, and be useful for post-launch public engagement also.

The Tactile Universe is an award-winning public engagement project at the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, University of Portsmouth. The project aims to make astrophysics research accessible to people with vision impairments (VI), with a particular focus on children aged 9 - 14. The Tactile Universe is different from other VI-accessible astronomy outreach projects in that 1) we are engaging the VI community with current research, rather than the more basic astronomy concepts like constellations, and 2) we are showing that astrophysics can be a possible route of study and future career, not just a hobby. The Project Lead is Dr Nic Bonne, who is a blind astrophysicist himself. Over 16,500 school pupils in the UK are recorded as having a vision impairment as their primary or secondary special education need. Research by the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) shows that the attainment levels of these school pupils with VI are consistently lower than that for all pupils. University physics students with VI are almost non-existent. Through this project, we aim to inspire and engage with this underserved audience in physics public engagement, and open up astrophysics to a community that is under-represented in the field. The project uses 3D printers to create tactile 3D models of galaxies, where the image is raised above the base depending on the brightness of each pixel. We have already successfully completed a pilot project, and are now working with local schools during Phase One. This Nucleus Award proposal is for Phase Two of the project, where we will greatly expand the reach of the project, making our resources accessible to any child with VI in the UK, and ensuring that the project becomes self-sustainable beyond the current timeline. We will do this by working with our project partners RNIB, the South East Physics Network (SEPnet), the Ogden Trust, and the Royal Astronomical Society, through four interlinked strands. We will: 1. Create files and documentation needed to make and use our resources freely available online under a Creative Commons license, so that anyone with access to a 3D printer can recreate our models and deliver our activities. 2. Make kits containing our 3D models, activity guides, and any other resources required to run our activities. These kits will be distributed to public engagement and education organisations that cannot 3D print their own set of resources. 3. Train other public engagement practitioners and educators across the UK to use our resources, and connect attendees with their local VI-supporting schools and wider community. 4. Tour the Tactile Universe visiting remote communities to deliver sessions in schools that are not within our usual reach or that of the people who attend our training sessions (e.g. remote Wales, Scotland, Cornwall).