The 2026 Europlanet Prize for Public Engagement has been awarded to
CosmoAmautas, a Peruvian non-profit association that uses planetary science and astronomy as a gateway to spark curiosity and bring scientific opportunities to children and young students across Peru.
Dr Gabriela Calistro Rivera received the prize on behalf of CosmoAmautas at the recent Europlanet Science Congress (EPSC2026) in The Hague and gave a public lecture about the work of the association. The prize is accompanied by a cash award of 1000 Euros.
Thibaut Roger, presenting the prize on behalf of Europlanet, said: “We are proud to honour CosmoAmautas through the Europlanet Prize for Public Engagement. This dynamic and innovative association has demonstrated how rural schools can be supported to become places where planetary science and astronomy are not only explained, but actively and sustainably practised, for example through the search for exoplanets using real data.”
Since 2021, CosmoAmautas has trained over 200 teachers across 21 out of 24 regions of Peru, supported more than 80 Astroclubs, and reached over 10,000 students through participating teachers. With a focus on inquiry-based learning, the team of researchers and educators has developed a range of resources, adapted to schools with limited infrastructure and linked to the Peruvian curriculum, that can be delivered to teachers through experiment boxes, printed guides and online materials. Activities covered include measuring the Earth’s rotation and dimensions, investigations with scale models of the Solar System and analysis of space mission data. Gender equality and inclusion are key values of the association and programmes are integrated with Andean ancestral astronomical traditions, showing that observing and interpreting the sky are deeply rooted in Peru’s cultural history.
The CosmoAmautas team is composed of Peruvian students and astronomy professionals living in Peru and all around the globe and working across all fields of astronomy and planetary sciences. In order to reach underserved communities, the initiatives developed by the team have occurred mainly online, but future plans include in-person events that will be partially supported by the Europlanet prize funding.
On receiving the prize, Gabriela Calistro Rivera said: “It is a great honour to receive the Europlanet Prize for Public Engagement on behalf of CosmoAmautas. ‘Amauta’ means teacher in the quechua language, and our programme is based on the principle that when a teacher is empowered, the future of an entire community can be transformed. This award recognises not only the CosmoAmautas team, but also our community of teachers and students across Peru. This is a great incentive to continue our efforts in bringing scientific education and access to astronomy to more regions and students in our country.”