Please, visit the conference website: http://iaus336.oa-cagliari.inaf.it

SCIENTIFIC RATIONALE: Astronomical masers touch on a very broad range of astrophysical phenomena. Originally, maser research concentrated on star formation and evolved stars, where the high resolution afforded by bright maser emission allowed one to probe dynamics on ~1 AU scale and with ~ 1 km/s motions. A couple of decades ago, the discovery of water masers from accretion disks around super-massive black holes opened new avenues to resolve the disks, measure motions, estimate supermassive black hole masses, and derive distances to galaxies geometrically. Over the past twenty years, there have been meetings focusing on masers spaced by roughly 5 years. The last meeting devoted to masers was in 2012 in South Africa. Since then there has been an explosion of work on masers, especially related to the cosmic distance scale, the structure of the Milky Way, and the masses of (AGN) black holes. While the main focus of the Symposium is on cosmic masers, in order to broaden the impact of the Symposium, we will have also presentations from speakers outside the maser science community who work on similar topics as those listed below. In particular, the astrometric results reached using masers on the structure of the Milky Way and the cosmological distance scale will be compared with those obtained using other methods (e.g., by the Gaia mission for the Galaxy and Cepheids and gravitational lensing for the extragalactic distance scale). We expect many talks on maser astrometry in the sessions on the Cosmic Distance Scale (Session 2), Galaxies and Supermassive Black Holes (Session 3), the Structure of the Milky Way (Session 4), Star Formation (Session 5), Evolved Stars (Session 6).
We also plan to have theoretical reviews of forefront questions for the major science topics in each session. Specific topics for this symposium will include:
- The Structure of the Milky Way
- Local Group Cosmology
- The Cosmic Distance Scale and the Hubble Constant
- Galaxy Kinematics and Black Hole Masses
- The Formation of Massive Stars
- Pulsation and Outflows in Evolved Stars
- Theory of masers and maser sources

POSTERS The official poster of the Symposium is presented at the link: http://iaus336.oa-cagliari.inaf.it/programme/poster
Please, feel free to print and display it in your Institute (recommended format: A3)

REGISTRATION AND FEE The registration form is available at the link: http://iaus336.oa-cagliari.inaf.it/registration/registration-form
The registration fee is 300 euros until June 30, 2017, and 400 euros after this date. The registration fee includes the welcome reception, conference materials, coffee breaks, lunches, conference dinner, and electronic proceedings. If a hardback volume of the proceedings, in addition to the electronic version, is desired the fee is 360 and 460 euros for early and late registration, respectively. Details on the fees and payment methods, are available at: http://iaus336.oa-cagliari.inaf.it/registration/fees

FINANCIAL SUPPORT The IAU will provide a number of travel grants to support qualified scientists to whom only limited means of support are available, e.g. colleagues from economically less privileged countries, young scientists and participants with young children. Eligible participants are encouraged to apply for an IAU Travel Grant before April 1, 2017, by following the procedures reported at the link: http://iaus336.oa-cagliari.inaf.it/iau-travel-grants

PRESENTATIONS If you are interested in giving a presentation, either oral or in the form of a poster, please submit a title and abstract using the online submission form at the link: http://iaus336.oa-cagliari.inaf.it/registration/abstract-submission/ You will need to first register for the workshop before being allowed to submit an abstract.
The deadline for abstract submission is July 15, 2017.

SOCIAL PROGRAM The free afternoon is presently scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 6. On that date, a visit to the Sardinia Radio Telescope site will take place, which will include a typical Sardinian lunch buffet and a tour of an archeological site in the surrounding area. The conference dinner will be held in the historical complex of 'La Corte in Giorgino' on Thursday, September 7. A description of this unique location can be found at http://www.addv.info/lacorteingiorgino/en/home Additional tours of interesting sites and sightseeing trips around Cagliari, together with a public lecture are planned and are presently in the process of being defined.

VENUE The symposium will be held in the Conference Room of the Hotel Regina Margherita. Adjacent to conference hall is a large foyer that will be used for the tea/coffee breaks and for posters. An additional meeting room is also made available to the symposium participants for media-press and/or one-to-one meetings. The Venue is located at walking distance from the central historical quarters of Cagliari. Cagliari itself is a enjoyable city with a variety of attractions for all visitors. Furthermore, the southern part of Sardinia hosts among the most beautiful seashores of the entire island.

ACCOMMODATION Block bookings of a limited number of rooms for the duration of the meeting have been made at the Hotel Regina Margherita, Venue of the Symposium and in some other hotel facilities. Details on these facilities, together with a list of a number of alternative accommodations can be found at the link: http://iaus336.oa-cagliari.inaf.it/local-information/accomodation
We recommend to book your accommodation as soon as possible since the first half of September in Sardinia is still high season.

HOW TO GET TO CAGLIARI The international airport of Cagliari is located 7km northwest of Cagliari. It takes about 15 minutes to get from Cagliari Airport to the city center. Transportation options available to passengers include taxi services, trains and rental vehicles. More details on how to get to Cagliari are available at the link: http://iaus336.oa-cagliari.inaf.it/travel-info

IMPORTANT DATES AND DEADLINES
Jan. 19 Registration and abstract submission opens
>>>> Apr. 1 Deadline for IAU Travel Grant requests <<<<
http://www.thanwatchus.org
Jun. 15 Outcome of IAU Travel Grant requests(*)
Jun. 30 Deadline for early registration and payment
Jul. 15 Deadline for abstract submission
Aug. 10 Preliminary program available (*) This date might be subjected to changes since it depends on the timeline of the IAU grants selection procedure.
CONTACT If you have questions about the meeting, feel free to contact us directly at : iaus336@oa-cagliari.inaf.itSalvaSalva