CAPE TOWN (Dec. 2, 2009). While the MeerKAT telescope – a pathfinder which will contribute to the development of the technology required for the SKA – is being constructed in the Northern Cape, the South African SKA Youth into Science and Engineering Programme is feeding a steady stream of high-level expertise into the continent’s SET system that will help Africa push the boundaries of radio astronomy and related sciences and technologies.

“The SKA represents an unrivalled opportunity in Africa for high-level capacity building in telecommunications, imaging technology, receiver technology, high speed computing, antenna engineering, space physics and advanced computation,” said Dr Bernie Fanaroff, SA SKA project director.

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The decision was taken in 2004 to increase the number of PhD and MSc graduates in radio astronomy as part of Africa’s bid to host the SKA site.

The SKA Youth into Science and Engineering Programme was initiated in 2005. The programme offers comprehensive bursaries to students in engineering, physics and astronomy at undergraduate and postgraduate level.

To date close to 100 postgraduate students, 29 honours students and about 40 undergraduate students are studying or have studied with SKA bursaries and are on their way to being a part of South Africa’s exciting future in radio astronomy.  Forty of these students are from other African countries.

“The highly skilled young scientists and engineers supported by this programme will serve South Africa — and our African partner countries — in key areas of economic development in addition to their participation in ‘blue skies’ scientific research,” said Kim de Boer, SKA human capital development manager.

“Prior to 2008 the focus was on PhD and MSc students, but since 2008 we’ve included undergraduate students in order to increase the pool of potential students and attract more of them into astronomy and the relevant engineering disciplines,” de Boer said. The undergraduate programme focuses particularly on attracting more black and women students. 

Students find the innovative nature of astronomy and the SKA project exciting. 

“SKA bursaries are competitive and on a par with bursaries offered by industry or by other countries,” de Boer stated.

Bursary holders attend regular workshops, where they get valuable exposure to optical and radio-astronomy. They also benefit from student conferences, where they interact with the world’s leading astronomers, the local astronomy community and the SKA engineering and science team.

“The annual conference, being held this year from 2-7 December in Stellenbosch, serves to create a sense of community among students and researchers involved in the SKA project,” de Boer said.

The conference also serves to boost the presentation and communication skills of the SKA fraternity as students, postdoctoral fellows, supervisors and the SKA team, as well as international radio astronomers present on their current research.

This is the fourth year that the Annual Bursary and Fellowship Conference is being held. The five-day conference at Stellenbosch will be attended 38 postgraduate students, six postdoctoral fellows and university supervisors, academics from some of the SKA African partners’ state universities, the SKA team and international guests. 

The student presentations are judged by their peers and the top six projects are awarded prizes. At the past three conferences, the student presentations elicited a very favourable response from visiting international scientists, who rated the quality of the students’ work as comparable with the best to be found internationally.

“I’m convinced that the standard of the students’ work is boosting South Africa’s reputation as a hub for astronomy, as well as strengthening our position in the SKA bid,” Fanaroff said.

International astronomers that will be presenting at this year's conference include Dr Andrew Faulkner - University of Cambridge, Prof Tony Brown - University of Manchester, Prof Daniel Joseph Pisano - University of West Virginia, Dr Matt Jarvis - University of Hertfordshire, Dr Somanah Radhakrishna - Mauritius Radio Telescope, Prof Marc Verheijen - University of Groningen, Dr Lister Staveley-Smith - International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research in Perth, and Dr Girish Kumar Beeharry - University of Mauritius.

The students come from universities all over South Africa.

At the SKA Forum which was held in Cape Town in February this year, Professor John Womersley of the Science and Technology Facilities Council in the UK stated that the world’s current and future challenges demand scientific thinkers and technological innovation.

“The quickest way to get out of the economic dilemmas is to be able to evolve scientifically and that requires a scientifically trained workforce,” Womersley explained, adding that only 20 – 30% of astronomy is about understanding the universe. “The rest is about training people.”

At the same Forum Dr Gill Marcus, Reserve Bank Governor, said that she was convinced that the telescope would give young Africans a sense of purpose and inspire them to pursue maths and science at school, and to follow careers in science and engineering.

This would create a critical mass of problem-solving thinkers, able to find solutions to the water, food, health, energy and environmental challenges of the continent.

- END -

SKA International: www.skatelescope.org

SKA South Africa: www.ska.ac.za

Images: www.ska.ac.za/media/visuals.shtml

SKA Contacts

Dr Bernie Fanaroff; Project Director: South African SKA; bfanaroff@fanaroff.co.za

Kim de Boer, Manager: Human Capital Development Programme; kdeboer@ska.ac.za

Media Contact

Mitzi du Plessis, Cell: 083 258 8945; Email: mitzi@malachite-media.co.za

Key people from the SKA Conference to interview:

1. Professor Lister Staveley-Smith; ICRAR Deputy Director: Science.
   Email: lss@cyllene.uwa.edu.au
2. Dr Oliver King; W.M. Keck Institute for Space Studies Postdoctoral Fellow,
   Astronomy Department, California Institute of Technology
   Email: ogk@astro.caltech.edu
3. Professor Roy Booth; Director: Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory
   HartRAO: Email: roy@hartrao.ac.za
4. Professor Marc Verheijen, Cambridge University
   Email: verheyen@astro.rug.nl

5.     Professor Tony Brown; Associate Dean: Teaching & Learning, Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences, University of Manchester

6.        Professor D.J. Pisano; Assistant Professor, WVU Department of Physics      

Tel: 304-293-3422 x1464 Email: djpisano@mail.wvu.edu

7.         Dr Matt Jarvis; Centre for Astrophysics, Science & Technology Research Institute, University of Hertfordshire
Email: drmattjarvis@gmail.com

8.         Dr Andrew Faulkner; Project Engineer: European SKADS

Email: ajf@mrao.cam.ac.uk

9.         Professor Justin Jonas, Project Scientist, South Africa
Email: J.Jonas@ru.ac.za 

Note to editors

South Africa is competing against Australia to host the world's most powerful radio telescope, the €1.5-billion Square Kilometre Array.

The 80-dish MeerKAT telescope – the pathfinder which will contribute to the development of the technology required for the SKA – is currently being constructed near the town of Carnarvon in the Northern Cape.

Botswana, Ghana, Zambia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique and Namibia are to host remote stations of the SKA if the SKA is built in Africa.

The SKA will be a mega radio telescope, about 100 times more sensitive than the biggest existing radio telescope. The SKA will consist of approximately 3 000 dish-shaped antennae and other hybrid receiving technologies, with a core of about 2 000 antennas and outlying stations of 30 to 40 antennas each, spiralling out of the core. These stations will be spread over a vast area of up to 3 000 km. The combined collecting area of all these antennas will add up to one square kilometre, or one million square metres.

The SKA is expected to constitute a capital investment of about €1,5 to €2 billion – about one-third from the United States and one-third from the European Union, with the remainder funded by the other partners. Fifteen countries are currently involved as potential funders of the SKA, with another three countries having expressed interest.

There will be significant investment in the host country, particularly for maintenance and operations over a 30-50-year period. The operating and maintenance costs of the SKA are expected to amount to about €150 million per year.

As one of the biggest science and engineering projects on the continent, the MeerKAT is attracting leading scientists and engineers to work in SA, which will have a major effect on SA's reputation as a destination for astronomy, physics and hi-tech engineering, as well as in attracting investments and partnerships.

SKA technologies include the construction of large precision structures using modern composite materials, novel designs for wideband antennas and receivers, high-speed digital signal processing and transport, reconfigurable and parallel computing platforms, and low-cost, high reliability control and monitoring systems for large scientific infrastructures.

The final decision on the successful host country is expected in 2012.