Team & Partners
Organizing Committee
Dr Nadeem Oozeer (PI)
Ms. Tasneem Rossenkhan (co-PI)
Prof Bruce Bassett
Mr Rajin Ramphul
Mr Emmanuel Dufourq
Lecturers/Tutors
Bruce Bassett AIMS - UCT - SAAO)
Nadeem Oozeer (SKA SA - AIMS - NWU)
Yabebal Fantaye (AIMS)
Pierre-Yves Lablanche (AIMS - Stellenbosch University)
Olorato Mosiane (SKA SA - NWU)
The International Astronomical Union's Office of Astronomy for Development (IAU/OAD) has supported this workshop through its annual call for proposals 2016. The BAriSta workshop was awarded a grant by the OAD to help realize this workshop.
The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project is an international effort to build the world’s largest radio telescope, with a square kilometre of collecting area.
South Africa has already demonstrated its excellent science and engineering skills by designing and building the MeerKAT telescope – as a pathfinder to the SKA. The first seven dishes, KAT-7, are complete and have already produced dozens of scientific results. MeerKAT is attracting great interest internationally – more than 500 international astronomers and 58 from Africa submitted proposals to do science with MeerKAT once it is complete.
BeeCubes is a Consulting firm based in Mauritius. The firm is working towards leveraging big data analytics and Astronomy to bridge together Business and STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) in order to spearhead socio-economic development efforts in the SKA/AVN partner countries. BeeCubes partnered up with various individuals and bodies to host the Big Data in Astronomy workshop as an effort to equip promising individuals with the tools and skills to apply them in their home countries.
The Development in Africa with Radio Astronomy (DARA) project, led by Professor Melvin Hoare, seeks to provide people in the targeted countries with training to use radio telescopes. It also has an outreach programme to encourage young people to study the technological aspects of radio astronomy and pursue STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects. The project is funded by the Newton Fund – a novel initiative that aims to promote the economic development and social welfare of developing countries through scientific collaboration.
The Newton Fund is now a £735 million fund which, through science and innovation partnerships, promotes the economic development and social welfare of partnering countries. It aims to strengthen science and innovation capacity and unlock further funding through which the UK and partner countires will build strong, sustainable and systemic relationships. It is delivered through 15 UK delivery partners in collaboration with the partner countries. Activities are in three broad activities:
People: increasing capacity for science and innovation in partner countries.
Research: research collaborations on development topics.
Translation: creating collaborative solutions to development challenges and strengthening innovation systems.
For more information visit: www.newtonfund.ac.uk and follow via Twitter: @NewtonFund
The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) is a pan-African network of centres of excellence for postgraduate education, research and outreach in mathematical sciences.
AIMS South Africa is a centre for education and research in Cape Town, South Africa. AIMS South Africa was established in 2003 as a partnership project of the following 6 universities: Cambridge, Cape Town, Oxford, Paris Sud XI, Stellenbosch, and Western Cape. AIMS centres operate in Senegal, Ghana, Cameroon, Tanzania. and Rwanda.
Microsoft South Africa is a subsidiary of the world’s largest independent productivity and platform company. Headquartered in Bryanston, Johannesburg with a regional office in Cape Town, the company focuses on providing services, solutions and devices that assist governmental organisations, people and local businesses in achieving more in less time through the use of technology. As a proudly South African company, with a Level 2 B-BBEE rating, Microsoft SA strives to achieve long-term local sustainability through the contribution it makes to the South African economy by delivering broad access to innovative solutions and services; up-skilling youth; supporting local businesses and start-ups; and establishing a network of partnerships to create jobs and close the skills gap, while developing South Africa’s software economy and infrastructure.