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African training project DARA gets major funding boost BY MATTHEW TAYLOR (SKAO)
A project related to the SKAO that trains young Africans in radio astronomy has been given a multi-million euro funding boost. Development in Africa with Radio Astronomy (DARA) will receive £6.5m (€7.6m) over the next three years, allowing it to train 225 more students on the continent. DARA began in 2015 when Prof. Melvin Hoare of the University of Leeds used Royal Society and Newton Fund money to assemble a team to train a first generation of astronomers in the eight SKAO African partner countries: Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia. The scheme has been a valuable springboard for talented youngsters, seeding the beginnings of radio astronomy in countries where there was previously little expertise. While the joint UK-South Africa project has already changed the lives of hundreds of participants, Dr Hoare said there was now a renewed focus on sustainability and 34
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helping DARA cohorts utilise skills in radio astronomy and big data that can be applied to other sectors to help address local development challenges, such as farming, deforestation, and water security. “We've been going for 10 years, but we're only halfway through the real vision,” said Dr Hoare. “We need to get those groups embedded and wellestablished with more people on board, so that they can become self-sustaining. “Several DARA PhD graduates now hold faculty jobs in African universities. This is where we want them to be, so they can take up the reins of training people in astronomy themselves and develop programmes for undergraduates and post grads.
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15