South African SKA Project Human Capital Development Programme (2005- 2012) 7 August 2012

1. South African SKA Project Human Capital Development Programme(2005- 2012)7 August 2012

2. Objectives • To use the exciting nature of the SKA and MeerKAT projects to attract young people into science and technology • To create a skilled and integrated user community for MeerKAT and SKA, and other international radio astronomy projects such as PAPER and C-BASS: • Increase the teaching, supervisory and research capacity in South African universities relevant to the SKA • Increase the number of PhD and MSc graduates in radio astronomy and the engineering relevant to radio astronomy, in South Africa, and in our African partners countries • Establish technical capacity for the maintenance and operations of radio astronomy facilities

3. Model The Pipe line Process • The intention of this model is to pipeline quality students through the various education stages to ultimately create a large number of PhDs and Postdoctoral fellowships in astronomy and related engineering disciplines.

4. Overview the HCD Programmes • University Programme • Research chairs • Visiting / joint professorships • Academic staff • Postdoctoral fellowships • Postgraduate and undergraduate bursaries • Technician training • Internships • FET training • School Programme • Outreach Programme

8. Number of research & post doc fellowships

9. Number of research & post doc fellowships

13. No of students graduated

14. Postgraduate Bursary Conference Aim of the conference • Bring together the South African SKA postgraduate students, postdoctoral fellows, supervisors, astronomers and radio astronomy engineers in Africa and the rest of the world to network with each other and develop an interactive community around MeerKAT, the SKA Project in Africa and other radio astronomy initiatives. • Provide an opportunity for the students and postdoctoral fellows to share their research with the community and with each other and provide them with important experience in presenting their work. • Create an environment for the exchange of ideas and the establishment of research collaborations and networks. 40 International guests including academics from major radio astronomy institutions ( France, UK, USA, Japan, China, Italy, South Korea, Australia, Rest of Africa )

15. Post graduate Bursary Conference 2006

16. Postgraduate Bursary Conference 2007

17. PostgraduateBursary Conference 2008

18. Postgraduate Bursary Conference 2009

19. Postgraduate Bursary Conference 2010

20. Postgraduate Bursary Conference 2011

21. Undergraduate workshop

22. School Programme • Model adopted • Participate at National Science Festival aimed at general public and learners • Outreach activities around the SKA site • School interventions

23. School Programme Objectives: • Increase the enrolment of Maths and Science in grade 10, 11 and 12 • Improve Maths and Science results in grade 10,11 and 12 • Improve the level of literacy and numeracy in the primary schools • Enhance the knowledge, skills and experience of maths and science teaching at the schools

24. School Programme cont.. Through public and private partnership • Resources • Books • Cyberlab • Lab equipment and chemicals • Educational software • Interactive boards • Teacher interventions • Teacher workshops e.g. astronomy, computer • Exchange programmes • Forum

25. Cyber lab

26. Science Lab

27. Holiday Programmes

28. Astronomy talks

29. Interactive Programmes

30. Field Trips

31. Science Shows

32. Mentorship Programmes

33. Science Clubs

34. Educator Workshops

35. Minister’s Workshop??

36. Use of Interactive Boards

37. Outreach Programme Objectives: • Create public awareness, interest, understanding and insight into Astronomy • Stimulate interest in Astronomy and Space science • Enlarge pool of learners in Astronomy and Space Science • Adhoc requests from schools • Public talks in Carnarvon, Williston and Van Wyksvlei • Outreach events such as undergraduates visit to the Northern Cape • Participate in local, provincial and national science festivals

38. Outreach in the Karoo

39. Undergraduate students in the Karoo

40. Skyviewing

41. Teaching Astronomy in Africa • Kenya • Mauritius • Madagascar • Mozambique • Ghana • Botswana (new)

42. Conclusion/lessons learned • Its important to have capacity development in all levels when starting a HCD programme. i.e from lowest to highest • The Programme has to be competitive, although the projects promises exciting tech, you have to be able to compete with industry • Select based on quality (small projects having to provide high results at short space of time, one needs the high level people) • Focus the research that you support • E.g. Postdocs and PHD level research is restricted • With Radio Astronomy science being international in nature so you need the mechanism in place to engage with international community • What worked was postdoc conference where we invite internationals astronomers and engineers and over the years we have had over 50 participants and this has led to boosting SA reputations internationally, co-supervision of students and collaborations with influential universities like Oxford, Berkley etc • Set out to create a community around the HCD programme and that was through conference, workshops and inviting the high achievers to the conference (Engaging community)

43. THANK YOU!