News and Events

SPARCS X 2020 Announcement

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We are pleased to announce that SPARCS X 2020 “Capturing science from the pathfinder survey data” will be held in Cape Town, South Africa, 8-11 September 2020. Registration will soon be open via: https://www.idia.ac.za/SPARCS2020/ SPARCS is the forum to maximize the scientific return from the SKA Pathfinder projects’ continuum surveys. The SKA PAthfinder Radio Continuum Survey (SPARCS) Working Group has the following goals: To coordinate developments of techniques, to avoid … Read More

Science for Development winning ideas

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IDIA’s Development and Outreach shines at international Science for Development meeting. An international, interdisciplinary workshop on “Science for Development” was be held on January 30-31, 2020 at the South African Astronomical Observatory in Cape Town, South Africa. The aim of the workshop was to create a space for interaction between natural scientists, technology experts, social scientists and development practitioners in … Read More

Review of Dr. Ramanujam’s SEADS seminar: People Science Movements in India

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This SEADS seminar was held at the South African Astronomical Observatory because access to the UWC campus was not possible. We are grateful to SAAO for hosting the seminar. It was therefore also streamed online with good participation in spite of the logistical challenges we faced. Dr. Ramanujam covered many topics in his presentation, giving an overview of popular science … Read More

Discovery of the highest energy light from a gamma-ray burst

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Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most luminous explosions in the cosmos. These explosive events last several seconds and during that time they they release in 10 seconds in gamma rays as much energy as the sun will emit in its 10-bilion year life. Such extreme amounts of energy can only be released during catastrophic events like the death of a … Read More

Supporting Big Data Science skills development across the continent.

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After last week’s participation at the DARA Big Data Africa School held in Cape Town where 27 students from 9 African countries worked on big data science projects using the IDIA research cloud, we are now also proud to support an additional skills development initiative, the DARA Big Data Hackathon at NUST in Windhoek. More information here, on GitHub. Our … Read More

SEADS Announcement: Large Scale Science Campaigns in India

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Our next speaker  in the Science Engagement And Development Seminar series is Dr.  Niruj Mohan Ramanujam from the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory and the Public Outreach and Education Committee of the Astronomical Society of India. Abstract: Starting from the Bharat Jan Vigyan Jatha in 1987, India has seen more than 3 decades of mass movements to promote science awareness and scientific … Read More