Abstract: The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will be the biggest ever radio telescope array, able to reach even  deeper into space and further back in time, and to resolve even finer features than  ever before. This will revolutionize radio astronomy and cosmology – and will  also have a major impact on South Africa and its African partners, who will  host about 70% of the SKA. Indeed, the SKA success signals a new dawn for  science in Africa, helping to tap into the vast potential of the continent. I  will describe these developments, and then go on to discuss one of the big  science questions that the SKA will help to answer: Why are the galaxies  flying apart from each other faster and faster instead of slowing down as  expected? What is the nature of the mysterious ‘Dark Energy’ field that is  driving this acceleration of the Universe? Or is the acceleration a signal of  the breakdown of Einstein’s theory on the largest scales?

ALL WELCOME

*Directions to SAAO Auditorium : Coming from the N2, turn off to the M57 – Liesbeek Parkway; turning in the direction of Cape Town and continue to the traffic lights with Hartleyvale (hockey and football) on your left. Turn right at traffic lights into Observatory Road, pass the River Club; the S A Astronomical Observatory is next on the left. Once through the security gates bear left following the SALT signs to the last building on the left (white with stoep & ramp).

In the laboratory, Prof Valerie Mizrahi (right) with Drs Digby Warner (middle) and Krishnamoorthy Gopinath, postdoctoral research fellow.

For the full article from UCT’s Monday Paper

For more information : Go to the SKA Website

-        A governance model for the management of astronomy in South Africa,

-        The development of a long-term strategic plan for multi-wave length astronomy in South Africa, and

-        Human Capacity Development

• A study of the Krish Bharuth-Ram-Astronomy Working Group report on Human Capital Development in astronomy, and proposals for short, medium, and long-term interventions,
• A detailed proposal for short and medium-term interventions with an estimated budget.

On 12 March 2013 the Minister of Science and Technology, convened a meeting in Cape Town of senior DST officials, the Directors of National Astronomy Facilities, the Square Kilometer Array South Africa (SKA-SA) project, the Astronomy Desk and the NRF.  This meeting considered the Astronomy Desk recommendations for strengthening the governance and development of astronomy.  The meeting focused on the scale of the investment in astronomy, the increasing national importance of this investment, and its expanding international character, as well as the critical need to rapidly grow participation by black South Africans.

The considerable progress made by the Astronomy Desk towards defining the parameters and conditions for a separate astronomy agency, and the delivery of a conceptual outline for a human capital development strategy, were acknowledged and duly considered by the meeting.  The advantages and disadvantages of establishing a new, separate agency were discussed.  These discussions took into account the current demands on South Africa’s astronomy community and institutions, as well as the financial implications of such an intervention.

The meeting was informed by the Minister and DST officials that prevailing economic conditions and fiscal realities were not conducive to the establishment of new agencies at present.  Establishing a new agency would require additional resources and incur overhead costs in terms of establishing appropriate financial, human resource, reporting and other compliance processes and procedures required from all publicly funded entities.  The establishment of new entities together with the formulation of new governance structures and systems, policies, processes and procedures can present a significant distraction from their core science objectives and mandate for fairly long periods of time.  On the other hand, the longer term establishment of a dedicated astronomy agency was also seen to be a logical corollary of the stature of the astronomy project in South Africa and in Africa, and the role of astronomy in South Africa’s international scientific profile.

The meeting was convinced that the current momentum in growing and strengthening astronomy in the country should be maintained and stepped up if possible.  This was particularly important in view of the recent Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) science successes, the developing African VLBI Network, progress made with MeerKAT construction, as well as the successful SKA bid.  To this effect a proposal was accepted that all astronomy activities currently residing within the NRF be consolidated in a sub-Agency of the NRF as an intermediate arrangement.  This would entail the consolidation of all current astronomy national research facilities (the Hartebeeshoek Radio Astronomy Observatory [HartRAO] and the South African Astronomical Observatory [SAAO], including SALT operations) and the SKA-SA project, as well as existing human capital development initiatives (NASSP, MWA and the SKA HCD programme) into one managed astronomy programme within the NRF.

In order to ensure that astronomy progresses in the best interests of the sector, the following measures will also be put in place to support the sub-Agency:

• A Deputy CEO: Astronomy will be appointed by the NRF in consultation with the DST.  This person will represent astronomy interests on the NRF Corporate Executive and will act as the NRF anchor-point for interactions with external bodies, especially the DST;
• An independent Astronomy Advisory Body will be established.  It will represent the astronomy community, and will advise the Deputy CEO: Astronomy and the NRF Board, through the Advisory Body Chair, on astronomy interests;
• The Chair of the Astronomy Advisory Body and the Deputy CEO: Astronomy will be standing observers on the NRF board, as are other senior managers of the NRF;
• The sub-Agency will benefit from shared corporate services in the NRF (HR, Finance, Governance etc.) to limit overhead costs;
• The fiduciary responsibilities for the sub-Agency activities will remain with the NRF Board;
• The SKA-SA project will continue to function as a project within this emerging framework, and
• The roles and responsibilities, and the organizational structure of the sub-Agency will be informed by the work done by the Astronomy Desk on the astronomy agency.

These changes are intended to provide a working governance environment for astronomy to progress as a discipline and as a national, strategic scientific programme.  They will also serve to consolidate astronomy in a manner consistent with the objectives and strategic intentions being developed by the Astronomy Desk and its Reference Group, particularly in the development of the multi-wavelength astronomy strategy and in human capital development.  The remaining task of the Astronomy Desk will be to bring to a rapid conclusion the proposals on human capital development and the conceptualisation of the multi-wavelength strategy.

This approach will provide a platform for South African astronomy to mature as an enterprise, while longer-term decisions about its optimal governance and suitable structural arrangements can be made in line with the unfolding national and international commitments and obligations (SALT, SKA, African VLBI Network, Cherenkov Telescope Array), and relevant domestic circumstances.

The Minister has requested the NRF to proceed with the implementation of the Astronomy sub-Agency model as soon as possible, to ensure that the current momentum in astronomy investments is optimised in the national interest. The DST will in due course provide information on its response to other recommendations from the Astronomy Desk as they emerge.

Issued by the Department of Science and Technology

Enquiries:  Tommy Makhode 082 379 8268

The AU Scientific Award Programme is a symbol of the commitment of AU heads of state and the government to raise community awareness and to engage African citizens in Africa’s science. It also seeks to improve technology programmes and to strengthen the continent’s research capacity.

In 2012, Prof Wingfield was awarded the prestigious Johanna Westerdijk Award by the Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures (CBS) (Fungal Biodiversity Centre, the Netherlands), and in November he also received an honorary DSc degree from the University of British Columbia.

He has published widely on the topic of tree health in more than 600 research papers and five books and as an invited speaker he has made numerous prestigious presentations globally. He has served in many distinguished positions and has received numerous awards and honours for contributions to education, research and industry in South Africa and elsewhere in the world. Based on these contributions, he has been elected as a fellow of scientific societies, including the Royal Society of South Africa, the Academy of Sciences of South Africa, the Southern African Society for Plant Pathology and the American Phytopathological Society. He is one of the few honorary members of the Mycological Society of America.

The award will be presented to Prof Wingfield at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 25 May 2013.
INFO AND PHOTO FROM UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA WEBSITE: www.up.ac.za

Prof Mike Wingfield, Director of the Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI) in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, has been awarded the prestigious African Union (AU) Continental Scientific Award in the Life and Earth Sciences category.

The AU Scientific Award Programme is a symbol of the commitment of AU heads of state and the government to raise community awareness and to engage African citizens in Africa’s science. It also seeks to improve technology programmes and to strengthen the continent’s research capacity.

In 2012, Prof Wingfield was awarded the prestigious Johanna Westerdijk Award by the Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures (CBS) (Fungal Biodiversity Centre, the Netherlands), and in November he also received an honorary DSc degree from the University of British Columbia.

He has published widely on the topic of tree health in more than 600 research papers and five books and as an invited speaker he has made numerous prestigious presentations globally. He has served in many distinguished positions and has received numerous awards and honours for contributions to education, research and industry in South Africa and elsewhere in the world. Based on these contributions, he has been elected as a fellow of scientific societies, including the Royal Society of South Africa, the Academy of Sciences of South Africa, the Southern African Society for Plant Pathology and the American Phytopathological Society. He is one of the few honorary members of the Mycological Society of America.

The award will be presented to Prof Wingfield at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 25 May 2013.

Professor of Physics, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.

Marcelo Patricio Loewe is an internationally highly recognized theoretical physicist who has made exceptional contributions to the fields of High Energy Physics and Quantum Field Theories. This is highlighted by his citation record of 1423 citations of his close to 90 published papers, giving him an outstanding Hirsch h-factor of 20 according to SPIRES (the High Energy Physics data base of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, California, USA). His research interests have focused on (a) quantum field theories, in particular Quantum Chromodynamics, at finite temperature and density, a subject that relates to the behaviour of the Universe shortly after the Big Bang, and which is explored experimentally at e.g. the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) at CERN, the particle physics accelerator near Geneva, Switzerland, (b) Non-Commutative Quantum Mechanics, and (c) Nonlinear effects in Quantum Electrodynamics. Marcelo started his academic career as a Lecturer at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (PUC) in 1977, and was subsequently promoted ad hominem to Assistant Professor in 1982, Associate Professor in 1989, and finally to Professor in 1998. He has held a few academic positions at PUC, such as Academic Secretary, and Director of Research & Postgraduate Studies, being appointed Head of the Physics Department in 2010. Marcelo’s research has been funded by the Chilean National Commission for Scientific & Technological Research since his return to Chile in 1982, with his research proposals always achieving the highest ratings nationally.

Marcelo has a very strong connection to South Africa since 1988 when he started an ongoing research collaboration with Prof. Cesareo A. Dominguez, FRSSAf from the University of Cape Town (UCT). As a result of this he has visited UCT on fourteen occasions since 1989, and the National Institute for Theoretical Physics (NITheP), in Stellenbosch, in 2008 and 2009. Marcelo is an International Member of UCT’s Centre for Theoretical Physics & Astrophysics since 2005, and serves as a Member of its International Advisory Committee since 2006. He has acted as external examiner of MSc and PhD theses at UCT’s Physics Department on five occasions, and has co-supervised at UCT two BSc Honours projects, four MSc theses, and three PhD theses of students of Cesareo Dominguez, with whom he co-authored 32 publications in top journals. Fifteen of these papers also involved seven UCT and one University of Stellenbosch postgraduate students as co-authors. Marcelo has also been a member of the organizing committee of the International Workshop on Nonlinear Effects in Quantum Electrodynamics, and one of the plenary speakers, at UCT in 2008, at NITheP in 2009, and at UCT to take place in January 2011. Marcelo’s regular visits to South Africa have been supported in part first by the FRD, and later by NRF‘s division of international liaison.