UKZN Hosts High-Profile Astronomy Meetings

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UKZN recently hosted two national Astronomy meetings which attracted a variety of prominent local and international scientists.

 The University’s Research Office hosted the National Research Foundation (NRF) Astronomy Advisory Council (AAC) meeting on the Westville campus. The Council is responsible for providing scientific advice to the NRF astronomy sub-agency with the aim of growing this field of Science, thereby benefiting both the local and international community.

The AAC meeting was followed by the Astronomy town meeting jointly organised by the NRF and UKZN, at which UKZN’s Vice-Chancellor, Dr Albert van Jaarsveld welcomed the delegates who represented various facets of Astronomy.

The town meeting focused on the national strategy for multi-wavelength Astronomy and its implementation which is to be finalised in the next few months, after a final round of discussion with all stakeholders. Delegates also provided updates on major projects, such as the construction of MeerKAT and the African VLBI Network. 

There was also much discussion of public engagement and development projects at the meeting, including an update on Cape Town's bid to host the general assembly of the International Astronomical Union in 2021, and a proposed consolidation of various astronomy outreach efforts at the national level.

Strini Rajgopaul