Call for Entries: Radio Astronomy Advancement Programme (South Africa)

The objective of the Radio Astronomy Advancement Programme (RAAP) is to fund interventions, mostly workshops, that will contribute to the development of necessary scarce skills in radio astronomy-relevant science and engineering, within SARAO, the general radio astronomy community in South Africa, and in the SKA partner countries in Africa. The programme is coordinated within the Human Capital Development (HCD) portfolio of SARAO.

Focus Areas

• For 2025, applications that propose to develop skills in one or more of the following areas will be considered for support:
  • Data Engineering Computer Engineering – includes storage solutions, archive file systems, high performance scientific computing etc.
  • Radio Astronomy Data Analysis – includes pipeline development and data calibration techniques. Preference will be given to workshops using MeerKAT data.
  • Space geodesy applications, data analysis and instrumentation.
  • Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence techniques applied to Radio Astronomy.
  • Digital Signal Processing Platforms and Algorithms.
  • Systems Engineering.
  • Radio Telescope Control and Monitoring systems.
  • Software Development (Focusing on skills development in Python, C/C++ or CUDA).
  • Radio Astronomy Electromagnetic and RF Systems.

Funding Information

• Applicants can apply for a RAAP grant up to a maximum value of R750,000 for a workshop.

Eligibility Criteria

• Individuals eligible for applying for RAAP grants to arrange and facilitate workshops that will develop necessary skills and experience in radio astronomy science or engineering are:
  • Academic staff based at South African universities, including postdoctoral research fellows.
  • Permanent and fixed-term staff members based at an astronomy national facility, including SARAO.

Selection Criteria

• Proposals will be evaluated using the following criteria:
  • Relevance and significance of the skills outputs proposed to radio astronomy science or engineering, and specifically to the SKA, Meer KAT and Hart RAO radio telescopes, and SARAO space geodesy instruments.
  • The potential of the workshop to achieve the skills outputs and objectives proposed, the level of experience of the facilitators, and the availability of the necessary equipment and infrastructure to achieve the objectives proposed.
  • Cost effectiveness of the workshop and budget confidence

Application Requirements

• No late or incomplete applications will be considered.
• The outcome of the application process will be communicated to applicants in February 2025.
• All information provided for each proposal must be submitted as ONE PDF document (there is no application form).
• Applications must include the information listed in points a to k below (please provide the information in the order requested).
  • Contact person (title and full name)
  • Contact details (email address and telephone number)
  • Workshop title
  • Proposed date / month, and duration, of the workshop
  • Workshop organizing committee details (names, contact details and affiliations)
  • One paragraph overview summarizing the proposed workshop.
  • List the workshop objectives, including the benefits to the workshop participants, and skills output.
  • Proposed number, and composition of delegates.
  • Proposed workshop programme (a high-level programme is sufficient)
  • Proposed venue (including a short motivation for why the venue was selected. A quotation for the venue may be submitted to further justify costs.)
  • Budget (to a maximum of seven hundred and fifty thousand rand – R 750,000 – per workshop). If the workshop is co-funded, please provide budget items funded through additional funding sources.

For more information, visit SARAO.