Regional News of Monday, 28 October 2013

Source: GNA

A team of seven Ghanaian research scientists, electronic technologists and mechanical engineers, have began training in South Africa on the independent operation and maintenance of radio telescopes on the continent.

This represents the first technical team from Africa to receive training as part of the African Very Long Baseline Interferometry Network (AVN) programme.

The project is a collaboration between Ghana Space Sciences and Technology Institute of Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC), Ministries of Science and Technology Innovation in Ghana and South Africa, National Science Foundation, and Square Kilometre Array (SKA).

The aim of the programme is to create a network of radio telescopes among the SKA SA African partner countries, namely, Ghana, Botswana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia.

"The training programme marks the start of a programme to strengthen African technical capability and a holistic approach to human capital development for radio astronomy, the Deputy Minister of Science and Technology, Michael Masutha said at a launch of the project at MeerKAT Headquarters in Pinelands, Cape Town.

Involving the African partner countries in the AVN training programme is a means of ensuring that Africa is capacitated and ready for hosting the SKA.

Masutha said the training project would establish strong collaborative Africa-Europe network in science and engineering and would deliver practical training and hands-on experiences that would enthuse a new generation of scientists and engineers on the continent.

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Ghanaian scientists train in radio astronomy