There are some 400 postdoctoral fellows, undergraduate and postgraduate students from South Africa and other African countries whose studies have already been funded by the SKA SA Project Office since 2005. Many students have since been employed by the SKA SA team or related companies.

Prof Howard Reader’s Electromagnetic Compatibility and Metrology research team in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering have had to help the civil, mechanical and electrical teams of the SKA Project Office with on-the-ground decisions about the building of KAT-7 and MeerKAT for the last number of years.

Prof David Davidson, holder of the SKA research chair in Electromagnetic Systems and Electromagnetic Interference Mitigation in the SU Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, is involved in the precise placement of the dishes in the array, and matters relating to the so-called “hardware” of astronomy – the telescope and the antenna dishes.

More information: http://www.ska.ac.za/download/clipping_mat_jul2012.pdf