It has been a very busy start to 2018 for two Australia-based SKA scientists. Dr Shi Dai from CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science and Dr Jack Line from University of Melbourne were the round two recipients of the Australian SKA Fellowship. This provides an opportunity to contribute directly to the design of a global mega-science project while developing new skills, experiences and networks.
The Fellows travelled to Manchester for 7 weeks to work closely with colleagues at the Square Kilometre Array Organisation (SKAO) Headquarters.
Dr Dai used his experience studying pulsars to work with the SKAO Science Group to predict the number of pulsars that the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) could detect. He also contributed to the development of an optimal strategy to conduct pulsar surveys using SKA-Low and SKA-Mid.
Dr Line used his visit to create a resource for the Epoch of Reionisation (EoR) community. Working with colleagues, he developed a method to simulate SKA-Low observations, allowing scientists to better understand the data challenges they face. His fellowship allowed him to work on different code and software that will be a resource for the EoR community.
Both Dr Dai and Dr Line shared their work, giving talks at the SKAO, Jodrell Bank Observatory and Imperial College London.
The Australian SKA Fellowship facilitates the strengthening of professional relationships between Australia based scientists and their SKA colleagues around the world. The face-to-face collaborative experience allows the Fellowship recipients to easily pool expertise, learn new methods and to contribute to solving problems being faced by other SKA scientists.
Both Dr Dai and Dr Line have confirmed that the experience greatly benefitted their professional development.
‘I made some great working relationships which will greatly help in my career, and developed software which will serve me well in years to come,’ Dr Line said.
Dr Dai also spoke highly of the Fellowships Programme.
‘I think my visit to SKAO was very successful and extremely useful to me. It gave me a chance to learn different aspects about the SKA, from technical details, to various science cases and its [future] operation.’
Read more
Read about the Australian SKA Fellowships Programme.
Contact us
Email SKA@industry.gov.au