Unit 4 focused on calibration and analysis of radio interferometric datasets, took place at the University of Zambia in Lusaka, Zambia from July 1 to 12 2019.

 

The workshop was led by Mr Mubela Mutale and Dr Sarrvesh Sridhar. Mubela is a PhD candidate at the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom and is himself a former DARA trainee. Sarrvesh is a Telescope Scientist at ASTRON in the Netherlands.

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The two week workshop was split so that the students were introduced to the theory behind interferometry and to common software packages used in radio astronomy including CASA. During the second week, the students followed several tutorials to calibrate and collect image data from the EVN and e-MERLIN telescopes. During the final days, the students put whatever they had learnt during the workshop to test in the form of writing mock observing proposals to various telescope facilities.

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On the last day of the workshop, we held a certificate awarding ceremony. At the ceremony, the Head of the Department of Physics Dr Steven Mudenda, handed out the certificates of completion to the students.

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This training event was co-sponsored by the EU 'Jumping JIVE' project which is facilitating and supporting the participation of expert lecturers from multiple EU institutes in the DARA programme. This EU project is also funding a number further opportunities for training and education in both Africa and the EU.  The JUMPING JIVE project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 730884