MSc Scholarships, PhD Scholarships, the Department of Science and Technology and the National Research Foundation, Cosmology, Radio astronomy

Job Description: The South African SKA Project is a project of the Department of Science and Technology and the National Research Foundation and comprises Africa’s bid to host the Square Kilometer Array Radio Telescope (SKA), the design, construction and operation of the Karoo Array Telescope (Meer KAT) and a youth into science and engineering programme focused on
supporting science and engineering students and postdoctoral fellows. Africa has been short-listed with Australia to host the SKA. If Africa is selected to site the SKA, the core of the telescope will be located in the Karoo region of the Northern Cape with additional stations distributed throughout South Africa, Zambia, Mozambique, Namibia, Botswana, Mauritius, Madagascar, Ghana and Kenya.
The SKA will:
• Revolutionize our understanding of the Universe
• Be completed by 2025 with a life-span of at least 50 years
• Be the next generation radio telescope for the global community
• Be continually upgradeable as computer power increases
• Use new technology antennas, signal transport, signal processing and computing in a
marriage between radio frequency technology and information and communication
technology.
• Consist of an array of 3000 antennas spread over 3000 km
To contribute towards the development of technology and science for the SKA, South Africa is building Meer KAT at the same site selected for the SKA. MeerKAT will be the most sensitive centimeter- wavelength radio telescope in the southern hemisphere, and will make significant contributions to both galactic and extragalactic astronomical research. MeerKAT will explore phenomena such as cosmic magnetism, the evolution of individual galaxies and clusters of galaxies, the influence of dark matter on galaxies and clusters, and the nature of transient radio sources. The first seven-antenna prototype array (KAT-7) is already being commissioned and will do science in 2011. The full Meer KAT array of up to 80 dishes will start to do science in 2013.
Eligibility for scholarships from the SA SKA Postgraduate Scholarship Programme
The following students may apply for SA SKA Project postgraduate scholarships:
South African citizens and permanent residents of South Africa who wish to complete MSc or PhD degree at a South African university.
Non – South Africans from other countries in Africa who wish to complete an MSc or PhD degree at a South African university.
Non – South Africans who wish to complete an MSc or PhD degree at a university in an SA SKA Partner Country: Namibia, Zambia, Botswana, Mozambique, Madagascar, Mauritius, Kenya and Ghana.
Research topics and supervisions of research
The research focus for the SKA PhD and MSc scholarships must align very closely with specific areas of Meer KAT, SKA, PAPER and C-BASS science and technology where research is required.
The MSc and PhD projects (particularly the astronomy projects) must include a component of practical skills development (e.g. data analysis and/or computer simulations) so that the student acquires the necessary skills to become a competent
(radio) astronomy researcher or engineer.
For 2011, the research projects must be in the following general fields:
• Observational radio astronomy and cosmology.
• Experimental cosmology
• Radio astronomy engineering and instrumentation technologies

All applicants (except NASSP MSc applicants – see section 4.8) MUST complete section five of the application form. This section refers to the details of the research project being proposed. Any application that does not include details of the research project being proposed will not be considered for a scholarship.
The SA SKA Project has partnered with a number of supervisors from who are available to supervise students. Table 1 lists the research topics that the partner supervisors have specified. Students will have to conduct their studies at the university
where the partner supervisor is based.

Alternatively, if a student wishes to undertake a project that does not appear on this list, he/she is free to submit a proposal for consideration, together with motivation for why the proposed project is relevant to the design, construction and scientific research
goals of the Meer KAT and / or SKA.

All SA SKA Project postgraduate scholarship-holders are required to be supervised by appropriately qualified and experienced academics linked to the university at which the student will be registered. Co-supervision by domain specialists within and outside the university is acceptable. All applications MUST include the details of the supervisor and must be submitted with the approval of the supervisor (see approvals, Section 6 of the application form). Any application that does not include the details of the supervisor or the approval of the supervisor (signature of the supervisor) will not be considered for a scholarship.

The SA SKA Project will also consider applications from students who wish to pursue an MSc or PhD degree through the National Astrophysics and Space Science Programme (NASSP) hosted by the University of Cape Town (UCT).

Contact Rose Robertson at Rose@nrf.ac.za

Closing date for applications is 31 August 2010.
Further Scholarship Information

Tags: Master’s, PhD, Science, SOUTH AFRICA, Technology
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