Impact case study database

Most African countries joining the SKA have very little or no expertise in radio astronomy. Through the co-design and delivery of DARA, based on research pushing the boundaries of radio survey and interferometry science, CAR has played a central role in building the human capital required to build self-sustaining radio astronomy hubs in Africa. Beginning in October 2014, DARA has provided young people with transferable skills for wider job and wealth creation [ 5.1- 5.4, 5.10]. UH’s Thompson led the development and delivery of DARA in Zambia and Madagascar [based on 3.1- 3.4] and UH’s Forbrich and Hardcastle led the development and delivery of technical training [based on 3.5- 3.7] in Botswana, Mozambique and Zambia. Thompson applied these techniques and principles to the design and delivery (as lead) of a similar capacity building programme in Thailand from February 2017. This programme supported the Thai Government to develop the advanced skills the country required to deliver its flagship infrastructure project: a 40m radio telescope that will allow Thailand to further develop its instrumentation design capabilities and access international astronomy and geodesy VLBI research networks [ 5.7].

Upskilling workforces and building STEM capacity in developing economies

A key aim of DARA is to achieve a ‘multiplier effect’; the first generation of radio astronomers in these eight African countries will train future cohorts, helping to dispel the notion that the only career destination for graduate physicists is teaching. Researchers from UH and partner institutions designed and delivered radio astronomy and related-skills training at graduate, master’s and PhD-level. The graduate-level intensive programme lasts eight weeks, spread over a year and including four weeks at a radio telescope site. It includes computer programming and data reduction techniques for radio astronomy using the likes of Python and Linux. Over the impact period, 264 students from eight African countries participated [ 5.1]. An evaluation [ 5.2] by the Newton Fund said that participants had gained the following technical skills: expertise in radio antennas and instrumentation; radio astronomy observation; data reduction and analysis; astrophysics. They gained the following transferable skills: awareness of commercial opportunities in the space sector; science outreach experience; high-level computing; English language skills in a technical context [ 5.2]. Of 264 students, 31 were accepted onto MSc/PhD programmes, including at UH [ 5.1]. From the first cohort of 10 Zambian students, five went on to international postgraduate study, with one UH PhD student taking a research-active engineering lecturer post at the University of Zambia in 2020. Trainees used their skills to find employment or set up businesses in fields such as earth observation, satellite services and data analysis [ 5.2].

A follow-up survey of 156 DARA trainees [ 5.3] demonstrated the following key outcomes:

• 97.4% described their experience of the study programme as ‘very positive’ (67.3%) or ‘positive’ (30.1%); it was 100% in the UH-led countries of Zambia and Madagascar.

• 32% said the graduate-level training had already helped them ‘further their career’; this figure was 75% in Zambia and 59% in Madagascar.

• Jobs secured by participants that were attributed to participation in DARA included: data analyst; senior technicians for remote sensing and GIS; telescope operator; lecturer; teacher; research scientist; knowledge transfer associate; engineer; metrologist.

Longer-term impact was demonstrated via individual case studies. One Zambian participant said the UH-led training had secured him employment as an environmental engineer and led to him co-founding a consulting firm that offers remote sensing satellite services. He said: ‘It is because of the knowledge that I acquired through the DARA training program that barely a few months after I completed the training, I got a job. The DARA programme introduced me to Agri Big Data which can help in decision making in agriculture and increase Zambia's agricultural productivity [ 5.2].’ A Zambian student who studied an MSc in radio astronomy at UH in 2016-17 secured a Visiting Lecturer post at UH and in July 2019 delivered a DARA radio astronomy workshop to students at the University of Zambia [ 5.4]. After DARA graduate-level training in 2017, a Botswanan student was accepted onto a funded PhD in astrophysics at UH; she plans to seek employment as a big data analyst in a leading bank [ 5.4]. A DARA alumna from Ghana launched a start-up that trains children and young adults in Python programming [ 5.3]. Two DARA MSc and PhD students from Ghana founded, in 2019, a start-up that provides high-volume data storage and processing [ 5.1]. The University of Zambia said that ‘as a result of the training’, DARA students had secured international scholarships and MSc/PhD study in the UK, noting that these opportunities ‘would be impossible or difficult without the project’ and that these students ‘will form the basis of the human resource that will be required for the meaningful participation of Zambia’ in the SKA [ 5.5]. DARA won a Better Satellite World Award in 2018. The organiser, the Society of Satellite Professionals, said: ‘We couldn’t help but be impressed by DARA’s work … to help grow expertise in these fields in Africa. The … powerful combination of technology and business acumen is already paying dividends for the students who have undertaken courses [ 5.6].’

Building on DARA, UH secured Newton funding in 2017 to lead Radio Capaci-Thai [ 5.7, 5.9]. The main outcomes were: STEM outreach to a wide cohort of Thai undergraduate students; the upskilling of a selected cohort of Thai and Southeast Asian undergraduates; technological skills transfer in radio-frequency engineering, data processing and low noise amplifier design. More than 150 Thai science and engineering students attended a UH-led, in-depth seminar series across nine Thai HE institutions in 2017. This led to intensive summer schools in 2017 and 2019; 52 Thai and other South East Asian undergraduates received training in radio astronomy, antenna and receiver design, software development and data processing [ 5.7]. Twenty-three NARIT staff attended the schools to develop their skills and access hands-on training. Six Thai Government engineers and three research assistants from NARIT received advanced radio astronomy training.

Stimulating interest in STEM among young people in low-income countries

DARA students are also trained as outreach ambassadors. As of 2019, DARA alumni had delivered STEM sessions to 30 schools and 4,000 students to promote science-based careers [ 5.2]. In 2018 the Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD), a joint project of the International Astronomical Union and the South African National Research Foundation, invited funding proposals from DARA students. Awards included a programme of school visits to the Ghana Radio Astronomy Observatory; a programme to engage underprivileged schools in rural Namibia in the role that radio astronomy plays in society; a programme to engage high school students in Madagascar in the opportunities afforded by the SKA/AVN [ 5.8]. DARA survey responses showed how the outreach training had been put into practice. Representative comments [ 5.3] included: ‘ I currently organise and sponsor astronomy seminars, workshops and talks in schools and event centres. It [DARA] has boosted my confidence in stand-up talks’; ‘ After the basic training my confidence level in organizing astronomy outreach, teacher training workshop[s], public presentations has gone up immensely’; ‘ To promote the knowledge and experience I acquired from DARA, I set up a facility to promote astronomy through seminar, workshops often in schools and educational events. My hope is to…project the idea across the country’; ‘ We enrolled an outreach and development program in rural Kenya. The project has been cited by OAD as a success story’.

Influencing allocation and distribution of the UK’s Government’s overseas aid budget

The Newton Fund is part of the UK’s Official Development Assistance. In co-designing DARA, CAR research has influenced the allocation and distribution of £5.41m of the UK Government’s overseas aid budget (an impact indicator as per REF 2021 guidelines) in eight African countries, Thailand, Colombia and Mexico [ 5.2, 5.9]. This comprises: £4.13m to Africa (Thompson as CI); £0.50m to Thailand (Thompson as PI; Forbrich as CI), £0.37m to Colombia (Thompson as CI) and £0.40m to Mexico (Forbrich as CI) [ 5.9]. DARA Big Data in Colombia was designed to build capacity in big data science and the Mexico project involved skills training for a new national radio astronomy facility [ 5.9]. The Thailand, Colombia and Mexico projects were built on the DARA Africa model. The value that the Newton Fund attaches to this model is demonstrated by their allocation of £5.41m based on outcomes of the initial £0.83m DARA grant. An initial £59,440 grant for the Thailand programme led to a follow-on grant of £0.45m [ 5.9].

Benefitting governments in developing economies and strengthening UK soft power

Representatives of the African governments involved in the SKA and AVN have endorsed the value of DARA. A joint ministerial meeting in 2018 noted that: ‘ DARA was specifically designed to support the African SKA and AVN projects and it is making valuable contributions to strengthen radio astronomy in partner countries. DARA courses are important for capacity building in high performance computing and data science, key technologies to support and develop radio astronomy [ 5.10].’ An independent evaluation [ 5.11] of the Newton Fund’s impact in South Africa highlighted DARA as one of three case studies. It said DARA had ‘ helped support the UK to position science and innovation as a central part of the bilateral relationship with South Africa’ and ‘ in terms of soft power’ was ‘ often referred to as a joint success story by both countries’. The fact that ‘ the DARA model is now moving beyond Africa’ demonstrates that ‘ the DARA project is catalytic and has proven how politically salient the idea of astronomy for development is among academic institutions, governments and funders’. The report concluded: ‘ DARA has been very successful in terms of the human capital development outcomes, institutional linking and upskilling. The action also has managed to scale up and leverage funding.’ DARA ‘spin-off’ projects in Colombia and Mexico have raised the prospect of an AVN-style network in Central and South America. Teams from Peru, Columbia, Ecuador, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Honduras have announced a plan to lobby their governments to create a network of telescopes in Latin America [ 5.1].