The week of 10 – 17 September 2018 sees the 2nd Big Data Africa school take place near Cape Town. Organised by SARAO as part of the Newton Fund‘s DARA Big Data project, the school brings 27 students from 8 African countries together with lecturers, local and international, to take part in an intense, hands-in academic school where they get first hand experience with big data. IDIA has partnered with the school and the students develop and run projects on the IDIA research cloud. The projects offered to the students of the school range from radioastronomy to cybersecurity.
The students of the school come from Botswana, Namibia, Ghana, Mauritius, Madagascar, Mozambique, Kenya, Zambia and South Africa. The majority of them are currently studying towards their Masters degrees in diverse fields of Science and Engineering and 44% of participants are women.
The nature of the projects carried out at the school and the diversity of participants illustrates well how big data in science is a reality for many disciplines and how the development of radioastronomy in South Africa and across the continent can drive the development of cutting edge skills in high demand.
More information about the school and the organisations involved can be found on the workshop website.