The conclusion of a workshop on African-European radio astronomy funding partnerships was a positive one - funding is available.
The workshop brought together several of Europe's leading radio astronomers and officials from the European Commission and the European Research Council. It was one in a series of planned African-European Radio Astronomy Platform (AERAP) events, responding to the call of the European Parliament to strengthen African-European research partnerships in the field of radio astronomy.
The delegates discussed ways to further develop co-operation in radio astronomy between Africa and Europe. The workshop was well timed, as it followed the publishing of new calls for the EU's Seventh Framework Programme for Research (FP7) funding instruments, Marie Curie Actions and ERC Grants, in July.
Participants discussed how the AERAP can assist researchers in finding partners and preparing successful FP7 proposals. The goals of this sort of partnership are to enhance co-operation between industry and academics in terms of training, knowledge sharing and career development.
Paulo CC Freire, scientific collaborator at the Max-Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, in Germany, views this kind of partnership as a means to open up research opportunities between Europe and Africa. “I am already thinking about the possibilities to use them (Marie Curie Actions) for doing research in South Africa and working together with South African colleagues,” Freire said.
The workshop follows the European Parliament's adoption of Written Declaration 45/2011 on “Science Capacity Building in Africa: Promoting European-African Radio Astronomy Partnerships”. Under the declaration, the European Parliament is hoping to harness the scientific and economic benefits of increasing science capacity in Africa.
“This means that radio astronomy in Africa has enormous potential for growth and offers opportunities to European researchers and industry that they will not find in Europe,” said Fiona Hall, a member of the Industry, Research and Energy Committee.
Presenter of the Marie Curie Actions, Paul Harris, a policy officer at the European Commission and DG of education and culture, explained that the 2013 budget for the Actions is the highest of this programme period. “Therefore, the recently published calls are a great opportunity for researchers interested in international co-operation.”
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