Prof Paul Groot started his new job as the SALT South African Research Chair in Fast Transients and Gravitational Wave Counterparts on 1 November 2018. This is a joint position with the SAAO, hosted at UCT, whilst on secondment from Radboud University Nijmegen.
The Astronomy Department at UCT is ranked number 1 in Africa and number 149 in the world in 2017/2018 according to the University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP) metric in Astronomy and Astrophysics, based on five years of data (2012-2016).
Prof Renee Kraan-Korteweg was awarded the commemorative MeerKAT award at the DST South African Women in Science Award gala evening on 23 August 2018, in recognition of her outstanding contribution to building South Africa’s scientific and research knowledge base in advancing the field of astronomy.
On Friday 25 May 2018, Africa Day 2018, the new optical robotic 0.65-m telescope MeerLICHT was inaugurated in Sutherland by the Director-General of the Department of Science and Technology, Dr Phil Mjwara. UCT Astronomy is a founding member of the MeerLICHT consortium.
