ASTRON/JIVE Traineeship in Science Operations with Massive Arrays

© ASTRON/JIVE

The first cohort of the ASTRON/JIVE traineeship programme in science operations with massive arrays was successfully completed by two participants, Emmanuel and Bernard from Ghana. The programme allows astronomers (post doc, PhD or graduate student level) to spend a trimester (12 weeks) at the institute in Dwingeloo in the Netherlands. It enables the acquisition of expertise in operating massive arrays such as LOFAR and the EVN, therefore developing skills that will be required for the operation of next generation facilities such as the SKA.

The program included 11 weeks of full exposure to LOFAR operations, and 1-week of training in VLBI operations and science at JIVE. Trainees were assigned mentors within the Science Support Teams at ASTRON and JIVE, under which they learned how to master independently the complex array science operations of the operated instruments, and strongly benefited from the daily interaction with scientists, engineers, and support staff.

The traineeship also featured lectures and activities with the support groups such as visit to the LOFAR telescopes, Correlator (Cobalt and EVN), LTA (SURFsara), and the WSRT. During these, the trainees were given expert tours of the respective facilities to understand the operations and role of each infrastructure in the overall science capabilities of the instruments.

The programme was sponsored by ASTRON and the Joining up Users for Maximising the Profile, the Innovation and the Necessary Globalisation of JIVE (JUMPING JIVE) which received its funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 730884.