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08-07-2013
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SKA outreach: A Global Enterprise

Submitter: Femke Boekhorst
Description: From 29-31 May, five outreach officers convened at the SKA Organisations head office at Jodrell Bank Observatory in the UK for a 3-day meeting about the communication strategy for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA).

The SKA will be the largest and most sensitive radio telescope in the world with a total collecting area of approximately one square kilometre. The SKA will be built in Southern Africa and in Australia. It is a global enterprise bringing together 11 countries from the 5 continents. The SKA is led by the SKA Organisation, a not-for-profit company with its headquarters at Jodrell Bank Observatory, near Manchester, UK.

Of course, we want the whole world to know about this telescope, so this enormous project requires a well thought out communications strategy in which all participating countries play a role. The members of the SKA Communications and Outreach Working Group (SKACOWG, see photo) met face to face and discussed, in excellent collaborative spirit, upcoming communications opportunities such as big conferences and (outreach) events, important messages about the SKA that we want the public but also students, industry and governments to know, and the way the SKA is being branded.

Besides this group, the SKA Communications and Outreach Network (SKACON) exists, that includes outreach officers of all SKA partner countries. Both groups have regular teleconferences to keep each other up to date and to share ideas about how we can pass on our enthusiasm for the project to the outside world.

The image shows the members of the SKACOWG, from left to right around the table: Sam Rametse (SKA South Africa), Femke Boekhorst (ASTRON), Jerry Skinner (SKA Australia), Eric Chisholm (National Research Council, Canada) and William Garnier (SKA Organisation). On the phone was also Shui Min (Ministry of Science and Technology, China).

Want to know more about the SKA? Check out the website at http://www.skatelescope.org or like the Facebook pages at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Square-Kilometre-Array/121716197872910
Copyright: SKA
 
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