Dear Associates and extended NITheCS family,

The NITheCS node meetings have kicked off. Read our newsletter to find out more and view our events calendar to see the dates of other node meetings.

The 32nd General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) is being held at the CTICC in Cape Town from 6-15 August 2024. NITheCS will be participating in the IAU exhibition. If you will be attending, we encourage you to visit us at our stand. See the programme.

During the period of the IAU Assembly, two NITheCS Colloquiums will be presented by high-level astronomy experts. Prof Matthew Bailes (Swinburne University of Technology, Australia) will present ‘A virtual tour of Einstein’s Universe’ on 7 August, while Prof Martin Bucher (Université Paris Cité and Stellenbosch University) will present ‘Absolute Measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background Frequency Spectrum: New Horizons and Experimental Challenges’ on 12 August.

August is Women’s Month in South Africa, and we recently invited our female Associates to apply for a grant to fund a Self-run Writing Retreat. We were delighted to receive numerous applications and extend our thanks to all who applied. Successful applicants will be notified shortly.

We focus on Dr Mark Nasila (FNB) as our Scientist of the Month. Dr Nasila recently took part in our panel discussion on artificial intelligence and has also authored a book on the subject. In his work, he highlights the significance of AI for Africa among other things. Read his profile here.

On our website we feature a list of external events that are relevant to our community. If you know of any similar events that we haven’t listed yet, please let us know. Additionally, we welcome information about important visitors, especially international ones, to your institution or area. We would consider adding their names to our calendar to keep the NITheCS community informed.

May August bring interesting connections with other scientists and productive research for us all!

Kind regards

Francesco Petruccione
Director