Two minutes with... Kevin Govender

Years of planning went into the IAU General Assembly in Cape Town, South Africa, with the SKAO contributing to the vision document for the conference. Kevin Govender, Chair of the National Organising Committee and Director of the IAU Office of Astronomy for Development, spoke to us about the highlights and legacy of the event.

The General Assembly was a real success, Kevin. Can you tell us about the programme and your goals for the conference?

We’ve had a super exciting programme, and what’s great is that anyone, anywhere in the world, has been able to join. There were over 200 different science sessions covering a range of topics, and all these sessions are available to watch on the General Assembly website. It is just one of the ways in which this General Assembly is the first to be completely open to the public.

How did you engage the local community?

We had an extensive range of events and activities that targeted the local community, including school visits, teacher training sessions, public talks, a cultural exchange evening, the SKAO Table-Top Radio Telescope project of course, and so much more. It was great to be able to count on the SKAO as the platinum sponsor and one of our key partners in delivering a large number of these initiatives. The outreach activities of the General Assembly reached around 28,000 school learners, which is an amazing achievement!

What has been the most exciting aspect of the event for you?

This is the first General Assembly on the African continent, and we wanted to create a truly hybrid event while ensuring every virtual participant had a good experience. The reality is that as climate change becomes more and more of a problem, we all need to be conscious of how much we are travelling.

One of my favourite aspects is that, for the first time as far as I know, we have had a fully hybrid poster session. It didn’t matter if a poster presenter was standing in front of the screen or inside the screen; they could still present their work. The coolest part is that the computer systems used for these sessions are going to be loaded with educational materials and donated to 100 local schools as a legacy project of this General Assembly.