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Celebrating our community
from Contact 16
In this section we celebrate success and recognise colleagues, partners and members of the community who have received prestigious grants, awards and honours in recent months.
SKAO Council Chair Dr Catherine Cesarsky led her final Council meeting in November 2024 in Kimberley, South Africa. It marked the end of Dr Cesarsky’s seven years of service to the SKA project, having previously chaired the SKA Organisation Board of Directors, before the Observatory was established in 2021. The SKAO thanks Dr Cesarsky for her dedication and leadership during these crucial years in the development of the Observatory.
Prof. Peter Quinn has been inducted into the Western Australian Science Hall of Fame for his outstanding 42-year research career in astrophysics. Prof. Quinn’s roles include serving as head of the Data Management and Operations Division at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and contributing to the establishment of the SKAO in Australia, as the first executive director of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR).
Dr Lourdes Verdes-Montenegro, who has been at the forefront of Spanish participation in the SKA project as both a researcher at the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC) and a member of the HI Galaxy Science Working Group, has been awarded the Margarita Salas Medal 2023 by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) for her work mentoring and supervising early-career researchers.
Prof. Di Li, the chief scientist of China’s Five-hundredmeter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST), an SKA pathfinder telescope, has been awarded the Marcel Grossmann Award for his contributions to the field of fast radio bursts (FRBs). Prof. Li is a member of the SKAO’s Cradle of Life Science Working Group.
Dr Michiel van Haarlem, head of the Netherlands SKA Office, has been appointed as the new executive director of LOFAR ERIC. Dr Van Haarlem will play a crucial role in ensuring the efficient operation of the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) and leading the planned upgrade to LOFAR 2.0.
SKA-Low Telescope Director Dr Sarah Pearce received the Outstanding Senior Leadership Award at the Women in Technology WA Awards. The organisation is the leading advocate for diversity, inclusion, and equity for women in technology in Western Australia.
Prof. Anton Zensus, director at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR), has been awarded the Karl Schwarzschild Medal for his leading role in the development of radio astronomical observation methods with very high angular resolution and sensitivity.
