The MeerKAT radio telescope, situated 90 km outside the small Northern Cape town of Carnarvon. Credit: SARAO

The University of the Western Cape (UWC) is celebrating a decade of scientific discovery, innovation and skills development through its partnership in the Inter-University Institute for Data Intensive Astronomy (IDIA) – a collaboration that has helped position South Africa at the forefront of data-intensive astronomy.

The milestone comes as IDIA marks its tenth anniversary and enters a new funding cycle that will continue the partnership between UWC, the University of Cape Town and the University of Pretoria, in close collaboration with the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO).

Founded in 2015, the IDIA was established to address one of the defining challenges of modern astronomy: how to process, analyse and interpret the vast quantities of data generated by increasingly powerful telescopes. That challenge became a reality with the commissioning of South Africa's MeerKAT radio telescope and is expected to grow even further as the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO) comes online in the coming years.

Prof Robert Balfour, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of UWC, said the significance of the partnership extends far beyond scientific outputs.

“The value of the IDIA is measured not only in publications or platforms, but in people. Its work in human capacity development, training and public engagement helps broaden participation in areas of science and technology that will shape the future. That broader societal impact is one of the key motivations for governments and universities to invest in major research infrastructure,” said Prof Balfour. 

Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor Prof Priscilla Baker addresses attendees at the IDIA 10th Anniversary Celebration on 29 May 2026, highlighting UWC's position and ambitions within the IDIA consortium. Credit: IDIA

“At UWC, investment in the collaborations exemplified by IDIA on this, its special 10th anniversary, as also the infrastructure underpinning these, is critical to the University's mission to become a leading research institution with demonstrable impact on uplifting society.”

Over the past decade, the IDIA and the ilifu Research Cloud have become essential components of South Africa's astronomy ecosystem, providing researchers with the computing infrastructure, software platforms and specialist support needed to turn data into scientific discovery. Together, they have enabled a substantial proportion of South African-led MeerKAT science and supported hundreds of researchers working across institutions in South Africa and around the world.

For UWC, the partnership has been transformative. The University's internationally recognised Astronomy Group is a leading contributor to research in radio astronomy and cosmology. Approximately 80% of its postgraduate students and postdoctoral researchers rely on ilifu's computing resources to process and analyse MeerKAT data, enabling them to conduct internationally competitive research and gain expertise in advanced data-intensive methods.

Among the flagship projects supported through the partnership is MeerKLASS (MeerKAT Large Area Synoptic Survey), led by UWC research professor, Mario Santos. The ambitious project aims to survey approximately 10 000 square degrees of the southern sky to better understand the structure and evolution of the Universe through observations of neutral hydrogen.

The scale of the survey reflects the increasingly data-intensive nature of modern science. In a single year, MeerKLASS can consume more than 235 CPU years of computing time and require close to a petabyte of data storage. The project has already achieved significant scientific milestones, including pioneering new techniques for studying the large-scale structure of the Universe and improving our understanding of neutral hydrogen at cosmological distances.

"For UWC researchers, IDIA and the ilifu Research Cloud have become indispensable components of the scientific process," said Prof Santos, SARChI Chair in Multi-Wavelength Cosmology and Director of the UWC Centre for Radio Cosmology.

The UWC-based Computational Astrophysics and Machine Intelligence Lab (CAMIL), headed by Prof Michelle Lochner (third from left), leads the way in using machine learning to make new scientific discoveries in large datasets using the ilifu research cloud.

"Projects such as MeerKLASS depend on the ability to process and analyse enormous volumes of MeerKAT data. The computing infrastructure, software environment and specialist support provided through IDIA and ilifu have enabled our students and researchers to develop new analysis techniques, carry out internationally competitive research and help establish South Africa as a leader in radio cosmology."

The impact of the IDIA at UWC extends beyond cosmology. The University's Computational Astrophysics and Machine Intelligence Lab (CAMIL), led by Associate Professor Michelle Lochner, is pioneering the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence to unlock discoveries hidden within vast astronomical datasets.

As new facilities such as MeerKAT, the SKAO and the Vera C. Rubin Observatory generate unprecedented volumes of data, CAMIL researchers are developing innovative approaches to anomaly detection, galaxy classification and large-scale radio data analysis. One of the group's flagship contributions is Astronomaly, a discovery framework for identifying unusual objects in datasets from multiple telescopes, including MeerKAT.

The partnership also supports UWC's research into galaxy formation and evolution, led by Associate Professor Ed Elson, helping researchers investigate how galaxies form, evolve and interact across cosmic time.

The IDIA Development and Outreach Team at UWC, led by Prof Sally Macfarlane (second from right). Credit: IDIA

Beyond scientific discovery, the IDIA has made a substantial contribution to human capacity development. Over the past decade, the institute has supported more than 500 graduate students across astronomy, bioinformatics and related data-intensive disciplines. It has also invested in training schools, workshops, hackathons and public engagement initiatives across South Africa and the African continent.

UWC leads a key component of this work through the IDIA's Development and Outreach Office, headed by Associate Professor Sally Macfarlane, IDIA's Associate Director for Development and Outreach.

"Preparing for the scientific opportunities of the next 50 years and beyond requires more than training the next generation of researchers. It requires investing in the next-next generation who will inherit and sustain these facilities long into the future," said Prof Macfarlane.

"Through IDIA's development and outreach programmes, we work to create a sustainable ecosystem that inspires future scientists, develops critical data-intensive skills and empowers participants to become mentors and innovators in their own communities."

Looking ahead, the next decade will be shaped by the continued expansion of MeerKAT, the development of the global SKA Regional Centre Network and the growing role of artificial intelligence in scientific discovery. Through its partnership in IDIA, UWC is helping to advance humanity's understanding of the Universe and helping to develop the scientists, innovators and problem-solvers who will drive discovery in the SKAO era and beyond.