MeerKAT will be the most sensitive radio telescope in the southern hemisphere, and will make significant contributions to Galactic and extra-galactic radio astronomy. To achieve this goal and obtain the best possible science from MeerKAT will require a skilled user community.


The South African radio astronomy community is not large. At present, with the exception of some modules covered in the National Astrophysics and Space Science Programme (NASSP), there is only one graduate-level course in radio astronomy being offered in South Africa. In order to obtain the best scientific value from the vast amount of high-quality, unique data produced by MeerKAT, it is absolutely crucial for South Africa to train a generation of students, particularly ones from Africa, in the science and the practice of radio astronomy. In particular, MeerKAT will be an interferometer, whose basic observable is the Fourier transform of the sky brightness, and whose use presents a unique series of challenges requiring some specialized skills. We therefore propose to hold a radio astronomy workshop to teach basic radio astronomy science and particularly the skills required to process interferometer data.


The workshop will consists of two components:

The expected outcome of the workshop is that our students will be equipped with the confidence and the tools to undertake a research project in radio astronomy, be it an independent thesis project or as part of a larger team such as those which recently submitted large proposals for MeerKAT.


We will model our workshop on the very successful series of workshops that have been held since 1982 by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in the United States (see http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/events/synthesis/2010). These workshops have been attended by a total of over 1700 people, and have had a vast impact on radio astronomy. The last published proceedings ``Synthesis Imaging in Radio Astronomy II'' (ASP vol. 180) has become of the primary references for people wanting to learn synthesis imaging and interferometry. Although a small number of South African students have attended the NRAO and European workshops over the years, to meet the increased demand of MeerKAT it is far more practical to hold workshops in South Africa.