One of South Africa’s great scientific strengths is its access to the southern sky, and the MeerKAT facility has positioned local astronomers as leaders in studies of the radio universe. With South Africa co-hosting the next-generation Square Kilometre Array (SKA) the country stands on the cusp of even more transformative discoveries. The Chair in Extragalactic Multi-wavelength Astronomy, funded by the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) through the NRF, is dedicated to advancing scientific understanding of how galaxies form and evolve, while developing the next generation of radio astronomers. Based in the Department of Astronomy, the Chair contributes to UCT’s position at the forefront of global radio astronomy.

At the heart of the Chair’s research is the question of how gas flows into and out of galaxies, fuelling future star formation – work that places multi-wavelength observations of galaxies in context and lays the groundwork for SKA-era science. The Chair contributes to several major MeerKAT large science projects, including MHONGOOSE, LADUMA, and the MeerKAT Fornax Survey. The Chair leads a MeerKAT eXtra Large Proposal, the Legacy Local Universe Survey, designed to study the gas in and around almost 200 of the closest large galaxies in the southern sky. The team connects South African researchers and students with collaborators from North America, Asia, Australia and Europe to produce a legacy product that will be used by astronomers all around the world.