Doing astronomy is like investing. It is a science that promotes innovation, an essential ingredient for the sustainable development of a country. - Zara Randriamanakoto

It wasn't easy at first. But I persevered and now I'm used to the language of Shakespeare. I read a lot and practiced English constantly since classes, conversations with friends and colleagues and especially communication outside the university are in English. It took time. But as the famous proverb says: "Practice makes perfect.

I did my undergraduate degree in physics, then a BSc Honours in energy physics at the University of Antananarivo. I then did postgraduate studies in astronomy and astrophysics (BSc Honours, Masters and then PhD thesis) at the University of Cape Town. I obtained my PhD in astronomy in 2015. Between 2015 and 2018, I was a SKA postdoc at the same university.

I am a research astronomer at SAAO. My research interests revolve around multiwavelength observations of interacting and collisional ring galaxies to help investigate the formation and evolution mechanisms of young massive clusters. I also work on radio loud AGN to study the AGN duty cycle using deep radio continuum surveys.