The main challenges I encountered were the language barriers (switching from French to English), exposure to a diverse culture in South Africa and es… - Zara Randriamanakoto

Astronomy is a discipline that requires technical skills and cutting-edge technology . And these can be used to tackle environmental challenges such as climate change or to plan the long-term response to the current famine in southern Madagascar.

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

I studied astronomy because it was an opportunity that I could not miss and a challenge that I wanted to take up. Madagascar needed young experts in this field given its involvement in the South African SKA project as an African partner country during South Africa's bid to host SKA, the future largest observatory in the world. Today, astronomy has also become my great passion.