Before coming to South Africa, I had very little knowledge about astronomy. At the time, there were no such subjects at university. My knowledge of a… - Zara Randriamanakoto

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.

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.

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