I am passionate about science engagement, the promotion of Girls and Women in STEM, and especially the advancement of astronomy in all its aspects in… - Zara Randriamanakoto

The SKA project has helped put Africa on the map of the astronomy world and this is just the beginning.

Nothing predestined me to become an astronomer. I moved to Antananarivo for my university studies at the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Antananarivo. I obtained a master's degree in energy physics from the physics department in 2007.

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.