Download The role of DST in support of NRF

The role of DST in support of NRF
implementation of programme
and policy for Astronomy
Briefing to the Portfolio Committee on
Science and Technology
Mrs GNM Pandor
11 August 2010
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Introduction:
Why are we here?
• The disciplinary hearing of the Director of the
South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO)
• Letters received from Members of the Portfolio
Committee.
• Letters received from the local astronomical
community and International Organisations.
• Invitation by the Chair of the Portfolio Committee
to address this and present an outline of the
future of astronomy in SA.
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Staffing of National
facilities
• “The staff of the National Facilities are appointed by the NRF in
accordance with its conditions of service.” (NRF Act 5(4))
• Disciplinary matters related to any staff at the National Facilities must
be handled in line with labour legislation governing employer –
employee matters.
• Aggrieved staff at the national Facilities thus have recourse to a raft
of measures.
• This includes staff employed at the SAAO
• However, arising from the concerns raised by members of the
astronomy community locally and abroad, by some Members of
Parliament, and informed by the importance of Astronomy as a
national priority, in this instance, the Minister initiated the following
steps:
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Steps taken
• Met with representatives of the astronomy community in South
Africa.
• Engaged with members of the international astronomy community
• Convened a meeting with the Chair and CEO of the NRF to provide a
briefing on the matter.
• Requested the Chair of the NRF to undertake an enquiry into the
matter and to advise the Minister accordingly.
• Responded to letters from various interested parties (including Ms
Shinn)
• Informed the National Assembly, through the Chair of the Portfolio
Committee of the key recommendations made by the Chair of the
NRF
• These recommendations will be addressed later in this presentation
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The Mandate of the
NRF
• As stated in the NRF Act (1998)
The object of the Foundation is to support and promote
research through funding,
human resource development and
the provision of the necessary research facilities in
order to facilitate the creation of knowledge, innovation
and development in all fields of
science and technology, including indigenous knowledge
and thereby to contribute to
the improvement of the quality of life of all the people of
the Republic.
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The mandate of the NRF
Activities in Science and technology have
increased significantly in the past 10 years.
This has resulted in the expansion of the
mandate of the NRF and other Science
Councils.
The DST is reviewing existing mandates and
evaluating whether additional measures to
support Science Councils should be
developed.
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National Research
Facilities
5. (1) The Minister may by notice in the Gazette determine a research
facility as a national facility under the control of the Foundation.
(2) Any researcher or research institution may, subject to such
conditions as the Foundation may determine, apply to utilise a
national facility for research or instruction.
(3) The Foundation may not acquire, or manage the operation of, any
research facility other than a national facility placed under the control
of the Foundation under subsection (1).
(4) The staff of the National Facilities are appointed by the NRF in
accordance with its conditions of service. (NRF Act)
The Act is silent on the process to review a decision
in terms of 5(1) above.
Examples of National Facilities include the iThemba Labs, HartRAO,
SAAO, HMO, SAIAB, SAEON and the NZG
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South African Astronomical
Observatory (SAAO)
• The South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) is the National
Facility for optical and infrared astronomy in South Africa.
• It is managed by the NRF.
• Its headquarters are in Cape Town and its observing facilities at
Sutherland in the Northern Cape.
• SAAO is host to the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) and is
also host to a variety of small telescopes run on behalf of, or in
collaboration with, Korea, Japan, Germany and the UK as well as a
geodynamic observatory and various seismographs.
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Southern African Large
Telescope (SALT)
• SALT is an international collaboration, with approximately
one third belonging to South Africa, one third to various
USA universities and the rest to countries or
organisations within Europe.
• It is the single largest optical telescope in the Southern
hemisphere and was built at about 20% of the cost of a
conventional telescope. It is sited at Sutherland at an
altitude of 1800m.
• The Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) Pty Ltd
is a limited liability company that was founded in order to
undertake the construction and operation of SALT.
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NRF, SALT and SAAO
• The DST, through the NRF, holds about 33% of issued stock in SALT
Pty Ltd. This shareholding is directly related to the amount of time
that South African Astronomers can use to undertake their
observations in any given year i.e. 33% of the number of hours
available for observations.
• The SAAO is contracted by SALT Pty Ltd to operate SALT. SAAO
receives income of about R21 million annually as the operations
budget of SALT from SALT Pty Ltd. Of this amount, about R6.5
million is the South African contribution to the operations of SALT and
this is linked to the South African shareholding, hence it provides
about 33% of the total operations budget of SALT Pty Ltd.
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The Future of Astronomy in
South Africa
Existing Facilities
1.
2.
3.
4.
The South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) is the National
Facility for optical and infrared astronomy in South Africa.
Hartebeeshoek Radio Observatory (HartRAO), situated in Gauteng, is
the National Facility for radio astronomy. It has a 26m dish built by NASA,
but resurfaced locally to reach frequencies up to 22 GHz. HartRAO also
has a satellite laser ranging facility and an IGS GPS network and engages
in geodesy as well as in radio astronomy.
High Energy Stereoscopic System (HESS)
The HESS telescope array is situated in Namibia, near the Gamsberg
mountain. It detects very high energy, 100 GeV, gamma-rays.
Hermanus Magnetic Observatory is South Africa’s geomagnetic
research facility and monitors and models variations of the Earth’s
magnetic field.
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The Future of Astronomy in
South Africa
5. Southern African Large Telescope (SALT), as indicated previously,
is a 10-m class optical telescope modelled on the Hobby-Eberly
Telescope (HET) in Texas.
6. Karoo Array Telescope (MeerKAT) and Square Kilometre Array
(SKA) SKA is a $2-billion project to build a radio telescope with a
hundred times the sensitivity of any existing telescope. It is a truly
international project and its feasibility will ultimately depend on new
technology, hardware and IT. Several countries bid to host SKA and
in 2006. The two finalists are Australia and South Africa. A decision is
expected in 2012/13. The NRF also has oversight of the SKA project
office on behalf of the DST. A process is underway to determine the
location of the SKA project headquarters.
7. The MeerKAT (meer is Afrikaans for “more”) has arisen out of South
Africa's ambition to host the SKA and will be one of several science
and technology “pathfinders” currently under construction around the
globe.
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The Future of Astronomy in
South Africa
Building on these strengths, Government continues to position astronomy as one of
the country’s comparative advantage areas in Science. SKA bid is on track, the KAT-7
has been commissioned, and MeerKat is progressing well with full support from our
African partners including Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique, Zambia, Kenya, Ghana
and Mauritius
We are very pleased and proud that SAAO was awarded the International
Astronomy Development Office in May 2010.
Clearly, great strides have been made in astronomy in South Africa in the past decade
and the increased scope and scale of the activities have warranted a re-examination
of the location, management and governance of the astronomy sector as a whole.
The recent tension between the NRF and SAAO has brought to the fore the need to
reach agreement on the most appropriate arrangements for advancing astronomy.
The Minister of Science & Technology has initiated broad based consultations on this
matter.
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Advice by NRF Board Chair
• As indicated previously, the NRF Board Chair, Professor
Belinda Bozzoli, was requested by the Minister of
Science & Technology to advise on steps to be taken by
the NRF to strengthen and improve the relationships with
the astronomy community and to advise the Minister on
the best location of authority and facilities related to the
advancement of astronomy
• The following are some of the substantive and systemic
recommendations that have been made to the Minister.
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RECOMMENDATIONS TO
THE MINISTER
1.1. It is recommended that the Minister determine a new framework for
the development and management of Astronomy in South Africa. In
this regard, it is proposed that the following actions be considered in
the interim and as part of the determination of the framework:
– The establishment of an Interim Advisory Board for SAAO to
advise the NRF board on specific matters regarding the SAAO.
1.2 In the longer term, establish a national “Astronomy Advisory Board”
to advise the Minister on the development and management of the
Astronomy in South Africa. The Chair of the Board should be an
independent researcher of stature and not a NRF/ DST employee.
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RECOMMENDATIONS TO
THE MINISTER
1.3.The Minister is requested to support ongoing and
transparent consultation with the astronomy community
including the DST, the NRF and SKA project regarding
the matter of the location of the MeerKAT Operations
Centre.
1.4.The Minister is requested to ensure greater participation
of the South African government on matters regarding the
affairs of the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) to
the benefit of South Africa and the SALT initiative.
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RECOMMENDATIONS TO
THE NRF BOARD
It is recommended that the Minister directs
the NRF Board to discuss the implications
of the outcomes of this investigation. The
Board should also meet with the CEO and
Corporate Executive to discuss the same
and propose a way forward.
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RECOMMENDATIONS TO
THE CEO OF THE NRF
• Pending the establishment of the national “Astronomy Advisory
Board” for Astronomy, the NRF should establish an Astronomy
“desk” to improve the development and management of astronomy to
the benefit of the entire astronomy community.
• The NRF should consider and implement necessary measures to
restore organizational and public confidence in the management of
the affairs of the SAAO and NRF.
• The CEO should lead a process of consultations and, or review of
policies and practices, to correct the perception that research at the
national facilities was under valued relative to administrative
competence.
• The Board of the NRF should direct that the CEO take personal
intermediate responsibility for managing the NRF interface with
SAAO.
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IN CONCLUSION…
• The Director General and his team will continue
to engage with the ongoing implementation of
these recommendations to ensure that they do
address fully the concerns that have been raised
and position Astronomy even more strongly in
the future.
• Once these have been fully scrutinised, I will
happily brief the Portfolio Committee again.
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Thank you
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