The Green Technology Confucius Institute will be hosting the RAAP (Radio Astronomy Advancement Programme) workshop, Machine Learning /Artificial Intelligence Applied to Radio Astronomy

Date: 12 – 16 October 2026
Venue: University of Venda

Some of the topics to be covered are:

1. Radio Frequency Interference Data Preparation and Exploration Convolutional Neural Network (CNN)-Based
2. Radio Frequency Interference Detection.
3. Radio Source Classification Using Machine Learning
4. Source Finding on MeerKAT/MIGHTEE Data.
5. Automated Source Classification and Novelty Detection

The workshop project focuses on understanding and preparing radio astronomy data from the MeerKAT telescope for machine learning. Students will explore frequency–time data to identify patterns of radio frequency interference (RFI), visualise these signals, and convert the data into a structured, labelled dataset. By the end of the project, the group will produce a clean dataset suitable for training machine learning models, along with visualisations that illustrate different types of RFI present in the data. The students will also focus on developing a machine learning model to automatically detect radio frequency interference in radio astronomy data and many more skills related to machine learning, artificial intelligence, and data science.

Funding for attending the workshop is available, and all costs will be covered. The call for applications is targeting Honours, Master’s, and First PhD students in Astronomy, Physics, and Mathematics. Students need to apply through the link: https://shorturl.at/oxQ4r

For enquiries, you can contact: Vhuhwavho Khomunala: Vhuhwavho.Khomunala@univen.ac.za or Tshifhiwa Ranwaha: Tshifhiwa.Ranwaha@univen.ac.za

Applications closing date: 31 July 2026