The next UK-SKASC (UK-SKA Science Committee) Town Hall meeting will be held in Liverpool on March 24th 2020 (http://ska.astro.ljmu.ac.uk/).

*** Registration for participants wanting to present a talk or poster will close on 13th March***

Participants wanting to attend but not present anything can register up until March 22nd, after which time the catering numbers will be fixed. There is no registration fee as all the costs (including lunch) are being covered by STFC. Registrations can be submitted here: http://ska.astro.ljmu.ac.uk/?page_id=40

The meeting aims to bring the UK astronomical community together to provide information on the current status of the SKA project and provide a platform for the community to discuss how best to maximise the long-term science return of the SKA to the UK. The specific focus of this year’s meeting is to engage as widely as possible with early career researchers (ECRs, e.g. masters students, PhD students, junior faculty) in the UK who are involved in SKA-related science.

The meeting will provide a platform for the UK community to share progress on existing science projects, new scientific results, and future science plans in SKA-related science areas, especially where these are spearheaded by ECRs. Given this current scientific and technological landscape, the meeting will provide a forum to explore where the expected major scientific breakthroughs will occur in the SKA-era, and identify areas in which SKA Phase 1 and 2 will likely play a key role in these breakthroughs.

Invited speakers

– Simon Berry (SKA) — SKA Project Overview
– Anna Bonaldi (SKA) — Science with the SKA
– Beatriz Mingo (Open University) — Extragalactic science with the SKA
– Anastasia Ponomareva (University of Oxford) — HI galaxy science with the SKA
– Lina Preston (University of Manchester) — Pulsars with the SKA
– Marco Tazzari (University of Cambridge) — `Cradle of Life’ with the SKA
– David Williams (University of Oxford) — Transients with the SKA
– Laura Wolz (University of Manchester) — Cosmology with the SKA

Discussion sessions

There is an opportunity for delegates to host their own discussion sessions on topics related to the SKA. The format of these parallel sessions is entirely down to the proposer. They could take the form of a round table discussion, a series of short talks, or even a ‘hack’ session. The results of these sessions will then be relayed back to the full conference in a short summary. Proposals can be submitted alongside registration.