NWO announces cooperation with China on Radio Astronomy

NWO and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) intend to open a new call l in the field of Radio Astronomy in this month. Both organisations are offering funding opportunities for bilateral research cooperation between Dutch and Chinese research groups. Every year, CAS and NWO launch a call for joint research proposals.

In April there will a workshop for researchers to meet one another and present their research topics. The workshop will be held in Beijing. Each of the astronomical research institutes in the Netherlands can nominate one or two representatives to present the research interests within their institute.

Radio astronomy currently finds itself in an exciting phase, both scientifically and technologically. While the development of the very large next generation telescope, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), is ongoing, SKA pathfinders – like the LOFAR telescope in the Netherlands – have become operational and are delivering a wide range of excellent science. At the same time, radio antenna for very low frequency are being sent to the lunar far-side surface and to the lunar space, like the Netherlands-China Low-Frequency Explorer (NCLE) on board of the Chinese Chang’E-4 lunar mission. This creates opportunities for Sino-Dutch research projects in the field of Radio Astronomy and Enabling Technologies for Radio Astronomy.