Episode 84: Celebrating 10 years of IDIA

with Professor Roger Deane, Mr Walter Silima and Associate Professor Sally Macfarlane. In this special episode of The Cosmic Savannah, we celebrate the 10th anniversary of IDIA(Inter-University Institute for Data Intensive Astronomy) with three very special guests: the new director Professor Roger Deane, astronomy support specialist Walter Silima, and head of outreach and development Associate Professor Sally Macfarlane. Roger explains IDIA’s mission of building South Africa’s data science capacity for MeerKAT and the SKA, diving into the core aims and primary motivations of IDIA. Walter dives into the technical side, discussing IDIA’s cloud computer(Ilifu)’s specs, the CARTA (Cube Analysis and Rendering Tool for Astronomy) radio data visualisation tool and VR data visualization using iDaVIE. Sally covers IDIA’s development and outreach pillar: inspiring communities, training up the next-next generation of data scientists, running hackathons and tackling UN Sustainable Development Goals. Join us for this very special episode of The Cosmic Savannah!